Slade the Dancing Sleeper

Lately Slade has become quite the excellent sleeper (sickness and teething aside). He very dutifully and easily goes down for his first nap 2 hours after he wakes up in the morning (around 7-8am). When he wakes up after 2-2.5 hours he's generally a very happy guy for the next 2.5 -3 hours (when it's time to go down for his next nap). Hereagain, he goes down easily for this nap for another 1.5-2 hours.

I don't know why or how all of the sudden he is so consistently sleepy- but I've been richly blessed! I love having the free time to get chores done, get ready for the day, catch up on emails/blogs, garden, etc... but when he's ready to wake up I'm ready to have his chubby little boy body in my arms again. I'll even admit to truly becoming my mom- lately I've been sneaking into his room before I go to bed to get a peek at his sleeping angel face - how adorable he is!!

He is so easily entertained and such a funny little toddler-man. Lately I have been trying to teach him the word Dance- rather enact the word when he hears it based on observing my dancing skills. He will toss his head around and his upper body moves with it then he'll stop and look at me and start cracking up when I do it back! Ah, how I love my child. His giggles and smiling eyes fill my heart with the greatest joy that I just have to grab him up and smother him with kisses. Of course doing this ends the funny moment as he is not quite a snuggler just yet, but man oh man I cannot resist his charm!

When I was pregnant, never could I imagine what my baby would be like - that he would cry is certain, but how pleasing his disposition would be and how much joy it would bring to us was up in the air. I truly believe that I was in doubt that I was really going to have a baby until I saw him- I was shocked! I heard myself keep repeating on the surgery table when I heard him cry for the first time, "Is that my baby? I have a baby? Do I really have a baby Doctor?" The Doctor was a bit taken aback - was I really suprised after laboring for so long then consenting to serious surgery thinking it wasn't but to produce a child? I could hear a little amused suprise in his voice as he answered me in the affirmative and peeked around the curtain to assess my mental stability. Now when I look at him I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that he was created from the love Mark and I have for one another and brought into this world through the gospel. It is so difficult for me to fathom how much our Father in Heaven loves me and my little family and how blessed we are!

Every night Mark and I thank our Heavenly Father for our baby boy and we ask for help parenting him as He would have us to. I am so very grateful for the gospel in our lives a million times over. I know our Heavenly Father loves us so much and is always there for us in our darkest hours as well as our very happiest ones. I am so grateful for my testimony, for my husband, for my baby (and babies to come!!), and for my life. I don't know what I did to deserve so much, but I will do my best to raise the bar in my life each day!