Nick and Sam

So Sam has been in our lives now for 2 months and Nicky is getting used to having a little sister and being mommy's helper.  Every morning he comes in saying "hi baby!" when she is sound asleep.  That's always fun for me, ha!  During the day Nicky normally does his own thing but still has a little jealousy when it's time to feed Sammi (he'll say "my turn!"), or if he sees one of us holding her, in which he'll say "mommy/daddy hold you...-which means "hold me").  I'm starting to master the art of having Nicky on one hip and cradling Sammi in the opposite arm, or carrying the car seat - which tends to happen when I pick Nicky up from school - refuses to walk out of daycare so I have to carry them both!

In the evening, Dan helps Nicky get ready for bed, brush his teeth, while I am winding down with Sammi getting her ready for bed (we've been able to get them to go to bed at the same time, which is fabulous!).  I always hear Nick in the hallway saying "where mommy go?  where sammi go?", so he will come in and give both me and Sammi kisses before he goes to bed.  It's the sweetest thing.

Me and my babies.

And Daddy and his babies!

Nick helping Mommy put Sammi to bed

Samantha is 2 months old!

Well another month has flown by.  Sam turned 2 months old yesterday, and here are a few milestones:

• She's a rock star at tummy time
• Able to sleep at 5 hour stretches during the night (good for mommy and daddy!)
• Starting to smile
• Took the GRE (but scored very poorly)

She got some shots today, and I probably shouldn't have taken her to music class afterwards because she was not having it!  Otherwise, she really does love music class. And when I say she loves it, I mean she doesn't cry (unlike her big brother!)

Looking at the colorful parachute above their heads

The Herrons and Grandma came to visit us this weekend, taking Charlie (their RV - using our boy name  would we have had one) on their maiden voyage.  Nicky loves seeing and playing with his cousins. And he FINALLY said Grandma!!  It only took a year.

Sam and Grandma

Sam's godparents:  Aunt Sandy and Uncle Steve

Sam and Maya

Nicky's new thing - watching YouTube videos of garbage trucks.  I'm not kidding.

Sam and Sarah

 

I need my space!!

Tess and Uncle Dan

Christmas 2011

We hosted Christmas at our house this year.  Lolo and Lola came all the way from Austin to spend two weeks with Nicky and Sam!  It was a lot of fun having my parents here, and especially because I didn't have to cook for 2 weeks!  Nicky easily warms up to my parents even though he doesn't see them as often.  Nicky spent a lot of time playing with Lolo, and accompanied him on his trip to the PGA Golf store, something that Lolo likes to do every time he visits Arizona.  We'd love to enroll Nicky in golf lessons when he turns 3!  It just means a better chance for him to get a scholarship to Stanford (oh, that's where we've decided he is going to college...Harvard of the west!)

My brother-in-law Venu (Uncle Vinny) dressed up as Santa this year - on Christmas morning, we were all downstairs and in walks Santa..surprisingly Santa carries a cell phone and called Mrs. Claus to see if it was good to walk in now, considering he was freezing outside!   Nicky's reaction wasn't what I had hoped for - he freaked out!!  He has been talking about Santa, and when he finally walks in the door, nothing.  He wouldn't even sit in Santa's lap for a picture!  Hopefully next year Nicky will have a different reaction!

At least Sam didn't cry in this picture!

Nicky did enjoy opening gifts - I think I went a little overboard because there are still some gifts that he unwrapped, but wasn't interested in taking them out of their boxes.  Guess this means these gifts will make a second appearance at his birthday in March!

Nicky spent a lot of time watching Lola cook - she made Dan's favorite, lumpia:

Nicky and Lolo hanging out at the Commissary while Lola does all the food shopping :

Nicky is mesmerized by the flying Santa in the freezer section

His favorite gift was his his bicycle:

Samantha is one month old!

Can't believe Sammi is already one month old!  We are getting used to having a newborn again, and it becomes challenging with a 21 month old also needing your attention!  Sam's one month checkup went really well, and so far the only major thing she has to deal with is gas and a little bit of acid reflux.  When I tell people about it, the response  I get is "um...that's normal".  Nicky didn't have those issues when he was a baby so he is my benchmark (which could be a bad thing!).  We also have to cradle her till she is almost asleep before we put her down (she has been in her crib since she was 4 days old), slowly but surely she is starting to fall asleep on her own.  I read Nicky's baby book and noticed that he started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks.  A couple of nights this week she was able to sleep for 6 hours at night, so hopefully it becomes a pattern!    Overall, Sam is a good baby!  

One month growth picture

Sammi rolling her eyes at her brother's cheesy smile, ha.

We are working on tummy time, and unlike her big brother, she loves it!  She has been holding her head up really well since she was about 10 days old.  She is becoming more alert and we are anxious to see her smile!  It is really fun having a little girl...I messed up washing some of her whites with her reds and now she has a ton of pink clothes.  So I guess it all doesn't go to waste, HA!