Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Josh celebrated another year closer to 30 on Sunday. To mark his big day, Sam informed us it was time to try some solid food. We have been watching him for several weeks now-- actually, Sam has been watching US for several weeks now-- at the dinner table. Whenever there is food around, he gazes at us intently and curiously watches our every move. At his 4 month check up last week, we discussed solids with the pediatrician. Because of Sam's curiosity, we decided to let him try some rice cereal. It was a lot of fun! Sam knew what to do with the spoon and he would open up wide for every bite. However, he was unsatisfied with how slow Mommy was in getting the next bite to his mouth. He would scream and squeal in anticipation of that next spoonfull! Josh said, "Great, now you've created a monster..." I think that Sam is still a little confused by the spoon; it's a big change from nursing to spoon feeding. He tries to nurse the spoon sometimes which is funny.














My Aunt P and Mom were also here this weekend. They made Josh a real, homemade, honest to goodness, banana pudding pie with meringue on top. It's not Josh's favorite, but he said it was still really good.

Josh and I went for a walk Sunday afternoon around Big Spring Park. It was a gorgeous day to spend together. Mom and Aunt P took Sam to Bennett's Nursery so Josh and I had some time together without the baby.















Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We had a busy weekend. The annual yard sale in Hampton Cove was Saturday and we decided to get out early (yes, can you believe that Beth was up at 6:30 getting ready for the event???) and see what bargains we could find.
Sam was looking for baby toys, namely a Bumbo Seat so that he can practice sitting up more. Unfortunately, we couldn't find one of those, but we did find some mini ice trays that will be perfect for freezing homemade baby food. Josh also bought Sam a cute little linen outfit. I'll get a picture of it on here soon-- Daddy was really excited to find this outfit!
I thought Sam was being really good while we were yard saling; he slept almost the entire time. But then when we got home, he continued to sleep-- for 3 more hours. He's an awesome sleeper, but this was a little unusual. I woke him up and put him down to play despite his protests to just be held. I decided something was amiss, and took his temperature. It was a whopping 102.9. We immediately called the pediatrician and scheduled an appt. for this morning. His fever finally peaked around 103.5. We kept Tylenol in him and he loved the extra attention of Mommy holding him all the time. I felt bad that he was feeling so bad, but at the same time, I loved how snuggly he became. He held on to me and just watched me and loved me. We took naps together and stayed awake late at night together. Before I had a baby, I really dreaded the long sleepless nights. I dreaded the sacrifices I would have to make. However, this weekend I learned that going shopping at Target wasn't a priority afterall, going to church on Sunday morning was greatly missed, sleep isn't as important as it once was and I owe it all to my 14 pound 11 ounce miracle. He's my priority now and I'll gladly, gratefully, do ANYTHING for him. I never thought I could love like this.
We went to the doctor this morning and went ahead with his 4 month shots despite the low fever. He whimpered a little bit, let out a wail, then snuggled up next to Mommy and went to sleep. I'd say he took it like a man. He's growing right on schedule, 50th percentile for height and weight, 75th for head circumference. Doc said, "His brain is outgrowing the rest of his body!". Well, he's smart, that's for sure. He comes from good stock. I'm going to take advantage of his rapidly growing brain and teach him a few new tricks. I'll post on this later.
He's here at home today, sleeping and snoring away. He loves his readers and wishes his mom would find more time to post. :)

Here is Sam trying out a Bumbo seat and wishing he had one of his own.

Sam loves his cousin, London. Every time they get together, Sam falls all over her.
Here is Jen, London, Mommy and Sam. Jen and London came for an Alabama visit a couple of weekends ago.

Sickness, Easter, and Rolling Over

A lot has happened in my young boy's life over the past couple of weeks. On Sunday night, March 16th, I noticed a little goopy stuff coming out of Sam's eye. I had my suspicions but was unsure and decided to take the wait and see approach with whatever it was. On Monday morning, Sam woke up screaming at 6:30 AM with his right eye completely glued shut with this nasty yellow gunk. It was horrifying and I knew that my suspicions of possible pink eye were probably true. I took him to the doctor and sure enough, he had pink eye, a cold AND an ear infection! Aside from the screaming at 6:30 AM, he was in great spirits and never even let on that he didn't feel well. Poor guy. I immediately called Granna to watch him while Josh and I were at work. Unfortunately, she couldn't make it until Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, Josh's grandparents, Papa and Grandma Judy, watched Sam with delight. I think they enjoyed the one on one time with him and I know Sam did, too. Sam recovered quickly from his ailments with all of the attention-- especially from Granna! I think she was actually looking for an excuse to come down for Easter.

For Easter, we spent the afternoon at Brenda's. Brenda, Misty, Mom and I enjoyed eating and talking about babies, strawberry jam/jelly, and church. Sam must have either been bored or overstimulated by all the excitement because he slept most of the afternoon. When we got home, the Easter Bunny had visited and left a HUGE basket full of goodies: hand sanitizer, diaper rash cream, new clothes, an oversized bunny, a small chick, jelly beans and my personal favorite, eggs full of rolled pennies. Only Granna, I mean, the Easter Bunny, could have put together a basket like his. Next to it was a small, very small, sad looking little basket with side walk chalk in it-- to be used later. Sam, your mom isn't very good at putting together appropriate baskets for you-- yet! Thank goodness for Granna's visit, though! Thanks, Easter Bunny!

After Granna left on Monday, Josh and I finally had a little time to sit and stare at Sam all by ourselves. We put him on his belly and talked about how he looked like he was trying to roll over. About that time, he kicked himself over onto his back with a look of shock, surprise, awe and a little touch of "I know what I'm doing, I think". We rolled him back over and sure enough, he did it again. It must have been hard work because by the third time, he was tired and just wanted to put his head down and rest. He's been working very hard at rolling over from his belly the past couple of nights, too.

Along with his rolling over, he's laughing at flirting with us all the time. The ladies at school comment on how much he laughs and smiles with them. He's a talker and a real people person. I'm glad we've got him! ;)
Oh, I'll share this picture with you, too. One afternoon I put him in his bed to play and he was just talking and having a big ol' time. It got unusually quiet for a couple of minutes so I went to check on him. He must have worn himself out playing.
I'm trying to do better at posting. There's just a lot going on!! Can you believe, though, that I've posted twice in 2 days??? Must be a record... Anyway, keep encouraging me by leaving comments. I love to hear from everyone! Love you all!!!

Can You Guess the Name of this Post???

Hmmm, I wonder what the name of this post should be...





Some of Sam's future babysitters: Sarah N., Libby N., Erin W., and Amber W.! Sam loves his older girlfriends! :)

The First Day of School?

The weather over the weekend was absolutely beautiful. I can't wait for it to warm up for good around here. We decided to take Sam out for a walk-- probably the longest stretch of outside time he's ever had. He really enjoyed riding with his shades on.

While on our walk, we talked about "school" and how important it is for a young man to obtain as much education as he can. Basically what it boiled down to was this: Sam, you're going to daycare with Mom. I work at Hampton Cove Christian Academy as an Administrative Assistant. We enroll babies from 6 weeks and go through 2nd grade, so we call it "school". In celebration of Sam going to "school", we had his height recorded...at Target. There was a height chart in the babies' section, so we stood him up on his feet to see how tall he was. It looked like about 23 inches, which is about what the Pediatrician said at his 2 month appt. earlier that week.

Finally, here is Sam's picture for his "First Day of School". My favorite part is the onesie from his Aunt Rolo. The other kids were happy to see Sam and his teachers loved having him in class!

On this day, too, we were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast together when I looked over at Sam and he was staring so intently at these things on the ends of his arms. He had discovered his hands and was mesmerized at them. It was the sweetest moment to watch him move them and try to figure them out. His little self is still just so amazing to me, as well!

What's Been Going On...

I've started back to work full time and our internet has been in and out so I haven't had a lot of time (or luck) when it comes to updating the blog. I apologize and just want you to know that I am constantly in "blogger" mode. I walk around most days thinking of fun things to blog about. Since I feel a little overwhelmed at the moment, I'm just going to give you a few pictures to tide you over until I can get back to the real "fun" blogging that I love to do!



Sam is learning to sit up in his new high chair... but I don't think he's quite ready for all the table settings yet...


Believe it or not, Sam is in that stroller, enjoying a day out at the mall with his Aunt Nickle, Great Grandmother Glada, and of course, his dear Nai Nai. He had a great trip to the mall and can't wait to do it again!



Sam has no idea how goofy his parents are. Here we are just hanging out, watching TV, just like normal families...
I just love this picture that Sam's Nai Nai took. He watched my face the whole time he was getting a bath that day. He's such a sweetie!

Changes

I apologize for not updating much this week. My goal is to get at least one post a week, but I've found it to be especially difficult this week.
It's been a hard week as I have returned to work. I cried Tuesday as I left my precious baby with Granna, on my drive in, when I walked into work, and pretty much any time I thought about Sam the rest of the day. I even cried Tuesday night when I got home and saw him! The rest of the week has gotten easier, though, and I even felt pretty good Friday as I drove in. However, I'm exhausted from working and all kinds of worries and other thoughts are continually flooding my mind.
For the time being, Granna has moved in with us. She'll stay for a couple of weeks at which point Nai Nai will move in and stay a couple of weeks before she returns to China. Our goal is to keep Sam out of daycare until March so that his immune system will be a little stronger and the other sicknesses will hopefully have passed by then. When he does go to daycare, he'll actually just be going to work with me as I work in administration at a daycare/preschool/elementary. He'll be just a few short feet away from me all the time and I can't wait until March for this reason!
I'm also continually searching for an outside source to pay me to be a stay at home mom. If you know of any such source, please let me know. I'm in desperate need. ;)

Granna and Sam having SO MUCH fun:

Sam is voicing his displeasure at me leaving (or at least I'd like to think that...)

Sam, Josh and Me

Sam and Josh goofing around:

Beautiful Sam looking at the new boy that comes to visit sometimes. Sam is wondering how his Nai Nai is holding him AND the new boy at the same time...