Easter Break

Thank goodness for a break from school.  Kansas let their students out at 11:30 on Wednesday and we don't go back until Tuesday.  YEA!  After our early dismissal we had a short union meeting and home we went.  The meeting was short enough that I was able to pick Samantha up before her nap. I picked her up a little after 1 and was home in time for her 2 o'clock nap. 

Thursday:  Samantha and I headed over to the Terre Haute mall to see the Easter Bunny.  The Bunny was open for business at 9 our time, but that is Samee's nap time so I decided to wait until she woke up.  That put us in Terre Haute at 11:30 our time, 12:30 theirs.  Well 12 - 1 was the Bunny's lunch break.  Samee was able to walk the mall and play in their play area.  On that same day Gma Keach and Marisa were in Terre Haute shopping so they came to the mall to hang out with us.  At 1 the bunny came hopping down the mall (not really, he just walked), and Samee couldn't have been happier.  We were first in line and she was pointing, and going "mm, mm, mm" and smiling.  Then she did her little hyperventilating noise and squealed.  This. did. not. last.  Like I said, we were first in line so I didn't have the opportunity of watching other parents' tricks.  Since Samee seemed all happy for the bunny, I just walked up and plopped her on the bunny's lap.  Wrong move. Samee first made an "I don't know about this face" that quickly turned into a "get me out of here" face.  Her picture is pretty classic.  I picked her up and told the lady we were done before Samee got into full-fledged tears. 



After the bunny Gma, Marisa, Samee and I went down the mall and ate at Garfield's.  It was really good.  It took a really long time for our food, but luckily I thought to tell the waitress what Samee wanted when we put in our drink order and asked her to bring it out when it was finished.  The waitress was really nice and talked to us about her daughter that was 15 months.  She was really friendly and loved on Samee.  While we sat at the table waiting on the food, I let Samee experiment with crayons.  If I could keep them out of her mouth she made some really pretty scribbles, with a minimal amount of help.  Pretty neat!
Samee was on her last ounce of energy but I really needed to make a quick trip to Sam's for a few items.  So on we went.  She stayed awake from the mall to Sam's but didn't make it out of town from Sam's.  She was one tired pup.  When we arrived home, I tried to take her from the car to the crib, but it definitely didn't work. 

Friday morning JM stayed home and we just relaxed all day. It rained all day and I kept waiting for the storms to end or come through so we could run to town.  We didn't end up going until around 4,which was ok since it was after both of her naps.  The girls can put away the milk, HOLY COW!  She will drink a full bottle (10 ounces) before her nap, like it's nothing at all.  I'm not really sure where she puts it, I guess her leg is hollow. 

Saturday morning, Aunt Joy brought the grandparents down to watch Samee participate in the town's Easter Egg Hunt.  It started at 10 and luckily it wasn't raining....yet.  There was another family with a little girl that was around 6 months older than Samantha.  Madelyn and Samee traded baskets and exchanged little girl glances.  Soon enough the egg hunt began and Samee didn't do to bad, once she realized what she was supposed to do.  She did great and collected 13 eggs!  The grass was pretty tall so when she would grab an egg it was hard for her to pick them up because she would also grab the grass.  She would give it about 2 tries and then move on so JM, Joy, and I would usually move the egg a little bit so she could get a better grip.  There were a few times when she was more interested in a random stick or squirell-eaten corn cob but once she got on a roll, she was all about the eggs.  When all the eggs were collected the kids sat on the sidewalk and emptied the candy from their eggs into their baskets.  As we turned in the eggs, the kids went into the church by egg groups and picked out a toy.  Samee picked out a pretty pink flashlight that had a My Little Pony on it.  The flashlight has little inserts that you can shine on the wall.  She really likes it. When we walked out of the church, the mayor's wife handed out 50-cent coins and certificates for ice cream from the Pit Stop.  As Samee and I stood around while JM chit-chatted with old friends, the mayor's wife came up and asked if we had received our coin yet.  I told her yes and then she goes "well here, take 2 more; we have extras.".   Thanks!!  So samee came home with a basket of candy, a My Little Pony flashlight, 3 half dollar pieces, and a certificate for ice cream at the Pit Stop.  Fantastic!!
We loaded Samee and her bounty into her wagon and headed home just as it started to sprinkle.  Once home, we finished packing and headed south to my parents for Easter weekend.  We pulled in just in time for lunch! 
Samee took her naps like a good girl, which was nice because sometimes she doesn't do so well in a different than normal place.  Saturday was spent laying around and being lazy and watching it rain.  That evening we went to town to eat at Ty's Buffet.  It wasn't too bad and it wasn't packed either, which is perfect for dining with a 1 year old.  Samee made buddies with the older couple sitting behind us.  She ate really well too.  Lately she hasn't been eating large amounts.  And she usually picks one thing on her plate to eat a lot of and discards the rest.  She LOVES fruit.  I'm pretty sure that she would just eat fruit all day every day if we let her.  We don't bring out her fruit until after she gives us the "I'm done" signal because she would refuse to eat her meal. 
She slept o.k. that night.  She only woke up once and the night before she was with us from 2:30 -6:30.  I think she is starting to have bad dreams.  Sometimes I can go into her room and when I touch her she is trembling and whimpering or worse yet crying like she's hurt.  Usually I can lay her down, tuck her in with her Blankey and rub her arm or leg while going "shhh, shhhhh, shh, shhh" and she will drift back into sleep.  friday night though was a different story.  She wouldn't even RELAX unless she was in my arms.  Darn those bad dreams.

Sunday morning the entire family woke up and went to Easter Service.  Samee did really well and actually stayed in our row for most of the time.  During the last 5 minutes of the service mom would let her out the row and samee would walk around the back of our chairs (we were in the last row) and come to my end where I would 'catch' her and then send her back down the row.  During church, Samee went down and sat with Mom.  Infront of her was a young couple that has a little boy that is a few years old.  The husband had his arm around the back of his wife and the boy was on his mommy's lap.  Samee reached up and was touching hands with the little boy and was touching the Daddy's arm.  The little boy then says to his mommy, "Why is she touching MY daddy??"  We were all about rolling on the floor, but that didn't compare to the laughter we all held back when he passed gas and then smiled really big!  The wife stood up and walked out of the service one and we realized for the first time that she was pregnant.  Hahaha, I think the little boy had better get use to someone "touching his daddy".

After the service we headed home and soon Gma and Gpa Keach came down for lunch.  It was a great meal and Samantha ate pretty well too!  We lounged around all afternoon and Samantha refused to take a nap so around 4 we decided to head North.  We weren't hardly on the highway for 2 minutes and she was out!  Sunday evening we fed Samee, but JM and I were too full of rolls and Mom's pie to eat anything else.  We rented the latest Harry Potter movie and headed to bed fairly early.

Today I didn't have to work so it was just us girls at home.  I so desperately wish I could be a stay at home mom.  Samee is so stinkin' funny!  She has started to be more vocal but still no words.  She definitely knows "mama" and gabbers randomly throughout the day.  She will "read" books and "talk" to the dogs.  She lately has taken to grabbing at my pant legs, looking up at me, and going "uh, uh, uh"...but really has more of an "m" noise to it.  She has been SO lovey dovey lately too.  She really likes to give "big squeezes" where she wraps her arms completely around your neck and squeezes and if you're lucky you'll hear her grunt as she tries to squeeze as hard as she can.  She loves to dance and has fallen even more in love with Yo Gabba Gabba.  When it comes on, nothing else in the world matters.... at all.  I am completely against using the t.v. as a baby sitter and when she's at joy's and here during the day the t.v. is rarely on.  And until today, if it is on in the evening she pays it no attention to it.  When we read books, she easily turns the pages one by one. She blows kisses pretty well now too.  Before she would just put her hand to her lips but now she will make a "mmmm" sounds and will pull her hand away from her face.  She actually waves know instead of closing and opening her fist.  When she waves it kind of looks like a karate chop, but its pretty cute!

She knows where her ears, eyes, nose, mouth and belly are.  If she has a shirt on she will raise up her shirt, stick her belly out and squeeze it. 

During bath time she has figured out "floating" and has been doing it for at least 2 weeks.  At first I wasn't allowed to let go of her hand.  Now she only wants my hand when she's getting back up.  She raises her hand and when I give her mine she puts it against her left or right cheek and then rolls over onto her side while planting her face in my hands.  I guess she figured out that that was the easiest way to roll over in water and not drown yourself.  Lately she has been propping herself up on her hands and then rolling over if the water isn't too deep.   She likes to put her face under the water but only if she is sitting up and leans over.  She normally doesn't inhale any of it and doesn't have to cough or sneeze.  She is figuring out that while "floating", if she starts kicking her feet it propells her around the tub.  She just grins really really big and giggles. 

I had a blast today with Samee Jo.  She likes to spend her time in the dining room looking out the window or just walking around and playing. I guess I spend most of my time in there too either cooking or cleaning up or working on something at the dining room table.  She tries to be very helpful, like helping me load the dryer or the dish washer.  She knows that when I close the dishwasher I have to press buttons.  She always reaches for the buttons after she closes the door.  So I guide her fingers to which buttons to push. 

Let's see, what else.....

She is very helpful when getting dressed.  Maybe we are getting close to her being able to put her shirt on over her head on her own.

She becoming better at using a spoon or fork on her own.  When she eats, she usually alternates between them and her fingers but when she does use the silverware she is pretty insistant on doing it herself.  And if she doesn't WANT to use them she definitely let's you know.  When there is food on the table or your plate that she wants she points and makes her little noises. 
Even though she doesn't speak real words yet, it has never been very hard to figure out what she wants.  We are raising a very independent, assertive, intelligent, hystarical little girl.  They just grow up too fast!  In the past week, I swear she has grown an inch. Last weekend at Dad & Mom's she couldn't reach the door handle to the deck.  This weekend she could reach it, grab it and pull it down.  Good thing the door swings in and not out!!!