A Day in the Life

Hey Guys...

The other day, my friend Michelle and I were talking about how much we enjoy knowing about normal days in the lives of our friends. It all comes back to our innate need to live in community with one another, don't you think? Blogs have brought a whole new meaning to community, and I love it.

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So anyway, here's a look at a somewhat typical Sunday in our house. If it's too wordy for you, just skip to the pictures...

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We all went to church this morning. Silas spent his time in the nursery. He cried when we dropped him off. He has really entered the separation anxiety phase and doesn't like anyone else to hold him when we're around. But he settles down quick after we leave. Shane and I went to worship then led Bible Fellowship small groups for 7th and 8th graders. We're reading Crazy Love with our students this summer. This morning we talked about having a great big view of God. It was humbling to hear my girls talk about how amazing God is. And how we are absolutely not worthy of His love or grace. I think we're going to have some great discussions in the weeks to come...

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Silas fell right to sleep on the way home and didn't wake up when we came in the house. Against my typical judgement, I carried him upstairs and put him in his bed. I would usually wake him up for lunch so he would take a good nap later. BUT, Shane and I had lunch, Shane napped, I read, facebooked, watched a bit of TV and Silas KEPT SLEEPING. He finally woke at 3:45!

We then had his lunch. He is loving blueberries these days...

Looking for more...

After that late lunch, we decided to enjoy some afternoon sunshine and 80 degree weather. Someone thought it was finally time to try out the water today...

The whole family joined in the backyard fun. We decided Silas was done when he crawled out of the pool by himself. So we headed in to clean up. Silas then was treated to a half hour of a Baby Einstein video (a real treat as we only let him watch a video once or twice a week) while I balanced our checkbook (which, I am very happy to report balanced perfectly) and Shane studied for a quiz.
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Then it was dinner time. I whipped up some barbecue beef sandwiches for Shane and I. Silas had grilled chicken strips and peas. Am I biased or is he the cutest thing you've ever seen?

He was a sleepy baby at the end of dinner so we headed upstairs for a bath. After bath it was one last bottle then bedtime. He was asleep by 8.

Tomorrow is another day: I'm working and Shane has class; Silas will play with a friend and her boys. So I'm headed off to bed myself. Enjoy your week, friends!

Can Your Camera Do This?

Silas and I are as excited as can be...

Because we finally got our new camera! Shane and I went and purchased it yesterday, much to my joy and delight. As we were waiting in line to pay I said, "Just think of all the blogging I can do now!" I have missed being able to take even remotely normal pictures. Now, however, I can not only take good pictures, I can do all kinds of crazy things with the pictures.

Are you ready for this?

It's kind of embarrassing because these are horrid pictures of me, but Shane and I laughed so hard tonight that I just had to share them. Our camera has a retouch option called "Happy Faces." The purpose? To "modify people's faces to appear as smiling." We HAD to try it. So here I am, not smiling as Shane took my picture...

And here I am with my "Happy Faces" retouch...

Can your camera do that?

Warm Day, Cold Water

Silas is contemplating whether or not he is going to get in the water. He let me put his feet in, but was not super happy when I sat him down in the pool. Perhaps it was because I filled the pool with the hose and the water was freezing? A minor detail. I thought leaving it in the sun for a while would warm it enough, but Silas was having none of it. So he stood in the water clinging to me for dear life, half whining and half laughing. It was so funny.Luther and Auggie basked in the shade while we played outside. We are all enjoying the warm weather that has finally arrived. Shane keeps reminding me that I rarely write about the pups. He's right. I'm going to try to not neglect them any longer. It's just that Silas is so cute...

A Party!

Silas and I went to his first birthday party yesterday. His friend Everett turned one! It was such fun to see the three boys (Silas, Everett, and Jonah) together again. It has been 4 months since we have had them all together and they have certainly changed since that playdate!

Everett shared his toys so nicely...

Silas and Jonah...
Everett and his mommy, Michelle, right before he opened his presents. The boys were really cute before they opened gifts. Silas and Everett kept crawling over to the wagon and trying to pull out a present or two!

My Consolation is Our Photoshoot

It is Tuesday night. We're just finishing up a little American Idol. Silas boy has been in bed for an hour. For two days I've been lamenting that I didn't get any blog-worthy pics of Mother's Day. But instead of whining about that, I've decided to finally share the pictures from our photoshoot with Jessica of J*Grace Photography. She was amazing and captured some of the sweetest faces of our boy. Seriously...With Jessica, we drove to 2 different parks and along Bardstown Road, wrote on the ground with sticks, pushed Silas in a baby swing for the first time, rolled up our pants and crossed a creek in our flip-flops, let Silas sit by a drainpipe in an alley, and plopped our baby down in the middle of a street. We changed his clothes at least 4 times and decided we loved his collar popped. We talked Jesus, St. Louis, and missions and discovered Jessica had been to the Philippines!
Jessica was creative times a million. I never would have imagined the pictures we took would turn out as good as they did. All we wanted were modern pictures with cool backgrounds that didn't look like everyone else's. Expectations exceeded!

Jessica wrote 2 posts on her blog about our photoshoot. You can see them by clicking here and here. To see all our pics, visit the J*Grace site at SmugMug.

I am overly blessed. I have many thoughts about Mother's Day this year and Mother's Days past. Joy and pain. You could say I am treasuring all these days and pondering them in my heart. Perhaps someday I will write it out for you. Perhaps not. In the meantime, nothing could better express the deep delight and bond of motherhood than this...

Oh, and I just have to add...the camera shopping has begun!

Look Who's Been Here This Week...

Aunt Tara came to visit! Toddler boy has been living it up with so much attention the past few days. He loves getting to play with his aunt. And I have loved the sister-time!

I told Shane tonight that I should have asked for a camera for mother's day instead of my birthday (a little late to say that at 9:30 pm the night before). I may not end up with any pictures worth keeping from my first [not just pregnant] mother's day. So sad. My birthday is just in a couple of weeks, but I may not last till then! As you can see, the photos are getting worse by the post. I apologize. Hopefully a new camera will make it all better soon...

Not so much a baby but...

Still not so much a little boy.

Silas has not been feeling well today. He has a fever of 100.3. So he is reminding me that while I've been calling him my toddler-boy for a couple weeks, he is still ok with being treated like a baby. He rarely enjoys his swing anymore but this evening as I was making dinner, he was fussy and just wanting to be held. Shane (who was studying in the next room) suggested I try the swing. So I put it in front of the french doors looking into the back yard, where he was right next to me in the kitchen and he was as content as could be for the longest time. Then he leaned over and went to sleep. He's still sleeping as I write. A rare quiet moment while dinner is doing it's thing on the stove and I don't have a little guy underfoot. I'm going to love toddler days. As Silas does more, things just keep getting better. But I love a good memory of those early baby days where swaying and swings and swaddling ruled.

Ok. Back to dinner. And the quiet is over. Toddler-boy just sat up!

TEN Months

Yesterday was May 2nd. Silas turned 10 months old. Everyone in town was celebrating. The rich and famous flew in from all over. There were fireworks displays and parades. Parties till all hours of the night. They even ran a horse race. What? The other way around? Perhaps. You may be right. Silas' 10 month birthday may have fallen on the day of the biggest race of the year or they may have planned the race back in July when he was born. We'll never know.

Truth be told, the first Saturday in May is quite a day in Louisville. Around here, all you have to say is Derby and people start buzzing.

We spent the day with several friends from church...youth, their parents, youth workers. It turned out to be a cool and cloudy day; the rain held off so we all played out doors.

Our camera is starting to be a little funny so these are the only pictures that are worth sharing from the day...

Sweet toddler boy. Still loves that thumb but will take a paci anytime it's offered. When he sucks his thumb it reminds me that he's still so like a baby.