Favorite Family

For the last two years, one of our favorite families has come up from Florida to spend the holidays with us. Their two little ones are similar ages to my and my sister's kiddos, which makes it so fun. We spent one day at the Newport Aquarium, followed by lunch at one of our favorites, Tom & Chee.

We took them to see the local sights.

When was the last time you saw one of these?

And showed them what was left of Autumn.

But mostly, we just wanted to play together and watch these kiddos get to know one another, because they're going to be seeing a lot of each other in the years to come.

I'm already planning a trip to see this family again in the spring. 

I just can't wait until another Thanksgiving!

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Party

Have you ever read or heard of The Very Hungry Caterpillar? It's one of my favorite books to read with the boys. If you haven't, and if you have little ones, check it out from your local library or at least preview it on youtube.

I decided to make this Sam's birthday theme, feeling like I needed to go a bit "all out" for his first birthday since I had done so for Adam's first party.

Oh, the food options!

On Monday he ate through one apple, but he was still hungry. Apples!

On Tuesday he ate through two pears, but he was still hungry. Pears!

We served most of the foods the caterpillar ate, which is great because they are great snacks for kids, too -- apples, pears, (plums are out of season in November, if you didn't know, so we substituted red grapes), strawberries and oranges, plus pickles, Swiss cheese, salami, cupcakes (muffins) and watermelon.

While I thought food prep would be super easy, I did not take into account the time-consuming task of punching holes into each food, as they appear in the book. Thanks to all the helpers who helped poke holes and to Kim for icing the caterpillar cupcake cake!

Now that we live close to families, parties are not small gathering, and we had a house full of Sam's aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, godparents and out of town friends. The cold November weather kept us indoors, but a million thanks to Christie for letting us use her bouncy house in the basement!

Sam is so laid back he just went with the flow as all his cousins and friends ran all around. He didn't even mind when his brother and cousins opened his gifts for him. Give the boy a bottle and all is right in the world!

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Oh, and I almost forgot! The delicious party favors were made by the super awesome and talented Cookie Chick! Like her on Facebook, or better yet, order a dozen from her! She ships anywhere!

Full of Poop

We took Sam to a new pediatrician closer to our house for his one year checkup on his birthday.

Weight: 22 lbs 7 oz (75%)
Height: 30.5" (75%)
Head: 49 cm (90%)

The kid's got a big brain.

And a big belly.

The doctor was concerned that his belly seemed distended and I mentioned that on occasion I notice it, too, and wonder if it's enlarged. She wanted to rule out all possibilities so she sent us over to the children's hospital for an x-ray on his abdomen.

Results came back normal, but that he's "full of poop." Her question was why he's so full of poop. {I swear, I've never had an adult conversation where the word poop was used so much!} This led to concerns that he might have a condition called Hirschsprung's disease in which the large intestine lacks the proper nerves to function correctly and pass waste efficiently. If he does have this condition it would require a consult with a pediatric colorectal specialist and surgery to remove the inactive section of the intestine. So... with many questions as to whether we were putting the cart waaaay before the horse, we agreed to further tests.

This lead to an abdominal ultrasound, a contrast enema and another x-ray.

All to find out: he just had a lot of poop.

Everything is normal, and he's as perfect as we suspected.

We sure know how to celebrate birthdays around here.


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Other milestones at 1 yr: 

Walking, now standing himself up in the middle of the room.

Still loves peek-a-boo

Loves to chase and be chased

Loves to "go back" where Michael holds him by the thighs in front of him and Sam leans back and hangs upside down

Signs "milk" in sign language. Hopefully more signs to come.

Transitioned from formula to milk beautifully, but he insists on having his milk warmed. Still working to wean from the bottle.

He's back to the "da-da-da-da-da" lingo, plus "za-za-za-za-za" and "doy-doy-doy-doy".

Loves taking baths.

Loves to throw his balls/toys down the stairs, into the bath tub, onto the hearth or couch, but especially through the baby gates.

Favorite foods -- bananas, cottage cheese, oatmeal, corn, cheese, chicken

Loves his brother.

Sam I Am, One Year

One Year.

One year ago your Daddy and I checked into the hospital and awaited your arrival. I'd done this before, but this time, waiting for you, I was much more emotional. I was too excited to sleep, too attuned to your heartbeat, too worried that something would go wrong. I was a jumble of emotions and I didn't feel like I was doing things right. I couldn't rest as I wondered if you'd be a daughter or a son (as I suspected) and I savored every last movement of what was likely my last pregnancy.

When you decided to come, you were ready and I had to hold you back until the doctor arrived. That wait was hard, but once we started the process, what I remember most was how peaceful it was. It was just Daddy, me, my doctor and a nurse in a dim room. There was a serenity and intimacy to it, so much so that I nodded off between a couple pushes. Maybe that's where your sweet, calm demeanor comes from. Or maybe you get that from your Daddy -- his patience, his focus, his easy-going nature.

After someone told me you had dark hair, I was anxious to see you. They brought a mirror and I was awed and utterly moved by the sight of your entrance into this world. It is my favorite memory of the day and one that I will never forget.

I worried when you were born that I couldn't love you as much as I loved your brother, but I was naive and unaware that your brother had already expanded our hearts for parenthood and carved a snug spot for you in there as well. And when you were sick in the hospital, that overwhelming love and fear for harm that we'd learn to live with (without acknowledging) leapt to the forefront and you became our everything. Sweet Sam.

You were a big ball of squishy newborn, so content, so cuddly, with dark hair and big eyes. Over the weeks and months that followed you unfolded, stretched out, grew longer, sat up, but still remained so content, so cuddly. You crawl (sometimes backwards), you walk, you reach up for us. You find your favorite balls and push them down the giraffe slide or toss them through the baby gates for us to fetch over and over again. You have a staccato laugh and when you grin your whole face lights up and your gray eyes twinkle. On the occasion when you fuss you sing a high pitched little whine (and it's usually accompanied by the "milk" sign). I have to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider just to keep you still long enough to change your diaper, and you look at me with fascination and calmness. You have the most easy-going personality, and with your brother's energy and activity, we greatly appreciate this, knowing full well in a year or two you'll be running along right beside him.

I cannot even tell you how giddy I am over you! While I'm a little nostalgic for your tiny infancy, I am more overwhelmed by your happy personality. Each day we learn more about the little traits that make you unique, and I love love love watching you grow and learn and discover them yourself. The more you grow the more interactive you are with us and your brother. You adore him and you love to chase him and laugh at him and get into whatever he is playing with. I pray that you grow to be best friends.

Our Sweet Sam, our pumpkin pie, our sunshine. You have changed our lives forever, and we can't possibly remember our family without you. Thank you for the year of joy and happiness and absolute delight. I pray that you always know how loved and adored you are, that near or far, we always hold your heart in ours. We imagine the man you will become and the impact you'll have in this world and know God has huge plans for you.
We are outrageously blessed.


Happy First Birthday, Sweet Sam.

Old News, but... Sam's Walking!

Good grief, I am behind. I have much to catch you up on, but a life has been wonderfully busy preparing for visitors, celebrations and holidays.

Updates will (hopefully) come very soon, but in the meantime I need to share Sam's talent: walking! He started walking before his brother did, taking his first unassisted steps right around 10 1/2 months.

He started out holding on to objects, and then skirted furniture to get where he wanted to go. He became quite fast at it, too.

I love watching him navigate around objects and still keep his balance.

 Once he started going farther on his own his stance required holding his elbows up near his ears for optimal balance, and in the weeks that have followed his arms have lowered (more to a T-Rex position) and he's only gotten faster.

When he falls down he crawls to the nearest sturdy object and pulls himself back up on his feet, but he is finally starting to figure out how to stand up on his own in place.

Sometimes he crawls over and pulls himself up on our legs, and just when we think he wants to be picked up, he's toddling off on his own.

We love our little walker!

Pop-Pop Meets Sam

It's always a special time when our Pop-Pop comes to visit. We love this guy!

And it was Pop-Pop's turn to finally meet Samuel, his sixth great-grandchild!

Four generations. What a legacy!

We love you, Pop-Pop!

Happy Halloween! (2013)

Can you guess what Adam wanted to be for Halloween this year? I mean, this is really a stretch for him... any thoughts?

Fireman, of course! He's just a teensy bit predictable.

He was a fireman last year.

He had a fireman themed party for his second birthday.

He loves firetrucks and we have to check whether the bay doors are open or closed every time we pass the fire station.

He received a fireman raincoat for Christmas last year, and combined with fireman galoshes and his fire hat, it's not that unusual for him to come downstairs all dressed up.

It's a natural fit. Though, a couple of weeks before Halloween I asked him again what he wanted to be, and he said "Super Why!" Uhhh, huh? I don't know that he's ever seen an episode of Super Why (I haven't!), plus I would have to start from scratch on a costume. Fortunately, he forgot all about it by the time Halloween rolled around.

As for Sam, I figured we'd just dig up the Spiderman costume from Adam's infancy and reuse that, until Michael had a better idea. I ordered a $15 teddy bear costume, picked up a brown shirt at the Army surplus store for $1, and after a half hour of crafting, we created an ...

Ewok! (Character from the Return of the Jedi, for those of you who are from the new Star Wars movies generation.)

Isn't he adorable? And amazingly he wore the costume all evening without trying to yank off the hood.

Did you have severe weather in your area on Halloween? While several towns around us postponed Halloween to Friday night, ours still went on. For the first hour, we just had a little drizzle (perfect for those fireman boots!) and we were able to take Adam trick-or-treating.

PS. Adam is the world's slowest trick-or-treater. I really should savor this time. It won't be long before he's zipping from house to house on his own with his friends.

What I love about trick-or-treating is the neighborly feel and meeting new people on our block.

We took Adam to about a dozen houses and came inside when it got dark and the rain picked up. But, it wasn't like he was missing out on anything. The kid already had a stash of candy from his school Halloween party. Even Sam attended.

Oh, and since I had Adam's old Spiderman costume and Adam was given a batman costume for play, I just couldn't resist a pre-Halloween dress up.

Happy Halloween!