A Fun Day with Sammy

Pat has been working extremely long hours this week, so he's barely been able to see Samantha. She's been extra-fun these last couple of days, so I've shot some videos and pictures to share with him (and all of you!).

Her current favorite things to do are climb all over the furniture, hang out in the windows, and run laps around the ottoman while I chase her with a pull-along cowboy that she got for Christmas from Grandma and Pops.

Maybe her energy for all that climbing comes from all of the yummy foods she loves to eat! Dinner tonight was chicken and broccoli. She saw me eating my broccoli with a fork and decided that she needed to use one too. She didn't get too much of it to her mouth with the fork, but she's getting better at it.

After dinner it was time for a bath. Samantha is loving bath time now that she's out of her baby tub and gets the entire bath tub to play in. She runs laps back and forth, splashes, and flops onto her belly. It's all quite entertaining even if I usually need dry clothes after she's finished.

So opinionated!

I am amazed at how well Samantha is able to express her opinions to us already. She can't speak in sentences yet, but today she made it very clear that she wanted to wear her rain boots.




She also has definite opinions about when and what to eat, when it's time for bed, what toys to play with, and when it's time to play outside (this would be always if she had her way). I believe that this strong-willed trait will benefit her later in life, but it might keep our lives interesting while she's young.

New Words

Sammy seems to be adding new wordsto her vocabulary. Here are some of my favorites:

Bah = Ball

Bur= Bird

Noonoo = Noodle

Uh-oh = Her response to almost everything

Bellbahbah = Bellybutton

And my most favorite new word..................................Whoa!

15 Month Well Child Visit

We went to Samantha's 15 month well child visit today. Everything went well, even the 4 shots she had to get. :-( Poor baby. We had a few tears, but she was smiling again by the time we left. Sammy weighed in at 22 lbs and was 30 inches tall. I could tell that she had grown just by the way she can reach all those things she's not supposed to have that used to be out of reach. She has figured out how to climb onto the chair in the living room and then onto the end table so that she can repeatedly turn the lamp on the end table off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Off and on. Welcome to our world. :-)

Knitting Again

I hadn't picked up my knitting needles since shortly before Samantha was born. I saw some cute wine bottles on a Christmas cooking show, so I decided that our bar needed some accessorizing. I'll probably make a couple more. They're fun because I can get one finished during one of Sammy's naps.

Christmas in Jamaica

First of all, Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family! We were fortunate enough to be able to spend Christmas in Jamaica this year with my parents and brother, Richard. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and it was so nice to spend a few days enjoying the sunshine.

I wasn't sure how Samantha would handle the trip, but she was a champ. She did really well on all the flights and was a little charmer once we got to the resort. We took Sammy to the beach our first day there, and she loved it so much that she cried when we had to leave to get cleaned up for dinner. She was completely fearless, and would have run out into the ocean if we would have let her.

She also really enjoyed all of the yummy drinks. Here she is sharing Grandpa's virgin Pina Colada. I think they were her favorite, followed closely by these delicious fruit shakes that all the bars made.

On Christmas Day, Santa arrived by boat. He was ready for a vacation after a long night of delivering presents.

Sammy missed his arrival because she was racked out on a lounge chair on the beach. All of that playing is hard work!

Grossly Overdue

I am grossly overdue for posting to the blog...my appologies! Things have been a little crazy around here trying to get ahead of everything before our upcoming trip to Jamaica. This post will mostly be pictures that we've taken over the last few weeks.

First is Samantha modeling her adorable new rain boots. She has a little trouble walking on the carpet in them, but she's willing to suffer for fashion.


And here's Samantha showing some unit pride in her Daddy's 18th Engineer Co t-shirt. Pat took command of the 18th last week.


A couple days before Pat took command, we attended the 18th's Christmas party. Sammy was not particularily thrilled about seeing Santa. On the upside, I guess I should be relieved that she's not willing to sit on some strange man's lap.

The Christmas party was at the skating rink on post, and Sammy absolutely loved when Pat would take her for a couple of laps around the skating rink. I managed to snap this picture as they went flying by.

And finally, here's a picture of Sammy's favorite new game...piling toys on whoever is sitting on the couch. Your role in the game is to sit still and not move any of the toys. The game is over either when she takes all the toys off of you and piles them on the floor or when she gets distracted by something shiny and doesn't notice you getting up.