Fun with foodstuffs!

We've experimented with a bit if rice cereal maybe twice, but after Friday's check-up, it's full steam ahead for introducing foods! Here Samantha takes what is her first official "serving" of big girl food. 
I am happy to report that subsequent feedings were met with great enthusiasm and the actual swallowing of cereal!

Visit with Cathy

Last weekend Cathy drove out to visit and we had a great time hanging out. A children's librarian, Cathy certainly brought some reading magic with her as Samantha has suddenly gone crazy for books! 

School photos

A few weeks ago, the photographers descended upon daycare to take photos of the little ones. I nearly died when I got the proofs from Samantha's first "school picture" day. While she may not be exactly smiling in any of these, the expressive eyebrows are enough to do me in! Here are a few of what we got:



This last one with the flower bouquet prop cracks me up. Like, "Here, let's toss some flowers on her lap!" Of course I'll be placing an order -- how can I not?!!

Hold your horses!!

Today Samantha and I met up with Marie (the woman who has been leasing Oliver for the past year) for a walk in the woods. After the ride, I gave Samantha a little taste of bareback riding while Ollie was on the cross ties. I think she's a natural! (fyi, while it may look like you can see his ribs in this photo, it's just the imprint of the saddle pad after riding. trust me -- the boy is plenty plump!)
When we got home, I figured it was time to practice on our ponies. Giddyup!

Up-n-over, one day shy of 18 weeks

While Samantha has rolled over a few times here and there, today was the first time she really hit it... again and again and again! I especially like the pre-roll "thump" she gives with her legs. (BTW, this video is a little dark since we were *trying* to take a nap...!) 

 

Bathing beauty!

While I'm still on the hunt for the perfect baby bikini, today's photoshoot features her first cute one-piece. Can't wait to hit the beach!

Coo coo crazy!

BFF

Tankee LOVES Samantha and she's really starting to interact with him, laughing and smiling at his big giant head. Today they spent some time hanging out in the yard enjoying the sunshine.

Let me tell you a story....

Oh the stories, they keep on coming!

A perfect moment....

Hardy har har!!!

For a good laugh, click below!

Love them crazy chickens

Since I couldn't get the video of Saucy Girl to upload directly to the blog, so here it is via YouTube. She LOVES the chickens. Very focused on the chickens!

Samantha had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb...!

It's a good thing the dogs didn't scare the Easter Bunny away today since it was Samantha's first! She LOVED the crinkly plastic wrapping around the basket and seemed to enjoy her little lamb as well as the bunny from Nana. Of course no photo opportunity would be complete without Tankee barging into the scene. After all, like the lamb, his fleece is white as snow!

Saucy!

Samantha has really taken to her exersaucer that Auntie Laura and Grandpa gave her -- she LOVES the chickens! It's so nice to have another activity for her to do -- the mat with the dangly stuff is fun and all, but a big girl's gotta get vertical these days!

I tried uploading a video of her bouncing and saucering but blogger.com is having none of it. hrmpf

The blog is back!

After spending a year in hibernation, the blog is back! Of course, our life has been anything but a dormant state since the last post! In fact, it was just this time last year (April 16, if my memory serves correctly) that we found out we were pregnant, and now here we are with our beautiful Samantha! She hit the 16 week mark this past Friday and if I don't get my act together documenting what's doing, I'm going to regret it. So thank you, Shauna, Charline and Shelby, for getting me back on the blog. I can only imagine how different things will be a year from now!

(*this photo isn't officially a 4-month photo -- I think it was a 3-monther...)