A Tribute to Peterman

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September is a special month in our family. Five years ago, we adopted Peter from the San Martin Animal Shelter. His official date of adoption was September 8th, 2004 but he didn't get to come home with us until the 13th. He is such a special part of our lives and we love him to pieces! I went through the old Shutterfly albums to find some old favorites of Peter as we celebrate his formal adoption day.

Dear Peter,

You are the best dog ever! We love you so much and you have been such a trooper through all the curveballs that life has thrown your way. You are an excellent big brother to Samantha and Scout and an amazing companion to the two of us. We are so lucky to have found you at the shelter and you have brought us so much happiness. Thank you for keeping the bed and couch warm, and serving as our "super intimidating" guard dog.

Love Mom and Dad

Making Memories

Every year during the Holidays, I love going to AJ and Uncle Steve's house and looking at their Family Christmas Memory book. Flipping through the pages and seeing the Holiday greeting card for each year is so neat, especially since you can see my cousins growing up in pictures over the years. In addition, AJ documents the happenings of the past year on each page of the book. Since I have always admired this book, AJ and the girls gave me one of my own just before Allen and I got married and I know that this book will be treasured not only by me, but also by Samantha as she grows up. Every year, I start our "year in review" by mentioning how busy we have been. The past year (2008) was so busy that we JUST finished our update in September, 2009. This means that our book will be almost current for the coming Holiday season, but I'd better get a move on with 2009's "year in review" ASAP!

Anyway...as Allen and I talked about our 2008, we had a good time remembering a lot of fun times. 2008 was definitely our biggest year to date as we found out in October '08 that we would be expanding our family. Thought I'd share some pictures and memories from the past year and a half!

Allen, Wally and Travis finishing the Livestrong 100 Mile Challenge in San Jose

Spring 2008 (I think)

Al coming out of the water at Ironman Canada

Looking strong around mile 80 of the bike at Ironman Canada


Nearly done with the marathon portion of Ironman Canada

The lake behind us is the location of the swim for Allen's Ironman event

I took this picture on the Royal Mile in Scotland. I was there for work in May, 2008 and was able to spend a few days in France visiting Cari and Benoit afterward!

A couple of days after our time in Canada for Al's race, we went to Cabo San Lucas for Mike and Brooke's Bachelor/Bachelorette Party

We had a great time and it was the perfect end to a busy summer!

This is the picture that we used for our 2008 Holiday Card

It was another fun week in Samanthaland. This week, Sam and I made it out to Baby Boot Camp on Tuesday and Thursday. Boot Camp is definitely kicking my butt, but I am feeling stronger and really enjoying the outdoor workout. It's so nice to bring Samantha and have her be a part of all this. On Tuesday, our friends Jennifer and Bradley made it out to camp with us and the four of us also had a chance to meet up for lunch. On Thursday, we also met up with my friend Amy and her daughter Avery for frozen yogurt in Los Gatos. Here's a plug!!! Yumi Yogurt in LG actually rivals the Willow Glen Frozen Yogurt Company--I like to think that I'm an expert when it comes to frozen yogurt!

Sam and I went to "Diaper Days" at the Pruneyard on Wednesday and had a lot of fun with some of the babies/moms from my prenatal yoga class. "Diaper Days" is an opportunity for new moms to attend a matinee movie at the Pruneyard theater and it is "baby-friendly" (i.e. babies can scream and cry during the movie and nobody minds). We saw "The 500 Days of Summer" (actually, we saw most of the movie--Sam had a minor meltdown and I needed a bathroom break) and it was a lot of fun to get out and about. We even managed to squeeze in a visit to the LLS office afterward.

Here are some more pictures from this week!

Happy Sam just before the start of boot camp!

Pre-bath in her terrycloth robe. She looks like a prize fighter! Sam and I at Rock Bottom Brewery where we met up with some of the girls before the movie

Sam hates tummy time, but her head control/strength is getting better. Shelley recommended using the Boppy pillow and it has helped a lot. Clearly, she is thrilled that I have shoved the camera in her face!

Last, but not least--a picture of us on the way to Cari & Benoit's wedding! November 18th, 2006

Another First

Over the past few months, we've had a lot of "firsts" for Samantha and there is one first that I have been putting off for a long time. During my pregnancy, I was not good about going to see my mom at the cemetary and I do feel bad about it. On Sunday, I took Samantha for the very first time and we left flowers for my mom. Sunday, August 30th was the anniversary of my mom's death and this year brought a lot of mixed emotions for me.

We left her some pretty yellow roses from Zanotto's...Sam helped me pick them out.

On the way home, we heard a song on the radio which made me think about my mom and what it has been like experiencing life without her for the past 9 years. It is ironic because it is a Garth Brooks song and I don't particularly like Garth Brooks (he creeps me out for some reason).

Anyway, I thought I'd post the lyrics as I think that they are very appropriate.

Looking back on the memory of

The dance we shared 'neath the stars above

For a moment all the world was right

How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye



And now I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain

But I'd have had to miss the dance



Holding you I held everything

For a moment wasn't I a king

But if I'd only known how the king would fall

Hey who's to say you know I might have changed it all



And now I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain

But I'd have had to miss the dance

Yes my life is better left to chance

I could have missed the pain but I'd have had to miss the dance

Sammy Smiles :)

I'm happy to report that this week, though a bit rocky in the beginning, has turned out to be a really good one. As mentioned in the previous post, Allen found the snake in our garage and I have been able to return to our house (though I have yet to enter the garage).

Samantha seems to be over her cold and is sleeping much better at night. She was such a little trooper throughout the ordeal and I am hoping that she will be healthy for a long time! We (Allen & I) are definitely getting our flu shots this year!

Last weekend, we celebrated Nana's 90th birthday with a big party at Ron & JoAnn's house. It was a lot of fun and I know that Nana had a wonderful time. Samantha was a big hit with the guests and we rolled her around the yard in her stroller so she wouldn't pass her cold on to everyone. I will post some pictures from the party as soon as I upload to the computer. I had great intentions of taking lots of photos, but it didn't really happen. Fortunately, AJ and some others played papparazzi and we have some great shots to share.

Samantha and I made it out to Boot Camp this week and had a great time. The class is a lot of work and left me sore for a couple of days, but I am hoping that will be the kick in the butt which gets me back into my (pre-baby) pants before I return to work. Speaking of work... We have set my return date. I will be heading back to LLS on Monday, October 5th. I was really hoping that we would somehow find a way fo me to magically earn an income while staying at home with Samantha, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. Fortunately, my boss is being very understanding about my return and though I know that this will be a rough change, I'm sure that everything will work out.

Samantha will be 12 weeks old on Thursday! It is amazing to see her growing and changing everyday. She is starting to develop quite a fun little personality and it is so great to see her engage and smile when we play with her. We're going to have her three month pictures taken on September 24th and can't wait to see how the photos turn out!

The heat was unreal in Morgan Hill yesterday, so we laid low this weekend. We took Samantha on an early walk and errand run yesterday morning and stayed inside the air conditioned house during the day. Hope everyone was able to stay cool!

What A Week!!!!

and it's only Tuesday!!!!

For those of you who are wondering, no, Samantha is still NOT over her cold. She seemed to be getting better, but yesterday morning her congestion was in rare form. I called the doctor to see if there was anything else I could do and the nurse told me that I must "bring her in IMMEDIATELY". If there is anything more traumatizing for a new parent, it has to be a medical professional acting as though there is cause for alarm. I started the process of getting Samantha ready for a car trip (no small feat, though I am proud to say that I have honed my skills and it is less of a production than it used to be) and we were ready to head to the doctor...again...yes, we are the #1 customers!

Step One: Load the stroller into the back of the car

Step Two: Refill the diaper bag and place in the back of the car

Step Three: Load Samantha into the carseat and lock her into the back seat

Step Four: Grab anything that I might need for the day and load it in the car

Step Five: Mental inventory of the multitude of things that I probably forgot and attempt to gather and load them quickly. In this case, it was a big glass of hot water to heat Samantha's bottle on our way to Los Gatos

Somewhere between Steps Four and Five, while trekking through the garage, something caught the corner of my left eye. On the ground in our garage was what looked like a SNAKE. At first, I thought that Allen was playing some kind of sick trick on me and had placed a rubber snake on the garage floor. I ventured back for a millisecond to survey the predator and had complete visual confirmation that there was a snake IN OUR GARAGE.

Let me preface by saying that I HATE snakes. Hate doesn't even approximate the way that I feel about snakes. I am DEATHLY afraid of them. It doesn't matter if "it is just an innocent bull/garden snake" or if "it is more scared of me than I am of it" or if "it is keeping rodents away". Don't get me wrong, I HATE rodents as well, (we'll discuss this in another post) but snakes...ughhhh, my skin is already crawling just thinking about them.

Fortunately, my phone was in my pocket. In my state of complete panic, I ran into the house and tried to assess the situation. The first thought that occurred to me--the baby is in the car, I am in the house and there is a snake between us. I already feel like a bad mom seeing as that my 2 month old child has a cold, but now, I have left her in the car, alone to fend for herself and there is a snake in the garage. I called Allen in a panic--in fact, I think I said something like

holyBLEEP

there'sasnakeinthegarageandi'mtotallyfreakedoutandthe

babyisinthecarandidon'tknow

whattodoandmyskiniscrawlingandi'mhavingheartpalpitations"

Though he was probably laughing on the inside, he talked me down from the ledge and explained that if I entered the car on the passenger side, I could crawl to the driver's side and leave the scene. I don't think I've ever moved that fast in my life! Once in the safety of the car, I glanced over to see the snake slithering TOWARD the house and I vowed that I would never return to our house ever again.

Last night, Allen promised to find the snake. I am pleased to announce that the snake has been removed from the premises and that is all I will say about Mr. Snake.

Sam and I did make it to the doctor, only to be told the same thing that they told us last week. We just need to let the virus run it's course and we can expect another few days of congestion and nastiness. Even though she sounds awful, she is still all smiles and super cute. We've been letting her hang out in the swing, as it keep her head elevated and I caught her napping earlier this morning.
And today, I get to go to the dentist...Oh joy! Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring...

First Cold

and it's all my fault! Sam had her 2 month appointment on August 12th, a Wednesday and by the following Friday evening, I had a scratchy throat and stuffy nose. I'm convinced that I picked up this nasty little virus from the pediatrician's office even though I disinfected myself, Samantha, the carseat, diaper bag, my wallet, etc... The weekend was a bit rough for me, but by early last week I was feeling much better and it seemed that Samantha didn't catch my nasty virus.



Fast forward to Thursday morning--circa 2:00am...



We woke up to Samantha screaming, snorting and crying. She had the stuffiest nose and seemed just plain miserable. My inital thought--"we need to take her to the ER!!!". Allen convinced me that she could probably wait until the doctor's office opened later that morning, though the next 6 hours were some of the longest I've experienced thus far. We managed to squeeze in for a quick appointment and her doctor confirmed that she does have her very first cold. Unfortunately, other than using a humidifier and keeping her head elevated, there isn't a whole lot we can do. She's been quite a trooper despite feeling a little under the weather though! Samantha did make it out to Nana's 90th birthday party yesterday afternoon and she was a hit. The party was a lot of fun and went late into the evening. I'll post some pictures very soon, but in the meantime, fingers crossed that our stuffy-nosed monkey is better very soon!

As Promised...

Here's the video where Samantha is holding her bottle!

We've had another fun week start to the week, complete with new adventures! On Monday, Sam and I ventured to the Gilroy outlets and a few other errands. She was quite a trooper, though she decided that a diaper change was in order in the Target parking lot. We were on our way and doing great until she decided that another diaper change was necessary in the Michael's parking lot. Fortunately, Samantha doesn't seem to mind diaper changes on the portable mat in the back of the car!

On Tuesday, we ventured out to Baby Boot Camp in Campbell with my friends Shelley, Sara and Amy. The class DEFINITELY kicked my butt and Sam seemed to get a kick out of it, as she was smiling for quite a bit. Once we rounded into the final part of the class, she started to get fussy but managed to hang in there while I finished my hardest workout in a long time. We walked to downtown Campbell for coffee afterward and had a lot of fun with the other girls and their babies. I think we're even planning on going back tomorrow!

Today was pretty low key, starting with a nice stretch of sleep last night. Sam slept from 10:00pm to 5:00am! We had fun hanging around the house and keeping busy in the play gym and we also had a visit from our friend Deane. Allen and Sam are working on some tummy time right now (which she HATES) and we are going to try for an earlier bedtime tonight.

Hope everyone is having a great week!