A Glimpse into the Future?

Before becoming a mom, I never knew that babies were truly born with their own personalities. Silas has a friend Lexa who is 2 months older and a friend Evan who is 2 weeks older than him. We all go to the same church and so spend time hanging out and joking about how this threesome will grow up together. Lexa is a little tank and just tough! At only 8 months old, she crawls (and has been doing that for 2 months already) and pulls herself up to standing (her mom learned that about a month ago when Lexa climbed out of her crib) and she is saying words ("Hi Dad," "Bye bye," and "Boo"). She will definitely be the dominant one out of our 3 kids and will decide what game and when the 3 of them will be playing. Evan is a mellow kid. Whenever they are riding in the backseat and Silas is having another car tantrum freakout, Evan will look at him as if to say "C'mon, seriously, haven't you figured it out by now? We're in the car, we're going for a ride. They always stop eventually and let us out. Haven't you learned that it's way more pleasant if you just sit and chill?!?" When you lay Silas and Evan down on the floor together, Silas will twist his body about, crane his neck in every direction and kick his legs like crazy. Evan will just... lie there. Evan will be the easy going one out of the 3 kids, he'll probably never want to play with Lexa or Silas unless they're reading a book or doing a puzzle. We figure Silas will be the intense, up one minute and down the next, spazzy kind of kid. He will probably be high energy, with an attention span on the shorter side of things like his Dad wanting to play hide and seek and Star Wars and Transformers and do it at the waterpark and at the playground with Lego.

Last night, Lexa and her parents came over for dinner. She crawled over to Silas in his exersaucer, hauled herself up and snatched the soother right out of his mouth (you can see it in her hand). To his credit, Silas didn't spaz out though- instead he wondered how his friend had a soother that looked so similar to the one he usually sucked on. We were able to slip him another one...unfortunately Lexa eventually got a hold of that one too!

"This Too Shall Pass"

When my friend Katy spent the year after high school in Brazil, she would often repeat the quote "This too shall pass" as she dealt with homesickness and all the other challenges and adjustments that come with living away from home.

It's something I've also repeated a lot to myself since becoming a mom. Reassuring myself that yes, colic does end and no, Silas will not always have to be rocked to sleep and yes, phases of multiple night wakenings do improve.

And yes thankfully, it did not take Silas another 4 1/2 months to get back onto our preferred sleeping schedule! It seems he has adjusted to eating rice cereal (although Josh and I are not comfortable with not-just-pure-breast-milk bowel movements yet). Thank God that Silas is again sleeping around 10:00pm, with a feed between 4:00 and 5:00am and a wake up between 8:00 and 9:ooam. There's often 1 or 2 soother replacements during the night and sometimes he joins me in bed around 7:00am so I can secure another hour or so of sleep, but our little guy is definitely sleeping in longer stretches and more able to soothe himself when he stirs.

I think Silas is ready for a second helping of rice cereal during the day, but we will probably wait until December to add that in. He and I leave Sunday for Dallas, Texas to visit my cousins there for a week. We'll be sharing a room with Grandma Doris and I don't think she'd appreciate a return of multiple night wakenings. We'll try to keep things as normal as possible for little Silas.

And speaking of travelling, I would totally appreciate prayers for patience (for both me and Silas) as we spend Sunday on planes and in airports, for quiet places to calm down in (Silas doesn't do too well with crowds for too long), as easy a transition as possible into staying at a new house for a week and then readjusting to life back at home, and for Josh, me and Silas as we have not been apart so long yet. Thank you!

PS- Yes, Silas is sleeping on his side. When he was 3 weeks old, I let him sleep on his tummy. I think it helped his colic and it was the only way to get more than a 2hour stretch of sleep out of him. When he was about 3 months, he suddenly objected to that position and his since preferred side sleeping.

An End in Sight?

From right about when the books said it could start, at about 6 weeks old, Silas has been King of Spitting Up. He has left his DNA on almost every piece of furniture, article of clothing and inch of carpet in our house. We are pretty sure our house has an "Eau de Dairy" fragrance about it. But just as the books said, as Silas approaches 6 months old, the spit ups are lessening!

Since Sunday, our little boy has been regurgitating only 1-2 times after feedings- a huge improvement on the normal 6-7 lake-sized puddles he usually produces! Yesterday, he only needed 2 bibs to get through the day and over the past 3 days, he and I have only worn 1 outfit per day. I am surprised by how joyful I am at the thought that Silas' spitting up may be nearing its end, but I really am quite excited. I am also relieved we do not have to buy stocks in a bib company and that we can finally hire some carpet cleaners.

Half an hour after his morning feed and still no spit up!

With only Bib#2 at 7:30pm!

Welcome to Life Outside the Womb, Zoey!

Congratulations to Seth and Andrea on the birth of little Baby Stimpson! Welcome to parenthood, we are soo excited for and have so much faith in you. Josh and I have been checking for e-mail or facebook or blog updates almost hourly waiting for the first glimpse of their beautiful baby girl and now can't stop checking her out :) I introduced Silas to Zoey this morning... not too unexpectedly, I don't think he realized the significance of the picture I was showing him. Hmm, I'm sure when he meets her he'll be all about touching and exploring her face though. And maybe in 15 years or so he'll be even more interested in his Godparents' pretty little daughter???

Daylight Savings TIme

Usually the day I look forward to the most during the fall, I dreaded turning the clocks back 1 hour this year. It took us 4 1/2 months to achieve Silas' sleep routine of 10:00pm bedtime, 4:00am feeding and 8:30am wake up, a routine that Josh and I were pretty OK with. I figured Silas would be oblivious of daylight savings time and would start waking up around 7:00am and I would not get to enjoy sleeping in that little bit. Thankfully after only one night of sleeping at 9:00pm and waking at 7:00am, Silas was back on track.

Now if only he'll get used to eating solids and stop waking up at 1:00am, 3:30am and 6:30am... Lord, please let it not take another 4 1/2 months!

Not just Mommy's Milk anymore...

As alluded to, to keep Silas entertained while we sat around visiting with friends during our weekend in Calgary, we let him suck on different foods. By the end of the weekend, he was pretty proficient at gumming crackers, bread and grapes. I even spotted a grape peel in his poopie diaper. Needless to say, he's developed quite a taste for solid food- he now smiles big and gets excited whenever we open the fridge.

Yesterday I sat him down for a bowl of pablum. He instantly directed the spoon to his mouth and wasn't shy about eating out of the bowl or off his bib either. He even asked for seconds. I guess he's growing up and the weaning process has begun... sigh, it does make me a bit sad.

And yes, that is Silas sitting in a Bumbo on a raised surface. And yes, I did turn my back for a second in which he wriggled out and landed face first on the counter. And yes, I've learned my lesson and the Bumbo now stays on the floor and I thank God he wasn't seriously hurt. But no, I don't think the chairs need to be recalled- it was my negligent parenting!

Happy Hallowe'en!

When Silas was born, some of the first things commented were:
1) Wow, he's a boy!
2) Wow, he's got none of Karen's dark features.
3) Wow, he looks exactly like Josh!
4) Wow, he's, uhh, inherited Josh's big ears. Wow, they're, uhh, Yoda-league size.

Thus, the inspiration for our little man's first Hallowe'en costume (and ours as well since we are continually reminded our world revolves around him). But we're sure the master Jedi would agree "Cute Silas is, yes." Since we did end up having to order the costume in from the US, Silas has gotten quite used to donning the little ensemble. He basically lived in it yesterday- it's awesome how oblivious he is of his flopping green headress. We're proud to say Silas won best costume at our youth group party yesterday; yeah, we'll wait until he can at least walk before we take him house to house trick or treating gathering candy for us.

A huge thank you to the Stimpson's for hosting us last weekend in Calgary and to Baby Stimpson for letting Silas crash in her room! It really helped him stay on schedule . Congrats to Mokiee and Roxy for good behaviour around a baby, little Baby Stimpson will enjoy them immensely. Thank you also to all you friends who came by to hang out and visit- and for entertaining and holding our son, even if it meant your fingers might get dirty while pacifying him with a piece of bread or a grape or a carrot. We loved reconnecting again; thank you for continuing to include us in your community, we treasure the bond and closeness we share in Christ.

PS- Josh is dressed up as George Lucas.