Thanksgiving

Well, this year we got to spend Thanksgiving with the Davenports in Utah and it was great. Sam had such a good time there and loved seeing that part of the family. We got there Thursday afternoon and had Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Dad Davenports and then Sam opened his first Christmas Present (because he wont see his grandma and grandpa at Christmas)! It was actually his first present ever. He didn't quite know what to do with it so I had to open it for him. It was a hooded blanket his grandma Karen made him. He loved looking at the bear face on it.

The next day Dave got up at 3:30am to do the black friday shopping. I would have gone with him if I didn't have Sam. We got lots of fun things! Then the next day we got to go to aunt Gloria's and have our SECOND thanksgiving dinner! Sam LOVED her 3 little dogs and laughed harder and longer at them than I have EVER heard him laugh in my life. It was the cutest funniest thing. Even when they weren't in the room and I was trying to feed him, every time he heard them he would stop eating and laugh.


Another exciting thing happened that last night we were there (or we thought it would be exciting anyway). Sam's aunt Brooke starting having contractions regularly and close together. But when they went to the hospital the doctor stopped it because they didn't want her going this early. We were all a little bummed because we were hoping to be able to see the baby before we left on Sunday. But everything happens for a reason, right?

Sam started crawling normally the day we left too. He still army crawls sometimes because it is easier for him, but at least he knows how! He also learned how to sit up from the laying down or crawling position, which means it is way harder to get him to actually sleep because when I put him in his bed he either sits right up or tries to climb out.

Well, our Thanksgiving was great and we had a good time spending it with the family. Next is Christmas!!

Sam the Man

Even though this blog is for the purpose of updating everyone on the current news of our little family, it seems as though it has become a blog just about our little Sam. Well, the reason for that is, he is the most exciting thing going on in our lives. Believe me, if there were more exciting news about Dave and I, I would talk about it. So, once again, I am writing about our little baby boy. I know that it can be annoying to read so much about other people’s kids sometimes, but as a mother I have to brag, and so to all of you who are interested, I have decided to write about all of Sam’s latest developments...so read on. To others, I will warn you this may be too long and boring for you. :)

Sam does new things every day and not only does he make his mom and dad so proud, but he is always making us laugh. My heart melts when I look at this wonderful little angel. He is all I need to cure a sour, sad, or bad mood. I never could imagine so much JOY coming from having a little person around.

Sam is better from being sick, but he still has such a stuffy nose to the point where he doesn't eat his bottles sometimes because he can't breathe. It is very frustrating to him because he can't breathe when he sleeps, etc. It's getting old, so if anyone has any suggestions for me on how to help clear a baby's stuffy nose, other than the booger-sucker thing and saline, it'd be greatly appreciated. Too bad they can't just blow their noses, right?

Sam's personality is really starting to show through more and more. He is doing more cute little things and adapting cute mannerisms that we just love (like “head banging,” just to name one). It is so fun to watch your baby grow up. One thing we discovered he LOVES and will always calm him down is a good back scratch. It is the cutest thing! His eyes will almost roll into the back of his head and he just calmly sits there and takes in every second. He is just like his daddy in that way. Well, actually, he is like his daddy in a lot of ways (for one, he sneezes every single time he steps foot outside).

He is also to the point now where he will let mommy read him a story. Though he still has a very short attention span for it, during the few minutes he does love it, he will intently listen and watch as I read him books like "Book of Mormon Numbers" or "Doggies: A counting and Barking Book." He loves when we make animal sounds, especially a barking dog. His favorite animal is a fishy though. It gets him smiling and giggling every time he sees one. One of his favorite things to do is to watch our pet fishies swim around. For some reason, it is the funniest thing to him.

Another hilarious thing to him is his daddy. Dave always is playing with him and "scaring" him. Sam loves to get "scared" or surprised. Pop out from behind a couch and you are guaranteed a laugh. Sam loves his dad. Not only is "da da" the only word he can say so far, but when you say "dada" he smiles and looks to the front door to see if he is home. He also loves to look at our family picture and when I name each person (mama, dada, Sam) he "points" to each one and giggles…well, he can't exactly point yet, but he puts his hand on each one as I say the name.

And as a recent development, he loves to play peek-a-boo too. If you have something over your eyes (a blanket or your hands, etc.) and say "where's Sam?" he will grab whatever it is off your eyes and when you say "peek-a-boo" he thinks it's the greatest thing ever! He also loves it when you cover his face and he can uncover his own eyes.

Sam is definitely a boy. He loves any and all kinds of balls. His favorite is the nerf football daddy got him. He will chase is around all over the house and when he finally gets it (before he knocks it away again) he pulls it into himself and hugs and bites it while having a huge smile (same thing he does with his stuffed bears). Last night he chased his little wiffle ball all around the house for like 20 minutes. It was so entertaining to watch. As soon as he would get to it, he would reach out for it, knock it, it would roll somewhere else, then he'd crawl after it and do the same thing over and over again. And it is so cute because he can't crawl normally yet; he can just "army" crawl...but he does it fast.

He did the cutest, funniest thing the other day. He loves his TV shows (“Higley Town Heroes,” “My Friends Tigger and Pooh,” “Mickey Mouse Club House,” all the “Baby Einsteins,” etc.) and he always recognizes when they are on by the theme music. He was on the kitchen floor a couple days ago facing the opposite direction of the TV (the TV on in the background) and I was by the bedrooms trying to get him to crawl to me and as he was on his way over to me, “Higley Town Heroes” came on in the background and as soon as he heard the music he stopped, got wide eyes, and immediately turned around and went the other direction and scooted as fast as he could until he got to the corner where he could see the TV and just laid there with a smile on his face and watched his show. It’s so cute….but it might not be such a good thing he is so into TV already. That’s another way he is like his daddy. I guess it’s like his mommy too. 

So far, "dada" is the only word we can clearly understand that he says, though he babbles a LOT of baby talk, like "yaya," "nana," and many things I don’t know how to spell. He is starting to say "nana" sounds and so I can't tell yet if he is trying to say mama or not. Sometimes it sounds like he says "no" too, but who knows if he is actually saying it or just making sounds. The other day I swear he said "dog" too, but I can't get him to do it again. He put his hand on his "101 Dalmatians" book and kept saying it over and over again. Who knows...

Well, until next time…

Latest 411...

Sam has been sick for the past few days with a cold, and unfortunately has given it to me. So we are both sick and feeling a little sleep deprived...and to add to it, he got his immunizations again today, which means he will not be feeling good for the next few days or so. It was so sad at the doctor today...not only did he not feel good and was extremely tired but I think he remembered how it was last time and so he was bawling the whole time. I had to hold him and comfort him the whole time. As soon as I would put him down he would start crying so hard. It was the saddest thing to see my naked little baby bawling on the table like that...and yet it was so cute. :) I had to look away when they gave him the shots because he was crying so hard and it was hard for me to watch. But as soon as I picked him up and comforted him he was okay. There were lots of tears and snot on that exam table by the end... :) So that is the latest with us...just dealing with sickness and discomfort in our little family. Hopefully Dave doesn't get sick...

Hopefully Sam will be back to his old self by Thanksgiving. We are planning on going to Utah to spend it with Sam's grandpa Davenport and their family. It will be good to see them and good for Sam to see them because they haven't been able to see him since his blessing almost 7 months ago!

Other than these exciting (sense the sarcasm) updates nothing is new. I'm still doing my normal daily routine of feeding Sam, reading with him, playing with him, teaching him, making dinner, watching TV, reading, and doing all the other ordinary stay-at-home-mommy things. Dave is still plugging along at school and work and just trying to get through each day. We are trying to stay positive in this stressful time, but at times it is hard. Unfortunately we have no news on a job yet. We are still waiting, praying, and applying. But like we have said in the past, even with all the worry and stress, we still have faith that something will work out...whatever it is, it will be the Lord's will.

Who does he look like??

Trick-or-Treat....or not?

Let me tell you all about our glorious Halloween... I will just start by saying I had expected it to go a lot different and better than it actually did. Our plan was to go over to our good friends', the Holidays, house and help them hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters (which were few and far between), hang out, take Sam around to a few houses trick-or-treating, etc. Sam had 2 different costumes so we started off the night in his pumpkin costume, which he didn't mind...until we got to Steve and Jillian's...

For some unknown reason he was extra cranky and was just whining the whole time. He loves being outside, so at about 7:30 I thought I would try putting on his warm duck costume and take him outside trick-or-treating and that he would enjoy being outside. But Sam apparently HATES his duck costume and it is a little snug on him, so as I was attempting to stuff his legs and arms in the costume he was crying so hard and eventually his lips were turning blue from crying so hard. I just wanted him to be a duck!!!!! So at that point I removed it and tried to comfort him for a while but he just cried for about the next 10 minutes. He was mad at me.... So we decided to hang out and mingle a little longer. About 15 minutes later he was calmed down and happy and playing with his toys so Jillian tried distracting him while we attempted to again put his feet in the costume....before we even had both his feet in he was bawling again.

At this point I was just frustrated because I wanted to take him so badly. So I thought maybe he was tired, tried putting him down, then when he wouldn't go to sleep, tried feeding him, he wouldn't eat. At that point I gave up and just let him play on the floor then he was FINALLY happy.

It was now late and I realized the whole duck/trick-or-treating thing was not going to happen. I was frustrated but at that point, especially after talking to other moms with young kids/babies that there, I came to the realization and acceptance that he is just still a baby, every baby hates their first Halloween costume, he didn't know what was going on anyway (he just thought I was torturing him), and that there is always next year - when he will know more of what is actually going on and be able to have fun! So I am okay with it.

Eventually all the other friends left, we fed Sam and he went right to bed, and we were able to enjoy the remainder of our night with the Holidays. Overall it was a fun night and good to get out of the house and be with friends. If you want to see more pictures you can go to our Photo Album (first link under our favorite links on the left side) and click on the "Halloween 2007" sub-album.