t h e . r i d i c u l o u s . p a n d a

silas spent last week entertaining quite the handful of out of town visitors.

he played (err... gnawed on) trains with his nyc cousins quinn and priya.

read books with auntie kim and helped uncle bart with sudoku.

learned how to high-five from his cousin owen.

and got in some quality snuggling with amma.

with so many loved ones in town, we thought it best to throw a big party in celebration of silas's equal time on the outside as on the inside - his official "40 weeks of fabulous" ceremony.

there was a godparent sandwich with chocolate cake for dessert.

georgia brought along her chaperones.

we ate some noodles in the garage.

uncle ken and grandpa charmed the party guests.

titi lisa and silas listened to sam and i welcome the baby to the family.

water balloon hilarity ensued.

silas picked up some pointy hair tips from mike.

guess which baby could've benefited from a longer nap?

lynn and silas shared some summertime whispers.

jill and audrey took shelter from the rain sprinkles.

did i mention lisa was there?

finally, brad wasted no time looking after the baby.

silas and i have been summering in mchenry county. we get to swim in the pool at any time of the day, eat lettuce fresh from the garden, silas can practice crawling, standing and cruising without having to worry about clunking his head on the hardwood floor and there are lots of extra hands to hold the baby.

wednesday we went fishing with grandpa.

while silas was napping in the afternoon, quinn, priya, kim and i had a chance to take some portraits in the grass. nothing like a little sunshine after a rainstorm.

oh lordy. what a weekend. it probably seems boring enough to the outsider looking in, but how the three of us are staring down monday way different than when we greeted friday with open arms. our schedule was wiped clean earlier on in the week and suddenly for the first time in months, we had two and a half days with no plans, nowhere to be, nothing to do, no tickets to anything, and nobody waiting on us to show up. so we took it easy, on friday.

saturday started innocently enough with silas and i making waffles for breakfast.

then we headed out for a morning swim. but the baby took a crappy morning nap and we were faced with an afternoon at home with a cranky son and no idea when he might doing the sleepy eye rub again. sam & i had to come up with something to entertain the three of us.

a few hours, dust bunnies, and piles of bags for goodwill later - baby's got his own room. our two bedroom now officially has two bedrooms and not just a bedsroom. silas took it all in stride, wide eyed at the rearrangement of furniture. i swear he noticed the new view of the ceiling fan from the couch in his room immediately. i was gungho for the idea in the beginning but started feeling reluctant midredesign. our sweet baby, so far away in the middle of the night. silas and i took our time with his nighttime bath while sam moved the last pieces of furniture into their new spots. silas splashed and laughed while i rested my chin on the side of the tub and tried to comprehend it all. our son, in his own space. no more crib at the foot of our bed, no more sam shushing him back to sleep with his head still on the pillow, no more falling asleep with silas in his crib and waking up with him in between sam and i, neither one of us remembering going to get him.

silas fell asleep in his crib all alone in his room without a peep. woke up his normal guffawing self at 6:45, unfazed by his new found independence. sweet baby boy. i survived the night too.

capping off the weekend at festa italiana. not much of a crowd at the jimmy damon show.

sam takes us to francesca's on taylor to toast us all going through with it.

keeping the baby in close during the after dinner stroll.

hmmm... what flavor, what flavor?

peach with a top of watermelon italian lemonade al fresco.

silas and i spent monday afternoon soaking up the sun with his cousins at foster beach. the kids built him a big sandcastle to knock down and waited patiently while silas used the pointer finger of slow but precise destruction. the lake was very wavy and silas and i had a blast facing them head on. he would gasp every time we'd get splashed in the face but then would try to lunge his body at the next advancing one. fearless.

uploading pictures from the point and shoot later that day, i realized there were some great photos being held captive on my camera. better late that knockwurst.

celebrating aaron's last day of paternity leave with beers and guacamole.

dinner with amma and owen in andersonville.

flowerphloxbaby on a stroll with papa.

last night, lauren and chris came all the way in from puerto rico just to read silas his bedtime stories. he was quite amused by the british lilt lauren adopted for her bedtime selection.

silas spent the rainy weekend with us and family up in wisconsin. the last time we had vacationed there, i was quite pregnant. the baby had an excellent time crawling around, playing with his cousins and sleeping in the closet. i finally got to see sam cast a line and break my all time scrabble high score.

squeezing out the last bits of summer, we have to see lynn as much as we can before school starts. silas's favorite part of garfield park this day was holding onto the fence and clanging. thankfully, she was totally game.

ten months old. our "holy crap what are we going to do with this brand new person" person is ten months old. sam and i have been official parents for a whole ten months. that's a good substantial amount of time. and i can say, without a doubt, that we are doing an awesome job. i know this because you, silas lee, are the most fantastic person i have ever met.

this month has been all about summer. delicious summer, more summer than i have ever experienced. so much summer to drink in: sunshine, rainstorms, fresh peaches, bluberries for every meal, tanned toes, swimsuits and sand in every crevice.

i was never a warm weather person before i met you. now, i cross my fingers in the morning and hope that it'll be above eighty degrees so we just have to spend the day at the beach or pool.

you are fearless at the beach. at home, i can't go to the bathroom without you protesting my being out of your line of vision, but at the beach i am merely your ride. you'll crawl from our blanket almost to the shoreline before you look back to see if i am coming. most of our time is spent evaluating whether or not it's a good idea to put that thing or another in your mouth. small sticks=eh, menthol butts=probably not.

this tenth month has been crazy busy. we celebrated all things silas at your forty week party. sam and i promised to share with you the absolute joy in the everyday, but you're already well on your way to figuring that out for yourself.

full jumps while holding on to the edge of your crib, shaking your head like a maniac anytime you hear rocking tunes, laughing hysterically while straddling papa's neck, double kicks while laying in the bathtub, shrieking in the face of oncoming lake waves, double palm banging on tables, pulling every dvd and book off of shelves, shoving fistfuls of seaweed salad into your mouth, flubbing your bottom lip whenever the mood strikes, clapping yourself to sleep, tossing everything within grabbing distance off of the end of your changing table. absolute joy in the every day. easy cheesy.

your papa also rearranged our home this month. giving you, the smallest member of our faily, the largest living space. and what a lovely space it is: lots of new spots for us to take your picture, a small nook for you to scoot into and play, piles of books.

but we still agree on keeping you in bed with us for some of the night. this tenth month, more than before, i have had to keep reminding myself that you are still a baby. our baby. and more than anything we love having you close.

ten months. and there's so much more.

in celebration of another year of me, we packed up and headed up north. point beach state forest is easily one of my favorite places so far. we had reserved our campsite back in the winter (#51 rules) so the weekend was eagerly anticipated.

silas chooses to coordinate with the trees.

beach check after breakfast. they were setting up for an afternoon wedding. a few years ago, sam proposed to me just a few yards from here. thank goodness for that.

silas gets some digging in before we hit the waves.

ah papa, go fly a kite.

white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit.

taking the lighthouse trail before bed.

for the best birthday present ever, silas woke up probably around 6:30am but played quietly in the tent at the foot of our sleeping bag until sam and i woke up. mornings are so much sweeter when you don't have to worry about the baby pitching off the bed.

one last swim before going home.

silas and i had the extreme pleasure of spending a whole day last week in miss georgia's company, on her turf...

there was a lot of snacking.

georgia assesses my child caring capabilities.

we did a lot of wandering around the house like this.

band practice in the backyard.

georgia takes a percussion solo.

finally my baby goes to sleep so georgia and i can have some quiet time.