Monday, November 5, 2012

16 Month Summary


16 Month Summary
WOW!  This month went by fast.  And again, Amos continues to change so much in such a short amount of time.  After bringing home Silas, he seems so old and able to do so many things.


EATING:
Pickiness still hasn’t set in, but moodiness when eating sure has.  He will be eating away at something and then in the next bite decide he hates it and spits it out of his mouth.  Or one day he will LOVE bananas and the next refuse to eat them.  Luckily he switches back just as easily, but his mood definitely affects what he is willing to eat.  He’s still not a big fan of sweet stuff.  He will take a few bites of something like ice cream and then be done eating it.




PLAYING:
He’s becoming more adventurous in his play this month.  He still loves outside, but now he really enjoys going up and down the deck steps, and up and down his slide (the wrong way of course).






With the weather changing, we’ve gone on a lot more walks and “hikes” in the woods with Jason.  No matter what, if we’re on the trail, at some point, he wants to stop, sit in the gravel, and play with the rocks.

Josie and him have spent a lot more time together this last month too!  They seem to really enjoy each other and share most things really well.  They have this whole system worked out where Amos rides in the car and Josie pushes.  It is rarely the other way around.  Amos says, “Jo Jo” quite a bit and gets excited anytime I tell him we’re going to see her.




PERSONALITY:
He has quite the personality.  I’m sure I say, “You’re such a silly boy,” at least, 10 times a day.  He’s always putting buckets on his head, Daddy’s shoes on his feet, or doing some crazy dance to merit the words.  He knows he is being silly too. 



He loves to explore anything that seems interesting to him.  He also likes to figure out how things work. Things that open/close are some of his favorite objects to play with. However, he is right at that phase where he wants to do so much more than he can and gets really frustrated and opening and closing things can be a big frustration for him.  He’s been good about bringing things to us if he can’t do it on his own.



COMMUNICATION:
Communication has taken off this month.  He says a lot of words; too many to start listing, but the best part is how much he tries to say.  It seems like he really wants to communicate and is willing to try.  He’s also making the connection that I can understand and respond to what he is saying.  Before bringing Silas home, he said Mama, but not often enough for me.  Now, he says it all the time.  I don’t think this is a coincidence.  He also has a word for Silas, but it keeps changing, so I’ll let you know when we get it better nailed down.  He knows who Silas is when we say his name though.

DISCIPLINE:
“NO” is definitely now in  Amos’ vocabulary.  He says “No No” to things that are off limits.  Jason said that he gives himself away.  We are just trying to remain consistent.


SLEEP:
Sleep remains great!  He’s started sleeping past 7:30 in the morning on a pretty regular basis, which was good for the time change.   He also dropped the morning nap, but I’m not sure its gone for good!  We’ll see what this month brings.



SPECIAL EVENTS:
Something very special happened this month.  Amos got a new brother and future best friend.  We couldn’t wait  to introduce Amos to Silas that first morning that we actually had her bring him earlier than planned.  He came in with a big smile and ran right over to us!  His favorite thing to do is pet Silas’ hair and just tonight he started pointing out Silas’ ears, eyes and mouth.  We are still working on being very gentle.  He’s really adjusting well.  I think its helps having a lot more Daddy time.  We are so blessed to have Jason all to ourselves for another 2 weeks!



And we can't forget Halloween!  Amos had fun dressing up as a fireman for his 2nd Halloween.  He wasn't too sure about Mom and Dad though!  They looked weird.


OUR SCHEDULE:
7:30 – 8:00 - Wake up and eat breakfast
8:15 – Outside time/Activity
9:45 – Errands/independent playtime
11:45 - Lunch
12:30 - Afternoon Nap
3:30 – Snack/Daddy Time
5:30 -Dinner
7:30 - Bed time

1 Week Old


I've got a second son and he's one week old.  Luckily, having a bigger brother makes one week still seem pretty little.  It just came so fast.

As you can imagine, a lot has changed in our house in one week.  Namely, this sweet little boy named Silas has come to stay.  As soon as they placed him on my stomach, I knew that he looked A LOT like Amos.  Since then, we've noticed lots of differences - shade and amount of hair, nose, ears, dimple on his chin, and shape of his face.  But man, their profiles are uncanny.  I'm pretty sure they will forever be known as brothers!

Silas had the privilege of meeting a lot family this week!  Jason's whole family was able to make to the hospital just after Silas' birth and my Mom, Dad, and Sister were there.





Teigan was so excited that the baby was finally here that before they left church, he was telling everyone that I was having the baby.  He was bummed out that he wasn't able to come back and meet Silas yet.  He just got a glimpse of him in the window.


Here's one of Jason enjoying his complimentary steak dinner.
This may be too telling of what's to come.

 We're officially a family of four.
 Love this...
 And this...
 And this!

 Time to go.
 Angry old man eyes!

The next day was Halloween, so Silas couldn't miss it.  Plus he was the cutest dalmatian I'd ever seen.

Later on in the week, he was able to meet his new cousin Priscilla.  They'll be running around with the others before we know it. 
And Grandma and Grandpa Vance couldn't stay away.  We loved getting to see them twice in one week.
On Saturday, my oldest sister and her husband came to visit from KC.  The rest of the gang came over too.  We were only missing Uncle Joe, but we remedied that by Skyping with him.




Silas had a great first week.  He's a pretty mellow baby and is doing a great job eating.  In fact, we went in for his week check-up this morning and he had already surpassed his birth weight at a whopping 8lbs 8 oz.  The nurse couldn't believe it and said that breast-feeding must be going well.  Everything looked good!  That is always great to hear.

Friday, November 2, 2012

BIG shoes to fill...

One of Amos' favorite things to do is find Daddy's shoes and walk around in them!  There's not much cuter than a little boy trying to be like Daddy!

Then, yesterday morning, Amos brought Silas a pair of his shoes to put on.  He's taking good care of his little brother and didn't want him to miss out on the fun.

Yesterday, Silas also got to meet some of his cousins for the first time!  He's got some growing to do to catch up with Priscilla!  I'm sure they are going to have just as much fun as Amos and Josie.

Also, Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit!  They had to get in on some more baby holding!  I think Silas spent most of the day in Grandma's arms and loved every minute of it.

Lastly, we had our first bath this morning.  After looking back at Amos' first bath pictures we noticed two major differences.  First, Silas looks a little chubby, at least compared to Amos.  Second, Silas has more hair.  And not just on his head.  He's got the sweet upper arm/back hair going on.  Let's hope that doesn't stay around for too long!