Growing Pains

Tonight was the first night we put Samantha to bed without a bedtime bottle. For the past week or two the only bottle she has been getting has been at bedtime. We decreased the amount of formula a little bit every couple of days. Last night Ed used the very last of the formula for her tiny bottle. I knew she was not going to be easy going about letting her last bottle go but I had no idea she would put up this much of a fight.

In hopes of avoiding doing it myself, I asked Ed to do bedtime tonight while I did bath time. Ed didn't catch on until it was time to put Samantha to bed and then he called me out on my plan. Darn! But he did try. He rocked her and rubbed her head which she loves. She cried and cried and cried. After I finished up with Gabrielle's bath I took over. I rocked her, sang to her, rubbed her head. Nothing but crying and yawning. It was obvious she was so sleepy. I stood up and bounced her which she has always preferred over rocking anyway. More crying. Nonstop crying. She would rub her eyes. Yawn. She would close her eyes and moan for a little while and then back to crying - still with her eyes closed but putting up a good fight. I finally laid her in her crib. She rolled over immediately onto her tummy, grasped her blankie but did not give up the crying. After rubbing her back for a couple of minutes I decided to walk out the room. The poor little girl just laid there on her tummy crying. She cried for 30 more minutes before finally giving in to her sleepiness.

As if sitting and listening to my baby girl wasn't hard enough I now find myself reading articles on preschooler behavior issues like ignoring, defiance and tantrums. **Sigh**

I'm not sure who the growing pains are harder on - the children going through them or the mommy worrying about how to manage them!!

Determination

This morning, completely out of the blue, while I was talking to my mom on the phone I watched Samantha pull up on the couch to a standing position, let go, fall down after a second or two and then pull back up again. She repeated this action over and over and over. It was hilarious to watch and surprising because only a few days ago no matter what I tried I could not get her to let go of her hold while she was standing.

I told myself I was not going to rush her to walk or even stand on her own. I knew she would do it in her own time and I also remembered how much more trouble Gabrielle was able to get into once she started walking.

Well today I guess was "her time." She continued to pull up and stand all morning long. Before I knew it she was even trying to step forward. By the time Ed got home from work Samantha was taking her first steps!!



Normally I would not let my girls hang around the house looking like this. It was right after dinner and she was getting ready to take a bath. She is a mess I know but I just couldn't wait to share the video!

I have laughed all day at Samantha's excitement and determination. An unfortunate side effect, however, is an extremely jealous big sister. Never before today have I seen Gabrielle act out so badly for attention. She gets excited to see Samantha stand and walk but after a few minutes she wants attention of her own as well. Unfortunately today she was misbehaving to get the attention. I know I have to be patient with her and do my best to give her some special attention while not taking anything away from Samantha. I am telling myself to take it one day at a time and do the best I can.

We are all still very excited and quite surprised with our little beginner walker!!

I Missed It!

I can't believe I missed such an event - my previous post was my 100th post since starting this blog last July! Let's celebrate - yay! OK, that's enough of that silly business...on to my 101st post.

We may have a future pianist in our family...

From My Little Sunbeams

And getting good photos of my girls together and even solo is certainly getting more challenging...

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

Look at that grin!!

From My Little Sunbeams

Memory Lane - One Year Ago

I am sitting at my computer working on invitations for Samantha's first birthday party. I can not believe she will be one year old so soon! I started thinking about how miserable I was feeling one year ago. My due date was April 24th and I just knew I was going to go into labor early. Boy, did Samantha have me fooled! I was hot, huge and incredibly uncomfortable and so ready to no longer be pregnant. I would not want to go back one year exactly but I would definitely love to go back about 11 months - when Samantha was one week old, tiny and still pink. She is so much fun now though. I love seeing her and Gabrielle together. But if given the opportunity I would not turn down the chance to hold Samantha (and even Gabrielle for that matter) as a tiny newborn once again.

I also started thinking about a comment my sister made about Gabrielle this past Saturday. She noticed Gabrielle was losing her "baby fat." My first born is becoming a big girl now, losing that round little baby face. I have looked at her all week long thinking about what Faith had noticed so I decided to look back at pictures and found myself almost in tears.


The difference a year makes! And I thought Gabrielle was such a "big girl" last year!!


I start feeling uncomfortable just looking at the photo above. It was Easter Sunday, the last Sunday we made it to church until after Samantha was born because it was the last Sunday any of my nicer maternity clothes fit! LOL

Spring or Summer??

If I went by the temps here the past couple of days I would have to say it is summer here and not spring. I'm actually looking forward to some slightly cooler temperatures this weekend. The pollen is absolutely horrible right now so I guess even if it wasn't so hot we wouldn't be spending too much time outside anyway.

Last night Gabrielle brought me her Snow White dress to put on Samantha. Gabrielle was being Sleeping Beauty and needed another princess to play with. How cute are they? I can tell I will have to expand our dress up collection very soon.

From My Little Sunbeams

Today we did go outside for a little bit. There is a new park in Wake Forest I wanted to check out.

From My Little Sunbeams

Isn't is beautiful? It is 117 acre farm the town Wake Forest purchased a few years back. Only phase one has been completed which involved 3 miles of walking/bike paths, preserving the old farm buildings like the chicken coop and tobacco barn, and an amphitheater. If phase two were done which will include a playground and I think picnic shelters it would be the absolute ideal place for Samantha's birthday party. Maybe it will be done in time for Gabrielle's birthday.

From My Little Sunbeams

Anyway, we went on a hot but leisurely stroll and stopped to swing in what Gabrielle keeps calling a "chair swing".

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

I started cooking dinner when we got home. As I peaked in the living room to check on the girls I saw Samantha had finally accomplished a task she has been working on for a couple of weeks now. She finally figured out how to crawl completely in the fireplace to sit down. Ed took our logs and things out of the fireplace a couple of years ago. We never used the fireplace - never even had the gas hooked up - and for whatever reason he wanted the logs and everything else to be boxed up and stored. (I have already told him I'd like them put back in and the gas actually hooked up next winter. After such a cold winter this year I think a fire every now and then would be really nice.) Anyway, back to the point - Samantha sat here for quite a while trying to pull more toys in with her but never quite managed to figure that one out.

From My Little Sunbeams

Tomorrow I'm hoping for a nice downpour of rain all day to get rid of at least some of this pollen. And hopefully I'll get the cleaning done I haven't managed to do yet this week.

What Will She Do Next?

Samantha is quite the climber. She climbs up onto furniture, under tables and chairs and into any other tight little space you would think would be impossible for her to fit. You would not even imagine some of the places I have found her.

Today as I was sitting at the computer trying to get some work done I realized Samantha was crawling under my chair. When I got out of the chair I realized just how far she had gotten.



She managed to crawl all the way through on her own and it seemed like every time I got in the chair she was crawling through it.

Happy Easter!

No, I have not completely abandoned my blogs - although it probably seems that way to everyone. Right now I'm really struggling with balancing everything and hope to do better, posting at least once a week.

I hope everyone had a happy Easter. We had a very nice weekend - very busy, but very nice! We're loving, loving, loving the weather right now and are trying to take full advantage of it by playing outside and grilling out.

A quick update on the girls -

Samantha has become less picky of an eater. I would say she is still a particular eater but she is getting better. She now likes pancakes, waffles, grilled cheese, any kind of pasta, strawberries, peaches and grapes as well as a few other items. We have seen her stand by herself a handful of times now for a few seconds. As soon as she realizes she is standing she immediately falls or grabs a hold of something. She has now figured out how to scream. Not a crying scream but a temper tantrum kind of scream and seems to enjoy throwing these tantrums on a regular basis. When she is trying to be pitiful she lays down on the floor with her face down. It is quite a site and eventually I'll get a photo. But she is also a happy baby, smiling, laughing and quite a copycat.

Gabrielle is definitely becoming a big girl. She certainly has no problem expressing her opinion and we're struggling our way through dealing with this new independence. She loves all things pink and Princess and is quite the girlie-girl. She loves to play outside but does not like getting really dirty. She is still loving ballet and is getting really excited about her "big show" in May.

After a few days in a row of running errands I decided last Thursday we were not going anywhere and were going to spend the entire day outside. The girls played hard!

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

We spent all morning outside. After lunch I cleaned the girls up, put them in their VBS shirts from last summer and put them down for long naps.

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

Easter Sunday before church -

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

Amazingly I thought to take the camera to church so we could get someone to take a photo of all of us together.

From My Little Sunbeams

After lunch Ed made a trip to Sear's to buy himself an Easter gift. Now the girls and I don't have to play in tall grass this spring and summer. (smile)

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

On Saturday we went to my niece's 9th birthday party. Gabrielle loved being at such a big girl party. They decorated tote bags and there was even someone there to paint toenails. Gabrielle chose pink of course and a little flower for her big toes. She is quite proud of fancy feet.

From My Little Sunbeams

Ed hid some eggs in the backyard for the girls. Samantha was not interested or impressed with the idea at all. Every time I put her down to pick up an egg she threw a tantrum.

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

Gabrielle loved every minute of it and did not seem to mind at all not having to share any of the eggs with Samantha.

From My Little Sunbeams

Samantha does enjoy dumping the bucket of plastic eggs everywhere and quite frequently though!

From My Little Sunbeams