Sleep Needed

In the past 10 days there have been 3 nights were Samantha has been up FOR THREE HOURS! I don't know why she is up, she is crying at first and then she is pretty happy. I am into the cry-it-out method but in this scenario I don't think it works. We tried last night to let her cry but she just got angrier and angrier. When we got her she had a really wet diaper so maybe that was part of the problem. Her molars are still coming through so maybe that's part of the problem. I don't know what to do besides pray every night that she'll sleep (and we all know I'm not much of a prayer).And she doesn't sleep a lot during the day. No more than 2 hours in naps. Any suggestions on how to handle her new desire to be a night owl?

Here she is with Greta.

The 3 little kids

Weekend

We had a great weekend. Friday we didn't do much. Saturday we went to Long Island and had a playdate with Jack, Emma Kate, Christian, and MC. It was really fun, it was so nice to get the kids together. Samantha was a little hesitant at first, but she warmed up by the end. Then we went to Emma Kate's to meet her new baby sister Peyton. Sam had a lot of fun, she played with Greta, the 200 lb. mastiff and was not scared of her at all. She played playdoh with Emma, which I think she was a little too young for. I think she might of ate some, but I'm not sure. These pics are from the end of the night. Emma wanted to get in the crib so I put Samantha in too. It was so cute. Samantha was laughing so much at Emma, and in 1 picture she's just looking at Emma with a huge smile on her face. Too cute... but I am so tired from the weekend that I will post more pics another day.

Late Resolutions

Okay, so I did make some sort of resolutions this year. I don't totally believe in resolutions, because any time of year you can choose some things to work on, the ones that have to do with me as a person are: be more organized, keep careful track of budgeting, keep to my cleaning schedule, read more, and of course exercise, or at least eat well. Some of those most people probably say, then I have some regarding Samantha.

- Make an effort to always tell Samantha what things are to help her learn more words. She's doing great so far. When she points and makes a grunting noise, stop her and teach her the word that she wants to say.
- Make more of an effort to read with her. We read every night, but sometimes it's 1 book sometimes 4. I want to give her time to play with her board books, let her get used to looking at pictures in books and turning the pages and not be in a hurry. Also I want to read with her in the morning and for at least 15 minutes before bed.
- Get rid of the pacifier. I've mentioned this before. I'm now keeping one in the car, but only giving it to Sam if she desperately needs it. The rest are staying in the crib. If we lose them that's it we're going cold turkey. I'm not buying anymore!
- Be conscious every day of making sure she is getting a balanced diet (I'm pretty good with this but I just want to keep it up as she gets older).
- Of course, work on walking as always. Congratulate her whenever she does it so she continues.
- Limit TV time. I always said no TV but she loves Elmo so much that I just bought her a Elmo DVD. I figure it's better to have that to watch every so often then to turn on the TV and just watch whatever show is on. So now she's allowed to watch Elmo, I guess. She calls him Melmo. It's really cute, I couldn't resist getting it for her.

New Games

Samantha has discovered wallets. So we gave her my old wallet with some old cards in it and this is a favorite new game. The problem is, she has also discovered the word mine. This morning she pulled all the cards out of the wallet, and I went to put them back in for her and she started getting mad and saying mine, mine.
She also knows right from wrong, sometimes. This morning she was off in the corner playing with her wallet and I said, what are you doing? She looked at me and quickly turned her back and did something. So I went over and she had found a penny that she was putting in her mouth. She knew it was wrong from the way she looked at me and hurriedly did it. When I asked her for it she gave it back right away, so that's a good sign.
Whenever she shows signs of having a "tantrum" which isn't too bad yet, not full blown tantrums I try to be really strict with her. I walk away and let her have the tantrum. Which is easy and fine when you're at home, or at someone's house who you know well. But as she gets older and is having real tantrums what do you do when you're out in public? Oh, that's right, my daughter won't have tantrums and will be extremely well behaved, I forgot...
I think we're in for some tough times ahead, my girl is a toddler... I can't believe it.

Viva Mexico!

I don't know how many people know but Tim has accepted a new job in a just opening Mexican restaurant. We are really excited, it is really close to home and a very exciting opportunity. Tim has been working diligently on the menu for this restaurant that should open in May. He has been coming up with all sorts of yummy authentic Mexican concoctions, as well as the regular burritos, enchiladas, tacos etc. Just thinking about it all gets my mouth watering. We have no Mexican restaurants around here and I think it should be a big hit. So you'll all have to come visit and go to the restaurant once it opens. I've also mentioned before that we're going to Mexico next month, and you can see the pics over on the right bottom of this page. We'll get to get some ideas and look at a lot of cultural sites. If you know of any really great Mexican restaurants send it over out way. We'd love to check out their menu or know about their decor to get some ideas. Hasta Luego. Boy I really have to brush up on my Spanish before we go...

NYC

We went into the city for the day on Sunday. We went to Wallse for brunch, which is always fabulous. We saw Peter and David. Then I met up with Louise and we went to see Liana, who I haven't seen in forever. It was a totally last minute trip we just kind of said sure let's go and picked up and went. It was fun seeing Louise and she dropped some random crazy news on me, I'm happy for you Wouisey! (Did I spell that right?)
Sorry these pics aren't the best, but they were the best I had. Sam with David & Peter (sorry Peters eyes are shut) and in the one with Louise Sam looks kind of awful, she is covered with food and saying more for more food. However it looks like she's reaching for the Corona bottle. I swear, that is not what she's reaching for. We have not given her beer yet, we have enough trouble getting her to stop eating everything else she can get her hands on.

In yesterdays pic did anyone notice that Sam has her paci in her mouth and the other one in her hand, ready to go in. Isn't that funny? Even while she's sleeping. I just love that, it's too cute. Although we're trying to stop giving it to her. We're down to crib and car only...

Now we're ready for a busy week...

Mommy Wars

I think there's some type of wierd competitive vibes between moms. Samantha and I go to a lot of mommy and me type activities. We have Tumbling Class, Music Together, and Playgroups. I also babysit for someone and I bring her daughters to ballet class twice a week. During ballet most of the moms hang out outside the class with there babies. This is what happenned last week with a mom who I never met before and was new to the class. We'll call her Mom.
Mom: Oh, how old is your daughter?
Me: 13 months
Mom: Oh is she walking.
Me: No, not yet. Almost though.
Mom: Oh that's okay, don't worry. (She doesn't even know me I find it so wierd that she said this)
Me: Oh, I wasn't. When did you daughter start walking.
Mom: 12 months, You shouldn't worry until she gets to 20 months, but I'm sure she won't get that far.

I guess I should be above it all and shouldn't let it bother me, but it did. Until the other little girl waved to Samantha and then Sam replied hi! then Sam looked at the cheerios and said more.
The Mom said, oh she talks, well my daughter has 20 signs but can't talk.
Ha ha, I thought... in your face...

by the way the picture, I know, another sleeping picture but so cute, right? Tomorrow I will post an awake pic I promise.

Small Change

See over there on the right if you scroll down a little there's a Small Change icon? Yes, you see it, right? Well Beth at Playgroup Dropout had this idea to get people together to volunteer time or money to those in need. You can read about it here at this site.
Once a month a bunch of moms (or other people too) are going to do one thing to help others. This month I am sending a card to someone from the Make A Child Smile Foundation. Were sending a card and egg shaker to Caroline because it says she likes music. Caroline is 2 and has Multiple Heart Defects. You can read about her story by clicking right here.
We also are giving a winter coat to someone in need. I know you're thinking it's not much but if everyone did a little something or gave some "Small Change" it would really add up. Beth at PD, you can read her blog it's over on the right under my favorite blogs got 99 people to agree to do it. Anyone else want in? Leave a comment and let me know what you'll do this month!

Welcome new friends

We have 2 new babies in our circle of friends:
Welcome to:
Peyton Rae Leighley
Born 1/12 at 12:20 AM
7 lbs. 10 oz. 20 1/2 inches
Congratulations Danielle & Bill!

Maren Michele Balint
born 1/11 at 3 PM
7 lbs. 4 oz.
Congratulations Elena & Nick!

She sleeps...

This is old but how cute is she??

Weekend Cancelled

Well all our fun weekend plans have been cancelled because Samantha is sick again! She has a stomach bug and is really miserable, I feel so bad for her. Boy, no sickness really and then in the last month she's had pneumonia and the stomach flu/bug. Poor Sam. Here's a pic of her today actually looking happy because I was singing to her, but most of the time she's been crying like she is right now.

I think she's crying because she's hungry because she hasn't had an "incident" since 7 AM this morning. The last time she ate was 12 yesterday. All she's had since then is 2 oz of pedialyte every 2 hours. My poor baby, the doctor said she can't eat food for 2 days! And then only if she's better. At least she's getting this now and not while we're getting ready to go to Mexico next month. I guess it's going around...

Here's another picture of what Samantha actually looked like for a lot of today. She was totally faking it in the picture above. My poor baby was miserable.

Sam and her kitty

One of Samantha's favorite words is kitty. She yells it over and over again whenever she sees a cat or anything that resembles a cat. Since she loves the cat so much one day we decided to let her watch the cat eating. First she watched and repeated kitty over and over again. Then she picked up the food and tried to feed the cat. Oh, look how cute that is, we said. Although the cat was not amused, leave me alone and let me eat, she was thinking. The cat is great with her, she can do anything, sleep on her, pet her, and the cat loves the attention. However then she tried to eat the cat food too. That's where we drew the line, we told her no, but she kept trying, I guess she liked it. She doesn't get to watch the cat eating anymore...

Need To Update

I know I've been lacking in the updating department. But what we've been doing has been very boring, so I decided to spare you. We've been working working working. I haven't taken any new pics because there's nothing to really take pictures of. Samantha is talking, but I can't take a pic of that. She can say: mommy, daddy, ball, baby, dog, kitty, thank you, more, cookie, bye bye. I feel like there's one or two more but I can't remember it right now (I know, good mom, right)
She isn't walking yet, but is getting closer, it could be any day now.
We've been going to playgroups and tumbling class, and babysitting.
This weekend we have lots of fun things going on: a playdate, music class, and we're going to meet Emma Kate's new baby sister Peyton. So there will be lots of pictures to post. I promise...
Till then, look back at the old pictures to remember how cute Samantha is.

De Lurk

Okay so this is Delurking Week. That means everyone who is reading the blog this week has to leave a comment. Come on, someone must be reading, I hardly get comments. And if you read and have a blog, tell me what it is, I'll read yours too...

Happy Commenting...

And let me point out I have been very good at posting lately, thanks guys.

Sick

Well no postings because Sam is still sick. She is doing okay but she is basically really grumpy off and on, on top of that, she is now getting her top 2 molars. So the poor girl has pneumonia, molars, and she's been tugging on her ears so she might have an ear ache too. Great... We got back to the doctor Tuesday.

But the good news is we booked our flight to Mexico! We're going to the Yucatan next month! We're so excited, hopefully Samantha will be well behaved on the LONG flight there...

And here's Tim and Sam at The Tree in NYC, I know not a great pic but the best we could do, it was the one day where it was actually really cold, Sam was sleeping, and it was crowded and Tim wouldn't let us get any closer to the tree... I told him this will be our new family tradition, going to see the Tree every year.

Very Sick-Pneumonia Baby

So my excuse for not posting is that Sam has pneumonia! Yes, it's true she has been a very crabby sick baby. She got sick on Sunday, New Years Eve, and we went to the doctor Monday and Sam has been out of comission ever since. She is getting better slowly. Every day is a little better. Here are some pics of her in happier days.

XMas morning

A New dollhouse and then all tired out...

Xmas morning at our house

We had XMas morning first at our house and Sam opened the 2 presents we got her. Then we went to Ct. Here are the pics of her opening our presents. She got a piano and a elmo cell phone.

XMas Eve

XMas eve opening gifts, Sam liked the boxes better than the presents. But she did like her new drumset.

Family Christmas Pics

Here's the 3 of us for Christmas pics, one Christmas morning in Ct and one the day after in Orient.

Sick

Samantha is sick, nothing else to report. So I'll leave you with a picture from last week, in her happier days.