Max or Sam?

Is this Max?

Or is this Max?

Maybe this one is Max?

Or maybe this one is Sam?

What do you think?

6 months of Sam

Sam turned 6 months old on October 17th.  I can't believe how fast time is flying by.  He is growing by leaps and bounds...and hitting so many milestones...it makes me so proud, but also so sentimental...I've been through this before:  the excitement for them to grow up -- but at the same time wanting them to stay as babies forever....you can't have the best of both worlds, my friend....

It has been awhile since I shared one of my monthly letters on my blog.  The last one I shared was one Sam was one month old.  I figured, with six months being a pretty monumental age, I'd share this one with my Internet friends...

Dear Sam,

You amaze me daily with your quick smiles, belly laughs, giggles, groans and silly noises.  You are growing in leaps and bounds, and although it makes me proud as your mama to know that I have helped nurture and support this growth, it also makes me sad because I wish I could keep you as my little baby forever.  I know that isn't possible, and that you must grow up -- so I hope that I can teach you to be a kindhearted, honest and good natured little man...

Just over the past few weeks you have decided that sitting is pretty cool.  You aren't incredibly steady sitting upright, but you WANT to be sitting like nothing else.  So, we work on stabilizing you more and more every day, and you work up your time limit a few minutes more every day...

Your 'vocabulary' is getting more and more extensive and every day I am hearing new syllables and sounds and combinations come out of your mouth.  They start out very softly -- as you test the new sounds on your lips -- and then once you hear yourself make these new noises, they grow in an accelerated crescendo until we are forced to turn and look at you and smile along with the big goofy grin you've got pasted across your face.  You are also becoming a big fan of raspberries and making spitty noises with your lips.  It is humorous when you are doing it with just spit, but mommy is getting sick of getting covered in food when you decide to do it right after a spoonful of food enters your mouth....

Speaking of food, my little boy -- you are quite the fan!  I am amazed at not only the selection of foods that you have gobbled down without a second thought, but also the amount of food you insist on eating at every meal!  So far, you have eaten (and enjoyed):  bananas, avocado, applesauce, zucchini, green beans, oatmeal cereal, rice cereal, and sweet potatoes.  We tried finger foods with you tonight and you ate them like you had been doing it all your life -- amazing me with your motor skills at such a young age!  You are also quickly grasping the concept of your sippy cup -- tonight you drank 1 oz out of it during dinner time.  It's no wonder that your little thighs are full of baby chunk that I love to squeeze!!!

Your are constantly rolling yourself from your back onto your belly -- and then grumbling and tummy surfing until someone comes to rescue you.  We're not quite sure what happened here -- since you had been rolling from your belly to your back since you were very little -- but it appears that you have forgotten how to roll that way now.  Either that, or you are lazy and just want us to do it for you!  :)  Your stomach has also become your preferred way to sleep and you usually roll right onto your belly as soon as we lay you down.

Speaking of sleep, you are still, for the most part, a very good sleeper.  You are still waking up once during the night -- and although we are going to break you of this habit pretty soon, I have to remind myself that lil Max was doing something similar at this age -- and we consider(ed) him a phenomenal sleeper (still do, for the most part).  You consistently sleep 11-12 hours at night and then usually take 2-3 naps which total around 3-4 hours during the day.  Someday I'll figure out how to consistently get your afternoon nap to coincide with your older brother's so that I can enjoy some mom time in the afternoon, but for now I enjoy it as mom and Sam time...

Sam, I could go on and on about how perfect you are -- but why beat a dead horse?  You are perfect to us because you are ours -- and we love you -- probably more than you will ever know.  I love stealing middle of the night snuggles with you while we are both groggy and sweaty and covered in moonlight.  I love the way that you nestle up to me and how you still have that sweet baby smell in your hair.  I love that you are obsessed with eating your feet and hands -- that you are figuring out that your feet and hands can make noises, can throw things, can pound things to make noise, can splash in the bathtub...I love watching the joy on your face when you realize that it was something YOU did that made that toy light up or play a song.   I love how your smile lights up your face -- starting in your eyes before it makes it to your lips.  I love that you are starting to protest when I leave the room (although I probably won't love this next month...).  I love your chubby little thighs and I love your chubby little neck -- both are perfect spots to tickle you on and make you squeal. 

I love you Sam -- always and forever.

Love, Mom

Pumpkin Peach 2010

This morning, on a beautiful fall day, after our morning family run, we went to the Pumpkin Peach.  Pumpkin peach, you say?  Well, pumpkin PATCH, actually -- but lil Max gets confused and calls it the pumpkin PEACH.

For the past 3 years, we've gone to Basse's .  They have a great selection of pumpkins and apples, and TONS of fun rides, a corn maze, a petting zoo, and FOOD. 

We've never done the corn maze before, but this year we decided to give it a try.

Lil Max led the way...

We blindy followed...

We definitely got lost...

But eventually we found our way!

We got to see some animals at the petting zoo...

We did the ritual pumpkin measuring picture (I'll have to dig up the one from last year...)

Sam wanted in on the action too...

Then we set to work picking out our pumpkins...

Sam was very excited about all the pumpkins!

He thought they were awesome!

Max picked out his orange shirt that morning just so he could match the pumpkins!

When we got home, Max and daddy carved his pumpkin.  They are going to carve one every night this week (we have pumpkins from our garden too...)

Spooky!!



Photo Ketchup part duex



The Johnny Jump Up is back!  And Sam seems to have as much fun in it as Max did!

Lil Max continues to want to be a big helper.  This is his idea of 'equal spacing' on the cookie sheet.  I guess we need to work on our spatial exercizes some more...

Sam is driving full speed ahead on the solids bandwagon.  He's had rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, bananas, homemade applesauce, zucchini from the garden, and sweet potatoes so far.  Everything has been devoured with a voracious appetite.  He also prefers his food very thick -- if you thin it down too much he complains.  He also has a tendency to grumble for his next spoonful before you've even removed the spoon from his mouth from the previous spoonful.  I swear this kid eats more than lil Max sometimes!!

With the weather being so beautiful and colors peaking -- a combination which is almost unheard of during fall in WI, we HAD to get outside and get a 'hike' in.  I say hike lightly because there is no 'hiking' involved with a 3 year old....Sam enjoyed his first time in the backpack carrier....


He had a bird's eye view from big Max's back, and he loved zoning out on the trees and leaves overhead...


Little Max came ready with his Thomas bucket to collect 'treasures'. We came home with some giant sized leaves, about 10 pinecones and TONS of acorns.  All treasures to a 3 year old boy.


You just KNOW it's a good hike, when someone falls asleep.....LOL

The light of his life.....

wasn't me...at least not tonight.

Sorry folks, no photos or videos tonight. Just a little story that I wanted to go down in blog history.

I remember having many *moments* when nursing little Max right before bedtime.  The special moments we shared in the quiet darkness...tiny pauses from suckling to smile while milk dribbles down a cheek, blowing raspberries (and milk everywhere) instead of drinking....tiny little coos while nuzzling into my neck when being burped...so many *moments* that you just can't capture on any camera, but you want to brand in your memory forever....

Tonight, I had one of those moments with Sam.  Big brother Max was already in bed in the next room, and he had a fresh diaper (with LuSa booty balm slathered on...LOVE that stuff!) and new jammies on.  The white noise maker and humidifier were on...the drapes were drawn.....I settled us into the rocker, arranged the boppy pillow and made sure the burp rag was within reaching distance, and then Sam went to town like a voracious little suckerfish that hadn't eaten in weeks (I kid you not).  All of a sudden, he popped off and turned his head to stare up at the ceiling fan in the middle of the room.  The fan wasn't on, but the light was -- very dimly.  He then proceeded to talk to the light for the next 5 mins....

mmmm....booooooo.........

**smile**

hmmmmmm......heeeeeeeyyyyyyy.....

**smile**

mmmmmm.....baaaaaaaaa........

**smile**

bbbbbaaaaaaahhhh......mmmmhmmmmmdaaaaaaa

**smile**

all in this soft little whisper voice.....so sweet.....so angelic.......



but, for crying out LOUD, he was talking to a LIGHT.......



So, 5 minutes of this babbling goes by....I didn't know if I should try to distract him and get him to look at me, or -- if I had been in a rush -- to get him to turn back towards me to finish nursing so I could get to one of the gazillion chores I needed to finish before going to bed.....

Instead I just watched him babble away....he'd flash his sweet smile in between his babbles....he was really working on getting the 'b' sound out...sometimes just blowing air between his little lips while he sounded it out to himself....and then he'd smile again at the light and start babbling all over again...

It's so easy to rush on to the next chore, or to hurry through these everyday tasks to get to the finish line (aka bed)....but I'm a mom of 2 now...so I ALREADY know just how much I'd miss moments like this...because the kids won't be nursing forever....there will come a time when they won't want to sit in my lap (or sit STILL in my lap)....and they certainly won't be babbling at ceiling fans much longer....

So, instead, I sat there and watched him...and drank in the moment.  I watched his little lips and how he tasted the 'b' sound on them for the first time, and figured out how to purse his lips just right to get his breath to flow through them.....I watched the little smiles light up his face......I watched him tell that ceiling fan all these wonderful stories and wondered to myself what he thought was up there that he was talking to.....and I smelled the sweet baby smell wafting up from his freshly washed head....and I was thankful for the moments I DO get to have with my kids....all the wonderful, simple, and plain moments....the ones that LIFE is made up of....

It really was a sweet moment....

too bad the smiles and babbles weren't for me....

maybe another night I'll get to be the light of his life....for that mini-moment in time, at least....

Random Videos part 1

Enjoy these random videos of our daily life.  Yes, I realize my voice is annoying...and my house is dirty....

but at least my kids are cute!  :) 

Sam playing in his exersaucer:

Max tries to feed Sam:

See? Life's pretty ordinary around here...we like to have fun, give hugs and play around!


(I have two more to add, but Blogger is taking too long to upload them, so I will try again tonight.  In the meantime, enjoy!)

5 months (a little late)

A little late with this post, but I figured better late than never!

Sam turned 5 months on Sept 17th (I told you I was late).  BUT, these pictures WERE actually taken back then...I just haven't shared them yet.

Yes, he is wearing leggings.  You got a problem with that? (At least it's not a dress, right?).

But just look at that smile!  You might think that I had to jump up and down and make silly noises to make him smile so sweetly.  But, the truth is -- this is just how Mr. Sam generally is.  A happy, smiley, easy to please little guy.  Have I said thank you God, lately?  THANK YOU.

Sam loves to smile, and he will just stare and stare at you until you make eye contact with him...at which point he squeals loudly and tries to give you open mouth kisses.  It's super cute.  He's also getting longer!  Look at how long he looks in this photo!

And with a sweet face like that..how am I ever going to say 'no'?

Sam has also hit a lot of milestones this month:

1.  Rolling from back to belly -- previously, he would just twist his body so far that he was almost there, but then he'd get lazy and flip over...  We have a video of this, but I am too lazy right now to download and edit it... sorry!

2.   Sitting -- we are very close to independent sitting -- right now he can sit unassisted for 10-15 seconds before toppling over or tri-poding.

3.  solid foods.  We tried solids with Max around 5 months, but he was just not interested.  Sam, on the other hand, has been obsessed with watching us eat -- down to imitating the way we chew our food.  We decided we'd give the old rice cereal a try, and if it didn't work we would revist it in a few more weeks.  To our surprise he POUNDED DOWN 3 TBS of food in his first feeding!  Since then he has tried apples and bananas. 

4.  As far as the other six month 'milestones' (according to the book), Sam is right on track in terms of vocalization, bearing weight on legs and standing (assisted), interested and particular about the toys he likes, and just overall (in my eyes) PERFECT.