Fingers Were Made for Chewing

I mentioned in the last post that Samantha loves to put things in her mouth these days. A friend took some great pictures last Saturday and I thought I'd post them to the blog. She loves to "chew" on her hands, and while my paranoia about the swine flu causes me to freak out a little (okay--a lot!) over this new habit, but I have to admit that she does look pretty cute!

October Fun

I can't believe that October is nearly over--where is the time going?

Things in Samanthaland are going really well and we are excited about the upcoming fall and winter months. Samantha is growing and changing like crazy--it seems like each week brings a new change/developmental milestone!

Over the past few weeks, we have noticed that Sam loves to "talk" a lot more. She makes some very funny noises and loves it when people mimic her sounds.

She also LOVES to put everything in her mouth. The toy of the week is Sophie, her rubber giraffe, and she chomps on that like no other. I don't have a picture with Sophie, but will get one on here very soon. Along with the constant chomping/gumming comes a lot of drool! Sam has been known to go through a couple of bibs a day. Here she is, trying to chew on one of her rattles!

It feels like each week brings improved head control, and (shocker!) she even seems to be enjoying her tummy time!

She's still not quite sure about the Baby Einstein jumper, but is a bit more intrigued now that we finally got batteries for it!

She definitely doesn't love her monkey costume, but I have managed to get a few pictures in which she isn't screaming her head off!

We're so looking forward to Halloween this weekend. Samantha has been invited to her first Halloween party, which will be hosted by her friend Dominic and his mom, Shelley. Last week, we made it out for another visit with Baby Addison and her mom, Marianne. In addition, we celebrated Allen and Grandma Ishibashi's birthdays with dinner and cake on Sunday evening (I managed to forget my camera, so no pictures!).

Happy Early Halloween!

Samantha and Scout - BFF

I vascillated about putting this post on the blog, but I decided that it was too cute not to include. Our Labrador Retriever, Scout is quite possibly the friendliest dog in the world and since Samantha arrived in our family, she seems convinced that Sam is a new friend that was specially picked for her.

While we have been VERY dilligent about watching Scout's interactions with Sam (she has a tendency to get slightly "overexcited"), she has never, ever come close to hurting Sam. We do realize that with dogs and babies, you can never be TOO careful, so know that Allen was on IMMEDIATE standby when I took the following video.

I love how Scout is so intrigued by Sam and that she seems totally okay with a ginormous black dog snout in her face.

The video doesn't show it, but Peter was perched on the couch for the entire duration of this episode. Whereas Scout seems to LOVE Samantha, Peter is pretty indifferent. He's always been our tempermental child! :)

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'...

I caught Miss Samantha on video rolling from tummy to back! She's getting oh-so-close to rolling from back to tummy! Stay tuned...

Ignore my commentary--I hate the sound of my voice on video, but she needs coaxing and praise otherwise she won't perform! Looks like we might be experiencing our first touches of defiance! :)

4 Months Old!

Here's the official photo!
And 3 Months...2 Months...1 month...

Grumpy Sammy

Most of the pictures that we post of Sam are happy ones, but I found some grumpy pictures that I think are pretty funny. Thought this might be a good time to branch out!

Today was Samantha's 4 month check-up with Dr. Milford. She seems to be right on track with everything and had the following stats:

Height: 25" (75th percentile)

Weight: 13lbs 13ozs (50th percentile)

Head Circumference: 41cm (50th percentile)

Unfortunately, with a check-up also come shots. Today, she had 3 vaccinations (one oral and 2 shots). As expected, she was less than thrilled with the shots, but she did pass out for the ride home and was able to nap for a significant chunk of the afternoon. I was lucky enough to work from home today, so I was able to be with Sam when she woke up from her nap. Surprisingly, she was in a pretty good mood and even let me take some pictures of her battle wounds, which were mended with pink camo bandaids.
Samantha's happy demeanor was short lived--she was not a happy camper for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. In fact, we even decided to try an earlier bedtime, as nothing seemed to console her. When we tried to put on her jammies, she was slightly less than thrilled...

Which reminds me...Samantha has a halloween costume, but she doesn't love it all that much. After work last night, I decided that the time had come to try on her monkey get up. She didn't seem to share my sentiment. I still think she looks pretty cute! :) The pumpkin is made of papier mache and was painted by my mom.

Despite a somewhat rough day, we did have some fun playing in the Baby Einstein jumper. Sam likes to bounce in the center of the jumper and play with the multitude of items that are there for the taking!

Hardest Week EVER

Okay, so I knew that going back to work would be tough, but seriously...this is the hardest week I've had in a long time! That being said, I am happy to report that I am 1/2 way through my first week back at LLS and seem to be surviving. I work in an office full of women and the ladies at work have been very supportive and kind as I transition back to working full time. I think it is true--this is probably much harder on me than it is on Samantha, but still, I think about her all day at work and can't wait to pick her up every afternoon.

Samantha spent Monday and Tuesday with JoAnn, and Wednesday with Aunt Julie. She has had three great days and is all smiles when I drop her off and pick her up (hopefully the time between has been okay as well!!! :) I'm hoping to spend some time working from home in coming weeks and will be doing so next Wednesday, as Samantha is scheduled for her 4 month appointment.

We had a very busy weekend--so busy that I didn't have a chance to write. On Saturday morning, we visited the farmer's market and did some grocery shopping. In addition, we took care of chores around the house and dropped off some Samantha essentials at the Mello house. During the afternoon, we visited Grandma Aiko and celebrated her birthday with a big family dinner and cake. This was a fun occasion, as Samantha had the opportunity to meet cousins and a Great Uncle for the very first time.

On Sunday, we all got up early to watch Allen complete the San Jose Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon. Samantha and I were very excited to go out and cheer him on--it was her first time at a sporting event (unless you count the Turkey Trot last year when I was a few weeks pregnant).

Sam and I saw Allen off in the morning at the start and then hung out at Peet's coffee while all the runners filtered past. We decided to take a little walking tour of downtown San Jose and had fun checking out all the sights. Sam seemed to like the fountains near the race expo--maybe I'll have to take her there for a summertime excursion next year!We even strolled out around mile 13 of the race course so that we could cheer Allen in to the finish. I was so excited to hold Samantha so he could see her cheering for him, but clearly she had other plans...Allen's race finish totally coincided with Samantha's morning naptime!

We finished off the weekend with a bath in the sink! She's getting so big!!

We have a very big weekend ahead of us--hope everyone is doing great!

Fall Is (Sort of) in the Air...

and we LOVE it! Allen, Samantha and I are definitely ready for it to cool down and have been very excited about the crisp mornings and (sometimes) "jacket weather".

Sam and I made it out to boot camp on Tuesday and we were so surprised to see that she and her buddy Dominic were dressed almost identically! Dom's mom, Shelley and I joked that it was like their first Sadie Hawkins' dance!

We also went to dinner on Friday night to celebrate Auntie Kim's 25th birthday and had a great time. Sam behaved herself quite well, though she did get a teeny bit grumpy at one point. Here's a picture of Uncle Steve imitating her "grumpy face"And of course, every good celebration needs celebratory cocktails! ;)Another big highlight for this week was our first visit to meet baby Addison! We went over to meet Samantha's newest friend and had a great time visiting with Rocky, Marianne and their new baby. The new family seems to be doing great and we are so excited to spend time together with our little girls!And, a VERY rare shot of Sam with a pacifier. Samantha HATES pacifiers, but I thought this was pretty funny!

3 Month Pictures!

Last week, we had Samantha's 3 month pictures taken by Rachelle Lee, a Gilroy photographer who was referred to us by our friend Jennifer and her son, Bradley. We did a mini-session out in Gilroy at the Gavilan Hills Academy and I am thrilled with quite a few of the pictures that she took. Here are a few that I was able to upload--hopefully I am able to get some more on here soon!

Samantha even made it onto her website! www.rachelleleephotography.com (check the "itty bitties" section)

Hope everyone is having a good week! We have been doing well and keeping busy as usual. Samantha and I are enjoying my very last week of maternity leave :( and can't believe how quickly the time passed by. This is a very big week--our good friends, Rocky and Marianne welcomed their daughter Addison Paige Citti on Monday night. Addison came a couple of weeks early, but it is perfect, as Sam is excited to meet her new friend! We're so excited for the Citti family and look forward to meeting Addison very soon!