January, 2010

Sloan is getting quite the personality! She is very happy and smiles and talks often. Her latest thing is spitting and blowing bubbles with her mouth. She really likes it if you do it back but we try to refrain so she doesn't think that is normal communication! She rolled over on her own for the first time on January 12th just before she turned 12 weeks. It was perfect because both Dirk and I were able to witness the event. We quickly got the video camera and she did it about five times for us. We will post that video clip soon. Here's how the trick works. We put her on her tummy. She pushes her head and upper body up then slowly leans her head and rolls to her back. She now does it to both the right and left but has not mastered the back to front roll yet. We are working on it!

December 2009

At this point in her life Sloan is easily entertained. She loves lights! One of her favorite friends is the fan light in our bedroom. Sometimes she smiles and coos and talks to it and other times she just stares. She has started to really enjoy her play mat and the friends that hang from it. She talks and talks to them even though they don't reciprocate. She doesn't mind being on her tummy for short periods of time and even lifts her head up on her own and props her arms under herself for more support. She is such a happy girl and smiles for us all the time! We love every minute of her! We finally set up the baby monitor so we could watch a movie together. The monitor was much more entertaining! We found ourselves watching her more than the movie.

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Sloan holding Lisa's hand on Christmas Eve.

Sloan and Dirk on Christmas night. She has her first ornament from her Grandma & Grandpa Shulund.

Her great uncle Phil got a chance to hold her on Christmas Day.

Sloan and Dirk after a long Christmas Eve! We went to church service where her cousins Sinjin and Connor were baptized and then to Grandma's house for food. Sloan slept through almost the entire evening.

Here she is in her cozy Patagonia suit for cold days. Thanks Heather and Finley for the hand me down!

This was our Christmas card photo. She is such a happy baby!

Sloan during bath time. Can you believe how curly her hair gets when it is wet?

November 2009

November began with Dirks whole family coming to stay and see our new addition. Sloan was the center of attention. I am not sure how they came and went and we don't have any pictures to post but it was definitely a blur. By the time she was about three weeks old the new parents were starting to feel much more confident. We were very entertained by the fact that she smiled at us now and would track us as we moved from left to right. It was so fun! We love every minute with our new baby girl (even the nights!). We have many things to be thankful for this holiday season and of course our healthy baby was at the top of the list!


This is how Sloan spent most of Thanksgiving day, sleeping! Except, of course, when her mom sat down to a full plate of food. Then she wanted to eat too! We didn't get a picture with her Thanksgiving outfit on but here she is when we got home with her turkey bib that was given to her by Jennifer Capser.



Our in house photographer, Dirk, had a photo shoot with Sloan. She was very cooperative and even fell asleep midway through. These photos were taken when she was about 6 weeks old.

Sloan and Dirk at about 4 weeks old.


Sloan at about 3 weeks old. Sleeping on our bed.

Sloan at about 3 weeks old.

Sloan at about 2 weeks.

October 2009, Welcome Sloan!

Sloan Marie Shulund was born on October 23, 2009 at 3:33 AM. She was 7lbs. 11oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. She came out with a full head of hair!

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She had a brief stay in the NICU due to a reaction from the eye ointment that they are required to administer. Apparently there was a national shortage of the gentamicin that is normally used so it was substituted with erythromycin. Sloan and three other babies had a reaction. At first the doctors didn't know the cause (although it was posted on the CDC website that other babies had been having reactions)and since Sloan was the first one to have a reaction she was put through all of the tests to rule out a number of things. The whole time she was healthy and happy but just had a scab around her eye. There was no damage to her actual eye at all. She was very alert and at times a little too strong for her own good (like when they were trying to draw fluid from her spine and she didn't like it!). She also had her first hair cut when they had to shave her head to put an IV in. (I know many a men that would do anything for hair like that!)

We are ready to go home! Her going home outfit consists of a new hat that was knitted by her great aunt Meme and a onesie that was worn by both her friends Elsie Sladden and Finley Bergeson when they were first born.

Here are a few photos of Sloan and the McDonald family on Halloween.