Watching Our Children Grown: Birthday Bash and Steps

We had a crazy week last week. It started off with an invitation by Kathryn to join her for her Kindermusik class. Samantha loved it-she so enjoys dancing and singing with the other kids.

That afternoon I had to go back to the dentist so Miss Gloria came and watched the kids for me. They had such a good time playing with her and she even got Blake to take a nap again!

The next couple of days were filled with errands and getting ready for Blake's big birthday party and a visit from BeBe and Papa. Besides getting the house ready we ran a ton of errands.

We were so glad for some awesome weather and we could enjoy the outdoors again. It was so nice to take the kids outside without jackets and let them run around. Blake is a bit more difficult because he does want to go all over but he just can't yet.

Tuesday night Samantha didn't sleep well and by Wednesday morning she was congested, her nose was running and her eyes were red. I attributed it all to allergies because they are starting to hit here. I even forced her to start taking Claritin. After her nap I realized that she had started to run a fever and it wasn't just allergies. She ran a fever that afternoon and did nothing at all. In fact, she even fell asleep watching a movie in the afternoon. By that evening, however she was feeling almost back to normal.

BeBe and Papa arrived safely Thursday evening and in time to get some good visiting and playing in. Samantha had been so excited for their arrival that she had missed her nap that day--she kept on building a fort for Curious George to sleep in.

By Friday morning poor Blake had a fever and cold. He was so miserable Friday and of course, it got only worse after we headed out for a bit. We brought him home and he slept and cried all afternoon. He and I stayed home from church because his cold symptoms were still hanging on but thankfully his fever had broke by then.

Sabbath afternoon Travis and Papa headed to Southern's Archaeology Museum while Samantha and I took a nap and BeBe watched Blake. Later that afternoon we were thrilled that Shelli and Justin came to visit. Shelli grew up in the same town as I did and is about 10 years younger than I am. She is currently living in Atlanta and wanted to come and see my parents. Her boyfriend happened to be visiting her so he came along. Anyways, it was a great visit. Of course, she'll probably have pictures of her visit on her blog and I forgot to take a picture of them. (check out their blog at http://www.jellitin.blogspot.com)

Sunday we amazingly all slept in until 9:00! I am embarrassed to say so but it felt great! With the rain and dark weather plus the time change I guess it threw us all of. After a pancake breakfast we opened Blake's birthday presents. BeBe and Papa also brought down Samantha's present so she got to enjoy it to.

In the afternoon we prepared for Blake's big puppy themed party which we hosted at the opposite side of our duplex (it's empty). I am so thankful that my parents were here because otherwise I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten everything. My mom ended up cooking the entire meal for us so that I could visit. We were thrilled that our friends came and helped Blake celebrate his birthday. He was still feeling a bit under-the-weather I think and there weren't many smiles but I think everyone had a great time. Believe it or not, he took his first steps during the party to. Check out the video below of him walking!

Blake often says as clear as day "no", "hello" and "hi".

Blake got to have his car seat turned around...