For my first attempt at mission-style furniture, I'm making a nursery set for my first child, to be born in October. So far, Iv'e made a dresser and am working on a crib, one with a lot of slats (of course).

The slats are going to be 27" long, 1/2" thick and 1 7/16 wide.
Materials:
I'm using 4/4 white oak. I have had the wood in my shop for about 3 weeks, it came from a climate-controlled warehouse that deals exclusively in high-quality cabinet materials. (so it was dried and stored carefully when I got it). It is super-humid here these last couple days, but I've turned on the AC today.

What I've got so far:
Today- I cut rough blanks from 4/4 white oak oversized so far, they're 1 1/2 wide, still 1" thick and 8' long. And many of them are crooked 1-2" over 8'. I want to end up with reasonably straight slats like I see on all the mission furniture that everyone else seems to have made just fine.

I've still got plenty of stock to work with to straighten them.

My plan:
Cut to length.
Face and edge joint the slats on two sides, then saw them parallel, slightly oversize, then joint the edges and faces once more, round-over the edges and cut the tenons.

BUT: how do I ensure that I'll end up with reasonably-straight pieces when I'm done? Should I wait for any period of time before I joint them?

Do i need to finish them RIGHT away once I glue up the 104 mortises? Can I apply anything before I stain to slow down wood movement before I get to stain and polyurethane?

Thanks,
Jon