Sam's First Christmas

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

Our's was just wonderful! Seriously, it couldn't have been a more perfect first Christmas with Sam.

On Christmas morning we all went downstairs and showed Sam his cardboard house that I had made (I will have a separate post coming up about it, cuz I think it's just swell!). I think he likes it. He enjoyed seeing the photos in there and the stars on the ceiling. I gave him his bottle in it, which he liked looking at the ceiling while drinking. We then gave him his other presents, a xylophone, a wooden helicopter and a couple books. You could tell he was a bit overwhelmed. "Look at this! Now look at this! Ooh! Look!" And then a wonderful thing happened, Sam took an extra long nap and I got to sit and drink my coffee (good stuff too from Rob) as slow and relaxing as I wanted to. For a while, I just sat there in silence, look off into nothing.

We spent the rest of the day with Rob's parents and brother. It was nice and relaxing. Sam enjoyed the toys he got from them. Rob and Sam also got to start the tradition of getting a Hess Gas Station toy truck for Christmas. This something Rob, his brothers and his dad have been doing since they were kids themselves. Very sweet! I got to talk to my family, who all sounded happy (despite colds and flus going around). I even got to video chat with my sister, thank goodness for iPhone right? It makes being so far away a bit easier for me.


Sam had an awesome day. It was everything I had hoped it would be!

Hanging out in his cardboard house

Opening presents at home

Tools!

Rob and Sam with their first Hess truck.

Our Weekend

Sam really hit some milestones this weekends!

On Saturday, I was putting him down for a nap and he was being all chatting and awake and then he does it...he grabs the rail and starts pulling up! He gets on his knees and I'm just laughing and starting at him. I take a few steps back to see what he'll do and sure enough, he's standing! I call Rob over and we're both just laughing. Then Rob quickly proceeded to lower the mattress to the bottom level because his brother had broken his leg as a baby trying to climb out of the crib. (let's hope Sam takes after me or Rob and not his uncles, hee hee)

In the afternoon, we went and visited Santa! It was so sweet, I almost started crying. Sam was a little shocked, didn't know what to think of this big furry guy and the person with the big camera.

For dinner we always have Sam sit in the highchair with us. I'll give him little bits of food of it's something we've had before and he usually just pushes it around. He knows its food because if it's on his finger, he'll open his month. That night I gave him some broccoli and carrots and he tried grabbing it and put some in his mouth. Poor little guy kept missing, but he knew what to do! We tried it again on Sunday and he got a few pieces in, which caused everyone to yell out and scare Sam, hee hee.

Oh and then on Saturday (again, big day) I was putting a tape roll on his head and he knew if he turned his head, it'd fall off. I'd then put it on my head and let it fall. We kept doing it back and forth and he thought it was funny! I even put it on the cat and the dogs. It's so cool to see him realize thing like that. That he knows if he moves his head, something will happen. He tried doing it with his hat too the next morning which got me cracking up.

It's just so amazing to see all this happen in such a small span of time.

Happy Halloween!

My little dragon

I traced Sam's hands for the pumpkin eyes! Saw the idea here!

The zoo and the haircut

We went to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC with our friends this past weekend. We were so excited to bring Sam to the zoo for the first time! He's still a bit too young for the zoo, but he did have a good time. He noticed some of the animals, but he mostly people watched. Next year is going to be even better!

The zoo itself is a great. Rob and I love going to zoos. We actually had our honeymoon in San Diego and it was a must to go to the zoo. ( i had to see the panadas!) My fav animal at the Columbia zoo was the koala bears and some of the snakes. As an added bonus, there is a botanical garden next to the zoo that you can visit. One of my favorite part about the garden was this paved trail that brought you back to the zoo. It was super steep and a bit tricky with the stroller, but it was so lovely being in the woods.


To end the day of fun, Sam had his first haircut! Our friend is a hair stylist so I asked if she could Sam's hair when we met up with them at the zoo. Now, I really really did not want to cut Sam's hair! I mean really, he's not even a year old! But he started to look pretty messy. So as we were leaving the restaurant after the zoo, I asked our friend if she cared for cutting Sam's hair right there since we were all so tired and just needed to go home (we were almost 2 hours away from home).

We took the bumbo and plopped it right on the trunk of their car, on the side of the street on a major road! We were all laughing pretty hard. But what a great story to tell Sam! He did pretty good too. Probably distracting enough than being inside at a salon. And Sam looks so much better now! We didn't get too much cut off, just along the neck and some on the top.

Sam's Firsts: Solid Food

Look who tried out some real food today! Sam's doctor suggested letting Sam experiment with some food. I was a bit surprised thinking it was too early, but she said that it's just to get a feel for it and taste different things. She suggested only veggies first, fruits are naturally easy to like and only one veggie at a time for three days and then we can try a new one.

Sam tried avocado as his first food. Mainly because I love avocados and that's a great excuse to buy one. So how did it go? Sam just really wasn't sure what to make of it. He's like, "Why do they keep shoving this thing in my mouth?" He did enjoy mushing it with his hands. Maybe I'll put a lot more down tomorrow to mush around.

What is this?

Hmmm.

I don't know what to think of this.

Oh look! Mom has the camera! 

Sam & Suzy: 16 weeks

Me and Newton are trying to get Sam to roll over again.

It's been a week since I've been putting Sam to sleep in the infant sleeper. Glorious sleep! Sam sleeps so much sounder in there, giving us much needed sleep too. We usually put him to bed around 7:30-8pm and he won't wake up again till around 12 where he gets a bottle. After that, he won't wake up till around 5. That's awesome! I understand he can't always sleep in the sleeper, but for now I think it's better for everyone, including Sam, to get the best rest possible.

Last weekend we headed over to the Farmers Market. It was a lot of fun to just get out as a family. We had some awesome popsicles and I got this amazing breakfast oat cookie, which I now want to try making my own. Afterwards, we went and walked around Davidson College, which is right next to the market. It's such a nice campus with lots of trees. Sam was asleep, but me and Rob enjoyed the stroll. It was such a wonderful and simple outing.

Sam:
Sam rolled over! His first roll over was last Saturday! How exciting. Daycare says he's been now rolling over for them too. His crib paper now says, "I can roll over". I'm told he'll sometimes nap on his belly now. Funny because he doesn't do that at home.

Sam's also totally over just laying down all the time. He's always grunting trying to pull up his head. We try putting him in the bumbo, but he doesn't like it that much right now. I think because his core is still weak, so he's just hunched in it. Daycare put him in the exersauser and he loved it. He loves to be able to be upright and look around. I was really hoping I didn't have to get one of those since we're trying limit the amount of toys and clutter. But if he really enjoys being upright, it might be a good thing to get him. There's a consignment expo going on this weekend, I might head over there and check out to see if they have any.

Suzy:
I'm feeling great! I think it's mostly because I'm getting good sleep. I feel I'm eating better too.

I'm thinking about joining some sort of fitness class to jump start me getting back into shape. It'll also be good for me to get out and work out with a group. My co-worker totally recommends trying out Purre Barre . It sounds like a lot of fun and it's close by to home. Rob thinks it's a good idea too!

Sam & Suzy: 11 weeks

We went to our first baseball game with Sam last Saturday! Sam was totally chill, just sitting and looking around. Yay, we can take him out in public, hee hee. It was also the first time I wore him in the Ergo carrier in public. I loved it! It was so comfortable and easy to get around. Way easier for me than the car seat.

Sam:
Sam's new favorite thing, his fist. He loves putting it in his mouth and munching on it. He'll even talk while he's doing it. So cute! I've tried putting other things in his mouth, like teethers or toys, but nope, only his first or my hand.

Another thing his totally digs is bath time. He just chills there while I get him clean. The other night I filled the tub where he was half way submerged and I let him "play" in the water. He loved it, kicking his little legs around and cooing. Then we dry off and I put lotion on him, which he'll sometimes talk to me then too.

I'm so amazed and proud of our little guy. He is such a laid back baby. Sam doesn't really cry unless he's hungry or wants to be held and if he does cry, he is abled to be calmed down rather quickly. We haven't had many full on red faced screaming moments either. I'm so grateful.


Suzy:
It's shedding time! I didn't think my hair would really fall out since it didn't change much while I was pregnant. But, I'm leaving strands everywhere. Sam even had one in his mouth the other day *vomit*

Earlier this week I got plugged milk duct. For some reason I thought I'd be exempted from these things since I don't make a lot of milk to begin with, but nope! And it hurt! I think I got it because I wore my underwire nursing bra a couple days in a row and I had some pretty stressful days last week. On Monday night I took a nice hot bath and gave my girls a massage. It totally worked! By the next morning I was pain free. Yay! *

*tmi? you're the one reading this blog! i'm glad to know that you now know what i did with my boobs in the bathtub, ha ha

Rob's First Father's Day

We celebrate Rob's first Father's Day yesterday!

And what did we do? Well, only some of Rob's favorite things of course! We woke up way too early and drove down to South Carolina to our friends house. All the boy are training for an ultra marathon and it was their big run day of 20 miles. So off they went running while us girls got to stay in a nice cool house eating yummy breakfast and chatting.

After the boys got back about 4 hours later, we cooked out (southern speak for grilling). And we drank good beer. Not only is this a group of runners, but we are a group of beer snobs. We had tried some pretty good beer. Rob throughly enjoyed himself. It was a great time hanging out with our friends. Even Sam had a good time. He got to hang out with fellow baby Levi and they did a little baby talking, so cute!