Another first...

Guess what popped up today...a tooth! Si's bottom left tooth broke through the skin today. You can feel the whole flat top of it. I discovered this wonderful surprise tonight in the bath tub. Of course, he refuses to let me look at it, but you can tell he is very proud!

Pumpkin Time

Seeing as though it is Si's first fall, we found it absolutely necessary to load him up and take him here. (No, he is not vacuum sealed in his carseat. Yes, he is still within the height requirements by 1 inch. Don't worry Mimi, he is getting a "big boy" carseat on Friday.)

Silas loved every minute of being on the farm. He studied everything, taking in each and every small detail.

While we waited for the wagon to return from the pumpkin patch so that we could go, we moseyed on into the petting zoo barn. Si was fascinated with the ducks. I guess they reminded him of his bathtub?

After just a couple of minutes, a tractor returned. We climbed into the wagon, and off we headed to the pumpkin patch. Don't worry, Richard carried Si onto the trailor, not me. (Plus, he was wearing his Power Balance bracelet...no trippage here!) On the way to the field I wasn't sure if Si was enjoying the ride or not. He was so serious!

Once we arrived in the land of pumpkins, I could just hear Si next year saying, "Ball! Ball! Ball!" and going from pumpkin to pumpkin. This year, he enjoyed the pumpkins ok, but the dirt was his favorite. Next on his list was most definitely the gourds. He felt like a king sitting on them!

We stomped our way on over to the field of sunflowers where Si discovered pollen. He rubbed his hand all over, around, and inside the flowers. Directly after, his hands went to his eyes, nose, and mouth. It took me a minute (remember, I'm still learning this whole mom thing) but once I realized his bright red face and consecutive sneezes were probably connected to the pollen, I baby wiped him. He was good to go then.

Silas loved the return wagon ride. Most especially, he loved my camera and the strap. Aplin Farms was a wonderful way to spend Saturday afternoon.

And- check out our family picture! It was a one shotter...thanks to the lady with the crazy cat eyeliner and strangely dyed hair. (Maybe that's why Silas was looking away!)

Baby Dedication

Yes, I realize this post is past due; however, I didn't take many acceptable pictures. I waited until Laura Ashley posted hers so I could swipe, ehh borrow, them.

It just so happened that baby dedication fell one day after Si's 1/2 year birthday. Sounded to me like a great time for cake!



I was rather stressed the entire day because our dedication ceremony was during the evening service. Now, for those of you who have forgotten what it was like to have a baby around, anywhere between approximately 5-7 pm is not exactly the most jubilant time of day. Some days are ok, but I was forseeing the worst. I wasted my day being grumpy and stressed because the Lord is faithful and answers prayers. Silas did wonderfully despite a small meltdown prior to the service.

We had to arrive at 4 for pictures at church. After family pictures, we took a group shot of everyone that was participating in the service. There was also a wonderful shower-esque spread...and I didn't even eat my favorite, petifores! Thanks stressed mood. Mrs. Susanna went above and beyond to make everything very special. During the waiting time, Si and Coop got in some great playing.

Fortunately, we have wonderful family and friends that were willing to make the drive to show their love for Si.

(front to back: Kayla, Aunt Cait, Mimi, Gigi, G-daddy, Chubbs)

(front to back: Uncle Greg, Aunt Cindy, Grandmother, Jonathan, Granddaddy)

Afterwards, Gigi and G-daddy came over, and Gigi got to feed Si who loved every minute!

All in all, it was a wonderfully special evening. (And, no, besides the church picture which we haven't yet received, we did not take a family picture. I'm new at this, ok? Here are the only pictures of Si with either one of us.)

Just a quick pic!

Just wanted to share a picture of Si in his G-daddy's outfit. It was made by Mimi, Si's great great grandmother and G-daddy's mother.

Hard at work!

First thing this morning, Silas began working hard trying to move. He can roll from side to side and make a great banana. See for yourself!

Of course, all of this hard work could not be done without his trusty paci. Si and his paci have rekindled their love for each other. He had gotten to the point of rejecting the paci, somewhat weaned himself from using it. I was good with that because I didn't have to play "paci fairy" during the night anymore. Now, he is great at being his own "paci fairy." He will actually reject it when you give it to him, pick it up himself, and put it in his mouth. Yes, I was that parent that said I would just leave it in his crib for naps and bedtime; however, it seems to feel good to his gums and make him very happy! Once again, pacis are stashed everywhere.

1/2 Year Mark

It is truly hard to believe that Silas has been here for 1/2 of a year. I can't fathom that we have already gone from eating and sleeping every 2 hours to chowing down on vegetables. Where has time gone?

We went to see Dr. Blaxton today for Silas's 6 month well check.

After thirty seconds on the table, it looked like this.

I mean, really, what sounds or tastes better than tissue paper? Silas is growing well. He weighs 21 pounds 1 ounce (96%), is 28 3/4 inches long (91%), and has a head circumference of 46 centimeters (93%). His sitting skills are out of this world, and, thankfully, he still does not move.

After the doctor, we went to visit Daddy at work. He got to check out Si's wounds and feed him his "I just ate two vegetables but am still crying for more food" bottle. He was done after an ounce and a half.

Silas loves to eat anything, although he did refuse cereal for the first time last night. (He was determined to get more squash. After much crying, gagging, spitting, and gnashing of gums, he won.) Si does not really like water or juice currently. He drank about 1.5 oz of mixed juice/water last night and that was a new record.

We have moved to sitting in the buggy while shopping which offers a whole new perspective on things. Silas is good for about 30 minutes without protesting. He will, however, growl in protest if people do things he doesn't like...such as make goofy faces at him to get him to smile. Instead, he would rather "Helen Keller" you, like he is doing to Dr. B.

His favorite book is still Goodnight Moon, and, after we sing each night, a huge grin appears on his face at the beginning of his prayers. Murdock, the frog, is his favorite stuffed animal, and his dumptruck outranks all other toys. Silas LOVES to jump and thinks everything is supposed to bounce. It is rather humorous!

Let's end with a couple of John Brown pictures. Blanton is coming to take his 6 month pictures tomorrow. Pray for some smiles!

Olan Mills

It was that time once again. Time for ye ole church directory photos. Much to my dismay, Richard and I have somehow missed them the first three years we were married. However, our church has decided it was time to update, so we signed up.

First of all, finding a time that suited our family was a nightmare. Richard isn't home on weeknights until after 7:00 and Si goes to bed at approximately 7:15. It also doesn't help that any of the other weekday times, even if Richard could come home early, happened to be during the "bewitching hours" which would cause our first family church directory photo to have an extremely grumpy baby front and center. Instead, I proudly signed us up for Saturday, September 11, at 10:15 a.m. Finally, a sense of accomplishment, short lived though...the next Sunday, our church announced a missions golf scramble to take place, you guessed it, on Saturday, September 11. Now, not only was Richard dreading the photo shoot, he was whining about the fact that he had to miss the scramble.

Friday night prior to our session, I received a complimentary phone call from Olan Mills to remind us that our picture time was at 11:15 Saturday, September 11, 2010, on the second floor of our church. GREAT! I thought I had chosen wisely, 10:15, which fell directly after a meal. But no. Now, not only did I have a begruding, whiny husband, but I would have a fussy baby since someone signed us up for pictures during our morning nap.

Saturday morning we awoke to a beautiful day. Si was happy. I was ironing. Richard was pouting and pretending to hit golf balls as he got ready. After I got everyone ready, made sure our outfits coordinated but didn't match, checked hair, packed the diaper bag, and said a quick prayer over our forthcoming photo shoot (for my sleepy baby, my picture hating husband, and the photographer that had to deal with us), we headed to church. Somehow, Silas managed to stay awake during the car ride to the church.

When we walked into the sign in room, simultaneously Richard and I noticed the display pictures. Now, Olan Mills used to be the creme de la creme of the photo world. It seems, however, that they have remained trapped in a time warp thinking the same things that were wonderful then are awesome now. Ha! The display pictures were a middle aged lady's glamour shot and a fierce, frowning, greasy haired woman with her two pit bulls.

Richard- I am not taking a million pictures. College football is on and I should be playing golf. Why couldn't we just send in an absentee picture? We just took a family picture when Si was born.
Me- You are participating whether you like it or not. Did you see these pictures?
Richard- What kind of freaks take pictures with their dogs?
Me- I don't know, but they could have at least chosen a smiling picture with their dogs.
Richard- I could have been playing golf right now. You owe me.
Me- We are taking this picture, period.
Richard- Well, it has to be better than that picture of the freak with her attack dogs. Serisouly, who does that? And what about that lady with the glamour shot...

In walks our photographer, the lady with the dogs. Oops.

Now, if you have been reading this at all, you know Silas is a Serious McGee whenever the camera comes out. We are good with it. However, after 15 minutes of trying to talk us in to taking a million different shots of our family ( just Si, just me, just Richard, just Si and me, just Si and Richard, and just Richard and me) our photgrapher decided to give up and attempt to make Silas smile somehow during the 3 shot limit Richard had given her. Let's just say she was determined. I have never heard such sounds coming from a human. Neither had Silas. He stared, and stared, and stared, and stared. Finally, when she quieted down to take a breath, Si smiled. Yipee!! There were two more attempts. Richard had his eyes closed in one. I was looking at the crazy lady instead of the camera in the other. At least we got a family picture for the directory.



I guess she was too mad at us for dissing her doggie picture and refusing a true photo session to tell me my hair was sticking out. Oh well.