Attempting to get Sam to do something on video...

So Sam had been scooting after Rachel till I got the camera out. Oh, well, I tried...I'll try again! The second one is Sam "dancing" which he does all the time!

Pokins!!

That's what Josh calls them. We decided not to carve our pumpkins. Josh really wanted to "open" them, but I told him we could paint his pumpkin instead. He told me he wanted to make a blue bird. Here is the result:

Not bad for a 3 year old!
He loved painting the newspapers!

The blue sucker...started out blue, didn't get painted!
The process...notice his tongue out in concentration
My beautiful little punkin! I placed him by the pumpkins, but did no other posing for these...he's just perfect!
Channeling Daddy...look at that one eyebrow up! Have you ever seen a baby do that? I haven't!




No idea what he's looking at here, but doesn't he look angelic?


Investigating

Taking a closer look





My favorite photo...my precious little pumkin baby!

4 teeth and CRAWLING!

OK, I'm a horrible Mom, and it's taken this long to do a post about Sam crawling! I also have no video to show you...I tried, but the memory card was full and batteries in the camera were dead, so I'll have to try again soon.

Anyway, Sam has been "crawling" on knees and elbows for over a week now...it's so funny, he'll get on hands and knees, rock and rock and rock...crash on to his tummy, then get on his elbows and knees and inchworm his way across the floor! He can MOVE, too! Good thing we're headed to a place with no stairs soon! However, when we get back, we're going to immediately have to get some sort of gate figured out for our stairs. He's already pulling the baby gate we have propped against the fireplace (it's not big enough to fit snugly) over onto his head about once or twice a day!!

He also has gotten a fourth tooth...still no upper middle teeth, but has the two on either side, and two on the bottom in the middle. Crazy snaggletooth! His Daddy has taken to calling him "Fang!" However, the middle ones are extremely tender and puffy, so I don't think it will be long before he has those two, as well.

I'll leave you with a beautiful picture of him in his new flight jacket from Grandmom and Grandad!

Ranting

OK, so no pix and no real cute stories or anything...just want to say, being sick STINKS!! Being sick while you've got sick kids too, and a deployed husband stinks EVEN MORE! I'm so tired of being sick, and sick of being so tired! Sam's been waking up at least twice every night, and combine that with the sickness and critter noises I've been hearing over my bed at night, and it's a bad deal for me! No wonder I got sick!

OK, thanks, I'm better now. Hoping everyone gets better by Friday so the boys can wear their cute costumes for Trunk or Treat at the church!

Sam's 6 month check up...finally!

I finally got around to taking/downloading/putting pix of Sam up here. These are from the day of his 6 month check up (you'll see the shiny bandaids from his shots). The top few are playing later that evening.

This is not blurry b/c of me...he kept bouncing everytime I tried to take a picture!!

Hello, all! I finally got around to making Sam's 6 month check up, went this morning, so here are the stats.

He's 16.9 lbs. (though he hadn't eaten yet, so I really think he's a little more than that), 27 1/4 ", and head circumfrence was 43 cm. Those numbers put him in about the 60th percentile for height, 17th for weight, and don't know for head. But the dr. wasn't concerned at all, and said he looked good. He was his normal charming self, and behaved beautifully, even when he got his shots! He was so hungry he wolfed down his oral one, too! Josh, Sam and I all got our flu shots today, too, and all did great! Josh hasn't had a shot in a couple of years, so he had no idea what it was, I don't think, and still did great, no crying or anything, and is a huge fan of the "banbaid" and dora sticker he got! Sam fussed for a few secs till I could pick him up to comfort him, but was just fine and smiley again in a min.!

Speaking of good babies and check ups, it occurs to me that I haven't posted about Sam's 6 month cardio check up, either. To remind those who don't remember, Sam was born with an enlarged right atrium, and despite hours of testing just after he was born, no cause could be found! The pediatric cardiologists at MUSC (a really great teaching hospital) signed off on him, and asked to see him again in 6 mos. to determine if anything had changed, and if they could find any cause when he was older, and his heart and everything more fully formed.

So while Missy and Josiah were here visiting, we went downtown for that appt. (Missy, Josiah, and Josh stayed home...thanks again, Missy, for watching Josh for me!!), and once again, Sam was as good as gold! He charmed everyone, and let them take a ton of pictures (echocardiograms) of his heart and some ultrasounds of his stomach, too, to try to find a reason for his right atrium to still be very enlarged. No cause was found, once again. The ultrasound technician working with him called him her little "puzzle baby"!! They were concerned about possible pooling blood, which can cause enlargement, and could ultimately cause clots and strokes/heart attacks, but found none. They also looked at his stomach, to be sure there were were no issues there, and at the walls of his heart and everything they could think of. He's a head scratcher! The cardiologist told us there are only a handful of cases in all the literature out there like him, with no determined cause for an enlarged heart chamber.

All in all, they think there's no worry for the short-term, and want to see him back in another 6 mos. (just after his first birthday), and long-term, they're not sure yet. They talked about doing an MRI to map his heart, but b/c they'd have to use general anesthesia, they wouldn't do that till he's much older, probably around 7-8 yrs. old.

So that's pretty much it. I unfortunately do not have any pics of him at his cardio check up, b/c I forgot the camera, but did snap a few from today, which I will upload later, when I find my card reader.

Sam's hit all the developmental milestones pretty much on time, or even early, so he seems to be a fairly normal (except for his "puzzle" heart) 6 month old--almost 7 months, really! Wow, how time flies! Taking him back down to MUSC was a bit nostalgic, since we haven't been there since he was pretty tiny, and not to the cardio wing since before he was born! I like going there, everyone's very nice and helpful and good about explaining things that sound bad in a way that makes it seem not scary! That's a very valuable thing, when you've got a baby with a strange heart condition!

Check back for pix of Sam from today, and hopefully of all of us from when Missy and Josiah were here!

Videos

I finally figured out how to edit my videos, so here's 4.

Sam and Rachel having a "conversation" These are both the same video, it uploaded twice, for some reason, and won't let me delete it.

Josh got this dump truck that you can take apart and put back together with a little drill. Josh is really good at using it!

The other one is Josh saying "Eye wuv you!"

Sam eating a puff. He's much better at it now.

My Little Cowboys

The other night I put the boys both in jeans and their "western" shirts and cowboy boots for church, and we had a photo shoot on the stairs after we got home. I think they turned out really cute!

Brothers
Aww...cute little boy behinds!
Cheesy little boy!
He got so excited, he was jumping up and down when I took this picture!
Being silly
The slightly more stationary one...love that smile!
"Look at the camera, Sam! Right there!"
One of the only ones where both are looking at the camera and at least sort of smiling.
Boots and Jeans
One of the best!
Josh just doesn't get the concept of "natural" smiles in pictures! But they're still awfully cute, aren't they??

Sam is 6 months old!

So these pix were actually taken on the 2nd...whoops! I'd put him in the middle of his floor to play, and went back to check on him a couple of min. later, and couldn't find him!! I heard him giggling and cooing, and looked under his crib...here's what I found!

Silly boy!
Sam is:

• rolling (obviously!)
• getting up on hands and knees...not for long, but he does it!
• chewing on EVERYTHING!
• eating lunch and dinner with "real" food...fruits/veg and rice cereal. So far he's had green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, corn casserole, applesauce, oatmeal and apples, peaches, bananas, apples and blueberries, sweet potato puffs, teething cookies, apple slices (he just gnawed on them), fruit and yogurt, and I think that's about it.
• recognizes (we think) his Daddy on the computer and talks to him
• chews on his toes and fingers all the time
• still uses a binky and still mostly sleeps on his tummy
• can pinch like nothing else...it HURTS!
• has 3 teeth, and will probably have more very soon. The third one is a top tooth, but just beside the middle...no middle top teeth yet. Go figure, my kid has to be different!
• loves his seahorses
• loves to chew on his bibs, clothes, burpcloths, etc. Have I mentioned he shoves everything in his mouth?
• still has the SWEETEST smile ever!
• is getting thicker hair
• talks and coos a lot
• loves his brother, and really would like to get closer to the dog!
• has a very sweet spirit, but definitely wants what he wants when he wants it...OR ELSE!
• is my very favorite Sam Henry in the WHOLE WORLD!

Josh is 3!

Well, he turned 3 almost a month ago, but his check up was later in the month, and I've just now gotten around to actually downloading these pix.

Anyway, Josh weighs 35.5 lbs, and measures 37.5" tall. (I think he might actually have another 1/2 inch, but he wasn't too clear on the concept of putting his heels against the wall and standing up really straight when the nurse put the measuring thingy on his head)

He's healthy, and, according to the growth chart I just looked up online, he looks like he's about 75 %ile for height, and 10th for weight, though that doesn't really seem right...I might be reading it wrong.

Things Josh can do:

• set the table
• pee in the potty...he very rarely has an accident of any sort...but refuses to poop in the potty, just waits for a diaper/pull up mostly. We're working on it, but if anyone has any great ideas for us, we're open for suggestions!!
• sing several songs (Twinkle Little Star, ABC's, etc), including his own that he likes to make up on a daily basis
• loves to do "art"
• is learning his letters and knows how to count reliably up to 13 or so...and with help can count to 20. He can also count to 5 in spanish, german, and french (with help, of course)
• plays pretend all the time...and is VERY imaginative!!
• likes his brother a lot more now, and can be very helpful with him
• feeds the dog and lets him in and out every day
• still won't eat vegetables (mostly), and is still iffy on meat of any kind, but will now eat ham and cheese sandwiches (I think that's Sydney's doing...she eats them, and Josh LOVES Sydney!)
• Speaking of Sydney...he's so cute with her, and very protective. When she cries or gets hurt he tries to help her and tells her, "It's OK, Sydney"
• Loves Dora, Diego, Little Einsteins, and Charlie and Lola
• misses his Daddy very much, and likes to wave out the window to him when he goes to bed. AJ told him, before he left, that Josh's windows are to the east, and that Daddy was going to be in the East, so if he waved out his window, Daddy could wave back. It's very cute, and a little sad.
• has a HUGE vocabulary and uses words like "frustrated" and phrases like "not quite yet" correctly

I love my sweet big boy, and can't wait to see how he grows and develops even more through his next year!

Grandmom's Visit

My mom came to visit a couple of weeks ago for a few days. We had a lot of fun, despite the fact that I ended up getting sick while she was here.

Rachel and Sam "visiting."
Josh just loves climbing this ladder on our bookcase!
The finished track that Grandmom and Josh built together.
We had birthdays while she was here, and Josh got a dump truck that comes all apart and has a drill and bolts to put it all back together...he loves it! And he's really good at getting it all apart and back together by himself! Such a pro...he's been watching his Daddy, I guess!
Putting the bolt back in
Josh in the middle of his track set up, running his train around. Yes, that's a bandaid on his head...he bumped it, and insisted he needed one, so I decided not to make it an issue.
Playing with the ambulance that came with his emergency center.
Sam is sitting up pretty well...likes playing with stuffed animals
Babyzilla!
Diving in for more geotrax
Wow, look at this!
Just so you know, that shirt smelled like chocolate until I washed it. Not why I bought it, but a fun little bonus!
Josh helping Sam play with his penguin
Sam loved this penguin Grandmom got for him!
Josh dressed Grandmom up in his pirate stuff. She's gonna kill me for putting this pic up! (FYI, she's not just randomly holding her hand out, Josh made her hold the treasure.)
Playing Pirate
Grandmom and her grandsons!
They had so much fun with her (and so did I)!!

Thanks for coming out, Mom, and for everything you did for us while you were here! We miss you!