First Snow

Mommy...it's way to cold out here, can we go inside now?

Blizzard

STAY TUNED FOR SAM'S FIRST SNOW PICTURES LATER THIS EVENING...

My Little Athlete

It never fails. I come home from work and swear that my little boy has grown so much in the 9 hours I was gone. He is becoming a little more independent with each passing day and I wish that I could slow down time so that I could watch him grow every inch of that 27" again. What a big boy he is sitting up all by himself, with the occasional tip to the left or right, and even to the back; and today he is really starting the "Army" crawl. I can see the determination in his eyes to get the object, what seems so far away, and low and behold there he is rocking from side to side on his belly to move himself forward. What an accomplishment! Soon Sam will be cruising our pad, and ruling every inch of the carpet. It pains me to have to leave him to go to work, and soon my commitment to the Navy will be over with, and once again I can be with our boy. I am so excited to play Santa in the next years! Christmas is always the one day that it seems we get more than we ask for on our lists, and to enjoy family, family games, and awesome food. I can't even think of a Christmas where I was disappointed or where I wasn't completely excited of a key gift. How lucky most of us are to enjoy the lavish amount of gifts, or even to just enjoy being with our family. This season, lets not forget our military men and women who don't have the luxury to be at home, or to take a moment and talk to our loved ones that passed, and to share our Christmas cheer with them. I want to take the time to tell all that read this blog that Joel, Samuel, and I are truly blessed that we have you in our lives for one reason or another. Each of you have made some impact on how we carry about with our lives, or have made us who we are today. I assure you that all of you cross our minds throughout the year!

And now for the star of the show, wearing his Daddy's number so proud!

Thanksgiving Feast

My goodness you never know how fast the time flies when you have company or when you go on vacation! So I have some updates. Sam is rolling all over the living room, and doing hundreds of crunches a day to keep his manly baby belly. He will lay on his back, then crunch himself up, trying so desperately to come into a full sitting position. Samuel is also very close to sitting up by himself without any padding to ease his fall; however Sam insists on arching his back. He is loving eating baby food, and gets very cranky when it is.....aaalll gone!
Today at his 6 month well baby visit he weighed in at a whopping 16.5 lbs, and is 27 inches long. His extra weight must be contributed by his upgrade to an 8 oz. bottle. When we came to the second part of the doctor's visit I knew Sam would not be a happy camper. The sweat started, followed by flushing of the cheeks, and tears being held back...then the nurse saw my distress and comforted me through it. :-) I handled his shots as best I could, and Samuel did just fine. Sam is my little trooper. We can now have conversations with our little man by grunting and cooing, waiting eagerly for his response. He has no troubles grabbing a hold of objects, including loose neck skin when a tantrum is about to start, and then bringing that object straight for his mouth. I have always called him my little birdy, and now I can see he is always ready for something new to please his soft gummies.

Grandma's Overalls

Samuel couldn't look cuter in his fine farmer man overalls. Yeehaw! Grandma K. great pick! I have loved Sam in all of his overall outfits that have been bought for him by the family and the long pant ones are just as cute as the short ones. I have enjoyed dressing my little man, as though he was my dolly to play with, oh...wait a minute he is mine to play with! I love this job. I am very excited to send out our Christmas cards this year so you all can see the most adorable outfit Sam will be wearing in our family portrait. I could buy him clothes every day, as the rest of you probably also feel, and would like nothing more for him to cooperate with me mix and matching his clothes to find new combos for him to wear. I'm sure that the little girl cousins will love carting our little one around at Grandma's house this year for Christmas. And I know that Sam will be best friends with Normy, and once they meet will be broken hearted to separate from their newly found play mate. Maybe one day they will be closer so that they can play together and go on adventures of their own. I was trying to get a good shot at the cute little tennies that Grandma L. had bought him but not so much luck. Doesn't daddy look proud?

The other day Sam was fast a sleep, when I heard him starting to fuss himself awake. I was going to go see if he needed his "Nuk-Nuk" to comfort him back to sleep, when I found him staring straight ahead at me, barely peering over his crib at me.
I was feeling very needy of my little one and wanted to snuggle so badly; Sam gave me the go ahead when he quickly laid his sweet little head down on my shoulder. Heart Melter! For the next hour my son and I bonded while I snuggled him safely in my arms, wondering what he was dreaming about, and hoping he would want to snuggle with me for many years to come. Stay tuned for a very mouth watering turkey picture!

Another Monday

Another Monday, and another wonderful day I get to squeeze my little man's sweet little thighs. Joel and I found a shirt that said, "I make chunky thighs look good!" Isn't that the truth? However it was a pink onesie and I thought that wouldn't do well for my son's handsome image, even though Max has a shirt that states "Only real men wear pink." I can hardly believe that Halloween and all its fury went out with a blow of a candle and we are now forced to think about Thanksgiving arrangements and what Christmas gifts to get who! Whoo. My mind has been filled with those notions and contemplations of what my fate will be with the military. My medical board package was FedEx out last Friday, and according to the Admin. Dept. I should have word back within a couple of weeks. In the mean time I filled a claim with the VA of all the medical inconveniences that I have had; all but not limited to: shoulder surgery, gallbladder surgery, the scars I've obtained, the drug allergies I have discovered, etc. Now I am obligated to go through a series of 7 appointments so the VA doctors can give me a once over and decide if they are service related. Today my appointment lasted three hours, which was three hours too long for me. I guess if it's what I have to do to get some extra cash I can suck it up. Coming home to my husband and this little guy will turn my frown upside down every time!It is so amazing what we all can go through. I was fresh out of high school, left everything that was mine in boxes, went into the military by myself, and had to shower with 70 other females (not my most enjoyable experience), and was completely depressed while going through Corps School. Luckily I had my family that gave me the courage and the strength to push forward. If it wasn't for my true love to drop everything to move to Chicago to be with me, I would have been in vast despair and making regular appointments with mental health for deep depression. We all do crazy things when we are in love, and I will try to remind myself of this when my own children leave the nest to find their own way too. But everything works out how it is supposed to; and now my high school sweetheart is my devoted husband and we have a beautiful baby boy who is embedded deep into my heart. Joel and I have done everything on our own, learning from mistakes, and picking ourselves back up laughing the whole way, and that's okay. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Now when I talking to a few friends back home I realize some of the silly things that worry them on a daily basis, and it reminds me to stay grounded and constantly reevaluate what is really important in the big scheme of things. This is not to take away from anything my friends back home are going through, it's just that once you have been out there on your own (especially more than a state away from family) you gain a whole new perspective, that I believe can only better yourself. Enough of my rambling on, I just wanted to share some of what I have learned through my 4 years in the military. I now give you the star of the show, with grins on his face!

Happy ROARoween

I wish that Sam loved his Halloween costume as much as I did, but no more time was spent in it than 10 minutes. Oh well, the cuteness factor made the 18 dollar lion costume well worth it! It's a tid to chilly to go trick-or-treating, so we went driving around to see what the greatest costumes were this year. Hands down, we saw more fairies than anything else. FAIRIES! Come. On. People! Where is the imagination and the homemade costume? I guess I am partial to the costumes made with great love than the store bought ones; and believe me I would have made Sam's (or attempted to) if I had a sewing machine. Overall it was a nice night and now it's time to put the lion down. (song) In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight...a whooooooo...oooooo...a bommb bommb away.....

JumperRoo

JUMP. JUMP. JUMP-AROUND!! One of Sam's newest and most entertaining toys is his "JumperRoo." The boy can not get enough of it. Myself and Grandma L. thought that because Sam is wanting to move around so much, he is sure to love a jumping gig. It didn't take long at all before he was jumping as high as his JumperRoo would let him, and it conveniently has some added colorful toys on the sides and front so that he can be entertained for at least 30 minutes at a time. You can't beat watching his little face, and the excitement he has bouncing up and down. Soon following his jumping routine he is exhausted and is ready to snuggle with a ba-ba in his mouth.And this is how he falls asleep while I'm trying to burp him shortly there after.

We are excited that we can finally fit him into his winter clothes that people bought him when he was first born. This particular cute outfit is from cousin Sarah; equiped with fleece lined jeans to keep out the biting wind here in Chi-Town.Grandma K. sent up some cute Thanksgiving and Halloween atire that is in the wash at the moment, but Sam will be sporting some festive studs shortly.
Sammy's Bumbo comes in handy now that we are experimenting with some baby food, he only likes to sit in it long enough to eat and then he wants out of there in a hurry. OH, and what do you know there is some animation in a couple of these pictures. It was brought to my attention that our son always has a solomn expression on his face, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Sam is camera shy. Just seconds before I snap the shot he is full of giggles and grins spreading from ear to ear, however as soon as he sees that darn camera he goes completely blank! A little irritating, but I got a couple smiles out of him the other day.
Halloween is just 2 days away so stay tuned for some must see photos of Sammy the Lion...ROAR!

Ahhhh

I created a new post last night and the stupid thing is not showing up!!! Why? Can anyone help me with this?

P is for Poop

About a week ago we went in for our 5 month check up, and told the doctor that Samuel had been having infrequent poopies. Knowing the story of what my parents did to me when I was little (if you don't know you should find out cuz it's halerious) I decided to ask the Pediatrician what was best to cure his discomfort at his age. Nurse Kent recommended any baby food that started in "P". I was extreamly excited to hear this news. I had been so eager to put some flavor into that boy's mouth instead of the all too bland formula. I could just see his face for the first time feeding him, and was hurrying to the store to pick him up some yummy prunes, peas, pears, and peaches. I decided to try the prunes first, thinking that if anything were to make this boy regular the fastest way to go would be the prunes.(not one of Sam's finest pictures, but this is his first baby food eating one, so no harsh judgements please)I was impressed with Sam's ability to swallow down his food without too much of a mess. Since then he has become an expert, and by the time I get the spoon out of his mouth to get some more he is already extreamly mad that I haven't shoved another spoon full back in. Sam has no problem downing an entire tub full of Gerber's baby food, with the new and improved rectangle container and snap lid, for infants first foods.

Sam weighed in at 15lbs 8oz, and was 26 1/2" long. In a matter of six weeks he had gained about two pounds and grew half an inch. Not to shabby, slowly but surely my little man will no longer be a string bean that he is now, or will he? The nurse told us that he was in the 90th percentile for heighth and about average for weight on the growth charts. When his tummy is nice and full mommy or daddy bounces him on the workout ball and sometimes he falls fast asleep without us even knowing it. Sweet dreams my precious one!

New Clothes and Crazy Days

All bundled up and ready to go outside! I just love Sam in his little "beanies" and he doesn't seem to mind them much either. However if he accidently pulls it over his eyes Sam is quick to let us know; in a mad rage he'll shake his head back and forth to be rid of the thing covering his eyes. Oh, it's a site to see.

I can't believe that the 9th of October was my last post! Wow time really flies when you have a lot to do. I am wrapping up the last few weeks of this semester and am making preperations to enroll for some more classes, paying for Joel's graduation (the end of this month), Joel job hunting, hunting for a respectable place for Sam, etc. Good Grief! Can't complain for the most part. Last week I was down for the count with a sinus infection, which I had to take some antibiotic for. It was quite the surprise to find out that I was having an allergic reaction to Ceptra. I thought the flushed face was due to me feeling like complete crap, rather than having an allergic reaction...but noooo. I proceeded to go to bed to sleep it off, and instead of waking up to feel better, I was burning and freezing all at the same time with my face as red as an apple and my eyes and cheeks swollen. What an adventure that was.

Other than that I have had the joy to go and buy Sam some snuggly winter clothes and some for me as well. I'm proud to say that I have lost a total of 8 lbs within the past 2 months. Slipping back into a size 8 pant is enough motivation to keep me going until I hit that size 6 (that I was before the baby)! The picture below is a sample of his new clothes.

"That's all folks!" More to come later.

Sorry

Sorry folks that I haven't been able to get out on the blog lately. I am wrapping up the final weeks of school and have been trying to find a place for Sam to go to once Joel gets a new job. I hate the fact that we are going to have to do it, if I stay in the military for my final year, but he shouldn't be in the day care for more than 10 months. I wish that he could talk before I put him in, he would be able to tell us if someone did something wrong to him. Oh well...we have to do what we have to do I guess. I will try and post some pictures and my new blog tonight if all goes well. Check back tomorrow morning for the latest and greatest!

Sweet, Sweet Buns

Well folks, if that doesn't start off your week with a smile I don't know what will! Now that my little man has worked on his muscle development he pushes himself up with ease, resulting in some irresistible picture taking moments. There have been some signs of him wanting to sit up on his own, but unfortunately he pulls himself forward from our bodies then continues in a slow forward motion down to the floor. This is when he grunts for help back up.

This week we are heading to the doctor for his second series of shots; which hopefully will go as gracefully as the first time. Sammy is quite the tough little boy where he lets go of some puppy dog tears, then quickly stops once he is in the protection of Joel's arms or mine. Sad to say Sam hasn't had any doctor visits for the good. When he was just a few days old the pediatrician informed me that my little guy had jaundice. For the following 5 days he had to have his heel pricked many times to check the levels of billiruben in his blood. Absolutely heart wrenching for a new mother! Sam has the scars on his heels to this day to prove the unwanted abuse taken from the mean lab attendants. We just keep telling Sam that it is rough being a little guy, but as you get older the exams only become more invasive, so enjoy the pricking while that is all you have to do!

More to come in the next few days...

The Search Begins

Today is the day that my husband goes out for his first job interview. Joel is a bit nervous but knows that he'll do fine, and I couldn't be more sure of that myself. Lets face it, Joel is tall, handsome, has a sharp haircut, and is so good lookin' in that new suit; if that isn't business material I don't know what is! If the offers aren't pouring in after his interviews then the companies have no idea what they
are missing out on. His subject matter is going to be in finance, which I have no doubt that he'll succeed. The guy loves numbers! So my loving husband, go out and shock the world with what you have to offer, your cheering section is here waiting for you to return.

Hungry for Piggies

Oh, I always knew there would come a time when my little man would not be able to resist his delectable piggies. Samuel told me that his taste was much to refined for "finger food" and that he must move on to bigger and better things. Joel cringes at the sight of Sam's new discovery. He insists that I'm the one who taught our son this horrible new discovery, and I chuckle to myself knowing that I did egg it on.

Lately my days have been a whirlwind of buying new items, to replace the old that have died, which include but are not limited to: Computer, fish, old uniforms,etc...not our finest hours but still manageable. Luckily we have a sense of humor, and on Monday all Joel and I could do was laugh at how horribly the day was going...ohh well. Between dealing with those issues and my anxious wait to hear the words of "staying in, or getting out" from Big Navy, I do Dahn yoga http://www.dahnyoga.com/ on Mondays and Wednesdays to relieve any stress I have accumulated. Otherwise I'm extremely excited for the upcoming holidays and can hardly wait to start playing Christmas music. I know my dear Sam will be mesmerized by the twinkling lights on the tree. Ahhhh, what a terrific feeling.

Thankfulness

Ooooo, did someone say food?! mamma's little man now babbles away at just about everything; whether it's his friends visiting him at his "crib", or Mr. Potato head, he always has the most interesting conversations with. I quietly listen and am amazed at how much my Samuel has learned in these few 4 and a half months. Sam is constantly showing his independence by protesting sitting in his swing for more than 15 minutes, or wanting to be held 24/7. If he is not rolling around the house or kicking his legs frantically (peddling his imaginary tri-cycle) then he is fast asleep in my protective embrace. I am overjoyed by watching him learn new things and act in different ways, but when it's time to rest I find a calming peace with my babe in my arms. All that was noisy and active is now dreaming about the heavens and the beauty that awaits us all. I look down on the top of that fuzzy, chick down, hair of his and kiss him lightly so that I don't disturb him. I listen to his steady breaths, and feel his soft skin against mine, and wonder if there could be anything better than the miracle I made. I want to try and capture each moment of his progressive childhood and store the memories where they are not to be forgotten. I never knew that growing up to become an adult could be so wonderful. Joel and I have really made a nice home, out of an apartment, and are doing great with what we have. I am truly thankful for such a loving, supportive husband, a little man that melts my heart daily, and of course a loving family back on the home front of Kansas. Without the guidance and discipline of my family, MY family would not be where it is now.

Fall Fair

Before I get into how the Fall Fair went I want to share photos of the biggest most gorgeous rainbow I have ever seen. The camera we have doesn't do justice to the magical appearance that was displayed for me the other day. There were two HUGE rainbows reaching up to the heavens, and one was showing off not just the ROY G BIV colorswe all know once, but twice! All on one rainbow! What a treat.


Now onto the fall fair. It was a nice relaxing drive up to the West Allis fair grounds. The day was dreary and rain droplets were falling lightly on our skin, but no harm done. Our first stop was their mini pumpkin patch were I thought it was necessary to take a picture of their best pumpkins compared to my greatest pumpkin. Sad to say the other pumpkins fell in dead last in the competition.


We were really excited to see the worlds largest piggy bank...well maybe not but I took a picture anyway for Sam's sake.
Now something that I was excited about was the camel rides. It's not everyday that you walk along and see a camel, I was entertained by this guy for at least 5 minutes. I wanted to ride the camel with Sam but the people running the show said only children between the ages of 1-10 were allowed to ride. DRATS! Didn't they know I was trying to get some good pictures? Geesh. Disappointed we moved on to the next stop. The petting zoo is where Sam was mesmerized by the baby goats, zebra, and lamas.
After the over stimulating surrounding, Samuel decided he was cranky and wanted to start on back home. Joel and I agreed so we packed up, bought some fall harvest Indian corn stalks, gourds, and mini pumpkins. HAPPY FALL!