Sam-Bug and the Hat Parade

So, Samantha is 9-months old as of last Tuesday. She was 20.5 lbs and 27 1/2 inches long. I can't believe how quickly time passes. Now, she is not just crawling, but she is booking it!! You can't turn your back for a second, but it is so much fun to see her in pursuit, esp. after Sadie. Shockingly, she also loves the camera. If she sees it in your hand, she comes for it. Only bad thing about that, is we are taking professional pics of her in a couple of weeks and I have no idea how they are going to get her to sit for a picture. At least they have rapid-flash...most of my pictures are of the top of her forehead. :)



In many of these pics, you will see what my friend termed the "hat parade." With summer over and with no fall/winter hats that fit her, we have been picking up several. I had her pose with them for some pics, because they just look so darn cute on her.

Wearing one of the last of her summer hats (that still fits) and dressed to impress for a lunch out with friends.

Keith hates these Pillsbury dough-girl hats, but I just love them. As you can probably tell, Samantha was excited about it as well. :)

I love this hat on her in these pictures, but admittedly this is not her best pic -- but it does show the excessive drool she has going on due to those top 2 teeth trying to come through. Just more evidence of my baby growing up. sniff, sniff

I had to take a pic of these shoes. I couldn't pass these up the other day -- adorable!

Now, while I love hats on her it is not quite her favorite thing. The trick is, distract until they forget about them. :)

Just an intimate conversation between Sadie and Samantha. Now that Samantha is eating more than baby food and drops a lot on the ground, they are best buddies.

I think Sadie was getting jealous, because she kept getting in front of the camera and stopping - I swear she was saying "Mama, take a picture of me too." Poor Sadie.

Giggling with Kisses! Samantha is all about kisses now - she'll open her mouth and lean in for a kiss and lately she will kiss her own reflection. Total girl (though, normally I try to steer clear of mine). ;)

My two great loves!

Tried to get Sadie to pose with us, but I at least got a pic with Sami.

Okay, now some last up-close shots of Sami and her many hats....

A Tribute to Family

When I was home last, my mother gave Samantha a special gift. She had made a shadow picture box, with this cross inside. It is hard to show in a picture, but it is made up of dozens of jewelry pieces, pictures, medals, and symbolic pieces handed down from the family. There are pieces that grand parents and great grandparents owned, medals from my grandfather's time in the army, and stuff just for Samantha (mom also included a little Westie pin).

It is even more stunning in person. It will be a piece Samantha will cherish for years to come. When she looks at it, I know she will see glimpses of the past and obviously how much her Nana loved her and how creative Nana is.

On top of that, we were blessed to get some beautiful pieces from Keith's mom - from their family line - to place on the cross as well. So, now it is a great heritage of both of our families. As more pieces are given to us, from both sides we can easily add them.

It truly is a cherished piece. Thanks to Nana for putting it together for us and to both my family and the Newbroughs for giving us some beautiful, sentimental pieces to add!

Reaching Those Milestones

She is growing up too quickly. Here are 2 videos I thought you would all enjoy! What a fun age. She is so interactive and entertaining. For example, when she saw us all giggling with our church group the other night she just busted out in giggles. She will even (when in the mood) open up and lean in when you say kiss. What wonderful memories we are making!

Here is Samantha crawling towards one of her favorite things - the phone (the other being Sadie). She is truly all girl...loving the phone already. :)

One day she is barely scooting a few steps or doing a commando crawl across the floor and the next she is booking it. I guess this is a warning for how quickly changes will happen in the future.

Here is Samantha practicing her standing at her piano. She loves jamming on this thing. She is not quite pulling herself up to it yet, but I know that will be coming soon because she is trying and has great balance.

Our Little Love Bug keeps life exciting. God truly has blessed us. It makes me ready for #2 -- now just need to get Keith on board. ;)

Candid Shots

Here are some of those candid shots that normally don't make it onto the blog, but ones which truly deserve their time in the spotlight. Also, proof (esp. to all of you women without children) that it takes dozens of pictures like these to get one good picture. That is why Moms take pictures like crazy. So, these pictures - despite how hysterical some are - don't line every wall of their house.

All that being said, it is sometime these candid shots that are the best. Enjoy!

David praying for Samantha again...this time to heal her deformity. ;)

Lip tucked under, posed to throw a hissy fit when her cousin Allyson gets out of arm's reach.

This is why I don't wear earrings much...way too tempting!

Nana's unique binkie conversion for Sami...when it finally took, the result was oh so cute!

She already loves her reflection.

"You looking at me?!"

Even Keith gets tired of my constant picture taking.

Worn out by one of Mama's day trips this summer.

This is what I get when I ask Keith to pose for a picture. One day our grandkids are going to look by and see me smiling in pictures and see Grandpa kissing an ant eater. And yet I think if they know him, it will only make sense. :)

No, this is not what it looks like. I took this picture to show off Samantha's chunky legs, not realizing until I reviewed my photos that Keith's food stain on his shirt, made this picture priceless.

After many tours in DC, I mocked a rock-out to the Capitol Tour audio...trust me, it wasn't this lively. ;)

After a bath is always a sensitive time...will she cry or not. Being in the bath is one of her favorite things, but when you take her out...she can have a meltdown. This look seems somewhere between a laugh and a cry.

The excitement of seeing Mallory was just too much for Samantha.

A Visit to Good Ole WV

A few weekends ago we enjoyed a great weekend in Parkersburg, WV with Keith's family on the way home from DC (yes, I am still SO behind with my blogs - so sorry!). Samantha ate up the attention as usual, and the kids fought over her. She is so blessed to be surrounded by so much love!

One of the evenings we even got to go to DaVinci's Italian Restaurant (YUM!) with everyone to say one last goodbye to Mallory before she left for college. We will miss Mallory and Logan so much when we go home!

Playing peek-a-boo with Papaw.

Vicki, Randy, Logan and Tami - chilling out and knocking back some Long Island Ice Tea -- and being shocked that very little tea actually exists in that drink. ;)

She has already found the cell phone! If she sees one she goes crazy. She spent half of dinner playing with Mallory's phone, much to my chagrin.

Mallory, Mackenzie and Samantha

"Ahha...I got the phone back" -- her new thing is turning things over and over again in her hands and inspecting them. Which is fun until she keeps dropping Mallory's phone...oops.

Grandma Newbrough, Sami and Papaw Newbrough

A close-up as she gets sick of posing for pics...she is ready to go...sitting still is a rarity nowdays.

A family picture with my princess. How beautiful is she in that dress!

My little crawler, albeit it mostly in circles and backwards. ;)

I just wish Sadie was as fascinated with her, as Samantha is with Sadie. Samantha gets so excited if she even gives her the time of day...so sad.

Yes, she found the computer too -- Mallory what type of role model are you. :) jk

What a great weekend! We esp. had a lot of great time with Mallory, which was so special. We love you all.