First Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!!

We just celebrated our first Halloween with Samantha. All of these "firsts" are bittersweet - so exciting and wonderful, but they go SO quickly. So, we took lots of pictures - shocking, I know! ;)

The evening was even to eventful for Miss Sadie, who joined us in trick-or-treating, with her pumpkin t-shirt. She was completely worn out. What a sweet doggie!

Even before Trick-or-Treating we had to wear the Halloween outfit and headband Nana got us. I swear this child will wear anything on her head!

It is getting harder to take pictures of Sami, because she tries to get you and the camera. :)

It looks like she is growling, but she is actually giving us a piece of her mind - do you think "bababa" means "get that camera out of my face." Oh well. ;)

No goodies in there Sami, you are too young - this year Daddy gets to eat all the candy.

We only got a few pics of us with Sami at the end of the night - she is so tired. It was just too much excitement for one evening. Of course she had no idea what was going on, but it must have seemed exciting, because after the first several houses she would clap and giggle after we went up to the doors and got candy - coincedence, probably - but precious nonetheless.

Daddy was her buddy this evening - he went up to the door with her. I have to admit that despite how much I wanted to take her around, we both felt a little silly going to the doors when everyone knows she is too young to eat the candy. Oh well - rite of passage - right?!

She was so darn cute in her monkey outfit. Thankfully it was a warm outfit because it was cold outside...brrrrr.

What a wonderful Halloween! Kids really do make all of these moments better. I am so excited for Christmas I can hardly contain myself. Yes, I know that is getting ahead of myself (and sadly blowing right past her first birthday)...but God help those of you that follow this blog - it will be picture overload. What can I say, I am a woman in love....ahhhh. :)

Special Time with Nana

We were all blessed with a special visit from Mom last week. We had a great time together. We did a lot of Christmas shopping, bonded over movies and great food, had impromptu dance jams with Samantha, and shared in a lot of great laughs.

Mom witnessed the crazy changes in Samantha just since she saw her in July. Already she is pulling up on everything and is trying to figure out the stairs. She even broke a top tooth - though it isn't a front, but rather a side top tooth - so she has been named "Snaggle-tooth." Mom believes that my fascination with vampires has yielded me a fanged child. If her next top tooth is on the other side, this might actually be true. ;)

It really was great sharing coffee with Mom in the morning and just having that restorative time together. Nothing compares. Of course, every else thought I dropped off the face of the planet - but such happens when I am around my Mom. I try to just soak up every minute. I truly hope Samantha loves me as much as I love her.

Samantha sends her love and thanks!! We miss you already Mom/Nana. Wish you could have been here too Papa, but we can't wait to see you all in December for an early Christmas. :)

9 Month Old Pics

Our baby girl got her 9 month old pictures done at JCPenny's today. She did so wonderful!

We took pictures in her Halloween costume and in a cute fall outfit. For Halloween, she is going to be a sweet, little Monkey. I know I am ridicously biased, but she looks adorable. I was so proud of these pictures (and slightly surprised how good they came out - I wasn't sure how they could photograph a quick crawling baby).

By the way, she started pulling up on things like crazy this evening. I swear she grows up in a blink of an eye.

Pumpkin Patch Princess

Last weekend we had a great day out at Spencer Farms. We went to the pumpkin patch to let Samantha pick out a pumpkin, get some warm apple cider and caramel apples (yum), and to enjoy a hay ride. It was a wonderful day!

Samantha was so excited in the car ride over (okay, yes I know she had no idea, but pretend with me ;) ).

Enjoying the hay ride and looking like a thug in that hat, half pulled over her eyes. :)

I think her favorite part of the day was playing with the hay on the hay ride. It was all dandy until a stranger interrupted my enjoying the view, with "Miss, I hate to bother you but your child is eating the hay" -- oops. ;)

It was the perfect fall day with my family. Thank God for moments like this.

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.