Such a big boy!

Today is 18 months from the day Sam was born. I can't believe it's been a year and a half already, and despite any challenges, I have loved it. I just can't believe how big he's gotten - I took some pictures yesterday that really make him look like a little man.

He's getting so tall - I notice mostly when he starts to be able to reach things he couldn't before! We'll find out how big he's gotten exactly at his 18 month checkup next Friday.

The other night Sam ate his whole dinner sitting at the dining room table in a regular chair. I made his food and asked if he was hungry, which is what we always ask before a meal and he goes over to the table. Well, this time when he got there he started trying to climb up in the chair. So, I put him in the chair thinking he'd sit there for a minute then I'd put him in his high chair. But no, he sat there and ate his whole dinner, even ate off the plate and didn't try to dump it or tip it over. Wow.

It's not a huge improvement, but he's getting a little bit better at listening. At least most of the time now in the driveway when he starts to head for the street if I tell him to stop he listens to me and turns and looks at me. I know he understands that he's not supposed to be in the street or parking lots without holding a hand, but that doesn't mean he doesn't fight against it! He's getting really good at going down the stairs. He still holds a hand for support, but I think soon he'll figure out how he can do it on his own.

Sam has the best smile. Here's one of my favorite recent pictures, one of Sam and his daddy. Happy half birthday Sam!

Weekend Fun & New Pics Posted

Howdy from Washington! It's been a beautiful last couple of days here - we have gotten a break from the rain and it's actually been sunny. Last Thursday Brooke, Jill and I took our kiddies to the Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah. We had a great time running around and seeing all the animals, including the baby tigers (I think they're about 6 months old), which are adorable! I got an e-mail from Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle that they have a new baby Gorilla, so we'll probably be taking a trip over there when it goes on display!

Things have been okay, the last week has been really tough with Sam pretty much fighting everything. He doesn't like getting put in the car and I have to physically hold him down and struggle with him to get him bucked. He doesn't like having his diaper changed or getting dressed. And he especially doesn't like bedtime. There's been a lot of lying on the floor throwing little fits and it's tiring. We put a CD player in his room yesterday and played one of the Backyardigans CDs when he was going to sleep, which seemed to help a little bit. It also seems to help to play some music to distract him during diaper changes.

Yesterday we went to the 'Fall Fun Festival' at church, and Sam ran amok in his totally cute peacock costume. He had a little bit of a meltdown because he hadn't had his nap yet, but all in all he did well. Today was Brooke & Dave's annual kiddie Halloween party. He played a ton and we had a great time. Check out my photo album for pictures of these events!

I also finally posted photos from my Baptism and a few other events in September and October, plus some random pictures from those months. Enjoy!

Bedtime Bummers

In the last week, bedtime and naptime have become real bummers around our house. For months, Sam was going down to bed every night with no crying - we'd just put him in his crib and he laid down and sometimes he would be awake for up to an hour in there, but he'd just be hanging out, cooing once in a while, and eventually drift off. Well, that's not the case anymore. Every night he starts fighting as soon as he realizes we're walking towards his bedroom to put him to bed. He starts flailing around if I try to sit down in the rocking chair with him and crying. If we stand up and hold him and sing to him (Baa Baa Black Sheep seems to be a current favorite for some reason), he'll calm down and lay his head down, but as soon as we move to put him in the crib he get upset and starts crying again. It's not a whining cry either, it's a full on 'you're abandoning me forever when you put me in this crib, aren't you?' kind of cry. Every night. Even on the nights he only cries for 5 minutes, it sucks. It really sucks putting him to bed and listening to him cry. He's in there crying right now. He cried for a few minutes and stopped, but now he's started again. Sigh... I just want to run in there and pick him up and let him stay up and be with me. But I know that won't help him learn to be okay with bedtime. So I just sit and listen to him cry and hope that I'm not sending him to therapy in 20 years.

My Amazing Son

Oh jeez, I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted any news of the Heiner clan. Wow, I suck! But I'm back now and have tons to report, and hopefully I will get a little more discipline and update for you to read much more often! I'm going to work on getting pictures from the last month up too, and we have some very cute videos to upload once we get them converted.

So, Sam is almost 18 months old! Can you believe it? I can barely believe it. He's gotten so big and so old, it seems like every couple of days he does something amazing and impresses us.

Sam's favorite thing to do is just to GO! He loves to walk and run and I think he would just go for hours and hours. Mom and Paul took him to the arboretum in Seattle last Saturday and he walked and ran around for 2 hours straight. He has so much energy!

He still loves Blue's Clues, but he's also into Dora, Go Diego Go, and The Backyardigans. He loves balls and he likes his trucks and toy cars. I got him a sorting toy the other day with a circle, square and triangle so he can play with that, but mostly he just opens up the bottom of the drum and puts things in and out that way!

We had to put locks on all of his dresser drawers because he started opening them and taking his clothes out and spreading them all around the house! I couldn't put them away because there was no point since he'd just take them out again. So, now that problem is solved. He's in 18 month clothes now, the shirts fit, but the pants are still falling off him and too long of course. He's sort of in between sizes for pants, so there's a lot of rolling them up. He's also having to get used to wearing regular hard soled shoes. We love Robeez, but now that the weather has started to morph into the Washington Winter aka the monsoon season, he needs to wear regular shoes that don't get soaked with water. We have a little pair of tennis shoes that he wears most of the time, and he's gotten very good at walking and running in them!

Sam's still not talking with words all that much. He bables a lot and makes sounds. Every once in a while, he says words and then doesn't repeat them for a while. The other day while looking at one of his Blue's Clues books, he said 'Blue' several times. While watching Dora the other day, he said 'moo' a bunch of times when they were mooing and talking about cows on the TV, then said 'ball' when they started playing with a ball. He says 'go' a lot, but I don't think he knows what it means.

I am surprised every day by the things he understands. He now understands 'Do you want a bath' and runs to the bathroom and pulls on the gate. If you say 'Are you hungry'? He runs to his high chair. And at night when we let him watch a tv show to wind down before bed, when it's over he knows that it's bedtime and stealthily tries to sneak off down the hallway towards the living room. The other day, he indicated that he was ready for bed for the first time. For some reason he didn't take a nap that day, so he was tired. When his Blue's Clues episode ended at 8:30, he took Justin's hand and led him in to his bedroom and grabbed his crib and looked up at Justin. I just couldn't believe it when Justin told me about it!

He is starting to try and climb a little bit. The other day he somehow climbed up onto the bed frame and then pulled himself all the way up onto the bed! That's pretty impressive since the bed is several feet off the floor! He also likes to lead us around now, he grabs your hand and pulls on it and then when you get up he leads you to where he wants to go.

He's still such a great baby. He does throw some tantrums and when he doesn't get his way he goes down on the floor and kicks his legs, but it just comes with the territory. It could definitely be a lot worse! Hopefully he's starting to get it out of his system a little so that he won't be as terrible in the twos, but we'll see.

Sam's doing really well at the church nursery and also the nursery at the gym. He usually cries right away when we leave him there, but by the time we get back he's normally playing. He really likes to play with cars and trucks and to play with the play kitchens.

Another semi-big change for our family is that I'm working again! About six weeks ago my old boss and good friend called me to see if I might be interested in basically doing my old job again part time and working from home. I thought about it and figured out that I can get in at least 3-4 hours of work every day without really disrupting Sam and Justin's schedule too much. So, I've been back to work for a little over a month. I work during Sam's naps and after he goes to bed, and on Tuesdays I go in to the office in Seattle for 4 hours, from 11-3 so I can avoid the traffic. Some days Justin has to take care of Sam more because I have to do phone interviews, but I'll tell ya, the extra paycheck is nice! I've been working 22-25 hours a week. The first couple of weeks were hard, partly because things were so disorderly since they hadn't had an HR person in for several months. But things are back on track now and it's going well. It's nice to be using my brain a little bit again!

Well, I'll go for now, but I'll try to make it back a lot sooner this time!

New Pictures!

I have uploaded pictures from my book club trip to the beach in Washington and all of the pictures from our vacation to New Jersey. They include a trip to Ocean City, Lianna's birthday, and a couple of parties. Fun! Check them out. Sorry I didn't have time to adjust the redeye on some of them before I put them up. The above picture of Helene and Sam is one of my favorites from the whole trip!

More from the big NJ

Ah... it's now 10:12 at night and Sam has been in bed for an hour. He went down tonight without crying at all for the 2nd night in a row - wonderful! He only took a nap for a little over an hour today, so he must have been really tired. I spent the last hour with Lianna. She showed me her webkinz online pets and it's crazy and complicated and cool. Then she played a little on her new Quantum LeapPad and I helped her with spelling. She is a really cool little girl.

Yesterday Lianna turned 9! I can hardly believe it's been 8 years since we met Dad and Helene at the airport and watched them walk of the plane with this beautiful little baby - it was love at first sight. I remember holding her that summer as she slept against my shoulder and being amazed at what a wonderful feeling it was. Also one of my favorite things with Sam. There's just something about that closeness and providing a soft place and comfort to this little person. Anyhow, she's 9 now and in the 4th grade. We all went and picked her up from school yesterday and went to the music store to get her big birthday present - a guitar! She loved it and was surprised. I guess in this school district all the kids learn to play guitar in 5th grade so she'll get a head start. Kira and I gave her a CD, a DVD and some books, plus a kit to make a stepping stone for the yard. Kira cooked a vegan cake so we could ALL eat it together and it was delicious. I think the whole day was nice. Her birthday party is tomorrow - it's a roller skating party! Then we're having a party in the back yard where a local band is going to come and play, that should be fun.

Yesterday morning I went to the park with one of the neighbors who has a kid in 2nd grade but also has a 18 month old and a 3 year old. It was really fun, and we ran into another parent that I know who is a friend of my Dad and Stepmom. So, that was fun. Sam got up really early (6:45) so he fell asleep in the stroller on the way home. Last night he went to bed without even crying and slept the whole night in his crib again - he even woke up once and I managed to get him back in his crib, which doesn't always work when we're not at home. Today he got up early again (7:00) and only took an hour nap, so he was exhausted by bedtime and went to bed without crying again! He is just doing so well here, it's really great.

We had an exciting moment this morning! Sam walked into the dining room and there was a garbage bin in there with Spongebob Squarepants on it. Sam walked up and was messing with it and suddenly said "Bob. Bob bob." I was shocked! I said to my stepmom, I think he just said Spongebob! Later when I went upstairs to change his diaper I showed him a clock with a little Spongebob figurine on it to see if he'd say it again, and he did! I love it when he just pulls random words out.

Sam is really into eggs currently. This morning for breakfast he ate more than 2 eggs! He hasn't been very into the waffles this week, but he will chow down on eggs. Also last night we had spaghetti and fake meatballs and he ate the spaghetti too! I just cut it up into smaller pieces and he loved it.

Well, that's the update! Tomorrow is a big day, so I think I'll sign off for now! I won't be able to get pictures up tonight, but will try to get it done over the weekend.

Greetings from Scenic New Jersey

I'm back! It hasn't been long, but we've sure been busy. I've got lots of pictures from our book club trip and from our trip to New Jersey (so far) and I'm going to try to work on getting them uploaded tonight.

I'm sitting in the living room at my Dad's house in Flemington, New Jersey right now typing this on my laptop. Sam's been asleep for about 45 minutes, and he got up early today (7:00), so he might even nap for over 2 hours if I'm lucky! We're working on getting the house neatened up for the party tomorrow.

We have had tons of fun during this trip so far, and it's so fun to watch Helene with Sam. She loves him so much, she's such a good Grandma. We also had a loss in the family recently, Helene's mother died only a couple of weeks ago, so I think it's a really great time for us to be visiting and hopefully Sam is spreading some happiness. Lianna turned 9 yesterday and she is adorable with Sam. She helps watch him and plays with him and talks to him. This morning she was reading him a book, and it was really cute.

So, we arrived to the house at about 10:00 pm last Friday. Kira, Sam and I all flew together and had seats together. My Dad used frequent flier miles to upgrade us to first class, and boy am I glad. If we'd been in coach his car seat would not have fit into the plane seat, and that would have been really hard trying to keep him in once place. The first flight was Seattle to Minneapolis and Sam was awake most of the flight, but slept for about 20 minutes. We had a 2 hour layover so Sam was able to run around all over the gate area and airport while Kira and I chased after him and he could get some energy out. On the 2nd flightit was a little harder because even though the flight was only 2 hours, we sat on the plane for an hour before taking off because of mechanical difficulties. Sam was a little fussy during that time, but didn't scream or cry or anything. Boy am I glad that Justin bought the portable DVD player though. I wouldn't have bought one, but it really saved the day. He was so overtired by the 2nd flight I just wanted him to take a nap, and I was able to put on Blue's Clues for him to have him focus on something while he got sleepy.

Saturday morning we got all packed up and drove down to Ocean City to stay at my Aunt's beach house for a few days. On Sunday and Monday we went to the beach and Sam had a great time. Sunday he slept for a couple of hours on the beach, which was nice. Monday he just ran around and had fun. We both got a little burned, so we decided to just stay at the house Tuesday morning and hang out and take our time packing up to come back to Flemington. Sam's done really well with the time change and since the 2nd day we were here he's been going to bed at his normal bedtime. The last 2 days he's woken up quite early, yesterday at 6:45 and today at 7:00, but he slept in his crib all night both of those nights which was awesome because I got the bed to myself. Sam had a great time at the beach, and so did I! The water was just awesome, it was warm and the waves weren't too big. I got to float around by myself or with Kira out in the ocean while Helene and Lianna played with Sam. Sam loved the sand, although he just had to taste it every once in a while, and he went in the water a little bit, maybe up to his knees and then I also sat in the water with him on my lap so I could lift him up a little if a higher wave came. We also got to see Matt and Erica (just married cousins) who are expecting a baby in January and just found out it's a girl! I'm excited that someone else is adding a little one to the next generation of our family. We also got to visit with my other cousins, Laurie and Emmy, and see Aunt Barb, Aunt Ann, and Grandmom. We just had a good time, and I was so happy when Emmy and Ann came down for the day on Monday so we could see them since I didn't think they were coming.

Tuesday afternoon we headed back to Flemington. Sam was good in the car both ways, just a tiny bit fussy for the last 10 minutes of the trip home, no big deal. Lianna was in the back seat with him, so she helped entertain him and give him some snacks. Wednesday was Lianna's first day of fourth grade, and we just hung around. Kira and I walked down to main street and got coffee at a shop there and went into a few of the stores.

Oh, I gotta go - Sam is awake, way too early! More later on tonight hopefully.

Busy Busy Baby

Well, it's been a couple of weeks, but I'm back!

Last week was our book club summer trip. We had 6 moms and 8 kids ranging in age from 7 months to 5 years (mostly under 3.5). We rented a house right off the beach from Friday to Tuesday in Pacific Beach, which is maybe 30 minutes north of Ocean Shores. The beach was beautiful, we did have to drive to get there, but it was sandy and great. The first couple of days weren't as nice, it was really overcast on Saturday when we went to the beach, but Monday was BEAUTIFUL and we were at the beach for almost 5 hours. Everyone else left early, so at that point it was just me, Brooke, and our kiddies. Sam did really well, I had a pack and play so that I could put him down for naps and in bed at night. He woke up every night and came into the bed with me, so I didn't sleep that well, but it was good. After taking care of Sam by myself 24-7 in a non-babyproofed house with a bunch of other kids, I was exhausted and ready to be home! We have been planning a trip every summer for the last 3 years, and it's really cool to watch the kids grow up and their interactions with each other change and develop.

Sam, Kira and I leave on Friday (tomorrow) to go to New Jersey to visit my Dad, Stepmom and little Sister and see various extended family. We're going to go to the beach for a few days and this year we'll be there for my little sister Lianna's birthday on the 6th, and for her birthday party the weekend after that.

Sam is getting better at going down stairs, with help of course. For whatever reason he refuses to turn around and go down backwards, so the first time he tried to go downstairs he just sort of walked off the top step. I've seen him go down stairs at the playgrond using the railings, but he doesn't usually do that unless I'm sort of watching from afar, if someone's right next to us, he wants to hold on to both hands. He's slowly getting the hang of it, although sometimes he just lets his legs go or he tries to go down two at once.

Not much else is happening now - I'm a little scatterbrained because I'm rushing around trying to get ready to go to NJ for 11 days and take Sam on an airplane for the first time since he's started walking. Agh!

Update & New Photos!

Well, it's only been a couple of weeks since I updated! Sam is still doing well.

Sam got his first bleeding injury at the zoo last weekend. Near the snow leopard cage they have these things that are like cable wires with little bronze animals that slide back and forth. Lorelai was swinging it around and Brooke told her to stop and that if she hurt anyone she was going to have to ride in the wagon for the rest of the zoo visit, and about 2 seconds later Sam walked over and the animal thing hit him in the lip and split his lip open. I should have known and stopped him, but oh well. He bled a bunch, and cried, but he recovered fairly quickly and even that evening it didn't really seem to be bothering him.

One thing we've noticed is that Sam doesn't respond to his name most of the time that we say it. He does sometimes, and he's a lot more likely to respond to it if someone else says it to him. I just don't know what to do with him because he doesn't listen AT ALL, and he just wants to run away from me and when I chase him he thinks it's funny. Also, he seems to get sheer joy just from running down a sidewalk, which is cute, but also it would be nice if he listened a little. I don't know if it's an age thing or a personality thing or what. I have always thought those leashes that people put on their kids are bad, but honestly, I can kind of see why they do it at this point!

Sam dances a LOT now, he loves the CD of music from the show "The Backyardigans". When he gets fussy in the car, I just put that on and it calms him down, which is awesome. He bends his knees and shakes his butt and it's just so funny and cute! We got some good videos so I'll try to upload those soon so everyone can see.

This weekend we're going to spend the weekend in Grapeview with Justin's Mom. On Saturday we're going to the Gig Harbor Renaissance Faire, which we go to every year with Brooke and Dave, so that should be lots of fun. I just uploaded a whole bunch of new pictures, so check them out!

As for me, I'll be getting ready for our book club trip to Ocean Shores next week (24-28) and for my trip with Sam to New Jersey just after that (8/31-9/10). I'm looking forward to both!

15 Month Update & An Amazing Day

Sorry it's been so long again! Today was an amazing day. Sam turned 15 months old yesterday and he is doing great. He had his 15 month doctor appointment today and he is 21.5 pounds (10th percentile - up a little) and 31 inches (41st percentile - down a little), and his head circumfrence is 19 inches (77th percentile). He did have to have a shot - his 4th dtap shot, and he was not happy with that, but the nurse pulled out bubbles and that TOTALLY distracted him, and he did really great!

After the doctor appointment we drove to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma. The drive sucked, it was really trafficy and took forever. But once we got there, the rest of the day was awesome. We went and got some food as soon as we got there and he was really into the french fries today. Then we went over to the petting zoo area where they have the goats, and Sam was SO excited! It's the first time he's noticed or cared about the animals. They have a feeding area, and he was going up and looking at them and squealing and a couple of times he reached out and touched their noses. It was great, and he stayed in there a while. Then Brooke, Dave, Seamus and Lorelai got there and we looked at the goats a little more and then went over to the playground area and he ran around and played. He was being really great too - he was wandering around the playground but not running away or making me chase him and bring him back. Since they ask you to leave between when the zoo closes at 6 and when they open the gates for the outdoor movie at 7, we headed over to the DQ that's near the zoo and had some ice cream. Then we headed back. They were showing 'Happy Feet' at the outdoor movie there. We spread out our blankets and there was a band playing and we hung out and Sam walked around all over the place and danced. That's right, he's started dancing! It's really cute, and now he has progressed from just rocking from one foot to the other. He will wave his hands in front of him and sometimes he'll bend his knees slightly and then wiggle his butt back and forth. It's totally cute! I don't know where he got it from. The movie didn't start until dusk, so around 9:00 and I decided to leave a little before 10 because even though Sam was in a great mood and perfectly happy, I didn't want him to stay up too long. He fell asleep within 10 minutes of getting in the car. When we left the zoo he climbed up all the stairs to the parking lot (good for me because I was also carrying a heavy bag) and then walked and when we got to the parking lot I told him to hold my hand to cross the street and he let me hold his hand all the way to the car. It was just a really great day. He also slept until 9 this morning, which was really nice.

So, he's doing great! He is talking a ton, he doesn't always say words but he says 'dropped' and 'duck' and every once in a while he says things like 'cup' and 'dog'. He talks with purpose now and repeats the same sounds, but we don't always understand what he's trying to say. In fact, we don't most of the time! He understands a lot and is starting to know people's names - he knows who to go to when I tell him to go to Brooke, and we even thought that we might have heard him say "Shea" (for Seamus) a couple of times yesterday! He knows 'go to your bedroom', which is what I tell him when he needs to get changed, and he'll walk back there, and he knows that I'm Mama and Justin is Dada.

Sam still loves baths and he had his first bubble bath the other day. He didn't seem terribly interested in the bubbles - he didn't really play with them - but he did taste them a couple of times. We figured out that we can block the drain in our stall shower with a washcloth and let an inch or two of water build up and he'll play in there and have tons of fun while we shower. It's handy for times when only one of us is home, or when we want to get him clean but not run a whole bath. It's really handy that he'll go into the shower with us, and it can be a big timesaver when we need it!

Lots of stuff since last time I wrote! I went to Atlanta from July 12-16 for Aunt Becky's wedding. We got to stay at her house and it was really great to hang out with her and get to know David better! I had a good time. Justin and Sam spent most of the time I was gone visiting Justin's Mom in Grapeview. The week of the 23rd we went up to Bellingham on Monday then left Sam with his Grandma Edie from Tuesday until Saturday when she brought him back down. It was a really nice break and allowed us to get the house totally cleaned - I was especially happy about vacuuming since the floors were getting icky. On Wednesday of this week we went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and played, then went and watched Bela Fleck with Mom, Kira, the Whalen-Robinsons, the Bergmans and the Bradleys. It was a lot of fun and we had a delicious picnic. On Thursday we had some people over for a playdate - Jill, Kylie and Rebecca came as well as Brooke and the kids, Courtney and Elaina and Tara and Nate. It was a ton of fun and we spent a lot of time out in the back yard playing, which was fun.

This week we joined the gym near our house and Sam has been to the daycare there and done really well twice! The first time was only for 20 minutes or so while we were signing up, and when we went back to get him he was being held. The second time he cried a little bit when we left him because Justin didn't escape fast enough, but when we went back to get him a little over an hour later, he wasn't being held and he was playing happily with a little kitchen playset! I'm really glad he does well there, it's only $10 a month for unlimited daycare while you're using the gym and I think it's good for him to go a couple of times a week just to get used to that kind of situation in case the need arises.

What else... he has 10 teeth now! He got 2 molars - one on each side on top, and then a new one just came through last week in the back on the bottom. He is drinking whole milk now, but he's still drinking the older baby formula in bottles, sometimes when he first wakes up, at naptime, and before bed. We don't usually take bottles with us when we leave the house anymore.

Sam is starting to like books, in the past month he's started actually wanting to have books read to him, usually several times in a row! He likes ones like "Barnyard Dance" by Sandra Boynton where you can sort of put a rhythm to the words. That one and 'Pat-a-cake' are his two favorites at the moment. If he's in the mood to look at a book by himself, he has 2 paperback Diego books he likes to look at. He also likes lift the flap books, and likes to read 'Where's Spot' and he will lift the flaps up and when Mom was reading it with him he actually would say 'No' when he lifted up the flaps and it wasn't the puppy. I think he's a genius, but I'm his Mom, so of course I think that!

His favorite show is Blue's Clues. I don't know why, but he loves it and will just sit and watch it. That's usually what we put on if we need to get him calm before naptime or bedtime, or on those days when he gets up at 7:00 and we're just not quite awake enough to start playing with him yet! I used to think that Blue's Clues was annoying, but now that I've been watching it, I think it's a really good show for little kids!

He loves balls, and he's starting to get pretty good at throwing them. He still can't catch, but sometimes if he puts his arms straight out in front of him, he can catch a ball by default. We're practicing! He's totally off baby food now and mostly doesn't want to be fed. He's eat from a spoon for yogurt sometimes, and macaroni and cheese, but other than that he likes to do it himself.

We are looking forward to a trip to the beach in Ocean Shores, Wa at the end of August with some people from my book club, and REALLY looking forward to our visit to New Jersey with Kira in September. We'll go to the shore, and we'll be there for Lianna's birthday, which will be fun!

I think that's pretty much what's going on here! I have a bunch of new pictures in the computer and I'll upload a bunch soon, and we've converted a bunch more videos. I'll post an update here when I have those things uploaded!

Milestone: First ER Visit

Well, we had a new milestone Saturday night - our first trip to the ER with Sam. And it only took 14 months. Saturday evening, Sam started coughing a little bit, but seemed normal and fine before bed. While he was in bed we could hear him more than normal through the baby monitor, breathing and waking up every once in a while and coughing. Well, around 1:00, he woke up crying, which is normal, he only sleeps through the night maybe 60% of the time. So Justin went in to get him, then he called me in there, which is definitely not normal. Sam was coughing this awful sounding cough (later we came across the description of a cough that sounds like a seal barking, and that really is what it sounded like!) and when he was breathing in it sounded rattley and like there was some junk in his throat. He had a coughing fit and coughed up a big blob of clear mucous, and we brought him in our room. I was just holding him in my lap and he was dozing, the funny thing is that it wasn't upsetting him at all, which actually might have been the freakiest part. You could feel that his breathing was a little rattley if you put his hands on his back. So Justin did some looking on the internet and we came up with Croup. The website advised to call the doctor if they're having breathing problems while resting, so we called our clinic - they always have a doctor on call, which is great. It turned out that the doctor on call last night was actually Sam's doctor. Since he hadn't had a fever or cold symptoms during the day, she told us to take him to the ER because it started so suddenly in the middle of the night.

So, at 1:30 last night we piled into the car - Kira came with us because she was spending the night and wanted to go - and drove down to the Evergreen ER in Kirkland. That's the hospital where Sam was delivered, and it is a great place. They have a brand new ER, which is currently the best ER in the country because it's so new and updated. You can tell too - it's huge and really nice looking. So, they diagnosed him with Croup, which is what Justin thought, and got him some medicine. The first medicine was Epinephrine that he had to breathe in a mist of through a mask. That was the worst part. It takes 10 minutes for all of the medicine to vaporize, which involved Justin holding him and the nurse holding the mask on his nose and mouth and Sam screaming and crying for 10 minutes. When we started, the nurse said "It only lasts 10 minutes" and we were all thinking, ONLY? It seemed like an hour! That medicine was to get deep down in his lungs and help open things up and loosen anything that was in there. Even right after we finished with it, the cough sounded much better. A few minutes later the other nurse came back with a syringe of medicine for Sam to drink to reduce the swelling in his voicebox/throat. He cried & didn't like it, but it was really quick. After another 20 or 30 minutes of waiting, he was doing well and they came back and gave us instructions on what to do if he has another attack and when we would want to think about bringing him back in. Finally, at 3:30 in the morning, we were headed home.

Overall, it was as good an ER expreience as you can have. I often imagine taking your child to the ER to be very scary, but it wasn't really scary because he was not having a ton of trouble breathing or turning blue or anything, and of course there was no blood :-) So, that's how we spent our Saturday night. We spent much of the day Sunday just chilling and holding Sam a lot. He woke up at 9:30 on Sunday and was pretty tired for most of the day and somewhat cranky. Last night he got put to bed around 8:30 because he had reached the point of no return - nothing was good, he was unhappy and just fighting sleep really hard. He cried, but he went to sleep, and slept through the night, so hopefully today will be a more normal day. He's still coughing a little at night, but hasn't had an attack like the one on Saturday night, and it's not really waking him up from sleep, so that's good. Hopefully we won't hit ER visit number 2 for a very long time!

Videos!

You'll notice over to the left there is now a link for videos! I have put up a few from March and April, and I'll get the ones from July 4 up as soon as I convert them, probably tonight. You'll get to see Sam walking and dancing in those ones! Yay!

Our Fourth of July was pretty good. We went to a small street fair in Mountlake Terrace over by where Lorelai goes to preschool. They had games for the kids and music and some booths. We put our blanket on the grass field and basically just hung out and ate hot dogs and Sam ran around in the grass and danced, and we had a lot of fun. Brooke and Dave and the kids stayed for the fireworks, but we headed home around 8:30 since we'd been there for 3 hours and Sam was starting to get tired. I put him to bed at 9, at his normal time, but there were about 30 people in our neighborhood setting off fireworks. He wasn't crying, but I could hear him making noises every few minutes because he wasn't asleep. Around 10, he started to cry a little. I think he was frustrated because he was drifting off and all the noise was waking him up. So I went in and picked him up and rocked him in his chair and he fell asleep. I ended up just bringing him in our room and holding him while I watched TV, that way if he got startled awake he would be right back to sleep. We kept him in our room until around midnight, when it was mostly over with. So, it went pretty well.

Sam has started to be able to get up on his own, but he doesn't do it that often. I have seen him do it a couple of times in the last couple of days, which is really neat. Later today I think we're going to head over to the Everett Children's Museum to play for a while.

New Roommates, Dancing and Summer Fun

I'm back! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated the blog - I really fell behind this time! But, I decided in the last week that I am really going to try a lot harder to keep up to date with my e-mails, messages from people, and keeping this updated with the most current info for everyone! I know how much I look forward to getting updates from my friends and family, so I want to be more regular about this.

Lots of stuff has been happening around here since the last time that I wrote! Sam is 14 months old now and doing wonderful. He got his first pillow two days ago - I was trying to find a smaller one and came across a travel pillow, which is just about the perfect size for his little boy head. He has been doing pretty well with sleeping, most nights he sleeps through the night or only wakes up once. He's pretty much down to one bottle a day at bedtime too, mostly he drinks milk and juice and water out of his sippy cups. He has been taking super long naps - sometimes up to 4 hours! I'm not sure why, but the great part is that when it gets to be about 4.5 hours after he woke up in the morning we can do some quiet time and then put him down awake for his nap and he will usually go to sleep pretty quickly. It's much better than just waiting for him to fall asleep on his own and him getting over tired.

Sam is a champion walker now - he barely crawls anymore. He does crawl when he falls and isn't near something to pull himself back up to standing on, but sometimes he walks around on his knees instead! Yesterday while I was out, Justin saw him stand up on his own twice, without holding on to anything! It's the first time he's done that, and once he gets that down I think he'll pretty much give up crawling for the most part! He is also good at climbing stairs somehow, even though we have our stairs blocked off. I let him climb up today and he is pretty quick! It's another story when it comes to going down the stairs though. He has no concept of how to do it, whether it be walking down or crawling down backwards. So, we need to work on that.

Sam has also started dancing! It's not too much yet, but he wiggles his butt back and forth when music is playing, especially the theme song to "The Backyardigans", which seems to be his favorite song aside from Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He also loves Blues Clues and is very captivated by it, and dances during all of the little songs they do. It's so cute! We will try to get a little video of it soon.

Justin finally figured out the right way to convert the videos that I'd taken with our camera. It actually takes pretty good quality videos, which is nice because we can take short ones and then just transfer them to the computer when we transfer our pictures. So, I've will upload some videos from March and April onto my video page as soon as I figure out which website I want to use. I will put a link to our video website over to the right with the link to our photo pages. We also have a cute video of Sam walking all the way down the hallway when he was first learning, but I haven't gotten it converted yet. I also have a few random pictures from June that I just added to our Flickr page including some from our most recent visit to Bellingham, and some from the Science Center last week. Check them out for your Sam fix!

Up until the last couple of days (we think he might not have been feeling too well), Sam has been eating like CRAZY! I swear, he eats as much or more than Seamus and Lorelai, who are 3 and 5. I don't know where he puts all of it, he's so small still! His favorite food right now is hot dogs. He eats the fake Morningstar Farms hot dogs at home, and regular meat hot dogs if we're out somewhere that they're selling them. He finally got the hang of sippy cups and usually has one with him now. He has done really great with the transition to using a milk-based formula and to drinking whole milk, no stomach troubles or anything, which is great. He still won't eat peas or carrots, but I think maybe if they were fresh and not packaged he might like them more. Who can blame him for not wanting to eat microwaved, packaged peas?

So, that is mostly what's been going on with Sam. Justin and I are both doing well, although Justin has been thrown off lately because of going back and forth between working at night and working during the day. The biggest change around our house is that we got a new roommate last week! Justin's friend Tim moved back up to Seattle from Las Vegas about 3 weeks ago. He was staying with us and looking for a place to live and after much discussion, Justin and I decided to clear out the office and rent it to him. It's a little bit of a change for me, but I am also trying to do something good for someone and help him out, at least until he gets settled in with jobs and stuff again. Now the desk is in our bedroom, and if he moves out we'll have a room for the next baby, whenever that happens. It's working out fairly well so far, and there are DEFINITELY perks. Like having someone to mow the lawn and take out the trash. Plus, last week Justin and I actually got to go to TWO movies in one week by having Tim stay here with Sam after he went to bed for the night! Woo hoo!

I am still loving staying home with Sam and going to regular playdates with our friends. I'm REALLY looking forward to the new Harry Potter movie and the new bok that cmes out in 2 weeks. Next week I'm volunteering M-Th to help out with the kids at Vacation Bible School at church, then on Thursday night Kira and I are leaving on a redeye flight to Atlanta to go to our Aunt Becky's wedding. We'll be gone until Monday, it should be a nice little break, and I'm really looking forward to spending the time with Kira.

So, that is what's going on with us. I will post again much sooner this time!

Yay! Summer!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Okay, well, it is dark now, but it was a beautiful day! I got up with Sam today at 8:30, which was a little bit too early for me, but hey. We ate breakfast and then I got him dressed, and looked at the weather, which said it was going to be 77 degrees today! So I decided I needed to get out of the house. I got ready and we were off by 10:00 to go visit the zoo and finally be there in time to see the baby tiger. She's 6 months old now, so she's sort of like a 'teen' tiger, and is now the size of a medium to large dog. Very cute! We had a lot of fun looking at the animals, and then we played on the grass for a while. Sam was being funny pushing his stroller all around. Then we had a treat of some ice cream, and played in the zoomazium for a couple of minutes and Sam enjoyed walking around and banging the drums.

Yesterday was actually really nice too, Mom was down visiting and we drove down to Tacoma and had lunch with Kira and then went to a really, really cool toy store and then walked around Tacoma and came back. It was nice, although I almost fell over from walking up the giant hill, the last block was particularly steep!

Tomorrow Justin and I are going to go over to Brooke and Dave's and we are going to go and see the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie - Dave & Justin will go while Brooke and I watch the kids, then we'll switch off and the boys will take over while we go see it. Thursday we might head down to Juanita Beach since it's supposed to be really nice for the next couple of days, and Friday Kira is coming down to babysit Sam while Justin and I go out and use the restaurant and movie gift certificates she gave him for his birthday. Sunday I have book club, and then a new week starts, and soon Justin will be off to Mexico on the church mission trip! Crazy.

Making up for lost time

Sam is doing much better! In the past two days, he is finally back to his normal self, he's happy and energetic and finally playing on his own again! I am lucky because Sam can be a pretty independant baby, and when we're hanging out at home he spends a fair amount of time playing by himself. Usually he'll go off and play, then come back to me and we'll play together, then he'll go off on his own again. Well, during the time he was sick, that all went away. It was interacting with him, comforting him etc. 24/7, sometimes including holding him during his naps! It got exhausting after a couple of weeks of that! He was so happy today, just smiling and laughing and playing and talking a lot. It is wonderful!

The funny thing that's been happening in the last couple of days is that it seems like Sam is making up for lost time in a few areas...

Firstly, you know how he didn't eat much while he was sick? For the last couple of days he has been eating NON-STOP! He is eating regular sized meals, and snacking constantly, plus drinking lots of bottles. It's crazy! I can't believe he can fit all that food in him. Brooke said that a lot of times when they get sick or don't eat for a while they somehow even it out by eating like this. Who knows, maybe he'll have a growth spurt! I am curious about how he'll do and if he'll like it when we're finally able to turn his carseat around to front facing.

Secondly, he has been walking like CRAZY! We got a really good video today of him walking all the way down the hallway and into his bedroom upstairs. We are trying to figure out how to compress the videos so I can get them up online soon for people to see, especially this new one! He suddenly exploded with adventuresomeness - he is much more confident and walks all the time. I can't wait until he gets more adventuresome outside the house and starts walking around. He also did take his first steps in front of other people this week - we went to a playdate and he walked from one place to another a couple of times. It's so exciting, he's going to just be running around any day now!

Yesterday we went over to Tara's for a playdate with Courtney, Kelly, Brooke, Tara and all the kids. It was fun, and nice to get out of the house after being cooped up a lot in the last couple of weeks. This morning we went and saw "Shrek 3" at the Mommy Movie in Bellevue. We enjoyed the show and Sam actually sat with Justin in his lap for longer than we thought he would! He didn't seem interested in the movie really, he would look over when something particularly action packed was happening, but that's about it. He was more focused on all of the snacks we were feeding him. We just gave him a bottle at home, and saved breakfast for the theater! Towards the end of the movie he got squirmy so just took him over to the aisle at the side of the theater and he just played and climbed up a couple of the steps and did great. Oh, and the movie was quite good too!

Tomorrow we are headed down to Tacoma to go to the zoo with Brooke, Dave, Seamus and Lorelai. The weather today was beautiful, and it's supposed to be 74 tomorrow, I am so excited it is finally warm out! After the movie today we drove home a long way, and it was so nice just driving with the windows down and the sun shining and Sam napping peacefully in the backseat.

So, that's what has been going on around here! Everything is lots better since last week, and getting back to normal. More news soon!

House of Blahs

So... I ended up taking Sam to the doctor yesterday morning after all. He still has a bad runny nose (although that part is improving a little), and a really yucky wet sounding cough, and had a little bit of a rash on his stomach and chest. Plus he felt warm when he woke up yesterday. So, I called the doctor and took him in. And the results are.... Sam has an ear infection :-( He hasn't really been acting like his ears are bothering him that much, but he has been having a little trouble sleeping on his side. As soon as the doctor started looking in his ears though, especially the left one, you could tell it was bothering him. He cried and didn't want to hold still. The doctor prescribed Amoxicillin. He asked me if Sam had ever been on it before and I said, "No, he's never been on anything", then the doctor said "Oh" in this surprised voice, as if it was strange that he's never been on medication. I thought it was odd. The good thing is that the medicine is pink and flavored like some sort of weird bubble gum or something and I think Sam thinks it's a treat. He sucks on the syringe and smacks his lips. Good thing, since he has to have it 3 times a day. He's been a little clingy the past few days, but he's getting a little better. You can still tell he's sick. Hopefully the antibiotics will clear everything up and he'll finally be better - he's been sick in some form for almost 2 weeks I think. Poor little guy. I'm trying to be really positive though and not think it's "the first of many", but that it's just a random thing. I know Justin had some ear problems and tubes as a kid, and I didn't, so hopefully Sam will take more after me in that area.

The unfortunate news is that Justin has been sick since Monday with a cold and the last couple of nights my throat has been feeling funny and today I've had off and on stomach aches, swollen glands, and am very drowsy. Sigh... so, we are a whole house full of sickies at this point. Blah. Send all your "get well" vibes this way!

In other news, I think Sam is sort of moving away from eating baby food anymore. I think he just wants to eat regular food more, he has been sick, so it's a little hard to judge at this point, but he seems to be rejecting it a little bit. Today he had scrambled eggs for lunch and ate an egg and a half! He even used his fork - I stuck the pieces on for him and then he would grab the little fork and put it in his mouth. Pretty cute!

We have a one year old!

Well, once again it's been too long since I updated! Two whole weeks have gone by since I posted an update, and there is a lot to talk about!
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First, of course, Sam turned one the day after my last post! I just can't believe that a whole year has gone by already. Sam is getting so big. We didn't do a lot to celebrate on his actual birthday, but I did take him to the mall and get some picture done, and they turned out well. The one to the left is my favorite one, but I posted all of them on the flickr site, so if you haven't seen them already, click on the photo link over to the right and check them out! I didn't like the place at the mall as much as Babies R Us, but that's why I went - to try it out and compare. So, we went to the mall and he got to play in the kid area and then we got some ice cream, which he thoroughly enjoyed!
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The day after that we went to the Children's Museum at Seattle center with Tara and Nate. I'd never been there before, and it was really neat! In addition to all of the cool stuff they have, they have an area specifically for 0-3 year olds, and Sam had a lot of fun crawling around and playing with the various toys. They have a little theater, a couple of restaurant areas you can play in, and lots of other stuff. I didn't get to explore completely because we left after playing mostly in the 0-3 area to go outside and have snacks and enjoy the music and the fountain. We had a really good time, and discovered that Nate LOVES the little puffs that Sam has been chowing down on lately.

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That Friday Sam had his one year well baby checkup and got four shots. He dealt with the shots really well - he cried a lot during them, but was fine by the time we got out of the building. We were lucky he did so well because we accidentally left the diaper bag in the driveway at home, so we didn't even have a bottle to give him to soothe him! Before his shots, he'd had a runny nose and a yucky chest cough, but it had mostly cleared up. Well, since he had the checkup he has actually gotten sicker and sicker, and this past weekend was kind of crazy. More about that later. Sam is 30.5 inches tall, which is still in the 75th percentile, but still only 19.5 pounds! He is still only in the 5th-7th percentile for weight. He's just a skinny little bugger! He is right on track with everything developmentally and everything, and he is eating, so the doctor isn't worried about his weight. I was only in the 5th percentile until I was 5, then I caught up.

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Saturday the 5th was the big day - Justin and Sam's Cinco De Mayo Birthday Fiesta! I went out in the morning to the store to get some drinks and stuff and then came home to get the house ready. I was a little stressed out in the morning thinking about so many people coming over, but everything was ready in time and I was able to relax at the party and just visit and have a good time. Actually, since so many people were here I got to visit with people a lot since they were all eager to hold and play with Sam! Sam did great despite having his shots the day before, he wasn't as bouncy and upbeat as usual, but he was happy and loved his birthday cake! So many people came, Mom and Paul, Rob, Susan and Maggie, our neighbor Nora and her son Lucius, Jamie and Scott and their daughter Brenna from church, and Laurie and her girlfriend Gerina - and lots of other people! It was really great to see Laurie, we had not seen her in a while, and Gerina is so nice! Brie and Kyle and the twins came - they are getting so big! It's funny, they don't look alike anymore, Roman looks just like Kyle and Ginny looks a lot more like Brie, except for her eyes, which are definitely Kyle's. We all just hung out and had LOTS of food, then we had cake - shaped like a sombrero made by Brooke - the master of cupcake cakes! It was actually a four layer brownie cake in the middle with two rows of cupcakes around the outside. Then we had a pinata, which was mostly fun for Seamus and Lorelai. Then we opened presents. Sam got some really cool stuff - he got a walker that turns into a wagon later that he can push around the basement from Laurie, and he got a Leapfrog music table from Justin's Mom. He loves the table, and it's actually kind of funny because he pushes it around the basement too. We had a great time, and there are lots of pictures posted on the flickr page, so take a look!

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On the Monday after the party, we headed down to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma for Brayden's third birthday party, which was fun. On Tuesday I went out and went to dinner and saw Edward Scissorhands at the 5th Avenue Theater. It was really interesting, I didn't really know what it was going to be like, but it's actually sort of ballet-ish - I think they called it 'dance theater' or something. There were no words or singing, just dancing! It was pretty good. That Friday was Justin's birthday so we went down to Tacoma and went to the Point Defiance Zoo (twice in a week!) with Justin's Mom and Stormy and the kids, and went out to dinner. And just our luck, Grandma Deanna took Sam home with her for the night so we got to go to a movie then hang out and celebrate Justin's birthday. He got back on Saturday and we headed up to Bellingham to go to the Kulshan Chorus concert.

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Sam had been getting sicker throughout the week, and on Saturday he started getting hot and by the time we were at the concert he was burning up. We took his temperature when we got back to Mom's and it was all the way up to 102.7! Argh! So we just gave him some tylenol and made our way through a rough night. He woke up a couple of times, and the second time, we ended up leaving him in the bedroom and moving to the living room - me on the couch and Justin on the floor. At 7 the next morning he woke up again and Mom came to ask if we wanted a break and took care of Sam for a while so we could get a couple more hours of sleep. His fever was down by the morning, but he was still cranky, tired, and obviously sick, but having trouble sleeping. So when we got home his fever had gone back up and we took his temperature around 6 or so and it was 103.5!!! He was a little dehydrated, but not too bad. So we called the doctor, but it took forever for them to call back and she recommended taking him to the ER if he was getting dehydrated, but by the time she called and gave us the recommendation he had drank a whole 8 oz bottle and his fever was down to 101.5, so we decided to just see how things went. He hasn't had a fever since, but yesterday he took 6 hours worth of naps, and then slept all night. Today he was doing better, but he's still clingy. He's starting to eat a little food, but he's mostly been eating yogurt and bottles, and some puffs. He has a little bit of a rash and still has a runny nose and cough, but we are hoping he'll just continue to improve. It's been a tough couple of days - it's just been hard with him being so clingy and dependant, it's funny how much that can tire you out!

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Sam is doing great other than being sick. He is talking a lot now. He still doesn't say many words, although we have heard him say "hi" several times, and he still says "bap" for clap. But he has been talking a lot and it's changed so that even though he's not saying words, he's talking in a purposeful way, like he's really saying something. He hasn't been walking much the last few days since he's been sick, but he is starting to be able to cover longer distances - he walked almost halfway across the basement the other day! It's so exciting to watch him walk and he gets excited and we tell him good job and he claps his hands. He knows "hi" and "bye bye" now and will wave his hand to say hi or goodbye to people.

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Mother's Day was all right, not too eventful since we had a sick baby, but Justin bought me a cross necklace that's white gold with rainbow colored sapphires, it's really pretty. I got a really nice bouquet of flowers from Dad and Helene and Lianna that are sitting on the dining room table right now looking pretty and smelling good! Justin also took care of Sam that morning and Mom and I went out for a nice Mother's Day brunch together at Skylark's in Fairhaven, which was delicious!

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Well, that's about all for now! Hopefully I'll manage to get on and update in less time this time around, but I always mean well! I've got to get to bed so I won't be too tired when I get up with Sam tomorrow!

364 Days Ago

364 Days ago we were given a very special gift - a tiny, blonder than blonde, snuggly little baby. Tomorrow, that little guy is going to be one years old! I just can't believe that it's been a year already. I can't believe how big Sam has gotten, and all of the things he's learned to do.

Yesterday Sam was ecstatic for most of the day. It was awesome and adorable. We played downstairs and he just talked and laughed and squealed. Then, in the afternoon, I took Sam out and we went to the party store to get some stuff for the party on Saturday and went to the mall. My original purpose for going was to pick up the pictures I'd sent online to get printed for Sam's photo album of his first year, but they weren't ready. So we just walked around, and Sam was so cheerful! Then we went to the play area and I let him crawl around. He gets so excited - he will screech with happiness! He really likes going through the tunnels that go through the different climbing equipment.

We're getting jazzed up for our Birthday/Cinco De Mayo Fiesta on Saturday! It is going to be a Fiesta themed joint birthday party for Justin and Sam. I haven't really started freaking out about it, but I also haven't really thought that much about how there are going to be 30+ people at our house! I'm really excited about the people that are coming - a cool mix, and I invited our neighbors who have the 1 year old and they're going to come too!

Today we are going to babysit Seamus and Lorelai for a couple of hours, and tomorrow Justin and I have a babysitter coming so we can enjoy a night out without the kid. Yeah, I know, tomorrow is Sam's real birthday, but he is too young to know the difference, so maybe we'll consider it a "Congratulations us on getting through the first year" celebration!

Sam loves to clap and the only "word" he'll consistently say is 'bap' for 'clap'. If you say "yay!" he will start to clap his hands, and he's started doing it sometimes when he sees people clapping on TV. He is also starting to make noise by putting one hand over his mouth and moving it off and on his mouth to make a "wa wa wa" sound.

Sam has figured out some of his toys! He loves his Drop and Roar Dinosaur even more than before now that he figured out how to put the balls into the holes and get them to play the music and go out the mouth and tail. He has another toy that's like a ball ramp spiraly thing and he likes that one too. He is interested in putting things in and taking them out. He also stuck one of his Roll-a-rounds balls into the round speaker whole on the subwoofer for our DVD player and it won't come out.

We've started giving Sam whole milk with his meals sometimes instead of having him only drink formula. He seems to enjoy it and it hasn't caused any digestive problems at all so far, so that is great! We love the Gerber little graduates pastas - raviolis and pasta and cheese.

Not much else exciting news around here! I will post again soon, and will get up more pictures soon - maybe this weekend after the party.

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted an update! I guess it's only been 2 weeks, but it's been so busy that I feel like it's been forever.

I'm actually at the Burbank Airport right now waiting to catch my flight home to Seattle. Brooke and I have been in Burbank since last Thursday to attend the Creation Entertainment Grand Slam Sci Fi convention. It has been a blast in so many ways, but in some ways we're also both ready to go home and see the families again.

If you're interested in reading about my adventures in Burbank this weekend - or just making fun of me or being entertained by them - please check out my MySpace blog. There's a link over there to the left right where the link to our photo page is. Speaking of which, I've also posted photos from the weekend so check those out too!

Sam is still doing great. I can't believe he is going to be one in only 2 weeks. How does time go by so fast? How did he get so big? He took four steps on Thursday night (while I was away from home of course). It might have just been a fluke, but it means that he's building his confidence to start taking more steps on his own. I'd give it another month, possibly 2, before he's walking full speed ahead!

He is also starting to do what I think of as "pre-talking". He is starting to sometimes repeat back sounds that definitely sound like words. The two I've heard him say so far are cat and ball. He isn't talking really, but you can hear that he's starting to get it and make word-like sounds. It's very exciting!

One of Sam's favorite games to play right now is the "Thank You" game. It basically consists of him giving you what he's holding (could be a toy or a pacified or whatever) and then you take it and say "Thank You!" and then give it back. Rinse and Repeat. It can go on for several minutes, but that's okay because I figure that it's the beginning of teaching him to say Thank You! Plus he enjoys it a lot.

Not much else new that I can think of right now! I will post again soon!

New Photos!

New photos are posted at the Flickr site of Lorelai's 5th Birthday, Our visit with Rob, Susan & Maggie, and random cute pictures of Sam from March. Check them out!

Is it Spring yet?

Today was gorgeous, sunny with blue skies. Unfortunately it was COLD! Well, I guess it's still a good sign that spring is coming. The trees are all in bloom, there is a gorgeous, giant magnolia tree on the way from our house to church that is just awesome. I can't wait to be outside more - more trips to the zoo (we have a membership so we can go however often we want), to different parks, and playgrounds. I am really anxious for Sam to start walking. I am ready! I want him to be able to have more fun at playgrounds and parks.

Things have been crazy here for the last three days. First of all, we attended a new members class at our church on Friday and Saturday, and on Saturday morning we became members! We've been attending for about a month and Sam goes to the nursery. This is a very big change for me, and at the end of this update I'm going to post some things I wrote over the weekend. I invite anyone reading this to read about the little journey I've been on for the past few days. It's something really new for me, and I really want to share my feelings and thoughts with people. Justin is happy to be getting back into the church and starting to figure out what he believes now that he's an adult and his own person, and has been enjoying the sermons, so hopefully it's going to be a really great and supportive place for us. Justin is going to go with Dave and a bunch of men from the church on a mission trip to Mexico in June to build a house for people there!

Saturday after our class, we went straight to Brooke and Dave's for Lorelai's 5th Birthday party! We had a great time. The party was at an indoor playground and Sam had a lot of fun crawling around and playing. He especially liked this big Fisher Price tree they had and he crawled up inside it and made lots of noise and bounced up and down. I will be putting up pictures from the past couple of weeks in the next two days. After the party we were all so tired (we had to get up at 7:15 or so to get to the church by 9) we went home and Justin and Sam slept for almost three hours!

Sunday we went to church and then out to lunch at 'The Rock' with the Whalen-Robinsons for Lorelai's birthday, which was actually on Sunday. Then we came home and got Sam all packed up and Mom took him back up to Bellingham with her! That's right, Sam is at his Grandma's house until Thursday when we're going to go up to Bellingham and stay for a couple of days and try to visit with people and be back here for next weekend. It's a little weird not having him around, but I got SUCH good sleep last night! I got home from book club and we went to bed around 11 or 11:30 and I woke up this morning before 8:30 feeling totally rested! Today I've been playing Viva Pinata, and took a shopping trip with Brooke and went to the movies. There are certainly things I want to get done around the house, but I'm putting it off and I'll probably end up doing it all on Wednesday! For right now we are just hanging out and relaxing, and Justin is trying to rest up to beat this bad cough/cold he's had for almost a week now.

Sam has been doing really great. Every day it seems like he standing up a little better and being a little more confident. He's still struggling with his top tooth coming in, so we made sure to send some Tylenol up to Bellingham with him. He also did something exciting starting on Saturday and started waving! One of the other parents at the party waved at him and he waved back, it was crazy! Since then it's happened a few other times. It's funny, I was telling Brooke when you have a little baby you tell them things and repeat things over and over and you're never really quite sure if they're getting it at all, then one day they just DO IT and you realize that they really are absorbing things!

I also had a crazy moment with Sam on Sunday where we were sitting in the living room near the bookshelves and he likes to stand there and touch the books. But he is pretty good about not pulling them off the shelves. When he goes over, I tell him "Sam, no, those are Mommy's books. Mommy's books stay on the shelf", and he doesn't usually pull them off. I find that in itself pretty amazing, but he really showed that he understood on Sunday. He pulled one of the books all the way off the shelf and I took it and told him no and put it back, and then he was standing in front of the bookshelves touching the books and whining and bopping up and down. It was clear that he REALLY wanted to pull the books down but he knew he couldn't! It was really funny, but at the same time it's sort of a proud moment in a way. He's such a little cutie! He really is a wonderful baby.

Well, I think that's about all that's been going on around here! Since Sam's gone, I should be able to get on and upload pictures in the next few days from our camera. I'll get up pictures from when Maggie visited, random pics of Sam from March, and pictures from Lorelai's birthday party!

A Journey of Faith

Now I'm going to post a rather long addition, which is a couple of things I wrote over this weekend, and at the end, something that I'll add about how I feel right now.

Part One: Written Friday, March 30

Tonight we attended the new members class at the Lake Forest Park Presbyterian Church. We started going to the church every Sunday about three weeks ago and have been enjoying it. I have never had a religious presence in my life in any consistent or significant way. I have never said I believed in God or that I thought that Jesus was the Lord or the savior of all mankind. There have been many times in my life when I was unsure whether I would ever understand religion. I have had friends who were very religious or faithful people, and I looked at them with a little bit of envy and wondered what it would be like to believe in something so fully. Even though I've said that I kept my mind open, and that I was still deciding what I believed, I never truly thought religion or church would ever be a part of my life, let alone one that I might enjoy or that would really mean something to me.

So we decided to go to a new member class because I thought that maybe Justin would want to join and that I would just get a little more acquainted with the church etc. I knew that one of us would have to be a member if we wanted to dedicate Sam, which I think we do want to do. I want to provide Sam with the community and education that the church provides, because I think that way it will be easier for him to decide on his own what he believes when he gets older. Well, it turned out a lot differently than I thought...

When we got there, they gave us each a folder with some papers in it. I was looking through it and came to the sheet that to me signified the reason that I wouldn't be able to become a member of the church. The four questions. The questions they ask you in the Presbyterian church, and the answers you must give:

Who is your Lord and Savior?
Jesus Christ is My Lord and Savior

Do you trust in Him?
I do

Do you intend to be his disciple, to obey his word and to show his love?
I do

Will you be a faithful member of this congregation, giving of yourself in every way, and will you seek the fellowship of the church wherever you may be?
I will

We all introduced ourselves then went through a few exercises. We talked about what was the source of 'warmth' in our lives when we were kids, and most people's answers revolved around their families or mothers. My answer was my mom for sure. She was always there for us and provided us with everything we needed throughout the years. Then we moved to the question of when in your life did God become real to you instead of just being a concept? This was an amazing conversation that involved tears from several people, myself included. Listening to one of the group members talk about feeling like he wasn't alone and not worrying during his wife's c-section, and hearing another group member talk about praying for her daughter in the hospital when her daughter almost died and knowing that her daughter was going to be okay and make it. A few people said that they didn't think they'd really had a moment like that, one person said she felt she'd had prayers answered. I spoke up and said that the closest thing I thought I'd felt was feeling an intense love for my family and that one moment in particular I could think of was when I was pregnant with Sam and had a moment of absolute peace when I thought of the miracle that Sam was for me, thinking I would never be pregnant and then it actually happening and how I couldn't believe it.

It was very emotional in the room, but in a good way. It's wonderful to be in an environment where you feel completely comfortable and that it's okay to be open and to share, and I did feel that way. Then we moved on to the purple paper... We started with the first question - Who is your Lord and Savior? Mike asked us what it meant for Jesus to be your Savior? What is he saving us from? There were various answers. Jesus saves us from death. Jesus saves us from suffering for our sins. Etc. Justin said Jesus saves us from ourselves and from only thinking of ourselves, helping us remember to do things for others and for God. And something started in me... we started to move on to the Lord part, but in the meantime I wrote this down in my notebook: "[What it means if] Jesus is our Savior - Jesus saves us from each other and from pain. By following the things he taught, we save each other through generosity, love, kindness and charity. Jesus' example was love - he loved everyone enough to be crucified, beaten and persecuted because he thought it would make things better for us. If we all loved one another as much as Jesus loved us we could eliminate all pain and suffering. When we love each other we save ourselves." The funny thing is, it's not something someone told me. It's not me spouting off someone else's ideas. It's just my interpretation of what it means for Jesus to be your Savior. I didn't even know I had an opinion about that. Then we moved on to the part about the Lord. Mike asked, what does it mean for Jesus to be your Lord? Well, what is a Lord? Again, people had a few answers, but it's pretty straight forward. The Lord is the boss. What he says goes. I wrote down - "The Lord is our leader. Live by his example always. If you make a mistake it's okay because you will be forgiven as long as you keep trying."

We moved on then to the second question - Do you trust in him? What does it mean to trust in Jesus? I wrote down "Trust Jesus - Trust that it will be okay. Trust that if you are good, you will be rewarded with love and goodness returned to you. Trust that you are on a path and that you make life what you make it. Trust that the things he said made sense and that we have the strength to carry it out." Other people said things like, trust that he has a plan for you. Trust that even when you don't know why, things are happening for a reason. Now, I've always thought the idea that someone has a plan for me is a little ridiculous. But what if that's not what it means? What if it means that Jesus had a plan for everyone, and that plan was for us to be good people, to help people, to love one another, and that by doing that we would be fulfilling his plan? What if it means that he knew the best way to live and that will lead us to the futures we deserve?

The third question - Do you intend to be his disciple, to obey his word and to show his love? Well, that's an easy one. A disciple is like a student. By answering positively to this question, you agree to learn his word, obey it, and to follow his teachings, love one another, show charity to your fellow man. Whether you are a religious person or not I think that if you break it down the golden rule is something that really everyone should follow, no matter what they believe.

The fourth question - Will you be a faithful member of this congregation, giving of yourself in every way, and will you seek the fellowship of the church wherever yo may be? What do you agree to by answering that you will do these things? You agree to be a committed member of the community that is the church. Participate and support your fellow church members. Know that the church will be there for you no matter where you go, that you will always have a place when you are feeling lost and need comfort. Know that you can provide comfort in that way for other people as well.

Those are the base questions you must answer to become a member of the Lake Forest Park Presbyterian Church. And I can honestly say that I might be able to answer them the same way that other people who are members do. My interpretation isn't necessarily exactly the same. Even before tonight, I thought that if I said those words above, that I would just be totally lying. But now I'm not so sure.

I've never thought about any of this in this way before. I never GOT IT. I always thought that religion was something very strict and stiff. I thought that in order to be religious I would have to conform to someone else's ideas of what God is or who Jesus was, or what exactly it means to BELIEVE and to have faith. I didn't get it. Having faith doesn't have to mean that you agree to what someone else thinks exactly. You can have different ideas about the details of what God is or what it means to believe in Jesus and God. The bottom line is still the same! Not everyone has the same exact view, and that's okay. So, I don't believe that God is a dude sitting up in the sky telling us what to do and where to go. Maybe I believe that God is love. God is the love and compassion that lives within people, it's the positive spirit that is available to everyone if they choose to tap into it. God is what makes us love each other, care for each other, want to help each other and give everything for each other. God makes a mother love her baby. God helps us see how to work it out when we have problems with friends and family. God is the spirit of love. I know I might sound like a giant hippie here, but I never got it. I didn't realize that in a church full of 100 people, there could be 100 different ideas and beliefs and that is okay, because it leads to the same place. Loving one another. Doing good in the world. Helping people. I suddenly realize that I CAN have faith. I CAN believe. I CAN belong in a community, in a Church. My interpretations are just as good as anyone else's. I actually have interpretations! What?? I might believe in God. I didn't realize there were different ways to believe in God. I didn't realize that I might be able to do it... that mabye I have actually believed in God for longer than I realized. By the way, I could just go on writing about this... but I would just be repeating myself.

I am freaked out. Not in a bad way. I just can't believe that I never saw this before. I can't believe that I went to church and something clicked. I don't know what to think. I can't believe that it could be that I actually might find religion in my own way. I didn't know it was possible. In the car on the way home, I talked to Justin about what I'd written down and what I was thinking about. I felt emotional, charged and overflowing with a weird kind of wonder at all the thoughts in my head. I talked to Brooke after I got home. I wanted to call her even though it was late because we've had so many conversations about faith and because I know how happy she was when we decided to start going to her church. I told her that I had a moment at the group, and told her about what I'd written and what I'd been thinking about. This is when I came to the above realization that I hadn't gotten it before, and tears were streaming down my face. And I could feel how happy she was for me. I don't even know what is happening to me. It's all very new. I don't even know what it means. I told her that I felt freaked out and didn't know what I was even thinking. She told me she remembers feeling that way too.

Well, it's almost one in the morning now and we have to get up and be at the church at 9:00 for the 2nd part of the class tomorrow morning, and then at the end, the church elders are going to be there to help anyone become a member who wants to do it. And I am thinking about it....

Part 2: Saturday, March 31

Today I joined the Lake Forest Park Presbyterian Church. I am still amazed at the transformation over the past 30 hours. I feel happy. I am the kind of person who sometimes feels passionate or strongly about things at first, but then sometimes it fades. Sometimes things seem exciting to me and like a good idea, but I find that then a few days or weeks later that my opinion has gone back down to normal and I feel like a hypocrite because I spoke words that were strong and sort of have to take them back. Usually I trty to just never mention it again and hope people don't notice. There is a part of me that was scared over the past day that the feelings that I had last night and the things I feel like I've been discovering will leave me. That I will wake up one day and realize that I didn't find anything, that I just got inspired somehow by being at church, or that I was influenced by other people and just went along with what they were saying and it wasn't really my opinion. I have to let go of that. Part of having faith is trusting that the faith is not just going to abandon you.

This morning we went to the second half of our new members class at the church. Today we talked more about what it means to be Presbyterian, what they believe, how the church is structured, the two sacraments that they observe, and what their ideas about the bible are. We got a little history in there, and a little bit of information about the bible, and a tour of the church, which has WAY more staircases than I realized and several rooms I never knew were there! Towards the end of the class the active church Elders came in to meet us and vote on the new membership. At that time, we went around the room again and introduced ourselves, and I was able to share a little bit about the experience and discovery that I had last night. I got teary eyed, even just reading the above that I wrote last night out loud makes me cry a little bit. I even made Mike (the Associate Pastor) cry, but that's not hard because he cries at just about everything if it has to do with God. Then we answered the four questions out loud for the Elders, they motioned to let us join the church, and we all became members. Then we prayed together and I couldn't stop smiling. I could try to describe the feeling of being surrounded by joy and love, but I don't feel all that articulate right now and it really can't fit into words well. I was the only person in the class who has not been baptized, so I will have that done. I see it as the beginning of something new - living a life of faith in goodness and love. I am currently supposed to be baptized by sprinkling at church on the 22nd, but I am actually thinking about changing my mind and being immersion baptized in the lake when it gets warmer out in the summer time. I feel like it might be a powerful experience, and you only get baptized once, so maybe I should really go for it. So, I have a couple of weeks to decide.

After the class several people came up to me and thanked me for sharing and one person even said that I was articulate. I found that particularly funny because as I spoke to the group this morning I actually felt really unarticulate and like I was just blabbing out in a disorganized way. They gave me hugs and made me feel really welcome.

I feel comfortable and confident in my choice of churches. There are several reasons that I am happy with my choice of denominations and of churches. This is the first church where I have felt really, unconditionally welcomed. Where I didn't feel like they were ultimately thinking of having a new member, pulling in someone new, having someone contributing to their church monetarily. In the congregation and also in the small group of the new member class, I feel comfortable in having my own opinions and ideas. I don't feel like I have to conform, that I have to feel the same way as everyone else or have exactly the same ideas that they have. That I feel loved, that people are just happy for me because I have discovered something new, they're just glad I'm there sharing with them in love and faith. This is also a church that is very family oriented. They have a wonderful nursery and a wonderful children's ministry with Sunday School all the way through middle school, then youth groups. They have lots of mission trips for the teens and the adults, they have vacation bible school in the summer and a lot of options for hands on ministry. They believe in worship plus two - growing faith and hands on ministry being the plus two. I don't feel judged. I feel comfortable with Mike, which is important to me because I usually feel somewhat intimidated by that kind of 'authority figure'.

As for the denomination, there are a lot of things I like about Presbyterianism. I like the fact that they believe in family and marriage. I like their views on the Bible, and that they don't necessarily believe that the Bible is the word of God and he just used people to write it like they were puppets, but that it was written by people who were inspired by God and understood what to write because of that inspiration. I like it that they are welcoming of people from other churches, recognize baptisms done at other churches, and welcome all people to take communion and don't exclude people because they aren't church members or were not baptized presbyterian. They gave us a pamphlet about what it means to be a presbyterian and the last page says that the presbyterian church is people. That's what I like. It's all people, and it's a community. Somewhere to belong and feel welcome and to be there for other people and have them be there for you.

So, here I am. Belonging somewhere that I never thought I would belong. Understanding things I never understood and never thought I would. Thanks for 'listening'.

Part 3: Monday April 2

The last few days have been really full for me, but in my time in the car or lying in bed I've done a lot of thinking. I am really happy. It's weird I feel a lot more relaxed in the past two days, and weirdly I feel more confident too, or maybe just... Well, I always worry about things that aren't worth worrying about. For instance, since it was the first Sunday of the month, they had communion at church. Beforehand I was talking with Mom and Justin and they both thought that I wouldn't be able to take communion because I'm not baptized yet, but I thought that it would be okay, but wasn't sure. Now, in the past, I probably would have been convinced not too because of experiences at other churches, and just sat there quietly and waited until after I was baptized, just to be safe. But instead of doing that, I told Justin I would be right back and went and ASKED Mike, and found out that it was totally okay for me to do it. Instead of just being scared or unsure, I just took care of it. Or yesterday when Brooke and I got to book club and we had the address but hadn't been to Ceci's in a long time and it didn't look familiar. Instead of going through the hassle of looking it up on my phone's crappy internet browser or calling Justin or Dave to look up the address to make sure, I decided we should just get out and knock. If it wasn't the right house, it wasn't. It's not like anything bad was going to happen. I know those are little things, but to me they do make a difference.

Attending church on Sunday was great too. Since it was Palm Sunday the church was more crowded than usual. We also had communion, and I was able to take communion for the first time. It was also interesting how things sounded so different to me. Listening to the songs parts that I wasn' sure about before made a lot more sense to me, and I understood how the words fit in to my faith and my interpretation! I just really like it there, and I'm looking forward to getting more involved.

I've also felt pretty happy the last few days. I feel really close to Justin and have been just enjoying spending time with him, and I'm glad that happened just before Sam was going to be gone because I'm really enjoying hanging out with him. So, that's what's going on with me. I know this was really long, so if you got this far, thanks for reading!

Drooly Teeth Monster

That is what Sam has been the past few days. He is getting tooth number 7, on the top, and it is one of the worse ones. Some just don't seem to bother him as much, but this is definitely one of the tough ones so far. I can't wait for molars.... He has been drooling a ton and generally fussy. I'm sure this is also the cause of the bizarre schedule on Sunday night. Lucky for us, Tuesday night he went to bed at 10:15 and woke up once at like 1:00 or so for a bottle (we were still up), then slept until 10:15 the next morning! Hallelujah! Last night he did sort of the same, down around 10:30 and I got up with him at 10:30 this morning. He did wake up last night around 1:30 or so, then again around 5:30. When woke up at 5:30 Justin and I were so tired that we decided to just let him cry and see what happened. He cried for about 15 minutes then was back to sleep. Yay!

I am hoping this tooth will come through and start bothering him a little bit less before next week. We have a big couple of weeks ahead of us! Mom is coming down this weekend for some kind of conference in Tacoma, then she's going to come over here on Saturday night. Next week is her spring break, so she is going to take Sam back up to Bellingham with her for a couple of days so we can have a couple of days of freedom. Woo! I almost don't know what I'll do! We have really great family, it is so wonderful to have people who love him so much that they want him to come visit and love us so much they want to give us a little break! We'll see if they still want to do it later when there's more than one.

Speaking of which, we have officially started trying for baby #2. I had a doctor appointment last week to discuss a couple of things. We aren't sure exactly how it will go since we had so much trouble last time, hopefully it won't take 2 years this time around! We'll actually make the transition to fertility doctors much earlier this time if things aren't working on their own since we know sort of what the deal is.

Anyhow, since Sam will be in Bellingham next week, we'll probably come up there to get him and stay over for a couple of nights. I'd like to see Rob and Susan and Maggie again, visit with Leela, and maybe see Esme and Ty. Plus we definitely want to get out to visit Justin's Dad while we're up there, we don't really see him enough. Maybe while I am there I'll also get to meet Jeff, Leela's boyfriend, and Mom's new boyfriend! They both seem to be very nice from what I've heard and I'm looking forward to meeting both of them.

On Monday we went to Best Buy and used up the rest of our store credit. We got a big TV for the bedroom that you can actually see from the bed - okay, it's bigger than TOTALLY necessary, but whatever. We also bought a DVD player since our old tiny TV had a built in DVD player. We don't use it as much now that we have more than 2 rooms in our house, but it's nice for when people are staying on the sofa bed downstairs, or for sometimes when Justin is up working late and wants the noise, or for if we get sick. We also got an XBox 360! It is pretty cool. I have been getting more into video games since we started playing RibbitKing on the Gamecube and I've actually gotten pretty good at it. So, I am sort of obsessed with Viva Pinata. That was my choice of games - Justin got a couple of other ones including a racing game and a couple of other things. I have played this game for hours already. It's the kind of thing where I can literally sit down and play it for two or more hours at a time and have to force myself to stop. Plus it's really cute, and all the animals have funny names like Fudgehog (Hedgehog) and Sparrowmint and Raisant and Syrupent. We also played the demo of Lego Star Wars, which was pretty fun, so I might see if we can borrow that one from the Bergman's or something.

Well, that is about all that's going on here. I should really get to sleep so I'm not too sleepy tomorrow. I might go to the mall or toy store to shop for Lorelai's birthday, plus Brooke, Seamus, and Lorelai are coming over tomorrow while Justin and Dave go to the Tragically Hip concert. If it's nice out, we might walk down and feed the ducks and play on the playground for a while.

Oh, also, I have been totally dawdling on getting up pictures from when Susan, Rob, and Maggie visited, plus random pictures from after that. I will do it soon!

Sam and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night

In case you aren't aware, I'm not THAT cynical - my title for this blog is actually from a book title (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day). However, we DID have an interesting night which I would not classify as 'good'. Why? I don't know, but this was Sam's schedule for the last 24 hours:

Sunday 9:40 pm: Sam goes to bed at his normal time. Seemingly, all is well!

11:00 pm: Sam wakes up. We give him a bottle. He's been waking up at night sometimes, and he went back to sleep after drinking the bottle, like normal, although it was early for him to wake up.

12:30 am: I attempt to go to bed, and am just reaching full, satisfying, restful sleep state when...

1:30 am: Sam is up again, screaming and crying! I am roused and give him a bottle while Justin continues to work. Sam is sort of sleepy/drifting. Justin tries rocking him.

2:00 am: We decide to put Sam back into bed and try to let him cry to sleep, which usually would work.

2:30 am: Sam is still crying and screaming bloody murder, and it is obvious that he can keep it up. We get him out of his crib. He is awake. He is fine. We take him downstairs.

2:30 am - 5:20 am: Yes, that's right! We were AWAKE with Sam for three hours in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! What the heck?? He just crawled around the basement and played and seemed to be having a grand time. We feed him some oatmeal and another bottle.

5:20 am: We just can't take it anymore. We take Sam upstairs and put him back in his crib. He CRIES for 12 minutes, then finally goes to sleep. When I tell Justin he was only crying for 12 minutes, he doesn't really believe me. At one point, my tiredness and motherliness almost makes me cry listening to him wailing.

8:30 am: Wow, three WHOLE hours of sleep. Sam is up again. I give him a bottle. He sleeps in our bed next to me after he finishes.

9:15 am: Sam is up for the day at his normal time! Despite the fact that he slept for only half of his normal time, if that, he is up and ready to play! I climb out of bed like a zombie and feed him some breakfast and then we go to the basement and I watch a couple of TV shows while he plays, then put on Dora the Explorer, which he seems to like. When I got out of bed Justin wanted to sleep until 10, but I figure there is no point in both of us being up and dead tired, so I let him sleep.

12:30 pm: I finally give in and go wake up Justin because I want a nap. He takes Sam. I attempt to fall asleep.

1:45 pm: Sam finally goes down for a nap. At his normal nap time. No sign of him being more tired than usual. He sleeps for 1.5 hours. Just like normal!

3:15 pm: I am awakened by Justin and Sam. Unfortunately I had some kind of issue falling asleep and only slept for a bit over an hour. Grr...

4:10 pm: I decide if I take Sam in the car he will fall asleep. I think he needs sleep, and I want to get out of the house. I decide to just take a drive and hang out in the car driving and listening to the radio.

4:15 pm: Sam falls asleep in the car. He sleeps for an hour until we get to the store and spend an hour there. We drive home and continue our normal day.

9:30 pm: We start "Quiet Time" when we turn off the lights and start calming down for bed. Sam gets his oatmeal and gradually drinks a bottle. I decide to let Sam stay up for a while because I would rather he be really ready to go to bed so he sleeps tonight (fingers crossed).

10:15 pm: We put Sam down for bed. It's been an hour and fifteen minutes, and so far, so good. He only cried for about 2 minutes when he went down. I am going to bed now. Sweet, sweet bed....