Watching Our Children Grown: A Blog Worth the Wait

BeBe continued to stay with us through the first part of last week. We were so happy that she was able to come and visit us even though we didn’t do anything special. We made a trip to the mall (of course!), played outside (despite the heat), ran a few errands and played. She was a real trooper playing with Samantha. While here, like every other grandparent, she spoiled the kids. She bought Samantha this great little tutu that she absolutely loves. Thanks BeBe!

Samantha woke up Monday morning and said that she didn’t want to grow up or be a big girl, she just wanted a bottle. I am not sure where she came up with it but at least she isn’t still talking about not wanting to grow up.

Blake rolled a couple of more times-he even did it while BeBe was here. Wednesday he had his four-month appointment (we are a month behind). He weighs 15 ½ lbs, and is 25 ½ inches long. That puts him in the 75% for both his height and weight. While there he also got three shots but did real well with them-he was only a little bit fussy. I had several concerns going into the appointment but the doctor reassured me that he looks fantastic and is doing great.

We can tell he’s getting older and growing-he is awake much longer between naps. Previously he stayed awake 2 hours at a time but now he is often staying awake 2 ½ -3 hours.

We set up his crib this past week so he’s now getting used to it. He is loving the space because almost every time I go in there he has moved about 45 degrees.

While BeBe was here we went out for Chinese. We took some food along for Samantha but also ordered her some noodles. When we pulled out our chopsticks she wanted to try hers. She did great with the “regular” ones but we asked the waiter to bring us a “cheater” pair that has a spring type device at the top. She was amazing and ate most of her meal with them. Of course, we didn’t have our camera but when we got home she wanted more so she used her chopsticks again.

Thursday we were invited to Maddie’s 3rd birthday party. It was Samantha’s first time to play “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” and swat at a Pinata. She had a blast playing the games and also riding on Maddie’s present-a bicycle.

Sabbath we visited Maddie again but this time Samantha and Travis swam in her pool. Both Travis and I were really impressed at how well she did as she has had very little time in the “big pool” as Samantha calls it. After taking a bit of time to warm up to it she worked her way up to swimming by herself (with a swimming suit that has floaters) and getting splashed in the face by the dog jumping in. I think she was in for about 2 hours before she got out to eat supper and play with Maddie and Alex. Hopefully her joy for the water will continue.

Sunday was the biggest day of the weekend-we went to the Knoxville Zoo with Maddie and her family and Alex and his family. We got there around noon and ate our lunches then headed for the animals. The kids were great troopers, especially since they didn’t get any naps. Samantha saw giraffe’s, elephants, zebra’s, and rhino’s for the first time. Just before leaving Travis took her on a camel ride. Now when we ask her what her favorite part was she says the camel ride. Seeing Elmo at the zoo comes in a close second. Blake was great the entire time. He rode in the stroller most of it but also spent some time in the front carrier and ended up taking a nap in the stroller. We were all very tired when we got home. In fact, it carried over to this morning. Samantha slept in until about 8:15 and around 11:30 she was telling us she was tired. Blake took a 3 hour nap today which is unusual for him too.

We’ve been blessed to have so many great friends. When you have kids you begin to realize that we want people in our lives that make positive influences on our children and I believe we’ve found so many friends that do this.

Samantha and BeBe with the quilt BeBe made for her...