Going to Try This Again

Blogging? What do you mean blogging? Oh yeah, that thing that I used to enjoy so much. I forgot how, I think.



Ok...



Well, let's start with the kids. I can always come up with something about them.



Here they are:

Meyson has a job at Burger King and is contemplating his future. School, military, bills, money, love...so much opportunity. He's learned the hard way that bad choices come back and bite you later. Let's hope that lesson sticks. He's a good kid facing the big, bad world. Remember that?

Brianna is looking forward to soccer starting again soon and trying to determine whether or not to homeschool again next year. She's such a social girl that I won't be surprised if she chooses to go to public high school. I think she's enjoyed homeschooling this year, but I also think she misses seeing all of her friends everyday.

Cody lives for ballet. She loves it so much and is improving rapidly. I had to remind her the other day that she is precious and special not because she's a great ballerina, but because she is Cody and God made her special and unique. She looked at me like I was speaking gibberish. I'm going to have to figure out how to make that sink in.

Carson is sick right now. She tends to get high fevers with very few other symptoms, but she's an excellent patient. On normal days she is an eager and emotional child. She likes to learn, but gets distracted easily. I think daydreaming may be her activity of choice. Carson is very musical and we would like to get her into some kind of music lessons. For now, she sings all the time which is perfect.

Memphis sings all the time too. Not much on key, but that's what makes it so wonderful. His joy just spills right out of his mouth in whatever words and notes he likes. He is still the most daring of our children; I expect a broken bone or two in the next few years. Not that I'm looking forward to that, just trying to prepare myself.

Silas needs to spend more time out in public. She wants to be in control of any and all activities at all times. Since I tend to try and run errands when Brad is home, she hasn't had a whole lot of "public behavior" lessons. So beginning with our outing to the library in which she loudly announced that she did not like the young man who was standing next to us, and ending today when she refused to obey her Sunday school teacher, is a period of time in which I have realized my mistake. Silas can be the sweetest most compassionate baby girl you've ever met. She snuggles and plays and gives kisses and is generally lovely. I think the public deserves to see that side of her and she certainly deserves to be observed that way. Another lesson to impart...sigh.

Great kids, great husband, great life.

Silas

Silas. The last one. The little one. The cute one. The one who makes me want to scream.

Silas was a very, very good infant. She hardly cried, she loved to snuggle, and she could make your heart melt with just one precious smile. As she's grown she's shown a more...well...precocious side to her personality.

With 5 older brothers and sisters she learned early on that if she wanted to keep something she had in her hand, or if she wanted something that was in someone else's hand, she had to be aggressive. She took it a little too far. Biting was her modus operandi, her very favorite way to get what she wanted. Then, someone bit her back, not gonna say it was me, but let's just say that the person was an adult with an interest in not only stopping her biting, but also a person who knew the bite had to be hard enough to get her attention, but not so hard as to leave any sort of mark. Whether or not you agree with my method, it worked. She hardly ever bites now. That's right...hardly ever.

Enter "the scream heard round the world." (TSHRTW) I'm sure our neighbors have wondered who was being tortured inside our home. You don't believe me? Just tell Silas she can't have what she wants. Better yet, tell her it's naptime. You'll need hearing aids for the rest of your life. TSHRTW is especially effective in public. Yes, I have become that mother who will do anything to make the kid stop screaming. I swore I would never do that and I did not give in with any of the other kids. You have to hear it to understand. It will be an enlightening experience for sure.

Silas has had several hobbies in her two years. The first one was removing all the books from her and Memphis's bookshelf. It's not a very big shelf, but kid books are small so I would walk in to find 100 books strewn about as if she were trying to re-floor her bedroom with Dr. Suess and Margaret Wise Brown. This hobby was irritating, mainly because she wasn't capable of returning them to the shelves without destroying them. That doesn't mean she didn't try. Many a book was tossed during this time.

As fun as that was, I would trade her current hobby for that one in a heartbeat. Now, her mission is to destroy our home and my sanity little by little, bit by bit, until I am a raving lunatic standing atop a pile of rubble where my bed used to be.

Phase 1: Incapacitate main toilet and distract parentals long enough to make sure they didn't know it was me.

Execution of Phase 1: Flush toilet paper spool down the pot and quickly shove a small, green bead up my nose.

Net Damage from Phase 1 Execution: $60 for the plumber, $200 for the ER visit, moderate to heavy stress load on Mom.

Phase 1 successful.

Phase 2: Parentals on high alert. Surreptitious movements necessary. Vandalize the home whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Execution of Phase 2: Paint the bathroom mirror with lotion everyday, especially right after Mom cleans it. Graffiti my body with markers right before church or grocery store trip or whenever we might make contact with other people. Use a blue sharpie marker to scribble all over Mom's laptop screen. Dump dark purple nail polish in big splotches on myself and on the carpet in the hall. Decorate Mom and Dad's bathroom with Mom's makeup effectively ruining Mom's makeup.

Net Damage from Phase 2: Heavy stress load on Mom.

Phase 2 successful.

Phase 3, I believe, is in the works. And if I know Silas it's gonna be a doosie. I wake up everyday and immediately go into recon mode. With this baby, you never know what the day holds.

Today, someone gave Silas a small, hard candy. I'm sure whoever it was thought they were being nice. I didn't know she had this candy when I gave her a cup of water. She took a drink and hit her knees. She was making a horrible sound and her face was turning scarlet. I knew she was choking. I picked her up and flipped her over and began pounding on her back. She drew a breath, dragging the candy back into her windpipe and Brad took over the pounding. It seemed to take forever, but finally she literally threw up a small, red disc.

In the 30 seconds it took to dislodge the candy, her whole life flashed before my eyes. Suddenly all of the scheming she has done didn't matter. She is my loving, kind, sweet, precious baby girl who I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

Oops, gotta go, TSHRTW is about to wake up every other child in our home. Tonight it's a sweet, sweet sound.

Party Animals

Last night was interesting. Let me give some background before I recount the story. Memphis and Silas share a room. Up until recently this has not posed any significant problems, but a few weeks ago Silas's need to get up and play finally rubbed off on Memphis. Before then Memphis was the best sleeper in the house. Now we can expect that for about 2 hours after bedtime we will have to enter their room with stern voices and swift action several times. They jump on the beds, throw toys, hit each other with books, pretty much anything they are not allowed to do during the day. Inevitably, someone ends up crying like they have lost a limb, everyone gets a spanking (don't tell me it's not necessary, you're not here) and they usually go right to sleep after that.

Last night. LAST NIGHT. I had been up for most of the night before last for other reasons, so I fell asleep around 10 last night in an attempt to catch up a little. Every once in awhile I would feel Brad get out of bed, but I was not conscious enough to know why. Finally at about 1:30 there was a particularly loud altercation and I was awakened to find Brad exasperated beyond sanity because the babies were still awake. WHAT!?! That's it! They'll be sorry now! Because here comes MOM!

When I entered the hallway, there they both were, running from the kitchen to the bathroom, up and down the hall, lights blazing. I thought for a second that maybe we were experiencing some kind of solar eclipse because, really, other than college students, who has this kind of energy in the middle of the night? Then they spotted me. Frozen, terrified. I could see it in their eyes. Silas sprinted for her bed while Memphis just stared up at me, his eyes pleading for mercy. I marched him into Carson's room, retrieved a sleeping bag, and laid it out there on the floor. He climbed in and said softly, "Sowwy Mommy." "Thank you Memphis, now go to sleep."

Then I returned to their room and shut the door. Silas can't open it. Ha! Fixed that problem. Now maybe we can rest.

And we did. But Memphis did not. When my very accurate and annoying internal clock woke me up at exactly 7:48 this morning, the babies' light was on, they were both in their own beds, and they were sleeping peacefully. Of course they were. They were up half the night partying. I was tempted to run in there and start throwing toys and jumping on the beds, but my punishment would have been far more severe than any I have ever inflicted upon them.

As it is, when they did finally emerge, Silas proved once again that she is incapable of being even somewhat reasonable on less than 10 hours sleep.

"Good morning Silas."

"NO!"

"Do you need a drink?"

"NO!"

"Fine, maybe you should go back to bed."

"NO! I NEED DRINK!"

Great. Today should be fun.

Oh Yeah, About All Those People Who Live Here...

It's been quite a while since I've done an update on all the kids, so I'm here today to remedy that. Let me preface by letting you know that I've been printing all of my blogs that have to do with the kids to make them a sort of baby book since my tired attempts at scrap booking failed miserably.



Meyson is now 17 and facing his last year of schooling. Although he would never admit it, I do believe he is terrified of what comes after that. He has big dreams for his future including herpetology and acting and/or directing. He has an amazing talent for drawing so we are trying to push him in that direction to give him a start. What he lacks is confidence so if you see him soon a little encouragement would be more than appreciated. Brad and I are on edge because Meyson seems to be at that point in his life where he is wavering between what he has been taught is right and the "easy" looking path that those of us with more experience recognize as the school of hard knocks. We pray everyday that our voices will reverberate within him and he will choose the right path.

Brianna has officially entered teenagerhood. Unnerving is not a big enough word. She continues to excel in school and still enjoys singing in the choir. I am continually amazed at how well she plays with the little ones. Her laugh echoes through our home brightening every space. They love her so much. Bri wants to give homeschooling a try next year. I'm a little concerned that I will not challenge her enough and, compensating, will set the bar too high. A balancing act will surely be necessary.

Cody is now 9 years old which makes me feel older than dirt. How on earth is it possible that I have a 9-year-old? Anyway, ballet is her passion! She eats, sleeps, and breathes it. And she's really good at it too. I'm fairly certain that I'll need to get her some kind of calender to keep with her so that she can keep up with her many social obligations. She is the activity leader in our home and her impeccable planning skills are sorely missed when she's visiting her dad. Which she is doing now. For three months straight. I miss her so badly that my heart actually hurts, but if it's possible, I think Carson may miss her more.

And speaking of Carson, she is a whopping 6 years old. At least that's how many years ago she was born. I fully believe she ages in somewhat the same way that dogs do because I sometimes think she may be more wise than I. Or anyone else I know for that matter. She says things like, "Mom, don't you wish you could just start over in life? I do." I never know what to say when she says things like that. I just smile and make a mental note to write that down later. Her new hobby is collecting bugs. It has been somewhat traumatizing. Her first three were "Buggy" the beetle, "Buddy" the moth, and "Lily" the spider. They had to be released before we took a trip to Dallas and you would have thought we were having a funeral. Currently her pets include "Leafy" the leaf bug and "He Who Has Not Been Named" the spider.

Memphis. What else can I say? He's just Memphis. Full of joy and life. Full of energy and wonder. Master of the monkey bars, king of extreme. He takes corners on one wheel. Sometimes he falls on his face (thank God for helmets) but in the next second he's up and trying again. No matter how many trials life throws at him, the boy just keeps smiling and shining. He has really come a long way with his speech and showcases that by singing all the time now. He still scares me everyday, whether I'm worrying about his fearlessness or his tendency to develop unexplained tumors. His exuberance tempers my worry. Most of the time.

Silas is a passionate child. Many things evoke very strong reactions from her. If she hears a song she will sing and dance until she falls down. If somebody tells her "No" it's tantrum city. And these are the kinds of tantrums where you can actually see flames shooting from her eyes. She bites, she claws, nothing is off limits. BUT, when it's time to cuddle, you have never snuggled so well. She wraps those tiny little arms as far as she can get them around your neck and squeezes you like you are her own personal stress ball. She will kiss all of your boo boos. The sweetness oozes from her every pore. And if you really want to see her passionate side, just mention Dora. Oh. My. Goodness. Dora hung the moon, didn't you know? She went over the troll bridge, through the icky, sticky mud, and to the top of gooey geyser, where she then hung the moon.

There you go. Now you are caught up and I have one more post to print and add to the books.

A Cry For Help

I thought you might like an update on how Silas is doing in her own bed. Well, we ended up having to just put her in the bed and close the door all the way so she couldn't open it. This was her protest:

It was like a litte SOS. Is anybody out there? I thought this one was especially appropriate:

And some little fingers, just because they are so cute:

Synchronized Potty Training

This one is gonna be gross. I hope you're ready for really, really gross.

Silas has decided she is way too big for diapers. This came as a pretty big shock for me because she is only 20 months old. I really thought we had another year or so before we even thought about potty training. But, hey, I'm all for it. If I never have to buy another box of diapers it will be too soon.

When she needs to go, she usually pulls her pants down around her ankles and begins yelling, "Potty! Potty!," and running for the bathroom. I'm hoping I can change that before she needs to go while we're at the grocery store. Or at church.

So, Nicole's son Dexter is potty training too. Dex is at our house pretty often right now while Nicole earns her nursing degree. Dex is doing very well in the number 1 department. Number 2 is another story.

This afternoon I had just returned from a trip to the bathroom with Silas and was helping Cody and Carson with their piano lesson when Dex came running in ecstatic. "Megan, Megan! I went poo-poo in the potty! I did it!"

I replied, "Yay! Great job Dex! Give me five!" And we high fived a lot.

Then Dex went on... "Yep I just put that poo-poo right in the potty."

Hmmm....put?

"Dex, I better look to make sure you wiped well." And that was the end of the celebration. And the beginning of the confession. "Yep, I just went poo-poo and then I put it in the potty and the first one was a big huge rectangle and the next one looked like a ball!"

Oh, please help.

So the cleanup begins. And right smack in the middle of cleanup, in that moment when it's too late too stop but the job is not quite done yet...I see a little streaker out of the corner of my eye and hear the telltale, "Potty! Potty!"

*sigh*

Sleeping Beauty, Finally

We had to move Silas to a toddler bed today. It wasn't something we wanted to do yet, but it became necessary when Spiderman (aka: Memphis) figured out how to scale the outside of Silas' crib and unzip her crib tent. She's only 18 months old, so we knew it was going to be interesting.

Uncle Billy and Aunt Kim bought Silas a four-poster toddler princess bed complete with gold crowns atop each spire. She loves it. She calls it her "nigh nigh."

At nap time we close the door completely so, while she was not able to leave the room, she did get up and play a little bit before falling asleep on top of a book in her new bed. Tonight was more of a challenge because Memphis was in there with her and we have to leave the door cracked so he can get out to use the bathroom if he needs to.

Memphis has always been a very good sleeper. His bed is his sanctuary. He doesn't get up unless he has a good reason. While we hoped Silas would follow his example, we knew it was unlikely.

Brad and I settled both babies into bed and then went to finish our dinner together. Not five minutes later we hear the door open and here comes Silas down the hall, belly sticking out in front, like she has every right in the world to be there. I escorted her back to bed, tucked her in again, thanked Memphis for staying in his bed, and left the room.

This ritual continued with Brad and I taking turns returning her to bed for about twenty minutes when we realized more drastic measures were going to be needed. I should mention that every time we went back in the room Memphis felt the need to inform us of the events that occurred while we were absent. "Mommy, Siyas get outta bed and she play with my toys and she get on my bed. Merry Christmas Mommy!!"

"Merry Christmas Memphis, thank you for staying in your bed, go to sleep now."

"Ok Mommy, thank you Mommy, merry Christmas!"

At this point we parked ourselves outside their door in the hallway. Every few minutes we had to go in and put the wayward child back in bed again. At one point we thought it might be over when we heard Silas saying, "Nigh nigh" over and over again. And we heard Memphis, "K-k-k-k-k-k, sssssshhhhhh....k-k-k-k-k-k, sssssssshhhhhh." His attempt to make Silas think he was already asleep. Brad and I had to stifle hysterical laughter.

It was not over, however, and we resorted to leaving the bedroom door wide open while we sat in the hall in view of her precious bed. Every time that little head popped up one of us would say, "Lay down Silas," and Memphis would echo, "Way down Siyas." Sometimes we had to count, "1...(Memphis chimes in with 2)...2...(Memphis..3)...3! Ok here we come." Little head back on the mattress.

After about and hour of this she started to wear down. She chatted to herself a little and then began to demand milk. "I wan mmmeeeeuuukkk. I wan mmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuukkkkkk!" Memphis' nerves were shot. "NO!"

And that was it. Both kids drifted off leaving Brad and I looking at each other asking, "That was it?!? Not so bad." Hopefully we won't have to eat our words tomorrow.

Silas' Take Part 3

Ok, so I know it's been a long time since I updated you on my life, but I have been very busy! I am still a very happy baby but I am especially happy any time I have access to food. You know I can feed myself now. I really like cheerios, graham crackers, oyster crackers, peaches, and cereal bars. Oh, and I can hold my own bottle. See, I really am a big girl now. And I can prove it. I weigh in at 21 pounds which is only 5 pounds less than my big brother Memphis.

I don't let that weight difference get in my way though. I can hold my own with Memphis which scares my mommy to death. I just grab a handful of his hair or skin when he is being rowdy and he screams like a girl. I really love him though. He always greets me with a hug and a kiss when I wake up and I give him my biggest smile.

I tried to crawl for awhile, but it just wasn't working out for me. I found that the army crawl works great. I can go from zero to gone before my mommy and daddy know what happened. Then my mom put up this thing in the doorway that I can't crawl over. My brothers and sisters just hop over it and I cry because I haven't figured out how to nibble through it yet. I have two teeth that are perfect for nibbling.

I like to test out my new teeth on everything so I know what they can bite, but my mommy doesn't like it at all when I do that. She says things like, "yucky" and "blech" but I don't know what that means. Tasted pretty good to me. Except this one:

My family likes to slap their hands together for me a lot. At first I was kind of confused but then I tried it. Now I like to slap my hands together all the time and mommy says, "Silas, you're clapping!" Ok, if you say so.


I have the best Daddy in the whole world. I like to go see him right away when he comes home. He smiles and laughs and snuggles with me. I think he is wonderful and I really like his hat too.

I surprised him really good one day when he came home and watched me pull myself up to standing using a box that came in the mail. He really laughed a lot.

I see a lot of people I don't know everyday, but some people I keep seeing over and over again. I finally figured out that this is my Nana:

And this is my Mamaw:

I love them both very much! I tell them by smiling and bouncing and flapping my arms wildly when I see them.

I guess that's it for now. It's about time for another bottle and I can't miss eating time! Talk to you later.

Oh, and did I mention that I love my tongue?

And here's an update on my hair:

Control-Freak Santa

We didn't plan on getting to visit Santa when we went to a local Christmas decoration supply store, but he was there and the kids were so excited. I thought it would be a great opportunity to let them visit the jolly, old elf in a not-so-chaotic environment. It will go down as one of the most bizarre visits with Santa that we have ever had.

My brother and his family came in for Thanksgiving and they were in front of us in line. My nephew Hayden has a sweet obsession with St. Nick and Bill and Kim thought he would be overjoyed to see the big guy in person. As is common with two-year-olds, he instead had a panic attack and became permanently fused to his mother's side. 

Santa began his campaign to prove that he, a complete stranger, knew just how to force Hayden to comply. He told Kim to stand nearby while Carson and Memphis visited with him so that the little guy could see that there was nothing to worry about. Santa told Kim to put Hayden down next to her and hold his hand. Try as she might, Kim could not get Hayden to release his death grip on her, so she just stood where she had been instructed.

Apparently, this was not acceptable to Mr. Claus and he began to say things like, "You're not listening to me," and, "You need to follow instructions," to Kim. She finally had enough of the abuse and walked a little further away where Hayden could watch from a distance. It wasn't far enough away because Santa continued to bark instructions at her until she gave up and took Hayden to see the much less bossy stuffed version of Father Christmas at the back of the store. 

By this time, a full five minutes had been wasted and I was beginning to get very irritated myself. Santa had many instructions for me as well and I took lots of deep breaths to maintain my composure. 

I have a very nice camera, a style not normally carried by someone who does not know how to capture decent pictures with it. Even so, Mr. Claus felt the need to direct where I should stand to get the best shot. In fact, he was overly concerned with what poses he wanted me to capture. So much so that he did not even ask the kids their names or what they wanted for Christmas. 

It made for some pretty cute pictures, but overall I think the kiddos were quite disenfranchised with the whole experience. I've been explaining to them ever since that St. Nick was just cranky because nobody had brought him any cookies. Carson wants to make sure that if we go see him again we take plenty with us. Weird, weird Santa man.

A House Divided

It is football season although, for the most part, you wouldn't know it around our house. We are not huge football fans, but we do enjoy a good game every now and again. Being Texans, we are always happy to see a Texas team do well.

Last night, however, our Texas Tech Red Raider football team played the #1 Texas Longhorns and you can bet we were all hyped up for the battle. Brad, Cody, and I (and of course Memphis and Silas) are avid Red Raider fans, while Brianna, Meyson, and Carson (yes, they got her) were pulling for the Longhorns.

If you follow college football, you know that Tech pulled off a thrilling victory in the final seconds of the game. Woo Hoo!

I am appalled at Carson's endorsement of the Bevo crowd, but, of course, my blood runs black and red. So, when I was praying with her last night at bedtime, my prayer went like this:

"Dear God, Thank you for this day and for my precious Carson. Please keep her dreams pleasant tonight and let her know that she is so very loved. And go Texas Tech. In Jesus' name, Amen."

There was a long silence, and then, "Longhorns forever, longhorns forever, longhorns forever!" in a teeny-weeny girl voice complete with the hook 'em horns sign. ***Sigh***

Happy Fall Ya'll

The halloween season used to be a big deal to me. I used to let two little girls peruse the costume sections of the McCall's books at the craft store. Then we would pour over every conceivable fabric in the store until we had found the perfect ones for their chosen costumes. I would spend $30 easily by the time we had left the store, and then I would spend hour after hour slaving away at the sewing machine, often whispering angry words at it.

Now there are six children who need costumes and the ritual has been reduced to a wild rummaging through the closets to find anything that will work. Why don't I just start a month earlier and sew all of their costumes? Because, I'm not (completely) insane.

Here's how it all turned out:

Carson is Snow White. I dug out the old dress that I had made for Cody a few years ago, borrowed a curly black wig, threw in some white tights and black mary-janes that we already owned, and voila! A beautiful Snow White costume for zero dollars and zero cents.

Cody is Hermione from Harry Potter. My mom gave me an old nun costume which I cut down to Cody's size, we borrowed a Gryffindor scarf from Bri, painted a wooden dowel brown for a wand, and braided her hair early in the day for wild Hermione hair. Again, zero dollars and zero cents.

Brianna is Sarah Palin. This was Mamaw's (Brad's mom) idea and we loved it. I inherited a skirt suit a couple of months ago that was perfect, she already had the glasses, and we spent some time straightening her hair and putting it up in a Palin-esque manner. Free again.

Bri would only commit to the Palin idea if I agreed to be Hillary Clinton. Now let me just make it very clear that I am not in any way endorsing Hillary, I just happen to resemble her more than McCain. I'm not sure that everyone at our church carnival got the joke.

Silas is a mandrake. You know, the screaming baby plants that they re-pot in the first Harry Potter? I started with the ladybug outfit that I made for Cody. Obviously, I did not use the red part with the black dots on it. Brad and I cut some leaves off of his canna plants and I attached them to the ladybug bonnet. She was the cutest little killer mandrake ever.

Memphis is Batman. The bodysuit cost me $3.99 at a thrift store and the cape was one that Meyson had used in the past that we cut down to fit Memphis. He's not a fan of Batman really, but it was the only costume at the store that would both fit Memphis and cost less than $20.

We went to the annual festival at our church this evening and the kids had a blast. Memphis in particular was so much fun to watch. This is the first year he really understood what was going on.

He found a big mural with the beloved Bob and Larry on it and his reaction was priceless.

He is much more brave and skilled at climbing than we thought he would be. I really thought he would need some help climbing up the ladder in the big inflatables, but he not only did not, but climbed them like he had done it a thousand times before.

Getting candy was a huge thrill for Memphis and he soon figured out that he could charm his was to more than his fair share. He would skip the games and run straight for the person manning the candy bag, sign "more, please" and hold his bag open for them. Who could resist that? Nobody at our church apparently. He made quite a haul.

We knew it was time to go when he couldn't go two minutes without throwing a fit. His feet became immovable cement blocks and his voice went to full volume as he screamed his disapproval that he was not allowed to pickle fish for the 15th time. He would then become a limp pile of wailing flesh complete with a bloody nose. No joke.

The last time, I picked him up, potato-sack style, under my arm and walked very quickly toward the door with my hand over his mouth. I'm pretty sure that at least a couple people questioned whether or not he belonged to me. Yes, yes, the out of control, screaming banshee is mine. Thank you very much.

Silas' Take, Part 2

Hello again. I am four months old now and I'm doing so much more than I was the last time we talked. I weigh a solid 15 pounds now, though my feet haven't grown at all. I know because I found them the other day and I can almost put one whole foot in my mouth. My toes taste really good.

Also, my mommy started feeding me rice cereal. It's wonderful! The only problem is that my mommy is a little slow in getting the bites to my mouth. I find that it helps if I scream at her between every bite.

My mommy and daddy get so excited when I'm trying to do something new. They say things like, "Go Si!" and, "You can do it!" It makes me nervous so I decided I'm only going to do new things at my nana's house from now on. A few weeks ago, I rolled from my tummy to my back at Nana's and I made it look so easy that Nana thought I had already done it before. She didn't scare me with her yelling or anything. My mommy was sad she missed it.

That was so much fun that I decided to wait until I went back to Nana's to roll from my back to my tummy. I did that one after Nana put me to bed. My mommy was sad again and she told me I wasn't allowed to go to Nana's anymore.

I think my hands are possessed. They are always flailing around creating mischief. Sometimes they take my pacifier out of my mouth and I concentrate really hard to get them to put it back in, but they just won't do it. And watch out if you get close to me because they will reach out and grab your hair! I try to make them let go, but usually my mommy has to pry my fingers open. Sometimes my hands pull my dress or my blanket over my face and I freak out because I think I can't breathe. My mom has to help out then too.

Laughing is one of my favorite things to do right now. I just learned how. I laugh when my daddy laughs. He's a funny guy. And Meyson is funny too. I just love to stare at him and smile.

My little blond brother doesn't bother me too much anymore. Mostly because my mommy hovers really close when he gets near me. He is sometimes very sweet to me and kisses my head. I think he loves me a lot.

My sisters all think I'm a doll or something. They tote me around and wrap me in blankets and put stuff in my hair. Then I hear my mommy say, "Silas is not a doll," and she comes and rescues me.

Speaking of my hair, do you know what an afro is? My mommy says I'm going to have one soon and I've never seen one so I don't know what to expect. She says it's because my hair is getting so curly. Mommy likes to play with it and I love it when she does that.

Anyway, I think my mommy was joking when she told me I couldn't go to Nana's anymore so next time I'm there I'm going to try to sit up or walk or maybe drive the car. I'll let you know how it goes. Bye!

Soccer, Siblings, and Spectacles

I finally downloaded the pictures from my camera. Some of them have been on there for a month. That's really bad, I know.

A lot has been happening with Brianna especially. She was having some headaches and our pediatrician suggested that we take her to an optometrist. Sure enough, she needed glasses.

She looks pretty cute, huh? She had mixed feelings, partly excited for something new, and partly nervous about how she would look in glasses.

I like her new look. I think the glasses actually bring out her eyes and her exuberant personality.

Meyson is a little more camera shy.

They both love Silas very much and are wonderful siblings for her.

Brianna has started playing soccer and she loves it. AND, despite never having played before, she is really good at it. She is by far the most aggressive player on her team, which is a good thing. We can see her confidence level rising with every game and we can't wait to see her progress through the rest of the season.

She shoots...

SHE SCORES!!!!

So, there you go. The latest. Oh wait, one more. The cutest smile ever: