No proof yet...

...but Sammy smiles. It is the freakin' cutest thing ever.

All the books say babies smile at 8 weeks, but I'm not kidding, he smiled the first time at 3 and a half weeks. I didn't share it in case it was a fluke, but he does it quite often now. He's a happy boy.

One of these days we'll get a picture of it.

"Sleeping Dress"

We have lots of friends with daughters older than Anne, so we get lots of hand-me-down clothes from different people. We recently got a big box of things, and Anne happened to receive this yellow nightgown. We call it her "sleeping dress" and she likes it a lot. I tried to get a good picture of her wearing it, but that's hard when your kid won't stand still or screams "Say CHEESE!!!" at the top of her lungs when you tell her to smile. So here are my best efforts...I like this one because she's walking tip-toe, something she's getting quite good at. She was prancing around, content with her Ritz cracker before bed.
I wet-set her hair after the bath...perfect pigtails in two perfect sausage curls.
"Nope, not gonna stand still for you Mom. Sorry!"
Also, take a look at Annie's "ticker" on the right side of the page. Almost 2!

Annie at 1 month

For you to compare...here's Anne at 1 month old. She pretty much looks nothing like she does now!

One month!

Okay, so the "month day" was officially yesterday, but I did not seem to be in a fully-functioning state of mind yesterday, so here's the blog post and pictures.

This one actually was about a week ago, actually. His shirt says "I get my good looks from daddy." So true.
Here's Samuel's quilt from my Aunt Joy. Recall that Annie has a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" quilt, so we kept the theme going with a "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" quilt. It is beautifully made, just as all her quilts are. And before you go thinking I'm jealous of the kids' blankets, I'll say that I have one, too. Sam and I received one as a wedding gift. We are rich in handmade quilts!

Samuel, yesterday, at 1 month old. He was also sporting his Robeez football shoes for the first time.

With his matching pillow, attempting to tell me "I'm too sleepy! Please stop!"
And here he is last night, ready for bed. That darker spot by his shoulder is where he was kind enough to spit up on our bed. No, I did not wash the blanket. Apparently I'm willing to let the sheets and pillows get just a little bit more stinky before I launder them all. The amount of spit-up I encounter daily is truly amazing. My favorite so far? When he spit up while nursing and it rolled down my side/back and on to the pillow I was sitting against. And when it was all done and he was back in bed, I just laid down in it and went to sleep. Gross? Yes. Necessary? Also yes. Like I'm really going to change pajamas and strip the bed in the middle of the night. I need that 20 minutes to sleep! Who knows when the baby time-bomb will go off again?!?
We love you, little Sam. Just stop barfing all over, okay?

Opa: Here's your new project

I expect to see Anne's performance some time around Christmas...

We're still here!

We're just not finding the time to blog. Two kids can really sap your energy. I was remembering my maternity leave after having Anne and I recalled how I didn't take a nap once during those 8 weeks. I didn't feel like I needed one. Now I'm dozing off on the couch once or twice a day!

Here are some photos to show you what we've been up to this last week and a half:

Sam completed a personal goal on Saturday when he ran his first 5K race. He was afraid he was going to a) die or b) finish last, and I'm pleased to say that neither of those things happened. He ran a cool 35:08...plenty of room for improvement, but his pre-race estimate of 32-26 minutes was pretty good!
Annie rockin' her sunglasses in the car. We have 2 new cars at our house, but that is a blog post for another day.

Annie's first ponytail! I thought she looked ready for a pink leotard and ballet slippers.

Samuel swings! He's had a few tries in the swing, and they've all gone pretty well. Here's hoping he learns to like it in the near future. Plus he looks like a fighter pilot with that extreme harness/buckle thing on.

Apparently in his sleep he reflects on the bone-headed parents he's stuck with.

Happy, sleepy boy, home from his first week of church.

And Annie, too. I tried to get a picture of them together, but it was a no-go. Annie doesn't want Samuel to touch her in any way, so we can't lean him on her lap or arm to snap a quick photo.


See what I mean?

2-Week Check-Up

Sammy headed to the doctor yesterday for his first official well-baby visit. Here are the stats:

Weight: 9 lbs, 5 oz
Length: 21.25 inches

So he's up 4 oz from his birth weight, which is good, and he's grown almost an inch already. When was the last time you grew an inch in 2 weeks? His weight, length, and head size all fall right in the middle of the growth charts--he's the perfect example of average for a 2-week old baby boy.

Things are still going pretty well here. Sammy eats and sleeps (though he's been fussy today...) and Annie has moments of great pleasantness and sweetness, then moments of whipping her toys on the floor and randomly crying. The highs! The lows! I don't know if it really has anything to do with the baby or more to do with her impending 2nd birthday. What I do know is I am not her favorite person most days, and that's kind of sad. I hear lots of "I want Daddy!" or "I go to Oma's" Okay, baby, just keep taking tiny stabs at my heart! She's nice to the baby, which is more important than being nice to me right now.

Shoot 'em while they sleep

When all else fails, take a picture of the sleeping newborn. At least his eyes won't be crossed all crazy-like.Sam has quite a set-up for his bed. He sleeps in the Pack 'n' Play next to our bed (with the bassinet insert in) and I try to snuggle him into the Boppy pillow when I lay him down. I'll try to wean him out of that habit soon, but it is already a step up from him sleeping in bed with Mom and Dad. Here he also has his cozy blanket from Adrienne. I wish I could get some deep sleep like that...

This is my life now: Episode 1

A brief snapshot of my day:

Both children awake and alert.

Cleaning to be done--for my own sanity and because guests are coming later.

Put baby in sling.

Get snack for child.

Drag out vacuum cleaner, knowing full-well what madness it will cause.

Plug in vacuum.

Tell child "It will be noisy"

Commence vacuuming.

Commence child hysterically screaming.

Continue to vacuum all rugs in house in midst of screaming.

Observe baby sleeping peacefully in sling.

Sigh.

Finish vacuuming.

Note that it took about 5 minutes from start to finish.

Calm child--make her laugh by telling her "This thing eats dirt. Yucky!"

Return to regularly scheduled morning activities.

Um...wow...they let you teach photography?

We have forgotten a lot of things about having a newborn (why does he sleep all the time? holy crap, those diapers are small!) One notable thing is how hard it is to get a cute picture of him. He's rarely awake and alert, and the camera seems to catch him making the most awkward face or crossing his eyes in a very unpleasant way.

Nonetheless, here is what Sammy looked like yesterday:

Look, Ma--no legs!
Big blurry baby face.

Huh?
I swear, he is much cuter in person. Mommy is not good at capturing his "essence" on film.