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).