Hangin' with my Mini-Me

We hear it all of the time -- "He looks just like you, Amber." Looking at the two of us together in these pictures,well, it's pretty hard to deny the resemblance. I had the same light blond hair as a child, and the same smile. And if you saw pictures of my father as a tot, you'd never doubt the power of genetics again. They could be twins, seriously. Drew has also commented that there are moments he sees his paternal grandfather in Silas.
So, Drew's side of the family is in there, too. You can see that Silas' eyes are darker than mine--closer to Drew's in color. I always say they have eyes the color of olives.
The boys also have matching beauty marks on their foreheads, which I think is pretty cute, considering that my mom, sister, and I all have matching beauty marks on our cheeks.

And if you ask me, Silas has Drew's feet. Drew says all feet are the same. He is wrong. Silas has his feet, for sure.

On another note, I've been asked several times if Silas has had a hair cut. No way! He's just got enough hair now that it is starting to stick up in the back and over his ears, and I LOVE it that way. I really want to see him with those cute little baby curls, like you see on a lot of little ones, so we are letting nature take its course for now. We'll cut it if it becomes a tangled mess, but otherwise, he'll be sporting a shaggy look. He's been bald, or nearly so, for most of his life, and his hair is still pretty thin, so I'm looking forward to it being crazy, messy, longish, and adorable for a while.

The Librarian Takes a Vacation

I'm all smiles cuz I'm off of work for the next 3 and a half weeks or so. Silas on the other hand, well, he's cutting his first molar, so he's a bit testy/clingy/weepy. I'm not forcing him to use that shovel, I swear! He happily carried it all around the yard and then burst out crying, right on cue for the picture. My first order of business, aside from hanging with my boys all day, was to finish the Schoolmarm Vest that I'm wearing. I have a lot more fun things planned, but some of it, the things that involve traveling places, will have to wait a bit. Today, our gear shift would not shift out of park, and our brake lights stopped working all together. Apparently, the two things are related. The good news: our car is still under warrenty. The bad news: It's a holiday weekend, so we can't bring it in until Monday. And back to the upside: It's a good excuse to stay home and get some work done in my long neglected garden.

But that's right, I'm on vacation, better make Silas work in the garden instead:
But I won't make him work too hard. He can enjoy the Radio Flyer we got for him last weekend at the Bainbridge Island Rotary Auction ($1.50 --that's what I call a deal!).
He loves it, but he's really almost too big for it already. And he doesn't really get that he should make it go by using his feet. He prefers that I push him, which is kind of a workout, given how low to the ground that thing is. I think pretty soon, we're going to have to buy him something with petals. For now, the radio flyer is a hit.
A note about Si's books, since Jessi commented that I always find good ones. Shucks, you are a dear, dear. Well, I catalog children's books for a school district for a living. I probably see over 100 books a day, on average, so I'm exposed to a lot of great titles. Probably 95% of the titles on Silas' book wish list and the books of the month are books I cataloged at some point over the past 5 years. If you are looking for an inexpensive way to build your kid's library, check out your local public library's book sale. Most of them have them from time to time. The money from the proceeds usually filters back to the libraries, and you can pick up a lot of the books they've discarded or that people have donated for next to nothing. I've found that some of these books are in pretty good shape, some are a little worse for wear, etc. You never know what you'll find, but it's always worth looking. And we take Silas to the library ALL of the time too, so we are never short on reading material.

Still co-sleeping, still loving it!

Drew took this picture one morning a while back before Silas and I woke up. He thought it was hilarious that we were both positioned nearly identically. I do not think it is hilarious that I am somehow lacking definition between a chin and a neck, but I decided to post it anyways, for one very important reason--I think it really conveys, in a very intimate manner, how important and lovely co-sleeping is to us.

I recently found a survey online regarding co-sleeping. The survey is meant to gather data from families who co-sleep (or have in the past) in order to try to dispel some of the negative attention co-sleeping receives in our society. Interestingly enough, the industry most responsible for promoting negative aspects of co-sleeping is (drum roll please) crib manufacturers. There's also a going theory that co-sleeping is unsafe and that it should even possibly be outlawed. How sad. But should such a law be passed, well, there's nothing like a little civil disobedience to keep a family strong.

There's nothing unsafe about healthy sober parents sleeping with their young ones. In fact, there's no safer place for a babe to sleep then in his mother's embrace. Most of the world feels the same and most of the world co-sleeps. I just don't get the controversy. I really don't.

If it works for you, you should co-sleep, no matter what your friends, relatives, or strangers on the street tell you. Your baby will thank you!

Mother's Day: lotsa love for lotsa moms

Happy Mother's Day, Mamas! This year, it was great to celebrate Mother's Day both with my son and my mom. We had brunch next door at Patrick and Shannon's. Another mom was present too--Patrick's mom decided to surprise him by flying in from Missouri completely unexpectedly yesterday (well, ok, we knew she was coming, but Patrick had no clue)!
And a shout out to some other moms: Grandma G. (Drew's mom--we love you!), Jessica R., who's celebrating her first Mother's day as a mom, with her darling babe, Liam (otherwise known as Niblo), And Jessi L., Alden's mom, who wins Planet Silas' honorary Mom-of-the-Year award.
And here's a flashback for you--Silas and me a year ago, circa mother's day 2007.

He's grown a wee bit, don't ya think?

Good Day, Young Chap

I find that lately, I miss Silas more, rather than less, while I'm away at work. I think it's because he's becoming such a little boy now. He has so much personality and is developing so fast. I'm sure I miss a lot when I'm away, though I always get the lowdown on Si's day when I get home.

So if any of you want to hire someone with a Library Science degree to work online from home, and you just happen to be willing to pay enough to support a modest family of 3 and provide health insurance, I'm your woman!

Mom's Birthday & Si's 12 mo. Appt.

My birthday falling just 5 days after the kiddo's means that it is just a tad bit overshadowed. That's okay. Seriously. I did go out to breakfast with my boys before going to work and they threw me a great birthday lunch at work, too. I left the office early so that we could take Silas to his 12 month doctor's appointment. So, here's the lowdown.
Silas weighed in at just about 23 pounds. He is now in the mid 50s in terms of the growth chart (hight, weight, and head circumference compared to other 12 month-old boys). The doctor mentioned that he isn't putting on as much weight now that he's crawling around all the time. She also warned us that his eating may slow down in a few months as it is common for toddlers to get more choosy around 14 or 15 months. Hmmm. We will wait with baited breath for that. So, anyways, size-wise, he is very average and the doctor is happy with his size and overall health.

We thought that now that he has his 8 incisors, we might have a break from teething for a while. However, recently, Silas has been trying to bit us. A lot. For instance, he will crawl up to me while I'm sitting on the floor and crawl into my arms all smiles, then suction his little mouth onto my cheek and bit down with all of his might. Owwww. This is a daily occurrence. So with that, we really didn't need a professional to tell us that he's still teething, but apparently, I felt compelled to ask anyways, and yes, duh, he still is.
Vaccinations. We've been getting them for Silas, but have never felt at ease about it. There's an overwhelming amount of contrary information on vaccinations out there. I'm really not going to go into the arguement on whether or not vaccinations cause autism here (you all know how to use Google if you need more info). Our doctor was really great at not being judgemental regarding our fears or pushing anything on us. Mercury is no longer used in children's vaccinations, which makes us feel much better. We decided to hold off on the MMR vaccination till he's 15 months. I was happy with this decision, since he was already getting 3 other vaccinations today. So far, he's shown no side effects whatsoever. Also, I must note that the doctor observed Silas and immediately said there's no way he's autistic. We know that, but somehow it felt very reassuring to be told this. So, him hitting his head repeatedly with this hand (like he's saying "doh!" over and over again), and also frequently shaking his head back and forth and then laughing ---both normal. It was a good appointment, if only to reassure mom and dad that all is well with Little Bear.