Silas' 1st Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful time with your families and got to spend some precious time with the ones you love.

Jake had the congestion, body aches, chills, and gastro stuff last week and was home sick for two days. He managed to suck it up and we made it to Nevada (Iowa) for Christmas with his family. Thursday he felt better and went to work. Our besties, Jake and Katie Bonner, were back for Christmas so we had lunch with them. Silas LOVED them and I think they loved him just as much. ;) He just ate up all the attention and love they gave him.

Friday we went to my Aunt Cindy's house for Christmas with my extended family. My poor, sweet baby Silas spent his very first Christmas sick. :( NOT how I envisioned Silas' first Christmas. His fever started Friday along with a runny nose and matted, watery eyes...and fussiness. :( His Christmas Eve was rough - he woke up just before midnight with his left eye nearly swollen shut and he was up off and on 'til midnight when I finally took him downstairs to sleep in the chair with me. Needless to say, that didn't work so well...he moves A LOT in his sleep!! :) So finally at 1am, I took him back upstairs and he slept fairly well the rest of the night.



Christmas morning he woke up again with his left eye nearly swollen shut and his fever continued all day. Poor baby tried so hard to enjoy himself but just wasn't feeling well. Here is Silas attempting to open his first present on Christmas morning. :) He did manage to chew off some of the paper! We managed to have a nice Christmas Day, just us with my family. He really loves his Granpa - they are best buddies and have so much fun together! Silas woke up from his morning nap acting much better and got to finish opening up his presents and seemed to finally enjoy playing with them.

Silas and Gramma got lots of snuggle time too. Who better to snuggle with than Gramma when you aren't feeling well?



He got lots of toys - an alphabet train, sit-to-stand walking toy, books, clothes, sled, lots of noise-making toys (oh joy!), money, etc. He's really enjoying some new, "big boy" toys. Jake was so sweet - he went overboard and spoiled me...he even got me a jogging stroller which I cannot wait to use this spring!!!




This is probably my favorite picture from Christmas. Our little family, Christmas morning. Ahh! Isn't it wonderful? This is what I dreamed of all last year when I was pregnant!!

All in all it was a wonderful first Christmas for Silas. Any time we get to spend with family is precious, I just wish he had felt better. Hope you enjoy pictures from his very first Christmas!

'Tis the season!

What a tremendously FUN age Silas is and what a great time of year it is too! I am so excited for Christmas to see Silas in his sweet little pajamas opening up presents on Christmas morning!! He is really getting the army crawl down and has figured out that he can make his way over to just about anything he wants to – including the cats! Silas has also figured out how to get back into a sitting position from the crawling position. He gets to going backwards first and then eventually makes in up onto his bottom. It's pretty funny to watch 'cause he does go backwards for bit before he gets the hang of it. I can't help but laugh. :)

He's starting trying to stand up in the bathtub - he can pull himself into the standing position and gets pretty mad when I sit him back down. He's kind of all over the place in the bathtub. I think he just gets so excited that he doesn't know what to do - stand up, hit the side, pick at the bath mat, grab at a toy, grab at the drain, roll over...there are so many options!

We set up our Christmas tree lastweekend and I attempted to get some pictures of him in front of it. Once he figured out the tree was behind him, it was pretty tough to get any picture of him holding still. :) I did manage to get a few cute ones.





Silas started at a new daycare this last week. He's going to Mercy daycare, right across the street from where I work. I only have a 30 minute break and I feel like if I went over there for only a couple minutes, it would be tough when I leave so I doubt I'll pop over there on my break. He did a good job on his first day and his teacher said he was "quite the charmer". I wouldn't expect anything less. :) He does have a way with that beautiful smile and sparkling eyes - I think he could melt any heart. I was nervous about switching daycares and had e-mailed my family on his first day asking everyone to pray for him (and maybe me too). :) My Mom told me that my Dad prayed that every single person that met Silas that week would fall in love with him – prayers answered! The ladies love him, he waves “bye-bye” to everyone that leaves and even managed to charm everyone at the mall yesterday too. My Dad's prayer keeps popping into my head whenever he flirted with people at Von Maur...everyone falls in love with him!

Silas has gotten the waving down for “bye-bye” and “say hi” - it's SO CUTE! I was on the phone with my Mom this morning and I said “Silas can you say hi to Gramma?” and he started waving at the phone. How sweet is that? And when it was time to go, I said “say 'bye-bye'” and he started waving again. Just melts my heart! Any time he hears “bye-bye” the hand starts going.

Anyway, that's all for now. I still have lots of Christmas shopping to do which is tough with a baby, although he is a good shopper.

Thanksgiving

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted and I've been hearing about it from many you! :) Thanks for following my blog and holding me accountable to blogging. I know you probably don't care to read much of what I say, but instead visit my blog to see pictures of Silas. I can't blame you. :)

Oh boy, what fun we had this Thanksgiving!! Silas had so much fun trying all kinds of new foods and wouldn't you know, he liked everything! Here he is trying an olive for the first time. We definitely had a house full! Jake's parents joined us and so did a friend of ours, Will. Grandpa Brennan and Grandma Mary enjoyed watching Silas get into everything, try new foods and see how much he's changed since they saw him last. He enjoyed getting into Gramma's cabinets as much as he does getting into the ones at our house!

Jake had to show Silas what the Thanksgiving meal was all about - mashed potatoes and noodles....oodles and oodles of noodles! Jake it notorious for piling his plate FULL of mashed potatoes and noodles - not once, but twice! You wouldn't know it too look at him, but my man can put the food away!! Silas tried a combo - puree noodles, mashed potatoes and turkey. And he loved it!! He really enjoyed Grandpa Brennan's raspberry jello with homemade whipped cream. :)

Here he is trying his first Thanksgiving meal. Silas' Aunt Kellee played peek-a-boo with him after his meal. He LOVES his Aunt Kellee!!

I love her too!



So my Mom had gotten Silas a Christmas present and was so excited to give it to him that he may have gotten it a little early. :) Don't worry, we left it at Gramma's house so it'll be like new on Christmas Day! I think this picture is so cute - look at that baby butt crack! He REALLY loves his new toy!! His excitement made me so excited for Christmas. I can't wait to see him play with all his new toys, rip the paper, grin from ear to ear with excitement and joy....look at that sweet face and how much happiness is written all over it!


We had lots of family time this past weekend. My Grandparents were both there and so was my Grandpa Darner. Silas got to spend lots of time with his Great-Grandpas and I think they loved every minute just as much as he did!






Even our dear friends, Marcie and Viv came to visit!! Silas and his little girlfriend, Viv had such a great time playing on the floor, smiling, and talking to each other. This is such a fun age to get them together. Marcie and I had a great time catching up too. Every time I'm with her, it makes me miss my dear friend more and more. She and her hubby, Chris, are two of our dearest friends and we miss hanging out with them so much!


We ended our fabulous weekend by taking family pictures. They turned out so great - I can't choose which one is my fav! So here's a little sneak peek of some maybes for Christmas cards this year. :)

Picture of the day

Here is the picture of the day...Silas doing the splits trying to reach the cabinet door. Ha!!


"Look Ma! I got it open!"



Have I mention how FUN this boy is!??

It's a beautiful life

Silas and I went for a long walk this evening and I found myself asking, "Does life get any better than this?" As cliche as that sounds, I honestly can't imagine it getting any better. We were walking through a park by our house. The air was cool, the sun was setting, the birds were singing their goodnight songs, Silas was snuggled in the stroller and occasionally looked back up at me to make sure I was still there and would give me a big grin. When did life get so good? I have SO much to be thankful for this thanksgiving season. I wished that could freeze time for a few moments to take it all in and plant the feeling in my memory. No video, no picture could ever capture the perfection of that moment.

I took Silas to the grocery store today and as we were going through an aisle, an older man, maybe in his upper 60's (I know, some of you are reading this and saying "since when is upper 60's old??")kept talking to Silas so I finally stopped and allowed Silas to show off his smile. The man walked over to us and said, "Oh he's smiling at Grandpa!" He then began admiring his chubby legs and asked to look at his hands. Then he said, "Isn't God's work amazing? Those little finger nails and wrinkly little fingers." Then the gentleman offered to babysit any time we needed him to. :) I walked out of the store with a smile on my face thinking again about how amazing it is that a baby can bring two strangers together to cross paths that may have never crossed before. Which brought me to my next thought...look at how many people have stopped to admire Silas, talk to him, comment on him, etc. Silas brings more people together and attracts more people than I ever would by myself. But can you even begin to imagine the number of people that a baby in a manger impacted? Baby Jesus has brought more people together than my mind can even comprehend to worship, glorify, serve and honor Him. My mind is still trying to wrap itself around that thought.

Well, that's all for now! My little Silas doesn't allow me too much time as he demands more and more of my attention. :)

Getting toothy

Wow, here I thought Silas was just starting to work on his second tooth. Boy was I wrong! Not only is his second bottom tooth in, but there's one on top in too!!! :)

Look at this cute picture. I feel like this is the typical "kid" picture, which is possibly why I love it so much. Poor sweet baby was just so tired.



And this one was taken right after he woke up from his nap. Occasionally when he wakes up, he has fingers imprinted into the side of his face. :) It looks terrible, like I beat my kid or something, but it does go away within 30 minutes or so.

Halloween

October 31st, 2010 was no only Silas' first Halloween but also his 7 month birthday!! Gosh, really...7 months old already???

He is quite the little man if I do say so myself. He sits up very well on his own and his second tooth is thisclose to being completely through. He took his first bath as a "big boy" last night - no baby tub, just one big boy sitting up on his own, splashing in the tub. He was very proud of himself and really enjoyed playing with the cup and watching the water hit his hands. I had held off on letting him sit on his own 'cause I wasn't so confident in his ability to sit but he has proven that he is capable and LOVES it! His favorite phrase is "DA-DA-DA" but we've been working diligently on "Ma-Ma" too. :) Silas loves mango, squash, peaches, & sweet potatoes and his new favorite toy is the remote....typical guy! Ha! :) He is working very hard on the thought process of crawling. So far he just rocks back & forth on all fours but hasn't quite figured out how to go forward. When laying on his stomach, he does go backwards and can turn himself in a circle. He does love to stand up like a big boy while holding our hands and will bounce every opportunity that he gets. Although I think he is a ways away from walking, I guess he could walk before crawling since he loves to stand so much. He'll grab for our hands and try to pull himself up. Such a big boy!!

For Halloween Silas was a lion. Have you ever seen such a cute lion?? I'm a little surprised that hats don't seem to bother him at all - he just smiles and goes along with whatever hat I put on him. :) Thank goodness, 'cause I bought a lot of hats!!

Mothering Mission

I have been doing a fabulous Bible study - it's Beth Moore's "Breaking Free" with a few girls from work. This study is awesome, powerful, and challenges me in such a neat way.

This past week we've been focusing on family history. The first few days we were to examine our grandparent's and parent's lives and look at their influence on us. I know for some, this was really hard as it brought up a lot of very difficult memories and exposed some very raw emotions. We went on to look at what we as individuals have learned or taken from our grandparents and parents and focused on areas of captivity, or things that hold us back from living the spirit-filled life Christ intended for us to have.

It's been during this week that I have been re-challenged as a parent. We are to look at our areas of bondage and how they will influence our children. Talk about a wake up call! Praise the Lord, I really don't have a lot of "baggage" from my family that has influenced me in a negative way but I do see areas that I personally need to work on and areas that I don't want to pass on to Silas.

A friend of mine posted a link on facebook today about making mothering our primary mission. My first and primary mission field should be my children. God tells us that children are his blessing to us (Psalm 127:3 says, "Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him"). And he places great importance on our teaching our children to love and serve him -- Deuteronomy 6:5-9 "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates".

Sometimes I feel slightly guilty for not being more involved at work or not being on a committee for the department. I hear friends talk about going on to graduate school a feel slightly jealous, but know in my heart that I'm not willing to make that kind of a time commitment when Silas is so little. I never want to look back on my life and think, "Wow, I have a great career but I sure didn't get to spend as much time with my children and/or family as I wanted to" or ever feel like I was cheated from enjoying my children's childhood. Does this mean I think less of mothers that do go on to graduate school or get involved at work? Absolutely not! I admire their ability to balance everything. I just know that for myself, for my sanity and in order for me to make my children's lives my primary mission field, those things aren't for me.

In the Bible study we've been examining Exodus 20:5-6 which talk about God's punishment for idolizing things other than him to the third and fourth generation but God showing his love for a thousand generations for those who love him and keep his commandments. It's hard to think about my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but I so desperately want to love God and serve him, knowing that he will show his love to my future generations.

A challenge for me and for my fellow friend mommies: Listen to Psalm 78:4-7: “We will . . . tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders he has done . . . that the next generation might know . . . so that they should set their hope in God.”

"For I know the plans I have for you..."

Yesterday was Silas' dedication at church. The verse we picked out for his dedication was Jeremiah 29:11 which says, "'For I know the plans I have for you', declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Silas did pretty well - it was nap time so he got a little restless, but hung in there. :)

Here are some wonderful pictures I've captured of my little model baby. :) Seriously, does anyone know an agent???





This picture absolutely cracks me up. Jake is notorious for always having his eyebrows up like this in pictures...looks like it got passed on to little Silas. :)