I am a child of God.

The cutest thing happened when we put Sam to bed last night. Since Sam was a newborn we have had the same bedtime routine. We read him a scripture story, say prayers and then sing "I am a child of God". Tonight we asked if he wanted to sing with us. He sang all 3 verses of the song with us even getting a few of the words right. I showed him some sing language for the chorus and he did that as well. He was so darn proud of himself at the end of the song. If only we could have caught it on camera, but then again it has been impossible to take pictures of him lately because as soon as I pull out the camera, he wants to look at the pictures that are already on it and won't stay posed. It has occurred to me more and more that Sam is really paying attention to what we do. That is pretty scary.

Talking

We are so proud of Sam in the last month Sam has started using so many new words. He will use at least one new word a day it seems. We have been keeping a list on the fridge of the words he is using and in one month has doubled what he was using before. He is also using mostly 2 word phrases, his SLP mom is so proud.

BJ and I have enrolled Sam into preschool for the fall. So crazy. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. We really researched it a lot. I never thought I would be the type of person that would care about her preschooler education, but I have to admit I toured 4 different preschools before we decided on one. With Sam's learning style (how he will totally focus on learning his ABC or numbers until he has mastered them etc) that we decided that he would really fit into a Montessori preschool. While touring the schools Sam would walk into the classrooms in utter amazement at how they have letters on the wall that you can trace with your finger. This kid loves the alphabet and numbers so much. He would actually cry when it was time for him to go, that's a good sign right. He is going to go to school for 3 mornings a week. With strict Montessori they are suppose to attend 5 days a week, but we just don't think we are ready to send him off to school for that long. He will only be 2 1/2. He is enrolled at Montessori Children's Garden (http://www.montessorichildrensgarden.blogspot.com/). It is run out of the owners basement. We thought that would be more of an intimate group. He starts on Aug 12. So crazy, my baby's going to school!!

Samisms

These are just some cute pictures of some of the quirky things Sam does. He is just so darn cute!!!

Sam is getting really good at going to the potty. The funny thing is that before he would always find a corner or go behind a curtain or something while he would go poop. Thank goodness for the shower curtain so he can go poopie on the potty in peace. We all need a little privacy. (I am pretty sure that his shirt is covering his vital parts there, if not I apologize.)

Sam often times does not like to be changed from either his jammies to his clothes or his clothes to his jammies. This is a picture of him rebelling. He put his pants back on but put both feet in the same hole and can't figure out why he can't move. He is just so cute.

Now this is what tells me we need a sibling for Sam. I kept finding his blocks in his chair with the buckles done up when I went to put him in his chair. I finally witnessed one day how they kept showing up. Sam puts them in his seat and does all the buckles. Such a nurturing boy he is just taking care of his blocks.

For Labor Day weekend we went to visit BJ's hometown, Morgan Hill CA. We also got to see some of the surrounding area such as San Fransisco and Monterrey.

This is a picture right before a big wave came out of now where, scrambling out of the say BJ and I bonked heads really hard and Sam got soaked anyways, but here we are happy in our ignorance.

BJ and Sam at a beach in Monterrey

Fisherman's Wharf at Monterrey

Monterrey.

On one of our first dates I remember BJ telling me how he grew up at the mushroom capital of the world and every year they would have a Mushroom Marti Gra. It just happened to be the same weekend we were there so I made BJ go. I later found out that there family never actually went and this was one of the first times that BJ went other than picking up trash afterwards as a scout. There are surprisingly few mushrooms at the festival. The only mushrooms that we could find were some fried mushrooms at a booth.

Sam and Shannon with the sundae we all shared at the Ghirardelli chocolate factory.

BJ and Sam while we were waiting for our sundae to arrive.

As you may have guessed from the pictures. This is the Ghirardelli chocolate factory. well actually not the white and blue building, the brick building a little bit further up the hill.

Here we are at the Aquarium on the Bay in San Fransisco looking at the jellyfish. Sam was more interested in the signs to the exhibits because they had things you could move. He got a little freaked out by fish that were bigger than he is. I think our beta fish is more to his liking.

Nothing like shrimp chowder in a bread bowl at Fisherman's Wharf.

BJ at Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco.

On this trip we got to clean up throw up from the car two times. Yuck! BJ was on a business trip in San Jose earlier that week and then Sam and I few out there to meet him for the weekend. When he got to CA he got to choose an upgraded rental car so he chose a really cool yellow jeep. We found out the hard way that these were not meant to be family cars. We think Sam just got moved around in the back seat because he kept on getting car sick. Our mini van may not be cool but it is a much smoother ride.

Sam's Orthopedics

We recently found out that Sam needed to get some orthopedics for his feet. He has very flat feet that aren't developing an arch like they should by this time. This is what gives him his cute little duck foot walk. The poor guy also falls down quite a bit and has started to walk on his toes to compensate for the lack of sensory input that he has while walking flat foot (that is at least what the PT and orthopedic specialists say). They orthopedics are amazing. Within a minutes of having them on his feet are pointed in the right direction and he doesn't fall down nearly as much as he did before. We can tell that he knows they help him because he loves to have them on. He is suppose to wear them for about 5-6 hours a day and he never seems to mind them on or ever tries to take them off. He is suppose to wear them with skater shoes because they are roomier and have a wide bottom. If you ever are in the market for "skater shoes" for toddler's I'll just warn you, don't expect any teddy bears. I had to search far and wide for a pair that didn't have skulls and cross bones all over them. They have helicopters, I can live with that for a two year old. I think that there is one skull and cross bone in the embroidery but you can't really tell unless you look really close. I think that I am officially announcing that I am uncool.


Here are his shoes and orthopedics ensamble, they kind of look like high tops.

After looking at all of the samples Sam and I decided to go with the camo style. That's $1600 worth of plastic folks. Luckily (for BJ and I at least) our insurance would pay for them if they go above the ankle.

I just couldn't help myself on this picture. In his defense he is really itching his nose. It's a scratch not a pick.

Happy Mother's Day!!

We have been blessed by so many mother's in our lives and wanted to thank all of you for the blessings that you have been to us. We thank our own mothers and grandmothers for all of the love and sacrifice that you have given us through out the years. Being parents now we are only beginning to understand what that means. We thank all of the women who have been mother's to us in many ways. Isn't a mother some one who loves and nurtures you. We have been loved and nurtured by so many angelic women though out our lives, and we thank all of the women who have been mothers to our little Sam. We love you and think of you often, but and hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Forts and teeth

Sam is usually pretty good about letting us brush his teeth. The other night though he was against the idea. When he saw Shannon coming with the toothbrush he went and made himself a little fort and hid in it. If you look close you can see his little eyes peeping out from the cushions.

In case you are wondering whether or not the teeth got brushed, Dad and Mom are still a lot bigger and won the battle! The teeth are safe this time...

The alphabet according to Sam...

Sam is just growing up so fast. He is really loves the alphabet. He can name, or at least has a name for most of the letters.

a=abapa(apple)

b= b

c=c

d=d

e=e

f=fffff

g= a fish sound (goldfish) it's so very cute.

h= haa

i= i

j=juice

k= nothing yet

l=nothing yet

m= mama (my personal favorite)

n=mmmm or nana (nana's personal favorite)

o=o

p=p

q=nothing yet

r=nothing yet

s=sssss

t=t

u=u

v=v

w=double dee (it kind of sounds like that anyways)

x=nothing yet

y=e-eye

z= z

He is so funny because while we are driving around he will name off the letters of the signs that we see. We drove up to the mall the other day and he say the sign and said "juice, c, p, e, mmm, mmm, e, e-eye." I said "Yes, Sam that says JCPenney." He then turned and said "mama, abapa, c, e-eye, sss" (Macy's). He is just so quick too. He have joked that we need to get him those My Baby can Read videos so that he can learn to talk more.

California Trip

Over Easter Weekend we went to California for the weekend. It was Sam's first time at the beach. All in all it was a great weekend. Sam was awesome through the whole trip.

Here is our attempt at a family photo, but Sam just wanted to play in the sand.

Here is BJ and Sam at the Santa Barbara beach.

Here we are at the LA Zoo.

Sam's 2nd Birthday!!

Sam turned 2 years old on February 27. We can hardly believe it! He has become such a fun kid. He keeps us laughing and entertained all the time. He has become our alphabet fiend. As I have posted before he can identify the entire alphabet and probably knows the names or sounds of at least 1/2 the letters. He is so funny because he will spot letters in the craziest places. For instance he will turn his tent on it's side and tell us "D" because the arch on the door does in fact make a "D". This morning I gave him a graham cracker and he looked at it and told me I. I realized he was looking at the perforation down the middle of it. Os are anything that is a circle. We were getting into the van yesterday and Sam noticed a shrub that had been cut in a circle and pointed out O. I don't know what it is about letters that he loves so much but they almost rival balls, his other great love.

We just love our little Sam so much. We think of the miracle that he is in our lives daily and are so honored to be his Mama and Da. We can hardly believe that it has been 2 years since he came into our lives. We are so grateful for adoption. We so sincerely love the people that have come into our lives through it. I always think if what someone said in a workshop that we attended while be were getting certified to adopt, "Before adoption you underestimate your capacity to love."

First professional haircut.

Ever since Aunt Jen moved away, BJ and I have just used the clippers to cut Sam's hair. I will have to admit we are not great at it and after several attempts we started noticing that his hair was getting pretty uneven. We decided that for his 2nd birthday we would take him to someone who actually knew what they were doing...Great Clips. As you can tell we was not too happy about the situation, but doesn't he look so handsome at the end (and he got a sucker out of the deal so it can't be all that bad).

Close encounters at the zoo.

Sam and I have a pass to the Phoenix Zoo. We go usally one or twice a week. It is so nice to just get outside and walk around. It seems like the past couple of weeks the animals have just gotten really friendly and we have had so many "close encounters with them", maybe it's because we are there so much.

This is Jack the horse. Sam asks to go see him nearly every morning. He also loves to look at this picture on the camera.

This is how Sam met Jack the horse. Sam looks like he is crying, but he is actually just really excited that Jack is so close to him.

We were going on the bear trail at the Phoenix Zoo and saw this duck wandering down the path.

This is Smokey the horse. Maybe Jack told him about Sam or maybe it was the cheez-its on his tray but Smokey had to meet Sam too.

If you follow this link you can see a video of our close encounter with a squirl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnncnQZz18M&feature=channel_page

Neverneverland

(I have absolutely no idea why my text is underlined, I swear my site is possessed, I am going to just not care.) So I really have been trying to update this for the past few weeks. You you just get everything at once. Sam is just as cute as he ever has been. He makes me laugh because lately he has discovered our shadows when we go for a walk and loves to chase the Mama. Every time he does this is makes me think of Peter Pan and how I just really don't know if I want Sam to grow up. Certainly not as fast as he is lately. I have to admit that it is crazy to see Sam with other kids, being a kid. Last week he didn't even cry going into nursery. Here are some updated pictures of Sam just being Sam.


Sam agrees with me that the best part of making brownies is licking the bowl afterwards. There isn't anything quite like brownie, cookie, or cake batter.

This would have been a really cute picture, but BJ and I disturbed Sam while he was trying to blow bubbles that he got for Valentines Day. We are at my family's valentine party.

My independent Sam. It nearly killed me but I let Sam go through the cave at the zoo all by himself. This is him emerging pretty darn proud of himself. I think it's more hard for me to let Sam be independent than it is for him to do things by himself.

Sam has just loved to play with his cousins lately. Here he is with most of his Watkins cousins.
While Sam's Iowa cousins were visiting we had four 2 year olds around. So we decided to have a 2 year old party for them. They are all within a few months of each other. This is a cake I made for them (I just make a blog with some of my other cakes at cakesarefun.blogspot.com).

We found out why the tradition to have one year olds dig into their cakes is a lot more fun. At 2 kids start having more manners and what to use forks and stuff like that. It's not quite the same.

Gosh, what a cute kid!

Regarding my last post.

I figured out what had happed to my has post. Awhile ago I was thinking about setting up an adoption blog so created bjshannonsam.blogspot.com but didn't do anything further with it because we already have a website at meetthewatkins.com. I just selected the wrong one to post. If you are curious of what my last post was, (Tiff you might because it has pictures of your girls) go to bjshannonsam.blogspot.com. If you don't care read on oh well.

I'm no blog expert...

Those who know me well know that I have an uncanny knack of strange things happening to me. For example, when I was in Paris several years ago a friend and I were at the Eiffel tower and I noticed that some street vendors were selling these wind up pigeons that would fly around, I said to my friend "Just you wait one of those pigeons is going to whack me in the head". Not 5 minutes later we were in the middle of a crowd and sure enough one of those pigeons comes flying by and whacks me in the head. If you have ever seen the movie "Pure Luck" with Martin Shorts, it's kind of like that.

Ok so I spent 1/2 the evening updating our blog just to find out I some how created a new blog and posted it to that, BJ just came and asked how I did that and I tell you I have no idea. I'm telling you I had some weird background from the Cutest Blog on the block on it and everything. I am completely mystified. All I can say is I dare not try it again tonight so you will just have to wait anxiously to read it until I repost everything later, maybe tomorrow....if I'm very brave.

Holy Freak!!!

That is what when through my mind this evening when Sam decided to unveil his new talent. For Christmas we got Sam a little laptop because he loves our computers so much. I was sitting on the couch this evening when Sam brought it over to me and said "O" I looked down and he was pointing to the O on the keyboard. I though "Hmm, what a coincidence." and then tried to stump him and said "Sam, where's the Q?" To my sheer amazement he pointed right to the Q. Q is by the O, so I asked him where the A was, sure enough he got it right on. I then quizzed him with all 26 letters of the alphabet and for the most part he was right on. I showed him a game on his laptop that asks him to identify the different letters and he did it. I think I'm raising a super genius!! OK so I know that Lexi was quoting the Pledge of Allegiance near his age, but come on that's pretty good right?! It was so cute because you could just see him concentrating so hard at finding the right letter and then when he found it he would look up at me to check to see if he was right before he pushed the letter. I have to tell you it was a pretty bizarre moment in my life, and like all Moms I cried at his brilliance. He was probably thinking why in the world is my Mommy crying.

He has really turned a corner in his communication this past month. Not that he has said any new words his words still consist of "Mama ( I should say A Mama, which is what he always says) Dada (which for some reason is turning into Yaya), Dog, Ball, shoe, apple, and banana. However over the course of a few weeks he started learning a bunch of signs. It was really cute tonight he was across the room and gave me the sign for candy. I told him no candy right now. He walked across the room put his face in my lap and very clearly did the sign again ( which is your index finger touching your cheek) I guess he just wanted to make sure I heard him.

Sam loved Christmas. He loves lights. He would lead us around the house and have us turn on anything that would light up in the morning and made sure that we got the lights on our house turned on in the evening. Ironically enough he fell asleep when we took him to see the temple lights. All presents were a big hit for him. Thanks to everyone. Some of the highlights are his fisher price car that he will sit in while he watches his shows. It's kind of like his own private drive in theater and thanks to the generosity of Grandma and Grandpa Hansen we have a dog that doesn't make him break out in hives 5 minutes after contact. His name is Henry and he eats batteries, when you want him to stop barking you turn him off. We don't have to clean up after him and with all that he even does tricks!! He's wonderful.

We hope everyone had a great holiday season and we give our best wishes for this new year!!

This is Sam giving Henry kisses.

Dorky smile I know, he kept trying to say cheese and pose for the picture so this was the best shot I got after about 5 tries. (I had the same problem with the picture on the top)

Smarty Pants

This morning Sam wondered off by himself. This could only mean 2 things he is going poopy or he is getting into something really good. I started to hear a grunting sound and figured it was reason number one. Getting ready to change a diaper I followed the sound to the closed bathroom door, never a good sign. I tried opening the door but he had opened up the drawer in the sink closest to the door so it would only open a crack. I peeked in the crack to find Sam sitting on the potty chair that we were given just grunting away. When he was finished he closed the drawer and let himself out. Sure enough he needed a diaper change.

We're Expecting!!

Who ever has been through the adoption process knows that adoption is DEFINATELY not the easy way to get a baby. If something can go wrong it generally will. For two weeks or so we have been trying to get our profile posted on www.itsaboutlove.com LDS Family Services website. It is now finally posted. That means that we are offically adoption pregnant! I know that doesn't sound nearly as exciting as a real pregnancy, mostly because you have absolutely no idea when the due date is, but then again that can be the really exciting part. Go check us out our profile name is BradleyAndShannon. We are really excited to be in the process of finding a brother/sister for Sam. Or follow this link: http://www.providentliving.org/ses/birthmother/viewsingleprofile/0,12272,2133-1-10609-1-1,00.html

Blessings

This morning Sam woke up at his usual time at about 5:30. Usually it's not a problem because BJ and I are getting up around that time to either work out (Shannon) or go to work (BJ). However the night before BJ and I had stayed up too late so we were not ready to get up with him. So, once again we brought Sam into bed with us so we could at least all cuddle together before it was a time that BJ and I felt like getting out of bed. I dozed off again and woke up a little while later to find this cuteness. I just couldn't help but take a picture of my two men.

I don't know if it's Thanksgiving so I am thinking about my blessings or that we are getting ready to look for another baby to adopt but moments like these have become more heartfelt and precious to me as I think of the what ifs in my life that would make a precious moment like this, my son and my husband snuggled up together, not have happened. I hope that makes sense. As I have had the wonderful opportunity to be Sam's mommy, I have felt more acutely, the true sacrifice that was made on my behave to have this special boy in my life. There is no way to ever express the gratitude for son. He is my son because of the impossible sacrifice of others.

In my struggles with infertility I remember, and still do feel on occasion, that this was a thing I could never be grateful for. How could it be so easy for others to bring children in their family and me be denied the blessing. I was very wrong though. Adoption has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. I have been able to experience life from a prospective few others have. I am mystified by the great love I have for Sam's birth family. At an adoption class that we had when we started the journey of adoption someone said that before their adoption they underestimated their ability to love. I feel the same way. Through my ramblings here, I just want to say thank you to those who allowed me to wake up this morning to see the two most important people in my life cuddled up together sleeping and letting me be a mommy. However, the words "thank you" will never express the depth of my gratitude.

Cute Cute Sam

I have just a few random pics of Sam that I just have to post. Each of which have a little story to go with them.

This is a picture of which Sam is not as Innocent as he seems. He woke up at 3 am wouldn't go back to bed. BJ and I were both sick so we finally gave up and put him in bed with us so that we could at least lay down. Then spent the remainder of the night being kicked, pushed, and having Sam play with our snarly hair. He finally fell asleep around the time we gave up and were getting up. But man isn't he so cute when he's asleep.

Here he is asleep again. This is just a cute story. Before we drove home from the zoo the other day I gave him a little container of cereal to eat on the way home. He fell asleep not long after I started driving and his arm twitched and cereal flew all over him. It didn't phase him at all, although I got a pretty good chuckle out of it.

I made cinnamon rolls yesterday. BJ and I keep forgetting that just because we put something on the counter doesn't mean that it is safe anymore. This morning Sam came into the living room with a cinnamon roll in his hand. I went in the kitchen and he had taken the plate that they were on off of the counter and helped himself to one, knowing that there was no way he could eat the whole thing I cut a piece off for him. A little while later again he came out of the kitchen with a huge grin that he had gotten another roll. By this time it was pretty munged up so I just put him in his chair and let him do his worst. I love the proud smile. I also love how he doesn't quite get that if he does something naughty he shouldn't come and proudly show me the evidence. I will keep that to my advantage as long as I can have it.

Invite

Just in case you may not know I am having a Lia Sophia Party at my house at 1 pm this Saturday. If you don't know what that is it's super cute jewelry. This is a perfect opportunity to do a little Christmas shopping for others or yourself or just come and hang out with some yummy goodies.

So I had a dream the other night that I forgot to clean my house for the party. Does that mean that I have become a true house wife?

So, does anyone need a cake?

I am making a ball shaped cake for my cake class this weekend and I certainly don't want a whole cake just sitting around the house. If anyone is in need of a boy cake this weekend I'd be happy to donate it. I can ice it into any ball one would desire. I'm not promising it will be great remember I am in Level one and I ditched the first class, but let me know and the cake is yours.

I'm a little impressed with myself

Ok look over to the right side of my blog. It's all of your updated blogs!!! I know, I know many of you have figured out how to do this forever ago. I will talk to someone one who I haven't seen for a while and try to catch up with them, and they will say, oh yeah, I read that in your blog. I've always thought how do people have the time to actually keep up with everyone else's blogs. Now I know, the secret is out. This is great!

Lexi's cake

So after about 10 calls to my sister who teaches a cake decorating class and several trips to the store I finally finished Lexi's cake. It was the first cake that I have ever done doing fondant and wasn't as difficult as I imagined. (I even made my own fondant) I am going to start taking a cake decorating class this weekend. This has made me even more excited than I was before. The whole time I was decorating the cake, Sam kept saying "Ball, Ball". I guess Cinderella is going to a ball so he got that part right.

She is immodest because I couldn't figure out how to do sleeves. Hopefully that won't have a lasting effect on a 4 year old.