I'm So Ready for this!

I want to switch Sami to these
bumGenius 3.0
Would totally do it if I had this to help me start.
In the begining I admit I was kind of repulsed by the mere thought of it, but now...I am totally wanting and willing to try it out. They are not only the most adorable things going, they are also great for our environment, future, and wallet!

Vote for me!! Please pick me!!!
lol

Photo Shoot

13 Months

So...we've fallen behind with all the drama going on in our lives right now.
Our little princess is 13 months!!! OMG

She is growing by leaps and bounds and learning so much everyday. She eats like a pig these days, lol. Not sure if it's the molars that are still working their way in, or if it's just that she's growing so much right now, but she does not stop eating!
I am regretting teaching her to sign because all she does is the sign for eat...all day long! She eats more than me on most days! It really is non stop. Anyone else have this happen with their little ones?

I've been trying to do some new portraits of her, but she refuses to sit still and WILL NOT smile at the camera. She just won't. I don't get it. But it is definitely driving me crazy. She's just too busy for me anymore. She is walking more than crawling these days, yet I wouldn't necessarily say she's a walker yet. It's mostly like a Frankenstein walk and very clumsy looking, lol. She's tried running a few times too, but always ends up tripping and falling.
She is sillier than ever. Loves the water, thinks that the bath tub is a water slide and throws herself down the sides of the tub squealing with glee. Swimming in the pool is a challenge, because she just wants to go go go! It's so hard to hold her, she wants to swim all on her own. Her baby float is out of the question most days...she just wants to do everything herself.

We've been implementing "time outs" for a little while now. She does good with it and sits in her little time out chair. She has even started signing "Sorry" after her time out is up. It's so cute! I think she's starting to learn what time out is all about, but sometimes she just can't stop herself. It has helped a great deal with her touching the dogs dishes. She will not walk right past them and rarely messes with them.

Double K day went well. All the kids were well behaved...and the adults too this year, lol. We had decent weather, although it hasn't stopped raining since!

We are still in the same situation (Ian and I). We are selling the house, and actually in contract right now. It's really sad, since this is our dream house, but we both still a bit excited for whatever may come. You have to keep a positive outlook, so we are going with an open mind and ready to start over, where ever that may be. Ian will be interviewing in a few weeks for a new position so wish us luck that everything works out.

Here's a pick of Scott and his BFF covered in mud from ATV'ing

Options

Lately this is the word of the day..."options"
We have options...lots of options, but no clue where we're going. Everyday our life direction changes. The past week has been a whirlwind of emotions, ideas, and chaos. We are essentially going in 6 different directions at any one time. Lately, I am just praying for some guidance...from God...from family...from friends....from ANYONE! lol. Honestly, Ian and I are stuck with our heads spinning and not knowing which direction to turn. I thank God for our incredible love and marriage that is stronger than ever through this incredibly tumultuous time in our lives. We truly have to choose the fate of our future, our family's future, and our financial future with in the next 2 weeks and are just lost as to what that might be. It's all just such a roller coaster of emotions and we both feel lost in the mist of everything that may or may not be going on around us.
Quite honestly, we're both about ready to give up, sell everything and start over...from scratch!

Bottom line (lol, Keith) is that there is a 50 - 100% chance we will be moving, a 100% chance I will be going back to work and Sami into day care...as soon as we find out where we're living, lol
There are 3 or 4 different potential moving options, and that is what we are struggling most with.


So all in all....wish us luck in our difficult decisions we will be making in the next few weeks.

Here are a couple pics of where are hearts are right now.

This Week

So we've been at football camp all week. Those of you who know Scott, know that he is not into sports, but Ian and I convinced him to give football a try. He really liked it, although I don't believe I'll see him running off to join the school team anytime soon...just not his crowd I guess :( But I'm glad he had fun with it.

So with summer in full swing here at the Double K Farm, we have Scott staying with us every other week and then with his mom every other week. We pretty much have his first 3 weeks full with different summer camps. This week was Football at the college...next week I think he's doing running clinic at the college and the following week is Engineering & Technology Boot camp at the Community College. So he'll be a busy boy this summer.
Sami is taking the summer off from Kindermusik and we've found a great playgroup in our area with meetups almost everyday in different areas and different things to do, so she's loving that and I'm loving the financial break from Kindermusik, lol.

We have our 2 new girls here on the farm, Leia, and Keith and Jewl's Isis. I'll have to post some pics. The girls are so cute! Isis loves the lambs and is always with them, more so than the other alpacas, it's kind of funny to see her out in the field with the lambs as she is about 10 times the size of them.

There is just so much going on right now it's hard to find time to breath. Our house is for sale, Ian may lose his job, there are talks about moving to Texas, the kids are growing too fast (Scott will be in High School in September!!!) it just seems like everyday has been a whirlwind for the past month or so.

Anyone still out there?

So I've kind of been neglecting the blog...just no time in the summer, but I promise there will be a post coming this week...if anyone is still reading, lol.

Sami had her 1 year well baby checkup today. She weighs 19 pounds 4 ounces and is 29.75 inches tall. She also got two shots which she was very brave for and did really good sitting still, but cried her eyes out! I felt so bad for her, and as if the 2 shots weren't enough we had to get blood work too. She screamed all through the blood work process, but still stayed amazingly still and only moved when she was taking her deep inhale to let out another scream. At one point during the blood drawing she turned her head and looked at me and I'm pretty sure my heart broke right in two :( I felt so bad for her, but she was a trooper. When we got home she ripped the bandage off and it was like nothing happened.

She's not doing too well with the heat we've been having. She seems to have very sensitive skin and has been breaking out in a heat rash on the back of her neck. Today she's started scratching at it so it must be itchy too...poor thing. She loves being in the water so the pool has been a big help, as well as the bath tub, lol.
Here are a few pics from the last few days...

Playing

 

 

 

 

1 Year!!!

I'm not quite sure how we got here so fast, but our little miracle is a year old!!
She is growing and learning so fast right now, everyday there is a new challenge that she meets and discovers and figures out. It is amazing to watch her throughout these milestones.
As we leave babyhood behind and enter a brand new world of toddler hood, I am saddened that she is no longer my baby, but just as excited that she is my toddler.
So here's to my little princess who has brought so much into my world and expanded my heart in ways I never imagined.

May what?

This is Sami playing outside today!!! It's almost the end of May and she still has to wear her hat outside cause it's been so darn COLD!

On a good note...here's a pretty rainbow we saw today.

Hair

Sami wore her first set of pig tails today! It was a big hit at K1ndermus1k. Her hair really isn't long enough to justify these pig tails but I just couldn't resist! lol
r

I got a hair cut too...decided to get bangs again. I have mixed feelings about them. Ian just keeps laughing at me and telling me I look like a 6th grader. I think we're both starting to get used to them now though, lol. Not sure if they'll stay or not...

Boo boo booty :(

Sami has the worst case of diaper rash I have ever seen!!! OMG it's horrible! Her little bum and entire diaper area is so red. She was fine yesterday morning and then I put her down for a nap and about an hour into it Patches snuck into her room and woke her...ugh.
So Sami woke screaming and I went in to get her and she was inconsolable. I thought at first that Patches had startled her and she was scared and that's why she was screaming and crying so bad...then I thought maybe she has a head ache...I know sometimes when I wake up suddenly I get a really bad head ache. I tried everything. She was literally crawling up my body and screaming and I could not calm her down. I brought her into our room and held her on our bed and tried to cuddle with her and hold her. She would climb all over me I would try and give her her space (since she's not a clingy baby to begin with) she would crawl over to me and rest her head on me and try and catch her breath. I could tell she was still tired but just so upset.
I layed down next to her and she climbed on top of me and nestled her face in my neck and finally fell asleep for a bit (about 15 minutes, maybe)
She woke again still upset and crying. I smelled that she needed a diaper and changed her. She was red, but it didn't seem that bad. I cleaned her up and held her some more. She sat on my lap and stared at me totally expressionless for about 20 minutes. My heart ached for her. Something wasn't right. I thought maybe it was her teeth. I kept feeling in her mouth for molars or anything pressing through but there was nothing.
We went downstairs and I gave her some Tylen0l, to help with the teething or headache or whatever it was that was giving her so much pain.
I sat her in the high chair and I started to try and think of what was wrong. she was clenching her legs when I held her and wouldn't sit on my hip when I carried her downstairs. She would curl her legs up and hold them there.
While she was in her high chair eating her snack she burst into tears and started screaming twice, but only for a few seconds. I again thought maybe it was teeth.

After her snack I changed her again and realized what it was. She had peed and her diaper area was so raw that when she peed in her high chair it was burning her.
In just a few minutes it had gone from a little red to raw burning red. I was horrified. I loaded her up with some diaper cream.
Later that night it became redder and was wet all on the surface. I wiped/blotted and dried her and it was wet again..it was RAW skin and very painful.
I put some medicine on her before bed that I had from a rash when she was a newborn and she slept through the night and woke up with a smile.
When I changed her morning diaper I could see she was drying up and healing but now there were blisters. OMG.
This poor girl. She seems much better today and is not in as much pain but it still looks incredibly painful!
It's definitely healing and getting better but if this redness doesn't go down by tomorrow afternoon we will be headed to the Dr.
Thank God she's at least not in any pain anymore! I just don't understand how this happened. She was fine one minute and horrible the next. It's unbelievable how fast this rash came on.

Poor baby booty :(

11 Months

A little late again...

11 Months already!! It's so crazy, in just one short month my little peanut will be a year old. I find it especially hard when I'm shopping for clothes for her. It's so hard to realize that she is not an infant anymore and we need to move to the toddler section. I find myself always looking at the infant clothes and then getting frustrated because they don't have it in her size...then I realize it's because she's a big girl now :(

So...let's see what's new with Sami...
She is a very smiley baby/toddler, although she is starting to throw her share of temper tantrums which is making me very afraid of the terrible twos, lol. It's very hard for her, she is trying more and more to communicate and she definitely has her own opinions now.
She is learning to sign some things...like more, all done, and milk. However, I think that her sign for more really means Cheeri0s in her mind, lol. She has also started blowing kisses and waving bye-bye. I'm not sure why it has taken her so long to learn to wave, but she is very reluctant to wave to people or blow kisses...she certainly doesn't just give them out to anyone, lol.

She's one the brink of walking. Just in the last week she's really started showing an interest again in it. She's almost there, just needs to work on her confidence.
She's been eating very well lately. Her favorites are still pasta and cheeri0s and bread, but she has recently fallen in love with turkey and peas and beans. She really will eat just about everything and anything, but she does have her favorites.

Oh...and we've started swim class! She is amazing!! She loves the water and is sticking her head under and blowing bubbles in the water and puts her whole face in and she can float with her arm floaties on all by her self!!! Well only for a few seconds but hey that's pretty darn good!

10 Months!!

It's hard to believe that my little princess that I waited so long for is now 10 months old! We actually have to start making plans for her first birthday party!!! OMG how did it go by so fast? I constantly find myself looking at her and wondering how we got here. How did she get so big? How did it go by so fast? It's amazing. She lights up my world each and everyday, and is a constant reminder of what life is all about.
At 10 months the curiosity that is Samantha Lee continues to flourish. She wants to see everything, do everything and taste everything!!! She's very proud of her 6 teeth and wants to try them out whenever possible. Everything goes to the mouth! I have to watch her like a hawk! These days dog food is her favorite thing...I don't understand, she desperately wants to eat some dog food! I swear I feed her...and some darn good food at that, but still she longs for some kibble. Ian jokes that it would be an excellent source of protein...and we could get a whole 20 pound bag for about six bucks! LOL....we'll stick to cheerios, thank you.

This is the finger she insists on storing in her left nostril. She seems to feel it's the perfect fit and should be there at all times...sometimes I wonder if her finger is cold and she's warming it up in there....maybe I should get her some mittens...for now, we'll just keep pulling it out and telling her it's yucky.

She is testing more and more everyday. Learning my boundaries and pushing it all the time. Meal time is a struggle as she likes to throw food, swat at the spoon, spit and wipe food all over her entire head! It's by far my biggest struggle with her right now.
She is almost completely weaned from breastfeeding now...her choice not mine :( She only nurses when she wakes up at night (which is about to stop...the nursing...and the waking I hope) and first thing in the morning. She loves her bottle, but also loves to spit her formula all over the place and let it run out of her mouth all down the front of her...yet another struggle. She refuses to drink her milk from a sippy cup. Cups are good for juice or water but she will only take one sip of the milk and then throw the cup. I think we're going to work on that this week...getting her on to the cup more than the bottle.

She is very vocal, loves to babble and scream her girly screams and tries to say Doggy, that, and Hi...or hey. She also make a Chewbaca sound that she and her Uncle Keith use to communicate...it's quite amusing.
She has no desire to walk...which is odd because at 8 months all she wanted to do was walk, now she would much rather crawl. She can stand unassisted for as long as she wants but will not take that step. She cruises all along the furniture and window sills and will walk that way, but if you try to take her hands and get her to walk she will drop to her knees or hang there in your hands.
She has no fear, loves to laugh, loves for people to try and scare her or tickle her. She loves any animal she's come in contact with. Chases Patches around and laughs all day. She is loving the warmer weather and likes being outside most of the time.

Where is spring?

2 days ago it was sunny and 45 degrees. This is what we woke up to yesterday! OMG I thought we were done with this!!!
Ugghhh, I'm so ready for spring. I've had enough snow!!!