Beach babies!

This past weekend has been a long time coming!  Sam, mom, dad, matt, steph, viv, kate, & I soaked up some topsail time!  We missed lewis (a lot!..Lewis was on a sailing trip around New England area with his dad and some other guys and dads) I have been looking so forward to having all of my family (well most) together in my favorite place in the world.  We had such a great time watching Sam and Viv interact.  There is a BIG difference between how girls and boys play.  Viv is so sweet and just sits and plays so sweetly with her favorite turtle teether.  Meanwhile, Sam is bulldozing through toys to either gently (sometimes a little more rough than gentle) place the palm of his hand on on viv's forehead and/or take whatever toy she had.  We found out that Sam's favorite toy was the one Viv had at the moment.  They both love the sand and water.  Sam enjoyed the fine cuisine of the coast with his main course being sand served with a side of sand.  Topsail provides a lot of opportunity for exporation and these little ones are only skimming the tip of the iceberg of everything they are going to learn down there.  We had so much and can't wait till next time. 

bath time with cuz!

so sweet!  love this picure!

and we were swinging..

can't have enough of these sunset pics

precious!

DADs!

new floater the guys worked so hard on

Mother's Day & Sam's Baptism

My first mother's day was absolutely wonderful! I really don't think I could have spent this very specail day any better.  Sam was baptized which was so special and all of our dear family was here to share this day with us.  Sam did great during his baptism.  He was hilarious and had the congregation cracking up on several occasions.  Evidently he was flashing his sweet smile when our preacher was walking him down the isle and introducing him to his church family.  The elder that introduced sam was our nextdoor neighbor, Tommy King.  He is a special man and we were honored for him to stand up there with us.  When we got back to the house he said, "Sam has a characteristic that will take him far in life, and that is, that he smiles when he looks at you."  That is true.  Sam is a smiling boy and as I always say, we feel so so blessed and fortunate to have a happy, healthy baby boy.  

Now, that I am a mom, I am a big fan of mother's day. :)  Moms work HARD and deserve to be celebrated!  To my mom, thank you for being there for me through everything, teaching me all you know, and being my example for who I want to be to my children.  My first mother's day was perfect.

double mint, double mint, gum!

4 generations!

 

8 months!

been chilling in my blue pool..

good ol baby gut laugh!

What a fun filled month this has been!  Sam is on the move!  That knee bend leg kick rock quickly emerged to full out crawl!  Sam is speeding from room to room and in our multilevel house, this means lots of exploration combined with lots of hands/eyes on sam time.  Baby proofing is in full effect!  Sam loves to motor through a sea of vibrant colored, noise making, stimulating toys only to arrive at a dirty old, slobbery dog bone or a lonely set of fireplace tools.  Only to provide a few examples of those interesting household items that sam finds absolutely fascinating.  I love watching Sam explore his world and watch him problem solve as he learns that he can put things in and dump them out.  Sam is still working on some teeth but no pearly whites yet.  His precious little blonde hair grows every day.  He is getting a little bubble of blonde hair with the cutest little baby boy peak at the base of his neck.  Sam has also starting doing a lot more talking.  He is making lots of new sounds like baa baa, daa daa (almost Da Da lew), mm, mm (almost ma ma).  With swimming lessons on the horizon, Sam is prepping by spending lots of time in his state of the art blue baby pool.  You can't beat the $7.99 plastic baby pool.  We had to bust out the rash guard that I have been waiting patiently to put on him since my baby shower approximately 1 year ago!!  I absolutely cannot believe that it has been about a year since we were painting a nursery, I was picking out fabric for the crib, and we were starting to accumulate baby goods that I was SO excited to use.  Although I imagined a precious baby boy, I never knew how precious & perfect and I never knew the power and depth of a mother's love.  As Sam grows, he steals my growing heart each day.  His laugh, his smile, his bruised knees, his determination, his curiosity, and basically all the little things about him are each and every one, little blessings from God.  I can't thank you enough.

gilligan! the skipper (kate) too!

growing blonde hair!

white dolphin!

my little BOY!

hammin it up!