Samuel's update

Samuel is 2 weeks and 2 days old.

Birth weight: 7 lbs 9 oz
2 week weight: 8 lbs 1/2 oz

Birth length: 19 1/2 inches
2 week length: 20 1/4 inches

So this means that he is growing! Not much of a surprise since we can tell there is a lot going in and a lot coming out. He is a very good baby!

Here are the surprises we weren't expecting:

• Samuel doesn't really care for a binky that much and sleeps just fine without one. It takes lots of convincing to get him to take one between feedings (so that mommy doesn't have to be the pacifier)
• Leah's eyes were dark dark brown from day one. We would have expected the same with Sammy, but on the contrary, his eyes are quite smokey looking with a very slight hint of blue. Hey, I was convinced they would be dark brown, and since they aren't, who knows what they will turn out to be.
• He has a very strong gag reflux that sounds like choking and it makes me nervous, but the doc said its pretty normal.

No one would forgive me if I posted without including a picture, so here you go:

Snow Day!

Alright, I realize that every day for the past month has been a snow day, but we've finally come to our senses and taken Leah out to actually play in the snow, thanks to Lola for sending snow pants! (Actually, I stayed warm inside with the baby and watched from the window)

Check out the video. As you can tell, she "moon walked" in the snow boots at first, but progressively got used to them. She looks like she's having fun, doesn't she?

Brother and Sister

I tried to find a picture of both kids at about the same age so you could see how similar or different they look as babies. I think they look distinctively different, but distinctively like siblings (of course!)

(Samuel is the one sleeping on the striped shirt in case you couldn't tell the difference)

Pictures of Samuel

No Explanation Necessary...

The First Week

Samuel is 8 days old. Here are the highlights of the first week.

• Samuel has learned how to eat, sleep and poop. These activities occupy his entire day.
• He sleeps very well. When we're lucky, 4-5 1/2 hours at a time. He eats all day, so that's okay with me.
• Today he learned how to spit up. It was gross.
• Since he was born, we've done five or six loads of laundry.
• We've used approximately 100 diapers so far. When he's awake, we're lucky if a diaper lasts 30 minutes.
• Grandma is really good at changing diapers, and willing too.
• Leah is a very nurturing big sister and continues to be a generally happy little girl. She likes to "hold it" (the baby) and keeps asking mommy to feed her milk, too. She can tell she's not the center of attention anymore, but so far is handling it well.
• It took us all week to finally capture Samuel's adorable dimples, featured in the last picture--look closely. (click any picture to see it enlarged)

Hiro or Hedgehog?

Welcome Sir Samuel!


I kind of think he looks like Hiro Nakamura from the show Heroes. I also think he kind of looks like a hedgehog. Either way, I think Sammy is the cutest of any of them. What do you think?

The braid

Okay, so I am officially the wrong mom to have a daughter with mounds of beautiful long curly hair because I have absolutely no idea how to do anything with it. She hardly even lets me brush it unless its super silky after her bath and she is transfixed by her favorite movie. I took advantage of her willing lap-time this morning to attempt a french braid. I understand the concept, but have never actually been able to execute one successfully. So instead, I decided to start with a simple braid on each side. Here's how it turned out, and I think it's pretty cute even though its not very good. I need the practice and Leah needs to get used to having me play with her hair. By picture day in kindergarten I should have it figured out!

Snuggle Time with Daddy

In the Kitchen

This morning Leah helped me make coffee cake for breakfast. She helped me measure each ingredient, and then I let her pour it into the bowl. Here we are stirring and stirring together. Boy, did we make a mess! I think she liked being a part of this activity.