Samuel at 7 months

Samuel at 7 months is:

sitting up for very short periods of time

a speed roller

army crawling

loving baby food (favorites being pears, applesauce, peaches, mangoes and sweet potatoes)

putting himself to sleep for the most part (naps are great, nighttime can still be a bit rough)

playing with toys constantly

lightening quick with his hands (grabs hair, clothes, toys etc. before you know it)

giggling at Grace, Mom and Dad constantly

saying da-da-da

talking, talking, talking

a toothless wonder

nearly impossible to dress/change...roll, flip, roll, flip, grab, grab, grab

still loving to suck on his toes 

into everything he shouldn't be (i.e. cords from the monitor and computer)

fussy only when he's hungry, tired or stuck (my favorite "stuck" place being under the desk)

sleeping for 12 hours at night (typically 8-8)

a very happy, loving little boy!

This picture makes me giggle because he's so proud of himself and you can actually see the bag in motion. A few weeks ago I left the room to go to the bathroom. I was gone for about 30 seconds before I heard crinkle, crinkle, crinkle. Trying to figure out what it was I came back into the living room and found a giggling little boy. Nothing like a shiny bag that makes crinkly noises to make a baby happy! Forget the actual goldfish. Too cute. :) And looking at this picture makes me realize how fast time goes...this was taken within the last month, but now I would never leave a bag or a piece of paper on the ground. He'd be eating them within seconds!

Summer Time!

We've been enjoying summer so much...I love having this time with the kids. We've been enjoying story time at the library and at the park, playing at the park, swim lessons and taking walks. Grace has been playing outside the majority of the time. Luckily, we have accumulated a lot of nice toys for outside. Her favorites are her tricycle, swing set, water table, hula hoop, and pushing any of the strollers around. It helps me out a ton because she'll keep herself busy while I mow the lawn or work in the flowerbeds. Sambam enjoys being outside as well...he loves the grass and will sit/roll in it and of course attempt to eat it. Mowing is also a sure-fire way of getting him to take a nap. I strap him to me in the carrier and usually within the first couple of rounds he's completely out. :)

For the past couple of months Grace has been very interested in puzzles. This is one of her favorites - it's a Melissa and Doug floor puzzle. I bought several cheap-o 25 piece puzzles at Wal-Mart and those are a huge hit as well. We take them to church and those keep her busy for the majority of the time. 

Grace's choice of comforting herself is not sucking her thumb or playing with her hair...it's playing with her belly button. A bit bizarre but what can you do besides tell her to put her shirt down about 400 times a day. :)

(I'm having trouble getting the video to load but will keep attempting.)This has been a common occurrence in our house in the past few weeks. Grace will stand or sit on her stool performing for Samuel. She stands when she sings (favorites being Father Abraham and If You're Happy and You Know It) and she sits when she reads (favorites being any book that she feels she "remembers" or has memorized). It's pretty cute and Samuel usually stares at her very intently the whole time although in the video he is very aware that I am sitting there with the camera instead. :)

My 100th post

For my 100th post I decided to do something a little different...

We all know how hard it is to get decent pictures of your kids. You about kill yourself (and possibly them) trying to get a good one that you can show off to people. You know you do it. I do it too. I'm going to do a bit of the opposite - here are some of my favorites of the more unflattering ones that I have taken (You're lucky Samuel - you are still so little that I don't have really horrible ones of you yet. But your time will come). :)  They make me laugh out loud and hopefully you'll get a kick out of them too. Enjoy.

The classic toddler "cheeeeeeeeeeese":

And yet another "cheeeeeeese":

Mid-yawn or mid-talk? With Grace my guess is mid-talk:

"What you talking 'bout mom" aka I really don't want my picture taken right now:

The half-drunk/fist in mouth pose:

I couldn't resist :)

And my all-time favorite - 

The classic mid-blink picture:

My little man is 6 months old!

Samuel continues to be such a joy. He is extremely ticklish and loves it when you get his feet, neck, cheeks, thighs, arms etcetera with your mouth. His hands continue to get faster and he grabs at everything faster than you can get it out of his reach. He is trying to sit up but falls flat on his face pretty quickly. :) He continues to be a roller and rolls his way around the room to get to toys. He chatters constantly and has the most infectious belly laugh. He loves G. Marie and will watch her dance around the room laughing and laughing at her. He has tried applesauce just in the last few days and has done really well with it. He continues to sleep through the night. He goes to bed around 7:45 or 8:00, gets up around 5 to eat and then goes back to sleep until 6:45 when I have to wake him up to get around for the day. He always wakes up with a huge grin on his face. I often wonder if he'll keep this ultra laid-back, chill personality. It reminds me of my brother and many of my cousins on the Stuckey side. Time will tell I suppose. :) We love our sweet little Sam-bam.

How a 2 year old keeps me grounded

I've been feeling extremely proud of myself for the past couple of months because I had gotten back down to my pre-pregnancy weight and my pants were fitting great again. This morning as I was getting in the shower Grace said to me (in a very innocent, matter-of-fact, non-malicious, sweet little girl voice) "Mommy, you have a big bum." And crashing back down to earth I came...I think I could actually hear the *pop* of my bubble being burst. I tried not to take it too personally considering she thinks anything bigger than her bum is big. However I did tell her that it is rude to say things like that to people, because let's face it, I was a bit offended. :) Nothing like having kids to help keep you grounded. 

Samuel at 5 months

Our little Sam Bam is 5 months old already! He is such a busy boy. He is a social butterfly and loves to be talked to. He is very quick to give you smiles, belly laughs and will chatter back and forth with you. He is constantly shoving things in his mouth - fingers, blankets, clothes, toys, whatever he can get his hands on. He loves going to Kindermusik with Grace and I. He smiles and laughs when we're singing and dancing around. He rolls all over the place. I'll often lay him on his back and leave the room for a second to do something and by the time I come back he has worked his way off of his play mat and is on his belly chewing on something. I'm amazed at how fast his hands are. He is constantly grabbing anything within his reach. He's way faster than I am...I try to pry something out of his hands and before I can get it out he's already grabbed onto something else. He's truly a happy, energetic, wonderful little guy. 

Is Bryan a Country?

I used to love watching the awesome PBS show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. I've decided that perhaps my students would benefit from watching it as well...

I was reminded why I love teaching 5, 6 and 7 year olds the other day. I had taken a puzzle of the United States in for the kids to do because we had been talking about where we live and I realized that they were completely clueless about the world in general. I didn't realize how clueless until I heard these statements...

Student 1: Hey, here's Texas Mrs. Hastings. I've been to Texas before. 

Me: (very excitedly) Did you visit relatives there or did you  just go on vacation? 

Student 1: No, I don't have any relatives there, I went there to eat. 

Me: Are you sure?

Student 1: Yeah, you know. Texas Roadhouse. It was really good.

Me: (burst of laughter) Has anyone else been to another state?

Student 2: I went to that one state where Chuck-E-Cheese is. 

That concluded that lesson.

Later that week...

Student 3: Mrs. Hastings, when I grow up I want to move far away.  

Me: Really? Where do you want to move to?

Student 3: The country. 

Me: Where at?

Student 3: Edgerton. 

Please keep in mind that Edgerton is literally 10 minutes from Bryan. 

I've given up on geography lessons.