March Already???

It's been awhile since I last updated the blog and of course, a lot has been happening.  All is well with our little family and we are keeping very busy between juggling the schedule of my new job, Allen's night class and baby Sam's newest developments.  We are rapidly approaching the 9 month mark (this Thursday!) and the ensuing doctor's appointments/shots will take place next week.  Fingers crossed that Samantha pulls through like the little champ that she is!

Perhaps one of the biggest things to report is the emergence of 4 new teeth.  Sam was looking ever so cute with her two-toothed gummy grin, but she now has a total of 4 teeth popping through on the top.  With so many trying to make their way through all at once, she has been a little bit grouchy, but all in all, she has been doing great and her sleep schedule hasn't been thrown off too badly.

We finally got around to getting a high chair and it has made life SO much easier when it comes to mealtime.  Before the high chair, we were putting her in her "sit up" seat, but she has gotten big (and curious) enough that she is able to find her way out of it.  I think these pictures make it pretty clear that Samantha LOVES to eat--I took these while Allen was feeding her apples.  Ironically, Sam isn't much of a fruit eater.  She loves butternut squash, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, carrots and avocados.  This week, we're going to try chicken and bananas, but not mixed together. :)

Sam is sitting up on her own and while she isn't crawling yet, she rolls all over the place to get whatever it is that she wants.  She can stand for very limited periods of time and loves to brace herself on the mirror or the coffee table.

Despite our busy work schedules, Samantha has been keeping very busy during the day and has had a number of fun adventures over the past couple of weeks.  When I started my new job, she spent a bulk of the week with the Mello Aunties and they even had an adventure to the mall. 

With Nona JoAnn, Sam takes a number of trips to Starbucks and she has even gone to Valley Fair and Babies R Us.  The highlight of the week was Sam's first trip to "My Gym" with Nona JoAnn and it sounds like it was an absolute blast.  Looks like we will be signing up and Sammy Jo will be working on her fitness.

Scouty came with us on our morning walk today--this was the only picutre I could get where she wasn't running around like a wild animal!