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.

Lots of new going on here!

Well, as Si gets older, he is discovering new things daily. Recently, he has gained a best friend of the stuffed variety. His name is still up for debate. In the running we have Ribbit, Mr. Ribbit, Mr. Frog, Frog, Frogger, and Steve. I vote Steve.

Silas has chewed so frequently on Steve/Frogger/Ribbit's foot that it is as hard as a rock. When I walked in his room during his nap today (because of all the talking that was going on), I saw Mr. Ribbit/Mr. Frog/Frog flying from one end of the crib to the other. It seems as though he has become an acrobatic frog thanks to some help from his best bud. I feel as though these two are going to get into lots of trouble together.

Also, Silas has officially outgrown his "whale of a tub" and moved to the much grander "ducky tub." He loves it! Now that he can sit up, a whole new dimension has been added to bath time. After a rowdy, violent splash session, Si gently plays with his toys. He is not a big fan of the quacking that comes from ducky tub's beak, but he does adore patting his inflated head--and scratching his eyeball, in a loving way of course. (It is difficult to get good shots in the ducky tub- too much room, too much action!)

Si is still enjoying eating his cereal at night. Currently, I mix 6 oz. of formula with rice cereal or oatmeal and a level one size container of fruit. The bowl is literally full to the brim, and it is an adult sized cereal bowl! These are not camera tricks!

He loves every bite. That was the bowl of cereal with bananas he devoured tonight. Si will also fuss between bites if they do not arrive at his lips quickly enough. Hilarious!

Since Silas is 5 months old, of course, we had to take some John Brown pictures. This time, John Brown was kind enough to allow Si to enjoy a small ear nibble. The fuzziness did not impress him. (Update from our 5 months post: Si can roll from his back to his stomach! Hooray!)

On a side note, Si and his best friend, Cooper, have finally begun to notice each other. I did not have my camera present to capture the hilariosity, but their encounter last night was quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen. The boys began by feeling each other's face as if they couldn't see. Before we knew it, Coop let out a shrill scream which scared Silas to death! He jumped and looked at Cooper with enormous bug eyes! Well, after Si's pulse rate resumed to normal, we put them together again. This time, when Cooper screamed, Si looked away with his bottom lip turned completely inside out pouting and began to whine/cry. I thought us adults would never regain composure. Oh the stories we will have to tell about these two. Here are a couple pics of the two of them for old time's sake.

April 2010 First Playdate at Cooper's

June 2010 First Beach Vacation

The best $10 I've spent in a while...

Instead of heading to Richard's football game, I waited in line last Friday to enter the Ozark consignment sale in hopes of getting some amazing deals. Let's just say I was highly disappointed. However, I did purchase one little jewel for ten dollars that seems to be well worth my long wait in line. Notice how blurry Si is on a rather focused background.

The constant jumping, bouncing, banging, and dancing is out of control! If only the pictures could capture the sheer joy being experienced.

(Please ignore the teal mannequin head sporting the Auburn toboggan on the foyer table in the background...that is Steve, the head for my classroom's scarecrow. Ha!)

Saturday with Daddy

Since Richard is a coach, his time with us during the week is very limited. Thankfully, Saturdays we have together. This Saturday, Si and Richard had a wonderful day together. Daddy picked out his clothes and dressed him in a comfy long sleeved t-shirt.

Then, Silas got to ride Roller Coaster Dad,

practice being a giant,

win a wrestling match,

accept zerberts with love,

snuggle in to play with toys,

become a master of the "stand and wave,"

and, much to Mom's displeasure, watch some football.

I think they definitely enjoyed the day together!

Cereal: Take 2

Silas has eaten cereal before. We fed it to him when he was four months old. It was not love at first sight.

However, now that Si has reached the ripe old age of five months, we decided it was time to give it a go again. Needless to say, absence makes the heart grow fonder! This little buddy enjoyed every minute to the max.

Si fussed when we pulled the spoon out of his mouth but graciously tried to help us get it back to his mouth since apparently we could not keep up with his desired speed. He completely drenched us all in the process.

Raspberries were prevalent which also added to our high spillage factor. Lucky for us, Si cleaned himself up.

In the end, I would count this go round a complete success!

5 months and Football

Someone is now 5 months old!

This precious boy turned 5 months old yesterday. He is an analyzing, processing thing that loves to giggle and crinkle his nose.

Si drinks about 35 ounces a day, wears a size 3 diaper, and goes to bed at 7:30. He is in clothes ranging from 6-12 months in size. Silas can roll from his stomach to his back so well that he even does it in his sleep! The problem is that he can't quite roll back over... This means that he gets stuck, and Mom and Dad have to swoop to the rescue in the middle of the night.

Since his 5 month birthday, Si got to experience something new...FOOTBALL!

We met Coach Dad at the field thirty minutes early to have a little hang out time. Then, Si began to study the crowd,

think up new plays for the team,

and ponder how to get infant shoulder pads so that he could play too.

When he got bored with that, he did a little of this.

At halftime, it became evident that it was past bedtime, so we decided to leave the football to Dad and head home.

This guy truly savored the whole experience, and it tuckered him out!

We will definitely be back next week! Go Rebels!