No, I'm not starting a revolution a la "V for Vendetta." Actually, that'd be pretty fun. Who's with me? I suppose we'd need to find a cause first. We'll iron that out later. Let's just get angry and make signs. I'll dress up Sloane to look like General Custer and get her a small sword. Any excuse to put a sword in her hands, really. We're not going to be here forever. It's high time she learn to defend herself.
Where was I? Oh yes. The 22nd of November. That's the date when I begin my new job at the Integer Group in Des Moines! We're super excited. It's bittersweet, though, to leave friends here. However we'll be about 3 hours closer to my parents and, depending on where we find a house (anybody giving away free houses in the Des Moines area?), within 30 minutes or so of the Weishaars. Jess will be able to get out of her contract in Cherokee, however not until the end of December. Not looking forward to being without my girls for three weeks. Lord only knows the shenanigans they'll get into without me. My guess is it'll be lots of movies starring Brad Pitt and Harry Connick Jr.
My last day at BV is November 17. After that I plan on taking a four-day weekend to soak up as much Jess/Sloane time I can before leaving to move in temporarily with Steve/Kate/Lea Sand in Altoona (thanks guys!). It'll be fun to room with Steve again (former college roommate). He informs me that he sleeps on the right side of the bed (I'm a left-side guy), so this should work out great. Kate either gets the middle or the couch. We haven't decided yet. I suppose it depends on how much she squirms.
Since I last updated the blog we had grandma and grandpa Van De Walle over from Arkansas. We had plenty of pictures of Sloane with grandma. Grandpa made chili. We were all waiting with anticipation at Sloane to "jettison some excess waste" (to put it in astronaut terms), as she recently has gone through multiple 4-5 days of nothing but wet diapers. It was my hope that one look at grandpa would scare the crap out of her. It took repeated exposure to him, but she finally got it done. Who would've thought I'd one day be hoping for baby poop.
Baby skill update:
-Neck strength continues to build. She's much more graceful now, though still gives up frequently, which results in random headbutts. We watched the movie
Willow today and I'm pretty sure Sloane could take him, or at the very least knock that little guy unconscious.
-She can stand up (sorta) with some bracing. Doesn't have the hang of balance yet (it's seriously not that hard), but will straighten her legs out when vertical. It's fun until she gives up and starts whining (lame).
-Focus: She's doing a great job of focusing (with her eyes, not like being able to move things with her mind. She's much too young for that yet). We have this trippy psychedelic light wand thing that she will follow with her eyes all over the place. Grandma says that's very good, so I think I should get a sticker or something. However she enjoys looking above my eyes when we're face-to-face, making me think that either A) I have something on my forehead or B) that something much cooler is going on behind me.
-My "Macho Man" Cradle (one of my three "baby holds" that I name after 80s professional wrestlers) is becoming less and less popular. She wants to see out more now (why she doesn't want to just stare at dad all day is confusing), so I've been relegated to the "Jake the Snake" Neck Prop more frequently. It's considerably less comfortable, so it makes sense.
-Lots more smiles, particularly in the mornings. I just had about a two-minute conversation with her in her swing. I have no idea what we were talking about or who made less sense, but she sounded considerably cuter than I did. Jess snuck over during our private conversation (impolite) and recorded me sounding like an idiot. She'll probably make me post it to get back at me. So look for that soon.
-Sleeping: Sloane now has the ability to sleep from about 9-6, though doesn't always choose to. She had gone about 16 days straight sleeping through the night until this week. We love her. On a related note, apparently she
needs to be fed at 6:00. If there's one thing we've learned loud and clear, it's this.
Musings:
I wonder how Sloane is going to react to daylight savings time. I tried to explain it to her but she just zoned out. I would too, I suppose. It's not that interesting. But she needs to know in order to correctly re-set her watch.
Now for some photos!
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| Grandma checking Sloane's motor skills. She's passing with flying colors. |
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| I'm like Santa. Everyone wants to sit in my lap. |
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| Cheeks are getting chubbier. I checked with Jess and apparently she doesn't have a "light" milk option. |
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| "Do you like my combover?" This might be one of my favorite pics of her. Photo credit goes to Jess. |
As always, more photos on our flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/castle_vandewalle/
