2 months

Silas turned 2 months on Thursday and had his check-up the same day. I had to wake him up from a nap to bring him in so I expected him to be fussy and out of sorts, but he didn't cry at all for the doctor and even offered some big smiles! I keep hoping he's going to be my happy and easy baby so when he pulls off something like that I start to think my wish might come true!


Silas weighed in at 11 lbs, 5 oz and measured 24 inches long. There is some discrepancy with his length because they told us in the hospital that he was 24 inches. Hmmm. At his 1-week appointment he had (apparently) shrunk down to 22 inches. And now he's back at 24 ?? I know it's hard to get an accurate measurement of an infant when they won't stretch their legs out properly, but I wish I knew what to write down in his baby book. He's definitely longer than he was at birth. His pants and sleepers can testify to that! Anyway, his weight puts him at the 50th percentile and his length at the 75th percentile.

Silas has proved to be pretty good at spending long periods of time alone in his playpen (like right now while I'm blogging). And he actually doesn't mind his tummy time:


Our nights have been going better and Silas' stretches have been a minimum of 6 hours. If he wakes up sooner I've let him fuss a little bit and eventually he'll drift back to sleep (after I give him his soother). So, I really can't complain!


I also took Micah along to the appointment to ask about the cold sores that he gets so frequently. He'll sometimes get them one right after the other and it's so frustrating. So, now we've got a new cream to try out next time he gets one. I also happened to mention to my doctor that we were holding Micah back from Kindergarten. He applauded my decision and told me that they had done the same with one of their sons and never regretted it. He made the comment that, if it was in our power to give our kids a head-start in school or make them play catch-up, wouldn't we want to give them the best chance? As confident as I am in our decision, it still feels good to hear such positive affirmation!


Now I'm starting to wonder if I should do the same with Keziah (Nov 22 birthday). It's probably too soon to decide that yet, but I'm starting to think about it more. As it stands now, Micah and Keziah will only be 1 year apart in school and then Silas will be a whole 3 years behind Keziah. If we held Keziah back they would be nicely spaced every 2 years apart. Should that matter?? Also, when I think about the benefits of holding her back, wouldn't I want her to have the same advantages?


Anyway, that's enough from me. Now onto some more pictures. I took quite a few the other day because my mom had requested some new ones...

Smiley Siley

Projects & Freebies

It's been a busy week! I've finally gotten some transcription assignments again in the last couple of weeks. I had about a 2-month break from work - partly due to me having a baby, but also because there wasn't much work to be had. So, I'm glad to get back into it, but now I need to find a balance. I used to be able to get work done during nap time and in the evenings, but just because the other kids are sleeping doesn't mean I'm off "mom duty" with Silas. He's pretty needy after supper these days so I'm finding it difficult to find time for my work (or myself for that matter). Yet I don't want to turn any assignments down since we need all the extra money we can get these days!


We also had a few little projects going this week. Erik was inspired to do some work in our ensuite bathroom over the weekend. We have 2 bathrooms upstairs that were exactly the same - pink tiles around the tub and ugly old lino. Here's a picture of the bathroom that we haven't renovated yet:


And here's a shot of the ensuite in process - the tiles have already been painted white:


And here's the end result:


We used a linoleum stick-on floor and it turned out great. Now we just need to put some new baseboards down and get a nice shower curtain to finish it off.

And despite how busy I felt with work this week, I was inspired to do some decorating in the boys' room. I've accumulated a pile of picture frames over the years, so I filled them in with some scrapbooking paper to create their names. It was a really fun project for me:


I also got Erik to hang this white shelf and - Voila! - the finished product:



Erik got me my first set of gardening tools this week. You'd probably laugh if you actually saw the tiny space I'm referring to as "my garden", but it was all matted with last fall's leaves and weeds so I spent some time cleaning it out yesterday morning. Right now we have a vine that's flowering and I think it looks so pretty...



Our weather forecast shows sun, sun and more sun for the next 2 weeks! We finally got to enjoy our swimming pool this past weekend and the kids had so much fun. I think we're going to be thankful for it this summer! I'll have to take a video of the kids jumping into the water - they are absolutely fearless (as long as they've got water wings).

I just realized that I have NO new pictures of Micah to share, but I took some cute pictures of Keziah and Silas the other day. She is such a little mother. Erik and I are pretty sure her love language is "physical touch" as she loves to smother Silas. The other day he was fussing while I tried to burp him on my lap. Keziah was climbing all over us (and being a bit of a pest while I was trying to settle Silas) and before she knew it, she had a face full of spit-up! I couldn't help but think that it served her right for getting too close! She had a look of shock on her face for a split second and then giggled - she thought it was cute, I guess :)




Undressing her baby:


Onto the topic of sleep - we were doing wonderful in that department as of last weekend. Silas seemed to tack on an extra hour of sleep with every week that he got older. At 4 weeks he was consistently sleeping 4 hour stretches, at 5 weeks, 5 hours, etc. And on the evening of his 7-week birthday he did his first 7 hour stretch! It only lasted a couple of nights though and then he had a bad week sleep-wise. I'm not sure what the issue was (growth spurt maybe?) but I waited a few nights to see if it would sort itself out. Last night he woke up a couple of times but settled quickly without being held or fed and lasted a whole 6 hours! So, hopefully we're getting back to those lovely lo-o-ong nights!

(yawn)


Naptimes are a bit troublesome with Silas as well. He has a chronic problem of waking up about an hour into his naps. I'm generally a pretty soft (un-stubborn) person and have always struggled with hearing my kids cry. But, Erik is even softer than I am, so I've had to step up my "tough love" approach. Anyway, this week I've started getting a bit more liberal in letting Silas cry, and it really seems to be helping. This morning he had his first nap in over a week where he slept 2 hours straight through without a peep. His 2nd nap he woke and cried briefly but settled back in for another hour. It feels so good to be able to nip some of these bad habits in the bud!


Now onto the "freebie" portion of this post... Erik came home from a hockey game the other night and saw one of our neighbours about to put a perfectly good high chair by the dumpster. Erik intercepted and said he would take it. Then the guy asked if he wanted any other stuff. Long story short; Erik ended up coming home with a highchair, a baby swing, a stroller, a bassinet and a baby bath tub! We didn't end up keeping the bassinet and the tub, but the rest of the stuff is in perfect condition! Keziah was pumped when she woke up the next morning and saw the new stuff:


The next day Erik saw 2 perfectly good little step-lid garbage cans by the dumpster and snatched those as well. And then today he was outside when another one of our neighbours asked if he wanted his carpet cleaning machine! So, we got about 6 "new" things in the matter of 3 days - what a blessing!

Mother's Day Weekend

The Vancouver Canucks are playing tonight and even though I am interested in the outcome, I find it impossible to just sit and watch an entire hockey game. So, I will blog the events of the weekend while keeping one eye on the TV :)

The new sleeping arrangements are going really well. There has been no problem with the boys sharing a room. Silas is usually just waking up once a night to eat now. Micah doesn't even stir when Silas cries at around 3 am for his feed. They've both been waking around 6:30 am but this morning everyone slept past 7 which was great.

Cute :o)


I think Keziah is happy to have her own room. It's my favourite bedroom because of the 2 bright windows and it will be fun to "girl" it up a little bit.


She's been having a little bit of a tough time staying in her room though. Nothing like what we went through with Micah, but I think she's still adjusting to the new arrangement. The other night we came up the stairs and found her fast asleep in the hallway again...


We moved the playpen downstairs the other day so that I would have a safe place to lay Silas down (safe as in no poking Keziah fingers or jumping Micah feet). We've also been letting him catnap there in the evenings. He's been pretty content to spend long periods of time in there staring at the ceiling :)


The kids' latest favourite activity is baseball. Erik will often take them to the park after supper and pitch balls to Micah. Keziah's main job is back catcher which she is glad to do! Erik told me how well Micah is doing at batting and I got a chance to see for myself the other night when I joined them at the park. I woud say Micah hit about 75% of the pitches and can actually hit the ball pretty far!

Just to prove I was actually there...


Here's a video of one of Micah's hits. I almost missed it because I was distracted by Keziah's back-catching (and the couple making out in the grass behind the fence...)



Sunday was, of course, Mother's Day. Here are Micah and Keziah ready to head off to church:


The afternoon included a trip to Birchwood Dairy for fun and ice cream. I'm not sure how both the kids ended up in white shirts while they ate their "gubble-bum" ice cream but it made for some cute pictures!


Wow - it's been a long time since we've taken a picture of just the 2 of us!


Just being cute!


Sitting up on the wagon seat:




Here are the kids on the same wagon almost 1 year ago!


And on the topic of how the kids have changed, I realized this week how much Micah has grown up. Every 6 months I take the kids to the health unit to get a flouride varnish on their teeth and every single time Micah screams his head off. I had to take them again this week and I knew going into it that, this time, Micah would do OK. We talked about it beforehand and, sure enough, he was very brave and co-operative even though I could tell he was a little anxious.
Also, when I first mentioned preschool, he would get very anxious and not want to talk about it. Now when I bring it up, I can tell he's starting to get excited. It's a relief to see him growing out of his over-anxious behavior and developing the ability to cope with stressful situations.

Silas spends so much of his day swaddled up or in his car seat, but he looked so handsome yesterday that I had to snap a few pictures:


Silas is doing really well. Everyone always asks me if he's a good baby and it's hard to know how to answer that question. I don't think he's an exceptional baby, but I definitely think he's a good baby. He doesn't often cry for no reason at all and he's generally content to be in the swing or the playpen for awhile after he's been fed.


One unique thing about Silas (from our other 2) is his cry. It has a raspy sound to it that is really different and cute :) I should record it sometime so that I'll always remember what it sounds like.


Silas is smiling at us more and more. I took a video of him the other day and even though there aren't any huge smiles, it was still cute enough to share: