October

Well, I set up this blog weeks ago, but I am clearly just now getting around to actually posting some news.  We have set this up so that we can track the fun adventures of our new life as a family of three.  We also want all of our family and friends to be able to keep up with sweet baby Sam! 

Here is a quick review of our October to catch up…

Oct. 1: I had been wanting a swing for our yard ever since we moved to Huntsville.  Daddy was super sweet to spend hours making us our very own custom swing that can easily move with us wherever we go.  It has a family swing in the middle and places for a child swing on each end (one for Sam and one for Jackson).  We have spent hours upon hours swinging.  Sam adores being outside and especially loves swinging.  We love being able to spend time outside together as a family.  The swing far exceeded all of my expectations!  Thank you Daddy!

Oct. 3: Sam’s 15 week birthday!

Oct. 6: Sam was a bit under the weather.

Oct. 9: Sam and I went with Elizabeth and baby Owen to the Art Stroll in downtown Huntsville.  It was interesting to say the least.  We looked through the various arts and crafts booths, bought some yummy bread and doggy treats, and enjoyed spending time outside on a beautiful day.  It was also dog day, so there were dogs everywhere, but it didn’t end there.  There were puppy fashion shows complete with a dog wearing a pink dress and blonde wig.  Very interesting!

Oct. 10: My cousin Ben’s wife Laura and Blayne were passing through Huntsville on their way home to Tennessee.  We were very excited to meet up with them for lunch and let Sam and Blayne meet.  We also celebrated Sam’s 16 week birthday!  Laura is pregnant with baby Brantley and she looked wonderful! 

Oct. 14: Ty took a little study break and went with us to the farmer’s market that is just a few blocks away from our house.  There were tons of beautiful pumpkins to look at.  (Pumpkins are one of my favorite things!  I have respectfully requested a Fall pumpkin budget from Ty once we are back in the world of cash flow!)  Sam was still a bit sick, so he was happy to get out of the house for a few minutes.  We also let Sam drink water from a cup for the first time that evening.  He was so excited that he was shaking! 

Oct. 15:  Ty took his Internal Medicine mini board test and then we packed up to head to Hope Hull.  The medical school offered the students the opportunity to take a week long Fall break, so Ty joyfully accepted.  This was the first time off he had had since Sam was born.  George gets very excited when we go on trips.  As soon as we open up the doors to begin packing, George assumes his position in the back of the Trail Blazer and does not budge until we leave!  We met up with my best friend from high school, Allison, to get some hand me down clothes for Sam from her son Hudson.  She is so sweet to let us borrow his cute things!  Tiffany and Greg were busy working to get their new house move in ready, so we took Jackson with us to Hope Hull.  Sam loves having a travel companion.  Jackson is wonderful with Sam.  He is chock full of parenting advice and does not hesitate to share it.  (He is his mother’s son.)  Jackson adores baby Sam and Sam adores him.  They have a special bond.  Jackson was thrilled to be with Mother and immediately ran to her to catch up on hugs and kisses.  Uncle Tony and Aunt Iva Kate came over that evening for a visit.  Ty and Iva Kate had a few good laughs watching Jackson and Sam take a bath.  Apparently, Sam was super slippery and started to slip out of Jackson’s arms, so he did what any intelligent four year old would…held on to him around his neck! 

With my sweet friend Allison and her son Hudson.

Rub a dub dub!

Sam loves to snuggle with Jackson.

Oct. 16: That morning Grandmother and Granddaddy came over to visit with Baby Sam and to have a mini birthday celebration with Daddy and me.  Sam always enjoys seeing them, but unfortunately he was not in a super happy mood that morning.  We then headed to Dothan with Mother and PawPaw to visit with Scott, Everlie, and the boys.  We do not get down to Dothan nearly enough, so we were very excited about the trip. We had a wonderful time playing in the yard and just enjoying time together.  Everlie cooked tons of wonderful food as always.  She introduced us to the world of sweet potato dumplings!  WONDERFUL!  She also made Halloween inspired syrup to decoratively top the pumpkin pancakes.  Mother and the boys played with little green lizards on the porch.  Jackson kissed one, of course.  He tends to be very affectionate and loving.  I am sure the lizard appreciated it.  Logan challenged Ty to a round of push ups.  Logan won.  Then we were serenaded with piano music from Ethan and Logan.  We were extremely impressed with the beautiful music they could produce.  I hope that Sam will take piano lessons in the coming years, however, Logan advised against it. 

Another Science lesson from Mother.  She is wonderful to turn so many situations into learning opportunities.

Logan won!

Relaxing with Mother on the front porch.

Ty's spider creation.

Oct. 17:  Logan settles down at the breakfast with a bowl of cereal and the Sunday comics…apparently his Sunday ritual.  We then all went to church at Westgate.  I left Sam in the cradle roll class and went to check on him afterwards.  He was screaming bloody murder.  After a bottle and some love, he calmed down and sat with the rest of the family during church.  We did have to take one little time out to go to sleep and then returned.  He demonstrated that he was not a fan of preachers raising their volume during sermons when trying to add emphasis!  After church we had lunch at Everlie’s and then celebrated Sam’s 17 week birthday, Daddy’s 60^th birthday, and my 27^th birthday by the pool with a cake Everlie made.  Davis was stung by a bee and Jackson fell in the pool.  It was an eventful celebration!  We then all went to cheer on Davis at “the big game,” otherwise known as 4 year old soccer. It was so much fun to watch him play.  He is quite the superstar.  The coach even let Jackson play in the second game and he quickly demonstrated that he was also a star athlete.  When we got back to Mother and PawPaw’s that night we celebrated some more with the cakes Mother made for us.  Jackson insisted that a piece of pretend wood be displayed on PawPaw for the picture since PawPaw likes to build things out of wood!

PawPaw and his boys.

More snuggle time with Jackson after the car ride back to Mother and PawPaw's.

Do you see the little piece of wood that Jackson added to the photo?

Oct. 18: We made a stop in Birmingham on our way back to Huntsville.  We saw our friend and classmate of Ty, Casey, walking down the street and had him join us for lunch.  Sam was excited to have lunch at Al’s in downtown Birmingham for the first time and to meet Casey.  I then took Sam to Children’s Hospital to meet the people I worked with while in graduate school.  They ate him up to say the least!  When we got back home that evening Ty raked piles of leaves for Jackson to jump into.  It was a lot of fun to watch him run and jump.  Then they decided to bury each other in the leaves.  (This is when Tiffany arrived to pick Jackson up.  She never knows what to expect Jackson to be doing when he is at our house!)  Sam sat in his exersaucer while all of this went on.  He loved watching all of the Fall fun.  (He was also super excited to get back into his exersaucer since we didn’t take it with us to Hope Hull.)  A few minutes later, our friend Andy Newton came for a visit from D.C.  Ty and Andy were able to spend some guy time together that night catching up.  Andy is slowly getting more comfortable with the whole baby thing!  While he was over the evening news came on which our friend from Auburn and the ACSC, Chase Gallimore, anchors.  Of course, they had to pose for a picture next to the TV to commemorate! 

Oct. 20: We celebrated Sam’s 4 month birthday with a trip to Dr. Horton for his 4 month shots and check-up.  Some birthday, huh?  He did great getting his shots.  Thankfully, Sam is a very healthy baby!  He weighed 16.6 pounds (75^th percentile) and was 24 & ¾  inches long (50^th percentile). 

Sam loved watching the train circle around the room while we waited! 

 Our wonderful pediatrician Dr. Horton.  

Napping with Daddy after the shots kicked in.

Oct. 21: We headed to Florence for the weekend to spend some time with Mama Pam (this will be what she is called for now unless Sam comes up with something else) and Papa Doc.  We all went to the pumpkin patch that afternoon in St. Florian.  I was thrilled of course just from being surrounded by all of the beautiful pumpkins.  Sam demonstrated that he also loves pumpkins and all things Fall!

Oct. 22:  We met Mama Pam at Trowbridges for lunch.  As soon as we walked into the restaurant all eyes turned to Sam.  He did not understand what all the fuss was about!  Such a modest young man!  We then went to Pam’s work so she could show him off.  It always amuses me to watch how quickly women flock to a baby.  After that we went to Tim’s office so Ty and I could get flu shots and to let Papa Doc show Sam off. Sam was very content in Papa Doc’s arms and got a good nap in.

Oct. 23:  My 27^th birthday….Wow.  This birthday was far different from all of the others.  It completely changes your life when you have a child.  This birthday was more of a celebration of the wonderful life God has blessed me with.  I am deeply thankful and humbled by the blessings he has so generously granted me with…a loving Christian husband who is my role model and a wonderful father to Sam, a precious and healthy baby who fills my life with a joy that I had never before known, an amazing family who surround me with love, support, and fun, and a plethora of good friends to enjoy life with.  I could not ask for anything more!  Ty and I were able to spend some time together that evening while Tim and Pam kept Sam.  It was wonderful to have a few hours together. 

Oct. 24:  We all went to church at Killen.  Once again Sam was oogled and ogled over!  Mama Pam enjoyed every second of it and Ty and I were thankful to get to sit through an entire service.  Mrs. Cynthia joined us for lunch afterwards.  She is so special to us and Sam loves his Granny!  Katy was also home for a few hours.  Sam was excited to play with her and show her his new tricks.  That evening when we got home the Johnsons (some of our very best friends and neighbors) came over.  We are not used to going over a week without seeing each other.  Baby Sam and Baby Owen were clearly excited to be back together again.  Elizabeth and I sat on the couch holding the babies and they carried on the funniest conversation.  We were convinced that they knew what the other one was saying.  This was the first conversation of many to come I am sure!  We dub Ty “the baby whisperer” because he can soothe Sam and get him to sleep in no time.  It really is amazing.  I am a lucky lady!  Ty coached David on the art of the baby whisper.  Things sure have changed over the past year!  Happy bouncing David! 

Oct. 26: Sam and I spent several hours with Bobbye and Buster.  There were many storms going on, so it was nice to have them to watch the weather with.  Sam loves his Bobbye and Buster.  They kept him while I ran to Target to buy baby cereal.  When I got back to the house Bobbye was finishing lunch and she heated up an apple fritter (Yum!) for me.  When I sat down at the table Sam started to scream and get angry.  He was so mad that he was not able to eat.  So I gave him a teething biscuit to gnaw on.  (I know he is too young, but I watched him closely.)  That pacified him.  Ty and I had been struggling with whether or not to start Sam on solid foods.  Sam had been paying more and more attention to us eating, but that experience sealed the deal.  That evening we started him on cereal.  There was no hesitation.  We could not get it in his mouth fast enough.  There was a bit of a learning curve with learning to use his tongue, but he worked though it.  He was a royal mess once we finished, but he was so excited.  He did his happy dance in between bites! 

Oct. 27:  Sam did even better with the cereal.  I made it really think which seemed to help.  He ate every last bit that I prepared (about 2.5 ounces)!  Sam loves George.  He loves to watch him walk around and play in the yard.  We now let him lay on George to pet him.  He rubs George’s soft hair and squeezes as hard as he can.  Sam also uses George as a tool for pulling up.  George is such a great family dog.  He just lays there as still as can be and lets Sam play.  George seems to be happier now that Sam interacts with him.  Granted, George still moans and walks out of the room when Sam gets fussy!  I had started Sam on crib naps a few weeks back, but then he got sick so I decided to let him nap in his swing to help with the drainage.  Now that he is all better and we are done with traveling for a few weeks I started him back on crib naps.  He is such an angel.  The first nap he only fussed for a few minutes and then slept for 2 hours.  The second nap he didn’t fuss at all and slept for 1 hour.  I decided that he probably gets a bit bored and lonely in his bed, so I put his stuffed monkey nest to him.  That seemed to do the trick and made naptime much more enjoyable for him.  Dr. Horton tells us that we are getting spoiled by having such a good baby.  He eats well, is healthy, has been sleeping a minimum of 9 hours a night for about 8 weeks now (now he sleeps 11), and naps well.  Once again, so thankful! 

Oct. 28:  While we were at Everlie’s I was able to play with her Cricut machine.  I instantly fell in love.  Ty and I got to thinking that it would be a good thing to have to make presents for people and to possibly make some things to sell.  (A little cash flow for grocery money would be wonderful!)  We started looking around and then while we were in Florence I happened to look on eBay to get an idea of the cost there.  There was an amazing package deal up for sale with an auction that was set to end about 15 minutes later.  Ty and I talked it over and decided to bid.  I had never done this before, so he walked me through it.  It made me completely nervous and sweaty.  To my surprise we won and got a fabulous deal.  The FedEx mad just delivered the Cricut and I can’t wait to get rolling with it!  We ate dinner with Tiffy and Greg that night.  As usual, Greg prepared a fabulous meal.  After dinner we left the boys with Greg and Ty and went to take a look at their new house.  The first coat of paint had been applied to every interior surface.  It looked wonderful.  Greg has done a wonderful job making changes and improvements to the house and Tiffy has picked out beautiful colors, fixtures, and finishes.   We are so excited for them to get settled in over the next few weeks. 

Oct. 29:  Jackson came to play with “Sammy” for a couple of hours.  Jackson and I had a good time putting together wooden farm animals.  Of course, Sam loved the company and watched Jackson’s every move.  We then met Tiffy in Madison.  Jackson and Sam held hands during the entire car ride…so sweet!  That evening we went over to the Johnson’s to carve pumpkins.  We had a wonderful time with the Johnsons and Bobos.  Elizabeth is a wonderful hostess and had fabulous food prepared for us.  The pumpkins turned out wonderfully.  Sam and Owen were both show stoppers in their costumes!

Our sweet garden gnome!

Ty is quite the pumpkin carver.  He made Sam a very special first jack-o-lantern!

Oct. 30:  Sam got to attend his first Fall Festival at the Madison Church of Christ.  He enjoyed being outside and watching all of the children play, but was not too happy once we went inside to sample the chili from the cookoff.  Our friend Becky was so sweet to entertain him so Ty and I could eat.   The day was basically downhill from there.  Sam started to get sick and was not in the best mood ever.  Ty’s family came over for a quick visit, which Sam really enjoyed, but he was not really feeling up to playing.  Of course, once dinner time rolled around he perked up a bit!

Oct. 31:  Sam continued to feel bad throughout the evening, but went to bed as usual.  We have gotten spoiled with his outstanding sleeping routine and were reminded of how thankful we are that he has been sleeping through the night for months.  At 1:00 this morning Ty and I both jumped out of the bed and ran into his room.  Sweet baby Sam was making the most awful barking seal like noises.  His chest was rattling, his voice was raspy, and he was breathing super quickly.  We got him up and loved on him a bit and after about an hour or so he was doing better.  I did not want to put him back in his bed after that little episode and decided that I would just sleep on the couch and put him in his swing.  He did not agree with my decision.  Ty put him in the swing, but Sam would not go to sleep.  Ty then put him in his bed and after singing his sleepy songs for a few minutes he was sound asleep.  He woke up a couple more times during the night and we just loved on him a bit and then put him back down.  He felt much better today, but has still not been 100%.  It is so hard to watch our sweet baby feel sick.  We spent some time outside today taking his 19 week pictures…complete with a chicken costume and pumpkins!  Our sweet neighbors, the Rieveley’s, also came out and we spent a long time visiting with them.  Sam loved cuddling with them and talking to them about his first Halloween adventures.  He especially loves their beautiful blonde headed daughter.  He just coos and coos for her!  They came over later this evening to trick-or-treat.  Their costumes were so cute.  We walked them over to the Johnson’s house to get some extra goodies too!  We are having a lot of fun having visits from our little neighborhood ghosts and goblins.  My favorite so far has been a little duck who quacks with each step!  I must admit that I feel like a subpar Mom.  I am not nearly festive enough.  Now that Motherhood has begun I think I need to invest in a Halloween themed sweater vest and candy corn shaped earrings.  Just wait until next year!

Such a happy boy even when he is sick.

With our sweet neighbors.

Sam adores Sierra!  She is such a sweet girl...he has excellent taste!

Sam escorting the neighbors to the Johnsons house for trick-or-treating in his third and final outfit of his first Halloween.  

 I am sure that there is not a single reader who has made it through all 7 pages of my typing.  If you have, bless you.  I now remember why I frequently lost points in college for exceeding the page limit on assignments!