Phew! What a Busy Week! (last week)

So last Monday Thorin had his 2 month appointment and everyone was guessing how much he was going to weigh because he's huge! I was the winner guessing 12 pounds and I was actually kidding when I said that! I can't believe he's gained that much but he's still only in the 10th percentile for weight. He's in the 75th percentile for height though so I think all the formula he's guzzling down he's using to grow vertically....he's already in 3-6 month clothes and another 2 or 3 inches and he'll be out of those too! I keep joking saying he's a half a Mikey at 2.5 months....Mikey weighed 24 pounds at his last visit.

Mikey's doing great with his weapon, I mean cast. We went to the doctor again on Friday to get another x-ray and she decided not to take the cast off just yet. He has another 2 weeks with the darn thing and she said she will definitely take it off next visit on October 10th! I'm excited about that because the Fundraiser for Kaitlyn is the following day so he'll be cast free!
Talking about Mikey...we thought we should start writing "Mikey language" down.
Gahbah: Thank you
Muddah: Mom
dah-dah baby: "it's ok baby"
bappou: apple
nah nah nah dada: goodnight daddy
backaball: basketball, baseball, soccer ball, etc....
auhhh: yes
GoGo: Dora
DayGo: Diego
BOO!: Boots (he loves Boots!)
Nohnah: Honor
niging: singing
weenging: swinging
topdaroof: Stop it doggies!
That's all I can come up with right now...I'm sure there will be more to come!

So we also went to the clothing swap and the toy swap with the MOMS club. Thank God for the MOMS club! I outfitted Mikey and Thorin for the fall and winter and did pretty well for Honor too. I also picked up lots of toys to put away for birthdays and Christmas! Can't beat that!

Honor had her first school project to do! It was very cute, the teachers really do a great job at the Early Learning Center. We had to bring home a backpack that had a book "I Like Me", a journal to write reactions to the book, a doll to add something to and a scrapbook to add a picture of Honor with the doll or reading the book, etc. We dressed the doll up in a pumpkin outfit for Halloween and Honor put on her Mulan dress. We took a picture of them together and added it to the scrapbook, very cute!

We also had Uncle Chris and Aunt Megan's shower last week. I'm so glad it went well, we were rushing around a bit at what seemed the last minute but it all worked out! I think we came up with the best favors (even though it was only for the guys)....chocolate and scratch off tickets! Next time we do a party I'm not going to listen to anyone else and do the scratch offs for everyone. I think lots of the ladies were jealous but they got magnetic picture frames that'll last longer than the tickets! :) Honor had a great time as the bow collector. I think Aunt Megan will have a beautiful bouquet to use at the rehearsal!

Mikey's cast

So we went to see the Orthopedic Dr. on Tuesday and they were really pleased with how much Mikey's bones had already healed but put him in a cast any way. I was kind of hoping we didn't have to do the cast but they don't want him to re injure it and for those of you who know Mikey well, or just know of him, know that there definitely would be a chance he could re injure it. He really hates it and asks me to take it off but it's hard to explain to a 21 month old that it can't some off. He has found that it's a great noise maker if he bangs it on certain things and he often inadvertently uses it as a weapon. He has gotten a kick out of people writing on it so now I carry a Sharpie with me so when we see people who we know would like to put their mark on Mikey's arm we're ready. :)

and not to leave Honor out....here's some pictures I took of her today.

Name change to "The Valley Dwellers"

Some of you may have noticed we changed the name of the blog to "The Valley Dwellers" (I'm sure most of you didn't)
Well, Darren was doing some "Slocum" history research and found that the name means "Valley Dwellers". Originally it was thought the name came from the comb used for harvesting the Sloe berry which would kind of explain the variations like Sloecomb, Slocomb, etc...but apparently not. We thought it fit us since the new house is pretty much in a valley so there you go.....

Simon almost sets the house on fire with his pee

We thought this was worth posting.....
A couple of nights ago I was laying on the couch dozing off a bit watching the Republican convention and start to hear some "pops" and sizzling. I realize very quickly that it's coming from behind the TV and see the flashes of light coming from some where back there. I leap from the couch to the floor in front of the TV so quick I don't even remember putting Thorin down. For those of you who haven't seen the house, we have the TV inside the fireplace because it fits perfectly and keeps the kids out of there. Well apparently it hasn't kept the cats out of there because that's where I found Simon during all this. At first I thought he was being electrocuted because he was just sitting there and there's all these sparks coming up from the power strip where everything's plugged into. I call Darren to come down and help as I'm grabbing Simon and tossed him somewhere behind me. Just as I get Simon out of there the power strip goes up in flames for what seemed like 10 minutes but it probably was only 10 seconds. Darren comes down, gets the power cord undone, lifts it up and says "what's all this liquid?" I think it's melted "something" he smells it and finds out it's pee!! The stupid cat went back there to pee on the power strip!!! Then we find out that's not the first time! There's poop and pee behind there from days ago! How does a fire place and a power strip say "Hey cat, pee on me!" ? Well, at least the TV's fine and it all happened in the fireplace but Simon has now lost his chances of coming up stairs for any length of time!

Mikey's broken arm

Some of you have already heard that on Saturday morning Mikey broke his arm. We have a portable dishwasher that usually (not usually...Always!) is locked up in the bathroom so neither Honor or Mikey can mess around with it. Well.....Friday night everyone wasn't feeling great, we all have colds so Darren and I decided to leave the dishes until the morning and left the dishwasher in the kitchen instead of wheeling it back to the bathroom. Saturday morning comes around and Mikey decided to get up before everyone and make his way downstairs. Soon after he got downstairs Darren and I hear a thud, crash and Mikey screaming! He must have unlocked the dishwasher door, pulled it down and kept pushing it down because that's the only way we can figure the he pulled the whole machine over on it's door with the door on his arm. We are so lucky that it only got his arm! Because of how it fell on him it hit in 2 places, his hand and right above his wrist. I rushed over to the Urgent care with him while Darren stayed with Honor and Thorin. Luckily again we got there just in time before they got busy there and we were rushed from one place to the other. At first the doctor thought he was fine and would just have a bad bruise but sent us to x-ray anyway. After the x-rays we found out both bones were indeed broken right above the wrist. They rushed us over to the treatment room where they fitted him with a splint that hardened over 24hrs to conform to his arm, which is so much better than having to put him in a cast! He's miserable of course because he also has a cold and an ear infection right now so the poor thing is on Amoxi, tylenol and cold meds to keep him comfortable.
Here's some pics of Mikey with his splint and also some of Thorin at 2 months old!!