Piano lessons

Family!

So precious

There are moments when Sam is playing around me (maybe he's picking up a toy and standing up with it or using the pincer grasp to get his Cheerios or flashing me a grin) when I am inundated with just how precious he is. His little nose, his mouth, his miniature fingers, his wiggly toes, his eyes, his little ears...everything about him is just so precious. It's a feeling of cute, adorable, cuddly, darling, pure and lovable all rolled up into one.
-Christine

All I Want for Christmas...

...is my two front teeth. Sam is getting his two front teeth in but they haven't quite made it all the way through the gums. While he is still in cheery moods, it seems it does pain him at night so we're really hoping that for Christmas he gets his two front teeth!

Grandpa and Sam

Grandpa came for a short visit and entertained Sam immensely. He thought Sam has hand like an octopus as he was so good at grabbing EVERYTHING. -Dave

Standing up for himself

Sam has been practicing free-standing for the last week or so. He started letting go of what he was holding and standing for a few seconds before sitting down. Gradually he stood for longer and longer, yesterday doing 15 seconds in a row. He's been learning to sit on his knees and control his way up and down a lot more (no more falling quickly to his butt). Just today he stood up from a sitting position for the first time without holding on to anything! So cool to see. He's also taking steps while we hold his hands. Perhaps bipedal locomotion isn't too far away....

Likes and Dislikes

Sam has started to figure out that he likes certain things...and dislikes others. It goes something like this: I like playing with that magazine, I dislike it when you take it away. I like bouncing on the couch, I dislike it when you take me off of it. I like being next to mommy, I dislike it when mommy walks away. I like standing and sitting, I dislike it when I  am on my back for a diaper change. I'm sure he'll continue to let us know what he likes and dislikes...

Family walk at Torrey Pines until sunset

International Baby

At the end of September, Sam got to go to Santiago, Chile with Mom and Dad and visit his aunts, uncles and cousins down there. He fared very well on the plane ride and enjoyed meeting new people. He got to hone his skill of sitting up while there and saw a horse close up for the first time. In the middle of November, Sam got to go to Paris, France with Mom and Dad and visit aunts, uncles and cousins there too! By this trip he was loving solid foods so he ate baguettes (great for teething), crepes and even a little foie gras. He met family on his Mom's side as well as his Dad's cousins and their kids who visited from England. Then it was back home for a quiet Thanksgiving with family in San Diego.

I love pasta!

Thanksgiving with the mommies

Tough travelling

Aunt Karen!

Bouncy boys

Sam and Uncle Rick

Great grandma and Sam

Sam works out on yoga ball in innovative baby training program.

Reclin-o-luggage

Travelling in style

Sam is lounging as he gets wheeled around the airport.

Overwhelmed...

...with Love. This post has been binging around in my head for several days as I enjoy being home and raising Sam. I know it echoes sentiments that Dave feels as well. There are a dozen times a day that I look at Sam or think about Sam and am just overwhelmed by my love for him. He's a sweet, loving, happy, curious, independent, observant, funny, good-natured and adorable little angel and we are so blessed to have the opportunity to be his parents. And yes, even at 3:30am when he cries or at dinner when he doesn't want his veggies, I feel the same. What an incredible and rewarding journey we are on as parents.
-Christine

Chowing 2

Chowing on a tortilla

Hey, I know you

Sam has started to crawl towards us when we beckon and enjoys chasing us around the coffee table or other corners. This is the rewarding side of getting up at midnight and 4am to feed him. :)

He's also started to enjoy foods and has added to his repertoire: oatmeal, tofu, yogurt, cottage cheese, fish, cantaloupe, grapes, rice, beans, avocado, turkey and butternut squash. He's pulling up to standing on everything and has started to learn to bend his knees to make the way back down a little easier.
-Christine

Are you eating my nose?

For a week or so now, Sam has been seeming to try to eat my nose while I hold him or when he crawls up to me. He comes at me with mouth open and slobbery and generally aims for my nose or other parts of my face. I was relating this to Dave and wondered why Sam was trying to eat my nose. It was only days later that I realized, hey, maybe he's trying to give me a kiss like I give to him, he's just not very good at it. We'll see if it morphs into a real kiss, but until then, I guess I get to have a wet nose.
-Christine

Tooth ho!

We had our first sighting of Sam's first tooth yesterday. He's been teething a lot the last week and finally a little sharp white nub has surfaced. We anticipate it will turn into a tooth, but for now it's just a nub. He seems happier already. One down, nineteen to go...
-Christine

Drinking from a cup

Sam isn't a big fan of bottles or sippy cups, but he sure likes to drink out of cups normally!

Fun kid

Sam is such a fun kid to around - we feel so blessed every day by being able to see him grow and discover the world.

Climbing!

As Sam and I clean up our old rental today, he kept working his way towards the stairs. When I finally finished vacuuming downstairs, I decided to see what Sam would do when he got to the stairs. He had climbed up boxes before, but had never had an entire staircase in front of him. Unassisted, he climbed up stair after stair, not looking back until he had climbed 4 steps. I went and got mom, and and with her as the goal at the top, he climbed the entire staircase, using the carpet shag as hand holds going up. Now all he has to do is figure out how to safely go down stairs...

Egg on his face

Sam ate egg yolk for the first time this morning and also fed himself for the first time today. He's been interested in exploring with his index finger lately - everything gets touched by that finger first. He did the same with the egg but also managed to get it stuck to another part of his hand and bring it to his mouth. Very exciting. He's on the road to self-sufficiency already!

-Christine

Home Sweet Home

Sam slept in his room in our real house for the first time last night. Ah, home sweet home. He's been having fun exploring the new house and discovering how hardwood floors work.

Bombs away

For the last couple of weeks Sam has been enjoying pulling up on various objects to get into the standing position. One of his favorite objects is a free-standing plastic file box of mine that's about a foot high - perfect for him. He's in the process of figuring out how to get down once he's gotten up. Yesterday I saw him stand and look at his hands on the box, then look at his toy on the ground and back and forth, trying to figure out what to do. I could see his brain whirring and the moment that he thought, "Well, bomb's away!" and he let go with both hands and headed face first to the ground and landed on his hands and knees. Today he added the beginning of bending his knees to make it less of a free fall. It's amazing to watch all this unfold...

Bigger than a shoebox

Climb to the highest heights

Sam helps unpack the microwave

Sam's new favorite thing

That's why little frisbees are made!

That's why little frisbees are made!

Alice's biggest fan!

Take your medicine like a 7 month old

Sam came back from our last trip with an ear infection that required antibiotics be given to him orally. The doctor told us that the easiest way to administer them was to put a syringe in the corner of his mouth and squirt it into his cheek. Well, Sam did not like this at all and was very resourceful in making it difficult. He invented the following ways to stop medicine from getting into his mouth:

1. Tongue blocker - moving his tongue to block the incoming stream of medicine.
2. Tongue blocker 2 - open his mouth just a little, but keep the tongue blocking the small opening.
3. The Head Flail - moving his head from side to side to make it difficult for us to aim
4. The Straight Arm- putting his arms straight out and hitting our hands as we attempted to get close to his mouth.
5. The inflated face block - Sam would inflate his cheeks and pucker his lips to let us know we weren't putting anything into his mouth.
   

And of course all this was accompanied by lots of wailing.

So I found a way that was much easier and fun as well for all of us. I would make funny faces at Sam until he would laugh. As soon as he opened his mouth, I would shoot medicine in from 3 inches away, which would invariably surprise him, but never seemed to upset him. We would wait until he swallowed this portion of his medicine, and then repeat until he had taken his required dosage. This routine made taking medicine almost fun....almost. But today he's done, so hopefully it won't be an issue again for a while.

Help! My dad has me imprisoned in a laundry basket!

And away we go

Sam started crawling today. He's been dragging himself around the floor mostly with his arms and a little wiggles from his legs, but today he had the first official use of alternating arms and legs to travel five feet to where I was. Now, it wasn't pretty and there was lots of collapsing along the way, but I expect he'll be perfecting it shortly. I now look around our living room with a new eye...one that's a foot off the ground to see what he could get to if he wanted.
-Christine

Father's Day Reflection (Belated)

So I (Dave) was asked to give a reflection back in June for the UCSD Catholic Community mass on Father's Day 2007. I had written my reflection in Word, but the copy that I read from had my handwritten notes on it that I wanted to put back into the original.
I just found the printed sheets with the notes yesterday and figured it was high time to recycle them, so I integrated them into the original. Our thought is that this blog is essentially Sam's baby book, so it seemed a good place to put it for safekeeping and sharing.

Father's Day Reflection

Hacker @ Large

Sam-not-so-well

Sam got his first ear infection in his right ear on Monday night. We took him to the urgent care and got him antibiotics but he was so pathetic on Tuesday. He was still a little feverish and just lay there with a toy in his hand, barely playing. I've decided there's nothing more pathetic than a sick kid and nothing sadder than an Urgent Care full of concerned parents and sick, hurt children. At least Sam is now on the mend and nearly his old self again.
-Christine

Sam at his first real Chicago pizza joint

Ian and Peanut at the picnic

Mobility

Sam is getting better and better at moving around each and every day. Around the middle of August he perfected sitting up unassisted and even learned how to use his arms or stomach muscles to make gentler transitions to lying down. He moved on quickly to getting up on his hands and knees, which he practices with great enthusiasm. He has figured out how to get from a sitting position down into a crawling position, but still hasn't coordinated all those hands and feet to crawl. He moves slowly around by rolling and twisting, though I don't think it will be long before he decides to move faster. His inner curiosity is now showing as he has the ability to get to things that intrigue him though (like the laptop I'm writing on right now!).
-Christine

Shopping with mom & dad

Sam & his cousin Devon

On the move

I think Sam has now officially figured out how to roll both ways. He's just managed to roll himself and wriggle himself across the blanket to get to the diaper wipes he wanted (he loves all plastic packages). His world is changing...
-Christine

Our Buddy Boy!

Sam at the Luau

Wish you were here with us! Dave & Christine

Newest member of Sam's fan club

I like Dad's hat

Grandma and Mr Clean Peanut

How's that for ettiquette?

What's this solid food stuff?

Ouch

Dad, you're hair is tasty!

Cousin Colin and Sam

We visited Colin in Santa Barbara

Odd Laughs

Sometimes when I just hear Sam's laugh when I'm not looking at him, it's hard to discern if it is a happy laugh or the start of a cry. I realized this morning why that is: he laughs on the inhale, not the exhale. Pretty funny. We'll see if/when it changes...

Sam with his cousins aunts & uncle

We're rolling rolling rolling

Sam has been regularly turning from his back to his belly and just three days ago I saw him very cleanly roll from his back to his front for the first time. Then, this morning he fell asleep for his nap on his back and when he woke up and I got him...he was on his belly! A whole new era is dawning...particularly if he figures out it's a good mode of locomotion!
-Christine

Holding a bottle by himself!

Sam was able to hold his own bottle by himself! I didn't realize he was capable yet!

Hey, that's my appendage!

Sam has started taking an interest in his feet and is noticing his hands anew. Whereas before he just stared at his hands, now his nearly favorite past-time is to rotate his hands front and back as he stares at them. You can just see the wheels in his head turning as he realizes he can make that happen. He's also grabbing his feet and ankles, particularly at changing time. I don't think it's long before he'll be sucking on his toes regularly. He also gets a kick when I pretend to gobble up his hands. :) 
-Christine

Photos from Hawaii

We had a great 2 week trip to Hawaii and Sam had a great time.

Cutest Passport Picture Ever

Here is Sam's passport picture - would someone please explain to me how this is supposed to be good for 5 years? :)

Bye-Bye Peach Fuzz

Within 1 month of birth Sam lost the long black hair he was born with. Another 4 months and he grew back 1 millimeter of hair. Sam spent 2 weeks in Hawaii and grew 1 full inch of hair! No bald baby here.

Vocalizations

Sam has been speaking to us more and more the last few weeks. He also regularly wakes up in the morning and talks to himself in his crib. We've deciphered his first word..."a'a"...or maybe that's just been inspired by being in Hawaii and visiting Volcanoes National Park (it's a type of lava). Regardless, his little "ahs" and "goos" and "bahs" just melt your heart.

Off to hawaii!

Hey, what's that on my shirt?

Sam started noticing designs and logos on his shirts and clothing for the first time last week. I caught him staring at this teddy bear that's on his shirt and fingering it and could just imagine the thought "What's that on my shirt?" running through his head. As other things close to his face draw his attention, he's also been known to stare cross-eyed at times. Very droll.

Kiwi fuzz

Sam is ever so slowly starting to grow hair back on the top of his head. He had a full head of hair at birth and it slowly fell out from the top and sides of his head (but he still has a nice thick mullet in the lower back of his head). I'm just starting to notice some short, soft brown hairs coming back - maybe I'll get to use that baby comb yet!

Sleeping like a .....

Sam and Clara

Chillin'