9 months

Samuel is 9 months old today! So what are we doing to celebrate? Well, we went to Stroller Strides for the first time this morning. It was fun and Samuel enjoyed it. I have a week of free classes to decide what I'd like to do and I'm going to take advantage of it! The class starts at 8:45 which is just about the time Samuel is starting his morning nap. He wasn't too upset by that this morning. He just slept longer when we got home.

Samuel has been up to lots, lately. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but he says da-da, ma-ma, he frequently sucks his thumb when there isn't a binky around. He can pull himself up with minimal help, he can feed himself small pieces of food like fruit, cereal pieces, Baby Mum-mums (yummy!). When in his bed, he enjoys playing peek-a-boo with the bumper pad. His latest act:



Yesterday we went to SanTan Village with the hope that Samuel could play in the water area they have for kids. It was a good idea but too many other people had the same one. It wasn't a problem that there were lots of kids there but the breakdown started when the kids that were there could walk, talk, scream, shove, push and generally be bratty, selfish kids...not very good share-ers. I am taking him back tomorrow when I have a little bit more people power. We are planning a play date for our kids.

It may surprise you to know I enjoy a good story about poo just about any time. Now, I have pictures to share, so be warned. Just poo, no booties. :) Samuel loves the jumparoo. It's nice to put him in there while I'm in the shower because I can see him enjoying it while I'm in the shower. This is usually how it works in our house, if I don't shower while he's sleeping. So when I got out of the shower the other day, I had to get the camera, for this is what I saw:

Yes, it ran down the back of his leg and dropped on the floor where he stepped in it while jumping, pushing it down into the carpet. When I wanted to share with Kevin he said only me and Kate (Kate Gosselin, of Jon & Kate plus 8, who takes pictures of her children with their first poo-poo in the potty) enjoyed poo so much.

In the crafting world, I have finished the bag and need to get the pictures taken and loaded so voting can begin. And now I am working on "the book". It is an activity book for kids with several pages for them to learn things like zipping a zipper, tying a shoelace, jingling bells, fastening buttons, you get the idea. I figured a book like this at the store would probably cost about $15 or so. At last check I have spent way more than $15 on supplies for this book. I had better get busy working on it or I'll be in big trouble!

I had better get back to life. I need to shower while Samuel is sleeping for fear I'll have another incident as described above.

I was just thinking

The other evening I was on my way to church. I was driving and Samuel was with me. We were late, as we most always are. For some reason, when exiting the freeway here, a driver isn't supposed to turn right on red at the end of the ramp. (I must admit, I didn't notice the sign until we had lived here for a few months...oops!) But as I was waiting at this silly light for cars to come by that weren't even there, I was forced to just stop for a minute and notice the world around me. This particular evening there was the most beautiful sunset and it was just begging my attention as we waited at this red light. It was like I was smacked in the face with the idea that God created such a beautiful place for us to live. I quickly tried to remember the last time I had noticed such a sunset and am disappointed to admit, I couldn't. Can you remember the last time you enjoyed one of God's beautiful creations with your loved ones? I hope you relive that experience soon and not have to be jolted into the realization like I was. Paper and work will always be there but the moment to share God's blessings pass all too quickly.

Crafty Saturdays

Happy Monday morning!

As I'm sitting here, Samuel is in the floor playing with some Nerf darts and wanting Lucy to join him. A minute ago she was sitting in front of him and with the dart, he reached out and whacked her on the head. The next few minutes Samuel waved the dart around and Lucy tried to catch it. It was very cute.

We have also been working with Samuel on sign language. We've been introducing him to ASL with signs for milk, eat/food, more, mommy, and, daddy. This has been going on for a few months with no indication he gets it. Until this morning. We walked into the master bedroom to check on Kevin and Samuel smiled and signed daddy. Go Samuel! Needless to say, we were very excited!

Samuel has been busy this weekend. He is just about to crawl and will scoot around the floor using whatever means he can, rolling over, scooting on his bottom, or laying on his belly and rocking back and forth, hoping the momentum will carry him. As we were relaxing around the house this weekend, Samuel would use me or Kevin as his personal jungle-gym and pull himself up using our legs. We are bracing ourselves for when he becomes comfortable with getting around. Lucy better find a good spot now!

On Saturday I was using my "me" time to search out some quilting information and came across this:

Now, I have to tell you about it because it may help ME win it. But if YOU enter and win, then I except you to remember where you got your info!

When I wasn't drooling over my new quilt, I was working on another contest. I am making a grab bag with felted flowers on the front. It has been fun getting to merge 2 crafting/sewing techniques together in 1 project. When the bag is finished, I will take pictures and post them here.

And because it wouldn't be fair for me to keep all the cute pictures to myself:


Have a blessed day!

Pictures

Thought I'd add some pictures of our recent trip to Maryland. Enjoy!

This is just the cutest kid around!

Samuel with his Grammy and Papa Kelley.


Four generations: my grandparents (grandma and grandpa Phillips), my mom, me and Samuel. This and the next 2 pictures were taken just after breakfast the morning after we arrived. It was about 4 am to me and I was NOT prepared for picture taking. BUT, it was a beautiful morning on the deck at my parents house. We had to get our picture taking opportunities in before my grandpa, uncle Ron and aunt Lisa had to get on the road. They were taking grandpa and Stray (the dog) back to Indiana after several weeks visiting in Maryland.

My grandma and grandpa Phillips and Samuel.

My uncle Ron and aunt Lisa with Samuel.

This was a rocking bear my mom has at her house. At first, Samuel didn't know what to do in it but after about 10 minutes he was rocking himself.

Samuel and his grandad at dinner one night. Notice how everything is WAY out of reach! Samuel has elastic arms. :)

As I was packing up our stuff to come back home, Samuel was playing in the pack-n-play. He started laughing and I looked up to see he had pulled himself up onto 1 knee and 1 foot. He was so proud of himself.

Hope you enjoy!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

We are home from our trip to Maryland! It was a nice visit but it's always nice to be home. I have some pictures but haven't loaded them onto the computer yet so they will have to be posted later.

Samuel was spoiled by all his grandparents and I'm still trying to get him straightened out. One night in particular, Samuel was in his pack-n-play and his grandad came in to say goodnight. Samuel whined until he got picked up and carted down the hall to say goodnight to gagaw (grandma). He had been a little fussy until then but that all changed when he made it out the door. The expression on his face as he left the room was priceless like "I won! HA!"

Samuel and I were in Maryland on Kevin's birthday but daddy got a very sweet gift, even over so many miles. Samuel started saying DA-DA on his birthday! I was so surprised to hear him babbling in the back of the car and almost ran off the road to hear him saying dada. As for other milestones: he is pulling himself up to stand up. Although he doesn't crawl, he does get around. He scoots on his bottom and can s t r e t c h himself out to get things placed out of his reach. And even though he still has no teeth, he is eating all kinds of food and is pinching things to bring to his mouth. Although, when presented with a new food, he rolls it around in his mouth, furrows his brow and turns up his nose, like, "You guys think this is good? I don't know about THAT, but I'll eat it anyway."

Several months ago we responded to an invitation by one of AZ's Finest to participate in a video to help her raise money for the CF Foundation. Of course, since we have the cutest kid around, we volunteered him to participate. You can see the video on YouTube by clicking here. It is very well done and we are proud to be a part of it! This is the first of Samuel's acting/modeling career. He recently had pictures taken to be included in a book, The Faces Of CF. I'm not sure when the book will be ready for distribution but it will be later this year.

July is Excellence at NLBC. We are constantly (at least I am constantly) striving to be a better person and better Christian. Saturday we had a ladies meeting and our speaker talked about being a virtuous woman. I'm still working on that one :) and praying God to help me be what He wants me to be. Lord, help me submit myself to your will and your way and be the woman, wife and mother you have called me to be... more like you. Help me excel in those ways.