Slaton Hawke Fraser

Slaton can Walk ( Well Kinda)

2010-02-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

Slate's First House Trick or Treating

2009-11-02T14:45:00.000-08:00

Trick or Treat!

2009-11-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

We took Slate Trick or Treating at a few houses on his first Halloween. We went to Grandmom Fraser's, The Scheuring's, The Saltzstein's, The Jones' and to Mimi's. Slate did a good job and stayed up until after 9pm. Daddy says he hung longer than Mama usually does on a Saturday night. Slate had a lot of fun going to all of the houses and seeing all of the kids that came trick or treating. He was a good EWOK.

Slaton and the Pumpkins

2009-10-25T10:47:00.001-07:00

We took Slate to a pumpkin patch Friday night. He did not like the hay very much. He cooperated just slightly to let us take a few pictures :)

Slate Goes To MHS Football

2009-10-10T17:30:00.001-07:00

We took Slate to his first live football game last night. His daddy watches football all of the time at home..but this was his first live game to watch. He did much better than the Wildcats.... he was a champ ( the cats were losing when we left):(

No Texting and Driving Slate

2009-10-10T17:23:00.001-07:00

Slate's new favorite thing to do is ride his car. He can't quite push himself yet...but he loves to try..then when he is done, he falls off. It is so cute! He is getting to be a big boy. At his 9 month appointment he was 21 pounds and 29 inches! He is a good boy and eats like a champ now!

Check out Slate's new video

2009-09-09T17:32:00.001-07:00

Slaton College Style

2009-07-30T23:47:00.000-07:00

Slate's Aunt Janice sent him a UVA jacket in the mail. It was so cute, we had to get his picture taken in it. Slate has 3 cousins and 1 aunt who went to UVA or go to UVA so we had to get some pictures taken for them.

Slate's new trick

2009-07-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Slate has started doing this whenever he is in his high chair. Sometimes he even does it with a mouth full of food. He thinks he is so funny when he does it. He is getting so big and is talking up a storm. If you pause the music on the left, you can hear his noises, they are pretty cute! We also got him his first hair cut. I have video of that too, so I will post it when I have 40 minutes for the video to upload.

Slate Resort Style 4

2009-07-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

I rolled myself up in the sheet on the floor.

The bath tub was huge, I think we could have fit an elephant in there!

Then I had to take a bath

Mom and Dad made me get out because it was starting to storm.

Daddy took me on a walk to see a waterfall, but of course we did not have the camera with us! A good time was had by all@!

Slate Resort Style Post 3

2009-07-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

We went swimming- after all the swimming lessons this summer, Slate had a chance to practice his skills in a big boy pool. He loved it! He even tried a little bit of a smoothie out by the pool.

Slate Resort Style 2

2009-07-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

We took a walk through the halls of the hotel- I had to wear daddy's hat! I bounced in my bouncer!

I ate a lot-

I played with this handsome fellow who kept following me..he was even in the elevator and bathroom with me!

There he is again!

Slate Resort Style Post 1

2009-07-23T12:50:00.001-07:00

We went to Tucson this week and stayed at a fancy resort. I was presenting at a teacher's conference and Charlie was on Slate duty most of the time. It was a nice big room and Slate did great.

When we got there, he played around on the nice big bed.

He practiced crawling all over the bed

Then kicked back and watched some TV with daddy.

Slate Loves Cherries

2009-07-23T12:29:00.001-07:00

I got Slate a mesh bag with a little handle on it so he can eat fruit and not choke on it. Charlie was eating cherries the other night, so I decided to give Slate a few ( minus pits of course) in his mesh bag. We took off his clothes, put down a plastic mat on his blanket and set him on the floor with his cherries. He loved them. He has cherry juice dripping down his belly but he was so happy!

Slate's 3 Month Pictures

2009-07-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Finally updating!
Here are Slate's first professional pictures.

More Crawling from Slate

2009-07-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

Slow But Sure- Slate Learns To Crawl

2009-07-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

I loaded Slate's videos on YouTube.

Mama's Chunky Monkey

2009-04-13T16:18:00.001-07:00

We went to the doctor on Thursday. Slate is 15 pounds 7 ounces and 25 and 1/4 inches long. We have moved up to the 75% . Still no doctor approval for rice cereal.. we have to wait until he is at least 5 or 5 1/2 months. I want to give it to him now, but I am going to be a good mommy and wait like the doctor says. He is eating 36-40 ounces a day... he is growing so fast it is hard to believe he was just a tiny 5 pounder when he was born.

Slate is so smart, he can play the piano with his feet. This was daddy's great idea and Slate seems to love it.
Slate can grab things with his hands now. Most of the time, whatever he picks up goes straight to his mouth.

Such a big boy now.

Slate's friend Jamison... born about a week apart... Slate is huge! They are both growing so much!~

Slate in his bumbo seat. This helps him sit up and hopefully keeps his head from getting flat.

Slate's First Easter

2009-04-13T15:57:00.001-07:00

Looking cute in my Easter outfit mom got when Aunt Ginny was here. He is starting to laugh, so this is the start of a laugh from him. He is so cute when he laughs. We have been trying to catch it on video, but never seem to catch him :)
Slate and Grandmom Fraser with his Easter basket from her.

Slate and Mimi with his Easter basket from her.

So Handsome!

Look out ladies!

Slate Rolls Over- In Real Time!

2009-03-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

Just press the triangle to watch the video. It starts out slow but gets better. Watch out- there is a special surprise at the end! This is our first attempt at uploading video to Slate's blog. We caught him rolling over. You might want to stop it before the end :) I don't quite know how to cut video clips yet :)

Look what I can do now!

2009-03-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

Slate has learned to roll over from his back to his tummy. The only problem is he does it in the middle of the night and cries because he can't get back to his back. We have only mastered going from back to tummy. We are still working on tummy to back- I am sure we will get it soon.

First I start out like this on my backThen I get my arms going

Then my legs

Then my body And then I end up like this :)

Kiss Me- I'm Irish

2009-03-17T15:16:00.000-07:00

Slate's first St. Patty's Day- He's a cute leprechaun!

Brailee's Birthday Party

2009-03-17T07:21:00.001-07:00

We went to Brailee's birthday party last night at Chucky Cheese Pizza. It was Slate's first kid party! Brailee had a great time and it was nice for all of the cousins to be together. Slate also got to meet his great uncle Steve from California. He flew in for a dentist appointment and was able to make it to Brailee's party. Brailee's birthday is not until the 19th but they celebrated it early so everyone could be there and Jeremy did not have to work the next day.
Slate had such a good time watching all of the lights, he wore himself out by 6:00
The Birthday Girl!

Slate sitting like a big boy in his stoller without the car seat!

Brailee at her birthday party!

Slate with Uncle Steve from California!

Again Mom is a HUGE slacker

2009-03-15T06:33:00.000-07:00

Slate stares at his elephant that is hanging from his chair!
Slate at Aunt Ginny's Birthday Breakfast at Joe's Farm Grill

Uncle Kenny, Daddy, Cousin Amanda, Aunt Ginny and Slate at Aunt Ginny's Party

Slate and the Birthday Girl!

Going back to work has made me become a big slacker on Slate's blog. But this week is Spring Break so I should be able to catch up this week. I still have not sent out Slate's announcements- but they are coming, I promise :)

Slate is such a good boy- he is still sleeping through the night and he is getting to be a big boy now. His Aunt Ginny came here from Virginia and was able to watch him all week. It was nice. We went to Joe's BBq for Ginny's Birthday Lunch and then to Joe's Farm grill for Breakfast. It has sort of become a tradition to go to Joe's on birthdays. Maybe in December we will take Slate there for his birthday.

We are just planning on cleaning house and pulling weeds this Spring Break. We are looking forward to spending a lot of time with Slate this week.

Mom Is A Slacker

2009-02-24T18:07:00.000-08:00

Here is slate getting ready to go out on a COLD Arizona Morning- Just kidding- the hat was so cute- I just had to have him wear it !

Here is Slate with Aunt Kathleen from Maryland.

I Love My Aunt Jan- ~Slate

Such a happy Uncle John. We love him too! He came all the way from Virginia to meet me!

Aunt Janice from Virginia!

You can tell I have been back to work for the past 3 weeks. I barely have time to get dinner made, bottles done for the morning and get Slate ready for bed before we have to go to bed. Having to start teaching at 6:30am has been rough on all of us! So, I will catch up from the past 3 weeks.

We were so fortunate to have a lot of visitors the past week. Slate got to meet four more aunts and uncles from out of town. Uncle John and Aunt Jan were here from Virginia and Uncle Bob and Aunt Kathleen were here from Maryland. Slate is very lucky to have such loving aunts and uncles. Everyone loved him. We were happy they could be here to see him.

Slate discovered a lot of things this week. He is starting to hold his head up all by himself and he loves to look you in the face if you hold him over your shoulder. He is pushing up with his arms and tummy when you lay him on the floor too. He is getting to be a big boy for sure, he was even pushing up on his legs when he was standing on Uncle John's lap.

Slate is finally smiling. I am so happy, I was a little nervous at first that he was going to be delayed, but he seems to be doing fine and smiles and laughs a lot now.

And for the best news of all ( well for a tired mom and dad anyway)..... Slate has slept through the night the past 3 nights. We are hoping this is the trend and not just a fluke.

We recieved a nice gift of a video camera, so now we will be able to tape Slate and have the memories of him last forever. I am going to try and figure out how to post them here or at least find a way to get a link somehow to the videos. That will be my goal this week :)

I did order baby announcements this week. I am in the process of sending them out - I figure 3 months is long enough. We are also going to get Slate's picture taken professionally in the next two weeks- so I will post those as soon as we get them taken.

I promise not to take 20 days to update again. I think we are in a routine of school and baby now, so things should get better.

School, Superbowl and Doctor visit

2009-02-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

This has been a full week for Slate. I took slate to school on Friday just to meet some people. He did good and had a great day at Mommy and Daddy's school. Then with a saddened heart, I had to go back to school full time on Monday. We did find a wonderful babysitter. She is a true answer to our prayers. She is a great girl we used to teach with who is fortunate to be able to stay home with her baby, so she is watching Slate too. She is 5 minutes from school and it worked out great this week. Her little girl is named Addison- so Slate might be a little confused and start to tell her to stop barking like we do at home with our Addison:)

This is slate's cute sweater he wore to school on Friday

Slate is 2 month's old- this was on February 4th

Slate went to 2 superbowl parties on Sunday. He wore his cute jammies again, but he did not bring the Cardinals luck this time. Charlie was disappointed they did not win, but we had a good time at the parties anyway.

Our friend Sherry at the Jones' party

Slate's new buddy Jameson - born about a week after Slate

Slate on his way to the first party!

Slate had his 2 month doctor appointment today. He had to get his shots- he only cried for 30 seconds and then he was fine. He was a real trooper. We are a little concerned with his development, he is not smiling yet or tracking with his eyes. He is also supposed to be cooing, and he is not doing any of that yet. The doctor was not too worried but we are going to be working with him and hopefully he will be caught up before his next visit. We have started trying to get him to follow toys with his eyes and we are reading to him to help him start to vocalize more. He smiles every once in a while but not in response to us or when we smile at him. We are just hoping he is a bit delayed because he was so early and that he will catch up soon. He is growing fine however, he is now in the 50% for his age where he was at the 10% the last time we went, so maybe he is focusing all of his energy on growing and will start to smile and coo soon:)

Before we went to the doctor- a sleepy slate!

Slate is a big boy now!

2009-01-29T08:30:00.000-08:00

I am getting ready to go back to work, so I have been trying to spend as much quality time with Slate as I can, so I have not been updating as much as I would like to. This has been a quiet week, trying to get a lot of housework done so I can be ready to go back to school on Monday. Slate is getting so big, it is crazy how fast they grow. We weighed him on the wii and he weighed 10.6 pounds. We go to the doctor next week so we will officially see how much he has gained.

We have almost got the sleeping down. He only wakes up once or twice to be fed during the night. I have started to give him a pacifier the other times and he falls back to sleep. I think he is on the right track and hopefully he picks up the sleep until at least 4:30am for mama when she has to go back to work.

Charlie is making plans to go hunting in two weeks, so Slate had to get out his hunting gear. I am sure he will be big enough to go hunting before we know it.

The back flap is the best part. I could not figure out how to just change the diaper with that open, but it is cute none the less.

We bought a swing with a gift card from Auntie M and Uncle Steve. He did not like it at first, but as soon as I realized it was the tray he did not like, he loves it. He cries when it shuts off and I have to restart it for him.

He continues to eat us out of house and home. Our friends that have boys tell us it never stops :) But we are glad he does not have any trouble eating for now.

Inauguration

2009-01-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

Slate watched his first inauguration speech and celebration yesterday. He watched with Mom and Dad. Charlie kept telling him to make sure to thank his parents when he makes his speech as the 55th President.

you can see how excited Slate was to be watching!

Go Cards!

2009-01-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

Slate's Cardinals jammies must have brought them luck :) They won! He looked so cute watching the game in his Cardinals wear. Charlie went to a Fantasy Football party ( where he collected the big prize.) I guess all the long hours of "research" and many hours of watching games on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday ( were there any days football was not on?) paid off.

I also took Slate to the Desert Botanical Gardens with Kathleen and Tiffany. We went to see the Chihuly Glass Exibit. You can click this link to see more about it. It was almost 80 yesterday, so it was a great day to be out enjoying the desert and the glass exibit.

My good friends Kathleen and Tiffany- we thought this part of the exibit looked like water.

Slate and Mom enjoying the sun and the glass!

Slaton's New Toy

2009-01-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

Slate is learning how to kick and bat at objects. He has started to play with toys :) We put him on this learning mat and all Charlie had to do was show him once and he started hitting at the fish all by himself- he is so smart ( he must get that from his dad). He is growing so much, he is even starting to look like a little boy instead of a baby.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

2009-01-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we took Slate over to JR and Amber's to watch the Cardinal's game. I think they won because Slate looked so cute in his jersey. His jersey is Drew Brees because he did so well for Charlie during fantasy football season. We are trying to find Slate a Steve Slaton jersey for next football season. Slate has Cardinal's jammies for Sunday's game, so hopefully his cuteness will help them win again :)

Slaton Goes To The Mall

2009-01-10T14:12:00.001-08:00

After his nap today, we took Slate to the San Tan Mall. We did not go in any stores, but we did get a chance to walk around and window shop. He enjoyed it ( even though he slept most of the time). It was a nice day ( why we live in Arizona). The mall is all outdoors, so we did not have to even walk in the hallways with germs :)

First we took a nap

Then off to the mall we went, where we took another nap in our stroller.

Slaton Loves His Daddy

2009-01-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

Slaton knows when Charlie comes home from work, he wakes up when he hears his voice for the first time at night. Charlie is a great dad and loves to hold his baby.

Tummy time- Slate does not like tummy time, so daddy gets on the floor with him so he can talk to him and comfort him.

Our first walk around the neighborhood

Slate's favorite place to sleep.

Before work, daddy tries to hold him. Addison tries to join in on the love.

Daddy ang grandmom Fraser

Daddy and Slate watching football.

Christmas Eve- the best present ever!

Sleepy Time!

Splish Splash I was Taking a Bath

2009-01-04T10:44:00.000-08:00

Today was again bath day. At first Slate did not like the bath, but we figured out he is like his mom and likes the water a little on the warm side. We bought this cool bath Aunt Kath recommended with a net so he can just hang in the water and we take the sprayer from the sink and rinse him off after we soap him all up. He likes the bath as of now, I hope he continues to like the water and will like the swim this summer.

Slate in the bathtub with the cool net so he can just hang out. After the bath we put him in his robe that our friend Sherry got him.
Charlie thinks he looks like a little boxer here with his fist and his robe.

This is after one of his first baths when he still had to have sponge bath on the kitchen counter.

Slaton's First Public Appearance

2009-01-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

We took Slate out for the first time yesterday. We went to Joe's BBQ for lunch. We picked Joe's because we could stay outside. Slate did good. We went with Grandmom Fraser, Cousin Megan and Cousin Rita. It was a beautiful day outside so it was a good day for our first outing. We went to school after that and Slate got to see where we work. He did so good, we only had to change his clothes once while we were out :)

Check out his sunglasses that match daddy's.

Rita, Megan, Grandmom and Dad

Slate just hanging out at lunch.

All ready to go out to lunch!

Cousins

2009-01-01T19:00:00.001-08:00

Slaton got to meet a lot of his cousins this week. Brailee and Deklan, Jordan, Abby & Megan, Amanda, and Rita ( all the way from Virginia). He is very lucky to have so many cool cousins. The rest of the cousins ( including 2nd cousins) are all invited to come over and see him anytime. We took a few pictures of some of the cousins, we will get the rest next time.
Cousin Abby

Cousin Rita

Cousin Brailee

First Post- this is a long one so I will catch up here!

2008-12-29T18:55:00.000-08:00

Here is the story of the day Slaton was born. On December 2, 2008 ( Tuesday) I went in for my regular ( twice a week) check up at the doctor. After taking my blood pressure and looking at a few other test results, the doctor wanted to admit me to the hospital and induce birth a few weeks early. I had the early stages of pre eclampsia and he did not want it to turn into eclampsia and the only cure is to deliver the baby.

Charlie had been at the ultrasound appointment earlier that day and then I told him to go ahead and go home that I was just going to see the doctor and then be home. Charlie was scheduled to be the guest coach at our school basketball game that night. I called him and told him I would be home in a few minutes, and that the doctor wanted to deliver the baby right away. I went home and packed a bag, cancelled the classes we were supposed to attend that week, called school and told them I would not be back, stopped at McDonald's and off to the hospital we went.

I thought in the back of my mind that this would be like the other three trips I had taken to the hospital earlier in the pregnancy. They would monitor the baby, take my blood pressure every few minutes, and they they would come back and say everything was fine and let me go home. But, when we got to the hospital, they did not make me go to the triage room, they had my stuff in a red folder and sent me directly to a labor and delivery room. They told me I was not going home until the baby was born. The doctor came in and saw me and almost let me go home after my blood pressure was normal, but after she checked with the high risk specialist, they determined I needed to deliver the baby for my health and the health of the baby.

So around 5pm I got comfortable in the nice hospital gown and they hooked me up to all kinds of monitors and stared iv medicine to start the labor. They also started another medicine to make sure I did not have a seizure because of the pre eclampsia.

After many hours of contractions and intense pain, Wednesday evening I decided to have an epidural. I was quite content after the epidural, I should have done it much sooner, but I was afraid it was going to wear off too soon so I held out as long as I could. Charlie was the best husband ever, he slept in a chair, held my hand, called the nurse when I needed them. It was hard for him to watch me be in pain, but he did great and handled everything well. I could have not asked for a better husband or daddy for my baby.

After the epidural, my blood pressure went super low so they had to give me ephedrine to bring it back up. I was finally stable and then I was only at 6cm, so at around midnight the doctors decided a c- section was the best thing for the baby as my body was not doing well on the medicine. So within 10 minutes we were all prepared for surgery. Charlie had time to pack up our stuff and grab the camera and off we went to the OR. They gave Charlie a special suit to wear at 12:11am we heard Slaton's sweet first cry. Both of us cried as we heard and saw him for the first time. He weighed 5 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Charlie took the camera and followed the baby as he was weighed and tested. They finished sewing me up and took me to a recovery room. My mom came back the the hospital and Charlie looked after the baby while I was cleaned up and then finally they brought Slaton to see me. We were a happy family after a long few days of labor. Grandma Fraser came to see us in the morning.

My Mom
Charlie's Mom