Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Crawling!

Wow...we had an exciting evening...Sam went from kind of scootching on her bum to what I would definitely call Crawling...Here's a short video...after this she made it all the way to the window in the living room.

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

I'll get more video soon...I'm too busy right now childproofing.

Advice for my friends who are newish parents...even though your first baby eventually gets old enough to play with toys with little pieces...DON'T buy them/play with them, you're just going to have to hunt down all the little bits that are too small for your second baby.

Add that to the hunt for the Melissa & Doug Slice and Bake Cookie set that we own that was just recalled and I've got no time to take good crawling videos at the moment. (Though somehow I had time yesterday to make split pea soup, bake biscuits and try making sesame snaps (success!))

See you soon!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

10 Months!

Today we celebrate that Sam is 1o months old!

Sam's standing unbelievably well...apparently she IS an entirely different creature (in this category) than her sister was.
She's not saying any words yet but is definitely understanding some. "Reach" means reach your arms up, "Kiss" means open your mouth and touch someone with it, "Bonk" means to bonk heads (GENTLY please!) and there may be a few others I can't think of. I honestly thought I heard her say Katie and Wave the other day, but I haven't heard it since, So I was probably mistaken.
She's such a daredevil when she's standing...we've even had a few moments of standing hands free. She loves riding on her car.
Loves her big sister too.
Hates tummy time...which I think is why there's no "crawling". She did give us 17 min of tummy time yesterday when she was in a good mood. She does get around a bit though...a sitting up kind of scoot. Reaches hard for things and ends up shuffling forward, side or back a bit. We have a few predictions that she'll be walking before she's a year.

Sam's been a bit grumpy lately which we're blaming on teething...still haven't seen that second upper yet.

Eating is going well...we'll officially begin offering meat today. It's getting easier to feed her from off our plates because she's eating more things. She does love carbs though...do all children love Cheerios, pasta, rice and bread?

It's delightful seeing how fast our little Sam is growing...She's a real screamer when she's fussy but when she smiles there's not a happier baby in the world!

A few videos to share:

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.


Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Strange Napping

We had the strangest napping situation this past weekend. We went out Sat. afternoon to a little event downtown, followed by some errand running. On the way home in the van, Katie fell asleep (around 3pm). She hasn't officially napped in about 6 weeks. Ben managed to carry her in the house to continue her nap...and she did (this was a rare thing even when naps were normal!). She napped until 10 minutes after 5 when I woke her up for dinner. Ben had gone alone to the volleyball game we were all going to go to since we would have been to late waiting for Katie to wake up.

Trouble came at bedtime when she was mischievous and up in her room until almost 10pm!! Maybe not napping isn't so bad after all. Then on Sunday afternoon, we found her curled up in a blanket underneath a "tent" (blanket) we had made in her bedroom. So sweet...pictures are still on the camera...will show next time.

This is Katie having playdoh fun:Those are my old playdoh toys...barbershop where you can cut hair. Fun fun!
And the girls at bathtime. No matter what the mood, bathtime is almost always happy time.
Sam love it.
It's fun to spend time altogether.
Sam's been fussy lately...suspect it's that other top tooth. She's also begun "kissing" a bit...where she kind of bumps into your face with her mouth open. Too cute!

P.S. Here's a link from the local paper...pictures taken of us at the festival/event downtown that we went to. (there are two pictures...one of Dad and Sam and one of Katie).
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Gallery+Christmas+Square+prints/2224629/story.html

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Breakthrough?

Hello!
Just wanted to stop by and tell you about two little breakthrough moments we had last Thursday.

1. Sam played Peek-a-Boo for the first time. As in she held up a piece of paper and moved it up and down to hide and reveal. I love this! I clearly remember Katie's first time doing this too because it's such a cool thing to see...she's taking control and really having fun interaction with us. Sam's also started lifting up her hands and laughing/smiling when we copy her.

2. Katie had TWO poops in the potty! It's been a while...she started off doing it but then for some reason started pooping in diapers (at bedtime) or in her underwear...even if I had JUST asked her to go to the bathroom. But Thursday she did it twice and once yesterday. (and once yesterday in her bed, for which she said this morning " Sorry mom about the poop in my bed")

Overall, I'm feeling like things have settled down a bit...I'm not as frustrated all day long (though it still doesn't take much for Katie to push my buttons). It doesn't help that Sam's been a little whiny this week...suspected her medicine wasn't working well this batch because she was spitting up more too...we've got a new batch now, so we'll see if that improves. And there's also the runny nose she woke up with yesterday. She seems in good spirits considering and no fever so I'm not worried that it's "The Flu". I suspect Sam's also going through a clingy phase...my parenting/baby center email ("your baby 9 months 3rd week...or whichever week it is") mentions that clingy-ness is common at this age...it's bit frustrating to have her cry every time I set her down.

The weather's been amazing lately...I can't believe that Christmas is coming so fast...we do have a bunny that spends much of its time under Katie's little slide in the backyard and it's turned all white just in the last week, so we may be getting some snow soon.

I should go...Ben's having a tough time getting ready for work with Katie demanding his attention...and I'm just about done my coffee, which is my free time excuse ("When I'm done my coffee"). Happy Tuesday!

PS...I have videos that I've not been sharing, so I'm hoping to put them up and share soon...that's the plan man. =)

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Baby She Can Drive Her Car

Video of Sam driving her car taken this past weekend.

Untitled from BabyLuch on Vimeo.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Halloween!

We had a happy one!
Katie dressed up as Ladybug Girl, seen here at the playgroup Halloween party. The wings are cardboard covered with duct tape and marker, the tutu was made by Gram as well as the t-shirt. The antennae with sparkly bobbles were bought. The boots are yellow boots we already had that I covered with tape and marker. Cute and (mostly) homemade...just the way I like it!
Sam was a princess/queen wearing a pretty dress we had and topped off with a crown (cardboard and tin foil) and one of the wands from JoAnne's girls birthday party the other weekend. She had red teething cheeks that really added to the costume.
Our pumpkin turned Jack-o-lantern:
Katie at Gram and Grandpa's house before going trick or treating with Dad and Grandpa.
Outside trick or treating...this is how we do it in Canada...all under the winter coat. We did have superb weather though...not sure what the temp was but our neighbour dropped by after the kids were done to share their leftover candy (we only had 14 kids at our house!) and he didn't need to wear a jacket.
When they came home Ben said Katie had SO MUCH fun doing Halloween. Not shy at all. Sam helped me give out candy while Katie and Dad were out. We had some nice one-on-one time.

Sam got her 3rd tooth this week. You can just see it right up top. She's not been the happiest lately because of it but I think she's doing better now that it's through. On the toddler front things have been some more of the same but also somewhat better. Not sure if it's actually better or simply a shift in perspective. I'm learning to live without naptime.

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!