Dear Santa...

Sam's been good! He was especially good when he sat on Santa's lap, except for pulling on his beard (which was real!).

 Giving it a little tug to make sure it's real

 

And he's done!

 

Fun times post-Santa picture!

6 months!

Can you believe the difference that six months make? How amazing!

 

 

Can you believe that this handsome fella is six months old? He is growing up so fast! We took a lot of six month pictures, but had a little trouble with the lighting and all of Sam's movement. We finally put it on  the "sports" setting to capture him! I think we will probably need to leave it on this setting until he is 20. Molly does not help. He loves her and lights up when any of the dogs (including Mattie) come in the room. 

 

At his six-month check up, Sam weighed in at 18 lbs and 6 ounces and 27 inches. He is in the 75th percentile in everything (except for head size). I think his head was 47 cm (that would be in the 100th percentile), but I can't find the sheet. (Sam might have eaten it.) He loves food (obviously), but I think his favorite is baby yogurt. He is also extremely interested in everything we eat and gets upset if we eat without him (not too upset, but you can tell he wants us to give him a bite). Sam doesn't have any teeth yet, but the doctor thinks those are coming pretty soon.

 

He loves the dogs, especially Molly because she is brave enough to hang out with him, and loves to sit on the mat on the floor and play for hours. His favorite toys are the Dr. Seuss goldfish bowl that he loves to slam around, a football that he actually throws really well, and an activity center that has a telephone and laptop. He really loves the phone because he can pick it up and throw it. If I put blocks in front of him stacked neatly, he crashes them. Sam would also really like to get his paws on some paper. At the doctor's office, the paper was torn to shreds by the time we left. He also loves his jumpy seat...he actually kind of scares me at times because he jumps so hard in it. He really likes to throw himself around. He likes to get on his belly and move all over the mat in circles and he can crawl backwards a little. No forward movement yet, but maybe we should begin baby proofing? He has also started this funny little head shaking thing like he's saying no....he does it and then gets a goofy look on his face like he's enjoying the head rush. He started doing it around Thanksgiving and we laughed at him so he continues to do it and then look at us for his attention. He's kind of a show-off!

 

 

Loving Molly!

More Thanksgiving pictures..hanging out with the cousins like he is just as old as them!

I have no idea how I did this on my phone so I thought I would post it. Please don't be alarmed...he is not drowning himself. He really likes his feet.

Sam loves St. Jude!

Sam and Audrey

The three cousins

 

 

More pictures next week! This week has been one of sickness as Sam had a little bug after his doctor's visit. Mimi and Papa Don came and helped us out on Thursday and Friday so I could go to work for some meetings. I also had the bug and didn't think I would be able to run in the half marathon on Saturday, but I did anyway. I set a new personal record with a 2:08:53 finish! (I might have to thank Sudafed for that one.)

 

We are so blessed to have this little guy in our lives and can't wait to see how much he grows in the next six months. I wish he would slow down a little bit!

Thankful

It is really easy for me to get wrapped up in getting to all of our Thanksgiving celebrations and to forget that I have so much to be thankful for each day. I am so grateful for a forgiving and loving God, a healthy and happy son, a kind and patient husband, supportive family, and a job that I love. I am so thankful that we got to celebrate Thanksgiving three times this year with at my Dad's uncle's house, my grandmother's lunch, and dinner at Kyle's mom and stepdad's home (unfortunately Bob and Brenda are in Ocracoke for the holidays so we won't catch up with them until February). We are always a few pounds heavier and little tired at the end of the day, but it is nice to see everyone.

Sam had a big Thanksgiving holiday! We started the day at my Uncle Howard's house and moved on to Mother's house for a big lunch. Sam took a two hour nap at my grandmother's and when he woke up it was time for an early dinner at Mimi's. Sam had a great time playing with Miles and Audrey! He loves his cousins. Audrey was such a little mom and at times Miles thought that Sam was a little older than six months, but he hung out with him like there was nothing to it! 

Sam seems like he is more fun each day! He went to the doctor for an ear check up the day before Thanksgiving and he weighed 18 lbs 6 ounces! He has started eating baby yogurt (which he loves), crackers, and he still eats baby food and cereal. The doctor said he can start eating pizza crust as well. He still doesn't have any teeth, but he loves to chew on his finger. He is also still drooling like a champ! His favorite toy these days is either his football or this toy that has a telephone and laptop on it. He is slightly OCD and has to have the telephone off of the hook and the laptop down at all times. He cannot handle seeing these two "out of place". (I can't imagine where he gets this from?) He makes these loud squealing noises that he learned from Roxanne, his friend at school. Sometimes, he yells out "hi" in the morning when I come into his room. He still wakes up with a smile on his face!

This weekend we had something to be very thankful for...Sam started sleeping until 7:30! He's still taking one long nap (about 2-3 hours) and a few power naps during the day. We have successfully moved him from the swing, to our bed (where we were laying with him), to his bed for naps! It was a gradual process, but I'm glad he's finally sleeping in his crib during nap time because the dogs make it hard to get an undisturbed nap in during the day.

After his five-day weekend, Sam was reluctant to go back to school today. We had to wake him up since he's been sleeping so late, which startled him. When the teacher took him from me, he started to get upset and put his arms up for me to take him back. It broke my heart. Now we just need to win the lottery so we can stay home with him all of the time!

Wanting to crawl...so close!

Sam with my dad at Thanksgiving

Sam visiting with Uncle Howard

Sam with Aunt Audrey

Sam with his favorite cousins!

Sam and GG

Sam and little momma Audrey

No one is really cooperating for this picture!

Having fun on his mat!

Loving on Molly

More Molly love (she is his favorite because she will just sit there while he pulls on her)

We are so excited to celebrate Sam's first Christmas with our family and for some much needed time off at the end of December.

St. Jude Heroes

I am raising money for the kids of St. Jude and will be running the St. Jude Half-Marathon on December 1st. This is my fourth time to run, but the first time I've tried to help raise money. (Asking people for money is definitely not easy for me-good thing I just do the accounting at ALSAC.)

Please consider making a donation to St. Jude via my St. Jude Heroes page. St. Jude is an amazing place and one of the best parts of living in Memphis! I'm so thankful to work at this organization!

http://fundraising.stjude.org/site/TR/Heroes/Heroes?px=2009829&pg=personal&fr_id=3631

Sam and Kyle will be at the race cheering me on!

Thank you!

Two week catch-up!

Play time at the Cameron Brown

 

The last two weeks have been really busy for everyone! Sam is still growing like crazy and it seems like he does something new each day. He has been eating food twice a day, once at school for lunch and once at night for dinner with us. He really likes food and bangs the tray when he is waiting for his next bite. He has started sitting up on his knees and bouncing around a lot-this has caused a few face plants into his mat. Luckily, we bought a cushioned mat for our sunroom so he has a soft place to land. He has a football and a round ball (baby Einstein) that he loves! He throws them and we run and pick them up over and over (and over) again. He loves his bouncy seat and all of the toys on it-even things that aren't toys like the tag. He can spend an hour in the seat entertaining himself easily. He goes from toy to toy and spins himself around. Sometimes he plays with two of the toys at the same time. I hope this toy isn't making him ADD!

Halloween (costume #2-Pumpkin. He was a tiger at school, but that outfit was messed up during one of his daily diaper blow outs)

Waiting for trick-or-treaters

Action shot!

Molly love

Our little turkey!

He loves Sofie (and so do I because it entertains him in the car)

 

Last night we made a trip to the urgent care LeBonheur hospital near our house because Sam had an almost 103 degree temperature and baby Tylenol was not helping. He still turned it on for the nurses who all thought he was the cutest! This guy cannot help flirting with everyone he sees, despite being sick! The diagnosis was another ear infection and so we are starting antibiotic round #3. This time, Augmentin is the drug of choice. Hopefully this will help keep it away this time. We had a rough night because he woke up with the fever in the middle of the night, but he slept until about 7:30 this morning. Now he is back asleep again, but you can tell he just wants to be himself! He woke up smiling and babbling.

Starting to feel bad, but still playing. It's so hard to know when this little guy is sick. We just thought he was especially sleepy until he started whining a little.

Taking a break

Stroller riding in the park!

Too cool for school!

A visit with Mimi and PopPop on Halloween (in costume #1)

Visiting Kaitlyn on Halloween

Hanging out with baby Aiden-their first Halloween together. Hopefully next year will be more fun for Aiden!

He is gearing up to crawl

5 months

 

Sam is five months old today! We celebrated by having friends over last night who have a baby that is four days older than Sam. I burnt some lasagna for us and we had cupcakes while watching the Auburn game (? I'm being nice calling it a game). Sam is very active these days. One of his favorite things is a toy that plays music and lights up. Since he can sit up really well now, he loves playing with it, but he thinks that he needs to stretch across it to get to the opposite side. Sam also loves to throw his football or any toy in his hands so that I can run and get it. I have been running around the room picking stuff up non-stop since he decided that this was fun. I am pretty exhausted now!

 

Sam and Hannah had fun playing (I think). Of the million toys on the ground, they both preferred a $2 plastic football. Sam was a little perturbed that someone else was playing with his toys, but I think he had fun watching Hannah roll all around him. We tried to get a picture in of both of them in their Halloween costumes, but Hannah was not digging hers. Here's the best picture I got!

 

What a wonderful five months it has been having Same in our lives. I cannot believe how much he has changed since we brought him home. It is truly amazing to watch him grow!

Playing with Hannah (notice the football in the background)

Playing with Mother

He loves his bouncy seat!

 

There were so many cute five month pictures that it was hard to choose one! He just woke up from a nap when we snapped these.

 

Relaxing after the morning photo shoot for his Christmas picture. Hopefully he will still be able to wear this cute outfit during December!

 

Relaxing in his blooming bath