Silas Crawls!

On Thursday last week Silas surprised his Honey and I by pulling himself up and moving across the floor of their living room!

I attempted to record on my phone, but it was way to dark to get a good picture. Bubby brought out his camera and took this video.

By the time we got this Silas just wasn't thrilled with attempting to move anymore, so he's more or less pulling himself across the floor. But it still counts!

Moving, a new job, and 8 months old

We had been such a busy family!

On the 30th of last month we received the keys to our new home and have been slowly moving in.

Last weekend we moved all of the big furniture and have a good idea where we want everything to be.  It will be a slow going project to actually put things where we want them to go and hang things where we want on the walls. Silas' room is finished though! Gammie helped up paint his room like it was at the condo and I added all of his decals including another tree and some more animals!

I also started a new part time job, which keeps me very busy in the afternoons and evenings. I'm working part time as a reading specialist for a speech and language office in Scottsdale. We are so lucky that we have amazing family to help watch Silas as I return back to the work force. Silas gets to spend time with his mama in the mornings, and in the afternoons with Papa Joe and Mema on Mondays and Tuesdays and the rest of the week with his Bubby and Honey. Josh and I are excited that Silas will have the opportunity to get to know his grandparents and build close relationships with them!

As we were moving Silas had his 8 month birthday!

He is such a big boy now! He isn't crawling yet, but can get himself into the right position. Now he just needs to figure out how to get his body to move in a fluid motion!

He can also hold his own bottle! When he is laying down he can hold the bottle and feed himself, but doesn't quite get how to tilt the bottle when sitting up, so he gets really frustrated and throws the bottle!

Poor Silas has his daddy's cowlicks. I just don't have the heart to cut his hair yet, even though it sticks up all over the place!

I love his excited faces! Before long he'll no longer have a gummy smile and will be sporting teeth!

As always, my serious Silas. A little too much like his mama already. 

Christmas time!

Silas got to celebrate Christmas 3 times this year! It was a busy first Christmas for sure!

We started on Christmas Eve by attending the Children Service at our Church with Gammie and cousin Hannah. Before we left Gammie got a family picture of us by our tree. Silas already knew he had boxes to open under the tree!

He was excited to open presents, but he had to wait until we went to Bubby and Honey's house

Silas got changed out of his Church clothes and was super excited to play on one of his new toys! He can't quite push himself yet, but he had a good time sitting on his scooter and playing with the buttons.

Silas only opened one gift before he decided he was done and fell asleep in Honey's arms. He received fun bath toys from his Bubby and Honey. Mommy and Daddy had to open his other gifts which included new clothes and more toys!

Poor little guy was worn out from all the fun and slept until we left for the 11pm service at Church with Mema and Papa Joe. As per tradition, we went out for breakfast after church. Silas slept through service and almost throughout breakfast. When we finally got home he was ready for bed.

Silas slept in until 8:30! He was so sleepy that he continued to sleep on Mommy and Daddy's bed until Gammie came over and the doorbell woke him up.

When we came down stairs Silas found that Santa had brought him an exersaucer! He was so excited and couldn't decide what to play with first!

When we opened up presents we were for sure he would only be interested in the paper and boxes, but we were wrong! He wanted what was in them after all! Mostly Silas opened up size 12 month clothes because almost all of his 9 month outfits are too small! Gammie bought him 10 new cloth diapers, a new soft blanket, and some new toys. Bubby and Honey came over and brought his cousins to exchange presents too. Silas was given even more bath toys to enjoy! Friends Lori, Ross and Casey gave Silas a new bath book and a driving station.

After all of fun of present Silas was very ready to head over to Mema and Papa's house to celebrate Christmas with them, Grandpa Great, Uncle Russ and Auntie Andi.

Silas was very loved over at Mema and Papa's house!

Grandpa Great gave him a big white bear, Mema and Papa bought him a music table, bongo drums, a baby radio and blocks. Aunt Andi and Uncle John bought him a race car set and Uncle Russ bought him some humorous clothing.

Once again, Silas really enjoyed opening his presents, even if Mommy had to help a little.



Silas showed how strong he was, holding himself up with the table put together.

But it was much easier to play with it on the floor. Papa had a good time playing with him too!

Silas plays hard and is always thinking about his next step!

Although he loves his new music activity table, I think he had the most fun hanging out with his Papa.

After a wonderful dinner made by Grandpa Great we finally headed home, but left all of the great new toys at Mema and Papa's house so he could have something fun to play with there.

Even though he had celebrated 3 times, we weren't quite finished. The day after Christmas we went over to Great Aunt Jan's for dinner and Silas had more gifts waiting for him! Aunt Jan and Uncle Lou gave Silas a tool bench and from Mommy's cousins he received a set of books and a Scout puppy.

Silas was spoiled rotten, but had such a great time with family. We are so blessed to have spent the weekend with family and watching Silas experience his very first Christmas!

7 months old

We returned to Phoenix on the 14th, which is also the day that Silas turned 7 months old!

Hey hey hey... I'm 7 months today!

He can hardly believe it either!

No teethers for Silas, he's rather chew on his fingers!

And play with paper (or any trash really)

While I was taking a shower, Josh tossed Silas into a basket...

They pretended the basket was a boat!

and a spaceship!

But soon enough Silas was done with that game and wanted out!

Our last day in KY

Our last day in Kentucky was spent back at Nana Nell's house. The schools in town were on a snow day and that meant there were many 2nd cousins for Silas to play with.

Nana Nell watched Silas as Mommy, Mema, and Aunt Andi we out to shop and get hair cuts!

We had dinner out with Uncle Sam and Nana Nell before returning back to Nana Nell's to see family.

My cousin's wife, Jaclyn, had a great time playing with Silas. She is expecting a little one in June!

Silas enjoyed playing with Papa too while Mema talked and visited.

As you can see there were many people over to say goodbye.

I think Mema had a good time!

And so did Silas.

Our return trip started at 3:30 the next morning, so there were no pictures. We slept in the car on the way back to Nashville and made it there in time to catch our 9:10 plane back to Phoenix.

We were both wiped out and ready for a long nap by the time we got home.

Silas was super excited to see his Daddy, and Josh was excited to see us too!

Silas and the snow

Sunday was a very exciting day because it started snowing! See how excited he is?

At first it started off just as a few flurries...

We went to breakfast and the store before going back to Nana Nell's house...

He was not pleased to get put back in his snow suit...

But he needed it since it was so cold outside with all of the white stuff on the ground.

We were all bundled up and didn't spend much time outside, but since it was his first time seeing snow we took a few pictures!

For the most part he seemed to enjoy it!

Although he won't remember much of it, at least he'll have pictures of himself in the snow!

Christmas Party

Before going to the Stallings Christmas party we went back over to Nana Nell's house.

Poor guy was miserable most of the day. We had many battles to wipe his nose.

 He was more than happy to cuddle his Uncle Sam after we struggled to change his clothes and put him back in his snow suit.

When we went to Mass, to celebrate my Grandma Cotton and Grandpa Vic, Silas was quickly swooped up by Aunt Bonnie...

And then Aunt Sandee... who did not give him up the rest of the service.

After church we headed over to the cafeteria for the Stallings Christmas party. Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill got to spend some time with Silas before everyone arrived. They "met" him for the first time when he was still a bean in my belly and came to visit in AZ.

Camryn, another 2nd cousin was in love with Silas. She came to play with him several times during the party.

Mema had a great time visiting with all of her brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. It was a good party for sure! We were so busy visiting that not many pictures were taken!

Silas wasn't interested in having a picture taken with mommy...

When we returned to the hotel we gave Daddy a call. Silas was so excited to hear Josh's voice that he reached for the phone and wouldn't let it go.

He was very grumpy when I tried to take the phone away and cried a little when it was time to say goodnight. Every time I had my phone out during our trip Silas grabbed for the phone. He started to realize that his daddy's voice was related to the phone.