5 Year Anniversary

For our anniversary this year, we decided to do a simple family trip to the zoo.  We all had a lot of fun, and Daphne did very well.  Silas said his favorite animal was the frogs. 

Family Sundays

Now that Daphne is getting a little bigger we've started doing other outings on Sundays besides the park.  We went to Pony time a few times and to the aquarium.  Both were really fun days, and Daphne did great.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Even though this wasn't a normal preschool day, we were able to attend the Valentine's Party.  It was a lot of fun.  They decorated cupcakes and then passed out valentines.  Daphne and I stayed for the party and it was nice to be able to observe more of the class time and get to know some of the other kids in class.

A New Year

Steve is back to work, and we are adjusting to a more "normal" schedule.  Silas goes to preschool Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the rest of the week we are at rec park.  He is starting to get a little bored of rec park everyday, so we may start trying some of the other neighborhood parks.  Daphne still isn't fond of car rides, so it is best if we stick to somewhere within walking distance.

Daphne is sleeping much better at night (still not a great napper), and starting to move around a lot more.  She rolled over once a few days ago, and pretty frequently likes to hang out on her side and "think" about rolling over.  I'm sure pretty soon she'll be rolling around the floor.  She's smiling a lot more now also, especially when Steve reads her "Is Your Mama a Llama?".

Looking at these pictures makes me realize that I need to take more photos of the little stuff we do every day.   Some days are so tough, but I'm really going to miss it when I'm back to work. 

Christmas Morning

We kept Christmas pretty simple again this year.  I made stockings for us, and we hung lights on the fireplace.  We opened presents at home then went to my parents.  I got a few pictures, maybe next year I'll try harder to find a good place to setup the camera on a timer to get more pictures that include all of us.

Santa was very good to us again this year, we are very blessed. 

Visit from the cousins

Michelle's family came to Los Angeles for their annual Disney trip and they came over for lunch one day.  Silas had so much fun playing with his cousins, especially Caleb.  It was great to see him so excited and playing so well with other kids.  It would be fun to take him to Hawaii so he could spend more time with them.

The Best Big Brother

Daphne has been challenging the last few weeks for all of us.  She is particularly difficult in the evenings during the "witching hour" (between 7 - 11 pm generally hasn't been much fun), but she has fussy periods all throughout the day.  I have eliminated dairy thinking she has the same milk protein sensitivity that Silas had, and just started trying to eliminate soy and wheat also.  I'm not sure all the fussiness is due to GI issues, but hopefully it will help a little.

I have been so impressed with Silas through all this.  Not only has he been so patient with her crying, he tries to comfort her, and also tries to include her in his games.  I caught a few pictures of Silas playing with her on the infant play mat this morning.  He barely fits, but squeezed in right next to her.   I thought at first that he just wanted to lay on it, but he insisted that Daphne be on the play mat too.   It was adorable, he was pretending they were on a train with Silas as the conductor and Daphne as the passenger.

Steve has been off work the last month which has been great.  It will be interesting to see how things go next week when he's back to work.  Hopefully the elimination of soy will help Daphne, and with her getting close to 8 weeks she will start to be less fussy.  She is having more periods of being calm and awake which is encouraging.  I think the biggest problem is that she fights sleeping so much, then starts crying and getting upset because she's tired.  I'm not sure how to fix that besides to keep giving her opportunity and help to soothe her and hopefully sleep.