The Wonder of Oregon

Monday is normally a day when Jordan works at his 2nd job in the evenings...but the sun was shining so brightly and we had come off of a busy weekend, so he decided to take the day off to have some family fun. Our first choice was to head to Mt. Hood to make up for the snowy days we missed while we were in Arizona. After checking the weather report and finding the snow was slushy from the warm spell we've been having we decided against our little boy with soaking wet clothes, a cold nose, and not much of a sledding experience. So we went back to the drawing board and checked the weather on the beach. Sunny, clear, 55 degrees...warm enough for us! Only in Oregon can your plans change from sledding to sandcastles in the same day. So we packed up and drove down to Newport Beach. The town is known for the aquarium there, and we knew Silas would enjoy the fish. The drive was relaxing and beautiful as we wound through the forest trees until we could see the blue of the ocean. The aquarium was 100 times more exciting with Silas there. Jordan and I have been to several, none as thrilling as chasing Silas from one exhibit to the next and hearing him say "Oh wow!, Awesome, Look!" and "More, More, over there!"

From the aquarium we went down to the beach, bundled up (as you have to do no matter what time of year you hit the coast here) and played. Silas and Jordan even braved the waves...well, their toes did. There is just something so magnificent about the ocean. We watched the sun dip down, wrapped Silas up and put him in the stroller, and walked along the water until it was nearly dark. I think it was one of the best days our little family has had in a really long time.

The Wild Child

After the Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years holidays are done...we head into Oregon Birthday Season. Today was the first of MANY winter birthdays amoung the kids in our circle of pals here. So, it will also be the first of many cupcake splattered smiles in the weeks to come. Silas contributes to that group, but I am not ready to talk about that yet...only ready to share how cute he is with pink frosting on his face.








Following this wild party (including cupcakes, ice cream and juice) Silas was uninterested in dinner (shocking!). So, he sat at the table while Jordan and I ate and provided the entertainment. This is pretty typical dinner antics, but tonight we keyed him up with a song for everyone's enjoyment. Please note the craziness at the end of the song, a direct result of Silas feeling excited, funny, as though he is getting attention, mad, tired, happy, or just about any other emotion in excess. It may remind some of my side of the family of the other Baker grandson, who is to remain nameless. I can only say that the common factor they share is my parent's blood and genes...

Declaration of Independence

Well, we are quickly approaching the second birthday of my baby, and let me tell you it is showing. Of course every new stage brings laughter and wonderment along with frustration as we readjust to his new level of understanding.

Silas has been exercising a degree of stubbornness which has been astonishing to me. The most amazing part of this change is the entertainment he finds in waiting for my response to his deliberate disobedience. I am sure you are wondering how this could be. Many of you recently saw him over Christmas and aside from a few flairs over dinner, he was in general very easy going and responsive to commands. Things have changed in month 23. I have taken to giving very clear and concise instructions in a serious tone so that I know he understands I mean business. This seems to be the trigger for him to start pushing my buttons. Our biggest battle right now is him coming to me when I ask him to...it doesn't matter if we are doing something fun like going for a walk outside or if we are sadly having to leave the library where he wishes we lived, the response is the same. I say, "Silas, come to Mom right now please." He looks at me, grins his little grin, and either stands exactly where he is or bolts in the opposite direction. We started with verbal correction followed by physical assistance in obeying the command, we moved to swatting his hand, and recently have had to spank his tiny hiny! I am alarmed at myself!! However, my shock has quickly dissipated from my actions to his as of recent. Now, when I catch him after his near escape and squat down on his level to recap his problem and my solution, he starts holding out his hand and saying "fingers, fingers" just waiting for me to swat his hand. If I don't do that right away, he touches his bottom and says "bum bum" anticipating a spanking. When I tell him what I am going to do he says "OK" and follows the discipline with a slight whimper, pouty lips and a "Sorry, Mom" before hugging me and then taking off as if nothing ever happened. This is accompanied by often telling me what he is about to do will earn him a spank. At dinner he holds his plate off the edge of the table and says "dump it...my fingers," explaining that the consequence for throwing food on the floor is a swat on the hand. How do parents keep a straight face? All of this is beyond me and I am taking suggestions from veterans (including the mother of my husband who I know can commiserate).

The highlight of this stage is the vast amount of knowledge he is gaining. On top of learning his shapes, memorizing his books and counting to 10 on his own, he is becoming much more aware of his feelings about things. This all started on our way to Arizona this winter when he declared he was scared on the airplane. We tried hard to be concerned for his emotion, but mostly wanted him to just keep saying it because it was so cute. It was followed by (yet another discipline tactic) trying to nix all the whinning that was happening during dinner preparation. When he is crabby, we take him upstairs and put him in his bed so he can rest and then be happy. Well, now getting out of bed (among other things) is equated with happiness. So while we were at the Bury house over Christmas we shared a room with Silas. One night he was having a hard time staying asleep, so he was calling to Jordan and I from his crib "I happy! I happy!" so that logically we would take him out of bed. The great thing is that this has now spread to other activities. Last week, Silas and I were sitting in front of the fire reading his books, and he looked up at me and said "I happy," needless to say I was pretty happy too. Earlier this month I started babysitting for my friend Devon while she is substitute teaching a few days. Her two boys, Connor and Aiden are Silas' best friends. In fact Silas cried for them more than once while we were in Arizona on vacation (he also called all the dogs we saw in Arizona, Ivy...another doggy best pal from Oregon). One day after Devon had taken Connor and Aiden home, Silas was sitting at his little table having some milk and he said "Mom, I lonely" I was shocked. How does he even know these things? He is of course a child genious!

One day, all of these little details will not be so fresh, the struggles will be replaced with new challenges and the treasured moments will be stories in his baby book. But, this precious face I will never forget nor grow weary of. Thank you God for my son.

Silas' first bestie sleepover...away from home

This is me, my awesome friend Devon, and our boys last night at Zoo Lights.

This is our three boys at Devon's house in their jammies this morning watching a little Saturday morning cartoons.
However, in the above picture I am not there.

This is because Devon is such an awesome friend. Silas will be 2 in about a month, and do you know that Jordan and I have never had a night alone together without him!?! Sure I have been gone a night here or there, and Jordan has been away now and again, but in Silas' whole little life he has never been without one of us through the night. Now, this didn't start intentionally. We live in Oregon, our parents in Arizona. When the parents come to visit, or we go there, we can't miss out on our time with them long enough to leave Silas with them over night. The longer it went on, the harder it seemed it would be if we were ever away from him. So when other generous offers came in, being too busy to get away didn't seem like too big of a deal to us.

So how did it happen last night? Sometimes you need a good friend to give you the extra push. Devon has offered so many time to keep him over night, I have kept her boys over night, she watches him all the time for us... but it was more than that this time.

The winters are always hard for a golf pro and his family in Oregon. So, Devon invites our family to Zoo Lights (we get in for free with their zoo pass), she drives us out there in her minivan, she then takes all three of our boys back to her house while she insists that Jordan and I have a date...on HER dime! She gave us a gift card to a local restaurant! We had planned all of this before hand, but at the last minute she gently encouraged us to let Silas stay the night at her house so that we could just enjoy our date and not worry about when we would get home, and so we could sleep in the next morning. Of course we had to take her up on it. So while she carted the boys home for hot chocolate and a slumber party, we went to dinner together and then went to Best Buy and played Rock Band on their demo machines for much longer than the 15 minute time limit. This morning I slept until 9 o'clock. I never listened for the monitor to wake me, I didn't worry about taking Silas to the bathroom one more time, I just completely relaxed. It was actually a little more difficult than I thought it would be to turn off mommy mode, but here is why I was totally able to in the end.

This is Silas and Aiden one year ago when I was watching Devon's kids while she substitute taught.

This is Silas and Aiden sharing their first birthday cupcakes (only 10 days apart!)
And, it was Devon, her husband Aaron and their boys who were the only guests at Silas' first birthday party, which Devon insisted they bring gifts and we eat cupcakes to celebrate after I had several near meltdowns that non of our family could be there to make it special.
These are all the boys at our house this summer, swimming in the pool and eating snacksAnd all of the boys at her house walking together in a rare sunshine dayOn our way to our moms group together (which Devon and I both help to co-lead)
Best pals on our front door step last fall.

These don't even include the two New Year's Eves and one Christmas Eve we have spent with the Johnson family, the spontaneous trip we took to Devon's parents' beach house this summer, the awesome surprise birthday party Devon and our friend Lisa threw for me, celebrating Jordan's birthday at their house, the countless nights that Devon, Lisa and I have spent sitting in a minivan talking, laughing, praying, and sharing our lives, and so much more!

That is why I can leave my son with her for the first time and not worry a bit (which none was needed because he of course did totally fine)...her family is my family!

The Bury Family Christmas

As if Christmas Eve wasn't exciting enough, we drove to Jordan's parents' house late that
night in order to have Christmas morning with his mom, dad, brother and sister in law, and sister and three kids. As you can see, Silas wasn't the only one feeling overwhelmed, we had to open presents in stages throughout the day. There were so many fun toys to play with, plus stockings, it was a whirlwind! The kids had tons of fun opening presents, handing out presents, and helping Aunt Christine open presents for her unborn baby girl due later this spring. There was not a dull moment the entire time we were at the Bury house. On top of having the four kids (ages 5 and under) there were also the three dogs (one that belongs to Grammy and Pops, and the other two made the drive from Colorado with Uncle Chris and Aunt Christine). Needless to say, nap times were critical each day for kids AND grownups!




I know that on your wedding day, you pledge to make your in-laws a part of your family, just as you pledge to remain wed to your husband...however the process is not overnight that they really become your own family. I don't know exactly when it started, but I know that now my inlaw family is my own. I remember when I was a teenager praying that I would have a mother in law that I could connect with and talk to, God TOTALLY answered my prayers above and beyond! I gained an incredible brother and sister in Mandy and Chris, and I completely love their individual families. When Jordan and I got married, Chris was just recently engaged and Mandy was pregnant with her first baby. So I feel like Christine (Chris' wife) and all of Mandy's kids joined "our" family, instead of feeling like I joined theirs. I got to have such special time with my nieces and nephews (including about an hour of helping Abbie straighten her beautiful curls with the flat iron I got her for Christmas...talk about bonding! Only curly haired girls can connect in such a way!), awesome game time with Chris, Christine and Mom, a special girls' lunch with just me and Mandy, and a ride to the airport with Pops while Silas slept so we could have our own talk time. What a gift! Thank you God!

Silas and Brandon had a blast together the whole time we were there. They golfed (in Grammy's house, while we all chased after them reminding them to not hit walls), they played in the back yard (in the sunshine of course), raced cars, walked the dogs, and of course soaked the bathroom during bath time. As you can see, it was a boy bonding experience to be remembered.





Although these are just towels, it often felt like there were real animals running around the house while we were there...












Here are all the kids getting ready to blow out the
candles on our Happy Birthday Jesus cake. What you can't see is the giant amount of drool that we are all hoping drops from Brandon's chin onto his lap instead of on to our cake. These are the moments we will remember when we need a reminder of our special trip!








So although the Christmas' were very different, they were completely precious to our family. We miss everyone so much already. Silas woke up the day we got home (after crying when we left the airport and airplanes the night before) asking for Pops and Boomer (their dog). He has gone to our sliding door several times looking for dogs. Every day when we pray, he is naming off all of the family we saw while in Arizona. We are so, so blessed!

The Baker Family Christmas

One of the best things about going to Arizona for Christmas is returning to the house that my parents have lived in for the last 21 years. Sure, a lot of things have changed since my 6th birthday, but the feeling there remains the same. Things happen in the kitchen at my mom and dad's house that are treasured for a life time. It is more than meals, it is a gathering place. We sit on the counter tops with a cup of coffee (of course we have coffee), we talk and talk while my mom is preparing food, we jam way too many people around the booth, we laugh over dishes and clean up, and we wear our pajamas to breakfast. Although I only chose a few of the pictures from our time there to post today, I found as I was looking through my collection of photos that the majority of them were taken in the kitchen. That is where the heart of our vacation took place.

We missed a great snow storm in Portland, but we enjoyed walks, hikes, jeep rides, jumping on the trampoline, and that precious feeling of the sun warming your skin while we were in Arizona. Silas bonded with his cousin Audrey in the way only cousins can. They laughed together, got dressed up together (well, with a little help) and played together. It was most filling for this momma to see my son with his cousins knowing how precious my cousins are to me.

I treasured listening to my parents read Silas stories, enjoyed watching him feel so comfortable in their house, and catching them sneakily spoil him as they both grinned mischievous grins. When I was a kid we took family trips at Christmas to see my grandparents in Washington, they are some of my very favorite childhood memories. I know that Silas is building those memories and relationships now with my parents. It is hard though. There is a give and take. Either one grandparents can be a part of everyday life, seeing first steps and hearing first words, or they are a special visit away including climbing into Beppe's bed and going for walks tucked under her jacket or sleeping on Grandpa's shoulder during Christmas morning. I am so thankful for those special moments, but also long for the familiarity of having them nearby.


Somehow whenever we are in Arizona, Silas finds an opportunity to take a nap on my dad's shoulder. This is mainly remarkable because I can barely remember the last time Silas fell asleep on my curled up in our ricking chair in the quietness of his room at bed time or nap time, let alone in the middle of the living room while everyone else is opening Christmas presents, the sun shining through the windows at 10 in the morning. There must be something magical about those Grandpa shoulders...the comfort, the security, the total relaxation. I know I spent many late nights myself as a little girl finding refuge in the exact same position.

I love the memories that are made on our trips, and I will specifically remember this time the special day I had with my sister Heather and how easy our conversation flows even at the great depths with which we share, I'll remember being curled up in easy chairs by the light of the Christmas Tree sipping tea and talking late into the night with my mom, I'll think of the priceless conversation I had with my little brother who is teaching in South Korea, listening to my cousins and aunts leading us in Christmas carols, watching my dad read stories to Audrey and Silas at the kitchen table and jump with them on the trampoline, sleeping in my old room (a little weird still to sleep in there with a boy!), and stealing hugs, kisses, and moments with my precious little sister.