1 year old

My baby is a year! This year has been crazy. We became parents, moved twice, started a new job, and learned the ins and outs of colic, the importance of tummy time and MSPI.

I could really go on and on giving lots of reminiscing stuff, but I'll just stick to the current stats and pics. If any of you are like me, you tend to skim when there is too much to read anyway!

At 12 months Samantha:

weighs in at 16 lbs



wears 9-12 month clothing



has gotten pretty good at her side army crawl



sleeps 11-13 hrs at night



naps twice a day for anywhere from 20-90 minutes



loves grahm crakers (calls them cookies)



knows roughly 20 signs (her favorite now being "dog" "movie" and "nurse")



walks while holding our hands





is obsessed with my parents' dog





has 8 teeth







has gone from eating a single cheerio in 3 bites to doing this:

is not afraid to try new foods, but is petrified of new textures on her feet and hands (can't find the picture to go with this one...)

Anyway, since she still isn't transitioning to sitting or walking on/pulling up on furniture, I've been very fortunate not to have to baby proof anything above 6 inches above the ground!

So...yea for me?

Happy Birthday my dear baby girl!!

Moving to China

Well, we may as well be. Between interviewing, job training, a child with herpangina (read the "prevention" part), moving, college hunting, fasfa-ing, fun tests for Sam to figure out what's going on, physical therapy, birthday planning, my best friend since 5th grade moving away and having a ball with two gov't programs- I may as well be on a different continent. I can't help my friends, can't go on play dates, can't even go out for groceries with my husband. I don't know when it's going to stop or how everything is going to end. This is what happens when I try to plan too much and be too in control. Too much happens at once and I want to crawl into my corner and never wake up. This is why I have my husband and my mom who remind me to stop trying to be in control!

So whenever everything starts surfacing to my worry radar I literally have to close my eyes and remind myself that it's not mine anymore.
It's His.

And I can't wait to see how everything turns out!

Scrawling

I've tried to explain that there are easier ways...

Po-tate-o, Po-taht-o

On St. Patty's Day I asked Lucy what she learned about St. Patrick at school. I was pretty impressed at her recollection, until her last 'fact,'

"...And then he became a pope."
"What? Pope? No, Lucy, he became a priest."
Shrugging, "Pope, priest, same thing."

Going to Home Depot one day she was giving me the low-down on the swing set my folks have been looking for,

"So now they are just waiting until the swing set is free."
"Free? You mean on sale?"
"Free, on sale, same thing."

We went to the Farmer's Market and Lucy was upset that the cashier didn't give her any moneys back. While trying to explain the economics of money I had her subtract five minus eight for her to see how many quarters she had left,

"That's fruchting, right?"
"What?"
"Fru...what's that called again?"
"What's what called?"
"You know...fru...fru...when you take eight minus five."
"Subtraction?"
"Yes! That was subtraction, right?"

Rockin' the 80's

Rat tail

+

Mohawk =

Coolest hairdo ever!

(that I'm itching to trim...)

Would you stop touching my hair, already?

Easter

I'm really no good at posting about holidays. Which is crazy, considering my family celebrates them all at least twice each.

Anyway, here's a quick Easter recap (Samantha's first!)

Sam was thrilled to get dressed up.
Daddy didn't know to put a onesie on underneath so she ended up naked half way through church due to the itchiness.

Jer napped, I ate some chocolate.

Lucy buzzed around on a bike my mom probably played on.

Sam played with some equally old toys
(the label on the box said "Playskool"- Days before spell check, I guess.)

She also put said old and filthy toys in her mouth.

And baby Kahlan watched.

Then we ate a delicious supper.
I couldn't resist and went wild on the dairy dishes.
(which was still a no-go)

Sam had her first trip to the park.

She l.o.v.e.d. the slide!


Trip # 47

Kahlan wasn't so much a fan.

Joel discovered he's outgrown the...things...(no clue what they're called)


Kahlan gave the things a shot.


Tried the horse swings,

the things,


and just went back to the slide.


The End.

Nom Nom

Sam likes to put everything that she can fit in her pincer grasp into her mouth.
This includes, but is not limited to:

carpet she yanks out
onion peels
hair
paper
crumbs

But recently I found her spitting something out.

I walked over and found a dead ladybug.

But that's not the gross part.

The next day I see a dead lady bug near her and contemplate picking it up, but think, "Nah, she won't see it. And if she does, she'll just spit it out again."

I come back later and notice two things.

1) The lady bug is gone
2) Sam is happily munching away on something

That's still not the gross part.

I manage to fish the dead insect pieces out of her mouth
(much to her dismay- apparently this one was tasty).

I thought that was the gross part, but it still wasn't.

Later I nursed her and when she pulled off,
there was a lady bug residue on my n i p p l e.

A wing, to be exact.

THAT was the gross part.