All About Sam

All About Sam comes to an end.

2009-06-15T18:12:00.003-05:00

Sam's life is going to change in about 8 months. Life won't be all about her anymore. So, in the spirit of being a parent that keeps things fair for her kids I can't have a blog with the address "all about sam". The Enlund blog is moving. The Enlund Family Blog (most boring title EVER, but my creative juices are just not working tonight) can be found here.

It is the end of an era, thanks for sticking with me through this first phase of the growth of our family. I hope you will all skip right over to the new blog to hear the latest on our family, see pictures and here about the soon to come new addition to our family! And leave me a comment, or Chris, or Sam or the new baby to let us know that you are still out there!!

To my husband -

2009-06-11T22:13:00.002-05:00

Admittedly tonight was not most people's typical anniversary celebration but it has been a long time since I have had so much fun. Errands and spending an hour in the car to go to Buffalo Wild Wings is certainly not a romantic date night; but it was better than the fanciest restaurant. It was our kind of night! We laughed more than I can remember in a long time, were silly, had one of our favorite meals, ATE CHEESECAKE, talked about so many things, held hands while walking in a store, dreamed about future home projects and made decisions about life. We connected and there is just nothing more fabulous than that.
Thank you for a wonderful evening.
Happy Four Year Anniversary!
I love you.

I am feeling very Charlie Brownish this morning

2009-06-10T09:51:00.004-05:00

In the words of Charlie Brown....Good Grief!

That is about how I feel this morning after Sam took a huge fall head first off her changing table. This is the first time she has ever rolled away from me and actually fallen. She has been scared before which I thought had made her learn she couldn't get down from up there, but apparently she hadn't learned. And apparently I SHOULD HAVE LEARNED! I just turned away to grab her pants, less than a foot away from her, and then she fell. The worst part is that she was laying on the floor just screaming and I immediately scooped her up into my arms. As a first responder I KNOW BETTER! Check for head, neck, back injuries first. But in that moment I just needed to hold her. To apologize PROFUSLY and cry with her because I felt so bad for letting her fall. It took me almost a half hour to get her calmed down and breathing normally again. But I think she is okay. Walking and talking fine. I checked all her limbs for breaks or sensitive spots after she stopped crying and there was nothing. Oh, God please let her be okay.

A rough morning was not what I needed after getting some very disappointing professional news last night. It is a long and complicated story but the short version is that I was given the opportunity through one of my side jobs this past year to apply to present at the National Environmental Education Conference happening in Portland, Oregon. This is a pretty big deal, at least it was going to be for me. I thought for sure the project that I had been a part of was a shoe-in to get accepted to present, but it didn't, at least not for an actual presentation. We got accepted to submit a poster. A POSTER? Seriously? I have never been to this conference before (it is really expensive to go but through this project part of my expenses would be covered) so I don't really know what the poster room is like but in my mind I am imaging my fifth grade history project posters. I researched Hawaii and served pineapple! I just couldn't believe they were really asking me to spend well over $2000 to go to this conference and stand next to a poster. Other people from the project are going for other presentations so they will most likely still do the poster but I just can't justify the cost and time away for a poster. I was so disappointed last night. Good Grief.

But good news on the blog front...
Chris figured out how to export this WHOLE blog to a new blog! So the address for this blog will be changing probably this weekend. Content, pictures, and everything else will stay the same but the address will be different. Sorry about the hassle this may cause to the couple of people that may have me linked or listed on their google reader but I just don't think with another kid coming I can keep the address as All About Sam. So, thanks to all the great ideas and offers of help but my husband stepped in and helped me out! I do need a new title though...so keep the ideas coming!

Okay, back to work! Hopefully you all are not starting your day off with a GOOD GRIEF!

rain rain go away!

2009-06-08T14:38:00.002-05:00

Thank you all so much for the comments and emails of congratulations and support. We are so excited about this and it is great to finally share the excitement with blogland. Since I started this blog after Sam was born I am also kind of excited to be able to vent, get advice, get support and ask questions about this pregnancy to all of you! So, you have that to look forward to!

Today - I am really mad at mother nature right now. It is currently 50 degrees and cloudy/rainy which it has been for several days. We actually have temperatures in the 30s listed for night time temps and even some day time lows! This is ridiculous. It is JUNE!
I want to be playing outside, going for long walks, bike rides and call me crazy but maybe even going to the pool!

Lastly, blog people, seriously what do I do about this blog? Do I 1) start over with a new blog, 2) change the title at the top of the blog to something else other than "All About Sam" (anyone have any ideas?) but keep the address the same, or 3) is there a way to copy the content from this blog to a new one with a new name?
What do you all think?

Sam has exciting news!

2009-06-06T17:10:00.003-05:00

Yup, that's right Sam is going to be a big sister sometime in January. The Enlund family is growing once more! We could not feel more blessed and excited to meet this little person. No real details yet because it is still very early in the pregnancy but of course I will keep you all posted as we know more.
By the way...anyone in blog land know how to take the content from this blog and put it on a new blog? Not very fair to the new addition to our family to have the blog address still be "All About Sam"! Clearly I was not thinking ahead when I planned the blog name!! HA!

errands, errands, errands

2009-06-05T12:47:00.002-05:00

I was a good American this morning and helped to stimulate the economy! HA! That is the way I have decided to make myself feel better about the ridiculous amount of money that I spent this morning while running six different errands with Sam. Lowes, Petco, Target, Duralum (the carpet store, this was the REALLY big expense!), Kohl's and the grocery store. Sam and I had a great time though, she survived the morning with no nap and is sleeping great now. So all in all even though my credit card took a pretty big hit it was a good morning.
I am excited for tonight because we have an evening boating trip planned with some good friends. And Sam was invited too! It should be really fun and a great way to spend a beautiful Friday evening.
Hope you all are having a happy Friday!

the faces of Sam

2009-06-02T18:36:00.013-05:00

So apparently my sister is very good at capturing many of the crazy faces of my daughter. The other thing that she amazing captured was evidence that the skill to make these faces was not taught to her or inherited from me...it is all Chris's fault!!

rough day

2009-06-01T19:52:00.002-05:00

It has been a rough day.
Chris has been gone a lot lately (volleyball Thursday night, volleyball all day/night Saturday, golf tonight, golf tomorrow night, volleyball again on Thursday). It is one of those things where we talked about each one of these events and thought they were a good idea, signed him up and then realized that they were all back to back. It is good for him to get out, be active, have hobbies and be social but it is hard for me to be home with none of that for myself. I don't think this all would have been such a big deal if at the same time I wasn't trying to catch up on laudry, yard work, cleaning and grocery shopping (not to mention my jobs!) since we were gone for five days. Plus, Sam is going through a tough time of teething and growing out of two naps.
We are struggling right now.

But two funny things happened today that made me smile.

I saw a pig statue today at a mechanic shop that had a sign on it that said "I am swine flu free!" I thought that was pretty funny. I like a mechanic with a good sense of humor!

The neighbors across the channel must be working on putting in a new dock or something because there were two men examining the shoreline across from our backyard. One of the guys walked back up the hill and one stayed behind. The one that stayed behind stopped for a moment right on the shore, looked around (apparently NOT seeing me in my yard right across the water) and then proceeded to open his fly and PEE!! Oh yes he did!! HE PEED. I laughed and looked away quickly. Not sure how he didn't see me.

So that was pretty much my day. I am now sitting here watching the WORST "game show" I have ever seen...not even sure of the name but Spencer and Heidi from the Hills are on it; YUCK. Nothing else on tv and because I am a tv addict I just can't turn it off.

How was your day?

a whole lot of pictures

2009-05-28T22:04:00.004-05:00

We had such a great time in St. Louis and I did my best to have the camera out to capture the fun times. So here are a whole lot of pictures from the weekend...better ones will be posted on Jodie's blog but here are my favorites.

One of Sam's lovely faces!I love the face that Sam is giving to Bailey in this photo..."hey off the water!"

sprinkler time gone terribly wrong!

2009-05-24T07:00:00.002-05:00

Sprinkler time in my parents front yard started out very cute and peaceful. Sam was timidly putting her fingers in the water and freaking out if someone accidentally splashed her in the face.

And then an adult water fight began...which ended in disaster (or a really funny prank!)

We made it!

2009-05-23T06:35:00.002-05:00

We arrived safely to my parents house about 10:30 last night. Sam was such a trooper. I was terrified pretty much all week that she was going to be a crabby, screaming mess the whole time but she wasn't, she did great. Which had very little to do with the portable DVD player that I broke down and bought yesterday thinking that it would be the perfect distraction for her in the car. It works great for my sister and her girls when they travel so I was just convinced that it would be the perfect fix. Now don't get me wrong it probably did help, she watched a little and was certainly distracted by it at times. But I thought she would just stare at it and be quiet the WHOLE time, which was not the case. She isn't much of a TV watcher normally so I am not sure why I thought she would suddenly be interested, but I did.
I have been convinced for years as we drove past vans filled with the glow of colorful tvs that MY children would not travel like that. They would travel the way that I did; looking out the window, playing stupid license plate games, reading, coloring, and of course fighting and whining with siblings. I don't know why but I have just had an aversion to using the TV as a distraction mode in the car; they miss all the scenery if they are staring at a screen. But my fear of eight hours of screaming Sam took over and forced me to forget my convinctions (clearly it was not that strong of a convinction!). So I went and bought a DVD player, it is even PINK! HA!
The funniest part of the whole thing is that I LOVED having it in the car!! I watched the baby Eisnstein movies and Robots and it was great. Totally made the time go faster. So, my conclusion from the whole thing is 1) don't have convictions about silly things that don't matter, and 2) for anyone out there that has long trips in their future with kids in the car BUY A DVD PLAYER...doesn't even have to be for them, just make your spouse drive, sit back and enjoy a movie!

I hate the F word

2009-05-20T14:08:00.002-05:00

No I am not talking about the one that rhymes with duck, although I really do hate that word too.
I hate the word FINE!
It serves no purpose but to allow people to hide their true feelings, wants, needs or reactions. Whenever I use the word FINE it is not actually what I want to say.
Someone asks you how they look in some outfit, you say FINE. But what you really want to say is Sorry, sweety but you are not in college anymore and CANNOT pull that off OR oh my gosh I am so jealous that you look that good, I could never pull that off.
Someone asks if they can miss a meeting, blow off a phone call or somehow otherwise inconvenience you at work, you say FINE. But what you really want to say is No, my time is valuable too and if I have to be there/do it/whatever so should you.
Your husband/wife asks if they can take a whole Saturday and go (oh I don't know play golf! HA!) somewhere to do something and you say FINE. What you really want to say is there is laundry to do, a house to clean, a yard to tend to and a family that needs you, no you can't go OR no, you stay here and let ME leave for the whole day.
But no one ever says what they are really thinking, they say FINE. And then that anger, frustration, resentment just sits inside of them stewing and growing. It is ridiculous.
Yes I understand that if everyone stopped saying FINE and started actually saying what they truly felt there would be hurt feelings, damaged relationships and probably a lot of people no longer speaking to each other. But in the end wouldn't we all be happier, healthier, less stressed out people? I mean the people in our lives that truly love us are not going to cut us out just because we are honest with them (right?). I truly think the word FINE should be removed from the dictionary and all of our vocabularies because it just doesn't do anyone any good.

So, maybe this is just me and maybe you think I am nuts for going on such a rant about a small, virtually meaningless word but for whatever reason today I am not FINE with the word FINE!

puddle, pine cone and a bucket

2009-05-19T12:50:00.003-05:00

It doesn't take much to entertain my daughter. A while ago we went to have dinner at our friends Nick and Stephanie's house. It was getting late and Sam was reaching her breaking point but Chris and I were not ready to leave. I handed her a deck of cards and I think she could have sat there sorting, holding, dropping and picking up the cards for an hour. It was hilarious!
The other afternoon we went outside after a small rain shower and she had SO much fun playing in a puddle. She found some pine cones and I gave her a bucket and she was good to go.
She loved the feeling of the water, loved throwing the pine cones into the water and watching the splash, and would collect all the pine cones in the bucket and then dump them out in the water. It was really fun watching her play in the puddle as if she had never experienced water before.

I love watching her discover new things outside and I can't wait for her to be little older so I can really start doing outdoor activities with her. But for now I really think we may have to buck up and buy this kid a water table!!

a challenged failed

2009-05-13T19:08:00.003-05:00

My sister challenged moms (anyone really) to be in the pictures with their kids more often. She took some very cute pictures of her with the kids; you know the kinds where you hold the camera out with one arm and take a picture of two people squeezed into the frame. So, I decided to give it a try. If she can take cute photos like that, why can't I!

Okay, this one did not turn out so good. Second try...clearly flash was not a good idea! But without it didn't seem to work very well either...
This is the best one and good grief is it out of focus and not centered!
Sorry, I don't think I will be trying to get myself in the photos anymore. I failed this challenge. I think I will stick with taking pictures of Sam, those can sometimes turn out pretty cute!

quick update

2009-05-13T11:06:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let you all know that Chris got home on Monday and felt pretty good. He thought the exam went well and that he felt pretty confident in his answers to almost all of the questions. This is GREAT news.
We won't find out the results until mid-July but I am so happy that he is at least feeling good about how it went.
Not many people can understand just exactly what studying over the course of 3-4 months for one test feels like, how stressful it is or just how hard these exams truly are. I only understand because I see how stressed he is the months leading up to an exam and I see the pure exhaustion and relief on his face when the exam day is over. I am so proud of him for going through this process and even though there have been tough times he has never given up!

Exam Day!

2009-05-11T07:11:00.002-05:00

Chris left just a few minutes ago to head to work. He will do is regular morning routine but then at 8:30 he will head into a room with just a few other people and sit for five hours taking actuarial exam number 7. This is a big day for us. If he passes this exam he officially becomes an Associate Actuary, keeps his job at Sentry, gets a raise, we get paid back for the sitting fee for the exam, and with the new title he gets job security that no matter how long it takes him to pass the last two exams he cannot be fired for failure to pass anymore. This is huge. If he doesn't pass...well it terrifies me to even think about that scenario. I don't want him to lose his job, I don't want to have to try and find another job somewhere in the country and move in a hurry. I don't want to have to rush to find another house for us to live in. This scenario is not fun to think about.
We won't actually find out the results until mid-July but I am hoping he is going to come home from this exam the same way he came home from number three, by saying "If I didn't pass that I don't belong in this field".
This whole process is very stressful for Chris; all the studying, all the pressure, and not feeling confident in your job unless you pass. I know that this is so hard on him.

So, if you read this and could please think good thoughts, cross your fingers and/or pray for Chris this morning that would be wonderful.

Happy Exam Monday!

weird night

2009-05-09T07:10:00.005-05:00

I went to bed about 10:00pm, nothing weird there. About 1:00am I woke up to a very loud toy singing to me. Chris had stepped on some singing turtle thing and couldn't get it to stop singing. Awesome. Unable to find the off switch in the dark he put a sweatshirt over it and threw it in the closet. I tossed and turned for awhile trying to fall back to sleep. Then sometime before 5:00am Chris's alarm turned on. I sat up in bed to find him trying to turn the alarm off. He said that he realized it was going to go off like it was a week day and in the dark he was trying to turn the alarm off, but accidentally turned it on. About five minutes later I heard Sam. Before 5:00am she was awake a talking. I got up. Seriously how many loud mishaps can one man have in a night? Good grief.

But the day is going well so far. Chris is at work studying, Sam and I took to the streets to do some serious garage sale shopping and now we are back at home napping, well Sam is napping.

I thoroughly enjoyed driving around looking at other people's junk. I don't know why I find it so much fun but I do. We got lucky on some kids clothes; good brands, good condition and super cheap. If we didn't already have all the baby gear (swings, excersaucers, swings, baby toys, etc.) I would have hit the jackpot today. There was some great stuff out there. The one thing that I would have LOVED to bring home was one of those bouncing rocking horses. You know the old fashioned plastic horse sitting on four large springs attached to a metal frame. Bounces like crazy and you can lose a finger in the springs but they are AWESOME! If I could have figured out how to put it in my car the thing would have been mine. I actually saw TWO of them today; crazy. The second time I truly felt that God was telling me the horse needed to come home with me, but I had no way to get it home and no room in the house for the giant horse. Damn small cars.

Okay, I better get some laundry done. I would like to be working in the garden but since it is rainy and cold that is a no go.

Enjoy some cute videos and pictures!
She says MA! That is me, I finally have a name in Sam language!

bored with blogging

2009-05-07T18:47:00.003-05:00

Do other bloggers suffer from just being bored with their blog? Right now I am really struggling to find anything to blog about that seems worth anyone's reading time. I am not brave enough to lay it all out there like my sister (and many other bloggers) does, I don't know that I can be that honest with myself let alone with the whole rest of the world. I don't think I have a very interesting job that is worthy of writing about and I truly believe that even my closest family HAS to be sick of the stupid stories/facts/pictures of just Sam.
I still read other people's blogs and find wonderful comfort, strength and humor in their writing but I don't comment as much any more; I don't really feel like I have much to contribute right now.
I must be in some kind of blogging funk right now? Again, does this happen to other bloggers? Is there a point when I should just give up and quit the blogging thing all together?

Anyway, it is Thursday night and after a long day of teaching 2nd graders I am ready for some Applebees to go (THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!) and some great Thursday Night TV! Boring and lame I know, but whatever it is all about the comfort tonight.

she is perfect to strangers

2009-05-03T08:11:00.002-05:00

I think we have a pretty bizarre child. Is that mean to say? I don't know, but there are just some things about her that are too funny. So, I give you...
THE UPDATE ON ALL THINGS SAM!

She is just over 13 months old.
She is wearing 24 month/2T clothes. This is one thing that I think is weird...why put months to the sizes if no kid actually wears the size that corresponds to the age that they are? Or is my child just HUGE?
She has had seven haircuts; four that were her whole head and three just trimming her bangs. The girl has more hair than I do.
She loves books. Doesn't have much interest in sitting in my lap, or letting me read a book to her, but put a stack of books in front of her and she is content to sit and "read" for well over an hour. Too weird.
Next favorite toy - Easter eggs. She loves emptying out baskets of them, pulling them apart and attempting to put them back together, and throwing them all over the room is also fun.
New favorite thing to do - climb ON EVERYTHING. There is not a room in our house that doesn't have something that she will attempt to climb on; couches, windows, tables, stairs, beds, chairs, the list is endless. She has only had a few major falls and has recently mastered getting down out of our bay window which was a huge reflief. This is the window where Polly spends most of her time and Sam now loves hanging out up there with Polly but kept falling down whenever she wanted to get down. I think going to the playground where she can climb a lot increased her love of this type of play.
Most of the time she would much rather play by herself than with me. Does my child not like me? HA! She will sit and play with pretty much any toy on her own, chatting with herself, making herself laugh and just having a great time with no direction or guidance from me. If I try to join her she will easily get bored and move on to something else. Maybe I am just not a good playmate; I don't know.
She chews her blanket. This is her comforting mechanism. She doesn't suck her thumb, need a bottle or a pacifier but she has to have that blanket in her mouth. Recently with the addition of several new teeth she has begun to leave evidence of her chewing on her fingers. Her thumb looks like it has been through a shredder. We think she is wrapping the blanket around her fingers and then shoving those fingers in her mouth. All I know is that she will most likely have scars on her thumb because I cannot get the cuts to heal and each morning they are bleeding again. She doesn't seem to mind it. Weird.
She throws silent tantrums. Right now when she gets really mad at me she will throw herself to the floor, put her head down and lay there. She doesn't say a word or make a noise. She just lays there. After a few seconds she looks up at me with this "Are you watching me? Do you see how mad I am at you?" kind of look on her face. I know that very soon screaming will probably be added to this display so right now I am enjoying the silent version. But this is weird; very weird.
Okay, I am sure there is more to tell but I think that is enough for now.

Sam and I are enjoying a lazy morning at home while Chris is at work studying. His exam number seven is a week from tomorrow and so we are in full stress/anxious/ready to get it over with mode. This is a HUGE exam for us because it is Chris's third attempt at this exam and if he doesn't pass he will lose his job at Sentry. We are praying that he passes but have the job recruiter looking for positions for him in other parts of the country just in case! We won't actually know the results of the exam until mid-July but if he doesn't think it went well our job hunt may seriously increase late next week. I really think he is going to do great and we will be fine. Keep those fingers crossed.

Hope you all are having a happy Sunday.

no pictures

2009-04-29T08:18:00.002-05:00

So, I totally forgot to take a picture yesterday of the hole. Can you just trust me that it was big? By the time I get home today HOPEFULLY the outside of my house will be perfect, totally repaired and all future leaks prevented. The inside of my house is yet another story. The insurance guy came yesterday and after only being there 30 seconds took one look and said "oh no, this is not covered by any home insurance policy. This is hidden damage from water and insects. There is nothing we can do to help you." This almost sent me into tears. But then he asked if there had been any inside damage. When I said yes, he told me that he could certainly help us with that!
His recommendation is for Sam's room to get new drywall (since huge sections of it will be removed today to repair the rotting exterior of the house), new floor boards, new carpet pad and carpet. YES NEW CARPET! And then in the kitchen where we had water leaking we will have the cabinets repaired, wallpaper removed, new wallpaper (we hate wallpaper, so we will paint) and cabinets painted. YES FRESH PAINT IN THE KITCHEN! The stuff in Sam's room we were not planning on doing but who doesn't love new carpet. This does mean that since we are replacing one of the two rooms that has ugly bright blue carpet I want to go ahead and replace the other room's carpet as well; whatever. But the stuff in the kitchen we had talked about doing anyway to update the kitchen a little bit now that we knew we would no longer have water coming in. So this was really great news.
Right now Sam is living in the guest room. The bad part about all of this is that the roofers will fix the exterior damage today and remove all the damaged parts of Sam's room (drywall on two walls and a large piece of the floor) but because we are not totally sure what the insurance company is going to cover we have to wait on doing the repairs. We will get a recommendation from them on a contractor to use, get the work scheduled and then have it fixed. It could be a very long time before Sam is back in her room. She doesn't seem to mind.
So that is the news on our house.
Happy Wednesday!

rain sucks

2009-04-27T20:43:00.002-05:00

The roof is almost done. They will be back tomorrow to finish the gutter work, clean up and take away the dumpster and trailer. However when they leave I will still have a HUGE whole in my house. No, I am not exaggerating as I am prone to do. I will provide proof of the largeness of the hole tomorrow.
I believe I have mentioned the leak that we had in our roof/wall that led to water coming into our kitchen and into the floor of Sam's room. Well, as part of the new roof we asked the roofer to open up the section of the exterior wall that had been hit with water the most to put in additional flashing and cover the exterior wall with more waterproofing (this stuff they put on roofs called ice and water shield). When he pulled the siding off and started to look at the water damage it was much more extensive then we all thought could be possible. Whole 2x4s, sub-flooring, and insulation was completely rotten. They also pulled a fairly large bee hive out of the wall. Where there are bees there is likely to be damage from the tunnels they can create in wood. So the wood that wasn't rotten was chewed apart by bees! The rotting went all the way to the outer side of the drywall in Sam's room. The exterior half of that half-inch thick drywall was wet and rotting. This means that there is a fourth of an inch of drywall that is not rotten protecting my sleeping child from the outside!!
When I got home from work at noon today the roofer pulled me aside to talk me through all the damage. He said that this was much more rotting then what could have occurred in the last couple of years that we have noticed the leak. He thinks the water damage has been accumulating for at least 10 years! He said that I should probably contact the insurance company to see if the work would be covered because the labor, materials and expense of repairing all the damage would be extensive; oh wait I MEAN EXPENSIVE!
I tried very hard today to not let this whole thing upset me too much. As my dad would say, Shit happens! I chose instead to laugh it off so that I wouldn't cry. I am choosing to be glad that we found this now and not when the damage was much worse, when mold got into Sam's room or when the whole house caved in! Okay, that might have been an exaggeration!
Anyway, I am pissed that we have to spend more money on this stupid house on projects that do not make life easier or more fun (like a new beautiful, convenient kitchen). But I am praying that the insurance company will cover most of it.
So be on the lookout for pictures of the hole tomorrow. Unless it rains tomorrow, which since we now have a huge hole in our house I think it would be really awesome if it would rain!!

good stuff

2009-04-23T20:38:00.005-05:00

Okay, first of all I WAS THAT CLIENT.
When Chris got home I went out with him to get the run down of the progress with the roofer. When he was finished and told us he would be leaving I asked him to ask his men to be more careful around my daffodils! I couldn't believe the words were really coming out, but they matter to me and make me smile and I do not want them smashed. So I did it. He was very understanding, apologetic and said if the guys were not respectful he would put buckets over the flowers to be sure that they did not get ruined.

Now on to the good stuff.
Sam has a new found love for scooting across the kitchen floor on her belly. It is so cute.

She also seems to enjoy spinning.

I also forgot that there were more picture of the weekend on my camera from last weekend. Some cute ones of Sam and picture that capture what the adults did most of the weekend (when we were kid free!), majority of the pictures were not postable, meaning that my friends and husband would have killed me if I had not deleted them. I did save a GREAT one of Holly just in case she doesn't get around to posting the pictures that she took...blackmail!

I want to be picky!

2009-04-23T16:43:00.002-05:00

I want to be THAT client. I want to be THAT women that goes out of her house to complain to the roofers about the damage that they have done to my flowers, gardens and yard.
We are getting a new roof this week and because of on and off rain it is taking much longer than I had expected. The pounding is driving me nuts! I swear they are jumping from one level to the other, dropping tools on the roof as loud as they can and just plain stomping around simply for the joy of driving me, the dog and my non-napping child CRAZY! We live in a tri-level which means that every floor has at least some portion of roof directly above it; I cannot go anywhere to get away from the noise! So needless to say I am just a little irritated today and then I go out to see my daffodils bent over, smashed, and my hostas that have not even really come out of the ground yet (just the VERY tips) totally destroyed. Spring is just starting to come here and one of my greatest joys is watching the green plants bring new life to my brown and dreary yard. They have taken that joy and smashed it!
I also have to say that spending money on a new roof has to be the most annoying home improvement to have to spend money on. It's not like we really get to enjoy it, or show it off, or even look at it and say "wow, that just looks really nice!". They are shingles; they were there before and will look pretty much exactly the same. I suppose next winter when we don't have water running into the kitchen and also soaking a small portion of Sam's carpet I will appreciate the new roof but right now I am just annoyed at the whole process.
When I went outside to let the dog out and let Sam walk around a bit the roofer came over and told me that they would definitely be working all day tomorrow (awesome!), depending on the weather they would probably be working on Saturday (WHAT?) and then most likely would be back on Monday (HOLY SHIT, you mean I have three more days of this?)!

I appreciate what they are doing but it would really be much better if they could do it a bit quieter.

friends+kids+gorgeous weather = exhausted Monday morning

2009-04-20T19:28:00.004-05:00

You know you had a great weekend when the alarm goes off and there is not one ounce of energy in your body that wants to pull you up off the bed to go get the kid that is yelling for you in the next room and get moving for the day. We had so much fun, played hard, sang to a game on the Wii way too much and loved every minute of having so many people in our house. Unfortunately we had an unexpected plumbing issue (I guess plumbing problems are never really expected!) which meant that the fun Mexican dinner I had planned for Saturday night turned into order pizza because I had no kitchen sink or dish washer. Hard to feed 11 people when you have to wash all the dishes by hand in your laundry room! I felt like a complete failure of a host but they were all great sports about it and the pizza worked out fine.
Sam loved having other kids in the house and was just enthralled with the older girls. I was also excited that she never showed an ounce of jealousy when I was holding Bryce, the adorable little man that reminded me just how much fun babies are!!
Okay, just a few pictures from the weekend. Not too many but hopefully Holly will be posting pictures soon and I can direct you all to more cute pics on her blog!! (better get those pictures up Holly you wouldn't want to disappoint the three people that read this blog! HA!)

Good morning!

2009-04-17T07:47:00.002-05:00

Hello Friday Morning! You arrived way too early this morning when my brain decided to turn on and would not turn back off. We are having friends come to visit this weekend so of course I was thinking about all the things that I needed to get done before they get here.
My mind was also thinking about work, YUCK! At 5:00am I do not want to be thinking about emails that I need to respond to, mass mailings that need to go out and our Fall Conference that is in OCTOBER! Who lays awake worrying about something that it six months away. Only crazy people. I am a crazy person.
I am working hard today to get the house clean. Which really doesn't bother me; it is one of the things that I like about having people come to visit is that my house gets a complete overhaul. By 2:00 this afternoon it will be vacuumed, dusted, bathrooms cleaned, toys picked up and smelling like a dog DOES NOT live here!
I am excited for this weekend because we are having college friends come to town. Really, they are Chris's college golf buddies (are we too old to have buddies?). I knew them in college but was not really friends with them until after we graduated and we got married. And then to be even more honest I have not become close to Holly or Amber until the last couple of years I have really bonded with them through our blogs and facebook. Is that lame? Well who cares, I am excited to see all of our kids play together and get to hang out with people that went to Knox. I miss my college friends a ton so any chance I get to talk about "the good-ole-days" is great!

Well, gotta get back to work if I am going to make my 2:00 deadline!
Happy Friday! Hope you are having the same AWESOME weather that we are having and are looking forward to a great weekend!

best toy ever

2009-04-16T07:22:00.002-05:00

Have you ever bought one of those musical cards? You know, the kind that plays music or sings when you open it. Well, I buy them for my nieces on occasion and recently we received our first one from my mom; an Easter card that sang the Easter Bonnet song. Sam LOVES that card. She doesn't seem to care about all the great hand-me-downs from my sister that were in the box, the awesome wooden animals that my mom sent (she has actually played with those a few times, but not nearly as much) nope, all she wants is that singing card. Although it is great to see her sit and entertain herself for a bit I must also admit that I am getting VERY sick of the Easter Bonnet song. So, if you need something to distract your child with for a while buy a singing card but get ready to hate whatever song that card plays!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T19:16:00.005-05:00

This was an interesting holiday for us because I wanted to stay in town to be able to go to the church that we are trying to get more comfortable with but that meant that we couldn't travel to be with family. But we did our best to celebrate this wonderful day and make it fun for our family.
It began with an early morning poopy wake-up...awesome! But after that it greatly improved.
Sam loved her Easter basket and all the goodies that she got (puzzle, new barrettes, an animal for her farm, a new cd and an Easter book). But even more than that she loved walking around outside picking up Easter eggs to put into her basket! I wouldn't really call it an Easter Egg Hunt since Chris just placed the eggs out in the middle of the yard (and then when I complained that they were too far apart, that it was going to take too long and I was cold, he started kicking them toward her to make it go faster!!) but she loved it anyway.
Then we went to the church pancake breakfast to support the youth group. Sam ate her weight in sausage! Then church. They sang the Alleluia chorus which was WONDERFUL; I ususally only get to hear that on Christmas Eve at Emmanuel (my home church in St. Louis), so getting to hear it today was great. I sang loudly from my seat in the pews and Sam was in awe of the music.
The rest of the day we spent bike riding, napping, yard work, laundry and then a GREAT picnic lunch (it was really like a middle of the afternoon meal, but whatever!).

So, since I know you wanted to see every moment of our holiday...here you go!
She hated her new dress shoes and tried many times to tear them off of her feet.

Our picnic and fun at the park. We went to a place that has a frisbee golf course, mountain biking trails, hiking trails and downhill ski slopes. We went and explored the ski slopes now that they have no snow.
This is a Sandhill Crane that Polly decided she would try and chase down...she didn't catch it and ended up in the pond covered in muck! Sam at the bottom of the ski slope that we walked down.

Chris and Sam throwing tennis balls for Polly. Our Easter picnic spot!
Overall we had a wonderful day. Hope you all had a Happy Easter Holiday.

meal times suck!

2009-04-11T18:42:00.002-05:00

Alright moms out there...I NEED HELP!
My daughter has become horrible at meal times. She is learning how to use silverware. If I put the food on the fork/spoon and then hand it to her she is pretty good at getting it in her mouth, when she feels like it. Sometimes the food gets flung across the room, sometimes the food gets rubbed into her hair and sometimes it gets thrown back at me. I can only handle playing the odds with the silverware on occasion; sometimes I just need her to eat a good dinner and NOT make a huge mess. But she doesn't like to be fed really anymore, if silverware is involved she wants to be holding it and doing it herself. If I try to force her to eat by me feeding her she flings her arms around and makes an even bigger mess. She also does not like to eat with her hands that much anymore and this method still makes a huge mess because no matter how much I discipline she continues to throw food on the floor (and right now she takes whole HUGE hand fulls and shoves them down inside her high-chair). So, right now after a 20 minute battle or so I am so frustrated and she is so disgustingly filthy that I give up, clean her off through her screams (for whatever reason she HATES to have her hands and face wiped) and take her out of the chair even though she has not gotten much of a meal.
I want her to continue growing but if this doesn't get better I am seriously considering going back to bottles and formula!!
WHAT DO I DO?

learned something new!

2009-04-10T16:51:00.003-05:00

snake, slide and a sacrifice

2009-04-07T20:22:00.004-05:00

What a great couple of days we have had. The weather is getting better here finally and we had a lot of fun stuff going on.
This weekend we went to a great surprise birthday party, a family fun fair kind of event, watched basketball with great friends and were able to spend time outside. Good days all around. The camera did not come out as much as I had hoped but we did get a few fun pictures.

Loved that the University let the Herpetology society bring the animals to the family fair for the kids to see. Yes, that is a snake that Sam is petting and yes, we washed hands afterward!
This is Sam hanging out on the slide not knowing exactly what to do now. We discovered the Central Wisconsin Children's Museum (they were partly hosting the family event) and it is much cooler than I had known! Lots of great indoor climbing stuff and good hands on activities for the kids.
Yes one of the games for the kids was throwing taped up toilet paper rolls into fake toilets! So funny. Friends came with us and Ethan, their son, was actually old enough to play the games. This was the one game that I pretty much forced Sam to play. She picked a duck! Wohoo!

And after a long morning of playing, Sam was ready for lunch and a nap.
Now for the sacrifice...
Remember that adorable squawking chick that Sam was throwing around in the video from the previous post? POLLY ATE IT! Oh yeah, the head is totally gone! The sad part is the poor thing still made the noise but looked just creepy so we had to throw it away. Sam was basically teasing Polly everytime she would throw it because we would always yell at Polly not to attack the chick. Well, Monday night while we had a babysitter Polly saw her window to go after the chick. No more chick. We have already asked Nana to try and find another one for Sam cause she loved that thing and it was so cute to see her play with it. Not sure if she will be able to find another one and really I am sure Sam doesn't even remember it now but I am sad that one of her first Easter presents was destroyed before Easter even got here!

new stuff

2009-04-03T15:50:00.006-05:00

Sam playing ball with her dad...you will notice the natural born talent!!

Sam playing with Polly...they did this routine for quite a while today; they both love the new little chick that Nana gave Sam last weekend.

And here is Sam before we took Polly to the vet this morning. Notice her PERFECT pigtails! I mean really, I don't think I can do any better. It was pretty funny how much time I spent making sure she was cute and then I left the house wearing dirty jeans, a stained jacket and my Bears hat to cover up the unwashed and barely brushed hair. But who cares about me, my kid was adorable!

I did it

2009-04-02T18:38:00.002-05:00

So I am going to take a moment to brag...
I made my pre-baby weight! FINALLY! It was a long road but the aerobics classes that I have been taking (thank you Traci and Stephanie for getting me off my butt!) are really working. And now when I can't go to class I don't feel as good, I miss it. This week has been rough because Sam has been sick, I have been tired, had to teach late and then tonight the instructor was a no show which means that I have not been able to do aerobics all week. It has sucked. I went running with Sam one day but it just wasn't the same. I tried to do my abs workout on my own, but it just wasn't the same.
So anyway, I am thrilled to death with what I have been able to accomplish. Even though my body does not look the same I am happy with where I am. It is a good feeling to like the way clothes fit again.
But the lesson that I learned from all of this is that after the next baby I will NOT give away all of my clothes thinking that I will never be able to wear them again because getting back to your original size IS POSSIBLE!

Okay, I promise tomorrow there will be pictures of Sam!

it didn't go as planned

2009-03-30T18:52:00.002-05:00

Sam was sick, tired and crabby which made the normally quick and easy five hour drive to Bloomington, IL a nightmare. She cried because she was over tired but refused to sleep for the whole drive. We got to Bloomington Friday night and had a great dinner but Sam went to bed really early because she didn't nap and did not get to spend much time with her grandparents.
Chris was super excited to play golf on Saturday with his dad but with mid-thirty degree temps, lots of clouds and rain in the forecast golf did not get to happen. Instead of golf we decided to go to the Children's Discovery Museum which was really cool. None of us had ever been before and it was so neat to see it. Of course I did not remember a camera, so there are no pictures of Sam playing in the pretend kitchen, riding a tractor or climbing through a tunnel pretending to be a worm. But most of it was not appropriate for Sam yet and after a little while she fell and bit her lip; she was done. We got her home, had lunch and then she went to bed. But the nap did not last that long and she woke up super fussy. We had dinner that night at an awesome restuarant called Destihl and it actually went pretty well until Sam threw up all over herself, me and the floor. Awesome. And then it snowed! Oh yes, we went south expecting warmer, spring like temperatures and it rained and then snowed the whole time we were there! Sam cried almost the whole way home on Sunday and managed to cough so hard that she threw up all over herself and her blankie.
Needless to say the trip did not go as well as we had planned. I was so excited to head south because the Enlunds have this beautiful big backyard where Polly and their dog love to run and play ball. I was looking forward to watching Sam watch the dogs run and play. I was looking forward to playing outside with Sam for the first time now that she can walk around. And I am so mad at myself for not having the camera out taking photos at the museum or of anything AT ALL from the weekend.
Even though it wasn't as we had thought it was still a great visit with Chris's parents and so much fun to watch them play with Sam, talk to her, and watch her walk around. She grows and changes so fast that we cherish every chance we get to have her see family.

playing catch up

2009-03-26T14:56:00.003-05:00

Today we are playing catch up. Sam is catching up on sleep today which I gotta say is WONDERFUL! Great for her and great for me. She slept okay last night; still dealing with a stuffy nose which makes it difficult for her to lay on her back. But then today she took a three hour nap this morning and has been sleeping this afternoon for over an hour.
While she has been doing all this sleeping I have been catching up on laundry. So much fun! I don't know how many loads I have done but it has been intense. Although I have not minded it so much because it hasn't been all clothes. With towels and sheets thrown in I actually don't mind the laundry as much cause I can mix up the loads to make the folding more interesting.
Okay, I'm a huge dork! HA!

On another note...
Yesterday I was out at the Central WI Environmental Station teaching 9th graders about the laws of nature (too complicated to explain here) and it was a blast! I love teaching outside. I love seeing that "I get it" look on the faces of kids that are struggling and I love even more when a kid sees a bird, deer, turkey or something else in nature that they don't expect and they get excited about it. Being outside with kids, teaching or even better designing the programs that other people would be teaching or in my dreams running the facility where all this would happen is what I want to do with my professional life.
One of the teachers that I was working with that came with the students asked if I had ever considered being a classroom teacher full time. I told him that I didn't have my teaching certificate and just don't think I am good enough to be in the classroom. I have the utmost respect for classroom teachers; it takes a certain kind of patience, talent and knowledge to be a GOOD classroom teacher. I am not sure that I have those qualities. This specific teacher disagreed, he really thought I should be in a classroom somewhere. It does intrigue me a bit. I have not been able to find a full time position in environmental education and so it has crossed my mind to go back to school to see if I could be a classroom teacher. But what if I don't like it? Or I go back to school and then at some point I find the full time position that I want, do I then quit school? I want a full time job but should I do something that is not be exact passion just to be working? Would that truly be fair to the students that I would have? So much to think about, so many questions that I don't know how to answer. And this doesn't even include the questions about how I do this AND continue to grow my family!!

it went so fast

2009-03-24T18:49:00.005-05:00

Her birthday came and went so fast. We had so much fun and I am really glad that I had a big party and made a big deal out of her first birthday. Even though I did not get to spend as much time as I would have liked relaxing in front of the TV watching March Madness, and I know I probably upset some friends making them come to a one-year-old's birthday party during March Madness games the whole weekend was great. Well, except for sick kids, kids not sleeping, cool weather and SNOW the rest of the weekend was wonderful!
But I failed at capturing most of the weekend on camera...damn it. My sister, Aunt Jojo did get some time to do a photo shoot with Chris, Sam and I, in addition to a cake smashing shoot (which according to my sister was a major flop because the icing on the cake was too hard, the cake was too frozen so she couldn't really smash it at all, and she didn't really even like the taste of it!!) so hopefully she will have some good photos to help me remember this weekend.
But here are some that I did get.

The boys hanging out watching basketball.

Early morning playtime for the girls.
Grandpa taking care of the little ones just before the party got started.

This is how people were greeted at the door. So cute! Aunt Jojo made this for Sam.

We had the most amazing decorations for the party. Originally I told my sister that I wanted to stick with the traditional crepe paper and balloons kind of party...she took that idea to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!

These were the party favors that I made. Little Chinese take-out cartons with chocolate covered pretzels inside.
My dad spent a ton of time wrapping the crepe paper on the railings; it looked so great. My sister took a photo of Sam and blew it up HUGE for us. It looks more amazing than I was even expecting. She also made the bright colorful word plaques that are next to them; they say "skip", "run", "climb" and "jump". So fun. And the balls that were in between then were these crepe paper balls that my sister made and brought up with her.

More bright crepe paper balls and ribbon hanging in the window.

Here is the amazing cake that Chris baked and my sister decorated.

Sam was actually being so shy for a good portion of the party which is so not like her. She was clinging to certain people and of course Andrea who runs the daycare where Sam is during the week was one of the people that she clung to.

Thank you so much to all of the family and friends that took time out of their busy lives to be with us on Sam's big day. It meant a lot to Chris and I.

Sam now has a cold, isn't sleeping through the night and is super fussy. It is going to be a long week with our BIG GIRL!

One year ago

2009-03-19T09:34:00.003-05:00

In just a few hours I will start feeling something that I will have to call my sister to be sure that they are contractions. The feelings will get worse as I make dinner for Chris but I am still not sure that they are the "real" thing. One. Year. Ago.
While I lay on the couch that night watching TV my family had convinced me to time and write down the "contractions". The more relaxed I got the more spaced out and soft they got. We went to bed at a regular time and I figured it was just a fluke. At about 2:00am I woke up because the bed was a little wet (gross!). I said Chris's name, told him what I was feeling and I have never seen him move from a sound sleep to being up and dressed so fast. We called the hospital, threw a few things together and went to the hospital. BUT not before we stopped at my work so I could drop off a massive mailing that I had been working on that week to be sure that it got in the mail the next day (the letters were dated and I did not want my temp to have to start all over again!).
When we got to the hospital they got us checked in and into a room. I was checked by a doctor who said that it was very early. They encouraged me to walk around. Chris went to sleep in the hospital room and I started doing laps around the hospital wing. They checked me again two hours later and said that I had not progressed so they had to send me home. They told me I was in pre-labor which could last weeks. I felt horrible that we spent over two hours in the hospital for nothing. We were home for maybe a half an hour when the contractions started really kicking in. I was laying in bed, not dealing with the pain well and decided to call my sister. I was so confused. Was this really going to last weeks like this? Was I just being a huge wimp? She told me to try and sit in the a warm bath. That didn't help. I called her again. While I was on the phone this time I had a contraction and when she heard my breathing and voice change she told me to call the hospital again. We went back to the hospital. This time they said I had progressed and would be staying at the hospital.
We called both families to let them know that it was indeed the real thing.
So then we waited. Luckily it was the first day of March Madness (I had been saying for weeks that I was going to have her during March Madness opening weekend so that I would have good tv to watch in the hospital!!) so there was all the basketball we could want on TV. It was really awesome.
The nurses and doctors came and went that day checking on me. I remember the contractions getting pretty bad and that I just kept asking when I was going to get the epidural. Once I got the drugs I just lay there enjoying the basketball and waiting. Finally, the doctor came in, checked me and said okay it is time to get started. There were two nurses and the doctor in the room. I looked around and said "Are there more people coming?" That was all they needed he said. Chris would help by holding my right leg and doing just as the nurse did. He was going to have to be involved!!? I was still convinced that he was going to pass out at some point; who was going to hold my leg then? (He passed out when I got my wisdom teeth pulled and he saw the blood!)
I started pushing. The epidural was pretty strong and sometimes I couldn't even feel the contractions when they came. The nurse would just tell me I was having one and that I needed to push. After a little bit the doctor told us that she was not advancing very well and I was going to have to REALLY push or there was a chance they would have to do a c-section. I got scared and knew that I just needed to push harder. They did have to use the vaccuum on her and the doctor warned me that she would have an oddly shaped head when she came out. And boy did she! I pushed and pushed. Chris watched some but mostly just held my leg and said "PUSH!".
At 2:02pm Samantha Jane Enlund was born. I was so tired I don't really remember very much from those first moments. The doctor worked on me and the nurses and Chris worked on Sam. When they finally gave her to me she was beautiful except for her extremely pronounced cone-head! But they assured me that it would go away in a few days.
The days in the hospital were filled with family, friends and feeding. We actually had a party one night in the hospital room with about 10 people and lots of pizza. We didn't think beer was appropriate! We learned how to swaddle, feed, change diapers and watch Sam sleep.
We had done it and couldn't be happier.
A year has passed and she is amazing. She has a great smile, a cute laugh, gives great hugs and kisses, says hi to everyone, is stubborn, has her mother's attitude and pretty much her daddy's everything else.
I never could have imagined how much this one little person would change our lives; would change ME.
I LOVE HER!!
Tomorrow Samantha will turn one and I cannot believe a year has gone by already.
We have family coming to town tonight and I know tomorrow will be crazy so I wanted to write Sam's birthday story today.
SO, to my little girl -
You are the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me and I CANNOT wait to see what you will do this next year. Happy Birthday Sweety. WE LOVE YOU!

my family is coming!

2009-03-15T18:43:00.002-05:00

My parents, sister, brother-in-law, nieces and nephew are all coming to WISCONSIN! They will be here on Friday to visit for the weekend and celebrate with Sam for her big first birthday. I cannot wait to see all of them, it has been since Christmas which is way too long for me.
But my sister coming is also good news for a few lucky families in Wisconsin (I know there are at least a couple of you in WI reading this!)! She is planning to book one (or maybe two!) photo shoots on Saturday March 21st. You can check out her work on her website www.jodified.com and then send her an email letting her know that you are interested. Not sure when she will be back up here so friends you should jump at this opportunity!

Okay, gotta go fill out my March Madness brackets. Hope you all had a great weekend.

randomness

2009-03-14T20:25:00.004-05:00

Just some random photos and stuff to share.

A cute photo from today. She just got her hair cut this past week and I love that I can once again see her eyes!

We had a pretty good snow storm not that long ago. Sam loved watching the snow but more than that she loved watching Polly run and play in the snow.
Chris decided she needed to go and feel the snow.
Notice she has no coat on and NO SOCKS! She didn't stay outside for very long.
Since we started changing Sam's schedule she sometimes is in bed for a while before she falls asleep. She will play, talk, yell and throw everything that is in her crib out onto the floor. Everything except her big Bears blanket; if she does throw that out of the crib she then proceeds to scream until we go up there and give her back her blanket. Funny but annoying. During a recent nap-time she was awake for a really long time and when she finally fell asleep I went up to check on her and found this. So funny!

I don't know if I have said it on here yet but Sam is officially walking. She still stumbles, falls and will crawl a lot too but she is starting to prefer to walk which is very interesting. And I love how right now is has such a wobbly way of walking.

Take a look....

book giveaway

2009-03-12T11:32:00.003-05:00

What could be better than getting a free kids book? Go here and check out this great book. Leave a comment and you will be entered into the contest for a free book.
Gotta love free stuff!! Thanks Amber for the link and thanks Holly for the giveaway!

the tough questions

2009-03-10T13:15:00.002-05:00

Is a board book that went in the toilet cleanable?

Do other mothers ever get sick of picking up the same toys day after day and actually think to themselves "no one is coming over, why should I bother picking them up"?

Is it ridiculous to create errands just to get out of the house when it is raining, cold and you are sick of being stuck inside?

At what age can you start teaching children to pick up their own toys?

At what age do they actually start picking up their own toys?

Do other moms get sick of singing the kiddie songs?

Is it totally crazy to want to spend money on decorations, games, food, take-homes and gifts for a one year old birthday party knowing that she will never remember it?

If I do go crazy on the first birthday party will I regret it afterward and think that it was unnecessary and silly OR will I love that I have the pictures and be happy that I celebrated a major milestone with friends and family?

Is a bike trailer (the kind that the kid rides in behind a bike) an okay first birthday gift even though it is kind of more for the parents than the kid?

After my crazy week last week of working so much today I find myself full of questions, doubt and confusion once again about being a mom. Maybe they aren't really the big, tough questions but it is the stuff on my mind today as I sit here listening to Sam talk and yell in her crib, NOT napping.

Happy Tuesday! What are you thinking about today?

schedule change

2009-03-09T15:31:00.002-05:00

So call us crazy but we have decided to really push Sam right now and extend her evening schedule. With day light savings time hitting this weekend we decided that since she was already going to be thrown off why not just throw her off even more. The reason? We are hoping for her to eat dinner a little later and have a later bed time for several reasons. We want her to be able to eat dinner with us, at a normal dinner time and be able to spend a bit more time with Chris when he gets home from work. We are also thinking that the later bed time might help her to take better naps.
So, how is it going? Actually really well! Saturday night she stayed up later and got to see some of our friends when they came over to play cards. She was super cute giving big hugs, showing off her walking and riding on her little bike. Then Sunday she took a later afternoon nap and was able to stay up until 7:30 pm. Today is going really well too. She is napping right now and so far has napped for TWO HOURS!! Could be her longest nap in a while. Chris has volleyball tonight so I am hoping to push her a little tonight again and see if we can go and watch him play.
It's only been a couple of days but I am feeling really positive about the change and hoping that it will mean more productive (or lazy!) days for me and more fun times in the evening with Chris.
Hopefully she will continue to cooperate...that could happen...maybe?

interpreting the nonsense

2009-03-06T07:34:00.002-06:00

Sam makes a lot of noise. Most of the time it is just yelling, whining, crying or laughing but occasionally she will look at you and make sounds that seem as if they should be words. She looks at you with this look that only my daughter could make that seems to say "are you listening to me mom?". She has very few words that she says clearly yet; "dada" and "hi". Which means that we have started to become (or at least I have) that parent that interprets the mumbling into words for other people.
But this morning her mumbling was PRICELESS! As Chris was getting ready to leave for work he picked up Sam to say goodbye. He proceeded to give her several kisses on the face. As she was leaning back away from the last kiss a mumble came out of her. Chris and I immediately looked at each other and started laughing. Did she really just say JESUS? No kidding it was as if she was a teenager pissed off that she was being made to do something she didn't want to and had so much attitude when that little word came out of her mouth. Now, neither Chris or I use that word in that manner so I am sure that it was just a coincidence and she really didn't know what she was saying, but man oh man was it hillarious.

flower child

2009-03-04T19:36:00.003-06:00

Target had these great flower head bands in the dollar section. I thought it would make the cutest pictures! The funniest part is that she actually liked wearing it and when it fell off at one point she wanted to try and put it back on herself. She has tried to put it on several times now since we bought it and it always ends up around her neck. But it is so fun to watch her try and figure out how to put it on.

She speaks!

2009-03-03T17:03:00.004-06:00

We have been working on "all done" for when she is finished eating instead of the throwing food and whining that she has been doing. Normally we only say it to her at times when she would be all done with something (food, bath, etc.) but when she actually started saying it the other night back to Chris he kept her going so that we could get it on video. He surprised me with it last night because I had never heard her say it.

So, here are two videos for your listening and viewing pleasure.

Okay, so maybe its not perfect speech but its close!!

the week ahead

2009-03-02T16:20:00.005-06:00

For a "stay-at-home-mom" I have a VERY busy week ahead; at least busy for me. I taught all day today (7:00am - 3:30) outside in the cold (side note - I lost my first students today while teaching a class on GPS! Love the irony of that! Don't worry we did eventually find them). I have a meeting all day tomorrow (8:00 - 2:30) and then have to put some hours in at the WAEE office. Wednesday I am back to teaching. GPS course again, I think my goal will have to be to NOT lose any students! Thursday and Friday I am in the office in the morning. Whew! What a week.
Okay, so maybe its not that much...but I think the part that is hard is that because I don't technically work full time I still feel like all the household stuff and daily Sam stuff is my responsibility. When I come home from teaching all day I just have no energy to do laundry, cook, vaccum and do all the other stuff to keep this house in order. That is the part that frustrates me. But I love teaching and want to do that WAY MORE than almost anything else.
Enough about me...Sam had another mini birthday celebration this weekend. We went to Viroqua to visit some extended family with no intention of celebrating Sam we just wanted to see everybody. But Grandma Hill made a wonderful cake and the aunts had presents.
These next two pictures are the true representation of how she felt about the sweet icing. The cake was delicious but she really wanted nothing to do with it.
It was wonderful to see extended family including Zach our newest member of the family. This is Sam getting to know Zach; too funny. Sam also became a fan of basketball! She played with her first full sized basketball while we were there and so when we got home we got out one of our basketballs. She's a natural born athlete!
Hope you all had a happy Monday. More fun pictures to share tomorrow.
Good night WISCONSIN!

Happy Friday!

2009-02-27T16:25:00.002-06:00

even Doctors CANNOT predict the future

2009-02-24T05:33:00.005-06:00

Sam never threw up. Not once really. Okay, maybe a large spit up or two but I don't think that counts as the stomach flu. She has never really gotten sick. She had a fever for three days with nothing else; weird. But I don't think it could have been the stomach flu like the doc predicted because she never got any of the other symptoms that go with stomach flu (like an upset stomach!). Whatever, the fever is gone now and while she is still pretty fussy I know that she is cutting teeth so I am going to chalk it up to that.
We had a pretty good weekend. Friends of ours came over and taught us Peanuckle (I have NO IDEA how to spell that!). It was so much fun, I think I am addicted. Hard to learn but fun once I started to get it. One of the other highlights of the weekend is the project that Chris and I took on. We got motivated and cleaned out the storage area in our basement. We discovered several things while we were down there. One - I am a pack rat! There was so much random crap in boxes that I just couldn't throw away. Two - We CAN use power tools! We borrowed a sawzall from friends and Chris used it to cut wood for the shelves we were building. I was quite impressed with how easily we worked together to figure out how to build the shelves, went and bought the materials and then built them over two days. Neither one of us has a lot of handy-type skills so it was neat to see our idea actually work. Here is the space before we built the shelves.

And the after!

And a quick Sam picture or two. She loves reading. And after breakfast or lunch while I am cleaning up this is where I often find her. She will just grab a book (or seven!) and sit turning the pages. I love that she is so happy being by herself and I love even more that she loves books. I am hoping it won't go away anytime soon.

it's coming

2009-02-20T14:52:00.001-06:00

Sam has had a fever for a few days now and when it didn't break today I decided it was time to go to the doctor. We went and she looked Sam over. No ear infections. So, what could be giving her a fever I asked. And then our wonderful pediatrician said some of the worst words I have heard in a while "She has the stomach flu." WHAT! But she has barely had any diarrhea and isn't throwing up? She looked at me, smiled and said "It's coming!"

AWESOME!

night/morning from hell

2009-02-19T09:26:00.002-06:00

She didn't sleep. I don't know why but the loving, beautiful, offspring of mine chose not to sleep last night. She cried, whined, yelled, or just rolled around until I gave in around 2:45 and gave her a bottle. We changed her diaper three times during the course of the night (once poopy so okay fine I wouldn't want to sleep in that either, but twice it was just REALLY wet; is she drinking too much bath water? and now that she has discovered a love of her bath water how do we get her to stop so she won't pee so much at night? Especially since she doesn't even need the little cups to drink it, if we take those away she just proceeds to put her whole face in the water and drink!). I hate the nights when she doesn't sleep because I just get so frustrated and angry at my lack of sleep that it sets me in a bad mood for the whole next day and I love Thursdays so that really sucks.
This morning would have been great because post-bottle Sam was sleeping great and I was sleeping in a bit until just before 7:00am after my husband had gotten up, dressed, and out of the house virtually undetected the dog decided to BARK! Damn dog (anyone want a golden retreiver?). Good morning Sam and mommy! But it was not a good morning because Sam was still exhausted and fussy but since she was awake I decided that getting to work on time should probably happen so we got up and got going.
Then when we arrived at daycare, of course all of Sam's fussiness disappeared; whatever. And I was handed a bottle from Andrea who said "I don't need this anymore. She won't take the bottle for me, she just wants her cup!" WHAT? I can barely get her to have a sip of juice from her cup and Andrea is getting her to take full bottles from it? Good grief. We have now bought several of the same kind of cups that Andrea is using and will start trying that at home as well. If she can do it SO CAN I!

The one highlight of the morning (be prepared to be sad that I would call THIS a highlight!) was that I discovered one location where the dump trucks have been taking all the snow from the parking lots around here! I spotted a dump truck pulling into a dirt road and realized that back behind some trees there was a field with a HUGE mountain of snow! I have always wondered where those trucks were going...mystery solved. One less thing for me to ponder.

Hope your Thursday is going better. Survivor, Grey's and Bones better be good tonight!

a ruined meal

2009-02-18T20:18:00.002-06:00

Have you heard the story from when I was pregnant about how I cried over cold Applebees french fries? Well, for the few of you that have some how missed making fun of me for this...here is the story.
When I was pregnant with Sam I wanted Applebees-To-Go ALL THE TIME! And I ate the same thing every time we got it. Well, one night Chris went and picked it up got all the way home and my order was wrong. Not just a little wrong but instead of my chicken wrap there were RIBS! He was thrilled because it was more food for him but I was so upset I started crying. He called Applebees to find out what they could do. So, he went back to pick up my food. I went with him and on the way to Applebees I started crying because I was so worried that my food would have been sitting in the kitchen the whole time getting cold; my french fries would be cold and ruined. I made Chris call Applebees to make sure that the fries were freshly made. Crazy I know but I love my Applebees french fries!
The reason I bring this up is because if I were pregant right now I would have been BAWLING tonight not just crying. We ordered, I went to pick it up and everything went down hill from there. It took Applebees forever to come out to my car and bring me the food. I finally got the food and headed home. Then comes the train! It was long and I sat there for almost 10 minutes knowing that the food next to me was getting cold. Then the train stopped! I was so pissed at this point (gone from the house for almost 30 minutes) that I just had to turn around and go the LONG way home just to try and get home faster. When I finally got home the food was luke-warm at best, they had included a VERY small amount of my spinach-artichoke dip and the mozzerella sticks were not even close to warm. Dinner ruined! Damn Applebees. Damn train. I hate a good dinner that does not live up to the hype.
Okay, this was really long and pointless but I was so pissed by the whole thing I just needed to vent!

the cutest dress

2009-02-17T19:07:00.005-06:00

So more to share from the weekend...

We did go out for dinner Saturday night so I guess you could say we celebrated Valentine's Day a bit. The food was great, service was horrible but Sam looked ADORABLE!
The pictures were so dark that you couldn't really see the dress to I had my sister do some picture editing magic so that is why the colors a bit odd.

And here are a few other fun moments from the weekend...
She has become obsessed with knocking over block towers. Why is it that kids think this is so much fun? It was a great visit and as always made us wish we lived closer to both of our families. As Sam gets older and starts changing even faster it is harder to be so far away from family and know that they are missing fun things.

so much

2009-02-15T19:24:00.003-06:00

First, Sam bled for the first time on Friday (besides the bleeding that happens from getting shots). I was vaccuming the stairs and away from her for just a few minutes. When I heard her scream I looked over and she was bleeding just above her eye. She had fallen and hit her head on the side of our coffee table and split open her eye lid! I was terrified. I couldn't tell how deep or big it was. There was only a little bit of blood so I didn't think it could be that bad but I was still scared. Because of the low amount of bleeding we decided it was just a small cut and shouldn't need medical attention. He cleaned her up and put neosporin on it. She has a bruise and a pretty ugly looking cut but otherwise she is fine. You will see the cut in pictures in a bit!

How was your Valentine's? Chris and I have never really liked this holiday. I don't really care about it so he uses that as his excuse to not have to do anything. It's really fine with me; I would much rather have him surprise me other times of the year with flowers, candy, gifts, and romance at other times throughout the year (which he does). So it worked out great that Chris's parents were able to come up this weekend for a visit. We had an awesome visit and they got to see all of Sam's new tricks/skills. Sam also got her first birthday gifts and had so much fun playing with her new toys.

Here a few pictures from our weekend. The weather cooperated for long enough that we could go for a short walk.

We saw a bald eagle soaring over us!
Okay, I'm tired so I will tell you more about the weekend and share more pictures tomorrow!

i am a horrible photographer

2009-02-11T20:33:00.005-06:00

I have no idea how to get close shots of my daughter that are in focus, with no red eye and don't make her look horrible! I played around with my camera a bit this afternoon with her and came to the realization that I really do not have any clue how to use my camera. So, not great pictures to share but enjoy anyway.

This one is kind of fuzzy and not that close up.

This one is close up but the red eye was so bad she looked like the devil. I used a picture manager thing to reduce the red so now her eyes just look boring.

Red eye problem again. But don't you just love those little teeth!

And this one is close up but she does NOT look cute! HA!

So, I need help or my poor child will just always be dependent on her Aunt to get good pictures. Which doesn't work out so great now since she is 8 hours away. I tell her all the time that I wish I could keep her in my pocket and just pull her out whenever I had a photo-op kind of moment.

While I was taking all the pictures she was just content to play with her little Oscar book and kept talking to herself so much that I switched the camera to video to capture some of her mumbling. Turn your volume way up and you can hear some of it.

And here is a video of our first attempt at coloring with crayons. All the marks on the paper are from me trying to demonstrate to her how much fun coloring is. She didn't get it. The worst part I think is that I had myself convinced that she might actually color. I had even written at the top of the paper "Sam's first attempt at using crayons - 2-11-09" thinking that she might actually do something worth saving! I would have been happy with her making even the slightest mark with the crayon!

Clearly she didn't get it.

VOTE!

2009-02-11T14:38:00.004-06:00

And you thought voting season was over!!

My sister's blog has been nominated for Professional Photographers Fresh Blog Contest and I REALLY want her to win! So please go here and vote for her. Her entry number is 0308.
It just takes a few seconds.

What are you waiting for...GO VOTE!

daycare

2009-02-11T10:07:00.003-06:00

I love it and hate it at the same time.
This morning was a rough morning. Sam has a pretty gross runny nose and she HATES having it wiped, but I cannot just watch the snot run down her face and into her mouth! YUCK! So all morning I was wiping her nose against the worst squirming and screaming protest. She refused to eat breakfast, didn't want to be put down (which makes getting myself dressed very difficult), and threw little Sam tantrums every time I refused to let her play with certain items in the bathroom. I was reaching my patience limit with her and we had only been awake for an hour. She was just so fussy.
As I was putting my screaming child into the car to go to daycare I was thinking THANK GOD for Andrea because this is one of those days that going and sitting in my lonely, cold basement office sounds wonderful. When we got to daycare Sam could not have been more excited. She walked (with assistance) right over to Andrea, gave her the biggest smile and then when picked up hugged Andrea (head on shoulder) until I walked out the door.
While I was glad to be passing over my fussy child I was also really sad that she was clearly SO happy to see someone else. I didn't get a hug like that this morning. Was she as sick of me as I was of her? Does she lose her patience with me? I have never thought of it that way before.
I am hoping when I pick her up at noon this will be one of the few days when she is happy to see me and go home with me and NOT one of the days when she screams as we leave Andrea's house.

punishing

2009-02-10T13:52:00.002-06:00

We have started punishing Sam. She throws her food on the floor and loves to watch the dog run in to eat it up. I hate that she does this and want to break her of it soon. So, we have started to scold her and slap her hand when she does it. The funny part is that Chris has a harder time with this than I do; which is the opposite from what we were expecting.
When we first got our dog Polly I could not punish her for anything. I spoiled her horribly, never yelled and never punished her. I hated putting her in her crate and was really bad at being authoritative with her. Chris and I have joked since Polly was little that when we had kids he was going to have to be the one that punished. That I would just say things like "You just wait till your father gets home!". But apparently I am better at punishing my child than I am at punishing my dog! I have mastered the hand slap. After only a few short days of sternly saying "Samantha we DO NOT throw food on the floor" and slapping her hand the amount of food that gets fed to the dog has drastically decreased! I am thrilled with the success but sad that my little baby has to start learning lessons and being told no. I have realized that once this begins there will only be more and more reasons for her to be punished (and if she turns out anything like me we are in for a long haul!). I think I will try to savor these days when it is just throwing food on the floor.

warm weather!

2009-02-08T18:35:00.005-06:00

We have had several days now of "warm" weather! For us, in February, that means that it has actually gotten into the low 40s! Snow and ice are beginning to melt away and we have been able to go out of the house a few times.

We even found GRASS!!

And the puddles in our backyard (where the river use to be...) have thawed and opened up quite a bit more.

Saturday we also went to the 1st birthday party of a friend of ours Aiden! It was really fun to see Sam interact with all the little kids.

She loved the balloons!

This is Aiden the birthday boy.

They played really well together.

And Sam even got to participate in the ball toss game that Mel set up for all the kids. It was so cute.

The weekend was capped off with a great dinner out last night with friends, a bit of cards and then lots of house work today. It always makes me feel better about the coming week when the house is a little bit cleaner.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

someone asked for pictures!

2009-02-06T14:17:00.004-06:00

I'll do you one better!

My sister inspired us to try our first art project...let's just say it did not go as well as I had hoped!

She looks just a little less than enthusiastic about the whole thing.
And she was way more interested in playing with the paper (throwing it, eating it, waving it around) then putting the paint on the paper!
But I forced her to make something kind of cute so family be watching your mailboxes next week for your first piece of SAM ART!

One Day (MORNING) and...

2009-02-02T12:15:00.002-06:00

I ALREADY NEED A VACATION! I have only been home and with Sam for a few hours and I am ready to pull my hair out. She stayed up way too late last night and so her schedule is really thrown off. She wouldn't eat her normal big breakfast which meant that she was crying for a bottle way earlier than she should have been. She refused to play with any of her toys and wanted all of mine (computer, dishes, phone, remotes, etc.). She is crying over the slightest fall or drop to her bottom (which is does all the time since she is working on her walking).
She even cried when she couldn't pull her sock off BECAUSE IT WAS STILL ON HER FOOT AND SHE WAS STANDING! Ridiculous.
I had grand plans of doing laundry, unpacking, cleaning and a bit of relaxing today but I don't think much of that is going to happen. She is napping right now and I am too tired to do any of it. Rats.

I'm Back!

2009-02-02T07:00:00.004-06:00

Blog world I have missed you!
I was so busy last week and since nothing really major happened to report on I did not ever do a post. Then I was gone all weekend. But I am home now and even though I still don't have anything major to report I decided I just NEEDED to come on and say hello.

I had a work conference this weekend and it was fabulous! I saw friends and colleagues that I have not seen in a while. Saw some great presentations. Went cross country skiing in some of the most beautiful country in Wisconsin. Watched lots of birds, tracked wolf tracks, found a porcupine den and thoroughly enjoyed the over 30 degree weather that we had on Saturday. Overall just a really great weekend.

Chris had Sam all weekend and it seems like they had a great time too! Their weekend included a grocery store trip, laundry, watching a volleyball tournament, going for a walk, baking a cake, a second trip to the grocery store and lots of playing.

Well, I hope you all had a great weekend!

A couple pictures that Chris took from their weekend...

great weekend

2009-01-26T14:28:00.006-06:00

We didn't just sit around listening to all of Sam's jabber to see if other words were coming out, nor did we tease our daughter with toys all weekend to try and get her to walk.
We did other things too!

Chris and Sam put a wagon together that we got last year from Chris's Aunt Barb and Uncle Rich. She will be big enough to ride in it this year so we needed to get it ready (not that we don't still have like four more months of winter or anything!)!
Do you notice the "scruff" on Chris's face? He is growing a beard!!
They then did laps around the family room.
Sam practiced her funny faces.
Sam continued to follow Polly every where. We even had to close the door so Polly could eat by herself. Sam sat at the door and watched her eat!
Sam learned how to open one of the drawers in the kitchen and now has a whole NEW set of toys!
And (saved the best for last!) we practiced PEEKABOO!

Okay, that is a pretty good Sam fix for now.

a step!

2009-01-25T19:31:00.006-06:00

What a week Sam is having!
Today she took her first steps all alone. She seemed so proud of herself.
No, they aren't big steps and only one or two at a time but they are definite steps!!
We forced her to show off her new talent later for the camera.
Take a look.

Okay, here is one of the first attempts (Chris developed quite the "teasing" system to get her to really want to move forward!).

Then here are the REAL steps.

HAT!

2009-01-22T08:31:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was a big day. Sam said her first (other than dada) word!
We were getting ready to go to Target and I was putting her in her car seat. I had my Bears baseball hat on and she kept reaching for it. I was talking to her and saying things "you want mommie's hat" and "yes that's my hat". All of a sudden like it was nothing she said "at"; there was a very small "h" sound first but mostly the -at part came out! I couldnt' believe it! And then she wouldn't stop saying it, all day we practiced and practiced so that when dada got home she would still be able and willing to say it. And she did! Aunt Jojo even got to hear it over the phone.
She is growing up fast. It is funny because now I hold up pretty much everything and call it by it's name just to see what else she might be able to say!
Her current other tricks include waving (only when SHE really wants to however), kisses (again this is rare but she can do it), clapping (which she does all the time especially when holding food), standing on her own, climbing stairs and her favorite new trick is high fiving! It is really cute when you ask her for a high five because she does it so soft still. I just love it.
Okay, back to work.

HI PAWPAW!!

2009-01-19T19:54:00.005-06:00

Today it was a bit cold in our house so I put Sam in one of her biggest, coziest sweatshirts and she looked so cute I had to get some pictures. Just so happens that the sweatshirt is one that Grandma and PawPaw had made for Sam and her cousins.
So, PawPaw these pictures are for you!!

She loves acting like Polly and carry things in her mouth. Yuck.

Sam wanted to get REALLY close to the camera!!
Oh Yeah...She's standing on her own!

Tickle Time!

We love you PawPaw (and Grandma!).

make it STOP!

2009-01-16T10:25:00.002-06:00

No I am not talking about the cold, although it would be great if the warmer weather they spoke about would get here already. What I am talking about is the tear-out-my-ears, horrible noise that my daughter has discovered. She has all of three teeth (well, really two and a sliver of a third) and somehow she can GRIND THEM! Oh yes, my daughter grinds her teeth! I cannot stand that noise, Chris does it in his sleep, and now Sam does it at random times during the day.
So, someone PLEASE tell me how I get my daughter of ten months old to stop making a noise that makes me want to throw her across the room.
Don't worry, I won't really do that!!

my snot froze!

2009-01-15T09:13:00.002-06:00

I don't think it has ever been this cold since I have moved to this state. Schools are closed today because the actual temperature this morning at 8:00am (even with bright beautiful blue skys) was -18 degrees!! With the wind chill the temperature is -42 degrees!! That is insane. The said on the radio that frost bite will begin on exposed skin within eight to ten minutes! 8 -10 minutes! That is how long it takes to let our dog out or go to the mailbox and get the mail!
Sorry dog, you will just have to hold it.
Sam and I actually left the house this morning because I still needed to go to work but I bundled her up in her full on snow suit and let the car warm up even though it was parked in our partially heated garage!
I parked illegally this morning because my normal street parking is THREE BLOCKS AWAY. Yeah right I am walking that far and crossing the busy street; I mean what if there were traffic and I had to stand there and wait to cross? 8-10 minutes and my nose could be gone!
This is just too damn cold. But they say that we only have about 24 more hours of this and then it will slowly start to warm up...we may even hit 30 by next week...a January thaw they are calling it! HA!

pointless videos

2009-01-14T19:45:00.004-06:00

So grandma wanted pictures and while I was taking the pictures I shot some videos too. I didn't really capture much...I was trying to catch her standing on her own but of course that did not happen.
What I did catch is her acting like the dog and carrying a sock in her mouth, her love for her blanket, her fascination with the remote control, and a small tantrum from being told no ending in showing just how quickly she can forget about being mad at me!!

So, pretty silly videos but I thought I would share anyway.

grandma requested pictures

2009-01-13T19:14:00.005-06:00

I will share those first and then I will tell you about our ALMOST trip to the emergency room.

But first some new pictures of our growing girl...

Isn't she adorable?

Okay, now the ridiculous story from tonight. Let me just preface this by saying that I openly admit that I am a "first time mom" with all the stereotypical insanity that comes with that title.

While Sam was taking her bath tonight (see the pictures above!) she slipped and bumped her forehead on the side of the tub. She didn't hit her head that hard and when she started crying I picked her up, told her she was fine and wrapped the towel around her. As I was walking to her room to get her dressed I saw the spot where she had hit her head and it was a purple bump the size of a marble. I starting freaking out (crying too!), yelled to Chris to call 911. After I filled him in on how our daughter's head was going to explode he said that it would be faster if we just went to the emergency room. By this point the marble had grown to have a golf ball size growth on the side of her head. I freaked out even more and ran with Sam still naked to the car. Somehow I grabbed a diaper, pjs and my shoes that I threw in the car. Chris met us in the car and sped out of the driveway. Sam was naked with me on the backseat, no she was not strapped in. The whole time she was smiling and laughing and I was crying hysterically. Chris convinced me that we should call someone so I called Aunt Jojo (she is my expert on all things baby). She talked me down a bit, said it was just a "goose egg" and that she would be okay. We needed more assurance so we called Nana (she has not only been a mom but is also a nurse). She said the same things that my sister said. So we turned the car around and went home. By this point I had gotten Sam dressed and put her in her carseat, she was still happy and acting fine.
So we didn't go to the emergency room, Sam never even acted like she had hurt herself and I completely lost my mind. What is worse is that I know exactly why I freaked out so bad. Well, Sam has never really hurt herself so that is part of it but mostly it is because of the stupid TV show ER. If you watch the show then you should remember the episode when Dr. Pratt dies. He had a bump on his neck that grew and grew and grew until it exploded and he died. From the time the bump started to grow he died about 10 minutes later. In my mind when I saw that bump on Sam's head I immediately saw that show and thought that I had 10 minutes before Sam was going to explode. Like I said, I completely lost my mind. But in the moment I was losing my baby girl and thought of nothing else. This happened almost three hours ago and I am still shaking a little. What is wrong with me? My mom called tonight and told me that in situations like this I need to try and stay calm.
I DO NOT THINK THAT WILL EVER BE POSSIBLE! Chris is going to have to learn to do that for me.

Good grief.

a letter to me

2009-01-12T12:40:00.002-06:00

Dear mom,
I am sorry. I'm sorry that almost every time for the last few weeks that you pick me up from daycare I scream! I'm sorry that the second my teacher Andrea hands me over to you I start balling my eyes out. It is not that I don't love you, I just don't want to leave daycare! I don't want to leave my friends and all the great toys. Or maybe I am crying because leaving means I have to put on my stupid winter coat that is so thick I can't move my arms. I don't want to leave because then we have to go back out in the horrible cold, take the long drive home (all of maybe 10 minutes) and I have to listen to that stupid Disney music again. It is not that I don't like your singing but can we listen to something else PLEASE!
I think I scream when you pick me up because it is that time of day where I am in need of a nap but don't want to go to sleep and NOT because I would rather stay at daycare then go home with my mom. I promise on Wednesday when you come to pick me up I will try my hardest to hold back all of my immense sadness and not cry when Andrea hands me over.

Love,
Samantha Jane Enlund

dedication or insanity...you decide!

2009-01-11T19:25:00.003-06:00

So last week I went "running" five times!! This is me all bundled up and ready to go.
Do you see all that snow? And would you believe that it never got over 30 degrees while I was running. Three days when I went it was in the teens and I have decided that I cannot go when it is any colder than that (single digits is just TOO cold!). But I really do enjoy running and I have not done it in SO LONG. I wanted to get out, get active and start feeling better about myself.
See, when I was pregnant with Sam I heard from a lot of women that I would never get my pre-baby body back. I was convinced that I would prove them all wrong; I would work really hard, being totally motivated and get my body to look even better than it did before I was pregnant. Well, the more ice cream I ate the harder that goal became!! hahaha And then I just got lazy. The pounds were not coming off as quickly as I had hoped, or at all, and I got frustrated. I threw out (or gave to friends!) all my pants and gave up. It is not that I became happy with the way I looked, just too lazy really to do anything about it.
So, now it is just over two months until Sam turns one and once again I am trying to get motivated. I figure if I can get out and run once or twice a week, even in the bitter cold, and take a few classes at the YMCA I can maybe get back to something close to what I was before by Sam's first birthday. It is a lofty goal (13 pounds to my pre-baby weight; I gained almost 40!) but I want to try. I am also hoping that by running just a little bit in the winter it will feel even more awesome to go running in a few months when I can actually breathe while I run!!!
Chances are this was just a fluke and my running shoes will stay retired until the streets are no longer white but I am going to try! I will keep you posted...

winter walk

2009-01-07T20:20:00.002-06:00

The temperature yesterday reached a balmy 28 degrees so it was warm enough to be outside for longer than a few minutes. I took this opportunity to try out the new stroller that we were given for Christmas from Grandpa and Nana.
Remember this...
So Sam and I took the stroller out during the day for a run (okay really a quick walk!!). The stroller is AWESOME! I am not in good enough shape to really use it to it's fullest but even at a slow jog I can tell how much easier it is to push than the regular stroller and how much smoother it is for Sam. She loved it too.
I got her all bundled up, covered her cheeks with vaseline and even used a stroller blanket that we got from Aunt Jojo. She was nice and toasty. See how happy she looks!
When Chris got home we went out again for a family walk. It was so nice to get out and enjoy the "warm" temperatures for one day. It is suppose to get really cold this weekend and stay that way for a while so I am glad we got out while we could. Using it made me even more excited for spring to get here so we can be out everyday.

Any dog owners out there have tips on keeping kids safe around dogs? Polly growled at Sam twice again today and I am just not sure what to do. Keep them separated all the time? Let Sam torture Polly (with supervision) and correct Polly when she misbehaves? Correct Sam?
Any advice?

Sam's best friend

2009-01-06T08:23:00.003-06:00

She follows her around the house. Wants to be everywhere that she is. Polly is Sam's new best friend. Most of the time Polly just ignores her, walks away or runs and hides. But a couple of times when Sam has been relentless Polly has growled at her. This scares me. Polly hes never been aggressive toward any child but we know that she does have a fighter in her and will stand up for herself. She has taken down other dogs that are twice her size when they piss her off. I don't want to be constantly worried about Sam around Polly and I don't want to keep them seperated all the time but if Polly growls at her again we may need to do something. Not knowing what is in Polly's head scares me a little.
But for now the way Sam follows her around is adorable.

When Polly needs time away she hides under the bed. Sam wanted to go under there too.
She is a sneaky little girl!

My resolution = BE CONTENT

2009-01-05T17:05:00.002-06:00

I don't make New Year's resolutions every year but every time that I do they are about changing something about me, my attitude or my behavior. I have tried all the typical ones; eat less, run more, buy less, get organized, procrastinate less, save more, shower less (I went through a weird phase in college!), eat healthier, etc. They never seem to stick. This year I don't want to change anything; I just want to be content with what I have. I want to stop comparing myself to everyone around me. I want to stop thinking about what I don't have, what I want, what is missing, what isn't perfect, what I hope will happen and start feeling blessed for my life as it is, RIGHT NOW!
I have always been the jealous type and I think it is the thing that I hate the most about myself. But now I just want to be happy for other people when something great happens to them or when they acquire something nice in their life and not think "why not me?" This may be the hardest resolution I ever tackle. But I have to try. I don't want Sam to grow up envious of others; I want to teach her to appreciate what she says. I don't think I can teach her something that I don't know how to do myself (the best coaches were always the ones that coached by example!).
So this is my goal for 2009....JUST BE CONTENT!

she is LIVE

2009-01-03T20:12:00.003-06:00

My sister is officially on the world wide web (outside of blog land)!! Her website www.jodified.com launched just two days ago and I am so excited for her. I really think this is going to help launch her career to the next level. She is truly an amazing artist and I would do anything to help her realize her dream. Congrats sis, even Sam is proud of you!

So today has not been the greatest day at the Enlund household. I woke up in a bad mood because Sam was up super early and this is MANY days in a row that I have been the one to wake up with her. So of course the second Chris appeared I took all of my frustration out on him and barely spoke to him when he very happily said "Good Morning!" I did not think it was so "good".

It was cold, cloudy and gross outside which meant we couldn't go sledding, go for a walk or do anything fun outside ( I keep thinking that maybe we will have a "warmer" day so that I can take Sam for a walk in the new stroller that I got but the weather is just not cooperating).

Sam has diarehea for the second day in a row which has caused horrible diaper rash and a fussy baby.

We ran one errand today and when we got home the garage door would not open all the way; something in the motor is broken, we have to have a repair guy come on Monday.

So my car is in the driveway and it is OF COURSE raining/sleeting/snowing tonight which means I will have to clean my car off before church in the morning (awesome!).

We had planned on grilling for dinner, which Chris did (and it was good!), but the horrible weather made it a little less than enjoyable for Chris.

While we were preparing dinner we noticed a large puddle on our counter top. We had roof problems last year which led to quite a bit of leaking and even with the roof/gutter heating system that we installed apparently we are going to have more leaking this year! A good portion of the water from the leaking roof somehow ends up right under Sam's bed!!! AWESOME!

And while trying to give Sam her medication we accidently spilled the bottle and about five days of antibiotics went down the drain (and all over the counter/floor/rug!) Do I call the doctor to get more or assume what she has had will cover the ear infections?

Have you read the children's book "Alexander's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day"?

I think I will move to AUSTRALIA!!!

more to share

2008-12-29T14:11:00.003-06:00

Here is a bit more from our St. Louis trip...
We got to spend a great night with my good friends Tracy and Brad. Sam was not sick yet so it was actually a good time. They got Sam the best music set, which Sam loves already. Its a bit noisy but I think that is what they wanted!!

Today was a big day....to end 2008 Sam waved goodbye (or hi I'm not quite sure!) to me and she CLAPPED!! And not the kind of clapping where her hands just happened to come together but she slapped them together on purpose!! I am so proud. We have tricks now!

Okay, SO LONG 2008 and HELLO 2009!!! Have a fun and SAFE night everyone.

home!

2008-12-28T18:43:00.004-06:00

I have two homes.
There is one home where I grew up, have more memories than I can count and always feel comfortable. I spent the last nine days at this home. It was wonderful to be home. I got to spend real quality time with all of my family, cook with my mom, shop with my mom and sister (grocery shopping counts!) and party with lots of people. Sure there was an ice storm, sick/crying/fussy/out-of-control kids, two trips to the emergency room, two trips to urgent care and sleepless nights for everyone but it was still a great visit. It wasn't the perfect Christmas and will probably always go down as "2008 The Sick Christmas!" but we made the best of it. I just hope we all recover quickly and get back to life as normal. But with all the problems, I sit here in my current home and want to get back in my car and go back to the comfort of being close to my family. I miss them immensely already. I hope they know how much we appreciate them, love them and are grateful that they let us invade their lives for nine days (Chris and I are pretty sure we wore out our welcome on day six or seven!!).
Here are some of the great moments from the week...

We are home now, unpacked, showered and getting ready to eat dinner. Chris and I are both sick (probably just colds) and Sam is still coughing really badly. I am hoping that the antibiotics will kick in soon and help her find some relief.
More to share but I am too tired so it will have to wait till tomorrow.

christmas blues

2008-12-24T10:50:00.003-06:00

I look forward to the 23rd, 24th and 25th of December all year long. They always prove to be three of my favorite days of the year; filled with family, love, peace, excitement and tradition. This year however things are not going exactly according to plan.
My nieces and nephew are sick. Okay, I know that for those of you that follow my (whole) family you know that this is nothing new. But this time Bailey has pneumonia, the docs are thinking Parker may have asthma which is causing her two month old cough to keep getting worse, and Grayson just spent last night in the ER and now we know that he has RSV! So my nieces and nephew are REALLY sick. We know that when family around us is sick there is a very good chance that one or all of us is going to catch what they have but we didn't drive all the way down here to not see them and I am not afraid of catching a cold. It makes me a little nervous for Sam to catch RSV but if it happens we will deal with it; it still won't make me not spend time with my sister and her family during Christmas. But for my sister when your children are sick, when you are getting NO sleep because of fussy, not sleeping kids, when you spend five hours in the ER on the 23rd it kind of puts a damper on your Christmas spirit. I hate that her family is not perfect right now; it breaks my heart. But she is the strongest person I know (proven last night when she held her son as he had tubes stuck up his nose and was just screaming, she sat there very calm and comforted him knowing that it needed to be done to help him...I would have NOT been able to be there for my child the way that she was for Grayson. I am just not that strong) and she will make it through this hard time and still make memories, have fun and keep a smile on her face.
SO sick kids have changed plans and made things a bit more complicated for the family but the weather is also not helping the holiday spirit. An ice storm hit this area on the 23rd (which is the night that our WHOLE family, mom's side, gets together; a huge party that we spent all day getting ready for) and so only a handful of the family was able to make it out for the party. There are people that have not met Sam that I was so excited to see and now I don't know when we will see them. Just a bit disappointed. But we made the most of it and some other family and friends came over instead. It was great to see them and we still ate great food and played games.
I am trying really hard not to get too down. I want to still enjoy our holiday, have fun with my family, my husband and make memories on Sam's first Christmas. But I have the Christmas blues. Things are not perfect and I know it will be 364 days before I get these days back again.
Tonight is an amazingly quiet dinner with just my parents, church and then off to sleep to wait for Santa. As long as I don't ruin the traditional Christmas eve bread things should go okay tonight. (keep your fingers crossed about the bread!)
I am going to get the Christmas spirit BACK, not sure how but I swear that I will.
Hope your holiday is illness and ice free!!

Here is one AWESOME moment from the party last night -

Note - Just to prove how strong my sister is go here to read just how she is NOT letting her sick kids take away her holiday spirit!

she just wouldn't bleed!

2008-12-18T10:11:00.002-06:00

So yesterday Sam had her nine month appointment. It was just Sam and I because they said that she wouldn't need any shots this time so I told Chris he didn't have to come (yes I am a wimp and like to have back-up when my daughter has to get shots!). Well they were WRONG!
They did all the usual stuff (head = off the charts!; height = 29inches, 90th percentile; weight = just over 20 pounds, 75th percentile) and then said that they would need to prick her finger for a blood screening and she needed the flu shot. Damn it I had to do the hard stuff by myself. But okay, I can be a strong mom and get through this with her. The nurse came in with to do the finger prick and Sam didn't cry at all...but she also didn't bleed! No kidding the nurse held the tube under her finer for over five minutes and barely got a drop. The room was so cold and Sam's poor hands were so frozen that the blood was just not flowing. So the nurse gave up and said she would have to draw her blood for real from her arm! Now, getting blood drawn makes me cry, yes every time I cry! But you don't understand...my veins are very weak and it can sometimes take 2 - 3 tries per arm before they finally find a vein that will fill the tube. So I was scared for Sam. While that nurse went out to get the blood drawing stuff another one came in to do the flu shot. She was great and super quick but of course Sam screamed. I got her calmed down from that and in walks the other nurse to draw her blood. She couldn't find a vein. Never stuck her, thank goodness. She never even saw one in her arm well enough to stick the needle in anywhere. So she gave up again. Left, again, and came back with a hand warmer to try and get the blood in Sam's finger flowing. So we sat and chatted and let Sam play with the hand warmer for a few minutes. Then she pricked Sam's finger, this time Sam screamed and the blood came flooding out! Blood actually came out of both holes that she had poked and was dripping all over the place. Sam continued to scream.
All in all we were there for over an hour and Sam was not a happy girl but she made it through it all and so did I.
Good grief!

Enlund family moments

2008-12-14T17:50:00.005-06:00

And some of the funny moments from the weekend...

Who needs presents when you can have BOWS!

How about a little dog butt in your face?

Notice how excited and enthusiastic about the slogan I sound...Sam not so much!!

Enlund Christmas 2008

2008-12-14T15:38:00.006-06:00

What a great weekend!! So much to share from our Christmas celebration with grandpa and Nana.
It was great to see them and spend the whole weekend doing nothing but catching up, eating great food and playing with Sam. It was a wonderful Christmas celebration. And the presents weren't too shabby either! Sam had presents to open not only from her grandparents, but from the great-grandparents and her Aunt Lori and Uncle Carl. So many new toys!
Here are just a few...
This was the first gift that Sam opened on the Enlund Christmas morning. It was a Baby's first Christmas ornament that she got to then hang on the tree. So cute.

Two Plan Toys from Aunt Lori and Uncle Carl that are just amazing.

She got a book of the ABC's of golf from grandpa and Nana. It is pretty surprising that they didn't really have to stretch to get most of the letters. Okay, X and Z were pretty big stretches but other than that most of them actually worked!!
Love the Disney princess bike that grandpa and Nana gave us, but the batteries my need to come out!
Here is Sam testing out the slagon (sled+wagon=slagon! is what we decided to call it) in the living room.

Chris and I got some pretty amazing gifts as well. I got my dream vacuum the Dyson DC17. It can suck up anything and I have already vacuumed the whole house. I love it!!
Then we also got this AMAZING stroller. Apparently my sister helped out with the selection of this bad boy (THANKS AUNT JOJO!) and I don't think it can get much cooler. They also got us the double stroller converter kit so that we can still use it when we have a second baby. Both gifts were such a surprise and I can't wait to test out the stroller when the weather warms up.

Thank you so much Grandpa and Grandma Hill, Aunt Lori and Uncle Carl and Grandpa and Nana!!!
Merry Christmas Enlund Family!
More to share from the weekend...be back later!

just fun stuff

2008-12-12T13:26:00.003-06:00

She has learned how to stand up in her crib now and when you go in there after a nap or in the morning she peeks her head over the tail and just smiles at you so big. She seems so proud to be standing there. I just love it. So this morning while I was taking Polly out Sam was waiting patiently for me in the family room. She crawled her way over to the door and discovered that the door was cold and apparently delicious! (I actually went back inside, got the camera and then came back out to get a picture of her licking the door!!)
Sam's favorite hair style right now (okay, the easiest hair style for me to do!) is one sprout directly on the top of her head. This is a picture of what her hair looks like when the sprout comes out at the end of the day. Last night at dinner her hair and face were such a mess we just had to get some pictures!

And here is what had both Chris and I cracking up last night during bath time. Sam not only finds glass doors delicious but bath water too!

In about an hour Chris's parents will be arriving for the weekend. We are doing Christmas with them this weekend. I am so excited for them to see all the new things Sam has learned how to do and for Sam's first time to open presents for Christmas. I think she is going to sit in my lap, pull open the paper and be so excited when she gets each gift! hahaha okay maybe not but I am thrilled to have some new toys for her (or me!) in this house.

Merry Early Christmas Everyone!

PawPaw's Birthday!!

2008-12-11T19:55:00.004-06:00

I think one of the fun things about being a parent is watching your own parents play the role of grandparents. My dad loves being PawPaw. With his in town grandkids he needs "fixes" of them every few days or he almost goes through withdrawl. And when we come in to town he soaks up as much Sam time as he can. I just love watching him play with her, hold her, talk to her and love her. So, here is Sam's life with PawPaw so far...

Happy Birthday PawPaw!!
We love you!

proud mom moment

2008-12-10T19:42:00.004-06:00

I wanted to show off her new skills of crawling, pulling up and playing with certain toys. I have not been able to capture the true crawling yet because whenever she sees the camera she stops and stares at me. But today I finally got her to pull herself up and play with her little activity table. I decided not to go with the videos that showed off her amazing ability to drool, fall over (several times before we got the good video!) or just sit there staring at the table but not willing to put forth any effort. I went with this one instead.

okay maybe life is not so bad

2008-12-09T17:54:00.002-06:00

So I have decided that MAYBE I just MIGHT be a little melodramatic! (Refer to several previous posts in the last few days!)
I am not sure why but since becoming a mom everything seems life and death, stuff that needs to be done MUST be done now. I don't seem to have great control over my feelings. Yes, Sam is having a difficult time with naps and sleeping right now but once she gets to sleep she sleeps through the night pretty well. Do other people have sleep problems WAY worse than that...YES! Should I feel blessed with the full nights sleep that I get most nights...YES! But sometimes in the middle of the day when I want to get stuff done it is really hard to feel blessed. I do know that my life is still really easy compared to many others and I feel terrible sometimes complaining at all about my small problems (burning Christmas cookies...does that even really count as a problem?). SO I am going to try harder to just let the little things go, to enjoy life for what it is right now.

Okay, so in that spirit...on to more exciting and interesting things, like baby toys! Have you heard that my sister and I have become obsessed with wood toys; I mean like sustainable, good for the environment, endless imagination, heirloom quality kind of wood toys. Get back to the basics! I have just totally fell in love with the simplicity, the options for imaginary play, the endless fun and the quality. Check out Plan Toys at www.plantoys.com or Haba at www.habausa.com . They have wooden toys even for newborns. Really, go check it out!

shovel some snow

2008-12-09T15:06:00.003-06:00

I think shoveling snow could be the solution to all the world's problems. I mean it really is a wonderful chore and can take your mind off of anything.
Problems at work? Or just hate your job? Go shovel some snow!
Daughter refusing to nap and just crying in her crib because she has learned to stand up in the crib but not how to lay back down? Go outside and shovel some snow! (oh wait, I think that is called neglect...)
Sick family that you want to take care of but can't go home to be with? Go shovel snow!
So much cleaning to do you don't know where to begin? Shovel some snow!
Burnt the Christmas cookies? Go shovel some snow!
Well, it may not be the solution of everyone but it is what I have resorted to today. It has just been one of those days so I am taking my frustration out on the snow outside. In twenty more minutes Chris will be home, he can sit in here and listen to the screaming and I will really get to shovel the hell out of some snow! Although I am probably destroying the work that my chiropractor has been doing for the past week and a half but right now I do not care.
God - please just let me survive today and I am sure I can make tomorrow be better.

snow...Snow...SNOW!

2008-12-08T20:05:00.004-06:00

It is currently snowing and is suppose to snow all night and through to tomorrow morning. Goodness.

So on to other things...
Yesterday was a great day. We got some stuff done around the house in the morning, including the grocery store which always makes me feel productive. Something about the full refrigerator makes me feel like we have accomplished a lot.
Once noon came around we went over to our friend's house to watch football and eat some great food. We hung out, watched the game, watched Sam play with her friend Darren (my friend Darcy has a son a bit older than Sam and it is so fun to watch them play, or rather just steal each others toys!) and had a great time.
Sam got fussy and ready for a nap at the end of the first game so we headed home. It started snowing; the big fluffy kind of flakes that are beautiful to watch and don't accumulate too much. We got Sam down for her nap and we started making christmas cookies. It was so much fun to have football on the tv in the kitchen, Sam sleeping and the smell of cookies filling the house. I just don't think there is anything that smells better or makes my heart fill with wonderful memories than the smell of Christmas cookies.
It was really a great afternoon. And as my sister was quick to remind me I should enjoy it now because the second that Sam starts talking and we have a second kid (don't get any ideas, nothing happening on that front just yet!) we will never get days like that again! What's up with people killing my buz today?

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Here are some pictures from our weekend.

Sunday morning - playing around in their jammies!!

Nick and Steph hanging out with Samantha.

Our friend Brandon playing with Sam at the football party.
Sam having some dinner. It is a pretty cute picture but do you see something unusual?
Yes, she has one of those pinwheel cookies stuck in her hair!!

6-10 and I am spinning

2008-12-08T08:32:00.003-06:00

Right now we have about four inches of snow, I would guess, on the ground. On the radio this morning they are predicting another 6-10 inches for tonight!! AWESOME! It's pretty but really just a pain in my a--! Not to mention that after the horrible winter we had last year with all kinds of water leaking in three different locations in our house (which of course we were HORRIBLE home owners and this summer did nothing to fix our roof!) I am not excited about a ton of snow this winter. But here it comes whether I want it or not!

So my morning started out hilarious! (at least to me)
I was on my way to work and in order to get to my parking spot on the street I cut through a parking lot on campus. This morning the parking lot had been plowed but not very well and was surprisingly empty. As I turned down one of the aisles in the lot my car began to spin out. Since that section of the lot was very empty I decided just to go with it and have some fun! So I took my hand off the wheel and my feet off the peddles and let the car spin!! I got about 270 degrees around before the car finally stopped. By this point I was cracking up at the whole thing. When I looked up (while laughing hysterically!) I noticed a car straight across from with a woman in it. She was starring at me with her eyes open very wide and her mouth open! I can only imagine what she thought of my laughing and my spinning car. Boy did I give her a great story to tell her friends today. When I was still amused by this story and talking to my husband this morning he first asked "How fast were you going in the parking lot?" and (before I could really answer) "Do you drive like that with Sam in the car?". He totally killed my buzz.

Be back later with pictures and to tell you all about the incredibly cozy and wonderful Sunday we had.
Hope your morning is going well.
Happy Monday!

scary mistake

2008-12-06T09:36:00.002-06:00

I dropped her. Yesterday I dropped her. Don't worry she is fine; no real damage done.

We were walking in from the store and I had her in the car seat hanging on my arm. We got into the house and I don't know how but the car seat slipped off of my arm and landed on the tile floor in our entry way! She immediately started screaming. I, however, did not/could not go to her aid because I had dropped the car seat directly on my left foot!! I have never felt a worse pain in my life; labor wasn't even that bad. I thought for sure my foot was broken. I dropped to floor and started crying (yes I am a big baby but DAMN DID IT HURT!). Chris came running in and came immediately to me. I told him I was fine to check on Sam. He picked her up and got her calmed down. She was fine, just really scared and shaken up. I was still in real pain. My foot wasn't broken, just badly bruised and I will most likely loose my big toe nail. You should see it today...DISGUSTING! The whole thing was terrifying. I was worried for her, that I had really hurt her. Chris very quickly reminded me that the car seat is made to keep her safe in car accidents so a drop from two feet is probably not going to do any damage.
Later in the evening I started feeling really guilty that my first reaction was to recoil in pain and not immediately go to Sam's aid. Isn't a mom suppose to not even feel their own pain in situations like that and only be concerned about their child? Why did I not have that instinct? When my sister was eight months pregnant with her first she fell down an entire flight of stairs and the whole time she was falling she had her arms wrapped around her stomach, completely protecting her unborn child. She didn't care that this meant her legs and arms were getting stripped of skin as she continued to fall, she was only concerned about the baby. Those are real motherly instincts. Where the hell are my instincts? I feel like I failed, in a tough situation I failed Sam. No, she wasn't really hurt. But in that moment, when I was on the floor crying on the other side of the room, and she was screaming in her car seat, I didn't actually know for sure that she was okay. I really feel horrible about dropping her but feel even worse that I was more concerned with myself in the moment than her.
It is really getting hard to not just feel like I totally suck at this whole mom thing.

Tonight is the Sentry Chirstmas party and while it is not the most exciting night out ever I am really hoping that a night out with friends will get me back in a positive frame of mind.

like a champ

2008-12-04T09:45:00.002-06:00

I put her down at 6:15 and by quarter to 7:00 there was not another peep! So the screaming did not last long. YES! Maybe this won't be such a hard habit to break after all.

Advice -
Sam all of a sudden HATES getting dressed. She squirms away and fights with me through the whole process and screams whenever I try to put her arms in the sleeves. Could I be hurting her in some way? Is this a side effect of teething? Or is she just becoming more of a toddler and less likely to sit still?

It is weird, she has been really fussy lately, more so than ever before. And at the oddest times too, like getting dressed. I thought for sure when we got her ear infection cleared up she would go back to being her happy self again but she hasn't. I am hoping this is just teething or a growth spurt and NOT her new personality. She is starting to have attitude already with me and I DO NOT like it. I know what kind of a brat I was sometimes with my parents and I am just praying that Sam does not have that kind of behavior in her. The doctor said he wanted to see us when her medicine was gone to make sure that the ear infection is gone so maybe I will get off my lazy butt and actually take her in just to make sure that she isn't still sick. I would actually love for her new behavior to be caused by something that is "curable" and not that she is just becoming her mother's daughter!!

she screams

2008-12-03T18:30:00.003-06:00

I sit here in my kitchen working on our dinner and writing to all of you and she is in her bed screaming. We are breaking her of her bad habit routine that we created. Her bedtime routine for the past 8 months has been dinner, bath, bottle while cuddling on the couch and then she goes to bed. However every night she falls asleep while taking the bottle in our arms and then we just lay her in bed already asleep. It works wonderfully and she goes to bed and sleeps all night. BUT she is horrible at napping. I have to do a similar routine during the day, taking at least a half hour to get her to take a nap that rarely lasts longer than an hour. She cannot put herself to sleep. I am sick of having to spend most of my day figuring out how I am going to get her to go to sleep. I know that this is a horrible time to be trying this, she is teething, learning to crawl, just getting over an ear infection and the holidays are right around the corner where her schedule will get all messed up, but I just have to try. I feel like a horrible mom right now listening to her cry but I HAVE to do this. I WILL DO THIS! And I know that Sam will be okay. But it is still hard.

Our Christmas tree

2008-12-02T12:09:00.006-06:00

We got a real tree this year for the first time in a couple of years. For the past few years we haven't even been putting up a big tree because we are normally gone for almost three weeks around Christmas so it just doesn't make much sense. But this year our Christmas vacation is much shorter so we decided to get a real one again. We went with Chris's whole family to the tree farm and picked out our tree. It was so much fun but of course Sam slept through almost the whole thing.

We got the tree home in one piece and spent Sunday afternoon getting it set up and decorated. I just love Christmas trees, everything about having it in our home makes me happy. I really don't even mind the mess from setting it up because the needles that get sucked into the vacuum make it smell good every time I turn the vacuum on!
And here is Samantha standing up against the box from the ornaments. She is pulling herself up now, all on her own! It is quite a huge change for her and something that seemed to happen over night. She was barely crawling when we were in St. Louis a week ago and now she is crawling, climbing and standing up. The bad part about this is that she seems to be falling and hurting herself all the time now. I am not sure how to keep her from pulling up on things until she is steady enough to really stand on her own (unless I really just don't ever leave her side!!).

Here is a very funny/cute video of Sam crawling over Chris. It may not seem like it in the video but she LOVES doing this.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-02T07:00:00.005-06:00

Yes, I know I am really late but we were out of town without computer access and have had a busy couple of days. SO, better late than never right! Hope you all had a wonderful turkey-filled day. We were in Viroqua, WI visiting family and had an amazing time. Now prepare for a flood of family photos!!

This is Sam's other second cousin Dominic with his mom Alyssa (Chris's cousin). She is pregnant with her second and due very soon, but you wouldn't know it becuase she still looks thin and amazing; just the perfect little basketball belly!

Isn't Eva just the cutest little thing? She is a month older than Sam and already so close to walking. Kind of scares me to think that Sam could be there soon.
The Enlund family! Missing younger brother Craig and the newest member Lori's husband Carl. Boys you were missed this past week.Here is Sam eating her Thanksgiving feast. This was actually one of the highlights of the holiday for me. She ate all the same foods that we did and LOVED it! Her meal included stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, turkey, squash, green beans and even leftsa (this is a strange potatoe/bread thing with butter and brown sugar that is a tradition for Chris's family; surprising delicious!). It was so fun to have her eat with us and even eat the same foods. We always do dinner after she is in bed so we don't get to do that at home.
Okay I need to get to work but I will try to be back later with pictures from us getting our Christmas tree (Sam's first trip to the tree farm!), putting the tree up and a great video of Sam!

On another quick note...please send my sister some love because she is very sick with the stomach flu. I know, lots of people get the flu, but for my sister it is actually really dangerous. When she gets this sick she starts to faint (in the strangest and most dangerous places sometimes!!) and has to go to the hospital to get lots of meds to make the fainting stop. She spent yesterday in the hospital and is hopefully recuperating at home right now. But please pray for her and think lots of good, healthy thoughts for her and her family.

updates

2008-11-30T07:04:00.006-06:00

So my mom reminded me that I had posted that we WENT to the doctor but then never came back to give a report. She is sick. She had a cold and an ear infection which the doc said was very red and obvious. So she has been on meds for four days now and is feeling better. Although I am pretty sure she is cutting a tooth so it still seems like she is sick (crankiness, not sleeping well, runny nose, etc.). She weighs 20 lbs 7 oz and otherwise the doc said she looked great.
In other news...she can crawl. I wouldn't go so far to say that she is "crawling" to the point that she makes it across a room, or even more than a few feet, without falling back down to her belly for more army crawling/worm type movement. But she can get up on her knees and make the motion of crawling. And Aunt Jojo even caught it on camera.

I love that video because you can hear my dad in the background, Aunt Jojo, Chris A., Chris E. and Bailey; we were all just hanging out. Such a great moment.

Here are a few more pictures from our long weekend in St. Louis.

I love that I got so many pictures of my sister. She is so often the one holding the camera that there are never any pictures of her. Glad I was able to capture her this time.

So this is Grayson eating baby food. I spent a good portion of the weekend making homemade baby food for him. My sister should be stocked up now for quite a while! It felt really good to be able to do something for her that would help make her life just a little bit easier. And it was also good that he actually ate it!!
Thanks family for a great weekend! See you all again in just a few short weeks!

One Life.

2008-11-29T19:05:00.003-06:00

One life...

became a beautiful daughter who was the pride and joy of her parents.
became a wife who made a promise over 25 years ago to love no matter what and has kept that promise.
became an owner/VP/office manager/accountant/errand girl for a construction company that has built and rebuilt places for families to live, that has grown and prospered for generations and even built a church.
became a mother of two daughters that challenge her at every turn but in the end have turned out pretty good (hehehe).
became a woman of such great faith that she has been a deputy, chair, president, committee member, coordinator, volunteer, cook and every other title you can think of for her church and for the entire Missouri Episcopal Diocese.
became a grandmother passing on all the wonderful traditions and memories of the previous generations.
became the matriarch of a family that is growing so fast that we can barely keep up.

One life has been lived to the fullest and changes the lives of everyone she meets.

Happy Birthday Mom! Thank you for the previous (insert number of years here!) years that you have lived with such amazing heart. I am blessed to be a small part.

Hope you had a great birthday!!!
Love you.

off to the doctor

2008-11-26T08:33:00.004-06:00

You knew it was coming right? I mean we would be morons to think that we weren't going to get sick. Chris and I have been downing the Zicam and Airborne to try and prevent us from getting sick, but poor Sam has been defenseless. So she woke up this morning super fussy and very congested. I immediately called the doctor and we are headed there in a little bit. I am hoping that we will be able to get her some meds, get her better (or at least make her not contagious quickly) and still be able to see the Enlund side of our family.

On a better note, I have started going through all the videos and pictures from our St. Louis weekend and this video is just too cute, so I had to share.
I love that we caught the cousins "playing" and Bailey is at SUCH a cute stage right now. Well, just watch...you'll see.

surrounded by love and sickness

2008-11-24T14:20:00.002-06:00

Not sure if I mentioned that Chris, Samantha and I were headed to St. Louis for the weekend but we did and are actually still down here. We (Chris and I) took the whole week off this week and started out down here for the weekend seeing my family.
It has been great hanging out with the family, seeing my nieces and nephew, playing cards (getting KILLED in hearts by my husband was not so fun!), and just being "home". We head back to WI tomorrow morning and then on Wednesday we are going to Viroqua, WI to have Thanksgiving with Chris's family.
So anyway, we are loving being surrounded by family this week. However, right now we are also surrounded by sick people which is not so fun. My nieces, Parker and Bailey, have strep throat. My dad is just getting over Strep throat (which is probably how B and P got it). And my nephew, Grayson, has an ear infection! We are doing our best to keep the kids apart but that is very difficult. They didn't really show any signs of being sick until we were already down here and had been around each other for a day; not that if we had known we wouldn't have come. We can handle a little sickness it just stinks to be sick on vacation! So keep your fingers crossed that Sam, Chris and I stay strep throat and ear infection FREE!
I can't find our camera cord right now but I am dying to share some of the awesome photos and videos that we have gotten this weekend so come back later for those!!

FREE CROCS!!

2008-11-20T11:11:00.001-06:00

Need a new pair of comfy crocs for FREE!! Go here and try to win a pair. She will send them to you, any size, even kids sizes!!! Seriously, go HERE!!

quick pictures

2008-11-19T07:40:00.002-06:00

Sam and I got up and went to church on Sunday. I thought she looked so cute I just had to get a quick picture. Love this hand-me-down dress! Thanks Aunt Jojo!!
Here is Sam after her hair cut yesterday. I cut all my hair off and decided that Sam could use a trim as well. I was disappointed that she didn't get to sit in the little booster seat, I actually had to hold her which meant that I didn't get to take pictures while she was getting her hair cut. But I set her in the chair after she was done for a quick photo. She squirmed a ton which made it very difficult to cut her hair but her bangs look much better now!

blah

2008-11-15T16:22:00.003-06:00

This word seems so simple but today it describes not only the weather but my mood, Sam's mood/behavior and everything else about this day. See we (Sam and I) are without Chris today, he is at a ping pong tournament (I know kind of weird and could there be anything worse than being a ping pong widow? I mean I am okay with being a golf widow, but PING PONG!), so we had a lazy day at home. She took a great morning nap and I was still feeling a bit motivated then and got some laundry started (yes I said started...it has not gotten very far) and other chores done. But after lunch it has been a different story. We have been laying around the lilving room being cozy and lazy. While being lazy I have accomplished over a month of entries into Sam's baby journal; adding pictures, stories and even some scrapbooking embelishments! Okay so maybe that isn't lazy but the house is pretty messy with mopping, dusting, vacuuming and other chores that could be done so in light of all that I feel like I have been pretty lazy. While I was "working" on Sam's book and Sam was playing in the living room I decided we deserved a cozy fire and some candles. I went a bit overboard considering it was just the two of us but I say if you have them enjoy them; what else are they there for?

And here is Sam today. She is due for a hair cut. I have an appointment for both of us at the salon on Tuesday. She is going to get her haircut by a professional!!
And check out the pigtails! I dare say I AM GETTING GOOD!! HAHAHA

Happy Saturday everyone!

teeth!

2008-11-11T17:13:00.002-06:00

Chris discovered a second tooth today! Sam doesn't have a cold she is cutting a second tooth. She started acting fussy and sick yesterday and woke up this morning with a really runny nose. I have not been feeling that great so I assumed it was a cold coming on. But I guess I was wrong. She was cutting a second tooth. She now has two partial lower front teeth!
So we have been trying crackers and bit of toast and she is doing great. She loves crackers. But what other healthy finger food options are there? If I want to continue to "cook" my own baby food what things should I be giving her now? I know that Gerber makes other finger foods but are there regular foods that she can have now as well? So much change and I am just not sure what is safe or healthy for her at this point. Moms out there, any advice?