Return to Cougar Canyon

On this night last year, Josh, Lauren and I hiked into Cougar Canyon. As they finished their last rock climb, I started the trek back up to the car. I stopped to pee and suddenly had to exclaim "I'm not even kidding guys, but my water just broke!!"



With that, Josh zoomed down the rock face and we "dashed" to the car (as much as you can dash when you're 39 weeks pregnant, going into labour and having to stop about every 20 feet to let more water break).



Josh, Silas and I hiked back out to Cougar Canyon last night to reminisce. Smalls has developed from a little fetus kicking around my womb to an almost one year old Silas who can just about kick a ball walking around. That is truly one of God's miracles. Josh and I had no idea how completely helpless and dependent a newborn really is when born- they cannot roll, they can barely turn their head to the side, they are stuck in whatever position you place them in. (And to think Jesus became that for us...)



What a year and what a ride it has been... thank you, God.

Watermelon Junkie

So, Silas is a big fan of watermelon too...

Corn Addict

A couple weeks ago we had steak, corn and potatoes for dinner. Silas went MAD over the corn. Tantrums if we tried to take a cob away.

I wasn't sure if Silas would remember, so I tried to keep him from seeing the corn we were having tonight until after his rice and broccoli and potatoes. He was quite antsy with during dinner though, I swear he must have spied the corn in the veggie steamer!

He once again went to town when we handed one cob and then another over. What a two-fister!

Almost a Walker

At eleven months old Silas started taking steps. He would suddenly be standing without holding on (stunning both us and himself). And then he started attempting the couch to coffee table hands free. From those first couple of independent steps he can now walk about 15 feet, but is not a "walker" yet. Crawling's still faster for Silas and wins out if time is of the essence- like dashing for the opened fridge or garbage can under the sink.

One year later...

One year ago tonight, I was very excited. It was the night before my last shift at work, before the start of my maternity leave.



Tonight, however, is the last night of my mat leave. Impossible to believe a whole year has passed! Grandma Doris and Opa have graciously agreed to watch Silas during the week for us. Knowing how well he did with them while we were in Hawaii really puts my mind at ease, but I still feel bad having another secret bulldozer we are going to hit him with tomorrow.



Just after Silas was born, I almost craved work because life with a newborn was definitely harder than any physio work I had ever done. Thank God it is no longer so. I do not exactly want to return to work, but can accept it. Silas has a comfortable day and night routine, he eats well, has spent days away from us and sleeps through the night. It is also nice to feel okay about knowing life could be a bit rocky as we all get used to me working. Thank God for this peace (or perhaps obliviousness?) we have. We pray Silas will continue to thrive, we are thankful for the many who have gone before us and we pray I will be an asset at work and home.

Reunited!

We returned to Vernon yesterday after an awesome time in Hawaii. We had so much fun surfing and snorkeling and surfing and not worrying about baby naps, snacks or bedtimes and surfing and hiking and surfing and touring and surfing and watching a sunrise from a dormant volcano and surfing.





But we were only able to enjoy ourselves so much because Silas was also having a great time with Grandma Doris! Our little guy did not freak out when he woke up and we were gone. In fact, Grandma says he only seemed to miss us a couple times during the week. Otherwise, Silas got spoiled just as any grandson should- staying up late, sleeping in late, falling asleep beside Grandma on the couch, playing with paper towel rolls (because as Opa says "It's a cheap way to buy a couple minutes of peace!"), learning adorable new gestures and words and being played with all day! What a blessing that everything went so well!





Silas was nervous when he met us at the airport. We had prepared ourselves for this and so didn't completely fall apart as he clung to Grandma Doris. He did quickly warm back up to us, although did lodge the occasional protests like "Uh, I should be eating dinner at Grandma and Opa's right now!" or "Oh no, I don't fall asleep on my own any more..." We are pretty much back into our routine though and once again having a ton of fun with our little man.

Goodbye Silas...

Back at the beginning of March, our good friends Steve and Anetha Kashuba (Evan's parents) invited us to join them on a Hawaii vacation in early May. A vacation of with just the 4 of us- no babies! Steve's aunt had given them a Time Share to use to cover accomodations and by flying down on Aeromiles, Josh and I knew we would likely never have another chance to travel to Hawaii so cheaply. Also having just survived readjusting Silas to life in Canada, we were feeling quite ready for a break (and yes, feeling like we even might have deserved one!) With Grandma Doris generously agreeing to babysit Silas while we were away, we excitedly planned our 6 day getaway.



But sigh, the day has arrived for us to leave our little boy! Silas has gotten to be so much fun in the past month and with cries that are much easier to understand and now that he totally sleeps through the night and naps well, he's a real joy to be around! Could you leave a kid who gets such a kick out of hanging in his dad's truck?

It is very hard to leave him this morning. For the past week, everytime he smiles or giggles with us, I feel a pang of guilt. We knew we were about to hit him with a huge bulldozer of a change to life as he knows it, but he has been completely oblivious. We had to sneak out early this morning before he awoke to catch our plane and my heart aches to think how he will cry when neither Josh nor I are there to greet him at 6:30am. Let's hope his excitement at getting to see Grandma Doris so early in the day, wins out. I hate to think of him searching the rooms in our house for us. (Grandma Doris, you are taking on so much for us- thank you, thank you again.)




Little Silas, we love you endlessly and will miss you constantly. But you have already grown up so fast and we are pretty sure that you are ready for this step on the journey toward independence (sob, sob). You love your Opa and Grandma Doris and all the visitors who come our way, we know they will all take such loving care of you. We pray that, as people say, this time apart will be harder on us than you and that it will help us to be better, more rested and rejuvenated parents. We will feel lost without you (can we really go into a room without babyproofing it?) but we promise we'll be hugging and kissing and tickling you again soon. Bye, bye little one.

PS- Please do not take your first steps while we are away!

At the Playground

Now that spring-like weather is back again, let me tell you about a day Silas and I enjoyed two weeks ago (and one we're looking forward to doing again soon).
After our Mother Goose singing program, we headed off to the park with Lexa, Evan and their moms.



It didn't take Silas long to get down and dirty in the sand.



He also enjoyed zooming down the tunnel away from Mom. Evan and Lexa were not big fans, but who can blame them when crazy Silas goes clambering all up and over them?



As always, Silas enjoyed the swings (but let me apologize again to Lexa for scaring her with a swing ride at Silas speed!) and trying to figure out how to go UP the slide too.


Just when he thought he couldn't possibly have more fun, Silas met the ducks of Polson Park. As expected, I spent most of the time keeping Silas out of the water.

Calgary is too cold!

We spent last weekend in Calgary celebrating the marriage of Russ and Karen Watts. I laughed, thinking "Good 'ol Calgary," when we heard it would unfortunately be snowing the whole weekend- but the -21 degree windchills and constantly blowing snow and dead of winter road and driving conditions were horrible! Sure, it was chillier than normal when we landed back in Kelowna, but the hills were green, the sun shining and there wasn't any snow on the ground. Seriously, what's keeping you all out there, move here!



(Thank you Grandma Doris for once again sparing Silas a long card ride and treating all of us with flights to Calgary.)

Thank you to the Stimpson's for hosting us during our weekend. Thanks for the fun swim and not bedgrudging the trail of toys, clothes, remotes, phones, opened cupboards and food scraps that Silas seems to forever leave in his wake. Or the forgotten purses and carseats too! (And kudos to Mokiee for not getting frustrated with a baby who would swipe and want to play, but cry as soon as she moved toward him.) It was wonderful to catch up with you and all the rest of our former Calgary crew. We definitely miss being around you all.



Last weekend in Calgary reminded me we've come a long way with our formerly colicky little boy. We first travelled to Calgary with Silas when he was 6 weeks old. We were terrified of EVERTYHING then- travelling to and from airports with him, being "trapped" on a plane for a WHOLE hour with him, being without a bouncing exercise ball. It was so nice to feel calm before and during this last trip. Thank you God that parenting really does get easier!

Silas and Grizzlor

Up until a few weeks ago, Silas was only interested in soft, chewy plastic toys. No interest at all in plush toys or stuffed animals. Around the time we started letting him cry himself to sleep, it became obvious he wanted some sort of toy to cuddle. Initially he only liked to hold a Robeez shoe, but then he became quite fond of a teddy bear. Or as Josh says, "The bear's name is Grizzlor- it's not a teddy bear, it's a grizzly bear he has to tame!" Nowadays wherever Silas the Mighty is, Grizzlor is likely close by. A bit of an homage to Calvin and Hobbes we guess.

You know you're a parent when...

When we were about 10 months pregnant, Josh and I were given this "Pop'n Sing Apple" toy for Smalls. After testing it out and hearing the jarring melodies, we were pretty sure we'd need to save the toy for trips to Grandma's house. But as diaper changes have become quite the wrestling match, I'm always trying to distract Silas with toys. I reluctantly reached for the dreaded apple the other day, bracing myself for the ear splitting music I remembered. You know how I know we're parents- we didn't even flinch when "Pop Goes the Weasel" played. This toy seemed no different from the others Silas has been playing with. I guess we no longer have those pre-baby "virgin" ears.

Is this Normal?

Back at the beginning of March, Silas went through a major 5 day teething bout. The works: snotty nose, drooling lips, bright red cheeks, a mouth and entire head that felt as hot as fire and wanting only to be held and cuddled (which is highly unusual for our active little guy).

Of course we did not see a glimpse of his new left upper tooth until about 2-3 weeks later. (We agree with the experts who say the most painful part of teething seems to be new teeth moving through the gums rather than breaking out of them.) The teething bout was so intense, we hoped Silas would cut more than just the one and assumed he would cut his top front teeth (his central incisors)at the same time like he did with the bottom two.

Silas' top front left tooth is now almost visible whenever he smiles and he has cut two more teeth... his top left eye tooth (upper lateral incisor) and his bottom left lateral incisor tooth! We're quite sure it's nothing to worry about yet, but do wonder what he's got against growing teeth on the right side of his mouth!

Where's Silas?

Hmmm, if we're wondering where Silas may have disappeared to, there's a good chance we'll find him here...