41 Weeks Old

It's just another week at the Renfro household. Samantha is trying to walk more and more. She has also discovered more things in the house. I'm not sure there is much else she can get into.

We did install her new car seat this week. It is a lot bigger the straps can be adjusted so she isn't so tight like in her other one. It is, however tougher to get her in and out of, even dad is saying we need a minivan! Unfortunately she isn't any happier in it like I'd hoped she would be. Maybe when she's forward facing she'll be happy in a car seat.

Samantha had her 9 month check-up on Tuesday. She officially weighs 19 lbs, 9 oz and is 27 inches long. She got her hemoglobin checked and that's ok. We came out with only one shot so she did great. Dr. Carter said that she is right on track and very alert.

40 Weeks Old

It all started Tuesday waiting for a package. I finally made up my mind about the next car seat and found the one I wanted to buy on Ebay (don’t worry, it’s new). It arrived as promised on Tuesday afternoon. We purchased a convertible car seat, one that is both rear and forward facing. That way if Samantha grows out of her current car seat (weight limit 22 lbs) we can use the new one. It is supposed to be one of the safest car seats out there with a weight limit of 55 lbs which we believe will last quite a few years. Samantha had to try it out when we pulled it out of the box.

Wednesday found us packing for a road trip… again. We were headed to Pensacola, Florida. Travis’ buddy, Jim, was retiring from the Navy after serving 27 years. It was a big day for him and his family and we were invited to help him celebrate.

We left Thursday morning for a seven hour trip through Alabama. Samantha did very well throughout the drive. We did stop a couple of times to eat and walk around but again, she was a trooper.

We got settled into our room and called Jim to let him know we had arrived in town earlier than anticipated. Just like Jim, he invited us over to his house to spend a little bit of time with his family. We were amazed at how much the kids had grown since the last time we’d seen them. We were able to spend a couple of hours with him and his family before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Friday was the big ceremony which was held at the Naval Aviation Museum http://naval.aviation.museum/intro.html. The place was very impressive with the planes hanging from the ceiling. The ceremony was just as impressive. There were serveral people in uniform. Some of which Travis had been stationed with previously. Samantha spent the entire ceremony at the back playing with her toys and practicing going up the stairs. She had little patience to sit in the chair and watch the ceremony. It was during this time that she checked out a Blue Angel plane. Congrats on your retirement Jim and good luck with your new job!

Sabbath Samantha woke us up bright and early at 7:00 a.m. We took our time getting ready and then headed to the ocean. Boy, it would have been great if it had been 40 degrees warmer and less windy. Needless to say, we only spent about 10 minutes on the beach just to take a couple of pictures. It is amazing that you can still see the effects of their latest hurricane along the beach.

In the afternoon we were able to spend more time with Jim, his family and their guests. After a yummy supper with them we headed back and arrived safely at 1:30 a.m. when we all crashed.

Today we celebrated Travis’ birthday by going out in the evening for supper. He also got to even watch a couple of football games. Happy Birthday Dad!

And amid everything else, maybe the highlight of our week is that Samantha has taken steps without prompting and without help. She continues to get braver every day and tries walking more and more. I'm sure that by her first birhtday she will be walking everywhere instead of crawling. Way to go Sweet Pea.

Enjoying her books at the motel...

During the ceremony...

39 Weeks Old

We had another great week enjoying Samantha although I’m pretty sure she is teething, she’s a lot grumpier and has an occasional runny nose and is drooling.

She is so funny now that she can get around. You can get into her mind a bit more because she crawls to places where she wants to go or if you’re helping her walk, she’ll lead you there. If she knows that her dad is in the bathroom taking a bath after he got home from work she’ll crawl right in there and want to get in with him. She really loves the tub or maybe it’s her dad.

Samantha has seemed to have gotten down waving. She waves to quite a few people lately and everyone thinks its quite cute.

This week Samantha was making one of her many treks around the dining room table. I was at the other end of our ½ wall and asked, ‘Where’s Samantha?” She peeked around the corner with the biggest grin on her face. She just never gets tired of peek-a-boo.

Samantha has never been a great fan of her car seat but today after getting home from a walk we found her playing with it and before we know it, she is playing IN it. Silly girl. We are looking forward to our new convertible car seat getting here. Maybe it will make her happier.

We’re headed for a short and fast trip to Florida this week so next week’s blog might be a bit late.

38 Weeks Old

We have another tooth! We noticed Samantha's tooth at the middle part of the week. That might explain all of her recent grumpiness! It is another lower tooth and right next to her first one.

We were very glad that Christopher got to come and play with Samantha. Luckily he brought his parents for supper so that we could all enjoy a short time together. Christopher and his parents live in Germany so it was a special treat. He will be staying here in the States with his mom for a few months so we are looking foward to many more play dates with him.

Samantha continues to get into everything. She is really working on the walking thing. She rarely is in her walker any more but continues to practice her walking skills around the dining room table and the end table.