A LeMuR hAs A HaPpY FaLL

We went to our church's annual Fall Festival last night with a sweet little baby lemur named Silas. Daddy had to help get him dressed...

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I thought he was the cutest thing I'd ever seen...

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Our baby lemur got to play basketball with Daddy...

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And jumped in the bounce house with Mommy...

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He walked all over with that cute tail following him. And he never even noticed it was there...

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He went down this great big slide...

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And our lemur sat in a firetruck. It was his dream come true. So many things to push...

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Another dream come true was the huge hot-air balloon you can kind-of see if you look closely at the background here. I kept saying if the line hadn't been so long we might have taken him up for a ride (But really I was thinking, what if he hated it and we were 30 feet up in the air? What would we have done then?). So we stayed happily on the ground and enjoyed the biggest balloon ever from a distance...

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Our baby lemur finally got tired so we decided to head home...

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We are going to be with friends on Saturday so will get to dress up all over again. We're looking forward to it. I'm still giving thanks that our lemur costume arrived in time. We ordered it online and paid for it to arrive by Wednesday. We needed it to be at our house by 5:00 pm. The box was dropped on our doorstep at 3:15. Nothing like a last-minute success!

A Big "Hairy" Update

Our sweet boy...
is almost 16 months old! We finally went in for his 15 month check-up yesterday. He is well and happy and full of energy. Every day we are thankful for how he is growing, changing, and developing. One of our prayers is that he would "grow in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man", just like Jesus. (Luke 2:52) After today, Silas looks a little bit older. You'll just have to read through this big "hairy" update to see why...

At 15 months, Silas is 24.5 pounds, which is in the 50th percentile. He is 32" tall, putting him in the 75th percentile. He's tall and lean, just like his daddy and mommy.

Silas' gross motor skills are right on target. He is running and starting to climb. Stairs are still a little tricky, but he is finally learning to be aware of mommy or daddy or a post to hold on to when taking a step down off our deck, instead of just catapulting himself onto the ground.

Silas is saying over 40 words now. I keep looking over the list critically. But as I look it over, I consistently hear most of those words every day. Ball, juice, balloon, feet, sock, rock, bath, cheese, shoes, tree, bowl... And he is starting to use concept words like hot, side (for outside), shoot (when he sees a ball or a basketball hoop), and zoom (when he sees or hears an airplane). He says woof for dogs and can tell you that a monkey says o-o-o-a-a-a. He points to his head, ears, nose, tummy, feet, and knees when prompted. And he'll bat his eyes at you when you ask where his eyes are! His newest language skill is to answer yeah to questions. It is adorable...I just can't get over it.

As you can tell, Silas is sure acting like a big boy. And today I took him for his first haircut. So now he looks like a big boy, too. Just a warning...this blog is mainly for our families so there are a big hairy bunch of pictures!

Here is Silas before we left for our appointment at Kid-O-Cuts. He's been sporting the shaggy look...

Silas got to sit in a red firetruck for his cut. He was delighted being in the truck. And they were sweet enough to pull out a Baby Einstein just for him to watch...

This was the last glimpse at his long, baby locks. He was wet and ready for the cut...

Silas sat excellently while the lady cut his hair. He did need some distraction now and then, but I was so proud of him. And here's the result...

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This picture is a good comparison from the very first one at the top of this post. That was leaving the house and this was arriving home...

We didn't want to lose all his length in back so he still has some cute curls, they're just all shaped up now...

We love you, Silas, and always will. No matter what you do or don't do, say or don't say, if you're sick or well, have long hair or short hair. You captured our hearts the first moment we found out about you. And that will never change.

Fun with Grandma

We had lots of fun with Grandma Judy on her quick visit. We walked, played on the computer, went for a well-baby 15 month check-up, and lunched at Chick-fil-a. With lots of playing and snuggling in between. Thanks for coming to see Silas! He had a great time with you, Grandma!

Saturday Morning Giggles

Shane and I were laughing so hard yesterday morning when Silas and I were playing with bubbles. The puppies were in the room and they decided they liked the bubbles, too. Silas kept giggling over and over. He even laughed so hard he fell down. It was so funny!

Grandma Judy came to visit today(expect pics soon). Silas and I were home from church, since we're keeping him out of public places right now. So she got up at THREE in the morning to drive down and see us. She must love that boy!

Since she was here, I went shopping this afternoon. By myself. It was a blessing to get the time to do something fun alone and a blessing to find some great deals! Even more of a blessing was that Silas had just woken up when I got home so I didn't even miss any of the fun.

Later, as I was telling Shane what a great afternoon I'd had shopping, he asked if it felt like I had my old life back. Hmmm... Yes, for a few minutes it did feel like the days of doing what I wanted when I wanted. But I would never trade those old days for what we have now. I'd give up shopping trips for the rest of my life to get to be "mommy" to Silas.

Purple Monster

Silas is feeling better today. He played with toys, explored the backyard, and took a walk with me down the sidewalk. He is smiling, laughing, and talking up a storm. And he's eating, if you can't tell. Started with the blueberries this morning, which turned him into a purple monster.

Silas' high fever finally broke on Monday and he started breaking out with a rash all over his neck and torso. By Tuesday we thought he had strep throat since he was congested and coughing, too. So we took another trip to see his pediatrician and found out he didn't have strep, and had never had the flu! He had roseola all along. It's nearly impossible to tell the difference between the two viruses on the front end of the sickness but the rash as the fever breaks is a clear sign that Silas had roseola and not flu.

His rash is gone now so we know he's not contagious any longer. But we're sticking close to home until we have one more doctor's appointment on Monday...the 15 month appointment we were supposed to have last week when Silas first got sick. He'll get his flu shot then and we don't want to risk too much exposure to germies before he gets it!

In the meantime, we will enjoy lots of happy playtime at home with this purple monster...

A Burst of Happy

So while this is what Silas still looked like most of today...


We did finally have some bursts of happy when we were able to get out of the house and take a short stroll...

When playing with his new toy in the kitchen (we were willing to pull out anything for a smile)...

And when we offered to let him watch a video. There's just something about that Baby Einstein caterpillar that makes him giggle...

Resting

Silas is finally resting this afternoon. He never napped yesterday then we were all up by 4 this morning when his temperature hit the highest we've seen since he's been sick: 103.9.

Alternating Tylenol and Motrin has helped keep the fever under control but he does not feel well and has only had short bursts of happy today. He must be exhausted so after lunch I darkened his room and have been rocking him since. It took him a while to give in to sleep but I am thankful he is able to rest.

Thank you to all who are lifting up prayers on our behalf. Shane is doing well and I have never once felt like I was getting sick. Our Lord is gracious.

Hopefully I can update soon with pics of a burst of happy...

Poor Baby

We're home this evening...and probably for several more days and evenings to come. Silas is sick with the flu. Our doctor is pretty sure it's H1N1.

Poor baby's temperature has hovered around 102 most of the day. He did not nap at all today but is finally sleeping now with me holding him. I guess he didn't want to stay up for another episode of Say Yes to the Dress. Ha!

Thankfully, I am feeling well. Shane is having a few flu-ish symptoms so we're praying it doesn't turn into anything.

Journeying

Silas and I have been enjoying the fall weather, exploring the back yard and journeying the sidewalks in our neighborhood. Our walks together are different now that he walks. I used to briskly push him down the streets, talking about what we saw but rarely stopping unless there was a dog to point out or a truck rambling by.

Now our walks take just as much time, but cover less ground. We stroll. We talk. We touch the rocks, the grass, the dandelions, the woodchips, the leaves. We admire the flag that waves on one neighbor's porch and that incredible purple-y tree that overhangs one small section of the sidewalk like a canopy. We stand under it to see and feel the effect of the wind. Silas watches the leaves move and blows himself, already acknowledging that while he cannot see the wind, he knows it is there.

These journeys with Silas have been incredible teaching moments for me. He is reminding me that the whole joy of journeying is not coming to the journey's end, but living the experiences along the way.

The past few weeks I have been pondering a journey of my own. Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, which you know is close to my heart. And last night I had the opportunity to teach in my Mom2Mom group about finding peace amid the pain, fears, discontentment, and busyness of life.

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Have I told you about this sweet group? I love our Wednesday evenings together where we share about mothering, being wives, seeking the Lord, and finding balance. This incredible group has found community quickly and I am blessed to be walking life with them. Last night we learned from scripture that peace comes from knowing God, not from our circumstances.

This morning I woke with a deep gratefulness. The Lord is redeeming the experiences of my past, using them for His good and His glory. He is opening my eyes to see the treasures around me on life's journey. He is an incredible traveling companion.

Silas is a fun traveling companion, too, if you haven't noticed. Mismatched as can be in his playclothes the other day, we had a ball journeying together. He is smitten with himself in a hat and loves to take it off and have me put it back on. We will not venture out into the neighborhood today. The grocery store and a few hours at work will keep us from it. But we are sure to have some adventures with the puppies in the backyard instead!

15 Month Weekend

Our boy turned 15 months on Friday! We took him to Chick-fil-a for dinner to celebrate. Had a blast. We were supposed to go in today for his 15 month check-up but our doctor is sick! Silas' pediatrician consults with the clinic where I work and on Friday he was telling us that they are seeing about 30 kiddos a day with the swine flu. So maybe I'm glad we're not going in!

We got Silas a new "car" to celebrate his 15 months. It is a car ball-pit. It needs more plastic balls to really be a ball pit, but Silas loves it!

It gives him crazy hair...

Thanks to Manda for the tip! It's a great toy!

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On Saturday we had Silas' friends Jonah and Everett over with their parents for dinner. We hadn't all been together since before the boys were born. We cooked out and had a bunch of fun laughing at all three boys...

I couldn't get any good pictures of the three of them together but Michelle took this one that's decent. They all look a little weirded out by the 6 adults trying to get them to smile...

Good friends are truly a blessing. And good friends who are right in the same seasons of life are a gift...