Happy Birthday Sam-a Lam-a!

Samuel has continued to change and grow this month. We don't have our well check appointment until the 19th, so I won't have weight/height measurements till then. But here are some of my observations from this month...

- He can now climb down the stairs backwards.

- He understands the comands we give him a little better. The primary ones he obeys (sometimes) are "no touch," "close the door," and "turn around" (before going down the stairs).

- He tries to do the hand motions to "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with us. Usually he just lifts his hands in the air (up the water spout), but a couple of times he's "washed the spider out."

- Still cruising around, but really close to taking his first unassisted steps. He's just not interested in walking because he can get around so quickly crawling. I'd just like him to get off of the dirty floor, but am trying to wait patiently 'till he's ready.

- He said "mama!" I'm still waiting to see if he really meant it, but he finally made the "m" sound. He's been saying "dadadada" (indiscriminately) for months. I don't think he connects either of these words/sounds to us, but he's half way there by making the sounds, right?!

- He loves to play with balls now. He rolls/throws them back and forth to daddy and Clara (she always gets in the way) or just chases them around the room.

- He might work for a moving company someday because his favorite activity is taking things in and out of containers. All I need is a few rocks and a bucket and this kid is entertained for at least 10 minutes (that's a long time for this age :))!

- He loves to dance! As soon as he hears music, any music, he starts groovin'. A friends phone rang the other day (with a song ringtone) and he started dancing. Also, walking through a store he'll start dancing to the music playing on the loud speakers.

I think that's about it for now. We are celebrating his birthday for several days. Today we are getting 1 year old pictures taken and eating Macaroni and Cheese for dinner. Then, on Saturday, we are having a birthday party with Samuel's friends (kids and adults) and some family. And, we already had a party in Rosemary Beach with the Pfister family. This boy sure is loved :). More pics to come soon!

A year in pictures

Tomorrow is the big one year old birthday! The year has flown by in many ways and yet it seems like Samuel has always been a part of our family. Here are the monthly pictures in the chair with Hump the camel for the whole last year. Wow, he sure has changed a lot!! I love this kid and I love being his mom!!

More reflections coming soon...

Helping around the house

Samuel loves to look in the washing machine, open and close the door, and watch the clothes spin round and round. Who needs toys?!

Rosemary Beach - Post #5 - Samuel's first first birthday celebration

We celebrated his birthday while we were with family at the beach. He had his first piece of cake and really wasn't too impressed. I think he was too full of macaroni and cheese to enjoy his cake. But, he did smear a little icing and put a couple bites in his mouth. We'll try again on his second first birthday party.

Sorry for the pics being out of order, it's a pain to switch them around.

This balloon was a big hit and provided entertainment for the rest of the week.

Rosemary Beach - Post #4 - Family Pics

Rosemary Beach - Post #3 - Pool/Fountain

Samuel may have not liked the beach that much, but he LOVED the pool and the fountain!
He actually screamed when we took him away from the fountain the first time.

Rosemary Beach - Post #2 - The beach

The beach was not a big hit at first. I thought he'd love it... A giant sandbox?! Tons of sand to eat?! What's not to love. But, he was pretty miserable the first few times we brought him to the beach. He was okay as long as mommy was holding him, but did not want to play in the sand or touch the water. He did warm up to it a little by the end of the week.

This was his first reaction to the water...


Then, he was okay sitting on our laps in the water... till a big wave came.

By the end of the week, he even walked around in it... as long as mommy and daddy weren't far away.
He enjoyed playing under the umbrella in the sand. It looks like he's been eating sand, but it was just a blueberry muffin. He actually did really well with not eating the sand. He's come so far :).

Rosemary Beach - Post #1 - Getting there

We went to Florida last week for a family beach vacation with my parents and sisters. It was such a fun trip. I had 494 pictures that I took while there, don't worry I won't post them all :). I narrowed it down to 154 on my picassa site, 65 on my facebook page and

will try to narrow it down even more on here.

We flew down to Panama City last Sunday and then drove the 45 minutes to Rosemary Beach in our rented Lincoln Town Car (aka Mafia car). Samuel did fairly well on our flights... I would have to say it was the worst of the three times he's flown in his life, but not bad. We only had one flight (of the four) that consisted of screaming and crying inconsolably and it was only a 45 minute flight. The other three flights he was just a wiggle worm and required constant entertaining.

He actually did fell asleep on both flights down...

He thought it was hilarious to share his pacifier with his daddy...

Samuel thought it was great when dad gave up his seat...

The rental car was fun to "drive"...

More to come soon...

Walking - Stage 1