A Thursday Afternoon

Well. Shane should be home soon from his last day of classes for the semester. He has finals next week then we can say goodbye to Greek for a while...aaaah (that was me inserting a sigh of relief). I am heading in to work for a couple hours after he gets home. Dinner is in the crock pot (teriyaki chicken and rice...yum!). And toddler boy is down for his long afternoon nap. Have I mentioned that I love our new routine?

I feel great today. We have had a normal week (no working extra, not too much running around), Silas is sleeping great, I am rested, I have been reveling in extended time with the Lord, skyped with my parents this morning, and Jessica is just about done with our pictures! If you're not on fb, you may not know, but we had an incredible photographer take pics a couple weeks ago (see new profile pic to the right). I'll tell much more about it when I get to share more of the photos she took. But for now, just know we had a blast!

Meanwhile, last night was messy games night for the East Campus middle schoolers. After it was over, I was picking up Silas from the nursery and a mom asked me if they got as messy this year as in years past. I just said, "Um, I think so..."

Gotta love it.

Silas and his friend, Micah

Do you remember when Silas wore his treasu(red) outfit in honor of our friends, Vince and Alisa who were meeting their son, Micah for the first time? They were in Ethiopia when I wrote that post. They have been home with Micah for over a month already. And guess who wore a similar (red) outfit on his first trip to the beach? When I saw their blog there was no one in the room with me, but I said out loud, "He has on that outfit!" Then I smiled and thought, I have to blog about that right now. So I did.

Goodnight, all!

Not so much a baby...

Silas will be 10 months on Sunday. 10 MONTHS! He is not so much a baby anymore and much more like a toddler. Would you like to know what a typical day is like? Why, I would love to share...

These days Silas gets up around 7, nurses and has breakfast, then we play, run errands, take a walk, or spend time with friends until lunch. While I miss the old morning naptime, we are a lot more free to do things now that he doesn't need it. And it makes Sunday mornings and Mom2Mom (Wednesday mornings) much easier. Silas is a happy little man till lunch. After lunch, the happy fades quickly into sleepy naptime. He has been sleeping from about 12:30 till 2:30 but today he was asleep by noon. I would like for him to sleep 12:30 to 3:00 but we're still in the beginning days of this routine so will keep working on it. Silas gets a snack around 4:00 then we have dinner together around 6:00 (most nights...I won't even attempt to make you believe that always happens...you know it doesn't). The best part of this new routine is bedtime. We had been doing bedtime between 8:30 and 9:00. But now that he is napping less, he needs to go to bed earlier. So now he is asleep by 8:00. It is fabulous having some evening time left after he goes to bed. Highly recommend it. I keep telling myself we should have started this weeks ago.

Well, I'm sure that was all way too much info for most of you. So here's a peek at life with our nearly-toddler boy:

Silas recently discovered that it was way more fun to stand up in his crib and bounce on the mattress than sleep. This photo was taken when I went into his room for, like, the tenth (ok, probably just third, but it you moms know it always feels like more) time to lay him down...


Little boy is pulling up on everything and loves that he can now look out the windows in his room...
Everything in the bathroom is great fun. I never thought I would let my boy sit by the potty and play. I just have to not think about it...
And I know I haven't told you that one of my bestest friends in the whole world came to visit a couple weeks ago. We had a blast: hours of unparalleled conversation, solving the world's problems, reminding each other how to love Jesus more, giggling, and chasing after Silas. I wanted to keep her here forever. I miss you so much, sweet friend.

He's Got Skillz

Silas had his 9 month check-up last week. He had a growth spurt the past few months putting him in the 70th percentile for height, but is still in the 50th percentile for weight. He's right on track. Crawling, pulling up, feeding himself bits of food...the doctor named it, I confirmed it: Silas is doing it all. Then our dear pediatrician asked if Silas was clapping. Clapping? Well, now that you mention it, no, um, I don't think I've seen him...I mean, is he really supposed to be doing that by now? Dr. P laughed and said, "He gets a strike for that." But no concerns with anything else, so no worries.

Let me tell you, I went right home and told Shane that our baby boy was not clapping and that other kids his age were and we needed to get to work. And I'll tell you what, within 3 days, that boy was clapping like he'd been doing it his whole life. And here's the proof:

Silas learns new skills every day. He doesn't stay in the same old patterns. If he did, we would start to wonder about him. Today I am coming to terms with the Truth that our Lord doesn't always do the same old things, either. He works in and around us in new, fresh ways all the time. Some days I really want Him to just do the old things. Those were comfortable, I knew what they looked like, I could kind of anticipate the pattern. But new...new is sometimes a little hard to break in. I'm not so sure how it will work in the long run. It might even hurt a bit.

But my God has got skillz I've never seen. And I'm not about to miss out. The promises are too great, the reward too enticing, the joy too overwhelming. So I'll take new. From the Ancient of Days, I'll take new.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the
past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I
am making a way in the desert, and streams in the wasteland...to give drink to
my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise."

Isaiah 43:18-21

Living Hope

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy,

He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ from the dead..."

1 Peter 1:3

Today our hearts are celebrating new life because of Jesus. We praise Him because our Hope is a Living Hope. Last night during his bath, I told Silas the resurrection story. I look forward to telling it to him time and again through the years. It will never get old.

Last night Shane grilled us dinner for the first time this spring. Because our Sunday mornings can be a bit harried with us leaving at different times, we went ahead and gave Silas his Easter basket last night while we grilled on the deck. He has been mezmerized with the shiny eggs.

Silas was absolutely adorable in his Easter sweater this morning. I could have eaten him up.

We celebrated Resurrection Day with a delicious lunch at the home of some dear friends. There were several children there so we had an Easter egg hunt. Silas was the baby of the group, but that didn't stop him from wanting to join in the fun. Daddy helped a bit...

If you would like to know Who we're celebrating on this Resurrection Easter Day, take a peek here. I couldn't have said it better.

I really need to get to bed...

...but I haven't posted anything in over a week. It's been way too long. Shane was out of town last week so I didn't get much done other than play with Silas, play with the dogs, clean a bit, work a bit, babysit 2 days, take Silas to the zoo, and dash through the grocery store. Ok, we stayed busy. In the middle of the week, Silas hit the 9 month milestone. He is learning some grand new things like pulling up...

We have had some beautiful weather this week so spent several days out of doors...

Please don't ask why these pictures appear purple. As evidenced by this blog, I am neither a photographer nor a videographer.

Silas and I had a good week together but we missed Shane terribly. As I put Silas to bed on Friday after Shane had come home, I whispered in the baby's ear that all was now right in our world. I think he agreed.