Silas- 9 Months

Tidbits About Our Chunk

(Actually, Silas is just a few days shy of being 10 months old now, but I'll do a recap)

•  Weight on 7/26/12 was 18.72 lbs.  (34%)
•  Length on 7/26/12 was 29.2 in. (84%)
• Head circumference on 7/26/12 was 18 in (73%)
• He's wearing 12-18 month clothes
• Right after his 9 month portraits Tom made me trim his hair.  His once-cute comb over was reeling in lots of  "What a pretty little girl you have." compliments.  I only took a little off the top and around his ears.  I didn't have it in me to cut much more.
• He's self-feeding more table foods although he still prefers fruits over vegetables. 
• He's learned to crawl.
• He's still nursing, but we've cut down to just twice (sometimes 3 times) a day straight from the source.  He gets one bottle of breastmilk and two of formula at school. 
• Occasionally Silas will sleep through the night.  Not more than once a week, if that. But it's nice when he does. 
• He doesn't like to swing.  At Micah's soccer practice I put him in a swing on the playground and he just quivered with fear.  (The motor in Micah's baby swing broke and we never replaced it, so he'd never been in a swing before)
• He loves when Micah or I sing "You Are My Sunshine" to him. 

Routine

Life was good.  We were adjusting well.  We'd gotten into a routine. 

Our evenings were predictable. We'd have a staggered dinner.  Kids then adults.  Then we'd play for a half hour or so.  We combined bathtime to minimize the work load and then split up for pajamas and bedtime. 

And then BAM. Silas learned to crawl.  Total game changer.  He's into everything now.  We have to deal with Micah not wanting Silas to play with his toys.  Tom and I have to worry about Silas not eating Micah's smaller toys or anything else within his reach.  And now Silas likes to flip on his belly in the bathtub in what looks like an attempt to swim.  Did I mention diaper changes are even more challenging when a brightly colored toy is in his sight? 

It's all fun and we're excited that he's mobile, but gone are the days when you set him in the floor and walk away expecting him to be right there when you get back.

He started all of this crawling a little over a week ago, but here's a video of one of his first days of mobility.


I love his style.  It's a combination of army crawl and an inch worm.  He reaches as far as he can with his arms and hands and them uses his toes to grip the floor and raise his little butt in the air.

Silas - 9 month portraits

Sprinkler Park

We took the boys to the sprinkler park nearby.  It was Silas' first trip and he had an eventful time.

 There's a little potty humor in this photo of Micah.  I caught him at the right angle.

The Rest of July

You've realized by now that it took me over a month to finish blogging about our vacation, and I bet you are wondering what we did with the rest of the month.  Well, here's a list of a few things that happened.

1.  I went to the doctor to see if I'd given myself a hernia near my C-section incision.  After a CT scan and an ultrasound, it was determined that I only tore scar tissue.  Thank goodness!

2.  We went to several birthday parties for Micah's classmates.

3.  I finally booked Micah's birthday party for September 8th at Pump It Up.  He's so excited.

4.  Silas went to the doctor for his 9 month check-up and Micah tagged along with a fever.  Silas got a couple of shots and Micah's fever earned him a day off of school.

5.  My Junior League placement is in full swing these days.  I'm in charge of the decorations for the American Girl Fashion show in October. 

6.  We went to the sprinkler park with the boys.  [Pictures to follow in the next blog]

7.  Silas had his 9 month portraits taken. [Pictures to follow soon]

8.  I gave Silas his first haircut.

9.  I'm tackling the job of sorting through the boys clothes and putting away everything they've outgrown and moving all of the bigger sizes into their drawers and closests.  This has taken the better part of three weekends now.  I even found some size 18 month shorts in Micah's drawer.  This task was long over due.

10.  And like many of you, we've been watching the Olympics. 

That's it.  I think. 

Hell

I can officially say I been to Hell and back.  No, literally.  We went by Hell, a physical place with a post office, right after our stop at the Cayman Turtle Farm. 

I'll be honest with you.  It's a tourist trap.  The only people who like it are the ones with a strange sense of humor and geologists, like my husband.  He fits into both categories.

Like father, like son

The explanation:

That's it.  That's all there was to see.

...And the post office

It was a Hell of a trip...

If you're going to the Caymans, skip this.  I just showed you everything there is to see.

Cayman Turtle Farm

On the morning of our departure, we squeezed in a quick visit to the Turtle Farm since our Dolphin Discovery admission included free tickets.

We arrived right at feeding time.  Their food resembles dog food and smells like it too.

This place is a great place to visit if you have kids.  There are also a few tanks that allow visitors to swim with the turtles.  We skipped this section since our flight was just a few hours after our visit and changing clothes would have been a hassle.  Micah still had a blast catching the turtles in this tank.

For an extra fee, you can enjoy the adjacent water park.  It only has a couple of water slides and a lagoon, but if you have an afternoon to waste it's a change from playing at the beach.

I loved all of the blooming trees and shrubs.