Whoa, Whoa, Whoa

The baby is growing up!

In the past week in a half Samantha has

--Been going from sitting to laying down and from laying down to sitting.  From sitting to laying down was pretty comical because her right leg always got stuck when she leaned forward to try to lay on her belly, which caused her to get frustrated and just roll over to her back and THEN back to her belly.  From laying to sitting was a little more complicated.  It started with her laying on her side and then kind of walking her arms towards her body.  Now she just pushes with her arms and up she goes.

-- Crawling like a pro.  She has been "almost there" for what seems like a week or more.  She has been on her hands and knees and moving forwards and backwards, but not really crawling.  The front end would work or the back end would worth, but not together.  So more like a scootching motion.  She would shuffle her knees as far up as she would get them and then move her arms.  I guess like an inch worm.  But this weekend she had it all figured out and did it like she never knew any different.  Now she is in to everything she can get her hands on. 

--Pulling up.  She had just been crawling up to something and pulling up just to her knees.  This week, look out, she pulled herself all the way up to her feet. Yikes!!  She did it against her Baby Einstein and wanted to play with the toys.  However, the concept of holding on is still a little elusive and usually ends in tears.  Just last night she crawled over to the trash can and tried to pull up on it. Anything and everything is free game.  And not just to crawl to and pull up on, but to put in her mouth.  She is LOVING being mobile.  She just giggles at stuff and just goes, goes, goes.  She crawls up to some inanimate object and just has to touch it all over.  She crawled up to the entertainment center and could not figure out why she could see the lights but couldn't touch them.  (She was looking through the glass door.)

-- been working on teeth.  Yes, she has no teeth yet which is a-ok by me.  The longer they wait to come through, the healthier they will be.

-- received her first hair cut.  I had been putting this off for awhile but the long hair in the back kept getting worse and worse. It just looked scraggly (I'm sure that isn't a word.).  I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  Last weekend when we were down at my parents' our cousin Julie stopped by and gave Samantha her haircut.  Now Samantha is sporting a cute new bob and it looks SO MUCH BETTER.

-- been getting much better at turning off her monitor in the morning so that my receiver goes beep, beep, beep, beep, and on and on.  Yes, I know you are awake.  Could you please play with something else before you become angry that no one has came in yet??

-- had a bad weekend.  Last weekend, starting on Friday, she was a pill.  I'm going to blame it on a combination of two things -- 1) teeth and 2) time change.  She morphed back into the infant that woke up screaming from naps, didn't let me (or Joy) out of her sight, etc.  However, today (Tuesday) was a different day and Joy said we have our happy baby back.  Yea!  The fussy baby was about to make me pull my hair out.

-- started to wean herself even more from nursing.  Last night was the first night EVER that she refused to nurse to go to bed.  She was just being a fussy pill and fighting me about it.  So I think I just thought, "ok, fine.  I'll just go fix you a bottle and we'll see how much you like that."  Well, I ate those words because she sucked down about 5 ounces and passed out.  At first I was relieved that she was finally asleep.. .until I realized what had just occurred.  She still is happy to nurse in the mornings and OF COURSE at 3 a.m.  I figure I am very fortunate to have a child that is weaning herself while others go through quite the process.  However, I was a little saddened by the thought that she chose the bottle over me. Oh well, it was going to happen at some point. =)  Tonight she came home sleepy-eyed, ate supper, had a bath, and then was WOUND up.  She finally went down at 8 but not without a fight.  She would get fussy after crawling around, I would pick her up, try to nurse, she would fight, I would try the bottle, she would fight, I would put her on the floor.  This happened several times.  Finally I thought that I would take her back to our bedroom, where it is completely dark.  I thought that this would kind of recreate the night time wake-ups.  So when we got into bed, she fought me and then she fought the bottle.  She rolled away from me and positioned herself on her back but in the crook of my arm.  I could tell she was looking up but she was very very quiet and still.  So I waited a few minutes and then looked over at her and wouldn't you know it, she was asleep.  So that puts in to effect an entirely new strategy for going to bed.  I might try moving the rocking chair into her room and trying that tomorrow.  Or maybe, laying her down in bed and rubbing her back.  She has started to LOVE having her back rubbed.  Sometimes at night, I can get her back to sleep by just rubbing her back. 

-- started to imitate.  She can wave! And it has been so neat to watch her discover how to do it.  She at first was just flopping her hand and arm around at the beginning of last week. But by the end of the weekend, she would hold her arm up and then twist her wrist.  It is so cute!  She originally would look at her hand when she twisted it and looked very intrigued - like, how am I doing that!! 

--has given out a few kisses.  This weekend I was working on giving kisses.  She gave me two, very opened mouth, very slobbery, and all tongue kisses.  hahaha YUCK.  She thought it was cute, I on the other hand thought there was something wrong with my daughter "slipping me the tongue".  We've got some work to do. =)
--fallen in love with Gerber puffs.  She's been munching on them for probably two weeks, maybe?  Anyways..they are fantastic little things.  We first gave her just pieces of them and then realized I was being a nervous Nelly and she could handle the whole thing.  Over the weekend, she has mastered the fine motor skills to get them into her mouth.  She used to chase them all over her hand and have several "hiding" in between the fingers.  She has become Chief's favorite person because she'll hold one out to him and LOVES it when he licks her hand to get it.  Gross!!  Maizey does clean up duty for the ones she drops below her.

--started to eat table food.  We attended Leah Semple & Pat Finley's wedding over the weekend and I fed Samantha little chucks of noodles and also mashed potatoes.  She went NUTS for it.  She really handled the chunks too.  A few weeks ago I tried chunkier oatmeal and she gagged.  Since she did ok with the noodles, I am going to start giving her actual little chunks of food and see where we go from there.   For having no teeth, she sure does waller food around and act like she's chewing!
That is pretty much all I can think of for now.  In general, life is busy busy busy.  I have began to dream about sleeping in on a Saturday whereas before it really hasn't bothered me to much.  Now I am starting to crave it.   JM has been pretty busy at work and is chasing after a big buck.  Ever heard of buck fever, well I've seen it first hand.  It's real. 

Halloween weekend, I had an FFA cookout here at the house.  It was a great time and my mom was such a great help.  She came up with some awesome games that the kids love.  We can really throw some parties and it is so much fun.  The kids had a blast and Samantha was an angel through it all. 

Have a good week!