Seventeen Months

Dear Sammy,

You are now 17 months old - just one month away from a year and a half. How time flies! I used to feel like you were so much younger than all my friends' babies, and now I feel like you've caught up. You are learning so fast! You haven't really gotten any bigger, but you blow my mind with the amount of words you're learning. You talk so well now that we can carry on conversations with you. I feel like I know a secret language, being able to understand almost everything you say to me. I love knowing all the little things you do, like saying "h" instead of "s" for words that begin with an "s", and tacking the "s" onto the end instead.

You are becoming so coordinated now. You don't just walk, but you run. You love to go "fast", and you will say it over and over again as you run down the hall, or as we drive on the highway. You like to twirl when you dance, and I'm pretty sure you enjoy getting dizzy. You are SUCH a little monkey. You climb up on the small retaining wall in the back yard and use it as the balance beam. And now you climb up to the higher and higher levels. You almost give Mommy a heart attack when you climb up into the garden 5 feet off the ground! You are always climbing up into the planters and pulling on the plants, trying to help Mommy with her garden. The couch has become your jungle gym, and now you climb on the back of the couch and behind the back cushions. We just rearranged your bedroom, and we had to be very careful to arrange things so that you can't climb onto the top of your new bookshelf!

You have been spending a lot of time with your friends lately, and it's so cute to hear you say their names. You finally learned how to say your own name, and once you figured it out, you say it all the time. You were folding clothes with Mommy, and you picked up a pair of Daddy's jeans and you said "Daddy". Then you picked up a pair of your jeans and you said "Ham." Now you point to yourself or something that belongs to you quite often and say "Ham." It's so very adorable. :)

You are very interested in colors now. We go to the gym several times a week, and ever since the babysitter let you color a picture, that is all you want to do when you play at the Kids Club. As soon as we walk in, you say "Color", and you are completely happy as long as they give you paper and crayons. You are very good at your colors now. You almost always get it right, and you are especially good at yellow, purple, blue, and white.

You finally got your 7th tooth - it broke through on Daddy's birthday! You have really been struggling with sleeping at night so I think you probably have more working their way up, but for now you have 4 on top and 3 on the bottom. It's a very cute look for you.

You are very good with body parts now, too. You know eyes, nose, mouth, ears, face, head, shoulders, knees, feet, and toes (and Mom's boobs) and you like to point them out all the time. You are especially affectionate now and you give the sweetest hugs and kisses, especially before bed time. When you give hugs, you sigh and say "ahhhh". It makes Mommy so very happy. :)

One more month and you'll hit the next big milestone! Every day is a new adventure with you. I still love you more and more every day, and I can't wait to see what you do next. I love you more than anything!

Love,
Mommy

Sixteen Months

Dear Samantha,

One hand in the snack bowl...always!

You turned 16 months while we were in Ohio visiting family. You had SUCH a wonderful time! Pappy started off the visit right by introducing you to a gigantic teddy bear named Timothy. You warmed right up to him and had a great time with Timothy and Pappy. We had one VERY hot day in Ohio, and you spent it in the baby pool, the sandbox, and the swing at Pappy's house. The rest of our visit was cool and rainy, but you didn't mind. Grammy bought you all kinds of fun toys, and you got to meet a bunch of your second cousins who were thrilled to play with you. Grammy really helped you to learn your colors, and you learned more and more words while were on vacation.

Earlier this month, your Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Silas, Uncle Kevin, and Aunt Joanna came to visit you. You and I went to surprise them by meeting them at Disneyland! You had SO much fun at Disneyland. You could have ridden the carousels all day long. You also really liked It's A Small World and Mickey's house in Toon Town. It was so much spending the day with you and watching you enjoy all the new experiences at Disney. You got to see your first parade, and you loved all the floats and characters with bright colors and wild dances. You were very excited to have Uncle Kevin come back and stay with us for the night! The next day you got to go to the beach with everyone, and your uncles buried you in the sand. You thought it was hilarious, and wanted to be buried again and again!

This past month you have just been focusing on developing all of the skills you've already learned. You say new words every day, and you get better and better at walking, running, and climbing all the time. You are such a social little girl!

The football season started this month, and Mommy and Daddy are proud that you have already learned to say "football" and "touchdown" (along with the arm gesture!). You love to wear your Chargers jersey on football day!

It's hard to believe you are getting close to a year and a half already. You are such a fun little girl, and we love you VERY much!

Love,
Mommy

Fifteen Months

Dear Samantha,

You are now 15 months old. Time is really flying! This past month you have been learning so much. It seems like every day you surprise us with a new word! We attended a 1st birthday for one of your friends, and when it came time to cut the cake, you got very excited and said "take!" I had no idea you even knew the word, so it was pretty cool to see that not only did you know the word, but you knew that cake always comes after singing "Happy Birthday".

You are getting to be quite the little monkey these days, too. You started out by just climbing onto the fireplace, but now you climb on chairs (and you fell once, too - that was scary!), and you climb from the end table onto the back of the couch. The other day you were outside with Daddy while he was working, and he was shocked to find that you had climbed all the way to the top of the rock wall on the hill in the backyard! You have figured out how to move things around to make steps for yourself. You like to take Mommy's trash can, lay it on its side, and put it in front of the bookshelf so you can use it as a step to get to the higher shelves. What will you think of next?!

You have been doing much better about sleeping through the night again. For almost month you were dealing with some teething pain, and you were waking up several times a night, which has been rough on Mommy and Daddy. Thankfully the past week or so you've only been waking up once, or sometimes not at all. Those canine teeth still haven't pushed their way through yet, but we can see that they are very close now.

You have also started saying "no" now. It's pretty cute for now, though I'm sure it will start trying our patience soon enough! You say it more like "nah" as in "Can I give you a kiss, Sammy?" "Nah, nah, nah." We have started giving you time outs now when you get into the cat food. Hopefully it will help you understand what no really means!

You are truly adorable, and I love you with all my heart. You are the sweetest little girl I have ever known, and you make my world go 'round. I love watching you grow!

Love,
Mommy

Stats:
Height - 30" (36%)
Weight - 21 1/2 lbs (29%)
Head Circumference - 45 1/2" (48%)

Fourteen Months

Dear Samantha,
You are now 14 months old! Time goes so fast now. It is amazing to see how much you are learning, and so quickly. Your vocabulary grows every day, and you try to repeat as many words as you can. Here are just a few of the words you say:
Dad - Da or Dad
Mom - Mom or Ma or Momomom
Cat - ta or tat (sounds kind of like "tsat")
Strawberry - ba-berry(r's not really pronounced)
Ball - baw
Dog - do
Woof - oof
Lunch - ch
Breakfast - st
Cheese - chz
Book - boo
Pizza - tsa
Kisses - tiss or tisses
Rabbit - wabbih

Right around 13 months you started sleeping through the night pretty much every night. Last week we had your Great Aunt Darla stay with us for a week, and you were so excited to have someone to play with, you didn't want to go to bed or stay in bed, so you relapsed a little into waking once or twice a night, but slowly you are getting back to your usual schedule. Bedtime is a little later now, around 7:30 or 8, although these past couple of weeks you've have several 9-9:30 nights. Summer is just so exciting!

Mommy just started a new job, so we don't get out to play with your friends as much as we used to. It's always a special treat for you though, and you get SO excited to see other kids your age! You love to play with other little kids (and their cool toys). Your friend Sean came over the other night, and you were practically beside yourself with delight. We're going to have to make sure to let you have at least one playdate each week!

You LOVE music now. You have improved your dancing skills, and instead of squatting up and down, you now run in circles, wobble your head, and wave your arms around. You have some pretty impressive moves. You like to dance to music that is upbeat. You also love to sing along to softer, pretty music, especially music with female vocals. You are quite good at playing Daddy's guitar, too. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up being a great musician! You seem to have natural talent.

Another big development this month was that you are no longer nursing. Your last day of breastfeeding was 6/10/11, just a few days after your 13-month birthday. It took us a few weeks to get to this point, but once we started working on it, you adapted quickly. Now you love to drink your milk out of your sippy cup with a straw!

You have started to develop quite an attitude lately. You "talk" back sometimes, and you definitely let us know when you don't like something. You like to splash in the toilets now, so we have to keep them locked up, and we have to keep the cat food up since you continually get into it (and try to eat it) even after we tell you to stop. You definitely have a strong will, and sometimes you can get pretty annoying with all your whining, especially in the evenings. Most of the day though you are very happy and a joy to be around.

This month was an eventful one. Besides Aunt Dar's visit, the fair was also in town, and then we had the 4th of July celebration. We went to the fair 5 times, and you loved it every time. Going to the fair at night was very exciting for you! You loved all the lights, and we went on a couple of kiddie rides and the big Ferris Wheel. You loved the rides in the Kidzone. You rode with Mommy on a bumblebee ride that went up and down and around and around. You loved riding on the carousel with Mommy and Daddy! Aunt Dar also won you several stuffed animals, which was something really cool that Mommy and Daddy aren't so good at. One of your favorite things at the fair was seeing the animals. You knew about rabbits, since your Alice in Wonderland-themed bedroom is full of white rabbits. But you didn't quite get what they actually were until you saw the rabbit exhibit at the fair. You got to see dozens and dozens of real bunny rabbits, and you even got to touch one. You were SO excited when you finally realized what a real live rabbit is! You also enjoyed petting the goats and looking at the chickens. The cows and some of the uglier sheep were a bit intimidating for you.

The 4th of July weekend was incredibly fun. On Saturday we went to the beach and then had friends over in the evening. You got SO dirty at the beach, I couldn't even see your body through all the sand! On Sunday we went to a pool party BBQ at our friends' house. You still love the pool, and you floated and kicked and splashed and jumped for hours. On Monday the 4th, we spent the day at the fair and then went to the fireworks here in town. You ran all over the park grass, watching other people and enjoying all their glowing necklaces and wands. We bought you some glow necklaces of your own, and you blew your own mind with a great light show. As soon as the fireworks started, you plopped down in Daddy's lap, eyes as big as saucers as you watched the show. You were so amazed as you pointed the fireworks out to me, talking about them throughout the show. After the finale you clapped and clapped with everyone else. You had a huge grin on your face as we walked back to the car, where you quickly fell asleep for the ride home. It was such a fun weekend for us all!

I can't wait for this next month as you continue to build your vocabulary and motor skills. You are running and climbing and even starting to jump now, and you are quite a handful. You bring so much joy to my life every single day. I love you so much!

Love,
Mommy

Thirteen Months

 

Dear Samantha,

You have been 1 for a whole month now, and you are already quite a pro at being a toddler. You are always on the go, walking and running everywhere you go. You continue to get funnier and funnier all the time. You tell jokes sometimes and it just cracks Mommy and Daddy up. One night you were in the bathtub and you were babbling on and on about something, and at the end you started laughing and laughing. I only wish I knew what the punch line was!

You are always giggling. You love it when Mommy chases you around the house. You take off running, and Mommy says "Hey, Baby, where you goin? I'm gonna get you!!!" and you laugh and laugh and try to get away. (But of course you like to stop or go slow so I can catch you and tickle you!)

You are really doing well with your talking now. Your words are getting clearer and clearer. You are getting better at emphasizing the last consonant of a word and not just the beginning. You don't just say "ca" for cat, but you say "caT!" The words you say most often are Dad, dog, cat, lunch, breakfast, snack, ball, balloon, and that. You just started saying "woof" now when you hear a dog barking. I'm always amazed at how many things you say that I can recognize (although they probably wouldn't sound like words to most other people, Daddy and I definitely know what you are trying to tell us!)

You really seem to have fun with your friends now. I wasn't sure if you were really recognizing them, or just having fun with them because they were your size. Then, the other day we took you to a birthday party where you didn't know anyone, and you suddenly got very shy and cautious about these new kids. You warmed up to them quickly, but I could definitely see that you react differently around the friends you see all the time than you do around new people. You interact with other kids so much now. You love to watch older kids do things that you don't know how to do yet. You can't quite throw a ball yet, but you have learned how to drop it so that it rolls forward a bit.

We took you on your first camping trip this month. It wasn't the most successful trip, since we ended up getting rained out and leaving early in the morning instead of staying a second night, but you sure had fun the first day before the rain came! You love being outside. You had a lot of fun helping Daddy set up the tent, and in the evening we went for a walk and found a band playing in the campground. Everyone was dancing, so you went right out in the middle of the dance floor and danced right along with everyone else! It was very entertaining for everyone.

You LOVE music now. Anytime you hear any little bit of a beat, you start bouncing. Your dance move is kind of a bouncing squat, and when you get really into it, you flap your arms up and down. If you are sitting when you hear music, you still bounce and nod your head. We really want to get you into music classes again! You love shows on TV like the Wiggles and Sesame Street. You love anything with lots of music!

Your newest skill is climbing, so we have had to teach you how to climb down going "feet first." You are pretty good at it, but we still have to watch you closely. You are such a little daredevil, with no fear at all. You are a fun kid, and I know you are going to be a handful for your whole life! We love you so very much. You keep us full of laughter!

I love you so much!

Love,
Mommy

Twelve Months

Dear Samantha,

It's hard to believe that you are already a whole year old! This has been such an amazing year, watching you learn and grow at such an incredible pace. This past month has been a crazy one with you. You have learned so much so fast, and transformed almost overnight from a baby into a toddler.

You have perfected your walking skills, and now you are pretty much RUNNING everywhere you go. After just a couple weeks of walking, you figured out how to walk with your arms down at your side instead of up in the air for balance. You know how to go up and down the step to the backyard, and you somehow even know how to climb stairs at other people's houses.

You are really working on your words now. You have at least 8 words, including Mom, Dad, cat, kitty, dog, Dexter, Chloe, ball, and balloon. You definitely understand sentences, when we ask you to do something, most of the time, you respond appropriately. Right around 11 months, you and Daddy were playing, and you kicked him. Daddy asked you "Did you kick Daddy on purpose?" You clearly responded with "No." Hopefully you were telling the truth! Daddy was very excited to hear his baby girl talk to him! You still love trying to charm people with your cuteness when we are out in public. You give them the cute face, and if they look at you, you wave at them. 95% of the time, you succeed in getting everyone's attention!

Your favorite toys still seem to be balls. For your birthday you got another big ball and a ball pit full of balls! You love to carry around a big ball that is almost as big as you. Most of the time you don't really play with toys, you'd rather just walk and walk and walk, but when you do play, we can see that you are really starting to figure things out. You can put a smaller toy into a bigger one, and take it back out. You like to share, although you don't always want to give up the object you are sharing! You are very good at sharing food with Mom and Dad.

Another big change we are noticing is your attitude. Now that you are 1, it seems like almost overnight you have decided to show us your independent spirit. You whine and fuss if you don't get your way. You are VERY clingy, especially with Mommy, and if you don't get picked up and carried as soon as you start fussing for it, you start throwing a tantrum. It's hard for Mommy to get used to the idea that sometimes she has to let you get over things on your own now instead of rushing to meet your every need.

This month you have had a rough time with teething. Your two top teeth finally came through, and boy were they more painful than the bottom two were! You had just started sleeping through the night and napping like a champ, when down came those teeth. Once again, we were all up every hour all night, every night. And naps? Forget about it. Once the first one broke through, we had a few great days of happy baby again. And then came the second top tooth! Thankfully this one didn't last as long, and we just had a cranky, feverish baby for a couple of days. We are still working back up to sleeping through the night, but thankfully your naps are going great again! It sounds like the attitude and the teething are all part of having a toddler, so hopefully the 3 of us will figure out how to get through it without driving each other nuts!

Your Grammy, Pappy, NanaJo, Uncle Ben, and Aunt Brittany all came out to visit you for your first birthday. You were shy for about 5 minutes, and then you started soaking up all the attention, showing off your walking skills and making cute faces. Tomorrow we are having a party for you with even more of your family and friends! This past month and year have been so amazing. I can't wait to see how much you grow in your second year!

I love you SOOOOO much,
Love,
Mommy

Eleven Months

Dear Samantha,

Today you are 11 months old. I can't believe that in just one, short, little month, you will have been a part of our lives for ONE WHOLE YEAR. The months seem to go by faster and faster! This month was a big one for you. At just over 10 months, you started WALKING. Every day you walk further and further and you are getting better and better at balancing. Last week you started pushing yourself up to standing without holding onto anything!

Once you figured out how to walk, you suddenly started using hand gestures. You now wave and point as if you've been doing it all along. You're always pointing at things, wanting to know what they are. You wave hello and goodbye, and you also sign "all done" when you are finished eating.

You have definitely been perfecting the high-pitched squeal when you giggle. (Mommy may or may not have encouraged that!) You LOVE to laugh, and you often imitate our laughter, or instigate some fake-sounding laughter of your own. We like to echo each other's laughter back and forth, until we both erupt into giggles. You are such a little goofball! You started wrinkling your nose and making a squinty face when you laugh now, just like Mommy. You also make the funniest squinty faces when you are mad or when you are confused.

You are looking more and more like Mommy now. Your mad or serious faces still look like Daddy, but all your goofy and excited faces are very much like Mommy's. Your hair is getting lighter and lighter, and it's about the same color as Mommy's now.

You are also learning how to express different emotions. Aside from all your funny facial expressions, you are showing your disgust, anger, or indifference. It's fun to see you learning how to show different emotions, but sometimes it can be frustrating when you start acting like a little grump. Most of the time you are happy and full of giggles though.

This month you have had back-to-back colds, and you were sick most of the month of March. Thankfully you're pretty happy when you are sick! You came down with your first ear infection - in both ears. You topped it off by vomiting twice on the morning of your 11-month birthday! We were so sad for you, but you handled it like a trooper. You got your very first prescription and managed to knock out the infection pretty quickly. Since your sickness you haven't been sleeping well (again), so we are having to start back on sleep training so that Mommy and Daddy can get some sleep. After one night, you are already doing better again. Hopefully you'll be sleeping through the night regularly very soon!

Mommy is very busy this month planning your birthday party. In less than a month your grandparents will be here to celebrate with you! I'm sure this month will fly by even faster than the last. You are SO much fun now, and you constantly have us in giggles!
We love you very very much!

Love, Mommy

Ten Months

Dear Samantha,

I can't believe you are already 10 months old! You are getting so big now. This month has been a busy one full of learning for you. You have definitely mastered the skill of crawling (and you are getting FAST!), and you are getting so close to walking. You are able to walk while only holding onto Mom or Dad (or the furniture) with one hand, and even then you barely hold on. You take off so fast when you want to walk somewhere! It's only a matter of time before you realize that you can do it without our help. You can stand for a few second on your now now, and you are cruising all around the room along the furniture now.

Your new favorite things are BALLOONS. You discovered them at a birthday party, and now they make you happier than any other thing. Whenever you see a balloon, you start waving your arms around and making excited noises. We got you a few balloons for the house, and every morning you were thrilled to see them still there, waiting for you. You carry your balloon around all over the house!

We are still trying to get you to wave, or point, or sign, but you don't seem to be too interested in using your hands to communicate. Walking is still your number 1 goal. You are very good at imitating what we say though. You definitely communicate your irritation with your furious face. You get all red like you're going to explode as soon as you are done eating. I think it would be easier to sign "all done," but so far you seem to prefer the fury. I have a feeling you are going to be a handful!

You are so much fun at playdates now. You don't cling to Mommy anymore; as soon as we arrive, you want to get down and you take off crawling and playing with toys. You are becoming so independent!

You are a very good eater. You don't want to have much to do with baby food purees anymore, and mostly you prefer to feed yourself finger foods. You LOVE pizza and spaghetti (my kind of girl, for sure!), and you still love pears. We just discovered that you are a huge fan of green peas. They are the perfect finger food for you! You shovel them in as fast as you can. You also learned how to suck the food out of the little baby food packets, and you can go through them in just a few seconds now. You are getting to be so big! We are starting to wean you off the bottle now, so we give you your milk in a sippy cup most of the time now. You still prefer mommy milk before naps and bedtime, but you do great with a sippy cup of formula during the day. Just a couple more months and we can see how you like cow's milk!

You are doing much better with sleeping now, too. We hated to do it, but we started letting you cry for about 5 minutes at a time now to teach you to soother yourself. After just one night we started seeing improvements. You went from waking 6-10 times a night to waking only 1-2 times! And it's actually been with very minimal crying, too. You are doing very well with us putting you down awake, and you soothe yourself back to sleep most of the time when you do wake. You have been sleeping in 9 hour stretches, and Mommy and Daddy are THRILLED. Some nights Daddy is able to put you to bed without you needed Mommy and her milk. You are really growing up fast.

Your first birthday is just 2 short months away, and Mommy is working on your party plans! It's going to be so much fun to celebrate with all of our friends. We love you SO very much!

Love,
Mommy

Nine Months

Dear Samantha,
It's hard to believe you are 9 months old already. Just 3 more short months and you will have been with us for a year already. It amazes me how much you are learning in such a short amount of time. You are getting bigger, smarter, faster, and cuter, and Daddy and I love your little personality so much. Here are some of your accomplishments in the past month.

You clapped on for the first time on January 18, when you were just about 8 1/2 months. You don't do it often, but you do it occasionally. You like to hold an object in each hand and bang them together. You love to shake, shake, shake anything that rattles.

All you want to do is feed yourself. You don't like eating from a spoon most of the time, so we give you lots of finger food. You love to eat things off of Mommy and Daddy's plates, and you usually like pretty much anything we let you have.

You get on your hands and knees and rock, and you do Mountain Climbers. You get very frustrated if you can't crawl or walk. All you want to do is practice walking now - no toys, no playing with other kids - you just want us to help you walk around and around and around... You have figured out how to inch yourself along by putting both hands forward and dragging yourself forward. You don't seem to care too much about trying to crawl the normal way - you'd rather just get up on your feet. You seem satisfied that you can move yourself about in the meantime, until you get the walking thing figured out.
You balanced yourself on the mirror and took a step. You can also pull yourself up on the fireplace and walk along it. When Mommy and Daddy hold your hands and help you walk, you try to do it one-handed now, and you usually can take several steps that way before you need to rest.

You imitate a lot of the words we say now. You say several things that are almost clear words. You used to say "Mamama" when you wanted me (or milk) but you don't say it much anymore. If you are with Daddy and need me (or milk) you will still say "Mama." Now your favorite thing to say is Dada. You LOVE Daddy. Your favorite time of the day is when Daddy comes home, and you love to greet him by saying "Dada" or "Dad" over and over again. When you are eating you say "Num num". I think your first "real" word is "Hi". You also say "dah" for dog (you LOVE dogs!) You try to say Dexter and Chloe - you say "Deh-teh" for Dexter, and for Chloe and cat you started out by making a throaty spitty sound that almost sounds like the hard C sound, but just the other day you actually started saying "Ca" for cat. Your favorite syllable is "dah" or "da". You point at things and say "dah" all the time. The cutest thing is when you say "Hi Dada" or "Hi dah (dog)". Mommy yells at Dexter to get down from the counter quite often, so you often say "Deh-teh" in a forceful tone, it's pretty funny. :)

You are starting to show that you are impatient. You sometimes throw temper tantrums, especially if you are done eating or if you are having a hard time getting mobile. When we are feeding you something you like, if we aren't getting the spoon in your mouth fast enough, you have these little mini-rage fits. You get red and growl and kind of shake. It would be cute, if we didn't know better than to encourage you! Last night you discovered how to scream. You opened up your eyes real big and got a goofy look on your face and screamed a cute little funny scream. (Not an angry tantrum scream, just a funny, goofy sound.) We all thought it was pretty hilarious.

It is so neat to see how much of what we say you are comprehending now. The other day Daddy was watching you so I could get some work done, and he brought you to me after a few hours so I could put you down for a nap. You did NOT want to come to me, and kept clinging to Daddy. I told you that I was going to give you milk, and you thought about it for a second and suddenly changed your mind and happily came to me. When you take a bath, I tell you to splash, and you will start splashing. You know so many words that I don't even realize you know. Your little brain is just full of information!

Daddy and I love you so very much. You are the highlight of our days. It makes me so happy to see how much joy your new skills bring you. I love you with all my heart!

Love,
Mommy

Eight Months

Dear Samantha,

Today you are 8 months old. You are growing so very quickly. Every day you can do a little bit more! You are really getting the pincer grasp down now so we put little bits of food on your tray so you can practice feeding yourself. It gets messy sometimes, but you do a little better each time.

You are still not crawling, but you roll all the time and occasionally you will get up on all fours and rock a bit. You will throw yourself forward from the sitting position in the direction you want to go, but then you get frustrated when you can't make yourself move any further. You are much happier if we pull you up to your feet and hold your hands so you can walk. You are taking really big steps now, and you've balanced on your feet for a few seconds. You haven't figured out how to pull up on furniture just yet, but I'm sure it's coming soon! Your Daddy never did crawl, and he didn't start walking til pretty late, so we are wondering if you are going to be the same way and go straight to walking.

We are still waiting for your teeth to break through. I can't believe it's already been 4 1/2 months since I first thought a tooth was going to come through. You hardly have any signs of teething right now, so I'm not expecting them to come through anytime soon. I'm sure they'll be here eventually. For now I love seeing your gummy baby smile!

You make all sorts of sounds now. Almost every day you are making new consonant sounds. You have a different sort of cry for pretty much everything that's bothering you. And of course, you laugh A LOT. I have never met a baby that smiles and laughs as much as you do! You try to make friends with people everywhere we go. You will try to catch someone's eye by smiling at them, and if you succeed in getting a smile in return, you are incredibly happy!

This month was a very exciting one for you. We celebrated Christmas at home before we went on vacation, and you were thrilled to play with all the wrapping paper. You got all sorts of fun presents! A couple days before Christmas you got to go on your first plane ride. Mommy was a bit nervous that you wouldn't do well, but you were great! The take-off and landing didn't seem to bother your ears at all, and you were really well-behaved during the flight. You only got fussy a couple of times and it was very easy to distract you with something else to play with. On the flight home you were actually laughing so much that people were turning to look and see the cute baby. What a nice change from the other screaming babies on the flight! While we were in Ohio you had so much fun seeing your grandparents again and meeting lots of new relatives. You did really well for having a disrupted schedule almost every night. You are such a social baby. You weren't shy around new people at all! It was funny to see which people you instantly gravitated towards, and others that took a while for you to warm up to. You enjoyed spending time with everyone eventually though!

We are still working on sign language with you. Sometimes I think you're trying to sign "milk" or "all done" but they seem to be out of context most times when you do them. Hopefully we'll be able start communicating that way with each other very soon!

Each month with you has been better than the last. You get more and more fun every day! You have such a fun personality, and a great sense of humor. You make Mommy and Daddy laugh so hard every day! I couldn't ask for a more fun baby. I love you with all my heart!

Love,
Mommy

Seven Months

Dear Samantha,

Today you are seven months old! I am still amazed at how fast you are growing. You have become so much more like a little person in this past month. You are developing and learning so quickly!

This has been a very exciting month for you. You learned how to sit up, which was very exciting for Mommy and Daddy. You still fall over sometimes, but you are getting better and better at holding yourself up. You have been rolling over a lot now, and you are really trying hard to figure out how to crawl. You rest on your belly and push up with your arms and sometimes you even bend your knees. You haven't quite figured out how to raise your belly off the floor yet though. You know what you want to do, you just haven't been able to make it work yet. You reach out your arms for me to help pull you along for now.

You have also been using your walker a lot and you have figured out how to walk around the kitchen and living room. You really enjoy being somewhat mobile now! If I hold out my hands to you, you will walk your way over to me. You are doing really well with real walking practice, too. Mommy and Daddy hold your hands and help you walk. If you really want to go see something or someone, you will take huge steps to get there.

This month we took you on your first road trip to Colorado where you got to see Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Joanna again, and you got to meet more of your aunts, uncles, and cousins. You LOVED being around so much family! You had a great time with the kids and you did great with other adults that you knew you could trust. This trip was also a great week of bonding time with Daddy. You seem to have learned that you can trust him more now. When there are other people around, you realize that Daddy is almost as good as Mommy. One morning while we were in bed, you were ready to get up, and out of the blue you said "Dada!" We were very surprised and Daddy was very thrilled.

On our trip you also went to visit a farm and you loved meeting the animals. The goats and the chickens were your favorite. The chickens made you laugh! You also surprised us and showed us that you can drink out of a straw now. You are so advanced! Your personality has started showing through so much since our vacation. You are a very outgoing and social baby. You love to meet new people and have FUN!

I am pretty sure it won't be long before you are crawling now. Just in these past couple of days you have been trying really hard, and you are very active in rolling and scooting yourself around. In a couple of weeks you will be going on a plane trip to Ohio to see more family, and I'm sure it's going to be very exciting. I can't wait for another wonderful month with my beautiful girl!

I love you,
Mommy

Six Months

Dear Samantha,

It's hard to believe it's already been half a year since you joined us! You are growing so fast and are becoming such a fun little person. This month you have been growing by leaps and bounds.

You decided to show us that you DO remember how to roll over - both from front to back and back to front! You did it quite often for about a week, and then quit again. We think you are too busy trying to figure out how to crawl and walk to have time for simple things like rolling over!

You became very ticklish. Your thighs are a great tickle spot, and your ribs and back are SO ticklish that you are almost in tears when Mommy tickles you too much. You just laugh and laugh when you are tickled!

You are more and more responsive now. Daddy came home one night and waved at you, and you waved back at him! You have started giving kisses too, not just receiving them. They are very wet, open mouth kisses, but you are getting the idea now!

You have been doing great with eating solid foods. You are over the whole idea of rice cereal - it must be too bland for you. Your favorites are pears and sweet potatoes. You aren't a huge fan of bananas and especially peaches and prunes, but you at least try them. We are going to try plums, mangoes, and oatmeal very soon! Your meal options are really expanding now. You are going to start eating solid food 3 times a day now instead of just one. You are a growing girl!

This month you started sleeping in your crib at night instead of with Mommy and Daddy. You are doing great! Some nights are better than others, but over all, you are starting to sleep longer and longer stretches at a time.

You are getting to be so much fun to take to the park now. You love to swing in the baby swings! Pappy bought you your very own swing, and Daddy just put it up in our back yard. You are SO excited to swing at your own house! The holidays are going to be so much fun with you. Your grandparents are all thrilled to have you come visit soon. It's going to be a great next 6 months for you!

We love you very much, Sammy!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Five Months

 

Dear Samantha,

Today you are 5 months old! You just get prettier and cuter and more fun every day. In the past few days you have started grabbing at your feet, and now you reach up and grab the little sheep on your swing. Your reach is definitely increasing!

You have been doing a great job with solid foods. You did great with the rice cereal, and you also like avocado and pears. Next we will let you try sweet potatoes. You sure love to eat, especially pears. You get very aggressive when you grab Mommy's hand and pull the spoon to your mouth. You really like to drink water out of a glass, too. You are such a big girl!

You have been doing great at your weekly music classes. We sing and dance and play with instruments. Your class ends this week, but then we will start having music classes with your friends at our house! This week you also started Gymboree Play & Learn classes. You get to play with bubbles and climb all over the gym equipment. I think this first class was a little overwhelming for you with 6 other babies and their mommies - it was a lot of stimulation! You did great though, and had lots of fun "walking" on some big cushions.

You still haven't rolled over again. Daddy is convinced that your big fluffy diapers are keeping you from being able to roll, so we are going to put you in disposables for a day or two to see if that helps. You keep getting started and roll about halfway, but then you get stuck. You seem more interested in trying to crawl or walk than rolling right now!

We just started a bedtime routine with you, and so far it seems to be working pretty well. Around 7:30 we give you a bath, followed by a baby massage. Then I nurse you, read you a story, and then we sing a goodnight song and I lie down with you until you fall asleep. The whole routine takes about an hour. Hopefully it will continue! You are a much happier baby when you get a good night's sleep, and you are a great napper (as long as we aren't too busy being out and about!).

I can hardly believe that you will be half a year old next month. Time is going so fast! It's already hard to believe you used to be so tiny. You are still my beautiful little baby though, and I'm sure I'll always think of you that way!

I love you SO very much,
Love,
Mommy

Four Months

Dear Samantha,

Today you are four months old! You are getting bigger and bigger all the time. You are starting to get a little bit chunky now, and you just keep getting cuter and cuter! You still look a lot like Daddy, but I can see more and more of myself in you now. A lot of times I look at you and you remind me of baby pictures of myself. You are just the cutest little baby I have ever seen!

You are such a happy baby. I think that you laugh and smile more than any other baby I have ever met. Maybe I'm just funny-looking, or maybe I'm just really good at entertaining you, but I think that you just have a great sense of humor. I love it when you wake up in the morning and as soon as you open your eyes, you crack a big, huge grin, like you've never been happier to see me. I love your happy face with your wide open smiley mouth.

You still haven't rolled over again, but you are really working towards crawling now. You lie on your tummy and bend and straighten your knees like you are trying to go somewhere. You can scoot all over your play gym and turn yourself in a complete circle. The other day you were napping in your crib and when I went to pick you up, you had rotated so you were lying the other direction! You also like to practice walking. Daddy and I hold you up and you move one foot forward at a time. You really like to jump! You practice jumping in our laps all the time so we bought you a Johnny Jump Up so that you can bounce on your own. So far you love it! You can almost sit up on your own now too. You still flop over if we let go of you, but each time you can hold yourself up a little longer. It probably won't be long before you start cutting teeth, either. You are drooling a LOT, and you love to chew on your Sophie. We haven't seen any teeth yet, but I know they are in the works!

It amazes me that you are already four months old. Time has gone by so fast, and you have grown and changed so much. You are such a perfectly complete little human that sometimes it just blows my mind. I love to watch you when you are sleeping - my perfect little angel. It still amazes me that you grew inside me and became such a wonderful little person.

Daddy and I love you SO very much!

Love,
Mommy

Three Months

Dear Samantha,

I can't believe you are 3 months old already! Three months is the age we were told you would stop being such a newborn, and would start becoming more aware of the world around you. I think you are WAY ahead of things as far as that is concerned! Three months is also the age we decided we would start letting you be your own person a bit more, and not quite so attached at the hip to Mommy. So far, you have taken most of your naps in Mommy's arms, and you go to bed with Mommy and Daddy whenever we go. Now it's time to start working on putting you to bed in your own crib or bassinet. So far this has been very hard on Mommy! It's going to take some time to get you used to not being held, but Mommy is right there with you to reassure you that you are still safe and taken care of, even though you aren't being held. You have already taken several naps on your own, and you are doing great. Soon you will be going to bed on your own so that Mommy and Daddy can have some grown up time. It's a little sad to see that our tiny baby isn't so tiny anymore, but it's also exciting that our little girl is growing so much!

This has been such an exciting month for us. Between your 10th and 11th week, you started laughing. A lot. Little things will excite you, and you smile really big and start laughing. Mommy and Daddy stop whatever they are doing to keep you laughing! It just melts our hearts to hear your sweet little laugh. So far older adults and other babies seem to crack you up a LOT.

You just adore your Mommy. When I hold you, you love to just look at me and smile and laugh like there is nothing more important in the world. Of course, Mommy just loves this. There is nothing sweeter than gazing into your eyes as we smile at each other. Hopefully you will always love your Mommy this much!!! You are having more and more fun with Daddy now, too. He makes you smile and laugh when he sings and makes faces for you, and he is still trying to help you find your thumb.

You absolutely LOVE getting changed. It is the funniest thing. Every morning when we change you out of your jammies and into your day clothes, you smile and laugh like it is the greatest thing in the world. And it's not just a little morning sunshine - you like to be changed any time of day! Diaper changes are cool, but you just go crazy for having your outfits changed. I wonder if this means you are going to be a fan of playing dress-up, and if you'll be one of those little girls that likes to put on multiple outfits every day? Oh, I can already see how much fun you'll be. :)

This month your Grammy and Grampy from Ohio came to visit you. You absolutely adore your Grammy! She was able to soothe you from crying, and you just loved spending time together. Grampy was cracking you up by doing raspberries for you. It's going to be lots of fun to go visit them in December!

Just yesterday you discovered your mouth and tongue, and you love to play with them. You make kissing faces all the time, and silly sucking noises with your mouth. It's great that you've found something to play with that is so easily accessible to you! :)

We are pretty much certain now that you have Daddy's eyes, ears, and hair (you definitely have his hairline, and while your hair has gotten a bit lighter, it shows no signs of turning blonde). You have Mommy's nose, mouth, cheeks, long fingers and toes, and head shape. We can't wait to see if we are right. One things for sure - you are CUTE CUTE CUTE!!!

We are pretty certain that you are the most adorable and intelligent baby in the world. We love you SO very much, and can hardly wait to see how much you change and grow in the next month!

Two Months

Dear Samantha,

Today you are two months old. I can't believe how fast you are growing! This month has been a very busy one for you. You have definitely gotten taller, and your little thighs are getting chunkier. You definitely aren't a rolly polly fat baby, but you sure aren't a skinny baby, either! You are just the perfect size, and you get cuter every day.

In the past couple of weeks you have really started smiling a lot. You aren't just smiling randomly anymore - we are actually getting responsive smiles from you. The other night you smiled and laughed at Daddy for the first time and it was the most amazing, sweet moment for us both. You are especially smiley in the mornings when I get you dressed. We love to look and smile at each other for a long time each morning. You sure make Mommy laugh with your smiles and giggles!

You are getting more and more aware of your surroundings. You are always looking around at things that catch your attention. You love to look at bright lights! There are some paintings that I made of Dexter and Chloe that you just love to look at. The big eyes and the contrast of the black and white fur is very interesting to you. When I put you in the Ergo carrier, you like to stand straight as a board so your head sticks way out the top. You like to look all around and see where we are. The fair was VERY exciting for you!

Your new game is "Stand Up, Sit Down." You like it when we hold you in our laps and you straighten your legs to stand up. You stand up for longer and longer periods of time now. Your legs are getting so strong! Standing up is one of your favorite games to play with Daddy.

The other day you actually rolled over for the first time! The other night you were lying on your tummy and were trying very hard to roll to your back. You needed a little bit of help, so your Pappy put his hand on your foot for you to push off of. Then you rolled all the way onto your back! The next morning while you were at playgroup, you were lying on your back and the next thing I knew, you were on your back - you had quickly rolled over all by yourself! Mommy was SO proud. :)

This month you got to meet another grandparent - your Pappy from Ohio is here visiting. He loves to hold you and play with you! He is already making plans to come out to visit you for your first birthday.

Tomorrow is your 2-month doctor visit. I am excited for them to weigh and measure you so we can see how much you've grown, but I'm also very nervous because you will be getting your first round of vaccinations. I know it's very important for you, and I will feel better having you out and about once you are vaccinated, but I am afraid it will hurt you and you will be very sad. I will be right there to comfort you though. I know you will be a tough girl and will do just fine!

I love you very much, Samantha, and I can't wait to see how much you grow in your 3rd month!

Love,
Mommy

One Month

Dear Samantha,

Today you are one month old. I can't believe you have already been with us for an entire month already! You are growing so fast. At two weeks, when we found out that you had already gained over a pound and grown almost two inches, I couldn't believe it because you still seemed so tiny to me. Now I can definitely see the difference though. You have grown out of your newborn-size clothing, and are now wearing the 0-3 month size. I was a little sad to find that you've outgrown your cute little hospital beanie, too. It seemed so sad to have to pack away clothes that you only wore for a few weeks! I'm having fun dressing you up in new outfits now though!

Over the past month, you have become more and more aware. You are awake longer each day, and you love to look all around at your surroundings. You love to lay in your entertainment gym and look in the mirror and kick the hanging toys to make noises. You love it when Daddy comes home from work to play with you. He gets you so excited sometimes that you get the hiccups! At four weeks we decided to let you try having a bottle so that Daddy could feed you sometimes. You are doing great with it! We are amazed at how much you can eat. You love to look us in the eye while you eat - it's very cute! You love to look at faces, and you are learning to make all sorts of funny faces of your own. We are seeing more and more smiles, and you are playing with your tongue a lot now. Sometimes we even hear giggles out of you while you are dreaming. You are going to be so much fun when you start smiling and giggling in response to us!

It is so much fun to watch you learn and grow. We love you very, very much, and we are excited to see you grow even more!

Love,
Mom