Silas is 10 months old/First trip to the Dallas Arboretum

Our baby boy is 2 months from the big birthday. Time sure flies! He is practicing waving. He's cruising the furniture. I'm wondering if he's going to have a late start at really walking because his left foot seems to turn out. I guess we'll see. He loves crawling around the house exploring. His favorite stops are the computer desk and the dog water. He does not want to be confined. He still does not sleep through the night. Normally he wakes 3-4 times. He is only eating purees right now. He does like things he can bite with his teeth, but gags when anything hits the back of his tongue. This may be the sign of a speech impediment. Another wait-and-see thing, I guess. His eczema on his face comes and goes. Some days it is completely gone. Some days it is very angry-looking. He is so precious and laid back....unless he's tired. He is still not a fan of riding in the car. Anything more than 20 minutes and he starts screaming. He thinks his sister is hilarious. He lights up when Daddy gets home and he has a special smile for Mama.
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He can actually suck water up through the straw, but he doesn't really swallow it. He lets it fall back out of his mouth.

I took the kids to the Dallas Arboretum today, courtesy of Amba. I have lived her for 10 years and have never been. We had a great time. The weather was beautiful.

Juniper and Silas parked while we looked at koi under the bridge. We told them, "no necking."

Yossarian and Vivien at one of the wooden houses in the little village. Vivien refused to climb down herself. It was an ordeal to get her down.

I'm not sure what she was pointing at, but that's White Rock Lake behind them.

Right now they have a tour of storybook homes. There were a lot of cool ones. These are just a few.

I took this over my shoulder.

The Recital

Vivien's recital was on Saturday. They did a tap number to "If We Were a Movie" from Hannah Montana. She did a great job. At the rehearsal, she had a breakdown before it was time for her to go backstage with her class. This time she lined up with confidence. I was so proud of her. She had quite a turn out of fans, too. Mandy was kind enough to bring her awesome camera and take pictures for us.

Mandy and Vivien before the performance.

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Vivien's fan club. Unfortunately, Mandy was behind the camera and couldn't be in the pic. My friends, Amba and Jennifer came with their families (some of Vivien's favorite friends). Of course, MommyJan was there, without whom none of this would have been possible.

Afterward, we went to lunch with Mandy and MommyJan. Mandy helped Vivien with the super complex word find (words like develop and technology).

Hey Blog Friends

For some reason, I haven't been able to comment on your blogs. Most recently, Dina and Nush, but a few others too. I'm not sure what is going on, but I write a comment and then it deletes when I submit. I am reading and loving your blogs. I know it's a bummer when you see that you have visitors, but not many people bother to comment. So I just wanted to let you know that I am trying! :)

Mid-May

We've been moderately busy this month. We went to Liza and Joel's for Mother's Day. What a special Mother's Day, indeed. It was our first year with our boys. We had a wonderful day and enjoyed amazing food from Pepe's and Mito's. I am so tickled to see the joy Wyatt has brought Liza and Joel. He has really been such a blessing to the whole family after such a tragic year with the loss of Isabella. His biological mother could not have picked more perfect and attentive parents for this beautiful boy.

Here is baby Wyatt with Aunt Beth. It's so funny because when the boys were really small, Vivien asked Liza which one was theirs. She tried to act like she couldn't tell Silas and Wyatt apart on this day. Silly girl.

MommyJan and Silas

Silas and Aunt Liza (you can see his cousin, Cody, in the background)

The next day, Liza had an appointment, so we kept Wyatt for a bit at our house. I kept calling Jim, Uncle Daddy.

Our friend, Anuschka, let us borrow this walker toy. Silas is not ready to walk with it yet, but he's happy to sit on it!

We purchased our annual blow-up pool. They raised the price by $10 this year and decided to forgo adding a drain. What a stupid design. Nonetheless, it will be well-used this summer for sure.

I wasn't sure what to do with Silas while Vivien was playing in the pool. Jim recently removed the sand from the sandbox, so I threw a towel in the bottom and gave him so kitchen gadgets to play with.

This month, Silas has gotten really mobile. I don't like to confine him if I don't have to, but with that comes a lot of redirection. He really likes things like Cantrell's food bowl.

Vivien and I made play dough yesterday. I added too much water, so it was REALLY sticky. But she still had fun smooshing it around in the bowl and making shapes with cookie cutters. Silas got a little jumperoo time while we worked on that.

Today he was hanging out by the window. He looked so much like a little boy and not so much like a baby in this outfit. I can't believe he'll be 10 months next week.

Stay tuned... Vivien's big recital is on Saturday. There is sure to be some cuteness.

Deep Ellum Session

Here are the pictures from the session with Jacqueline Reitz. You may notice that Jim is missing from the pictures. This is because Jackie was holding her mini-sessions on a Saturday, which is a regular work day for Jim. But the price was right and I really wanted the kids' pics done in Deep Ellum. I jumped in a few just for the heck of it. I think they came out great!