Happy Birthday, Steve!

Before Daddy got home from work yesterday (on his birthday), Sam got dressed in her "party dress" for Daddy's party. I tried to take a nice picture of her posing, but as you can see, she was having a little meltdown at the time. This meltdown was the result of her having her mind set on watching Sesame Street at that exact moment and me disagreeing in favor of the photo shoot.

(The photo shoot did not last long and immediately afterwards, all was right with the world when Mommy started a Sesame Street DVD).

A dramatic moment

I had a nice meal made for dinner as soon as Steve got home from work and we quickly ate before I had to leave for work. I promised him (and Sam) that the party would begin when I got home ... and it did, starting with cake and a candle:

Posing with the Birthday Boy

I made Angel Food cake with strawberries for Steve because he is not a big fan of desserts (unlike me who can have dessert with every meal of the day ... including breakfast!). Unbeknownst to me, Steve baked me a cake while I was at work. It was a very nice surprise and we make sure to have a little of each one during our party.

Sam L.O.V.E.D. the strawberries!

After our cake, we moved to the living room so that Steve (actually, Sam) could open his gifts and cards. From my earlier posts, you know that Sam enjoys cards so much. She loves ripping wrapping paper off gifts too ...

Helping Daddy with his cards

(Sam even got one of her own from Grammy to open)

Taking over the show and unwrapping Daddy's gifts

Showing off the new hat and the old soon-to-be-thrown-out hat

Happy Birthday, Steve! We love you!

Mommy's Little Helper

Today, Samantha decided that she wanted to help me unload the dishwasher. I removed anything from the bottom shelf that I deemed potentially dangerous and then let her set to work unloading the silverware.

Making the big decision about which piece to grab next

" Ah ... this is the one that I want!"

And then putting it safely on the floor

Of course, the result of all of this was that I had to RE-WASH all of the silverware, but Samantha was happy helping Mommy and it gave me just enough time to finish unloading everything on the top shelf ...

15 Months Old

Samantha is 15 months old today! She is absolutely so precious to us and brings a smile to my face every time we are together. When I go to work for a few hours in the evening, I can't wait to get home and see her. Her face lights up whenever she sees her Mommy or her Daddy.

We go for her 15 month check-up in a couple of weeks. I will be sure to post all of the stats from my growing girl then.

In the meantime, she has a total of 12 teeth coming in at various stages (4 of which are molars). She is walking very swiftly these days and definitely prefers walking to crawling now (it's amazing how quickly she has transitioned in just a matter of 2 weeks!). She knows and understands several words as I have made a conscious effort since she was very little to keep repeating myself and show with gestures whenever possible. She is a voracious eater and has transitioned very well to organic cow's milk.

I can't wait to see what new milestones she reaches in the next couple of months!

A Card is Worth ...

a thousand smiles.

Over the last week, Samantha received quite a few Valentine's Day cards in the mail. It was wonderful to watch how absolutely fascinated she is by cards; I'm sure that it has something to do with her extreme love for books. The cards were spaced out in the mail just enough that the joy of opening (and carrying around) those cards lasted for several days. Below are some of the moments captured on camera:

She looks as though she is actually reading the card!

A special card from Aunt Michele

Studying the envelope with her name on it

Opening the card from Grammy

Another card from Grammy

(Grammy has now taken to sending Samantha cards in the mail on a regular basis because she gets so much enjoyment out of them). Thanks, Grammy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We started the day out with Samantha opening her special Valentine's Day present from Daddy. He picked it out all by himself and then I wrapped it so that Samantha could open it -- she is really excited about opening presents and cards these days!

Ripping off the paper

After getting her dressed for the day, I struggled to get any decent pictures during our "photo shoot." I wanted to try and take a picture similar to what I had taken last Valentine's Day, but she is a little wiggle-worm these days and asking her to sit still is like ... well, it isn't easy. Nonetheless, here is a comparison picture for all of you:

Valentine's Day 2009 (almost 3 months old)


Valentine's Day 2010 (almost 15 months old)

Like a Duck to Water ...

This video is a little better than the last video (I'm still working on getting one that would qualify for an "Academy Award" though). Samantha has taken to walking "like a duck to water" and walks all over the house now. I have to be careful when I enter a room because I am never too sure if she is standing right there and I may just plow her over. It's comical to watch her because she is still a little unsteady but her balance seems to improve every day.

Samantha's Latest Antic

This is how I found Samantha yesterday:

What, Mommy? Am I in trouble?

Nothing is safe in this house -- nothing! It was so cute though that I couldn't help but smile in between grumbling as I stuffed the wipes back into the container. The irony of this situation is that Samantha normally hates touching the wipes. Occasionally I give one to her to hold (and occupy her) while I am changing her. Invariably, she throws it to the side and scrunches up her face in disgust. I think that it has something to do with the damp, coldness of the wipes. Well, those days of disgust must be over because she thoroughly enjoyed pulling out as many wipes as possible yesterday.

Just Trying to Stay Warm

It has been so cold around here lately. I think that I am definitely ready for Spring to come this year -- the warmer weather, the birds singing, the leaves starting to grow on the barren trees, and the idea of not having to bundle up so tightly and warm the car to drive 3 miles to Meijer.

I do have to say that it is undeniably easier to travel with Samantha this year in comparison to this same time last year. Last year, she was still a little baby (only 3 months old) and I dreaded exposing her to any unnecessary trips into the coldness of Michigan. I still need to warm up the car and bundle her up tightly, but it is much easier ...

Dressed for winter conditions in Michigan (and looking so cute!)

Walking

As promised, this is a video of Samantha walking. It's hard to capture her whole body (legs and feet included) when I am still having to coax her to come to me and juggle the recorder at the same time. Please bear with me -- It would probably be a lot better to have Daddy record and Mommy be instrumental in encouraging her, but this is hard to do because of our work schedules these days. Until I can get better recording of her latest milestone, please enjoy!

First Steps

I mentioned in yesterday's post that Samantha was getting very close to taking her first steps. A few hours after I posted that, Sam officially took her first steps into the kitchen. She has taken a tiny step, here and there, but no more than one or two. Yesterday, she surprised me by taking three of them to come into the kitchen and then another couple after that.

I called Daddy at work and he was a little disappointed because he wasn't there when it happened, but I assured him that I would try and record it and he would definitely be able to see her in action when he came home.

She doesn't take steps too much on her own right now; we have to encourage her to do that. She'll take a step or two if she can't quite reach the next closest piece of furniture to hold onto though. Once she gets into the swing of it, I have a sneaking suspicion she will be a fast mover and difficult to catch.

** As a side note, Sam now has 2 more molars coming in on the top. That makes a grand total of 5 teeth (4 of which are molars) poking through in the last two weeks. Needless to say, she hasn't been a happy camper these days.

Standing Tall

Samantha is so close to walking on her own. She is still a little shaky and likes to reach to the next object that she can use to steady herself as she moves from room to room. Every once in a while, we catch her just standing by herself, without holding onto anything. This is one of those occasions: