Sunday, March 27, 2011

Stats

Silas, five weeks old:
Height 23 inches
Weight 11.5 lbs.

Silas, two months old:
Height 25.5 inches
Weight 14 lbs. 3.8 oz.

For comparison, Henry was 24.75 inches and 15 pounds at two months.

Silas, last week, at four months old:
Height 28.5 inches
Weight 16 lbs. 14.2 oz.

Henry was 28.75 inches and 20 pounds, 3 ounces at four months.

Henry, last month at five-and-a-half years old:
Height 3' 10.5"
Weight 46 lbs. 6 oz.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Song for Silas

A more politically correct version of "Ten Little Indians":

One little, two little, three little babies,
Four little, five little, six little babies,
Seven little, eight little, nine little babies,
Ten little baby boys.

One of those babies is my baby.
His name is Silas Ja-ames.
I love him, I don't mean maybe.
One little baby boy.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Silas, 15 weeks & 5 days


Silas is such a joy. So beautiful, so sweet, so smiley. We always thought Henry seemed like an old soul; Silas just seems innocent and new.

We continue to marvel at his bright blue eyes and reddish blonde hair. He has rolled over multiple times, once even getting his arm out from under himself -- but hasn't attempted it again since. He's laughing with more frequency. When he needs to sleep his cry becomes more guttural, and if I hold him in my lap with his body curled around me and his face buried in the crook of my arm, he falls asleep easily.


Henry still, for the most part, ignores Silas, but every now and then I see a glimmer of what their relationship might become. Tonight I was home alone trying to get both boys ready for bed by myself. I put Silas, who was droopy, in his bouncy seat in one bedroom with the light off while I went to brush my teeth.

I was hoping that he would fall asleep so I could brush Henry's teeth and read to him without having to hold a squirming baby. While I was in the bathroom I could hear Henry talking, too loudly, and when I was done I found him in the same room as Silas, with the overhead light on. I admonished him, and he said, "Silas was fussing, so I went in to keep him company."


By the way, here's a picture of Henry wearing an owl mask he made at storytime last week:


He's at that age where he won't let us take a normal photo of him, so this is the best I can do for now. It was so much easier when he was an infant and I could stick him somewhere and take shot after shot.


Yeah. Kind of like that.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Update on Silas


Poor Silas is getting short-changed in the blog department. It's a lot harder with two kids to find the time and have the energy to write. When I'm not with one, I should be with the other or getting things done around the house. At night I go to bed when the boys do, because I'm so tired and I know Silas will be nursing every few hours all night long. I have hopes that this is only a temporary situation, though. I know the time goes so fast.

Silas is now almost fifteen weeks old. He is, simply, a total joy. He pretty much only cries when he's tired or hungry, and sometimes even when he's crying he'll grin through his tears if we get close to him and smile. He coos and squeals and occasionally laughs.

He's found his thumb, though he still takes a pacifier. He doesn't seem dependent on it, though, and sometimes he shoots it out of his mouth with a FOOP! sound.

He's not rolling over yet, but when he's lying down he's constantly pushing his head down to the side and trying really, really hard to roll. I don't think it will be long now.


We continue to be amazed at Silas' brilliant blue eyes and reddish-blonde hair. I do have Scottish and Irish ancestry, so the genes are there, but I never expected Silas to look so completely different from Henry. In some ways, that's kind of cool. Henry has the most gorgeous, dark brown, pool-like eyes with long, dark eyelashes, and now I have a blue-eyed baby. Both my boys are beautiful.

And as long as I'm comparing: Silas is a much easier baby than Henry was. We can put him down and he's content for long periods of time. As I write this, he's sleeping in his swing. At night he nurses every few hours, but he stays asleep and goes back to sleep if for some reason he does fully wake up.

To be fair to Henry, he had food intolerances that I didn't figure out until much, much later. The poor little one was probably miserable, colicky and spitting up and needing us to hold him all the time to make the discomfort tolerable. I feel bad that it took me so long to finally help Henry, though I tried my best to solve his issues from the beginning.

And I'm sure Silas has benefited from my experience with Henry. I eat completely differently now than I did when I was nursing Henry. Not only have I cut gluten out of my diet, and most corn and soy, but I've gone from eating a (fairly processed) vegan diet to eating a whole foods, traditional-type diet.

In any case, the only health issue I've found with Silas so far is a small patch of dry skin on one of his legs. I'm monitoring it, but so far it seems to be fading, if anything.

And now you're up to date. :)

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Henry Quotes (February 2011 Edition)

I was just working in Photoshop when Henry walked by and said, "Are you sure you know what you're doing? That's something Daddy usually does."

HENRY (to the cat): Venus, you're so peaceful. I hate to disrupt your peacefulness. But here I come.

ME (to Silas): Hello, little man.
HENRY: He's not a man; he's a baby. But to a germ he's a giant.

Henry's take on coffee: It's important, because it wakes you up. Otherwise you wouldn't know where you were going and you'd walk into things.

Overheard from the kitchen, where Kelp & Henry went to make my birthday cake:
DADDY: The first thing we should do is clean up, but I don't feel like it, so we'll just push everything to the side.
HENRY: Hey, that's *my* secret cleaning trick!

HENRY (picking up a Larabar): Yum! This is my favorite kind.
DADDY: Really? I think they're just so-so.
HENRY: So, so *good*!