Back after a break!

OK -- so it's been TWO months since I last updated and wowee what changes! Samantha now:

* has 2 bottom teeth

* crawls all over the place

* pulls herself up on everything she can reach

* cruises along

* climbs stairs

* loves her puffs

* loves cupcakes more!

* sleeps through the night

* makes us smile every day!

Naps aren't really much of the above highlights (hence the lack of time for doing things like blog updates!) but if that's the trade-off, I'm good with it!

Very Busy Lady!

We're crawling. We're painting. We're playing with our big plastic house!

Cruising on the Party Barge!

This weekend we headed up to Papa Joe's to take a ride on the boat -- we'd bought this snazzy life jacket ages ago, but thanks to the crummy summer weather, we haven't had much of a chance to use it! When we did finally get her in it and on the boat, she fell asleep about 5 minutes into the ride!

Love this girl!

Enough said!

First Swim!

Celebrating the 4th of July, we went over to Tarah's parents' place in Acton after a fun time at the Sussmans. The pool was heated to a glorious temperature and we took advantage of it -- Samantha's first time in water besides the tub! She had a great time kicking and splashing... :)

My First Balloon!

Today we visited Nana at Ashburnham's "Downtown Days." Samantha had her first experience with a balloon and had a good time trying to hold it!
Click here for a short video...!

The Clean Green Machine

All of a sudden, Samantha has become a huge fan of the tub! She's always been perfectly happy in there -- never cried once -- but now she likes to play with her toys in the water and splash around!

Getting close!

Samantha is getting the crawling motions down -- butt in the air and lots of rocking back and forth. Of course, who wouldn't want to move forward when the prize is Tankee!

Fun with Tankee

Faster than a Speeding Bullet!

First Date

Last week we headed over to Brooke's -- the kids had a chance to hang & play while the moms got caught up on our crap TV! Jack is just one month older than Samantha and all smiles!

We want food! We want food!

Samantha LOVES her baby food and loves to bang stuff on her tray! Here she sampled carrots (I think that's what it was based on the color of her mouth and bib!) and let me know she wanted more more more!

Hooray for Groton!

After lots of hard work getting our Westford house ready to sell, a bazillion showings, and four buyers, we're so happy to be in our new home. The dogs have settled right in, and Samantha has a proper room that's turned out pretty cute. The enormous jetted bathtub is a true highlight, as is the black and white checkerboard floor in the kitchen that I've dreamed about for years! Here's to many happy memories!

I'm forever blowing bubbles

This video was actually taken about 2 weeks ago, but I never got around to posting it...!

Firsts!

It's been a crazy few weeks, but we're finally in the new house and amazingly almost totally unpacked. OK, maybe not *totally* but pretty close! While computer time is at a premium these days, I did want to get these "firsts" up on the blog because today was a day of not one but two new things -- oatmeal and the jumparoo!We've been feeding Samantha the rice cereal for several weeks now, and it's time to start adding some new foodstuffs to the mix. I think she really liked the oatmeal -- she gobbled it right up. The funny part about her and food is that she doesn't realize that it's not a "continual stream" like you'd have with the bottle. She gets very mad if the spoon does not reappear, like instantly!

The second "first" was the Jumparoo that Steve & Co. gave her for Christmas. We set it up in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room and she was happy bouncing and twirling around. (It's also quite nice for us to have another activity option!)

First Mother's Day!

Not much time to update the blog due to the big move happening this week, but I had to share the super cute magnet Samantha made for me at daycare on Thursday! I know she worked very hard on it and it's the best gift ever! After letting me sleep in a bit today, Gary and I did a ton more packing and cleaning and then took the entire clan for a walk at the EBC. Poor Ronnie petered out about 1/2 way into the walk, so it turned into a rather long 1 MPH stroll, but it was a gorgeous day nonetheless!

Baby Beethoven

Last week at daycare, one of the ladies set Samantha up with a mini piano and she really seemed to like it, so we picked one up this week and she's been doing lots of composing!

Horse show!

While Samantha has been to the barn and around horses plenty, this was her first time at a show. We got to see lots of friends from VS (RIP!!) and had a great time watching the kids (and Frank in the instructors' class.)
Here's Frank warming up Fred, the horse with the crazy eye. And here he made fun of Oliver's looks!
Kayla checks out the course with Willow.

Brittany on her enormous mount -- correct "deeeeeagonals" and all!
Of course nothing could be cuter than little Jacob (even if he didn't want to finish his class!)

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?!!