MILK STRIKE!!!

Sam is on a milk strike!  Well, mostly.....

The daycare and I had to discuss tactics today to deal with Sam's refusal to take the bottle.  They said he used to be their "champion eater" and now it's either a go or complete no-go! We actually mixed formula with mom's milk for the first time at home on Sunday with very mixed results - he wasn't too excited about it, and they had similar issues.  Dad has issues this morning as well.  This has been ongoing the last several weeks and just getting worse.  There is not rhyme or reason to it - no specific bottle, person, milk, formula, mixture - so, who knows?  We'll see how tomorrow goes...

And just one more gratuitous cute picture... or two.....

 

Typical Saturday Scene

These two have a lot in common - 

particularly how they like to spend their Saturdays :)  
Pretty cute....

Bubba

Sam-Man, Bubba, Pumpkin, Mr. Stinks, Little Toot, Bubbs, Little Monster, Mona (because you moan!), and Sammy..... you have lots of nicknames! I think I call you "Bubba" the most and sometimes throw in a "Chubba" beforehand!

Some funny/cute things about you 

the last couple of weeks......

1.  Last week was a doozy at daycare - you went through 7 or 8 extra outfits - one day changing 3+ times!  We should have bought stock in Spray N Wash.  It was so bad, I couldn't keep track of how many extra outfits you had there and how many more to bring!  (That's where the name "Mr. Stinks" comes in!).  All I can say is "What an interesting shade of green!"

2.  Drool........ starting a couple weeks ago, you are nonstop on the drool front, soaking outfits in a matter of minutes!  Any toy coming from you - tag blanket, Pup-pup, etc... are covered in wet drool!

3.  You have become a stinker with your bottle the last couple of weeks.  It started, that I noticed, with church and you not wanting to take a bottle in the nursery, causing mom to have to come and get you since you were going Ballistic!!!!!  Then dad reported you not wanting to take the bottle.... and then today at daycare they said they were having a hard time with you and the bottle off and on the last two weeks!  I guess you prefer to eat local and fresh still with your momma, but I'm not sure why the sudden issue with the bottle as you take a small one at least daily at home.  I'm not worried, though, as if you are hungry enough, I know you'll take it!  I'm curious what you will think of formula and solid food once we get there!

** Your daycare sheet last Friday said they were teaching you sign language for the words "more" and "please", I'm just waiting to be feeding you and see you pull back and sign "more, please!" - HA!

4.  You have weaseled your way pretty much permanently into bed with mom and dad.  We put you to sleep in your crib but after your first wake-up, you join mom and dad.  I think this has a lot to do with mom being tired and wanting to sleep, but I think you have this figured out.  I swore this week we will get you back to 80/20 - 80% of the time in the crib and 20% of the time in bed - unfortunately, mom still wants the 20% for early early morning (b/c she still hates saying goodbye in the mornings) and weekends!  I'm sure that's part of the problem!

5.  Scratching your head - you've developed this somewhat annoying yet cute habit of scratching your head.  Whenever I'm feeding you, your hand instantly goes to your head and you open/close/open close and it's nonstop.  Your forehead and head have some small scratches and when I try to interfere, you pull back and squeal.  It's actually kind of cute, but your forehead is turning into a war zone!

6. Otherwise, the most fun part is hearing you babble and squeal and make noises and getting you to do that in reaction to the ridiculous things mom and dad are doing!  We are like two monkeys half the time trying to get a reaction from you!  Mom fake sneezing and hiccupping and dad making monkey noises...... we're quite the comedy routine!

You bring a lot of joy into our house, Sam!!!  Mom loves her boys mucho!

 

 

What a cutie!!!!

 

 

Sammy helping mom on her day off

 

  

 All Sam wants to do is bounce.... bounce... bounce.....bounce....!!! His new jumpy has a 25 lb weight limit and I'm already dreading the day he can't use it!!!!

 

4 MONTHS!!

Sam had his 4 month appointment on Friday - it's actually a week and a half past, but we wanted to do it on a Friday early afternoon so mom could take a half day and go home with Sam after his shots!!

Sam did really well in the appointment - when the doctor put him on his tummy, he immediately rolled onto his back.  When the doctor left the room, mom and dad tried to put him on his tummy for a repeat performance, but he wouldn't do it - he was definitely showing off for the doc! Sam was also loudly babbling almost the whole time - he's very social and loves to talk - he was making us all laugh!  When the nurse came in to give him his shots, the first one is taken orally and Sam gulped it down.  She paused and said, "Wow, he's a good eater - I have never seen one go down that fast!"  He did cry after his shots and had a semi-rough night, but overall it was okay.  They also said they were very happy to see he has not had any ear infections yet - let's keep this up!

Weight:  16 lbs, 11 oz (90-97%tile)

Height:   25 3/4 (75-90%tile)

Head:     17"  (50-75%tile)

Hanging out at Mall of America

Sam loves to spend time in the bouncy!

Sam Live and in action - Click to play (>)

It has taken a lot of determination to figure out how to post a video....  just fun to see Sam in action.  He is beginning to love his bouncy already and is getting pretty good at moving in it!

Oh no!!!  You have to turn your head sideways til I figure out how to turn it!

Splash Time!

 

Check out the splash zone!  Sam is a little big for this tub, but with his tummy this week and his diapers of late, mom didn't want to chance it in the big tub with him!

Picture from Daycare

Our daycare periodically posts pictures from the day to Shutterfly - this was posted this morning - sheer excitement!

A Breakthrough!

Friday I picked up Sam, and a breakthrough!  He actually took a 3 hour nap at daycare and had to be WOKEN UP!  He usually only takes a couple 20 minute naps there so this was a nice change - hopefully it happens more often.

We had a lot of fun over the weekend playing!  Sam got to hang with Mema on Friday night as well so lots of attention!

Just because I really miss Sam today....

I was looking at picutres we took this Wednesday night - he loves to sit in his bouncy swing and is getting better at jumping!



I think the look had more to do with the flash from the blackberry!



Back to the Grind (aka work) today.........

It is so hard to leave Sam again after 12 days home!  I am having relapses of separation anxiety!!!!! :)

Samuel's First Christmas

The week of Christmas had a lot of highs and lows!  

On December 23, we had a fun potluck with all of our friends at the Nivisons.  We also hung out at home and enjoyed time off work.

 Christmas Eve was definitely a high where Samuel had his first Christmas celebration with the Backstrom family.  Mema got him a fun Christmas outfit - probably the only year he will be able to pull of a red velvet outfit so well!

 Other fun pictures of Samuel with his Backstrom family cousins and extended family.

The lows of the week were when Bradley got the flu early Christmas day morning and it lasted for 3 days!  He was quarantined in the bedroom by himself and communicated with Samuel and I via text message while we hung out and slept in the living room and pull out couch for 3 nights.  We missed all of the rest of the Christmas celebrations couped up at home, but mom got some fun time with Samuel.  On day 4, Bradley finally felt mostly better but then mom was down for the count but better by the next day.  We were SO READY to get out of the house after 4+ days inside.

Samuel got a LOT of great toys, books, and outfits!  I know one of his favorites will be his new jumping toy that he has already started using.  It has a musical pad that makes noise when he jumps but that is still in the package! 

One other fun highlight.... Decebmer 29 was Bradley's birthday and during the day when Samuel was on the ground doing some tummy time with mom, he rolled over from his tummy to his back - very cute!

Lastly, we did have to bring Samuel into the doctor on December 30 - he has had a small cough ever since starting daycare and it had escalated in the last few days as well as his temperment being a little off.  He had been pulling at his ears and we were afraid of ear infections.  It turned out everything was great - he is just probably suffering from a mild virus and mom and dad need to use the aspirator to clean his nose out!  While at the doctor, we did weigh him and he was only 14.25 pounds (much less than the 16 pounds mom listed a couple weeks ago!!!)