Mark & Mandy

Trapped

mrichau — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:41:19 +0000

Silas isn’t a fan of being trapped in his car seat – here he is plotting an escape … If only he could control his hands!!

Bath Baby

mrichau — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:54:54 +0000

Yup, he’s really my son – he loves baths!

Attack!!

mrichau — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:53:18 +0000

He can’t actually control his hands yet but he does a pretty good job of playing “Dino Take Down”

Beware TRex – you are next!

Big Sister

mrichau — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:51:28 +0000

Much of my anxiety leading up to the arrival of baby silas was how Elsie would react to a new baby. When I initially told Elsie I had a baby growing in my belly – she declared that she also had a baby growing in her belly (I plugged my ears). Grammie bought her a anatomically correct baby boy doll (she named him Carlope) and she was quite cute with him. She would also throw him in the air and make him do flips, most of the time dropping him. She was intent on helping him learn to walk and talk – sadly she didn’t realize how long she would have to wait before that will actually be a reality. Now that Silas is here – Elsie has been great. She was ready for the job of being a big sister. She recently told her swim instructor that she should probably be swimming in the deep end because only babies swim in the shallow end, and she was a big sister now.

Here are a few shots of the big sister in her element …

Cuddling baby silas – making sure to support his floppy noggin.

Getting ready to read stories in her big girl bed

Getting loves from silas after a wasp bite

And snuggling the swaddle monkey

Well done Big Sister!

Little helper!

mrichau — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:32:46 +0000

The best thing for recovering from a c-section is chocolate chip cookies – Elsie was happy to help!

Phototherapy

mrichau — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:30:23 +0000

Silas, like elsie, struggled with his Billirubin levels – this time we were able to do Phototherapy at home through a little light paddle. Besides the daily foot poke to test the levels Silas didn’t seem to mind. We even took him outside to get a double dose of vitamin d!

glowing baby below

Matchy matchy

mrichau — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:19:18 +0000

This time I was over-prepared for the hospital including buying a matchy matchy outfit for me and Silas to wear … hat, jammies and mommy outfit – ridiculous I know – but Baby Silas looks great in Blue!

Silas Coster Arrives

Mark Sladden — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:45:21 +0000

Mandy was due for a scheduled C-Section at 9am on Friday the 16th, but SIlas decided he was going to call the shots. She went into labor at about 2am and Silas arrived at 6am.

7lbs 4oz, 20″ long and 13.25″ head – very similar to Elsie’s measurements.

Here is Mandy seeing Silas for the first time

Silas was a bit cold after he came out, so he cooked a little under the heat lamps to get him nice and warm

Grammy was going to come in and keep Mandy company in the OR after I left with Silas, but she had to take Elsie to school, and missed out on all the fun.

Here is the picture window in our room – no kidding, this is what we see lying in bed! Please refer to the prior post about the mural we painted last month to see how this view inspires us.

Elsie has been very excited to meet her baby brother and welcome him. She came up to the hospital right away after school and had a little frog blanket to give to Silas. He gave her a little bracelet with her name in it!

She was very excited to hold him

And was the most gentle girl with him – though once he started crying softly, she was a little disturbed and wanted to hand him back – smart girl!

You can find a few more photos in our Silas album linked below (the cupcakes were the gift we bought for the nurses when we arrived – and yes, that is bacon on the chocolate cupcake).

Painting a mural

Mark Sladden — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:04:11 +0000

If you think that painting a wall mural is a quick weekend project, you would be wrong. We spend over 18 total hours painting this retro picture of the Boulder flatirons over a couple of weeks. When our new baby grows up to be a rock climber, we’ll know why!

Toddler Wisdom

mrichau — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:24:33 +0000

Elsie is a chatterbox and some of her best wisdom comes on our drive to school in the morning – this weeks gems:

1. Some birds live in the forest, but some birds don’t

2. Giraffe’s eat leaves, but wolves eat rabbits … and they howl like this “AwwwWoooo”

Both very true :)