Life is taking off

For an 8 week old things are changing fast!

Samantha has recently grown much stronger and is getting very good at holding her head up. I can hold her against my chest while I walk around and she can hold herself up without assistance from me. I still have to be cautious cause every once in a while she will get tired and her head will flop down against my chest but it seems like each day that happens less and less.

Little Sam has also started to really react to Chris and I when we talk to her and play with her. We have gotten pretty cute almost-smiles, funny frowns and even tears as we "get her nose", pinch her cheeks, poke her in the belly and talk to her. Here is our first attempt to capture her reactions on camera. Her hair looks funny cause she had just gotten out of the shower!


This weekend Sam also slept in her crib NOT in the bouncy seat! We went back to swaddling and she slept great, only waking up once during the night and then was up for the day at 5:30. It was an early morning, but with only one wake up I WILL TAKE IT! Hopefully this will continue as we try to get her sleeping in the crib like a normal baby. We figure traveling in the next couple of weeks will be easier with a pack-n-play and not a bouncy seat.

Saturday morning we had another great growth experience for this family; we had a babysitter! Our next door neighbor has a 16 year old granddaughter that has taken the babysitter certification course and loves kids. So I gave her a call and had her come over Saturday morning to meet Sam and for us to meet her. Alex stayed for about 2 hours while Chris and I did a ton of yard work and outdoor projects. Sam slept the whole time and Alex did great with her. I was very nervous but really enjoyed being outside with Chris working in the yard and not having to worry about Sam. I think I am ready for a night out without Samantha; probably a short night out.

The other project that I worked on this weekend was Sam's closet. I think I have mentioned hand-me-downs before...just a few times. Well, when we came home from St. Louis this last time we had three giant bags of amazing clothes for Sam from my sister and the Marshalls (a family that Jodie nannied for a while back that has to twin girls). I went through and organized all the clothes and organized her closet today. Take a look!
You can't really tell from the picture but each box is filled with clothes organized in sixth month intervals, all the way up to 3T. I think she has more clothes right now than I do. This closet does not include all the sleepers, onsies, and pants that we have in her dresser! Not to mention the 21 pairs of shoes that Samantha owns. I truly believe that every little girl somehow needs to have older girl cousins cause it is just so much fun to have this big of a wardrobe for my daughter but without hand-me-downs this would be impossible!

Okay, I think that is all the updates that I have. Hopefully I will be able to capture some of the amazing changes in Sam on camera sometime soon.