11 months old!!!!

I was flipping through some of the old posts, and since I am with Sam everyday I don't realize how much he changes, but my goodness. He is doing so well and just basically is doing everything he is suppose to be doing. He is not doing his army crawl anymore, after spending a couple of days with his cousin Sadie, who is just about his age, he started to crawl. (Crazy that he is affected by peers pressure so early). He has found it a much more efficient way to get around. I guess being a speech pathologist what I find so amazing is that he actually has words!! He only has two consonants "b" and "m", so that limits what you can say, but luckily a lot of his favorite things start with that sound. "bu" is book, "ba" is ball, "boo" as you might guess is boo (his favorite game), "moo" we think are his farm animals, and of course "Mama" is mommy. I'm sure that he's trying to say Daddy too, but what do you do if you can't say "d" yet? (At least that's what we'll tell BJ) Sam just keeps us laughing all day long with his funny looks and good nature. He has proven to us on several occasions that baby proofing the house at all times is absolutely necessary. It was so funny, yesterday on his 11 month birthday he started smiling for the camera., so here are a few adorable pictures.

Sam figured out how to take the top off his puffs and instead of pouring them out to get one he will reach his hand in to get a few to eat. How very considerate of him, isn't it.
What can I really say about this picture, it is just so cute. This is the smile that BJ and I keep claiming he does all the time. The problem with putting it on the Internet is that now I am going to be getting calls from Gerber all day long trying to get me to have Sam endorse their products.

What a big boy!! I can't believe that only 11 months ago he was just a tiny little baby.
Here's trouble. We went shopping today and I couldn't believe what good luck I was having that Sam was so patiently playing with his toys while I put the groceries away in the other room. I didn't realize that the box of Kleenex had fallen on the ground. Yes, you guessed it, that is EVERY SINGLE sheet pulled out of a new box. He was so proud of himself.

Pictures with Santa

I realized I never put up any pictures with Santa. He wasn't so sure about this jolly old fat man in red, but got some good looks at him and was amazed at the resemblance to his Uncle Tyler.


Hmmmmmmm. I guess we'll go home and think about that one for a while.

The Zoo

Shannon has a season pass to the zoo. Because of that, Sam has been going to the zoo since he was a little guy. He has never really noticed the animals during those visits. Not until Christmas day, that is. He is really starting to watch the animals around him a lot more and gets really excited and makes noise when he sees them. Some of them got a little too close for his comfort in the petting zoo, but he was brave and tried touching most of them. Here are some of the pics.

Sam on a Llama:

Checking out the deer:
Getting a close encounter with a goat:
Shannon and Sam feeding the giraffe. Check out the tongue on that guy!
A little shy around a little goat:
The day we were at the zoo (Christmas Day) was coincidentally the day of the tiger attack in San Francisco. We were a few feet away from the tigers at this zoo. Fortunately they were pretty calm. I'm sure there will be many more zoo adventures to come.

Some fun pics

Here is what is going on in each pic. In the one above, he is demonstrating how thin his hips are by scooting right out of his pants. We are having a heck of a time keeping them on. I say let him roam free while it is socially acceptable, Shannon doesn't quite share my sentiment and insists that he does indeed need to wear pants. Sometimes moms just don't understand!

We were happy to get him smiling here while enjoying a new food, banana. It was a little slippery for him yet but he had fun.

He is starting to explore the kitchen and likes the warming drawer in the range. A few days ago I said to Shannon "I wonder how long it will be before we come in and find him sitting in that drawer." The next day she came around the corner and this is what she saw. Guess it's time to childproof.

This is Sam with his cousin Sadie (Ty and Tiff's) who is two months older. They are both starting to pull themselves up on things and ended up showing off for me a few days ago. I enjoy the awkward stance they both have. They also each shared the trepidation of getting themselves safely back to the ground without hurting themselves.

THE BIG DAY!!!

The day we have been waiting for has arrived. Sam was sealed to us on November 23. We are grateful to all the family and friends who made the trek out from faraway distances in order to be there with us. Sam did really well and was a good little boy.

Sam's crawl

One of the things that we think is really fun is the way that Sam scoots around. He is capable of crawling normally, but he chooses not to. Instead he does an army crawl across the floor. Notice the technique with the one arm thing and the speed he gets. You will also notice that he gets tired half way across and stops to take a break. My sister, Holly, called and asked if that was normal to put his little hand under his chin when he stops for his rest. Yes, that is normal. It is hilarious to see him do it so I am glad it is on film. Thanks to Papa for filming this for us.

Halloween

Here are a few belated Halloween pics...

The group picture is with his Library friends where he and Shannon go once a week to do a "Mommy and me" story time. The second shows off his costume and how well he sits up and the last is my favorite, it is him at the end of the evening after visiting some of the neighbors. He just had this look on his face the whole evening like "why in the world am I out after dark and everyone dressed wierd?".

It was fun!

The Pumkin Patch

Sam's been making some big developments. He has realized the benefits of just sitting now and has had his first sitting up bath. Of course I think every child alive has had a picture taken of them in the bathtub and Sam is no different. I think his little hand is covering up all his vitals. He is becoming quite the scooter and can now get to anything he really wants. We went to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday and Sam helped pick out a pumpkin. Afterwards we went to Trader Joe's and Sam got his first balloon. He loves it. He's manage to carry it around with him all morning. It's pretty cute.

The cutest baby ever...

Sam is just so cute!! This weekend Sam has started trying to give kisses. It is so cute because they are very slow and calculated as he moves for a slobbery wet one. We'll have to work on that if he hasn't gotten better by the time he gets off his mission (until then I'm fine with him scaring off the girls). For all those who have teased me about having a ball at the end of my nose (namely my fabulous sisters) will be happy to know that Sam found it. While trying to give me a kiss he bite down on the end of my nose and started to gnaw. I was laughing so hard I could get him off. He has quite a bite. Good thing he doesn't have teeth yet. I just love Sam so much. He cracks me up all day long. I never realized how much I would love someone who wakes me up at all hours of the night, pees on me, poops on me, spits on me, throws up on me, and demands my attention at all times. He just brings so much into my life. I love being a mommy!!!!!

Mesmerizing glare...

Last night (Thursday) Shannon and I sat down to pick a new picture for the main picture for this site. We looked and looked through the hundreds of Sam that we have taken and he is not smiling in many of them. I feel compelled to explain that he does smile and laugh a lot, he really does. As soon as we pull out the camera though he gets that mesmerized look that you see in many of the pictures below. Granted, that look is really cute but his smile is even cuter. I am therefore going to make it a point to figure out how to get him to smile for the camera. Some of you experienced parents are probably thinking to yourselves "yeah right, like you can force a baby to smile when YOU want them to" but I am going to give it a go anyway. I'll be sure to follow up on this one.

Life rolls on

We are now a minivan family. I was finally able to talk Shannon into wanting one instead of an SUV. As our neighbor put it "they sure aren't very sexy, but boy are they convenient". It is a 2004 Honda Odyssey and we are very happy with it. Lots of room and lots of extras. Who knew that power sliding doors would be so convenient?

Not much else happening with us. We are looking forward to conference this weekend. I am between classes and don't have to worry about homework in between sessions, just enjoying the nice cool weather that we are starting to get. Speaking of classes, only 6 more and I am done! I will finish up next June and am all ready for it.

Sam, the Yoga Master

Modified seated side plank

Cat Pose (Closely related to "Oh my gosh, he's about to crawl!!! pose) Cobra Pose

Upward facing dog pose
Locust Pose

Sam's been doing some yoga recently to prepare himself for his quest to start recking havoc around the house. Here are some of the poses that he has learned so far. He is currently using all of them to try to reach my lap top right now.

The Court Hearing

Today was a big day. The three of us met with a judge and finalized the adoption. All in all it was a very quick experience. We had to wait about an hour because our attorney got double booked, but once we got in it was just a few questions from the attorney and a statement from the judge. It only took less than 10 minutes, including pictures, once we got in the room. We are thrilled to have it finally done. Before now it has been kind of like living in a state of limbo, but not anymore. We are so grateful to have this little boy!

The picture above is us with the judge in the courtroom right after we finished. Sam found the microphone MUCH more interesting than looking at my Dad taking the picture.

The next step is the sealing which will take place the day after Thanksgiving. We are anxious to get that done as well but decided to wait a little bit in order to make it easy for our out of state family to be here.

Sam's smile...

Sam already looks embarrassed by his parents in this pic.

Sam just continues to be such a happy baby. Whenever we go to the store he just charms anyone who smiles at him with his big grin. The funny thing is that we can hardly ever catch it with a camera. As soon as the camera comes out he becomes a deer in the headlights and stops smiling to stare at the camera. ( Thus in most pictures he has a slight dazed look to him) Nana and Papa finally captured a smile, how be it, it is not his classical toothless grin.

Sam just can't wait to get on the move. He loves trying to scoot around on his tummy and likes to stand up. We just figured out that he will try to walk when we hold him up with his arms (of course he is awfully proud of himself doing this). We know we are in for a lot of trouble because he still has a difficult time sitting up by himself. He doesn't seem to be interested in anything that doesn't take him places.

He is loving eating baby food. He has tried peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. Not a big fan of the squash. He has made a great discovery. If he blows raspberries right after he gets a spoonful of baby food it will make a glorious mess. Sam, Mom and/or Dad, the high chair, and bib are covered in baby food by the end of the meal. We just adore that little stinker.

Sam's new best friend

Yet again, we have neglected our blog for a couple of weeks. The first 3 photos were taken at BJ's parents cabin over the past few weeks. As a result of the monsoon storms, mushrooms 9" in diameter were growing in the from yard.

Sam is continually growing and sat in a high chair for the 1st time last weekend. He is getting more and more interested in our food, and insists on sitting with us at dinner time.

He has found a new best friend this past week. His friend shows up in mirrors. He will play and talk with this adorable baby for a long time. This gives Mom and Dad a little break because we are his second best friends and he makes us interact with him during every waking moment. Not that we mind this too much. It just makes it impossible to do anything unless Sam is asleep. (Sam has been helping me with my spacing in this paragraph. I think I fixed all of the really big spaces.)

Sam's first flight

For all of you die hards who check often sorry we haven't posted in a while. We have been on vacation. We took Sam on a plane for the very first time. We included a picture from actually inside the plane. He did very well. We made it to three family reunions over the course of the week and many other family gatherings. We were very fortunate to stay with Grandpa and Grandma Clark in their nice home. I think the coolest part of the trip was being able to see Sam interact with other kids. Anytime there were little boy cousins around he got very happy and wanted to go run around with them and became a little chatter box. To his dismay, he is not yet able to walk and run or speak English. We are working on those still and I'm sure he will be a pro here before too long. The last picture is Sam and I in the SLC airport. As you can see, vacation wore him out pretty good. He was excited to get back to his crib and familiar surroundings.



Sure was fun to see so many friends and family!

Young Woman Sleepover

This last weekend we brought the Young Women from our ward to Bryan and Karen's cabin. It was very fun. I thought it was a very successful activity. No one got hurt (physically or more importantly emotionally!), there was enough food, enough places to sleep, and the girls even liked the hike. I just love the Young Women of our ward. It is so fun to be the Young Womens president. Our girls are awesome. Every time I go to the mall and see what other girls their age are wearing I am impressed at how modest each of them are. Being in AZ that is quite a feat. I never thought that I would ever say that when I was that age the world was so different and we didn't have a portion of the temptations that the youth have today, but it is so true. The youth in the church are awesome!!

Favorite Toys

Sam just cracks us up constantly. Some kids love their blankies, Sam's favorite toy is a burp cloth. We will give him a burp cloth and he will be mesmerized by it. He will hold it in his hands, look at it, and then of course suck on it. I walked in on him like this a couple of days ago. Notice how he is snuggled up to the burp cloth. He has also recently found his nose. When he meets new people or is around unfamiliar people (or sleeping) he will hold onto his nose for some reason. I guess it's just a great new handle. He is just the cutest baby ever!!!!!

The Flu Story

Once upon a time there was a baby named Sam. At the ripe old age of four months he got the flu for the very first time. In fact, it was the very first time he had ever been sick! You can see in the first picture how he felt about being sick. He writhed around on the ground and moaned.

Daddy thought he would make Sam feel better by putting him on his stomach and cuddling with him. This was a bad idea on Daddy's part. Just as Dad laid him down Sam figured out how to make himself feel better, as evidenced by picture number 2! Who knew baby's could store that much formula at one time?

After grossing Dad out something fierce Sam felt a lot better, as seen in picture number 3.