Silas Jacob was born on April 26, weighing 10 lbs, 5 oz. He is a delightful, chubby, happy (as long as I avoid dairy and coffee) baby. Everyone is deeply in love with him and he gets tons of attention and kisses all day long.
We are enjoying being in our new home and having space to spread out a bit more and entertain more comfortably.
Right now we are at the beginning of a 3 week school break which the children are very excited about. They are filling their time by playing at the neighborhood playground right across the street, reading, sewing (Kate), playing with legos, and using their tickets for screen time. Tickets? Yes, tickets and why didn't I do this sooner? On Sunday I gave each of them 4 raffle type tickets for the week and told them they can use the tickets Monday-Friday for 30 minutes of computer, wii, or TV time. Usually we really limit screen time and save it for weekends, but occasionally I give them time during the week to do computer games or play wii- especially if the weather is yucky. It is working so well! Now when one kids asks to use the computer they don't all follow. That scenario was annoying and nearly impossible because at 20 or 30 minutes per kid it ended up being 2 or 3 hours of the computer being used. We don't have chunks of time for that! Now they are all paying attention, planning carefully, and trying to use their tickets wisely. We'll still let them have Saturday morning Netflix cartoon time all together and Saturday after housework wii time together without using tickets, but I think we'll continue this for their weekly screen time. Maybe they'll get less tickets though once school starts again.
I had to take Silas for his 2 month check up and shots this morning. Thankfully, he has chunky thighs to help absorb the pain! Stay tuned for pictures of chunkiness :)