a first for me

I had to run to the grocery store this afternoon for a few items I had forgotten. Sam came with me so Chris could go for a bike ride before the sun went down.

Anyway, while I was walking to the check out Samantha started screaming. There was not much I could do, I wasn't going to take her out of her seat because we were going to check out and then go right back in the car. As I approached the check out she was still crying and I soon realized that pretty much everyone in the store was staring at me! I tried talking to Sam, giving her the pacifier, and swinging the seat but she did not want to be sitting and wouldn't stop crying; people continued to stare. I started to feel like I was doing something wrong, in some way neglecting my child or being a bad parent. People continued to stare. It was my turn to check out and she was still crying. The check out lady stared at Sam and then I swear I felt like she was glaring at me! What was I suppose to do? Clearly people could see that she was actually fine, not being hurt in any way, she just didn't want to be sitting and wanted to cry. That was the most uncomfortable, awkward trip to the grocery store EVER.

What are moms suppose to do in that situation? Do you ask people to stop staring? Do you pretend like you are talking loudly to your baby and say something like "Oh please stop crying so all these crazy people will stop staring at me?" Anyone else ever experienced the horribly judgmental stares of strangers?

Oh well, we survived.

snow day

Well, we have been enjoying our snow day to the best of my ability. I have been working on projects, mostly addressing birth announcements (watch your mailbox!). After a projective vomit last night and several not so pleasant poops today I also decided it was a bath day. I was going to attempt to shoot a bath video today, but she was so calm in the bath that the video was really rather boring. But here are some cute bath time pictures.

With this much hair you have to use a lot of shampoo and really scrub!

Love those baby feet!

This is during our pj party protest. Sam is just hanging out on daddy's pillow (in case she needed to throw up again! just kidding) in an outfit that is still a bit too big.
I love baby ears, but Sam's are disappearing! I think a hair cut might actually be necessary.

frustrated!

I am frustrated that I do not know why my baby cries. A friend of mine figured out that soda and dairy products caused her son to be very gassy and upset, so she stopped eating/drinking those foods and suddenly her son was no longer fussy. She says he is a perfect baby now. I want a perfect baby. But how do people know what makes them not feel good? When you eat a sandwich with chicken, tomato, lettuce, cheese and ranch dressing how do you know which part of it made them projectile throw up and be fussy all night? I don't know if I am not watching what I eat closely enough or what. And I don't know if I really have a fussy baby or if she is normal and I just don't know it cause I have nothing to compare it to. I feel like she cries for no reason a lot but maybe this is nothing compared to a colicky baby. I am frustrated.
I am also frustrated because I woke up to this.
And just in case you can't tell just how much, look at this.
And it is not stopping. So Sam and I are stagging a protest and staying in bed until the snow stops. We are having a pj party protest! Mother Nature if you are reading this I am not getting out of bed until you bring back Spring!

good grip

Our little girl has developed quite a grip! She can hold on to our fingers pretty good but the thing she can hold on to the best is my shirt when she is feeding. For some reason she grabs hold and never wants to let go. She really holds on for dear life! We have tried giving her very light toys or her pacifier to hold to she if she can lift and hold onto things yet, but so far she is sticking with just my shirt!

news and updates

So tonight I went to a Wild Edibles lecture and hike at a local reserve. The event only lasted an hour and a half but I have to say that when I got back home I realized that I had actually missed Samantha. I missed her...after only an hour and a half! I didn't think that could be possible but it happened. I am so glad I am not a mom that has to go back to work right away, I just can't even imagine how hard that must be.
The timing of my event tonight kind of stunk and I knew that Sam was going to be hungry while I was gone. I had pumped a little today and told Chris he might have to give her a bottle for the first time while I was gone. So I was very anxious to see first how she would do with the bottle and then how she would do on the boob after having a bottle...she did great with both. Chris said the bottle went fine, since it was just him here we don't have any pictures of her taking a bottle for the first time. And I fed her tonight again and she had no problem feeding on the boob after having the bottle. Exciting stuff cause this means that some night soon we could go out for wonderful Mexican and I can "pump-and-dump"! Life changing news for us. Fajitas and guacamole here I come!

Lastly, I have news about my duck, Mabel. If you remember Mabel was building a nest in our planter box next to our front door. She is not really "my" duck, just a wild Mallard that has nested in our planter box before and came back this year. She had 12 eggs and had begun her sitting on the nest until the eggs hatched. Well now she is gone. After an incident with a stray black cat, Polly (our golden retriever), myself and Chris the duck has left the nest and been gone for five days; I don't think she is coming back or that the eggs are still okay. So sad. I wanted to kill the stupid cat that started the whole ridiculous mess and crazy chasing scene. Chris is going to deal with the eggs for me so I don't have to look at them anymore (I have no idea what he is going to do with them and I don't want to know) and clean up the nest. Just wanted to update you all on the sad news of Mabel.

Okay, those are my updates and news. Sorry no pictures this post.

spying!

Today I feel like I am spying on my daughter. We are trying out sleeping in the crib, on her back, NOT in the bouncy seat. She loves having covers on her so I have to put a blanket on her when she is laying down; which I know is a no-no when they are this little. So, I am constantly checking on her making sure that she is okay and that the blanket is still in the right place.
As I tip-toe into her room to look into the crib I feel like I am spying on my daughter. Clearly she doesn't care or know the difference but I can just picture her screaming at me one day "mom get out of my room!" the way I use to yell at my mom. So while she can't yell at me I decided to really spy on her and take a picture of her successfully napping in her crib!And yes I know that it looks like her eyes are open and that she isn't a sleep, but that is just how she sleeps sometimes, eyes partly open.

Bad Thought

Today a thought entered my mind that I wasn't expecting and didn't like...being a mom can be boring. Isn't that horrible? I feel like such a bad mom, a bad person really, for thinking that. Moms should love being moms and enjoy being moms; but today I just didn't feel that way. It's just that there are only so many things you can do with an infant. It was raining most of the day so I couldn't go for a long walk like I have been the last few days to kill some time and get out of the house. And the times when she is sleeping and will let me put her down I feel like I need to get stuff done but laundry, dishes and straightening up aren't really all that exciting either. So today I just felt bored.

But I did try some new things to pass the time. When it wasn't raining we sat outside and I talked to Samantha about the birds and ducks that we saw. She really seemed to like being outside; she was awake and not fussy!
We also got out the playmat that Jodie gave me and although Samantha is still too young to really enjoy it she stayed calm for at least a few minutes. It was funny because her hands and legs were moving a lot and she would hit the toys handing over her head totally by accident. I thought it was pretty cute and decided to video tape her a bit.

So the day is over and I made it. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice out and we can go for a walk, run errands or spend more time outside to make it a better day.

But Sam is still adorable when she sleeps!

We love Family!

When Chris got the job in Stevens Point, Wisconsin I knew it would be difficult to be away from family but I was excited for a new place and a new adventure. Little did I know how much I would truly miss our families when we started our own family. I want more than anything for Samantha to have close relationships with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. That is hard to do when you are five, eight and/or "way too many hours to count" away from family. We have been so blessed since Sam has been born to be surrounded by family. So many people are coming to visit us, help us and check in on us; it has been amazing. So, in no particular order, here is a tribute to all of the wonderful family that has made long trips to see us. Chris's Aunt Cindy and cousin Amanda.

Chris's Aunt Barb.

Grandpa Hill.

My sister Jodie.

My parents Rick and Mary Jane.

Grandma Hill.

Chris's dad, John.

Chris's mom, Kathy.

Chris's sister, Lori.

So, THANK YOU FAMILY! It has been so great having so many visitors and all the great help. Uncle Craig and Uncle Chris we can't wait for Sam to meet both of you!

Samantha goes to the Golf Course!

For those of you that may not know my husband enjoys golf. I try to play, it usually doesn't go very well, but I try. Samantha will most likely get golf clubs at a very young age and for her sake (and my husband's) I hope that she at least enjoys the game as a hobby.
Today Sam had her first visit to the golf course. It was much nicer out than it was suppose to be so we packed her up and went to opening day at Sentry World to hit a few balls on the driving range. We enjoyed our first time out to hit balls and Samantha slept through the whole thing.
After golfing Chris and I played around with our camera trying to get some good photos of Sam and I. These three are ones that were actually not that bad of me, Samantha just wasn't cooperating. A fussy baby does not always look that great in photos. Sam's hair is not greasy, she had just had a bath.

All dressed up

I don't know if you noticed but in yesterday's post Sam was wearing jeans, a sweater and shoes. Well today we went one better. Check out Sam wearing overalls, shoes and a bow in her hair! With the way her hair grows right now I could not figure out how to put it in a ponytail so I just clipped it in the mass of hair that is growing straight forward.

Now that I have seen her with a bow I am in love! However, these were the only cute little girl clips that our Target had so if anyone has any suggestions on other places that sell cute baby hair accessories let me know! Too fun!!

Four Weeks Old

Sam is four weeks old today!

Her life is not much different from when she was born; she eats, sleeps and poops. However, she is getting bigger and has already grown out of some of her newborn sleepers and onsies (I know, I know, not really all that exciting, but this new mom thinks it is neat). We are also celebrating the fact that the very small amount of snow you can see behind me in that picture is the ONLY snow we have left anywhere in our yard. Warm weather is finally here and I am loving it.
Mom just left this morning, after staying with us since Sunday and it was very sad to see her go. We got so much done and had so much fun while she was here; a shopping day, lots of fun errands, a full day of great cooking and of course lots of time with Sam. Mostly it was really nice to have someone right here that could say things like "Yes, she could be hungry again already", "It's okay, sometimes babies just need to cry" and at 2:30am "Would you like me to take her?". It was a great visit.

Thanks Grandma! We love you!

Thank you Aunt Jodie!

When Sam was just a few days old my sister did a photo shoot with her, Chris and I. Jodie was sick with the flu (so she held her breath whenever she got close to Sam and had me move her and position her), exhausted and just generally felt like she was going to die but she put aside how she was feeling to take the most amazing photos for us. I am so grateful to have such a giving and talented sister! So, here are a few of my favorites from the photo shoot.


I love that Chris can hold her like this and that I know he will still be able to hold her with just one arm for quite some time to come. One of his nieces favorite things is to be flown through the air on his arm like its an airplane. I just love the strength this picture portrays.


Baby feet are always the most beautiful little things.
She is not always happy, but isn't that face still so cute!

So I love this picture because we both have very natural smiles and look good, however I swear I am NOT that much shorter than my husband. Jodie must have done something tricky on Photoshop to make me look so short!The whole Family! Cute photo and you cannot even imagine how hard it was to get all four "hands" to be in the right spot all at once.

We already have so many of the pictures printed and in frames around our house.
I just love them.

So THANK YOU AUNT JODIE! And if anyone out there needs a photoshoot be sure to check out J. Allen Photography.

Bath Time

I would not call our first bath a successful event. We had great intentions and thought we had everything all figured out; the water in the bathtub had been running to warm up the room, we had the stuff we would need to dry her off and get her dressed all set up and ready, we had the soap and the washcloth ready but it turns out we really didn't know what we were doing. We didn't really have the whole infant tub thing figured out, Sam screamed the whole time, it was difficult to say the least to actually bathe her, and we managed to get water on just about everything. But Sam is clean and we have the wonderful first bath pictures; that really aren't so wonderful because we were kind of trying to hurry and didn't ever stop moving to take a good photo! Even so we had to share a few from Samantha's first bath.
One of the pictures may seem "backwards". That is because Chris was actually taking pictures of our reflection in the mirror.



You will notice her head is not even any where close to being in that little pillow thing designed to hold their head!

Wet babies are slippery little suckers!

Sam in Motion

I did not know that our camera had a video camera option until after Sam was born and Chris was playing around with the camera in the hospital. I am so excited that I can now video tape Sam!! So here is my first and second attempt at catching Sam doing something cute to show you all. Remember she doesn't do all that much right now, so every small movement is exciting to me.






And here is one more video, just because I can. I got the date wrong on the video, it is actually from right now.

Oh What A Night

We had a rough night last night. Sam was up quite a bit and then after she would be changed and eat just didn't seem to be tired. By 3:30am I had done so much walking, bouncing and rocking I could barely stand up anymore. When she started crying after having already been fed and changed I woke Chris up and asked him to go and check on her. We went to her to discover her sleeper was soaked as was the bouncy seat that she sleeps in. She had thrown up all over herself as well as peed through her diaper and gotten the bouncy seat all wet. I felt horrible for her! We changed her and she once again seemed wide awake. So, in order for one of us to get some good sleep I took Sam and went down to the family room where she slept soundly on my chest while I watched Law and Order reruns (thank you TNT!). This is the second time in the last 24 hours that she has had a pretty major throw up, but she doesn't have a temperature; moms is this normal?
Then to top it all off we woke up to this...

Looks like a scene out of White Christmas or something, but no that would be the several inches of fresh snow that we got last night. Isn't it APRIL? I want flowers! I want stroller walks! This sucks.

Just because I need to smile here is a picture from our attempt to have tummy time yesterday. She didn't do very much to work on her neck muscles, she just fell asleep.

Cousins

I just love that Samantha is going to have cousins that are close to her in age, or practically the same age. I think this will make holidays and family visits so much fun for the kids. Next Christmas my parents will have four grandchildren "running" around (really only two of them will be moving a whole lot, but you know what I mean) and I think that is going to be awesome.

A huge benefit right now to having a sister that has already had two girls is the hand-me-downs. Not only have we gotten an infant swing, bouncy seat, exersaucer, and tons of other toys but we have also gotten boxes of baby clothes. I just love putting Sam in an outfit knowing that Bailey and/or Parker once wore that same thing. Somehow to me it connects them. So today Sam has on one such hand-me-down and it is one that I knew for sure Parker wore because there are pictures in my house of her wearing it. I went looking on the computer to see if I had any digital copies of those pictures and when I found a few something else surprised me.

I really think there is a family resemblance! It may just be the dark hair but something about the infant pictures or Parker look very similar to Samantha.

This is Sam today.

More Sam.

Here is Parker at Christmas 2006.

More Parker.

Does anyone else see a resemblance or is it just the outfit and dark hair tricking me?

The Hair

Bad Hair Day!

Better Hair Day!

New Discoveries

Well, Samantha has been pretty good at sucking on her pacifier from when she was just a few days old. She recently, probably by accident, had her hands discover the pacifier while it was in her mouth and she proceeded to hold it in her mouth while she sucked on it! It was very cute. And I think it helped her keep it in her mouth for longer.



Isn't that some serious bed head!?! I am really considering cutting her hair already.

Her second discovery was flipping over! She was laying next to me on the couch on her back and started fussing and then rolled herself over to her side. Chris says it was probably just the contour of the couch that rolled her over and she didn't really do anything, but I swear she pushed herself halfway over. Her face is fuzzy in the picture because she was moving around at the time but I just had to take some pictures of her laying on her side, just in case she did actually roll on her own. Before you know if she will be able to roll all the way over!