Halloween!

Stella was not a big fan of Halloween this year, or dressing up like Minnie Mouse.  Thankfully, I set my expectations really low, so I wasn't disappointed.  All I wanted was a picture of her in her costume (she didn't even have to smile and she didn't).  We got the picture and I was happy.  We went to a carnival the Saturday before Halloween at the elementary school she will end up going to and then, she and her cousins went trick or treating in our neighborhood on Halloween.  The kids had so much fun, except for Stella of course, but oh well.  I think next year will be the year!

Super Why, Minnie, Batman, Captain America :)

                                              

Sidewalk chalk mania!

My Aunt Alice gave me an entire tub of sidewalk chalk, so Stella and I have been going to town with it! She is starting to write , which is really cool. Before, she would just sit on top of my chalk drawings, but now she is creating! She is for sure going to be right handed, which I am excited about:) My brother and sister are both left handed, Morgan and his brother and his dad are all left handed as well, so I get a little righty on my side!

Misty Morning at the Park

It seems as though Stella has been in fast forward these days. She said "thank-you" yesterday, says "no" all the time now and yelled "stop!" when I told her to stop banging her head on her high chair. She is her own little lady and knows what she wants. I can tell that she will be a leader and not a follower and that makes me happy. This morning we went to the park and it was misty and cool and I just watched my little girl play. She is so brave. She climbs the stairs on her own, crosses the wobbly bridge on her own and goes down the slide on her own. Pretty soon she won't need me to help her with anything and I am ok with that. I want her to be independent, secure and happy.

Swagbucks!

I was looking through some old videos and found this.  Lauren and I wrote this song for http://www.swagbucks.com/ 

Hiding places.

Stella is really into secret hiding places and wedging herself into areas and things that she doesn't fit into.  Sometimes I will hear it get very quiet in her play area, when I go to check on her, I will find her between the wall and the bookshelf, surrounded by stuffed animals, reading a book.  It's my favorite thing she does.  We bought her a tent last weekend with a tube on the end and she loves it!  I'm having so much fun seeing the world through Stella's eyes.  The smallest things to me are the biggest to her.  I can't handle how much I love her.

                                                                    Reading in a basket

                                                                 Reflecting in a bucket

                                                                     Relaxing in a tent

                                                                     Hiding in a closet

Stella's weekend in photos!

Catching up!

Don't mind me, I'm just trying to catch up.  Monday was my sister-in-law Angela's Birthday, so on Friday night, we all got sitters and painted the town red :)  We went to Sushi and then to a couple of bars downtown.  It was really fun and one of the first times in a long time that all of us were out together (minus Melissa and Scliminti).  Anyways, here are some pics from the evening.  I love the picture of my mom and dad.

Me, Morgan and my brother Ryan

Me and Ang (the b-day girl)

Mom, Dad, Bro in law Eric and sister Bridget

Orange International Fair

I am a bit behind on posts, but The Slater Sisters played at the Orange International Fair this past Sunday from 4-5pm on the main stage.  The fair was insane! There were so many people there!  We decided to bring Stella, since it was a venue that was age appropriate.  She is teething pretty bad right now, so she screamed all the way there, through most of our set and all the way home.  It was very out of character for her because she is usually in a pretty decent mood.  Poor baby.  I felt like a real rock star though, you know, looking out into the crowd of people to see my girl, red faced and screaming.  Morgan took her for a walk so she wouldn't distract me! We got a great response from the crowd and it was all around an amazing show!

Cousins

Stella just loves her big cousins and I love these 3 together!

The visitor.

I have avoided writing this story for almost 2 weeks now, but I feel ok to talk about it since a little time has passed and I have been to therapy.  We have been dealing with a rat problem!  It started over a month ago when Morgan and I were watching t.v. one night.  I was on the couch and Morgan was on the floor.  He jumped up and yelled "mouse!"  I screamed of course, because the "mouse" ran under the couch where I was sitting.  I jumped from the couch, to the coffee table, straight into the kitchen and sat on the counter.  I called my dad over, in a panic, for back up and stayed on the counter until he got here.  He and Morgan spent 2 hours trying to catch the "mouse" with no avail.  Morgan thought he might have run out the back door.

After that night, we started to notice that our bread was partially eaten and I found a banana nibbled into.  Morgan set a bunch of traps and I tried to block it out of my mind that we had a little mouse in our kitchen eating all of our food!

One night about 2 weeks ago I was out with my mom and sister and Morgan and Stella were in LA at his mom's house.  Morgan came home late and when he walked through the door he saw a huge rat run across our kitchen floor, jump, hit Stella's baby gate, regained his strength and jump over the gate and under the dishwasher.  Morgan pulled the dishwasher out and saw a hole in the dry wall.  He then called me and told me the horrifying news! My body went numb!  I came straight home, packed a bag, grabbed Stella from her crib where she was in a quiet slumber :) and went to my parents house, only to return when ratso was gone.

After 10 days of rat traps, exterminators, my dad smashing Morgan's hand in a rat trap, staying at my parent's house and living out of bags, Morgan and my dad finally caught the rat (I will spare you the picture..gag!) We came home on Monday, disinfected the entire house and bleached all of Stella's toys.

I guess when they remodeled our house they forgot to put the screens back up on the attic entrances. Everything is sealed now, so nothing else will get in!  If another rat does come in, I will run far away never to return.

Oak Glen

I remember going to Oak Glen as a little girl with my family and just loving everything about it.  We would  make our own cider and eat caramel apples.  It was pretty warm up there today, but fall is around the corner (I can feel it!) and I can't wait until the leaves start changing colors and it's a bit cooler!
Stella loved the animals and ran around with some other little girls her age.  I love watching her interact with other kids.  She gets so excited, that it scares them!

La La Loopsy..

At this very moment, Lauren and I are recording our 5th, that's right, our 5th La La Loopsy commercial. Multple zany voices and a couple of glasses of wine and we are set! Here is the first we ever recorded...

Naked toosh, a big red ball and Stella...

Back to the grind!

So, today is my first day back to work after my fibroid situation. It's 11:22 am and I am already over it. My sister Bridget is here helping me with Stella because I still can't lift her, so that is awesome. I just have so much catching up to do! Frank and Lauren are coming here tonight so we can record vocals for 2 more La La Loopsy commercials. That will make it 5 that we have recorded so far! LOL!

Suck it Fibroid

A few months ago, Morgan and I sat down and really got to business on figuring out how to get the grapefruit sized fibroid off of my uterus. Morgan did some research and found a non-invasive procedure at Cedars Sinai in LA (vs. a full on surgery). I was nervous that I wouldn't qualify, but after multiple visits and an MRI, I found out that I was the perfect candidate, so we proceeded. The doctor who invented the technology was the one who would be conducting the procedure. He was young and at our per-op appointment, was very unorganized and admitted that he was "not a great multi-tasker". This made me nervous, but I tried to ignore it and moved on.

My procedure was set-up for Monday, July 11th at 1:30pm. Morgan and I left our house at 8:30 am because we were so nervous about LA traffic. We got there around 10:00, which gave us plenty of time to think and worry and stress. We made friends with the volunteers in the waiting room and I thought about food...a lot. I had been fasting since noon the day before and knew I probably wouldn't eat anything until the next day.

At around 1:45pm the phone in the waiting room rang and my name was called. My heart dropped. I left Morgan and followed a nurse into a pre-surgery room where they get you into a gown and hook you up to an IV. As soon as I was in my bed and ready to go, they brought Morgan in to say goodbye. The nurse came in (who couldn't have been any older than 12) and introduced herself. Then my doctor came in said "are you ready to go?" I said yes, was slipped some drugs, the room spun and I was wheeled to the operating room. The last thing I can remember before the procedure is the doctor saying "we will see you in a bit" put a gas mask over my face and I was gone.

3 1/2 hours later I was woken up by a nurse pulling a tube out of my throat. Everything went well, but took longer than they had planned. I guess the fibroid was stuck to everything in the area it resided. My doctor said, "imagine if you put super glue on a ballon, stuck it in a fish bowl and tried to get it out without popping the ballon". Apparently my pregnancy made the fibroid sticky, so it was hard to get it out. The cool thing is that my doctor managed to grab a couple of cysts next to my ovaries while he was in there! I was pretty pumped about that!

When I woke up I had no idea where I was, but felt relieved when I saw Morgan. He sat on the floor next to my bed for the next 4 hours while I threw up and slipped in and out of sleep. I was supposed to go home that night, but stayed in the hospital instead. I'm so glad we stayed because I was not in good shape.

We were released from the hospital around 1pm the next day and I couldn't wait to get home to see my Stella. She had stayed over night with my mom and dad (thank you again!) and was a baby genius, as usual. She was so excited to see us. She yelled "dada!" as soon as she saw Morgan. He picked her up and brought her over to me, but I couldn't hold her and she could tell something was wrong. She starting crying hysterically "nana, nana!" Which is what she has been calling me lately even though she knows how to say mama. It was the worse feeling in the world. I cried. All I wanted in that moment was to hold my girl in my arms, and I couldn't.

This past week has been a lot of resting, laying around, eating and watching crappy t.v. It sounds amazing, but I hate it. I would rather be playing with Stella and taking her on walks. Today is Sunday and I am feeling better, more like myself. Not 100%, but I know I am getting there. My body is clear of crap that's not supposed to be there and I know that I am healing and will hopefully have a better pregnancy next time around. It would be nice to enjoy pregnancy.

I'm just glad the anticipation is over and that I am on the other side of this now.

9 months old!

I have been extremely terrible at posting these on time! She will be 10 months old on Sunday! I seriously can't believe how fast time is going by!

8 months old!

I know this is late, but here it is! Stella will be 9 months old on Sunday! LOL! I will hopefully be better about posting that picture sooner!

Stella Bellarina!

I just thought this picture was cute! Stella will be 9 months old on Sunday! Time is flying by way too fast, but I am enjoying every minute of being a momma to this precious little lady. Saturday was her first mommy and me swim class. I will post pictures tonight!

Working from home...

Working from home can be a bit challenging at times, but getting to hang out with this little lady everyday makes it all worth it! Here she is after a nap...a bit of a crank!