A little bit of summer

Søren, Silas and I are having a wonderful and relaxing summer! We hadn’t planned much of anything, as we didn’t know how much we would be up for, so we have just taken each day as it comes with a few small day trips every once and awhile.

Two of the day trips we have had were to visit some friends/family at two different Bible Camps in Denmark.  I have heard so much about Mørkholt and Sommeroase, so this year since we are actually in Denmark during the camps, we just had to check them out.  Both camps are designed for families, and it was fun to see so many kids playing around and there were many different activities and events that you could attend. I was very impressed with both camps, each unique in their own way.

With Ulla, Peter, Lukas & Nikolaj at Mørkholt Camping

At Sommeroase with Jette, Carl, Ida and Sigrid

The day at Mørkholt we had beautiful weather and enjoyed visiting friends from our church as well as Søren’s sister and her family.  Silas slept pretty much the whole day, so he was easy to have along.  At Sommeroase Silas was also so well behaved, sleeping again most of the day in his buggy as we walked around and visited with our friends.

Søren and I were also able to celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary last Tuesday. We spent the day in the nearby beach town, Henne, where we looked at shops and took a stroll down by the ocean.  Then we went out to eat on the way home, where once again Silas was so well behaved! It was a delicious buffet and Søren and I had plenty of time to enjoy multiple trips to the buffet table! Then we came home and watched the movie Søren had bought us for our anniversary.  We definitely enjoyed the day!

Silas seeing the ocean for the first time

Every year we have a little day long family outing with Søren’s Mom and his sister and family.  This year we were meant to go to a little island off the west coast of Denmark, where Søren’s Mom lived until 2nd grade.  However the weather prevented us from going and instead we decided to go a different day and ended up at a very beautiful Nature Park. There were trails around a small lake and an awesome playground with fun for both kids and adults.  We finished the day back at Ulla and Peter’s house with some strawberry pie and steak dinner.  Silas had a great day too getting lots of fresh air and being as charming as ever during goodbyes, giving his toothless smile and coos to his Aunt, Uncle and Grandma.

Otherwise we have just been enjoying time at home. Going for walks, cleaning up around the house and visiting friends. We are getting to know Silas better and better and therefore having fewer and fewer crying attacks.  However, there have been a few days where he has been just a mad little boy…screaming while we were pushing him in his carriage on the busy shopping street…and screaming again as I took him to a flea market.  All in all he is so well behaved we can’t complain, but I still must note that he can be a “bit” fussy!

PS: This morning I was changing Silas’ diaper and just as I was about to put the new diaper on, I heard a giant fart and suddenly I was covered with a yellowish, watery poop explosion.  It was all over!! I had to take a shower immediately.  The joys of parenthood!

Silas 1 month +

Everyday I keep thinking, I really want to have a blog post each month showing Silas' growth (at least for this first year as so much changes so quickily in the beginning).  So yes, everyday in July so far I have told myself that it is too late now to do a 1 month post, but I still want to do it, so now I am deciding that I will just do it, even though Silas is much over 1 month now. So here is the first of the 12 posts to come! (Now I've promised it, so I have to follow through :)

SILAS 1 month


At 1 month old Silas can:
1) Hold his head really high and for up to 3-4 minutes at a time
2) Cry with such a volume and violence that you wonder if he is literally dying...well at least wonder if he is breathing
3) Make slight eye contact for short periods. For ex: Follow an item every so slowly and with delayed reaction.
4) Make cooing noises
5) Smile in his sleep...(also slightly while awake, but definitely not purposeful)
6) Sleep for 5 hours in a row (Has only done it 3 nights but still)
7) Go through 3-4 outfits a day due to major spit up accidents.
8) Wear size 56cm clothes...he has outgrown his first set of 50cm.
9) Lower and raise his eyebrows
10) Pass gas almost as loudly as his parents.
11) Weighs 11 lbs (4.98kg) and is 22.8 inches (58cm)

These are the first things that come to mind although there is much more he can "do". Already just 2 weeks after his 1 month birthday we have seen a development in many of these areas, but the most noteworthy are: his cooing noises, smile and eye contact. Silas has begun to really love being on the changing table. It is here that we can very clearly see him make eye contact with us and see that he is quite concentrated on anything hanging near him. He also smiles a lot while on his back at his changing table and when he does this he makes a lot of noises like he is saying, " I am satisfied"...It is so cute and it melts our hearts everytime.

Only 2 weeks until the next monthly update...what changes will we already see there?

1 month photos:

Other random pics:

Sleeping amongst a pile of "junk"

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!

This year we are in Denmark for the 4th of July, and as you may have guessed it isn't a very big occaison for the Danes. Luckily we have an American friend from our year on Watermark who also lives in Denmark, and we were able to celebrate with him and his family.

Due to the 4th being on a Monday this year, therefore a normal working day for the Danes, we had to celebrate on the 3rd of July, but that didn't stop us from having a great time.

Jim, Maria and Levi came in the early afternoon. After our boy's took a nap we decided to take a walk down to the river. At the river we played frisbee, ate chocolate chip cookies (the American kind) and just hung out. Soon it was time to go home and start up the grill for good old fashioned burgers and hotdogs! As Søren was getting it all ready, Jim and I played catch out in the driveway. It was so fun to throw a softball around again. Jim and I were feeling a bit nostalgic and never knew it could be so much fun just playing catch.

Finally dinner was ready and we sat down to an American feast. Hamburgers, hotdogs, corn on the cob, chips, fries, and salad with all the works. Søren had decorated the table with American flag napkins and flags so it was quite festive!

After dinner we played a game and enjoyed some apple pie and chocolate chip cookies before our friends headed home. Even though the weather was pretty sad, we had a wonderful day trying to preserve some of our American heritage. Hope you all have had a great 4th as well!

Silas is baptized!

Everyday I can tell that we have more and more energy! Silas is continuing to sleep well at night and sometimes well in his baby carriage.  He definitely likes to take walks in his baby carriage, that's when he sleeps his best. My Mom and I ventured into town on Monday and he slept the whole time. Then yesterday we all took a trip to Søndervig where they have a sand sculpture festival, and again he slept the whole time! It's pretty easy and a joy to have him along anywhere when he sleeps so well!

Last Sunday, June 26th was a big day for Silas.  He was baptised at our church here in Skjern.  Since the services at our church are at 3:30pm we decided to have the family over before and after church.  The guests arrived at 11:30am and the grill was ready to go. We had a nice lunch sitting outside on our new patio furniture enjoying the lovely weather God had been so generous to give us. We were all having a great and relaxing time and just an hour before we were going to head to church it was time for some ice cream cake. Just as I was trying to arrange part of the cake on a nicer platter, the whole plate slipped causing 1/4th of the remaining ice cream cake to fall directly on my lap smearing all over my new dress that I bought for the special occasion. At first I just laughed and Søren ate the fallen piece, so no harm there, but as I tried to wash out my dress I realized that it probably wasn't going to dry in time for church.  Luckily Søren's sister, Ulla, and his Mom came to the rescue and spent over 20 minutes blow drying it so that it was wearable again! I was a little stressed just before leaving church due to a sleeping baby who would wake up hungry during the baptism if he didn't eat NOW, and a sopping wet dress! But it all went well and we made it just in time to church.
The service was beautiful.  Just a simple music set up with a guitar and piano, and as we walked in down the aisle with Silas we both got a bit teary eyed. We sat up at the front of the church before the actual baptisim part and we just couldn't help looking down at our sleeping angel knowing that this special occasion was so huge. Silas was going to be baptised and become a part of God's family.  We were so happy and again a bit teary eyed.  Søren and I both agreed afterwards that at times it reminded us a little bit of our wedding day, we were just so happy! Silas slept the whole time during the service and didn't wake up until right when we were about to leave.
Afterwards we came home and took some pictures. We realized that Silas had pooped quite a bit on his dress, but we were able to hide it for the pictures, which didn't last long because Silas was quite upset and hungry. Then we opened presents and had a nice and easy sandwich dinner before our guests left.
All in all it was a spectacular day and we were all tired afterwards.

Grilling before church

Presenting Silas Adrian Madsen

Godparents

Just a funny story to cap it all off.  We were having a hard time deciding which baptism gown to use because we had 2 options.  One was my mother's and the other one was Søren's.  They were both quite beautiful but needed some cleaning. My mom went to have hers dry cleaned and they refused because it would possibly ruin it, they said.  Then Søren's mom tried to get the spots of of his by boiling it, but all the brown flowers in the fabric bled into the white turning the entire gown a light pink color.  So after having too many options we were left with NONE.  At the last minute we ordered one online and luckily it came a few days before.  I guess we are starting our own tradition!