2 months old!

Sam Dan the Man is now 2 months old! I was impressed that a) I remembered this fact and b) that I managed to take some pictures and video that day. We don't have his dr. check up for another week, but I'm thinking based on my non-scientific weighing method (step on the scale without him, then with him, then subtract) he's around 11-12 pounds, which is amazing to me. He is becoming more "fun" with his cooing and smiling. We're thinking he may (emphasis on MAY) be growing out of his gassiness. He is waking up just once at night to eat, which is manageable. His hair is still standing straight up, we get comments on it constantly!

And what, you may ask, were my other 2 children doing whilst I was trying to capture this fleeting 2 month moment? Well Ellie (my furry child) was glaring at me with disdain as if to say "you realized we are SCREWED now that you decided to have 2 of these monsters, right?"

And Noah was playing in nasty rainwater that was probably filled with gross mosquito larvae or something getting all dirty. Ah.... such is my life!

Just a nice Family Sunday

So things finally settled down this past weekend. After I started work last Tuesday, Mike had to go out of town for a presentation at Pfizer-fest in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He did fabulously and we all adjusted fairly well to the new working mommy schedule. Mike was so beat from the trip, he an Sam took a nap together on the couch. Well, Mike was on the couch. Sam was on Mike's head, hilarious!

Mike was also finally able to continue his quest for the perfect pancake. On sunday he decided to make them from scratch, they were so delicious and fluffy. He actually stated, "we may never have to go to IHOP again!" Which is saying alot coming from him. I told him he is now roped in to making them at least every other week...

And, we were able to really get into the swing of Bears season. Mike couldn't care less, but I refuse to let the boys grow up in a football-less house. So we geared up for the big game. Noah loves his jersey even if it's tremendously big on him (and hand-me-down from Nick). It was so cute on Monday the Bears highlights came on the news. Noah ran to his room shouting, "Mommy, I put on my go go bears shirt." He was a bit crestfallen when I explained it was just the sports highlights and not another game. At least we have another diehard fan in the house!

Rodeo weekend... with FIVE kids!

Last weekend I took the boys to the annual TriState Rodeo in Fort Madison, IA (mike had to work). For the ride there, we managed to cram me, Noah, Sam, Michelle, Evie, and Val and all our stuff in my Honda Pilot. It was quite the feat. We managed to make it there (even though it took 7 hours instead of the usual 5 with our lengthy stops to eat and nurse babies) and had a great time with the 5 kids. Ayla is 2.5, Noah is 2.5, Kyndal is 15 months, Sam is 7 weeks, and Evie was just over 1 month. And we all stayed with the Krogmeiers. It was awesome. I had the boys wear matching outfits 2 days in a row!


On Saturday there was the parade downtown. Noah excitedly waited for candy, but then did really get the whole "dash out and grab" method. He liked watching all the horses and bands and firetrucks. Sam just slept the whole time.

Protecting ears with auditory expert and fellow speech path, Aunt Val.

The highlight of the parade was this small box of candy Aunt Andrea caught for Noah. It had superheroes on it. He's been carrying it around all week!

Sam chilling with the men while watching ultimate fighter. Gotta start 'em young, right?

Noah sporting Aunt Val's rodeo gear. He loved the boots even if they were hard to walk in.

Ayla liked holding Sam, and she did a great job. A little more gentle than he's used to from Noah!

Kyndal got into the act by helping pat Sam's bottom when he was gassy, so cute!

We did manage to get one group shot at the end of the weekend. Can't wait to see what next year's photo will look like!

Labor Day at the Lake

We had a lovely Labor Day weekend at the lakehouse. Noah, Sam and I got up there on Friday afternoon and we were followed by my mom (with Ellie) and Josh and Tia. Late Friday several cousins/uncles showed up. Saturday brought Philie, Stan, and their boys Fred and Calvin. Saturday night brought Mike. And my dad rolled in from Colorado on Sunday. It was quite the party. It wasn't warm enough for swimming, but there was still plenty to do. Including several boat rides (some while still wearing pjs)...

There were some Rap Sessions with Uncle Josh that Sam seemed a bit unsure of...

Mike baked some fantastic chocolate chip cookies. I don't know if it's the chemist part of him that makes sure he has the exact amount of the right ingredients or if it's his patience in mixing and baking, but they are AWESOME!

There was lots of couch time and boy wrestling matches with the daddys.

And who doesn't like matching sweatshirt wearing. Stan and I had a passionate affair going all weekend long. I miss him greatly!

More boat rides with the requisite life jackets. Sam and Calvin were not big fans of the squished cheeks!

There was a big boat ride with all the cousins where we got to feed swans. Yep that's 8 kids in life jackets. Sam opted out of this trip...

And there was some CJ feeding as well...

And Sam shared his wonderful smiles with just about everyone.....

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and a great way to end the summer!

Huzzah for Sleep!

So Sam has hit some nice milestones this week. Today he is 6 weeks old, woot! He went to the doctor on Monday for his 1 month check up. He is now 9lbs 4oz! So from his smallest weight when we brought him home, he has gained 3 pounds even which is amazing! And he is now 21.75 inches, so he's grown nearly 2 inches since birth. He's gone from the 10th percentile for weight to the 25th. Still cracks me up that he's so small and a member of our family! In more exciting news, he started smiling, though it is very hard to capture on film. And, the most EXCITING piece of news, he slept thru the night last night. It was probably due to the continual crying/fussing he did from 6-10pm last night, but he ended up passing out at 10pm and not waking up until 5am, woohooo! I realize this is probably not a trend, but it was some welcome relief after a few rough/gassy nights. So if he could get this all figured out in 2 weeks before I go back to work, we'll be set! We think he's starting to look like Noah, just with blue eyes!