If you need to know what to get us for Christmas...

...we could use some stain remover! :)

 We had to strip his whole outfit off after the first tastes of squash! Let's hope it isn't ruined....someone really should make full body bibs....and if you look close enough, you can even see squash on the poor zebra's ears...

Happy Thanksgiving!

...from our turkey to yours. :) 

Busy pondering life's blessings.

Month four has been great so far. Daniel's mom and brother and sister-in-law came for a quick visit. We were so busy having fun we forgot to take pictures for most of the weekend! We enjoyed a LOT of food (including a trip to Lambert's) and some outlet mall shopping (Noah and Gracie got several new outfits). Sandy and I even discovered a children's consignment shop that yielded some Christmas presents for Noah and Gracie. We're glad they got to take a trip out to see us. 

Noah had his four month well-baby check up on Monday. He's perfect, says the doctor. He weighed in at 17 pounds 7 ounces and 26 inches long (I knew my back was hurting after carrying him around for a while!) We're weaning him off his reflux medication, which is exciting. And the ever exciting topic--his sleep...Since our trip to Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, Noah's sleep had been getting worse and worse. At first I just thought our routine had gotten off and would work itself out after we got home. But that didn't happen. It just continued to get worse to the point that he was waking up about every hour and a half. We would have the occasional good night of 4-5 hour stretches, but they were few and far between. If we "ferbered" him, he just cried and cried until I finally fed him--no matter how long that took. I didn't think he was hungry (since he seemed comfortable going 4 hours between feeds during the day), but tried to do some things to get him to take more during the day to see if it made a difference. It didn't. So I talked to Dr. Rohatgi about it. His thought was that Noah has been going through a growth spurt and just needs more to eat. (So apparently my thinking was wrong!) So he recommended starting spoon feeding. We hadn't planned on doing this until closer to the six month mark, and it goes against our typical practices at CHOP to start this early :) , but I need more sleep! So we've been trying. He doesn't love it and tends to gag occasionally (which is typical of new spoon feeders...) but it's still new. We'll get there. Last night he slept six hours and then another 4 1/2 hour stretch. So maybe it's working! (The first night he slept a 7 hour and 45 minute stretch, but he had gotten shots that day, and had a little temperature, and we had given him some Motrin...) Noah did great with his shots--just two little wails and then he was done. 

Noah has been talking like crazy over the past few days. I know I've said this before, but it's really a LOT now...and loud. :) It's adorable, but of course, as soon as we turn on the camera he stops. He's laughing a lot more often now, which always cracks us up too. We're still working on our tummy time--he cries after about 30 seconds, but we're trying! On his back he can roll to his side but not quite all the way over yet. Last night he sat unsupported (in a wide W) for six seconds (hey, it counts!) three separate times. We're so proud of him and super thankful for him being in our lives this holiday season. 

Enjoy your turkey! 

He really likes his farm activity center. If we take the tractor off it's post, he can (accidentally) get it to play music, which keeps him entertained even longer. 

Love this sweet face!!

He'll take short naps unswaddled, but for the most part we still have to swaddle him to get him to sleep. And yes, his blanket matches his onesie. And no, it wasn't planned. But yes, it's adorable. 

After trying rice cereal the 2nd time...I had to work really hard to get this smile out of him! 

Four Months!

Can you believe it? Four whole months. Our youngun' is so precious. We're thankful for the past four months!

My pictures uploaded way out of order for some reason, but there are a LOT, so I'm not going to go back and reload them...

Aunt Janice, Uncle David, Cousin Ryan, Cousin Danielle, and Cousin Matthew came to visit. Matthew and Noah always enjoy some quality time together. Matthew was a little more interested in Noah than the other way around this trip, and gave him some pretty big smiles.

Almost holding hands.

Holding hands! 

So happy to be four months old! 

Someone took my chair when I got up...

Really enjoying playtime in the swing.

Owen likes to supervise playtime.

Good job bringing hands to midline with your bottle, Son! (Amy L...didn't know if you wanted this one or the other bottle picture...)

Daniel babysat for a bit...this is where I found Noah when I returned! 

Starting to grab at toys and bring them to his mouth.

We miss you, CHOP friends! 

Owen also supervises tummy time. 

Sunday afternoon football lounging.

Sweet baby. 

I did not teach my dog everything

My pug, Owen.

Click on the link above to see what our dog did today. You can't teach some dogs new tricks, sometimes they just pick it up on their own.

Videos

So maybe we left the camera on for a very long time to capture some of these, and maybe you only think they're incredibly cute if you are parents or grandparents...but we're posting them anyway. :)

Caveat: This is the first time I'm uploading these without Daniel's help so hopefully it works! If not, give me a day or two to get Daniel's help and fix it!

Laughs for Mama.

Laughs for Daddy.

Noah wasn't too thrilled (or maybe he was...) with Sunday night's football game and was letting us know about it! 

Another Week in the Life...

We've been busy! After a whirlwind trip to PA, the last few days have been full of "catch-up" activities--cleaning house, laundry, etc. I cooked and pureed my very own pumpkin that we picked from the pumpkin patch last week--that was a LOT more work than I thought it would be, but the pumpkin roll I made with it was delicious! (Thanks for the recipe, Emily!) There is a lot more pumpkin in the freezer waiting to be turned into tasty fall treats.

We brought Daniel's dog back with us from Pennsylvania and have had fun playing with him and getting him acclimated to Sampson life. Daniel's happy to have him back.

On the road to Pennsylvania.

Five minutes later... :) 

The wind was cold, so we had to bundle up on our walk, still showing our St. Louis spirit.

Watching football with Uncle Dave.

All dressed up for G.G.'s funeral.

Hanging out with Grammy.

Noah getting one last snuggle with Aunt Mandie and Uncle Dave (and Cousin Gracie).

Lovin' from Paparoo.

Even if it isn't snowing (you can keep it Pennsylvania!) we like to stay warm.