On the Move

Samuel is officially moving. Although we won't call it a crawl yet, he can get from point A to point B and quickly! We no longer can put him down and guarantee that he will be there when you check back. He does get up in the crawl position easily and rocks. He then inches his legs forward, drops to his tummy and pulls forward with his arms. It is actually pretty amazing to watch! I can hardly believe that he has picked that up within the last two or three days! We are currently baby proofing the house!

Today was also our first day of Gymboree gymnastics. As you could have guessed, he loved it. He was so excited he ended up laughing so hard he fell over several times. Everyone got a hoot out of him. He loved the slides and watching the balls roll up and down them. We also discovered how much he loves bubbles! We go every Wednesday for the next 12 weeks. I will try to get some pictures soon!

Also...check out the website for a video of him crawling!

Sharing

Samuel and Bailey are learning to share! Bailey takes a lick then Samuel gets one! No, we didn't let him do this over and over, but it did serve its purpose once of getting a good picture. Bailey did not act to pleased about it, but once Samuel put the bone down Bailey gave him kisses!


By the way, Samuel is standing there unsupported! Mom's hands are close in case of a spill, but he is pretty steady!

Mmmmm Banana

Samuel loves to eat! I guess most of you already knew that...
He enjoys rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes and carrots. The only thing we have tried that he doesn't enjoy are green beans. He makes some pretty disgusting faces and spits them out. He also had a diaper rash after eating them so we have taken them away for now. We will start peas next and then add another fruit! So far, so good.

Daddy was eating a banana this morning and Samuel was very interested. We broke off a piece and put it in this baby safe chewer thingy! It is a net that allows babies to eat food that is not pureed. It supposable teaches them to chew without allowing them to choke! Although it took him a minute to figure it out, he loved the banana!

A Tooth!

Well the tooth has finally broken through! Samuel is very interested in his new tooth. He is constantly biting his fingers and apparently tongue (as see in this picture)! Eating has also become a bit more challenging! Just something new to get use to. Although he is a bit crankier than normal, it is still tolerable! No more toothless grins...

Ready to Move!

Samuel is getting closer and closer to crawling each day. When we sit him down, he quickly gets to his stomach and then up on all fours. He rocks back and forth and ends up scooting himself backwards each time. This quickly leads to frustration at not getting to where he wants to go. Quite the ordeal! Although I am amazed at his strength and coordination I am not sure I am ready for him to be mobile yet!

Tooth update...the two bottom teeth look pretty sore. They have not broken through the skin yet, but look like the will any day. He has been a bit fussy and is constantly chewing things, but overall tolerable! We will get a picture as soon as they arrive.

Bath Time

Samuel loves his bath time. We have made it part of our bedtime routine (cereal, bath, lotion, books, bottle, bed) and he is thrilled. He is big into splashing and looses about half the water in his tub by the time he is done. Two nights ago, daddy got to do the bed time routine and discovered that Samuel now has enough hair to do the classic mohawk! To say the least, we have a clean kid!

Jocie's Back

Samuel was so excited to have Jocie here to play today. The Mars Hill semester has started back up so Jocie is back over twice a week to play. It was amazing to see how much both of them grew up over the past month. Both are sitting up pretty easily now, both are getting up on all fours and rocking and both love to eat ( I guess some things never change)! Jocie also has two teeth that have broken through. Samuel is still waiting! Both Samuel and Jocie have also sparked a new interest in each other. They are very curious and are constantly grabbing at each other's ears, eyes, nose and clothes. I feel like a referee making sure there are not unfair eye jabs or hair pulls! Oh! What Fun!

Go Bears!

Samuel spent the morning counting his money in hopes that he can somehow manage to scrap up enough to go to the Bears vs. Seahawks game next weekend. The Seahawks are doing their job by winning today, despite Alexander being injured, but the Bears have to hold up their end of the deal tomorrow. If so, Daddy promised to have every computer he knows and every phone he can manage working trying to get tickets that are promised to sell out very quickly. Guess we will have to wait and see. You can bet that tomorrow afternoon Samuel and mommy will be in their Bears outfits cheering them on (Daddy will be on the cell phone listening as he is trying to sell some cars!)! GO BEARS!

Staying Inside

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- After 26 consecutive days of measurable rain, Seattle is closing in on a record so dismal even forecasters in this city famous for its gray skies are complaining.
With more wet weather predicted over the next several days, Seattle may soon break a record set in 1953. The city saw 33 consecutive days of measurable precipitation then -- the most since the National Weather Service office there started tracking rainfall in 1931.
Though Seattle is famous for its rain, the city's average annual rainfall from 1970 to 2000 was 37.07 inches, compared to 49.71 inches for New York City

I guess we will have to continue to play inside!

Play Time

Samuel loves his toys from Christmas. Here he is playing with the Peek-a-Boo blocks. He enjoys when mom dumps them out and he can play with the container!

Check out the website for Christmas pictures and a new video of Samuel!

Healthy Boy

Well, Samuel had his 6 month check up the other day and was released with a clean bill of health. He has slowed down in his growth a bit. 7th percentile for weight at 19 lbs and 80th percentile for height at 27 1/2 inches. He is estimated to be about 6'2" (not a big surprise). Doctor seemed very happy with his overall development. He said to expect crawling, standing up, lots more babbling and curiosity over the next few months!

Samuel has started the backwards crawl thing. He pulls himself up pretty well, but ends up scooting backwards and looking at us like it is our fault! He turns himself all the way around to reach anything he wants now. He has also developed a bit of stubbornness (not sure where he got that?) when we take something away. It has also been harder to distract him since he realizes the toy you took is probably behind your back! Time to get creative!

Sweet Potatoes

Samuel has discovered real food! We started our adventure into big boy food last night. Samuel has been very interested in what we are eating all the time. He often reaches for food and even opens his mouth when we take a bite. Since he has been great with rice cereal, we decided to mix it up and add some sweet potatoes.

Yesterday, I boiled a whole sweet potato and pureed it. We got him all ready in his chair and started the video camera. He willingly opened his mouth and took the first bite. Was he in for a shock... sweet potatoes taste nothing like rice cereal. He just sat there with it in his mouth looking back and forth from Mike to me. He finally swallowed it, but the confused look remained. It took him several bites to warm up to it, but then we couldn't get it in fast enough. He ate every bite we gave him and would have taken more if we let him. Since this was the first time his stomach has had any real food we decided starting small was smart.

The only problem...he was not real pleased with rice cereal this morning!

6 Months Old

Happy 6 month birthday Samuel!
Wow! We can hardly believe he is already six months old. It seems like Samuel has been in our lives forever. Actually, we have forgot what life was like before him (movies, dates, sleeping 8 hours). Although parenthood has been a new road for us, we have loved every minute of it. Yes, even the sleepless nights, the poopy diapers and the inconvenience of carseats and strollers. We could not imagine our lives any other way. Samuel has been such a blessing to us. His (still) toothless smile and contagious laughter, his drooling and spitting trick and the sparkle in his eyes leaves us amazed that he is really here and he is really ours. It has been amazing to watch him grow and develop his own personality for the last six months. At this rate, we are really in for it over the next six months! I guess we are in for the adventure!

Happy Half Birthday Buddy!

Christmas

We had a wonderful holiday. Although we did a lot of traveling, we had a chance to relax and catch up with family and friends. Here are a few pictures from Christmas. Samuel loved all the attention and tissue paper.

Samuel got an Infant/Toddler Leap Pad from Santa!

This is his new phone. It does letters, numbers and songs.

Samuel's new trick...eating tissue paper. He is really fast!

A new monkey!!

Samuel and Addison!

You can see all the Christmas picures at the website!

Packing

Samuel was a great big help the last two days as we are trying to pack. He loved riding to and from the laundry room in the basket. He would sit up, hold on and laugh hysterically. He seemed to enjoy the warm "fresh out of the dryer" laundry best!

We are all packed and eager to head to the airport tomorrow morning. We are planning on leaving the house at 4:30am! in order to get to the airport the recommended three hours before departure. There is no way I am missing this plane! If all goes according to plan, we should arrive in Chicago tomorrow afternoon!

We are looking forward to seeing you all very soon!

Christmas Plans

For all our Grand Rapids friends....
We will be in GR for a short time over break.
In order to see as many people as we can, we are going to be at the
Panera Bread on 44th and Kenowa from 2:00-5:00pm on
Wednesday, December 28th.
We will be upstairs by the fireplace.
We would love to see anyone that has a quick minute to stop by.
If not, we totally understand the mad rush of the holiday season.
Hope to see you there!

Look at me!

Samuel is getting pretty comfortable sitting up now. He does still have a pretty round bum and will fall over pretty easily, especially if he get really excited! He does reach for toys and will pull himself back up to sitting after grabbing it! We generally will put him down with his Boppy or with pillows around him and let him go. He thinks it is pretty funny to fall over!

He is also pulling a famous baby stunt, wants to play with anything but the toys he is given. Some of his toys are kept in a basket in the living room, he takes the toys out and plays with the basket. I am sure over Christmas he will love the wrapping paper and the boxes! I guess that makes him pretty easy to please!

Family Time

Today was Mike's first day off both work and school, so we played! First, we took Samuel to the zoo for the first time. Since it was rainy and cold we only saw about half the exhibits. We did see lions, tigers, monkeys, elephants, hippos and a giraffe. Samuel did really well. He watched the animals as they moved and even smiled at a few.


Next, we went to the mall to eat lunch and see Santa. Samuel sat in a big boy high chair and played very well while we ate. He even tried to pay the bill, they wouldn't take his credit card!


Finally, we made the much awaited stop to see Santa. He loved Santa. He was very intrigued by both his hat and glasses. We had a hard time getting a picture because Samuel wanted to look at Santa not the camera. After four tries we managed to capture a decent one. All in all we had a great day as a family.



For more pictures of the zoo and Samuels Santa visit, check out the website
http://homepage.mac.com/clarkm34/Menu20.html

Sleepy

Since Mike is now off school for the next four weeks and has more time at home we decided to become a bit tougher with Samuel and his sleeping habits. He has always been a good sleeper, but prefers to be in our bed cuddled next to mom! Since I don't get a decent nights sleep with him next to me, you can imagine that this routine is not working out so well. Starting yesterday, as soon as Samuel starts to show us he is tired, we wrap him up, give him his blanket and binky and lay him down. So far we are 3 for 4!! He does fuss a bit, but generally calms down and is asleep within a few minutes. He does seem to wake up more often, but only requires help finding a lost bink or a few pats to drift back off to dreamland. Although we know that the holidays and being in Michigan may destroy the entire plan, we are pretty happy that he continues to sleep well! Sleep Tight!

Beauty

Wow! Although the weather here has been a bit on the cold side (so the natives say), it has been beautiful. Despite the horror stories we heard about all the rain, the last week or so it has been clear skies. Everyday as we head to the highway, we see a beautiful sight of one of the mountain ranges. Further down the highway, we round a bend and POW, Mt. Rainier towers beautifully in front of us. Mike nearly drives off the road each time we make that turn! It is a beautiful view to experience. Although I miss the snow and am eager to head back to Michigan for a white Christmas, I can't help but love the view here!