Wordless Wednesday

Easter, ballet, pigtails and the park!

The Slowik family has been super busy lately, as always :) Things are settling down a bit for now. Norah is growing like a weed, and learning new words and letting us know what is going through that adorable little head of hers more and more often. She is really starting to use her imagination! One of her favorite phrases is, "oh bananas." I have no idea where she heard it but it is so cute.
Chris is thriving at his new job. I am so proud of him for working so hard the last few years to land his, "dream job!" We are both so blessed to have careers that we love.
In other Slowik news, the countdown is on!! Chris and I are going to MAUI in a month! I am so excited I can hardly stand it, although we will miss our sweet Norah. She will be staying with her grandparents and we will be enjoying some just us time. Much needed :)

Look Mom and Dad, CHOCOLATE! (Norah calls it ca-ca :)

Hunting for eggs with Grandma

Norah's first ballet class

Enjoying the neighborhood park in between rain showers. It has been SO rainy here lately. And cold!

Pigtails, finally! I am having so much fun getting to do something with her hair. Norah is still not too keen on the idea, but she's getting better.

I just love this little one to pieces, how precious is she helping Mom vacuum in her piggies, stylin kicks!?!?

lately

*post idea from Heir to Blair*

Working …in Labor & Delivery full time now! ( I was floating between L&D and Post Partum) I am loving almost every second. I am so blessed to have a job that I love.

Thinking … about far too many things. My brain is constantly on overdrive.

Anticipating … far too many things as well. I feel like we are at a crossroad in our lives right now, right on the edge of lots of changes. Good changes, but big ones. Trusting God that everything will fall into place, because it always does :)

Reading … just finished Sophie Kinsella's new novel, I've Got Your Number. It was cute, but very predictable. Trying to decide what to read next.

Listening … some Zee Avi and lots of Phil Wickham, DMB and more radio than usual lately. I am craving something new!

Eating … well! Thanks to Pinterest I am constantly inspired to cook!

Wishing … that I didn't have to ever sleep. Working night shift is great because I am gone while everyone is asleep. The bummer is I have to sleep while everyone else is awake and living life. It's frustrating!! I don't want to miss a second of our sweet life.

wordless wednesday

\

It's been a while

It's been a while, but we are jumping off the FB train just a little and saving some pics and posts just for this blog! Stay tuned. xoxo
The Slowiks

NAMI Walk 2011

Norah and I will be participating in an event that is very important to me. NAMIWalks, the signature walkathon event of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is being held in Portland, OR.

WHERE: Vera Katz Eastbak Esplanade (SE Main at SE Water)
WHEN: Sunday, May 22, 2011
CHECK-IN: 12PM
START TIME: 1PM


WHY DO I PARTICIPATE?

My brother, Brent Slowik, had a mental illness called Paranoid Schizophrenia - "one of several types of schizophrenia, a chronic mental illness in which reality is interpreted abnormally. The classic features of paranoid schizophrenia are having beliefs that have no basis in reality and hearing things that aren't real."

Unfortunately in my brother's case this disease took his life by suicide. I walk every year in his memory and to help others like Brent.

I would like to ask you to come and walk with me and/or to donate to support my participation in this great event. Please visit the team page for Brent's Buddies and sign up:http://www.nami.org/namiwalks11/NOR/brentsbuddies. Donating online is fast and secure, and I'll get immediate notification via e-mail of your donation.


WHAT IS NAMI?

NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is the largest education, support and advocacy organization that serves the needs of all whose lives are touched by these illnesses. This includes persons with mental illness, their families, friends, employers, the law enforcement community and policy makers. The NAMI organization is composed of approximately 1100 local affiliates, 50 state offices and a national office.

The goals of the NAMIWalks program are: to fight the stigma that surrounds mental illness, to build awareness of the fact that the mental health system in this country needs to be improved, and to raise funds for NAMI so that they can continue their mission.

NAMI is a 501(c)3 charity and any donation you make to support my participation in this event is tax deductible. NAMI has been rated by Worth magazine as among the top 100 charities "most likely to save the world" and has been given an "A" rating by The American Institute of Philanthropy for efficient and effective use of charitable dollars.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Please forward this to anyone you think might be interested.

Sincerely,


C h r i s t o p h e r S l o w i k

Happy Mother's Day Trista!!!

I have the pleasure of seeing the best mother in action everyday. Norah Jane Slowik has the most loving, caring, thoughtful mother ever (besides her grandmothers, of course). Trista is one of those people who God has always planned on being a mother someday, and that someday came one and a half years ago on October 15th, 2009 when Norah was born and Trista became a mother. I have no doubt that no one loves Norah more than Trista and Norah love no one more than her "ma ma".

Here are some pictures of Norah and Trista over then last year and a half.




















...and here's a teaser of the video I made of what Trista missed at the Easter 2011 celebration....

Looking so Grown Up!

Just happened to have my camera with me the other day and when I uploaded these pictures I thought, "no way my baby is THAT big!" I can't stop it, she's growing up so fast. How blessed I am to get to watch her grow :)

Norah Climbs The Stairs

I put together this epic video of Norah's triumph over the stairs. She prevailed.

-Chris

When Norah Met Santa

It didn't go so well, but we got a killer picture!

Doesn't SC look like he'd had enough of this for the day? HAHA

Norah's getting strange before bed

Two consecutive nights Norah has started some strange behavior before bed time, maybe this is the shape of things to come.





11/17/10 - Norah came up with this pacifier hiding game







11/18/10 - Norah turned into an elephant or a trumpet player.

Hope you enjoy,
Chris

Maui Baby

*10 minutes before I finished this post Norah turned off the computer, mid keystroke! So it took a LOT to finally get this posted!!!*


I have seriously started this post 3 or 4 times in the last few weeks but technical difficulties, mommy duties and pure exhaustion have kept me from finishing it. It's not perfect, it's not beautifully laid out but I wanted to share some fun pictures from Norah's first vacation and her second trip to Maui! Photos from her first trip here.

At the Maui Ocean Center with Mom. She was so enthralled by this place, it was so much fun to see her experience something so new.

Waving to Dad while he goes snorkeling. This is at north Kaanapali beach RIGHT in front of the resort we stayed at. It was so perfect and beautiful.

Norah's first time in a hammock, I think she liked it.

Sweet little chubby cheeks :)

Hallway cruising with Daddy! Whee!!!!!!

Waving bye bye to the sun after a beautiful day

Little Slowik Family

Norah-1 Year

You can see some of Norah's 1 year photo shoot here.
She is getting so big!

look who's walkin'

New Computer!

Hooray! We finally have a new computer so I can upload photos and carry on with the blog posts! We're in the process of transferring things over, so stay tuned! We'll be posting soon about Maui and our Norah's first birthday!

Catch up!

We have been so busy lately, hence the lack of posting! Here is what we have been up to:

Playgroup trip to the pool! Norah, Kayleigh and Lana

Swingin' with Daddy :)

And here are her 8 month photos that I totally slacked on posting, it's getting harder and harder to get her to hold still for photos!!

And her 9 month photos! She is getting SO big!

19lb 10oz
28.5 inches long
She's crawling and cruising and getting into all sorts of things, she has 5 teeth and is working on #6! She is a delightful and joyful little girl and we are having so much fun watching her grow up.

This photo made me laugh, she was eating rose petals....crazy baby!

Vote for us!

Norah had her 9 month photo shoot last Thursday, and one of her pics is in a little contest on the photographer's blog :)
To vote for us, visit their blog here and leave a comment saying that Norah's pic is your favorite!
Thanks! And we PROMISE to be updating the blog more often. Teething, crawling, cruising and more have kept us super busy so we have been short on time :)

Norah Learned to Wave Today!!

Please help out any way you can

My brother, Brent Slowik, had a mental illness called Paranoid Schizophrenia - "one of several types of schizophrenia, a chronic mental illness in which reality is interpreted abnormally. The classic features of paranoid schizophrenia are having beliefs that have no basis in reality and hearing things that aren't real."

Unfortunately in my brother's case this disease took his life by suicide.

While it's too late to save Brent, you have the opportunity to help others like Brent who suffer from various mental illness diseases. I have started a team to walk at this years NAMI Northwest Walk by visiting this link you can donate to my team.

Thanks so much for your time.

Chris Slowik

PR: wait... I: wait... L: wait... LD: wait... I: wait... wait... Rank: wait... Traffic: wait... Price: wait... C: wait...