Trains with Daddy

Samuel has been loving his trains for the last couple of months. He has us "help him" build a few tracks a day and is so excited when he puts the trains on and watches them go. Here are a few pictures of he and daddy playing!

Play Group

Each Monday morning, Samuel gets to go to a playgroup sponsored by the Children's Hospital. It is a playgroup designed for children with hearing impairments and Samuel serves as one of their typical language development peers. We are currently on a break until we get back from Florida, but I forgot to post these pictures awhile back.

This month the theme was on community helpers. They had all sorts of activities for the kids including coloring, dressing up, playing in the post office and lots of great books. Samuel was not at all excited about dressing up, but he loved playing with the doctor's tools and did so pretty well. I guess we could guide him in that direction?!

Here he is in his element...puzzles.

"That will be $5.95 please." A future at Starbucks?

Unfortunate Side Effect...

Ever since we moved to Seattle, we have slowly began to realize that there are definite side effects that come with living here. For example...

-driving down I-5 and being amazed by the beauty of Rainer,
-the city shutting down when there is a threat of snow,
-rain, rain, rain,
-waking around a store and being surprised when a dog is standing next to you,
-traffic jams at the strangest times of the day,
seeing- a man in a business suit and a man dressed to go into the wilderness for a week within one block of each other,
-warmer winters and cooler summers,
and the latest...
-Starbucks sucking in even the youngest of us!

Samuel watches Mike and I drink coffee (way to often) and is now able to recognize the Starbucks label anywhere. The other morning, Mike came home with coffee and Samuel immediately said "hot" pointed to the Starbucks label and said "Babucks!" He then wanted to have his very own holder for his cup. He walked around very proud of his new cup!

Mommies and Babies

This just proves to us that Samuel is one of the smartest boys ever. We found this puzzle a few days ago and the teacher in me couldn't resist something educational. Anyway, we got it home and sat at the table for what I figured would be Samuel's first little mini lesson...I was wrong. He looked at the pictures and started matching all the animals up! I was amazed.

He can now do the whole puzzle without any problems and is constantly asking to do it again. I guess I will keep my eyes open for some more like it. Before I know it we will be working on multiplication!

Time for the Updates

Yes, I am fully aware that it has been over a month since my last post. I do realize that it is time for an update on what life has been over the past month, so here goes...

I think I am going to do this in segments of the big events that took place and try to date them appropriately. That will also make it look like I haven't ignored the blog since February!

Here goes...

Last Weeked

We had a really good weekend. Saturday, daddy was in class all day so Samuel and I hung out here in the morning and then headed down to the Seattle Center in the afternoon. We met up with Roxy and her clan and headed into the Pacific Science Center. Mike and I went there when we first visited with Phillip, but haven't been back since. They have a lot of cool things and a great play area for kids. Samuel and Roxy loved it.

This was a room full of instruments. Samuel loved banging around. I think we will have to take Daddy back here.

Samuel and Roxy loved the water/bubble table. They played for quite awhile and Trish and I were beginning to plan a table to each of our living rooms!

Samuel with a good shot of his Ireland hat. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Samuel and Roxy both thought it was great fun to hang from the Muscle Endurance exhibit. I think they both hung longer than I could have.

This was by far Samuel's favorite. He loved catching the balls then watching them fly up into the air. I was also pretty fascinated!

On Sunday, we decided to spend a family day at home. Mike was able to finish painting Samuel's room. I will send a picture when I get a chance. We also planted flowers in our flower box than Jon last July in memory of Hannah.
Here are daddy and Samuel planting the flowers!

Samuel helped by giving daddy the next one!

Samuel thought the best part was watering. I don't think we will have to worry about them getting to dry since he talks about it at least ten times a day!

Job well done!

Michigan Trip

On March 6th, Samuel and I left for a week in Michigan. This was not a trip we really wanted to take, but enjoyed being able to spend lots of time with family. We arrived in Chicago Tuesday afternoon and made our way to Michigan later that evening.

Samuel got to play for a bit with cousins Evan and Tristan!

Samuel loved playing with Maddy. He spent most of the time asking "Where's Maddy?" or "Where's Angie?" I didn't mind letting someone else take over for awhile and enjoying a short break from his craziness!

While in Michigan we were able to spend some time with family. We had a memorial from Grandma on Thursday and spent time Friday together. We also were able to Grandma and Grandpa Kaz and eat a really good meal at Bill's. Saturday evening, Samuel and I headed for Lansing to spend some time with Mike's family.

Here are Samuel and Addison catching some Elmo before heading out. It is amazing how close in size they are. I guess that's what you get when Addison is little and Samuel is big! You would never guess they are two years apart!

Grandma and Grandpa (Mike's dad) found a safer piano for Samuel to play with. A bit more his size. No stitches this time!

Another advantage of being in Michigan is that Samuel was able to meet his newest cousin, Evan Scott. Evan was born on the 10th to Erin and Scott (Mike's step-sister). He is a healthy baby boy and doing very well. I forgot how little they are!

Here is Aunt Kate, Cousin Addison and the newest member, Cousin Evan!

What would a Michigan post be without a little bit of snow. Here is Samuel shoveling snow at Gram's (Mike's mom) house. He saw the shovel and started screaming "BOB...BOB...BOB" He loved shoveling, well until he decided to touch the snow and realized how cold it was!

Grandma Donna

The real reason I haven't been posting is because we had some pretty crappy stuff happen around here. While my parents were her visiting in February, we got a call that my Grandma Donna (mom's mom) was going to have to have heart surgery. We knew it was coming and thought it would occur while we were all down there on Spring Break. After some preliminary tests they determined that it couldn't wait and that they would need to do it on Wednesday.

My parents left Monday morning, a very sad event for Samuel. My mom flew to Florida Tuesday to be with my grandma, grandpa and aunt during the surgery. She arrived Tuesday evening around dinner and was able to spend time with everyone before Wednesday's surgery. Grandma was in good spirits then and was doing very well.

Wednesday morning they preformed a valve replacement and triple bypass on my grandmothers heart. Things went extremely well and she came out of surgery great. By Thursday morning she was sitting up and doing better than could be expected. We all breathed a sign of relief. Then Thursday afternoon, she look a bad turn. They rushed her back into surgery where they found that she had a small tear and had been bleeding internally. They corrected the problem, but then it became waiting time to see if she would recover from this second surgery.

By Friday afternoon there was no change. She was not waking up from surgery and not responding to anything. After several tests the neurologist determined that there was no brain activity and he could say with one hundred percent certainty that she would never wake back up. After many, many long hours of prayer the family decided to turn off her life support. My grandfather, two uncles, aunt and mother each had a time to say goodbye before she peacefully left us Friday afternoon.

Samuel and I spent the next several days planning our return to Michigan for the memorial service. For many days I sat in shock. When I was born I had all my grandparents and three of my great-grandparents. Our family has always been close and it seems that we have avoided loss pretty well. Something like this really puts life into to prospective and makes you rethink the way you live and they way you are in relationship with others. It sucks!

Saturday Fun

Let the fun continue while Nana and Papa are here. This morning we got up early (thanks to Samuel) and headed out to St. Edwards Park for a family hike. We went about 2.5 miles, Samuel made it about half way and decided to ride the remainder.

After a good long nap, we headed downtown to Mike's school for a family game night. Once a month we get together with other couples and families at MHGS to have fun.

Daddy and Papa played Euchre.

Samuel, Koen and Jocie played Connect Four.

Here are all the kids playing Ring Around the Rosie. I will try and load the video later.

Children's Museum

Nana and Papa are here visiting from Michigan so we get to do lots of fun things this weekend. Friday morning Samuel woke up to having Nana and Papa sleeping in the living room. It took a few minutes to warm up, but then he was quickly Nana's boy!

Since daddy had to work on Friday, the rest of us decided to head down to the Children's Museum to see the new Bob the Builder exhibit. Samuel was a bit timid and shy at first, but warmed up and loved it. Here are a few pictures of our fun adventure.

Happy Valentine's Day

Samuel wanted to wish every one a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Last week, we started the process of making his valentines to send to his family and friends. It was a four step process in which Samuel did two steps all by himself. We left the scissors and mailing to mom!

Samuel got to paint three different ways. He started with a brush, then moved to the golf ball and finally finished with his fingers. It was hard to tell which was his favorite, but he was all smiles with most of it.

Here are all the projects he completed! All that was left was for mommy to cut them into hearts and Samuel to send them off to his favorite Valentines! Look for yours in the mail!


Valentine's Day Part 2

Here is another cute story perfect for Valentine's Day. Samuel loves his stuffed animals. He carries them all over the house, has to choose which ones come places with him and even tries to sleep with as many as mom and dad will let him. On of his favorite things to do with his animals is to make them kiss. Here he is sharing a special Valentine's day kiss between his elephant and cow!

Kisses to you all! We love you and miss you. Sending you lots of hugs this Valentine's Day!

Big Boy Bed

Monday afternoon, for the third time, I went to Samuel's room to get him up from his nap and I was surprised when he met me at the door. He seemed a bit surprised also and looked at me, looked at his crib and said "out?" All I could do was laugh. I guess I should have expected it since he is an active boy and likes to climb, but I was hoping to keep him behind bars a bit longer. So, at a mere 19 months of age we are transitioning him to a big boy bed!

When daddy got home last night we headed over to Babies R Us to get one of the bed rails so that we don't find him on the floor every few hours then headed home for the big construction project. Samuel was pretty excited about the whole thing. He watched us take the front of his crib off then he helped me make his bed. He then climbed up on it and just sat there looking very proud of himself. A bit later when we peeked at him he had taken a few books to his bed to look at.

Then it was time for the true test......will he actually sleep in his bed?? Mike and I went through the normal routine then started to talk about how he was going to sleep in his big boy bed tonight. It took a bit longer to get him to fall asleep, but he did finally with daddy sitting and singing next to him. The night went as smoothly as expected considering he is also still getting over being sick. He didn't seem to be up more often because of the bed, but I guess as the nights roll on we will find out.

Today, Samuel was very excited about taking his nap. After I got him cleaned up from lunch he grabbed his blanket and said "night-night" I took advantage of this rare opportunity and went into his room with him. I tucked him all in with his blanket, his cup, cookie and cow of course and sat down next to the bed. Within about 20 minutes he was sound asleep. I'll let you know how it goes!

Recovering

No hikes this past weekend. Instead we all laid low at home and tried to get rid of a bug that has infested our house. I started feeling pretty sick Friday and into Saturday. By Saturday night it had also hit Samuel. He remained pretty miserable even up to this morning.

It seems to be a chest cold that just won't give up. Headaches, stuffy noses, raspy chests and miserable sleeping conditions. Samuel actually spent last night in our bed propped up on pillows to try and make it easier for him to breath. We decided to bring him in after we were up every half an hour with him crying and screaming. To say the least no one slept very well.

He does seem to be in a better mood today and ate a good breakfast. We are going to hang out here at home again and get some medicine in him. Hopefully a nice long nap will be in our near future! We have to be healthy when Nana and Papa come to visit on Thursday!

Big Brother

Take a close look at Samuel's shirt...

This was one of his Christmas presents this past year. Yes, he is going to be a big brother. Mike and I were pleasantly surprised when we found out the news this past Thanksgiving. I had not been feeling well and was beginning to wonder, but figured it couldn't be that easy the second time around. After walking by our linen closet and being able to smell the vitamins I decided it was time to take the test. Lo' and behold it was positive. After an early ultrasound to confirm that everything was good, we found out that we will be expecting baby around July 24th! Which makes me 16 weeks right now.

The first trimester was a rough one for me. I was much more sick with this baby then I ever was with Samuel. I also have not felt that I have gotten enough sleep and am always walking around exhausted. I guess I better get use to it. I am feeling a bit better now, but continue to struggle with what sounds good to eat and then actually eating it. I am well into my maternity clothes, but am showing much differently than I did the first time around. This might be because I don't eat everything in sight this time.

Samuel is excited about being the big brother. He knows that there is a baby in mommy's tummy and everytime he thinks about it he comes over to lift my shirt and kiss my belly. It is really sweet. He was able to see the baby on the ultrasound and hear the heartbeat again last night. He has his own baby that he carries around, feeds and loves to burp! It is amazing how much he has grown up and matured over the last few months. I am hoping this continues as the baby gets closer and closer to being here.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I am sure there will be lots more to tell, but there are 20+ more weeks to talk about all that! Know that baby and mom are doing well, daddy and Samuel and preparing for another little miracle and Bailey is wondering how she can escape before July!

Cars

Samuel loves playing. He is such an active little guy and keeps himself pretty busy throughout the day. You can generally find him running from his room to the living room hauling books, trains and cars with him.

Awhile ago he was in his room playing and being really quite. Which in our book translated to really up to something he shouldn't be doing. Anyway, I walked back to his room and found him like this...

He had lined up all his cars bumper to bumper. I instantly started to worry about him! Was this normal? Do all kids do this? This was just the start. He enjoys lining his trains up and even his books! I guess he is just a bit too much like his mom when it comes to order and organization!

Samuel also had his first introduction to arcade games. He ran right up to car, climbed up on the seat, grabbed the steering wheel and pretended to drive. I guess I should stop letting him drive our car (that was a joke, don't report me to CPS).

How can you not just love that face?