Christmas morning

Well Christmas morning has come and past. Silas loved his muscle car so much that he did not even want to open his other presents. Now it is time for Erika and I to get back to updating our house. Yes, updating is what we have been doing this whole holiday break.  That is the best Christmas present ever. We have gotten rid of the ugly shades in our living room and replaced them with blinds. Plus we have been painting the walls and baseboards. Now we just have to find an easy way to remove the three layers of wallpaper covering the other half of the house.

Lunch

I know that our family blog has not been updated in a LONG time, so here is a treat for those loyal readers that continue to check back. Monday I took Silas out of daycare early so he could help me run some errands. While out and about we decided to stop and get a late lunch. Here is one of the photos that I shot of Silas while waiting on our food. Even though there was a plethora of draft milk, Silas was drinking his from a sippy cup. 

After School

After picking Silas up from school today we hit the town. I happen to have my camera in the car and took few shots of Silas in his carseat. He was in a great mood, especially since he had not taken his afternoon nap. The first picture was after we dropped off some of my work to a client. We sat and played in the car for a while before leaving. The next image is while I was getting gas at Weigels and no I didn't pickup any chocolate milk.

Boy's Weekend

Well early this morning I to Erika and some of her co-workers to the airport this morning. They were headed and have arrived in for LA work conference. Silas and I are having some boy's time. Earlier this afternoon we went and played outside, in between football games of course. As part of our playing, I shot some pictures of Silas. He enjoyed sitting down for a second and then running way so that I would chase him.



BTW Lynley, does Isaac have a shirt like this also? If not, he really needs one and we can hook you up.

GO BIG ORANGE!!!

Backyard

I have not posted anything in a long time so here you go. While Erika was at the mall yesterday, Silas and I played in the backyard. He is beginning to love being outdoors.

To Vax or Not to Vax

or delay....that is the question.
The big, big question that is making me sweat and loose sleep for the time being.

As most of you know I am in the medical field and married to a Marine who has been injected with only God knows what. Vaccines have kept our country from facing disease at epidemic proportions so I've never really blinked an eye at immunizations. Until now.
A very homeopathic nurse coworker/friend of mine has revealed some very interesting statistics to me. It really made me think about this issue in a way I haven't before. She gets most of her information from two guys that have a national radio show. Len and Joe are pharmacists, nutritionists, homeopathic docs and Christian men. She really listens to them and trusts their opinions and I must say I am starting too as well.
Here is a bit of what Len and Joe say about vaccines. They are NOT anti-vaccine. It is just more information to help make informed decisions regarding our children.
(Thank you Lindsey (Bev's daughter) for the email with the info!)

**There has been a dramatic increase in:
-Juvenile Diabetes- 1950-1/7100; 2001-1/400; 2007-1/280 ++vaccine schedule now is 8-fold from the 50's (it is now thought that juv. diab. is caused by immune system attacking pancreas, a sedentary lifestyle isn't helping these stats)

-Asthma- 4 fold increase in 40 years

-Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis- all time high affecting 300,000 children

-Autism Spectrum Disorders ++ 50 yrs ago, before the vaccine era, 1/10000 children were diagnosed with autism. Now 1/68 families have an autistic child. Some say it is because it is diagnosed better now than then, but it is still very scary how the numbers continue to rise.

-Developmental and Learning Disabilities

-ADHD- 4 Million Children

7 vaccines injected into a 13 lb., 2-month-old child is like injecting 70 into a 130 lb. woman

There have been NO double-blinded or placebo controlled trials on the long-term effects of vaccines.

The myelin sheath of a baby's brain does not completely develop and cover the brain until 24 months. Several vaccines are administered before the brain is able to fully protect itself.

**Gulf War Syndrome
Military personnel are vaccinated very aggressively before going overseas. This all happens in a span of a few weeks or even days before leaving. The have ended up with symptoms such as neuropathies, neurological brain disturbance, fatigue, lethargy, MS type symptoms.
The only common ground between all those that had these symptoms is that they had massive amount of vaccines in a short period of time. If this is what happens to adults, what effect do mass vaccines have on babies?!

They suggest this vaccine schedule:
*Begin at 15 mo- 2 yrs, one at a time (no combined vaccine shots), with a minimum of 2 months between to allow immune system to recover between shots
*Do not use vaccines with thimerosal
Avoid live viruses- MMR, chickenpox, live-virus polio

**These are life saving vaccines
Polio-human cell not animal cell
Tetanus
Pertussis
Diphtheria

Other suggestions:
-Find a pediatrician who will work with you
-Ask if they will order the MMR separately and ask to see the insert before vaccine is given
-Research supplements and vitamins to boost the immune system before giving vaccines.
-Avoid using Tylenol to control fever, etc. after vaccine. Acetaminophen can deplete gluathione. Use Motrin instead
-Never give a vaccine when a child has been sick, has a cold, or has been on antibiotics

Again, this is not meant to be ANTI-vaccine. I am just at that cross roads and really want to hear what anyone has to say about this issue. I know there are some very intelligent people reading this blog!

My biggest fear is really the autism thing. It is a higher risk for boys. My Silas has been developing right on track, but has been slow in just about every thing. It took him forever to sit on his own and crawl. At 15 months he is just starting to walk and doesn't talk, babbles some. I know it is just Mommy concerns that I'm having and that he is fine. Nevertheless, I think we are going to wait until after 2 yrs. old for the MMR just in case.

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer. I'm just really conflicted.
Feel free to post any views on this. I would love to hear them.

Game Time

Well this weekend is the big game that I thought would never happen. ASU is coming to Knoxville to play the Vols. This will be the only time that I am not pulling for the Vols. Yes, I whole heartedly support my Indians. Even though I have given up shooting football, I could not miss this game.

While I am on the field Erika, Silas and Jess will be in the stands. It is ironic that Silas will not be wearing orange to his first UT football game. Yes, you read correctly. While some of you think that we don't own anything but orange, that is just a rumor. Thanks to my buddy Ernie, Silas will be wearing an Indians football jersey to the game. Here is a photo that I snapped of him before school this morning.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Silas and I have been taking advantage of these last days of summer with the top down. He loves the bug, just not on the interstate-wind is a little too rough for him there. We're going to miss this little car, that is if it ever sells!
Here is Sie Guy driving momma's car.

Searcy (We So Fly)

For those that don't know, this past week we have sold our home and bought another one. So things are even more crazy around here than normal. I am about to take our first load to goodwill. I know there will be many more loads to come.

Before I get out of here, I wanted to share this video I found about the town where I graduated high school. As you can tell not much happens there. Some how it hypnotized me and I watched it all the way through. So does Searcy have MTV yet? Don't laugh, it was still banned as of 1994. (Yes, I am getting old.) If not, will these kids be banned from town. Should that be banned from town anyway?

I will at least give these guys credit for hang it out there.

Now it is time to share.

Name Sake

For those of you that don't know, one of the people that Silas was named after was his great grandfather. Even at 14 months he is already acting like his great grandfather. I shot this yesterday after Silas fell asleep in the chair watching SportsCenter.

Back To The Future

Here is an interesting picture that I shot of Silas the other day. One of the things he likes to do is play in the dog's box. Sometimes it is just slamming the door, other he gets insides then starts slamming the door. Sometimes I wonder if I should be worried about his enjoyment of being locked up.

For those that can remember, it reminds me of Back To The Future. When Marty goes back in time and has dinner with his mother's family. They talk about how his uncle Joey loves to stay in the play pin. Marty tells little Joey to get use to being behind bars. Hopefully this is not the case with Silas.

Surgery, Sumergery

Well, it has come and gone. The day that I have been dreading for over 13 months now - Silas' surgery. It was yesterday and he was such a champ. Here he is in the waiting room when we arrived at Children's West. He thinks it is a blast to drag every single item out of the diaper bag these days.

He loved the toys in the waiting room as well. There was only one other child scheduled for the afternoon, so he pretty much had the run of the place. He was already trying to charm the nurses.





We were taken to pre-op where they took his blood pressure, weighed him, and took his height. We had to wait a bit on the Dr. because he was in surgery at UT.



He got a bit restless so we did our best to entertain him. The nurses played Spongebob for him, but he doesn't really get the whole tv thing right now. Daddy gave him belly raspberrys to pass the time.


I read "That's Not My Dragon" and "I Love You Stinky Face" more times than I can count. When that got old we used the old stand by of reciting "Good Night Moon", because heaven knows we can say it by heart now. It always calms him down, still his favorite book.


Okay, by now the nurse had given me some medicine for him to take the edge off. I think I needed it more than him, because when I put it in his mouth I pushed the plunger too hard and shot it all over his face. I was so embarassed. He did get a bit and it was enough because he was getting a bit silly as you can probably tell by the pics. He was trying to hang in there though. He would want to play wabba, wabba between bouts of time lying his head on my shoulder. For those that don't know what wabba,wabba is, it is when you repeatedly pat your mouth all the while making the "whhaaaaa" sound. It is his favorite game by far! He tries to do it to me, although cute, sometimes it really hurts. So we use his hand on his own mouth. Great fun, I tell you!!


A nurse came and whisked him away. We were escorted back to the waiting room. Time passed very quickly. Probably because there was a little bit of office drama. The other child that was scheduled for that afternoon had arrived, checked in, and drank out of the water fountain. That teensy weensy drink caused his sugery to have to be rescheduled. His parents were ticked, and the child was scared (maybe of the parents). I hated it for them, but it helped pass our time watching the drama unfold. I had to keep filling Steven in to the happenings because he can't hear as well as I can across the room. Anyway, I digress....

The nurse called and told us he went under great and they got the IV on the first try and that the Dr. would come speak to us when it was over. In no time we were ushered into a little room to speak to the Doc. He said everything went well and everything looked healthy and our little man would be up and running in no time. After waiting for a bit more we finally got to see him in step down.
The nurses there were so nice. One was sitting in a rocker with him all bundled up asleep. She gave him to me, and I sat there rocking him, watching him sleep, thanking God for watching over him and guiding the Dr.'s hands to fix my little miracle. In thirty minutes or so they checked his vitals again, gave us a RX and sent us home happy.

He did so good, didn't get sick or anything. We got home and he drank some milk, ate a waffle and napped. Daddy even got a few smiles,


He has been up and running today. I don't think he knows he went under the knife. We are going to stay home tomorrow and watch him. If all is well, we are back in our normal routine by Thursday.
He hasn't bled at all, and is just a bit swollen. That is to be expected though. He is a tough little buger. I have no idea where he gets that!! ;)

Moment of Silence

Elvis "left the building" 30 years ago today. I really wish we were closer to West Tennessee so we could join the fun in Memphis. Everyone needs to make sure to catch one of his movies that will be playing through the weekend. You know I will be watching as many as I can. My favorite will always be Blue Hawaii when he played "Chadwick". I love the King!

Just Beachy

Well, we have finally settled back into our routine since returning from vacation. Let me just say it was HOT! However, I miss the beach so much! We shared a condo with Reed-Mitchell, The Overachiever, Elizabeth, and Ethan. It was a great place to stay. I could really get used to that life.
Silas did pretty good there considering how he felt. He had a double ear infection and then a reaction to his medicine. He started feeling really good when it was time to come home. He didn't like the sand much. He was okay with it as long as he was sitting on a blanket and could just put his hands in it.
We had a great time with the Fam. I wish we could have stayed longer.

Here is Silas and his favorite beach activity-playing in the garbage.


We stopped by the Bass Pro Shop only because it was by our favorite smoothie place. We're not really into this store, but Sie seemed to like the fish.


This is one of the few times he actually played in the sand with Daddy.


He was never really scared of the water. He would actually reach for it when it would flow away.


A long day at the beach is always better with puffs and a sippy cup of refreshing water to wash it down. Oh, just a bit of advice, it is always good to make sure the sippy has holes cut into the nipple. If not, you have a very fussy baby that is begging for something to drink and can't convey that to anyone with words.

FL

Well we reached our condo in Florida late Saturday afternoon. So now we are enjoying our vacation. The trip down here was a little reminder of our honeymoon 6 years ago. We left Friday night and decided to drive until we got tired. As on our honeymoon, we ended up in getting tired of driving about Gadsden, AL. When we pulled over for a hotel, they were all full. This time the world's longest garage sale was coming to an end but there was a big baseball tournament in town. SO we kept driving to until Hoover, AL. We left out early the next morning not know how far we were from Destin. Along with making pretty good time, some visitors at a Subway gave us a helpful shortcut. This has been the only good thing that has ever come out of Alabama. In case you can't tell, I don't like that state.

Anyhow, I am trying to relax and forget about work as Erika is trying not to get burned.

Here are a few pictures from waking up yesterday morning.

Making the Cut

Today Silas encountered another one of his milestones--His first haircut. Steven has been on me for quite sometime to get his hair cut. I, however, had grown quite fond of his baby mullet. Who doesn't love bussiness in the front and party in the back?? I knew this would truly signal his transformation from a tiny baby into a toddler ( that isn't toddling yet by the way ). The time had come, his hair would not lay flat against the back of his head and he had these crazy wispys that hung over his ears that reminded me too much of the dad on Everybody Loves Raymond.
He did great. He wasn't even fussy. Steven had just taken him to the ped. and found out he had two ear infections. Poor baby hadn't been feeling good, but he took everything in stride. He sat in Momma's lap while daddy snapped some pics. Jerry (Steven's Barber) did an awesome job. I was really impressed with his skill. There is no way I could have done it in a million years!

We are taking off for another adventure. The Bridges are heading south to Destin for a week. I will be sure to share any eventful happenings when we return.

Here are some pictures of my big boy!

My Turn

Well as Erika has already informed you, the release of the final Harry Potter book was this past weekend. Since I have worked the past 3 1/2 out of 5 weekends, it was my turn to watch Silas. Erika clutched to her book Saturday and Sunday, sometimes crying but ending with a joyful smile. During her reading time, I took a few pictures of Silas hanging out in his crib. After a little while it became a game of climbing up the rail and flopping down to the mattress. So here is one of the pictures that I shot.

It's Here It's Here

Well it is now official. The seventh installment of Harry Potter is on sale. It would have been so awesome to attend one of the midnight release parties, however my little Griffendor's bedtime is around ten. If he stays up later he show more characteristics of slytherin house. I am now off to rest. I must seclude myself from all the spoilers that are floating about. The friendly UPS man is bringing me my novel in the am so I must save my energy for the 784 pages that await!! HAPPY READING!

Check up Checked out

My big boy had his 1 year check up today. He weighed in at 22 lbs and 6 oz and is 30.5 in tall. The Doc seems to think he is destined to be tall. He is right on track for his age which is what a parent always wants to hear. We can finally turn him forward in the car, but we have decided to wait until the Flordia trip to do this. Hopefully the excitement of a new view will help with the 10 hour drive at least thats our plan. He was such a trooper with his shots--only teared up for a bit.
Here are some recent photos of our Sie Guy and he's not laying on the floor for any of them!!

He started doing this when he learned to pull up.



Food always tastes better when is is run through your hair first!






Today snacktime was had on the living room floor. This kid LOVES puffs.

Potter People with Apples

I am such a Geek. There are two things going on in my life that is just about to push me over the edge into complete nerd heaven.

The first of which is Harry Potter. I am completely obsessed!! The Movie comes out tomorrow! Steven and I were supposed to have our first "date night" complete with babysitter on Saturday; however, he has a wedding to shoot this weekend. No movies for us. I guess that just means that we will have to go to the theatre in Turkey Creek to watch it on a weeknight and beg Aunt Jesse or Teeny to watch our little monster. Anyway, I digress.
There is one thing better than a Harry Potter movie. A HARRY POTTER BOOK. I cannot stand myself waiting for this last book of the series. I have reread the previous 6 books while anxiously waiting for book 7. Daily I check out mugglenet.com and the leaky cauldron. If that isn't bad enough, I have been faithfully listening to pod casts about our sweet Harry. I have listened to so many theories; I am about to burst. I have to know what happens. Is Snape really bad? I don't think so. I think he had a plan with ol' Dumbledore. What is going to happen with the two-way mirror, and what's the big deal with Harry having Lilly's eyes. I need to know, and I will in just a few days.
It does make me sad that the series is ending and I have to say goodbye to all the beloved characters. Though, there will soon be a day when I can introduce MY little magical boy to "the boy who lived". I can't wait for that either.

Okay the second thing sending me to NH....My brand new iPhone! All I can say is "It is just Cool!" I have never seen anything like it. I wasn't real big on it until I held it in my hand. It is a telephone, iPod, PDA, Internet browser all in one. I must admit I am a bit embarrassed having one, but I LOVE IT!!

umph....nerd...(shaking head)..I know, I know

Maiden Voyage

Okay, here goes.
I admit it. I'm a closet blog reader. I have enjoyed Amy, Alicia, Jami, and Lynley's blogs now for months. I used to read the Bridges family blog until it was password protected (thanks Tina).
Now when I say enjoyed, I mean check almost daily.
When I was first introduced to the blog, I didn't get it. Like MySpace. I just don't get it. I guess that makes me officially old. At least that is how it makes me feel. So I have drug myself kicking and screaming into 2007. I have decided to blog and I think that I like it. I have been inspired to share my life over the web. I may not be as well written as some, but I hope you all enjoy this as much as I have enjoyed others. Hopefully, I can keep posting in a timely manner. We'll see.