Happy Birthday

Last Saturday I celebrated my first birthday as a mother! It felt quite special to know what the 27th year of my life had brought.  So now I am a 28 year old mom and that sounds weird to say and write! Every year on my birthday I feel like a kid again.  I get excited and want to have a birthday cake with candles. But it is a refreshing feeling, knowing that for one day I can just let others do things for me, and not feel guilty.

Birthdays also bring out a thankfulness in me that is stronger than my every day thankfulness.  This year I am thankful for the gift of Silas and the beautiful family I have been blessed with. I am thankful for good health and a joyful life.  I look forward to what God has in store for me in the next year of life!

I celebrated my birthday with a few friends.  Just hanging out and playing Pictionary after dinner.  Søren gave me a massage chair, so we all had to try that out and had a relaxing evening.

Otherwise we haven’t been up to much. We are still figuring out a daily rhythm with Søren being back at work and trying to find time for each other. Our quality time the past 2 weeks has been doing a puzzle after Silas has gone to bed.  It was a cool one of the United States and we really enjoyed talking and putting the pieces in place.  Now we are looking forward to finding another one we can take on!

Not too many left

We did it!

As for me, I am finding ways to keep busy, but mostly just enjoying every day with Silas. He changes a little every day and it’s really a blessing to be able to spend so much time with him, and I still have over 4 months left at home!! We have now found a day care provider for him and she lives just a 5 minute walk away.  We have heard so many positive things about her, so it is nice to know that he will be in good hands. Luckily I still have 4 months at home and then will only be working part time (50%) for the rest of the school year, so I will still have some days off and some short days where I can spend a lot of time with Silas!

So I think that is all the BIG news from here. I am already looking forward to writing Silas’ 3 month blog…stay tuned!

Random pictures:

Making S'mores over the grill, inside

If 2 days could be considered a NORM

If 2 days could be considered a norm, then Silas has a new norm.....sleeping 10 hours at night without getting up! 

Two nights ago Silas slept from 10:45-8:55 and last night from 10:15-8:15!!  We are hoping that this is indeed the beginning, and that soon we can actually say, "Silas NORMALLY sleeps 10 hours a night."

Now Mom just needs to get used to it and not wake up every five minutes from 6am-8am wondering if Silas is still breathing and why in the world he hasn't woken up yet!  Mothers always find something to worry about! :)

Bicycling!

Silas has a new toy! A bicycle trailer that he can ride around in and see the world! Well mostly the bicycle trailer is for us so we can conveniently visit our friends and the stores in the center of town, but hey Silas doesn’t need to know that.

Silas and I tried it out for the first time yesterday as Søren has the car at work and I had to go to meet with the Mother’s group I am in.  He was a bit cranky just before we left but as soon as we started biking he was so happy and stared out the window the whole way! I was a bit freaked out having him in the back where I couldn’t see him, but it got better towards the end. Thanks to family who gave us money, as a baby present, that we could put towards the trailer!

Looking out the window!

Just getting back from our trip.

Bits and pieces

Here are some bits and pieces of what we have been up to lately.

On Silas’ 2 month birthday we had a huge summer party at our home.  We had so much we wanted to celebrate with becoming home owners, becoming parents and with Søren finishing his teaching degree, so we invited everyone we know to come and celebrate with us.  Luckily the weather cooperated and we were able to sit outside, otherwise our house would have been pretty full! Our party was open house style and lasted from 1-5. It was great to see friends and family again and to show off our little Silas!

The 100 rolls I baked for the party

Show choir hanging out on the grass

The afternoon buffet

Cousins <3

The next day we headed out of town for 2 days.  Some of our good friends Jette and Carl have access to her parent’s summer cabin so we spent two days relaxing with them.  We took walks on the beach, and lounged around.  It was a lot of fun, and a good way to end our vacation!

Enjoying the ocean and some sand digging

View towards the fjord

Everybody Loves Silas

Tough guys at the beach

Ready for the beach

Yes, that is right, our vacation is now officially over.  Søren is back at work, and I am at home working as a stay at home Mom until January.  So far everything has gone super well.  Silas and I have had a lot of fun the few hours he is awake each day, and Søren  comes home happy and glad to be working again. These first few days have only been meetings before the students come again on Thursday.  Then the busyness begins and Søren will be gone pretty much from Thursday morning to Saturday evening.  He has to sleep at the school on Friday night so it will be my first night along with Silas.  I am actually looking forward to it, but a little bit interested to see how it is to be on my own with him for 3 days straight!

Otherwise we are just so happy! Silas has slept 7 hours straight consistently the past week! It makes such a difference in our day when we have slept well! We feel very lucky and very blessed.

For our readers in the States we just want to say that we are looking forward to our visit to MN from October 5th-25th, and hope to see as many of you as we can!

We finally got an okay picture of Silas smiling!

Rock-a-bye baby

Every parent should have a rocking chair, and now we do! While my Mom was visting in June she wanted to buy us a rocking chair as a baby present. We looked everywhere for one, new and used stores, I called multiple second hand stores and no luck at all! (unless you count a designer chair for $2,000!!

But now, a last I have found one and we love it already! Thanks Mom!

Silas 2 months

Silas is now officially 2 months old and it is hard to remember how life was without our precious little boy.  This past month has brought a lot of changes in Silas’ development but also in our role as  parents.  We are learning to read his noises and faces and it’s much easier to know what he needs, thus a lot less crying now!

Silas is a very happy baby who has given us so much joy.  He loves to smile and talk to us with a sparkle in his eyes.  Sleeping is also a favorite habit for baby Silas.  He falls asleep quite easily and can almost fall asleep on his own.  He takes afternoon naps for 3-4 hours every afternoon as well as other short naps in the morning and evening. He also has a favorite friend Mr. Froggy who he can spend multiple minutes talking to. Silas is truly a blessing to us and we feel very lucky to have had so much time to really enjoy getting to know him during his first two months!

Here are some notable Silas traits at 2 months:  
1) Lots of cooing and chatting (see Cooing video below)

2)Hold himself and his head up really high for 5 minutes at a time!

3)Sleep in his lift/baby basket at night and for all naps!

4) Go 7½ hours without eating at night. Last night he slept from 10:45pm-6:30am without waking up once!

5)Take “regular” afternoon naps. About 3-4 hours at a time.

6)Smile a heart melting smile with a twinkle in his eyes

7)Make animal noises as a form of communication:
Dolphin=Excited or still hungry
Duck=Bored/Uncomfortable
Seagull=I am sleeping leave me alone
Pig=I am eating or want to eat NOW

8) Spit up in puddles (No, not bent over a puddle, he actually creates the puddles) Still going through 4-5 shirts a day.

9)Follow objects purposefully and much more quickly!

10) Entertain himself for longer periods of time.  In his car seat looking at Mr. Froggy, or on his activity blanket. (See Froggy video below)

11) Is obsessed with light…..He’ll just stare towards any window or light. (The other night we were visiting some friends who have a giant skylight in their ceiling, he was so tired but just couldn’t fall asleep because he had to stare at the skylight)

12)Wear size 62cm clothes…and many 3 months shirts.

13)Eat much faster—feeding sessions are only 40 minutes now.

14) Weighs 14.1 lbs (6.4 kg) and is 24.8 inches (63cm)

Silas’ 2´month photos

Silas smiling and cooing

Silas talking to Mr. Froggy