Milestones

Samara has found her hands! It is so fun to watch her play with them, suck on them, and use them to throw her nuk halfway across the house! She also uses them to keep her nuk in her mouth as best as she can. Unfortunately today she is extra crabby (not much good sleep last night) so no pics of said hands.

On another note, more great news. Besides having to prepare myself to go back to work, I get to spend this week trying to restore my identity, as someone in St Paul stole it! LOVELY! So I spent yesterday talking with the fraud dept. and the police and today talking with many other credit fraud depts., credit bureaus, and ripping my hair out while trying to calm Mara down! Why is it so hard to talk to an actual person from the credit bureaus?? Maybe it is because there really is no one there to talk to...

We are also in the midst of trying to buy a new SUV for me. Getting Samara in and out of my little, sporty, cute Cavalier is trying to say the least. Plus, it just turned 100,000 (that's 87,000 miles I put on since I bought it in Oct. 2005). Perfect timing: buy a new car, get my identity stolen. Lovin' that!

Back at home

And Daddy made me pose with this:




What is this daddy? (A rugby ball)



Samara working on her small motor skills.



She is so happy in her pink outfit!

Where have we been?

MN, that's where. I took Samara back home for the week to hang with the fam and relax while Trav went to Madison and Chicago for work. Since I have only two more weeks left with Samara at home before I return to work, I thought I would take advantage of the time when Trav is gone to get in some Grandma and Grandpa time.

We visited with Samara's great grandma Lilly, grandpa and grandma Vickerman, and grandpa and grandma Swanson, aunt Shelle and cousins Kenny and Michael at their cabin up north. Everyone was amazed at how big she is getting and how interactive she is now.



Great grandma Lilly, amazed at Samara's little fingers!



Samara acting quite cool!



Such big eyes!!

Grandpa Jerry is blowing at Samara's wispy hair and she loves it!

Trav hard at work

Trav wanted me to put on these pics from him working in Germany on the 70 meter pump, the largest pump in the industry. I think he looks rather handsome in that hard hat!

The 70 meter!! OOHH, AAHH!

The pump hard at work in Deutschland.

That's my husband!!

Peek-a-boo

Samara wanted to play hide-n-seek today when Trav came home. Can you find her?

She also wanted to take a picture in Daddy's office chair in her cute summer dress. So we emailed that to Trav to brighten up his day!

Travis in Chicago

Trav had to go to Chi-town today for work and took these amazing pictures from up top on Trump Tower (under construction) in downtown (floor 86 with no fencing!).



Looking south towards Navy Pier and Adler Planitarium.




Sears Tower, looking northwest.



Hancock Center, looking southeast.



This pic is going up in our house!!



Trump Tower

Just another day...

...Samara slept through the night again and continues to breastfeed like a champ. You have no idea the stress that is relieved just by her breastfeeding!!!

Here are some pictures from yesterday and today. We just loved the outfit with the hat, even though the hat barely fit (yellow outfit).



I am posing for you!



Look at me!



Oh, don't you just love my hat!



Sleep, at long last!



Such a little person in such a big bed!

Finally!

Samara slept right through the night! Trav put her down at 9:30p and she didn't wake up till 5:30a, and I had to wake her up to eat then! She was knocked out again until 9a when I woke her up again to get ready to go out. Seems like the shots exhausted her! Anyway, she was fine until this evening, when she got crabby and spiked a slight fever (100.5). But she is breastfeeding really well today, best ever, so we are very proud of her. Needless to say my car is down and out again- We were lucky to get it home today! One good thing, one bad thing...

Vitals: Samara is now 9lbs. 10 oz., 21 1/2 inches. She continues on the 25th% for weight and height and jumped to the 30% for head circumference. Mommy has a large head, also!

So we are having date night Friday and what a great idea I had: a drive-in! She can sleep the whole time, feed without interruption (even breast feed), I can pump without interruption, and we can still have some quality time together! I can't wait!

SHOTS FIRED!

Samara had her 2-month check-up today and it sucked! She had three shots and I have never heard her cry so hard that she couldn't cry anymore! Thankfully Trav was there, because I was a bucket of mess. She slept quite a bit for the rest of the day and hasn't seemed to spike a fever yet. But I have to say that was almost as difficult as when she was in the ER and getting poked for an IV! I HATE SHOTS!

Our trip to downtown Racine

Samara and I accompanied Trav to downtown yesterday. I really needed to get out of the house! We went exploring while Trav worked out at the Y and here is what we found:

Here is a beautiful church we found.

Samara enjoying the fountain and occasional spray.

The fountain near the lakefront.