18 Months!

Silas was not at all into the snow when we took him out a few weeks ago.  He had a few moments of almost happiness when Rowan and Eli showed him he could hit the snow, but other than that he was not a fan!

 It's hard to believe we've only had him here for 1.5 years! It's also hard to believe he's already been here for 1.5years! It's one of those "time flies" things you really don't get until you have kids!

 Rowan made the sign this months since he was home.  Silas is starting to really want to help around the house with things.  Some aren't actually helpful at all, like throwing clean clothes back towards the hamper (it's in the bathroom and we keep a baby gate there..) or trying to throw things away, sepecially things that aren't trash.  But if he's given a certain job- like picking up blocks- he can actually be helpful. Until he loses interest and throws them on the floor instead of in the basket ;)

 His favorite chore is helping to unload the dishwasher.  We take the silverware basket out so he can't get a knife and then he brings the dishes one at a time to whoever is helping- usually me or Rowan when he's home.  He loves this so much that later on if I try to load dirty dishes into it he tries to unload them again.  If he's in the highchair and Rowan and Eli start to unload it he gets really mad and tries to climb out.  It's pretty funny how much he loves it.  So for now it's pretty much his job!

 He had a doctors apt this month for 18months.  HE is around 27lbs I think.. I should check.. He is doing great on everuthing except for speech.  Since Rowan and Eli both didn't say much at this age I'm not worried and neither is the doctor.  We are working on sounds at home and I've even talked with Eli's speech teacher about some tips - she did Early Interevntion with Eli and is now at our school so has had Rowan and Eli). So we have decided to not start EI now, mostly because I don't want to mess withg the appointments right now... It is routine to do a hearing test at this age if the speech is behind so we did that. Of course it was right after he'd been sick and his ears were full of fluid.  Not sure if that's why he didn't do great or if he just wasn't interested in the test.  I'm not at all concerned about his hearing though.  We go back in 6 weeks- apparently that's how long it takes the fluid to go back to normal.

 He can say "mama": and "dada" and "hi" AND "bye" but usually he just says "buh" for ball, bus.... anything that starts with a B really...

 We've been having him give hugs to everyone when he goes to bed and he loves to do this he goes around to everyone and gives them a big hug and sloppy kiss.  He goes in the crib with a stuffed animal and a book and then he cries.  EVery.Single.Day. he cries.  It's so frustrating, especially because he's usually asleep in minutes I don't know why he acts like he's being tortured!

 He loves to go places and get his shoes and coat on.  Of course with the weather he hasnb't gone anywhere in a while...

He's still a really good eater.  Right now he's loving the cuties (little oranges) and sauage probably the most..

Merry Christmas!

Being sick didn't take away all of our Christmas fun, I mean it was still Christmas!

 

Saturday before Christmas- before we all got sick- we had some friends over for a cookie decorating party! They have a son in Rowan's grade, a 3yr old and a baby and thought the kids would love it.  We have a lot of fun decorating cookies so thought it would be a fun way to have people over.  The kids loved it!!  I took more pics but they are on my phone. I only took these with the camera.  We ate pizza and then decorated and the adults drank a little ;) and then the kids played and acted crazy from the sugar.  Surprisingly, I had most of these sprinkles and didn't buy much for the party. NExt year I have to get more squirt bottles too! 

 

 

 

So Christmas Eve is when I started to feel really bad.  Eli was starting to feel better and Silas.  That night Silas's fever started and he was up a lot that night.  I was still super achey and had a fever so dealing with him all night was not fun.  I was exhausted and felt awful Christmas morning.  Mike was starting to feel sick too but nowhere near as bad as I felt. We each made our little beds on the couch and I grabbed the camera so we could watch the boys open presents.  Silas didn't feel good and mostly just sat between us not interested in anything :(  

 Rowan and Eli each picked out presents for us at the Secret Santa shoppe at their school.  I don't send a whole lot of money per present because the gifts are pretty cheap and crappy, but I do love how excited they are about their gifts! Eli got Mike a Cardinals door hanger! But look how excited he is :)

 Rowan got Mike a #1 Dad hat!

 Eli got me an awesome bracelet and a yo-yo

 Rowan got this squishy ball thing for ELi ( I think Eli got Rowan a little football and he loved it!)

Silas got this little bag with sports balls in it.  I had helped set-up the SHop and had took a pictrure and told Rowan he should get SIlas that since he loves balls and he likes to put stuff in bags) 

 (please ignore me, remember I was really sick) My awesome coin purse thing from Rowan

 Rowan had been asking for a ski mask since it got cold so we got them each a spiderman one! He loved it!! ELi won't wear it of course...Rowan was screaming with excitement when he opened it!

 He loves TMNT!

 I got Mike (and Rowan) a puzzle with our family picture on it.  They love puzzles so I thought they'd have a lot of fun with that

 Eli had been asking for a Pikachu ever since he saw it at Toys R Us! He was so excited to get it!

 Silas perked up a bit towwrds the end of present opening...

 

We were supposed to have brunch with my mom and sister that morning but we put it off until later since we were sick.  We had it for suipper instead and didn't make all the stuff we had planned.  It was still really good but I had been looking forward to a lot of food.  NExt year we'll just have to do it up even more!

Happy New Year!

Only a week late...

Rowan was invited to stay the night with a friend on New Years Eve this year. I kinda debated letting him go because I like us to all be together. But we don't really do anything and this friend doesn't go to his school anymore and he does miss him so I let him go.

The rest of us made our annual pudding parfaits, watched Ryan Secrest, and fell asleep on the couch ridiculously early. Seriously, what is wrong with me?! It was still fun and Eli loved stating up " late" with us without Rowan.

The Not-So Merry Christmas

What a week!

Christmas was on Wednesday. Sunday night Eli's fever started. He spent Monday on the couch with a high fever, headache, and body aches. Tuesday he was mostly the same but you could tell he was improving. I woke up Tuesday knowing it was coming. My head was hurting and I was not feeling great. By Tuesday night my body hurt so bad I almost cried when I had to lift my leg to step over the baby gate! Of course that was Christmas Eve so Mike had to get everything out and under the tree when I went to bed early. Luckily for the first time ever we wrapped presents ahead of time! So thankful for that.

Mike and Rowan were watching the Grinch until 10 pm and Rowan was tracking Santa! So mike really couldn't go to bed until after 11. Silas woke up and came to our bed. It became clear he wasnt feeling great either and mike and I were awake with him a lot that night- as in no sleep at all. On top of feeling sick that was not fun! I still had a fever and was achey Christmas morning but we had a good time opening presents. We postponed our brunch with my mom and sister until supper hoping we'd feel better. We didn't really but did it anyway. We had cereal for breakfast on Christmas :/ mike bought the boys sweet cereal so they loved it!
Silas's fever was pretty low and was gone by bedtime that night. He still didn't feel too great but he was pretty good.
Thursday I still had a fever. Felt crappy but definitely not like I was. During supper Eli said his tummy hurt and even cried cause it hurt. Since he's never done that before we were quite freaked out and were ready to head to the doctor. He laid on the couch with mike and felt better after a few minutes ( gas?) and then fell asleep at 5:30 pm! I felt better by bedtime but still had a fever.

Friday I woke up and still had a low fever! It's getting ridiculous! Eli isn't feeling great and has been laying on the couch all day. It's quite strange but I'm thinking he just needed more time to recover and his body didn't like his 2 days of having crazy Eli back ;)

Mike has had a mild touch of this- a headache somewhat and a little achey and tired. I'm so glad it didn't hit him as hard since he has really held us together! I don't remember ever being sick on Christmas. Not fun at all! And we aren't getting to enjoy our break either. We've had to cancel a few things and its really dissapointing.

It wasnt all bad though. The kids still had a good Christmas and have been enjoying their toys! I'll post pics soon- I did remember to take pictures on the real camera!!

Snow Weekend

Friday afternoon the boys had their christmas concert at school. Mike took off work so he could go and it was so fun to see them up there singing. Eli was really excited! ( I took pics with my phone so they aren't very good. Oops)

After the concert we took the boys to Dairy Queen for a treat. Eli had a Carmel shake and Rowan a hot fudge shake. Silas loved trying to sneak bites of everyone's treats with the spoon we gave him.
The boys were staying the night at my moms Friday night so we took them over after our ice cream. Mike made my mom a wooden tree with lights for her front yard so we had stopped by and set it up earlier to surprise her. We pulled up right after her and she was quite confused. Haha. But she was really excited when we said it was from us.

After we dropped the boys off mike and I headed in town with Silas to finish our Christmas shopping and hopefully get back home before it snowed too much. We went to dollar tree and it was just starting to snow when we headed to Walmart. Of course we were in there waaaaayyyy to long and when we came out the van and ground were covered in snow and it was coming down really heavy! The roads weren't too bad but it took forever to get home since most people were driving 25 :/

Saturday we woke up to maybe 6-8" of snow! And it was still coming down! I had sent the boys snow pants so they had fun at my moms and mike and I and Silas had a nice lazy ( and quiet!) day at home. They plowed our road in the afternoon and then we went to get the big boys.

We came home and made hamburgers and watched some Christmas videos. Eli and Silas fell asleep before Rowan so he laid in bed with us and watched tv. We don't get much time alone with just Rowan so it was nice. He's so grown up when Eli's not around. We are trying to take the kids on individual dates so they get time with just us and without each other. Rowan went with mike a few weeks ago but Eli has lost his everytime :/

Sunday we all bundled up to play in the snow. It's not my favorite thing at all but it was Silas's first time so I went out. He was miserable so we weren't out long. He did like hitting the big chunks of snow the boys gave him! I got to try out the snow thrower we got last year from friends who moved to California ( Thanks D!). Um. It's awesome! I would even help clear the snow and I never do that! It was great to have especially since Mike has been having a lot of back pain lately ( I'm sure I would have shoveled if I had to..)

The rest of the day was pretty lazy- football, movies, and me napping with Silas on the couch! Then we dipped some marshmallows and candy canes in melted chocolate and sprinkles. I got a little package to send to the family of Mike's friend who passed away and u thought the kids would like these. We put in some hot cocoa spoons and a little gift for the kids too. I'm sure this will be a hard Christmas for them....

Forgot to mention that mike and I wrapped all their presents when they were at my moms! I almost always wrap on Xmas eve and every year I vow to not to do that again. Mike has to pick up like 2 small things for them and then we are done! Of course I didn't get their teacher gifts yet... But we have till Friday. Still doing better than usual!