What a monkey!

Waiting for the kids. Luke and I had fun carving the pumpkins. I did a monogram "G" pumpkin. No silly pumpkin faces for me!

Good choice Sam...my favorite candy bar too!

Sam helped us pass out candy to the neighborhood kids tonight in his super cute sock monkey costume. Disclaimer: I do not wear this sweater everyday as it appears in this blog! (see the past couple entries)

Puffy Hair Day

Hard to see in this picture...like a subtle mohawk!
Sam inherited his father's hair. In the morning when he wakes up and after naps he usually has puffy hair. It is just adorable and it makes me smile when I find things about Sam that reminds me of his dad. I love both of my boys and their puffy hair!

Sam's "cheese" face

Learning to Eat

Sam is still learning to eat. Sure, he loves to eat fresh pureed food that I feed to him on a baby spoon...but self-feed? No thank you. Now, don't get me wrong, I am happy that he lets me feed him or meal time could be a real disaster. It's just that I am hoping to teach him how to feed himself eventually so I don't have to go to school with him and feed him his PB&J sandwich! He now has the pincher grasp down and loves to pick things up and put them near his mouth, or even chew on a 'puff' (those really expensive cheerios that melt in their mouth) while holding it, but he doesn't get the concept of releasing the food into his mouth. Instead, he holds his mouth open so that I will feed it to him. We tried this whole self-feeding again today with small pieces of melon. I thought a new food might do the trick! He liked playing with them but was perfectly content to open his mouth for me to feed him and then chew like crazy...at least he is learning to chew! What a silly boy!

I should mention that Sam had no problem "eating" the grocery cart when were shopping today. That is just SO gross! I put his seat cover on so he wasn't touching any part of the cart and he just pulled it away to chew on the metal bars. Between that and trying to steer him away from all of the people who want to touch him at the store, shopping is becoming quite an adventure :)

1st Halloween

Sam is a bit too young to trick-or-treat this year (especially in the city) but we wanted to celebrate it anyway. Our church has a great pumpkin patch party every year for the kids so we dressed Sam up, asked Grandma to meet us there and off we went. There wasn't much he could do at his age but we had fun seeing all of the kids in costume and we got to take a hay ride around the lake. Sam is a sock monkey...I found the costume at Target and thought it was too cute. I knew he would wear the hat so I decided to give it a try. Doesn't he look adorable?!

Doing his "cheese" face with Grandma...note the tail

Meet the Cousins

Earlier this week we spent a few days in Luke's hometown to visit with his brother and his family who are visiting from Alaska. It was the first time that we were able to meet their daughter, Julia, and the first time they met Sam (they also have William who is 2.5 years old). Julia and Sam are only 4 weeks apart and it was so fun to see them playing together. Julia is very active and leaves Sam in her dust as she crawls everywhere. Sam just sat there and watched her and tried to touch her when she got close enough. I never had cousins growing up and I am really happy that Sam will have many to play with. Luke's parents have a great backyard where we were able to take these fall family pictures.

(Sam, William and Julia in coordinating outfits courtesy of Grandma)

Happy 4 Years

It has been four years since that beautiful fall day when Luke and I committed our lives to one another. That day was perfect, everything that I had dreamed about. I was almost giddy with love and excitement as I pledged myself to Luke. Four years (and one baby) later I am still very much in love with him and here are some of the reasons why.

Luke is a Godly man, he has a strong, personal faith and he points me to Christ. He is a man of character, a man that I deeply respect and admire. He is sensitive. He softens me when I am quick to judge or speak/act rashly. He reminds me to look for the good in people and in myself. He is a wonderful father who is crazy about his son and he takes the time to pray with him when he puts him to bed almost every night. He consistently thanks me for the work I do around the house and for how I care for our son. He works hard at his job and always goes above and beyond for people. He takes on the burden of being the sole financial provider for his family and never complains. He helps around the house and offers to lighten my load often. He is dependable and trustworthy, people can count on him. He is a thinker. He always thinks before he speaks and he means what he says. He is a devoted friend. He is affectionate and shows me daily that he loves me. He really sees me...the good and the bad and he still loves me.

Thank you Luke for choosing me to spend your life with, I am so proud to be your wife. I look forward to many more years together...growing our family, growing in Christ together and loving each other more and more each day. I love you!

Pumpkin Patch

This past Saturday we took Sam to a pumpkin patch for some fall fun. It was a gorgeous day...sunny and cool. My parents met us there and we did a wagon ride out to the fields to pick our pumpkins. Sam was into touching them and even stood up holding on to a big one all by himself. We love fall!

8 Months

It is hard to believe that Sam is 8 months old (well really 8.5 as I write this) already. He continues to be a happy, easy-going baby that I just love spending all of my days with! We don't go to the doctors until next month so I am not sure how much he weighs at this point, but I can tell you what he is up to. Sam now has two teeth! His first bottom tooth started coming in about a week before he turned 8 months and then his second bottom tooth started to pop out just this past week. The first tooth was pretty easy...no runny nose, no fussing, no awaking in the middle of the night. However, the second tooth turned him into a whiny, crabby baby for two days. Now that it has finally broken through, he is his happy self again. He still has a lot of teeth to go though so pray for me :) Sam now likes to say "dada" all day long. Now I know that he doesn't know what he is saying and while it is so cute to hear him say something...I wish it was mama! I tell him to say mama and he just looks at me. I guess it will come in time, right?! He also says "ga" and does a cute scrunchy face when he smiles...which I call his "cheese" face. His newest trick is sticking his tongue out as far as it can go...we are not sure where he learned that, but if we do it back he thinks it is hysterical! We are working on clapping and "so big", which he likes and sometimes does on his own! As for food...he still is not sure of non-pureed food and is trying to figure out how to feed himself. He likes to pick up stuff and hold it in his hand, but just doesn't get it to his mouth yet. So that is what is new with our boy, we just love him more and more each day. I didn't really take a typical "photo shoot" this month since we were on vacation and I took lots of pictures of him. These two pictures are from the trip home...he looks so grown up.

Good Family Vacation 2008 - Part 3

Thursday night at 11pm we left Naples to travel to Fripp Island, SC. Friends of ours from church have a beach house there and since it was on our way home we were invited to spend a few days there with them. Fripp is this idyllic, private community that is on a small island near Beaufort, SC. The three of us had a relaxing two days of walking on the beach and watching the ocean from our friends' beautiful house and deck. Sam was doted on by everyone there and he loved all of the attention. The common mode of transportation on the island is by golf cart which we all enjoyed. I think it took Sam awhile to figure out what was going on...but once he did, he wanted to drive the cart. They start early, huh?! Then, as a special treat, Luke rented a scooter and spent some time exploring the island on his own. I was brave enough to give it a try and discovered that it was SO much fun. The weather was more cloudy/rainy than sunny but we didn't care as long as we were looking at the ocean. Thanks David and Vickie for sharing your home with us, we loved spending that time with you!

Sunday at 9am we left SC for Pittsburgh. Somewhere around Virginia Sam started to have a mini-meltdown and we realized why we did so much driving at night! We decided to stop and get a hotel room in Wytheville, VA for the night to give us all a break (Sam's first stay in a hotel). On Monday we finally made our way back to Pittsburgh and after 10 days of vacation we were home. We took lots of great pictures so be sure to check out Flick for all our vacation pictures (and there are many).

Good Family Vacation 2008 - Part 2

At 4pm on Saturday afternoon we left Raleigh to drive all evening and night to Naples, FL. Samuel slept again all night but Luke and I had a rough time and had to switch driving back and forth a few times. Finally at 5 am we arrived in Naples at the home of Adam, Monica and Jane (Adam and Luke are friends from Penn State). We had 5 days of fun in the sun and boy was it hot! Thankfully we were smart about sunscreen and time out in the sun and all three of us avoided getting burnt. We spent most of our evenings hanging out with our friends and their beautiful little girl, Jane, who is 5 months younger than Sam. They were pretty fascinated with each other!

On Sunday afternoon we went to the beach and had fun just hanging out in the calm gulf waters.

Monday we went to a wildlife preserve where we saw huge cypress trees and three alligators (thankfully they were in the water and we were on a raised boardwalk). Sam didn't enjoy the nature walk very much as he was really hot and sweaty.

Tuesday the three of us headed to Sanibel and Captiva Island which is just off the coast of Ft. Meyers. The islands were beautiful and are known for their shores that are full of sea shells. We didn't do much shell searching but did walk along the beaches and enjoyed the beautiful views.

Wednesday we did some shopping in downtown Naples which is a beautiful and quaint little town. We enjoyed a nice lunch at an Italian restaurant and while all of the Floridians enjoyed their lunch outside, we sat in the air conditioned restaurant! Later that afternoon we went swimming in the pool where our friends live. Sam loved being in his crab floaty and was even making it move by kicking his legs. I think we have a swimmer in the making!

Thursday we had lunch at Skyline Chili! This was a favorite place of ours when I lived in Cincinnati and we couldn't pass up the chance to have it again and we were not disappointed! Then we attempted to spend the day at the beach again but as soon as we got set up (umbrella up, towels spread out, Sam sunscreened up), a huge storm rolled in and sent us hurrying to the car. Thankfully the weather cleared up and we went back to have a picnic dinner there and to see the sunset. Sam sat on the sand and got used to the feeling of it on his legs and feet. He even tried eating it which produced a funny face and a "yuck" sound!

It was a little more than a year ago that we were in Naples celebrating Adam and Monica's wedding and we were so happy to travel there this year to meet their new baby girl. Thanks for a great week in hot, sunny Florida guys, we hope to do this again soon!

Good Family Vacation 2008 - Part 1

We are back from our first Good Family Vacation and we have lots of stories and pictures to share. I want to first say that Sam was such a trooper. When we traveled at night (which we did 3 times), he slept the whole time. He adjusted well to sleeping in four different places over 10 days and loved meeting lots of new people. He is such a blessing to us! If he was a fussy or high maintenance baby, this trip would have been a tough one for us. Luke and I feel so refreshed after spending so much time together as a family. So without further ado...let me tell you about the first part of our vacation.

On Thursday, October 2nd we left at 11pm and set off for our first destination, Raleigh, NC to stay with our friends Jen and Jonathan (my college roomie and Luke's friend from high school). We arrived pretty weary on Friday morning from driving through the night but Samuel was well rested and ready to go. They drove us around Raleigh, which is a great city, and showed us some of the sights. Jen and I went to get pedicures while the boys threw around a baseball. We also got to tour Larry's Beans which is where Jonathan works. It was fascinating to me since I had no idea how coffee was roasted! If you are a coffee lover, you have to check them out...they make great coffee and it shade grown, fair trade and organic! Sam especially liked his Aunt Jen and thought that Frank was hysterical. Thanks guys for opening your house to us...we loved seeing you!