Here are some pictures from the past month or so. Sorry it took so long to get them uploaded. Sam is working on his 2nd tooth this week. He is sooooo close to crawling! We have the video camera ready. Sam is getting ready for Christmas. We have visited Santa, hung our stockings, decorated the tree, looked at lights, went shopping....etc. Sam didn't really care too much about Santa...oh well. New this past-reaching for people to hold him....so cute! Sam's favorite Christmas song is Jingle Bells. I will try to get more pictures up soon.

Ho ho ho...Merry Christmas!

Our family.

Mommy and Daddy getting the tree up.

Looking at Christmas lights with Daddy.

Hey Santa!

Looking at my neighbor's decorations.

Yankee can't get enough of me!

Hey Santa Claus....I like you!

Bath time! :)

My tree looks great!

Look at me standing in my bed!

Drinking some juice all by myself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Eating a little Thanksgiving dinner.

Trying to crawl.

Yea, Aunt Jess is okay! :)

Almost 9 Months!

Sam will turn 9 months old on Sunday! Poor little guy had a doctor's appointment today because he woke up wheezing this morning. No worries...just a minor bronchial infection. The doctor had a ball playing with Sam. He said he was much too happy to be sick. :) Our Sam weighs 22 pounds. They didn't measure him....we'll do that when we get home. Yesterday I noticed Sam has a tooth coming in. We were so excited. I have been checking his gums for months looking for a pearly white. He finally has one on the way. :) We had a nice Thanksgiving break and we are looking forward to Christmas. We are very blessed that's for sure. Most of you know by now that I am teaching pre-K. I am enjoying it, but it is a lot of hard work. Sam loves going to Grandmother and Granddad's house each day. I have a lot of new pictures to post. I forgot my camera at home. Hopefully I will the new pics up soon. Oh, Sam is almost crawling. He can move backwards and will soon be able to move forward. Well, he can army crawl forward....just not on all fours yet. He gets on all fours and just rocks back and forth. Several times this past weekend we thought for sure he was about to take off. I'll definitely let you guys know when he does.

Super Funny!!!

Sam stays with my mom and dad when I have a sub job. A couple of weeks ago, Sam stayed with my dad while my mom went to the doctor. When my mom returned, Dad told her that everything was fine except he had the hardest time changing Sam's diaper. He wanted to know if those tabs went in the front or the back. Poor Granddad...he put Sam's diaper on backwards. How he did that, I'm not sure. These pictures are sure to put a smile on your face. I don't think my dad will have any more issues with diapers....give him a break, it's been a while since he's had diaper duty. :)

8 Months Old

Where is the time going?! Our little baby is already 8 months old and not so little anymore. He's looking more and more like a little boy these days. He weighs 21 pounds and is 28 inches long. His growth has slowed quite a bit over the past 2 months. He's still growing, but I think Sam has finally hit a plateau. :) We thought Sam was going to start crawling yesterday. He has been rolling and scooting all over the place. Over this past week he has started pushing his belly off the ground. I think we'll have a crawler pretty soon. I'm not sure if we're ready for that....ready or not, here he comes. Sam's hair has grown a lot over the past month. He's not quite ready for a hair cut, but it is a lot longer. Halloween was fun. We dressed up as the 3 Little Bears. We visited a few neighbors and then headed to Grandmother and Granddad's house to trick-or-treat. Sam looked so cute in his bear costume. He kept smiling at himself in the mirror. Sam still has no teeth. He has been drooling like crazy and rubbing his gums with his thumb. This past week he got his first fever and runny nose. We weren't sure if he was getting his first cold or if he's just about to get his first tooth. We'll see.

Sam making a silly face. :)

Hanging out with his buddy Holden (1 year old).

Happy Halloween Grandmother!

Helping Granddad hand out candy. Do you like my sock top hat? :)

The 3 Little Bears

Am I cute or what!

Still a little wobbly on the whole sitting up thing.

Grandmother, Granddad, and Sam Bear

Sam's 1st work of art.

Making pizza.

Helping Daddy spread the sauce on the crust. What a big helper!

New Things in October

Sam has experienced some new stuff this month:

• apple juice
• yogurt
• potatoes
• brown rice
• mashed banana
• freeze dried pears

Also new this month:

• "stinky face" (I haven't been able to capture this new face with a picture yet.)
• sucking thumb
• scooting more
• pushing knees under himself and bottom up in the air
• lots of new funny faces
• very interested in the dogs
• rolling more
• a lot more verbal....sounds

Some Pics from Last Week

I'm trying to make up for all those weeks I went without posting. Here are some cute pics from this past week. Enjoy! :)

Sleepy head!

Yuck! Yankee got a quick lick.

Oh How Far We've Come

I was looking back through some of my old emails. I came across this pic my friend took on her phone. Sam was almost 2 months old here. We had only had our little guy home for about a week at this point. I love being a Mommy!!! :) What was life like before March 6th, 2009?

7 Months Old.....Wow!

Playing with Daddy and Yankee.

Sitting in his new chair from Nana & Pop....playing the piano while Daddy watches the game.

This piano is my new favorite toy! (A hand-me-down from one of Mommy's teacher friends.)

Saying bye-bye to Mommy....she went to school to sub today.

Having a laugh with Daddy....Hahaha!
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I am SOOOOO sorry I have not posted lately. Things have been crazy busy this past month. I still do not have a job, but I have started to substitute at my old school. Last week I had a 2nd interview for a promising position. Should know something about that later this week. Have thought about keeping kids in my home. So far, I only have one person who has committed. I need 4 kids to make enough to pay the bills. We'll see what God has in store for us. :) He definitely has a plan for us and we are doing our best to remain patient and trust in Him.

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Our little Sam is not so little anymore. I meant to put him on the scale this morning and check his weight, but I forgot. The last time we weighed Sam, he was 20 pounds! That was about a week ago. He is at least 27 inches...maybe taller now. We haven't measured his height in about a month. I know, I know...we're starting to slack a bit. :) I am so glad we got the car seat that goes up to 30 lbs. Most infant seats only go up to 22 lbs. I swear we are not over feeding our little guy....we're doing exactly what the doctor advised. Sam drinks about 25 ounces of formula a day. He eats 2 TBP of cereal and 2.5 oz(the small jar) of fruit for breakfast and 4oz of veggies for dinner. We just started him on stage 2 foods this week. They do not seem to be any different than stage 1 as far as consistency goes. Sam is just as sweet as can be. We are looking forward to Halloween....already have his outfit. I took some pictures but you'll have to wait until Halloween to see him in his costume. :)

Uh-oh I'm Not Tired

Last night, I woke up around 1am and heard Sam making noise. I looked at the video monitor and saw that he had flipped over. I watched him for a while as he would slip back to sleep. He kept waking up though. He started gooing and gawing like he does in the morning when he is ready to wake up. It was so cute, but he kept getting louder and louder. I thought for sure he would settle down on his own and go back to sleep. He was so loud that I turned the monitor off and I could still hear him. So I decided to go get him before he woke Nick up. When he saw me, he gave me a great big grin. Silly boy! Well, I ended up having to feed him a 3oz bottle before he would even think about going back to sleep. He probably would have gulped down more, but I refused to give him any more. He did finally go back to sleep. I hope he is not going to make a habit of this. I've heard that once teething starts, that sleeping through the night is a thing of the past. Maybe Sam will be different. :)

Sam Is 6 Months Old!

Do you like my jacket? :)

Sam and his pals. :)

Happy Half Birthday Sam!

Holding his cup all by himself.

Sweet sleeping angel. Too big for the bassinet now.

Diaper change at Grandmother's house.....shoooo-weeee!

Watching the doggies eat their dinner.

Getting a bath from Nana and Pop.

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Sam is 6 months old! SO crazy that he is half a year old. It does not seem like that much time has gone by. It sure went by fast. We woke up on Sunday and sang "Happy 1/2 Birthday to Sam." Nick made a carrot cake to celebrate the occasion and we pulled some hand me down toys out as gifts. :) This past week, Sam has discovered how to work his jumper-roo. He went from just sitting in it looking at the toys to jumping like crazy. He loves it! Lately, Sam has been a little fussier than normal. We feel like we will see a little tooth any day now. His buddy Blain already has two teeth! Also new this week---Sam has been making loud noises and he looks shocked when he does it. It's like he can't believe all that noise came from him.