All I want for Christmas...

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. We've been busy with Christmas coming (tomorrow!) not to mention chasing the little man around. And cleaning everything up.

The other day we had Spaghettios for lunch. He insists on eating his food with a utensil in hand. He might not use it, but he has to have it. Most of the time, he has to have 2 or 3.


A week ago he woke up and we were at Miss Amy's house when I noticed his eye. It was goopy and crusty but not pink. He'd had a runny nose for a little over a week but I thought it was closely related to the 2 front teeth he has coming in, just in time for Christmas. But the eye thing had me a little concerned. The Dr. wanted to see him so later that morning we went to visit the pediatrician. Turns out Samuel has an ear infection in both ears! Yuck! For 13 months we have avoided any ear infection that Kevin and I seemed to get so frequently when we were his age. But we can avoid it no longer. One lesson I have learned from this latest round of antibiotics: The strawberry flavoring is Samuel's favorite so far. He's not into the bubble gum flavor.

This evening we decided to take Samuel to see Santa and have his picture taken with the man in red. As it turns out, Bass Pro Shop was hosting the big guy and giving away free pictures with him. I was a bit fearful of the potential disaster this was going to be, seeing so many photos recently of children Samuel's age crying through the whole experience. But, as stated so many times before, we have a trooper on our hands. He was a great little guy, smiling and even waving goodbye!
While we were at the store, we thought we could play a little...





A little random, but this is video of Samuel eating lemons for the first time.



Last week we were blessed with some early Christmas blessings when my dad came for a week. While he was here he offered to help make my house more of a home (thank you!) and he had some help in the process. What a good helper! And what a fabulous red wall! Thanks so much grand-dad!

Laughing and playing with Grand-dad. There are some of the sweetest sounds in this video! And it's cute how he tries to copy what he sees.



And, the most requested video of late: a longer video of Samuel walking.


Have a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Casualties

As of Tuesday, December 17, there have been casualties of the Christmas variety in our house:

1 Baby's 1st Christmas hand-painted glass ornament

1 Christmas Tree

I have to go buy some super glue to try to repair the ornament. And our Christmas tree will probably be leaning against the wall until after Christmas when trees are marked down. Imagine, Christmas morning with a leaning Christmas tree!

Note: Invest in a gate to protect the Christmas tree and its shiny ornaments. And, even if you do put the "touchable" ornaments on the bottom for little hands to play with, those same little hands like to pull and will pull a tree down. This pulling down of the big Christmas tree makes all breakable ornaments up higher on the tree just further from the floor and quite unsteady.

What you've been waiting for

Buckle your seat belts. It's going to be a wild ride.



Another, just for fun. Down the stairs!

It's a Boy!

Samuel is expecting a cousin in mid-April and we are delighted it's going to be a boy! Samuel can't wait to perfect his new tricks like spitting and throwing food so he can teach to his cousin. Congrats Morgan and Andy. We are all excited and know you are too.

We (sans Kevin) had the pleasure to go to Maryland for Thanksgiving. Some things just aren't right and Thanksgiving isn't "Thanksgiving" unless it's at my parent's home. It was nice to get to visit with my brother, sister-in-law, and my grandparents for a few days. Samuel was spoiled, it doesn't take long for these things to happen. It was very cold (to me). I knew it was chilly when stepping off the plane, I could see my breath.

The trip there was bearable since the flight was barely half-full. The worst thing that happened: Samuel knocked his applesauce onto the floor, including enzymes, which splattered up and onto the bag belonging to the guy sitting next to us. And on his pants too. So embarrassing. The flight back, Samuel fell asleep in the airport and stayed knocked out for MOST of the flight. The last 45 minutes he woke up and realized he needed to make up for lost time. He wanted to crawl down the aisle, which was not acceptable. When that couldn't happen, he screamed, became a noodle, and tried to get down. By COMPARISON, he was excellent. By my standards, he's had better days.