Samara's First Hiking Trip

For Father's Day today we took Mara on her first hiking trip. Granted it was only 2 miles (because of rain), but we came out of it with ticks on us; now that is real hiking!



Samara in her hiking gear and Daddy shirt, ready to go!




Samara and Daddy ready to hit the trail.



Samara and Trav in the wild.



Samara after a long day of hiking! 'I am so tired, Daddy!'

Happy Father's Day!

Samara wanted to send along wishes to her grandpa's, Archie, Jerry and Jim. So we took some video of her wishing you all a great Father's Day! She also wanted to have a 'so serious' picture taken of herself =)

Twins Win

Samara is all ready for another Twins Win at Miller Park today against the Brew Crew, thanks to Grandpa Archie. Trav convinced me that she is a tad but small to tote to the park to watch the game, so we are parking in front of the TV tonight to watch Mauer and Morneau beat up Fielder and Braun!

I am Two Months Old!

Yeah! Trav made it home safely from Germany with a new elephant, Ellie, for Samara and a wicked cold. Samara and I had fun entertaining our friends Grant and Beth and their children Allie, Tony, Ryan and Melody until Trav flew in. We also celebrated Samara's two month birthday! She is now starting to actually fit in her 0-3 month onesies!

Birthday Wishes and Crazy Mornings!

Oh Man! What a morning. Besides that Mara didn't make it through the night, only to 4:15am, she pooped all over her changing table, peed on it (but I didn't know this!) and got herself all dirty. And we just took a bath last night! When I lifted her up to get her dressed, she was soaked on the back. She had secretly peed all over the table! So we had fun with another bath!

Anyway, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of friends of mine from high school, Beth and Grant and their kids for the night. Then tomorrow Daddy comes home!! I guess he has a new toy for Mara, an elephant he named 'Ellie.'

So instead of sending out birthday and anniversary cards this month, I will give out wishes here: Happy Birthday Grandma June, Shelle, Kristen (Big 3-0!), Aunt Jane, Rachel, and Kenny. Happy Anniversary to Gary and Angie Hong, Derek and Stephanie Sullivan, Dad and Judy, Robert and Tiffany Crim and Joel and Katie Amidon!

Sleep, wonderful sleep!

Oh the joys of sleep! Samara is fantastic! She slept from 9:30p-5:30a! My goal wsa 6a, so she did great! I massaged her, fed her and put her down at 9:30 then gave her another bottle at 11p, called a 'dream feed' because she doesn't wake up to feed, but her sucking reflex kicks in and she takes the food anyway. I did this to 'tank her up' so she wouldn't wake up hungry at 2a (all Baby Whisperer techniques). Granted, I still had to get up at 2:30a to pump, but it was great to see her sleep so well!

She had a great day hanging out with my work friends at lunch yesterday. Elizabeth was finally able to meet her, but Mara couldn't convince her to have another baby! Here is a pic of my friends, from L-R: Auntie Rachel, Auntie Elizabeth, Auntie Jen.

More for Daddy!

Here are more pics and a video from today. Samara was playing boxing with her butterflies on her activity mat. The pics are my attempt to catch her smiling.

Discipline

So when should I start disciplining Samara? I was thinking today. Let me explain.

She hasn't taken a nap all morning, since she woke up at 6am. She is bright-eyed, cooing like crazy, looking around and having a good ol' time! We went to Wal-Mart, thinking she would fall asleep on the car ride, but that was the only time she was asleep! So we got home, fed, changed and I put her down for some sleep so I could rest and put the groceries away. Well, that didn't work, so I resorted to putting her in her bouncer for a nap. When I was getting her out of her crib to put her in the bouncer, she smiled at me and seemed to almost laugh without making a sound, as if to say 'Ha Ha, got you to pick me up! Sucker!' Now if she was older, she would be in trouble for this, but, honestly, this is so cute, I just laughed at her, which made her smile more!



This is a picture of Samara asleep for about 5 minutes today. Oh Man!.....



And of course, no blog would be complete without another pic of Quakley, Samara's duck. This is for Trav, since we are sure he is missing Quakley!

This one's for you, Dad!

Trav is in Germany this week, so Samara is giving him a 'shout-out' from home with some pictures.

Our weekend has been hectic, only because of the endless storms rolling through. As I am typing, I am watching another storm come in through the office window! Luckily, softball was cancelled today, cause I couldn't play anyway (no one to watch Mara). Friday Samara spent the afternoon hanging in the bathtub while the sirens went off. Saturday we headed to Chicago to drop Trav off and made it home just before the tornado sirens went off in Illinois and the torrential downpours started here. Today we weren't as lucky, as when we got out of church, it was pouring. I have never seen it rain so hard, I couldn't see the streets, curbs or any other cars. Luckily we made it home, it just took a long, long time!! Fun thing, Samara had her first taste of Sunday School today. I really wanted to have some adult time at church today, so Mara went to Children's Church. She slept the entire time!!

Anyway, we miss you so much, Daddy! Come home quick and don't have too much fun without us!

Oh, I am so mad Mommy is making me pose for this picture! This is a shirt the lactation department gave Samara, and she finally can fit in it!

A close-up of said shirt.

Mara playing on her gym mat, working on lifting her head up.

Mara showing us how strong she is!

Mara has fun every morning in front of her mirror while I get ready. It is so fun to see her eyesight get better every day and the new things she can see. This mirror keeps her occupied for almost an hour sometimes!

PS: Wish us luck on trying to get Samara to sleep through the night. I figure this week is a good week to try, since Trav won't be bothered if it doesn't work and I can take lots of naps during the week and not worry about making dinner! I am going to try the 'Baby Whisperer' technique. I'll let you know how it goes!!

PPS: Why are birds so dang greedy! They go through the feeder food in one day, so now I am out again! I think that I will just let them suffer for a few days! I can't keep up with Samara's feeding and the birds! Come On!

Was that a smile?

During breakfast, Trav was playing with Samara and I think she smiled while I was taking some video of her and Trav. You be the judge. She did a great job of mimicking Trav's noises and seemed to be having quite a good time!

We also included a picture of her watching TV, the Brewers game. We were looking for Trav on TV, since he was 6 rows behind home plate!!