My Little Valentine

1 Year Appointment

Friday we went in for Samantha's one year check up. She got a couple shots, and cried more than she ever has at shots... the nurse said they would sting... awesome... and they had to draw blood from a toe prick to check for anemia... test came back just fine. She was weighed and measured per usual and while her head is still huge it's nice to see her weight starting to level off. Her head measured 47.2 cm (94th %) her weight is 23 pounds (77th %), and her height... well...  we're not sure how the nurse got her height. I was with Sam the whole time and she didn't wiggle at all... somehow she measured her at 31 3/4 inches... which puts her off the charts. The doctor said he's not sure what happened there and to not be surprised if she doesn't grow at all between now and her next appointment. Josh and I measured her after he got home from work and we got almost 30 inches... big difference. Other than that she's doing great. She has super dry skin that acts up in the cold weather but we learned what kinds of creams to use. She has 7 teeth, still missing one on the bottom, and her molars seem to be making a move. She's been crankier than usual lately at bedtime and her gums sometimes seems swollen, only soothed by chewing on mommy or daddy's finger. But you can't see anything poking through or feel anything so who really knows! She says "mama" "dada" "ball" "hi" and her favorite... "uh oh". There's a lot of other sounds in there too but nothing we can really make out. She also has this really funny little laugh she just started during meal times. She's turning into quite a little character. We did a photo shoot this weekend and one outfit she wore she looked like a little girl rather than our baby... it was scary, but exciting all at the same time. Couldn't imagine loving any one more.

Photos from the one year shoot!

Yes we tried to do something to her hair to mimic her mohawk from when she was a newborn... there's too much there now for it to stand up so this curl is what resulted.

Bath Time Baby

Fun Photos

Downtown Adventure

Last weekend after getting Corey the perfect wedding dress I went home to pick up the family and we went downtown to meet up with Corey and others for lunch at Mother's Bistro. After an amazing meal we headed to Pioneer Square. I have a brick there from when I was little and I don't remember the last time I'd seen it. Josh had never seen it. So off we went on a beautiful sunny day. After the brick spotting we headed into the new Nike Portland store. It was great to be able to see the Duck's Rose Bowl uniforms up close. All in all a good day.

Loving on Grandma Barb

Samantha turns One!

I can't believe it's been a year since Samantha joined us. She's not a baby anymore. She's our little girl.

I feel like right now we are in a giant transitional stage. On Jan 11th she took her first steps, 3 steps unassisted walking towards dad. She hasn't taken a step since without holding onto anything. She's eating mostly adult foods, but sometimes still wants the baby moosh. She still has bottles, but we're hoping that transitions out soon. She's currently on formula but in the next couple days will be starting the transition to milk. Sometimes Sam will take 2 naps, some days only 1. The fun part is not knowing what days are 2 nap days, and which days are single nap days. With every stage we miss something but are always excited for what's in store. She definitely has developed more of a personality and ways to communicate without really saying much. Her favorite things to say are "Hi" and "Uh oh". I think she picked up "Uh oh" when she got a stomach bug a couple weeks ago and we were constantly changing not only diapers but all her clothes every couple hours. At least she learned something new!

I think Sam not officially has more clothes than me. Between Christmas and her birthday she has a ton of cute new clothes and lots of fun toys. Thank you to everyone who joined us for her birthday celebration, we wish we could have had more of a chance to talk to everyone, but are glad you all came! Thank You!!!