Little Buddy turned 9 months old yesterday. Poor guy has a double ear infection. We had no idea because he has been so happy and smiley. His nose has been running and he has a cough. When I took him in for his regular 9 month check-up today, the pediatrician said both ears were infected. He's taking it all in stride. Although 10 days of amoxicillin 2X/day is not fun for mama to try and force down a throat that only wants mama milk.
He weighs 20 lbs. 6 oz. He has slimmed up and looks more like a little boy than a baby. The doctor said he looks like a 1 year old. His weight is the 50th percentile. He's 29.25" long, which is in the 90th percentile. He's pulling up to a stand. Crawling very quickly. He is curious about everything. He now has 6 teeth through. His eczema is still really bad on his face, and people often ask what is wrong with his face. Poor guy. He also has a patch of it behind his left knee and right ankle. He's still not really interested in solids. Vivien was eating a lot of solids by this age. He tries things every now and then, but I'm not stressing and neither is the pediatrician.
He puts everything in his mouth. Yesterday he was sitting on the floor in front of the couch next to Vivien who was standing and eating tortilla chips. I was standing behind the couch and heard him starting to gag and cough. I went to wipe his mouth up, and saw a tortilla chip on the floor under him! Apparently, Vivien dropped one and didn't bother to pick it up. Silas swiped it. I was standing right there!!! It's amazing how quickly things can happen. I also had to wrestle a marker cap out of his hands yesterday. Today, he was playing with a paper plate craft Vivien made at school. I thought, no big deal. Wrong. The paint they used apparently runs when it gets wet. His whole face was green. Silly boy. He's so obviously a second child.
Every now and then, we try to give Silas solids. He has had a strong tongue thrust, which means he hasn't been quite ready. Lately, he has seemed more interested in our food. I baked a pear yesterday and pureed it to try and see if we could overcome his major gag reflex when food gets on the back of his tongue. He did okay, but still not great. He now has 5 teeth all of the way through and working on a 6th. He managed to get them all in less than 2 weeks. I'm sold on the baltic amber necklace, because other than missing some sleep, he continued to be an angel through it all. Here is Vivien feeding her brother for the first time. He was so excited to be fed by his big sister!
Ooooohkay.... This is a long one. I waited too long to post. Here we go! Wednesday was a pretty low key day. The girls had been together non-stop since Monday morning and things were a bit tense. Vivien was tired and acting out. I took Gillian shopping with me for a bit so that Vivien could chill out. It was Jim's birthday that day, so the adult kids all got to go out to dinner. We left as soon as I got Silas to sleep. Little did I know, he woke up 15 minutes after we left and was still awake when I called to check in after 9. We went back to my mom's so that I could nurse him back to sleep. By that time, we called it a night. Everyone left and I checked on the girls before I turned in. Here is what I found... Yes, Vivien has her pinky finger extended and pointing in the corner of Gillian's mouth.
Jim and Silas both wore yellow and camo this day. It really was a coincidence.
On Thursday, we went kayaking in the bay. My mom was very kind and offered to stay behind at the launch site with Silas. I showed her how to use the Beco carrier. She was a natural. Of course, she wore us when we were babies too.
Jim, Vivien, and I started out in a kayak together. However, Vivien was having a very difficult time following the rules. She eventually went to Aunt Becky's kayak where she could follow the rules a little better. Here we are going through the mangrove tunnels. They were so cool.
We pulled up on a little peninsula to have a quick lunch.
On our stop, Grampy showed the girls crabs and other sealife.
That evening, we left the old people home and we went to Siesta Key for a picnic dinner. We tossed the football around for a while. Here is Uncle Dale playing with Vivien.
Then we went for a walk on the beach.
Vivien "got tired", so Aunt Becky carried her.
Becky picked up my younger brothers (we have the same dad) Thursday night. They came over to see us Friday morning. Casey is on the right, Jesse on the left.
We went to the Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar.
That evening was Becky's 30th birthday party. We had an early kid-friendly gathering, and then the grown rowdy crowd came after the kids left. Here are the girls in Becky's backyard.
Grampy and Grammy. Here is an excerpt from that conversation: Grammy: Don't drink it through a straw. You'll make yourself sick Grampy: That's an old wives tale. He was drinking a vodka tonic.
Baby boy was getting sleepy. I am holding Jim's beer so that he could take the picture. Don't get too excited, everyone.
Saturday was a recovery day. We had my Grampy over (Jimmy's dad) and Uncle Arthur and Aunt Cynthia (Jimmy's brother and sister) for dinner. Here is Uncle Casey and Silas.
Uncle Dale came over to say his good-byes. You would never know that Vivien used to be afraid of Dale.
The girls hugging good-bye. They were in denial.
We had to get up early Sunday morning to drive to Tampa to catch our flight. Here is Silas passed out in my bed.
Boarding the plane...
It was a fantastic trip. My parents are so generous to bring us there every year. They do so much for us and we really appreciate it. My mom worked her rear off caring for both of those girls all week. I know she was just exhausted, but she never complained. Jimmy was a lifesaver when Vivien got ornery. Everyone listens to Jimmy. We are already looking forward to next year's trip!
We are currently on our annual trip to Florida. This is Silas' first trip. Vivien flew to FL for the first time when she was 5.5 months. Silas is 8.5 months. We decided to just keep him in our laps on the plane to save some money. This is about as old of a child I will hold in my lap even though they can fly as lap children until they are 2. I am certain he would have slept the whole way had he been in his carseat. Our flight was pretty bumpy because it was storming at DFW when we left. When we got our luggage, it was soaking wet. Everything inside was drenched. The kids did really well on the plane. Silas was a bit fussy as we started to descend. He slept for the first 30 minutes of the flight. Vivien is an old pro by now. Although, I did give her some Benadryl as a preemptive strike to her new pronness to motion sickness. Silas has cut 3 more teeth and it working on 2 more. You would never know it. He's as cheerful as always.
Here are the kiddos in the airport.
Getting ready to board the plane.
Waiting for everyone else to board.
Look at their hands. Poor Silas had a bad eczema break out that day.
We landed in Tampa and drove to Sarasota. We had to quickly drop off our wet luggage to air out at my mom's house. Then we headed over to my step-grandparents' house for Easter. Here, Vivien and Gillian are listening to Great Uncle Billy's hints.
Sunday night, we went back to Mom's house. Becky and I played cards with Mom while Jim and Doug went to see Dale (my step-brother) at his job.
The next morning, we slept in! We planned to go to the beach, but got a super late start. Amy and Gillian brought their puppy, Fiona, over. She was very curious about Silas.
Silas decided that in addition to cutting another 3 teeth, he would also practice pulling up. I wish he would stop that and continue being a little baby infant!
We finally got our acts together and headed to the beach around 1:15. We knew we would be hard-pressed to find parking at Siesta Key (powdery white sand). We were right. After cruising the parking lot, we headed to Turtle Beach. Not nearly as pretty, but beats a Texas beach any day of the week. HA!
The girls got Jim to take them down to the water. We were a bit nervous because the water drops off quickly at Turtle Beach. The wind was heavy and the waves were pretty high for little ones.
Grampy bought Silas a UV protection cabana to sit in, so we mainly hung out in there. I put him in the Baby Hawk when he got tired and walked the beach while he fell asleep. Sadly, I didn't put sunscreen on my legs, and I burned from the knees down from my walk. But I got great exercise!
Silas' first experience with the ocean. It was chilly.
The sand is not nearly as pretty at this beach. It's darker and more shelly, but the girls still had fun making sand castles.
When we got home, everyone was tired. Silas hung out with Grampy for a bit.
The girls dressed up like queens.
Uncle Dodo was helping Silas work on his standing at bedtime. He was obviously very proud.
Of course, the girls are never too big to play with Uncle Dodo.
Gillian stayed the night since Amy had to work in the morning. Jim, Becky, Doug, and I went out to Livingstons, a pool hall that my step-brother works at. Mom gave the girls a bath and put them to bed. She read them bedtime stories from my old story book. Vivien was still awake when we got home looking through the book. She passed out not too long after that.
Today, Grammy and Grampy wanted to take the girls to see the Hannah Montana movie. I was meeting a friend for lunch, so I took Silas with me. Jim and Doug hung out at their house. Vivien got dressed and put her jeans on backward. She is so committed to "I meant to do that", that she refused to turn the pants around all.day.long.
After the movie, the girls played cards with Grammy.
Grammy has been really been helping out and giving me a bit of a break, which is nice. I still can't leave the little guy for very long, but it is nice to get out even for a bit. Jim and I don't have a sitter, so we go out alone maybe once or twice a year.
