Sambo

I wanted to give you all an update on Sam. He has grown so quickly as I look back - he is already 8 months old. He is always surprising me and doing something I didn't think he should be able to do yet. It has been incredibly fun to watch him grow. I feel like having a second gives me the ability to enjoy every phase. With Steven Edward I often just wanted him to grow quicker....so I could see what the next stage looked like, but with Sam I am able to watch and enjoy with anticipation.

*Sam doesn't really like being a baby. This means he isn't the best napper, he doesn't like baby food (he wants finger food), he wants to jump straight to crawling, and he just overall wants to do everything his brother does.
*He is super smiley. It takes nothing to make him smile, but also as a contrast, he can scream better than most. He goes from hot to cold incredibly quickly and can throw a tantrum to rival Steven Edwards when he doesn't get what he wants. He is almost always on the smiley side...but he has learned that if he wakes up from nap earlier than Steven Edward that he can be as demanding as he wants to be because I don't want him to scream and wake his brother. He definitely takes advantage of that time. It is an hour of sitting beside him and playing....or doing things with a 20 pounder on your hip.
*He loves to stand places and play. He is almost pulling up on his own!
*He can go from all fours to sitting very easily. He moves all over the room in a non-traditional manner (a mix of rocking, sitting, scooting, a couple crawling steps...and at times in anger pushing himself backwards). He truly has been working on crawling for 3 weeks. Now he can take 3-4 good crawling steps forward on all fours. He is not built for the army evidently and the bear bile didn't have the same effect on him that it had on his brother. We always swore that is why he crawling like a gorilla!
*He doesn't really like to be confined. He has pretty much given up the exersaucer and the bouncer, and wants to be on the floor crawling or standing somewhere playing with Steven's toys. He also doesn't really want baby toys. He wants his brother's trains and hotwheels. For the most part Steven Edward is pretty good when dealing with this.
*He is my social bug. He is starting to have some separation mommy anxiety (that phase where if I'm not holding him...I probably shouldn't even walk in the room), but overall he will go to anyone, talk to anyone, and smile at EVERYONE! He is the one people stop and remark at in grocery stores and on the street. I never knew Steven Edward was such an observer and a thinker until I had Sam.

I am excited to watch him grow.

My pictures........

Hilton Head

*All pictures from this entry were ripped off from our boy Jeff Dudley*

12 years later... I decide to post. I have no real reason why I waited so long other than the normal schemozzle of life with two little boys. Since our last post, my husband finished his first year as head of the upper school! Yea! And we spent our first week of summer vacation with three other families in Hilton Head. I had never been to Hilton Head and I must say, I very much enjoyed myself. It was a great week. Steven Edward loved the beach, the pool, and being with his friends all day long....and I loved seeing my husband all day long (not to mention hanging out with our friends 24/7). What a great way to start the summer. Enjoy the pictures.

Steven and his friend Ben playing in the tub

Poor Sam....the plight of a second child. This is one of the few pictures he makes on the blog. But isn't he cute? Honestly, he looks a lot like his brother.

Ben, watching the dolphins behind a commercial shrimping boat

Steven, Ryan, and Ben playing in the surf

Steven and Ben playing at a local playground.

More fun at the Sea Pines playground. Can you tell they are two weeks apart in age? How cute are they?

Steven Edward enjoying the waves. He loved how they would carry his toys away with the wave and bring them back. He would smile with joy when it came back to his feet!




Playing in the waves




Breakfast time

Normal husband during a "low country boil"

Note - not our rental in the background



Steven's first milkshake



The Kruegers

Ryan

Steven, Ben and Ryan defnitely spent a lot of the week wrestling.

Jill and Ben

Chris and Ella Brooks

The Things They Say

I have always heard that once kids start talking....you often wish they could go back to being quiet. But this has not been the case for me. I am such a people-person that it has been a delight to add a jabber-box to my world - and he truly is. Steven Edward has hit the stage where he knows words for EVERYTHING. This is actually harder than the previous stage, because then I always knew what he was saying because his words were limited. Now he has so many words! And he ALWAYS knows what he is saying. So it is up to me to decipher. But it is a fun game...slightly similar to Mad Gab (which some of you may know that I am quite good at). I love finding out what is in their little heads....and hearing them repeat exactly the things you say. He has taken to coming in the room while I'm cleaning up and saying, "Good job, mama!" I suppose I always praise him when he helps me. Who knew?

A couple weeks ago he was very upset about something trivial (go figure...a toddler?) so I looked at him as he walked and wailed and said, "Steven, that is not necessary." As he gasped for breath in the middle of a cry he screams, "Is necessary!" That was the end of that. I had to turn around to avoid him seeing me erupt into laughter.

And then today was the first time I'd ever heard him, unprompted, use the word "the". We were getting out of the car heading into a store and he told me, "no rain mama." I assumed he meant he wanted it to stop raining, and I'm thinking....me too sweetie....but our luck hasn't been so good this month. So I just way, "Sweetie, I can't make it stop raining. God makes it rain. God makes the rain."

"Yea," he replies. He stops and thinks and says, "God makes the cars come too mama." He then proceeded to list things that he understood God made. The next was cheese and then Sam. I know it seems like Sam got shafted because cheese got the higher seat in his brother's mind....but if he only knew how much Steven loved cheese. I was just proud Sam made the top four. It was really cute.

He has also taken to saying, "Happy Birthday to you _______ (ex. cars)" and then starting to sing to them.

There are tons of others...but I thought I would just give you a taste. On completely different note, this morning I ran my first race in a little over 3 years. I ran a 5K with two other moms. Our goal was to finish and we did it with flying colors! 10 years ago I would have laughed at the thought of training for a 5k. But 10 years and two babies later...I'm rather proud.

Biltmore Tea Party

My friend Bethany had a birthday a couple days ago, so we threw her a surprise tea party. It was lots of fun. We had it on the grounds of the Biltmore and it was a beautiful day. The kids had fun playing in the creek, running around, feeding the ducks, and generally tiring themselves out. Thanks for having a birthday Bethany! I love an excuse for Chocolate Grin ache!

Jenny, Beth, and Bethany

Isn't he adorable!

Steven loved the ducks

Ryan sure looks like he wants some of that sandwich Issac.

Avi loves Sam

And then here are some pictures of the boys cuddling with Daddy after work.





Sam has the best smile, and unlike Steven Edward it doesn't take much convincing in order for us to see it! Steven Edward told me today that his smile was broken.