"Woof, Woof!"

We are so excited that Rick and Christina have moved to Rochester!!! Silas just loves his "Auntie" and "Unco", almost as much as he loves their doggie, Dexter!

A couple of weeks ago we were at their house for an overnight. Dexter has claimed the top of the couch as his resting spot, a habit Christina is less than fond of! So, every time he would get up on the furniture, she would say "Dexter, down!" In this stage of mimicking, Silas followed suit! All day and night Silas followed the doggie around the house waving his arms and saying, "Woof, woof, DOWN!" Eventually Christina gave in and told Silas it was ok if Dexter took it easy. Silas let out a big sigh as if all his work had been in vain!

However, the rule was not quickly forgotten! We decided to surprise Silas with a visit to auntie and uncle's the next weekend. As soon as we turned into the driveway, Silas sat up, got a concerned look on his face and said, "Woof, woof, down, DOWN!!"

He's clearly a first-born rule follower!!

Music!

Silas LOVES music!! He can sit at the piano and "play" for forever, and waves his hands up and down furiously when we have forgotten to have a CD playing in the car or in the background at home! On Good Friday we took him to a noon service where his friend "Bop" was playing the organ. After each bible reading there would be a period of silence followed by a hymn. Silas caught on quickly to that routine. Each time the passage would end, Silas would politely say, "Amen. Bop!" He knew the music was coming!!

Yesterday we took Silas to the more traditional worship service at our church. Again, "Bop" was playing the organ. Each time he finished a song, whether hymn, choir anthem, or the Lord's Prayer", Silas would clap for him. Even when we bear hugged him, he would wrestle his little hands out and applaud!! Music is in his soul!

Silas' Big Announcement!!!

This video has been out on facebook for a while but we figured we should post it here as well.

Christmas...Finally!

Here are some of our favorite pictures of Silas from our Christmas celebrations this year! We know it has been a while since we last posted. Everything happened so quickly from the time we returned home from Dallas until our festivities began! Silas loved Christmas this year!!! His favorite things were watching the choo-choo train going around the tree and ripping paper off of presents...even if they weren't meant for him!!

In the midst of all the celebrating we were reminded once again of the incredible blessing of our son! He brings joy to our lives each and every day. At Christmastime especially it makes us grateful to the Son and we celebrate His presence in our lives!

We hope this finds each of you well in the New Year!!

Dallas Update

We wanted to update everyone on our time here in Dallas. As many of you know, we are currently on a week-long trip to have Sy's one year post-op appointment with the Neurosurgeon and Craniofacial surgeon that performed his craniosynestosis surgery one year ago. We have met with the anthropologist and media specialist that are following him as well.

It is amazing, seeing the same doctors and walking the halls of the same hospital, how fresh everything seems in our minds. We are reminded of what it felt like one year ago and realize just how blessed we are to be on the other side of things with our healthy, joyful, Frankensteinish-walking baby boy!

Last year, during the surgery, the doctors discovered that Silas had a chiari malformation. This is a condition whereby the brain begins to cork the spinal column. Of the 13 patients that had the same craniosynestosis, 67% were found to have this condition. The doctors hoped that, with the reshaping of his head, the brain would pop back into place (very technical term!) and alleviate the condition. We went back this year to have an MRI to confirm whether or not this had happened.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. The chiari is still present, although Silas does not exhibit any of the observable symptoms. That is part of the good news. The other part is that the chiari has not visibly grown since last year. The not so great news is that 50% of these children will be symptomatic and need additional surgery before they reach the age of five.

That means that we will need to keep an eye on things with additional MRI's of his head and spine. We will also need to have some sleep studies done to make sure that this is not affecting his nighttime breathing.

We are trying to keep positive with the positivies, although more than anything we just wanted to hear that Silas was completely healthy and finished with all of the medical issues. The last thing we want is for him to have to go through more poking, testing, or, worst case, another head or spine surgery. We pray and ask that each of you pray that he does not become symptomatic. As much as we have grown to appreciate these doctors for all the good they have done for Silas, we mostly would love to be rid of them!!

To those of you that have kept us in your prayers throughout this week, we can't thank you enough. We know that we have a bunch of you that keep us upheld in prayer and it means the world to us!

With Love,

J.L., Heidi, and Silas

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

We spent Saturday at the Pumpkin Farm (the perfect place to celebrate Papa's birthday!). This year Silas even stayed awake for the day! We pet llamas (or alpacas...we aren't quite sure!), sheep, goats, some sort of cow-like creature and, of course, saw plenty of pumpkins. Silas even picked out one that was just his size! We had a blast!!

First Haircut!

Last week, Silas had his first haircut! It was getting to the point where we either needed to have his hair cut or put the middle back section into a weird ponytail mullet. We opted for the first.

He was so interested in what Jeanette was doing that he didn't have time to be scared. He did get really good at anticipating the scissors and ducking when they came close. But the end result was fantastic!

Outta Here!

So, today was my first day out of the house in two whole weeks! We decided it was about time we got out together, even if just for a couple of minutes! So, we headed to the park...crutches, wheelchair and all, to enjoy the awesome fall weather!

Silas was thrilled to see all of the farm animals...chickens, alpaca, goats, sheep, horses. But the wheelchair alone held the majority of his attention. Who knew that's all we needed to keep him entertained for a while??