And the beard comes off . . .

Todd really likes a wild beard. I was stuck with it because the more I talked about it, the more he wanted to keep it. The more I ignored it, the less likely he was to pay any attention to how completely out-of-control it was. I really don't mind if he grows a beard. He looks pretty good with a beard. I think he looks good no matter what, but it's the unkempt, un-trimmed, mountain man beard that starts to bug me. Drumroll please. . . the mountain man beard comes off . . .

Of course, it couldn't come off in one fell swoop. It came off in stages. Quite funny stages if I do say so myself.

The mustache is so ridiculous.

The kids thought the process was quite funny. But here he is, my sweet, clean-shaven husband.

I know I owe everyone a pretty good update. I can't believe it's been a month since I've had a chance to sit down and blog. I don't have anything really cool to report. Oh, I take that back. My sister had her baby. Mason Kemp Silva was born at 10:38pm on Friday Jan 25, 2008. He was 8lb 5oz and 21 3/4 inches long. Congratulations Silva's!!!

We've been busy, but mostly with normal, boring, everyday things. I have been busier at work and feel that I need to do more for my church calling. At the same time, I want to spend more time with my kids. I feel very torn. I'm sure it doesn't help that it's been 5 months since I've slept through an entire night! It seems to me, that I would be a little more well-adjusted if I had more sleep. Like right now for example . . . my whole family is sleeping. I should be sleeping, but if I don't blog now, it won't happen for a while. Moms never really get a break!

I set him down for a minute to put Ava in bed and came back to this. Don't worry, he's in his crib now. This looks a little uncomfortable.

Ava and Bowe are doing well. We've had colds run through our family a few times this month. Just when I thought we were over it, Ava woke up with a runny nose. Bowe is 5 months tomorrow. He is a big boy. He weighs 19 1/2 lbs. already and is 26 1/2 inches long. Ava is finding him more interesting which means she sometimes gets too rough with him. They both seem anxious for the time when he can get up and walk around. He loves the exersaucer because he's upright and can stand on his legs. We're still working on getting him to roll over.

In an attempt to get him to sleep longer, I tried some infant cereal. He seemed to like it for the first few days, but by day 4 he clamped his mouth shut and wouldn't open his lips at all. I thought it was pretty cute that he was going to have a say in this process no matter what! I ended up stopping the cereal anyways because he got another diaper rash and it wasn't seeming to help him sleep any more than usual. His skin is so sensitive. I'm going to have to give him cereal sometime. I hope his bum gets a little tougher by then. I know you all wanted to know that.

The other day I found Bowe like this . . .

When I asked Ava about the lizard, she said, "Bowe wanted to eat the lizard, but I told him to just hold it on his tummy." Strangely enough, that's what Bowe was doing. He puts everything in his mouth and really chomps on it. I would guess he'll be cutting teeth any day now, but if he's anything like Ava, we won't actually see teeth for a while.

And now we'll leave you with another original Hawkins Home video. This is the tail end of a good laugh with Bowe and Ava. Enjoy!