bigger and bigger

WOW! It seems the older Samantha gets, the harder it is to find time to write. You would think once a month I could handle....but nope. Sorry for being so slow.

From the beginning of the month to the end Samantha was quite a busy girl.
She started showing more emotions and figuring how and when to show them. She started clapping her hands when she gets really excited or likes something. Mostly clapping at Skylar when she is doing something silly. But also when she did something cool and her crazy parents would start yelling "Yeah Samantha"

Samantha also started waving hello. When she first started doing it, she waved only at momma. But by the end of the month she was waving at everyone. And of course with a big smile on her face, like always.

She also got her 7Th tooth. And it took all month for it to pop out. Not a fun month. She is the worst teether. Needless to say mommy and Sam had a lot of sleepless nights. But finally on Christmas it came out! Woo Hoo! Which meant about 2 weeks of sleeping good before she started on the next one.

I got her a straw cup and she took right to it. Within 2 days she was sucking away. And now is is drinking 1-2 cups a day. It has made a huge difference in her fussiness and pooing too.

Towards the end of the month Samantha took her first step on her own. It was a very exciting! She would take a step or two before falling flat on her face. Most of the time she didn't cry though, just crawl to somewhere that she could stand up and try again. She is a very determined little girl.

First Christmas

Samantha had a great first Christmas.

I took her and Skylar to the mall to see Santa. Sam was so cute just staring at the jolly fat man in a red suit. Even gave him a few smiles....until I put her on his lap. Then came the screams and tears. No matter how close me or Skylar were it didn't matter. She was not having any part of it.

We tried again Christmas Eve when Papa put on his Santa suit. Once again, as long as mommy was holding her she was o.k., but try and put her on his lap and it was instant crying and tears again. Still managed to get a couple shots that weren't to horrible.

Maybe next year we will have her watch Papa getting into the suit. Who knows.

I had to wake Samantha up on Christmas morning since everyone else was up and waiting on her so we could begin. She wasn't really ready, so mama and Samantha cuddled and watched everyone for a bit.


Samantha wasn't really into the presents so much as the shiny bows and ribbons. While we were all unwrapping our second and third packages she was still on her first...looking at the bow.

Or eating the wrapping paper was another of her favorites.

Of course she did like the presents once I eventually opened all her presents.

She got a pink pony from Santa.

Uncle Dan got her a car/walker toy. She can't get up on them yet, but she does like being on them. I am sure in a few months she will be all over the place.

Samantha enjoyed playing with everyone the most I think. Crawling after everyone.

Climbing all over mommy.

It was fun.

8 months...a little late

I know that at this point i should be writing about her ninth month, but I am slow and have had a hectic month. so i should get caught up. so here it goes.

Well first Samantha got a toddler bed. The crib just was not working and I didn't like having her sleep on the floor. So thanks to my friend Morgan still having her sons bed Samantha is now sleeping much better. We have side rail up so she can't roll out. And most nights, she does quite well in it. Although she has figured out if she stands up she can reach the toy bins and likes to get up from nap silently and start chucking toys into her bed.

Sam got her 6Th tooth at the beginning of the month. What a mouth full she has. Four on top and two on bottom, and all razor sharp!

Samantha started to do a cool trick early in the month. She would go from her tummy to sitting position. It was very funny to watch. And of course she had big grins doing it, very proud of herself.

And about a week after that trick the little bugger started crawling! She is ridiculously fast and goes everywhere she can. Her favorite place is the bathroom though. So we have to keep the door closed. Although she has figured out if she goes full force at the door sometimes it will open if it hasn't been closed good enough. This has been a new experience for me since Skylar didn't crawl.

I started feeding her baby food this month. And with a little help from the medicine little tummy's she was able to eat and poo without any pain.She started with carrots, which she didn't much like and then to bananas, which of course she LOVED! Throughout the month she tried sweet potatoes, peas, apple sauce, pears, cream corn and her favorite (and most messy) refried beans.

Very exciting for me, Samantha started saying mama this month. She says it all the time. Especially when she is mad at me. But when she is happy she claps. Its the cutest thing ever.

Samantha, unfortunately is still not sleeping through the night. Waking a couple times a night and having a middle of the night bottle is making for a very tired momma most of the time. Thank goodness Skylar is at school and I can nap on the days where it has been a tough night.

What A Month!

WOW!! I am super glad that October is over. Samantha had a rough month. Hopefully November will be better. Where do I start? She had her 6 month check up, weighing in at 18 lbs and 28 inches. She kind of had a cough, but nothing that me or the doctor was worried about. But 2 days later she was back at the doctors office. He diagnosed her with croup, gave me a prescription and sent us home. I couldn't find any pharmacy that would fill the prescription and by the time I got home she was not doing well, ending up in her first trip to the ER. There she got an breathing treatment and some steroids. Sam did great, doctors were impressed with how good and happy she was even though she was so sick. She smiled when she got her temperature taken rectally, and when she had to breathe into a cup for 5 minutes...she thought it was a game and put her face right into it. No problems at all!

It took a few days but she improved, although all month she continued to have a cough.

The second weekend in October Samantha got to meet all of her great Aunties. Although she still wasn't feeling good she had a good time and entertained everyone.

(will get pics soon of the visit)

She even got to play in the leaves with big sister.

The rest of the month had a lot of firsts for my little Sammy. She got tooth number 3,4 and 5!

Sam can now also pull herself up on things. First it was on mommy and daddy, then her walker and now the couch!

And going with that of course means she can stand really well with help. She tries to let go but it always ends up her on her bottom.

We are still trying to get her to start to eat. She loves getting messy and playing with her food, a little even gets in, but going out is a different matter. Her tummy just can't handle it. The doctor told me to try using little tummy's and I have just started. So we will see how it goes.

Since Sam has been in her crib she has not been sleeping well. We have tried everything, so finally we decided to put her mattress on the floor. And surprise surprise it worked! I feel bad having her sleeping on the floor, but I am really enjoying more sleep. So for now it will work, and we try again later to put her in a bed.

The last week of October I was once again up all night with Samantha pulling at her ears and having a temperature. So we went to Urgent care. There I found out that she had double ear infections. But by the end of the month her ear aches were gone, she wasn't coughing and in a much better mood.

And of course there was Halloween. This being Samantha's first we had lots of fun with it. Skylar enjoyed teaching her how to trick or treat. I had to take Sam with us to the first few houses so that Skylar could tell her step by step how to do it and what to say. It was pretty cute!

And that ended Sam's sixth month.

6 months!

Sorry it has taken so long to get this one up, the whole family has been sick. But we are all feeling better so I have a little more time. So where do I begin???

I can't believe that it has really been six months! The time has just flown by. Sam is getting more fun by the day.When she went in for her six month check up she weighed in at 18 pounds and 28 inches long!!!

She has tried eating a several times this month. She always wants the food, unfortunately her body doesn't so much. Every time she eats she gets super constipated and we end up with a screaming baby tying to poo. So I have taken a break from food for awhile and will try again later. I feel bad because she just stares at me with the cutest eyes when we eat. But I know if I giver her anything it will not be good. Oh well.

Her second tooth popped through. So we now have two teeth. She is teething really bad right now, so I bet by next month I will be able to say she has more.

This month was big for bath time. Samantha now takes big girl baths with her sister! And they love it! She was moving to much in the infant bath tub and was making it a very un enjoyable bath time for the momma.

So now the girls take baths together, Skylar thinks its pretty cool being able to play in the water with sister and even gets to wash her. Its amazing how gentle and caring Skylar is with Samantha.

Samantha also switched to bigger bottles, she is now drinking 6 oz. a feeding. The spit up is almost non existent! Which is great! She is eating about every 5 hours...including night time. Still not sleeping through the night. And it is driving a certain mommy CRAZY!!!!

Play time is great now, Sam is sitting up all by herself. She can even bend in half, grab a toy and pop herself back up.

We also got a doorway jumper for her. So now she is a very bouncy baby! It took a few times for her to get the hang of it. She was used to her walker where she just stands. But now!!! WOWZERZ!! All she wants to do is jump. You get the biggest smiles when she is jumping. Lots of fun!

Big girl bath

I finally got fed up with washing Samantha in the infant bathtub, she would not lay down and always wanted to play with the cup I used to rinse her. So I went and bought a seat for the bath tub.

So last night Samantha and Skylar took a bath together. It was soooo cute!

And Samantha did great. Smiles and laughter most of the time...only time they weren't smiling was when

They both looked like prunes when I finally made them get out.

5 months

Well it has taken me a bit to get this done, the Summer has just been so crazy busy. But I am doing it now and that's what counts. So lets see....

At the beginning of the month Samantha had a check up where she was 26 inches and 15.3 lbs.

At by the end of the month I am sure she is a solid 16 lbs., she is getting quite heavy to carry around. She is eating every 4 hours, 4-5 OZ a time. And little miss Sam has decided that she no longer wants to sleep through the night, so we are back to waking up 1-2 times a night. I had gotten used to uninterrupted sleep and now it is very difficult to get back in to waking up at 3AM.

Samantha rolled onto her tummy. And now it is very difficult to keep her off of it. As soon as she gets on the floor she rolls right away. We are still working on getting back onto her back. She does it about once a day. Other wise she starts crying when she wants to be flipped over. I keep letting her cry a little hoping that she will get mad enough and do it by herself....but a mommy can only take so much whining.

Sam constantly is looking at food. She wants to be big so bad. So we tried rice cereal. The eating part went great! She loves eating, but her body did not like it. She got VERY constipated and screamed when she pooed. So we switched to oatmeal and that seemed to do the trick. She likes it and can tolerate it.

Skylar and Samantha are still super cute together. They love playing together. Skylar can really get Sam laughing...more than anyone else. Sam misses her sister when she is gone. She gives the biggest smiles when she sees her.

Samantha also got her first tooth this month. All the drool and nawing on the mom finally paid off!! And it is a sharp one!!! Like a little razor blade. She still gets my fingers in her mouth once in awhile and then I get bit and remember why I don't let her grab at my hands anymore :)

And finally she got her feet into her mouth. If she has no toy..and sometimes when she does she pulls those feet up to her and sucks away. She is so good she can even get both her feet in her mouth....she does the best tricks!!!