Samantha at 2 Months Old

This past week held many exciting events in the life of Samantha.  On July 13th, she went on her first trip to a state park.  Grandpa and Grandma Toll were down for a trip at McCormick's Creek State Park, which is only about a half hour away from Bloomington, so we decided to join them for some hiking and hanging out while they were here.  We went hiking on a trail to see the creek, and I carried Samantha in the baby carrier.  She fell asleep pretty quickly and didn't experience much of her first hike.  That evening we went out to a mexican restaurant, and something pretty funny happened that we won't forget for a long time.  Ben was feeding her a bottle, leaned her up to burp her, and noticed that Samantha had an explosion in her diaper and that it had leaked out of her diaper and gotten all over his pants!  It was a very memorable dinner nevertheless, and I'm sure it won't be the last time that Ben has some bodily fluid of Samantha's on his pants.


The next day, we had a picnic with our small group from church as kind of a send off for Daniel, one of our small group members who is taking a job in Minnesota for the semester.  We met at Bryan Park, had a picnic, let the kids play on the playground, and had some great conversation.  The weather was wonderful, a nice respite in the middle of the heat of a July.  I took Samantha on the swing for the first time, and she really seemed to enjoy it.  She loves being outside, feeling the breeze on her skin, and breathing in the fresh air.

We then had a busy weekend because Grandma and Grandpa Kappel came to visit us.  They were very generous in offering to come this weekend since my birthday was on Sunday and our 5 year wedding anniversary was coming up this week, so they offered to let us go out on a date to celebrate both my birthday and our anniversary.  Ben and I decided to go to the Melting Pot, which we went to on our first anniversary as well.  It was a great evening of getting out and going on a date without Samantha, knowing that she was in good hands at home with her grandparents.  We came home refreshed, relaxed, and renewed as a couple.  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa, that was a great gift to us!


Saturday, July 16th, was also Samantha's 2 month birthday.  We can't believe that we've had her for 2 months already, sometimes it seems like we've had her forever, and sometimes it seems like time is going by so quickly.  Once when we were sitting outside at a restaurant in Bloomington, someone passed us on the street and saw Samantha, making this comment to us, "The days are long, but the years go by fast," and that pretty much sums up how we feel right now.  


Also, this past week Samantha had her 2 month checkup at the doctor.  She got her shots as well, and because of that we were kind of dreading this appointment.  They measured her again and her weight was 14 pounds, 1 ounce, in the greater than 97 percentile range, her height was 24 1/2 inches in the greater that 97 percentile range, and her head circumference was 39 1/2 inches, in the 50-75 percentile range.  Her checkup was great, everything is going well with her progress in her development.  Seeing Samantha get her shots in her legs was very difficult for us.  Ben held her hands so they wouldn't get in the way of the nurse, and after she got her shots she screamed so loud, her face turned bright red, and she even had tears coming out of her eyes.  As soon as I could, I scooped her up off the table and held her close to me as she screamed.  The poor girl is not used to having any pain inflicted on her, and Ben and I agreed that it was hard not to just cry along with her.  We were bracing ourselves for a bad 24 hours because most people say that babies get really fussy after their shots; however, Samantha seemed to bounce back pretty quickly.  She fell asleep in the car on the way home and even slept all through the night from 11 until 8 in the morning!  We were glad that she did not seem to be influenced negatively by the immunizations, and are glad that she is now protected from these diseases that could make her very sick.


Another fun "first" of the week was Samantha grabbing something and holding on to it all on her own.  She was laying on the couch against her Boppy Pillow, and then I noticed that she had pulled the pacifier out of her mouth and was holding it in her hand, moving it around for quite some time.  This was the first time she held on to anything without us putting it in her hand for her and helping her grasp it.







One of our biggest accomplishments this week has been Samantha sleeping through the night.  There have probably been three nights this past week that she has slept from the time we went to bed for 6-7 hours straight to the morning, with no middle of the night feeding.  On days that this happens I can't believe it when I look at the clock and see how long she has slept.  From everything that I hear and read, it seems like this is pretty abnormal for a 2 month old baby.  In some ways it makes me sad because it means she is growing up and becoming more independent, and I have to admit I like the feeling that Samantha needs me and relies on me.  It's kind of a double edged sword, as a mother you obviously want your child to grow and develop, but at the same time, you don't want them to grow up so fast and you want to hold on to every moment that you get to be with them and sometimes change makes me feel sentimental for the days gone by.

8 Weeks Old-What a Big Girl!

Ever since we've had Samantha, we have had a lot more guests visiting us in Bloomington.  For some reason I don't really think they are coming to visit us.  Samantha grows and changes so much from each week to the next, it is amazing to think about how different she was even four weeks ago.

Our visitor this past weekend was my sister, Christy.  We love having her come to visit, and she is so helpful in taking care of Samantha and helping us do other things around the house while she is here.  Christy is a great aunt, and you can tell that she really loves her little niece.  While she was here we just spent time together talking and watching little Samantha, played some games, and even tried out the new mongolian grill restaurant in Bloomington.  Samantha is becoming so much more expressive and interactive, and we love to try to capture these on camera.  Here is a picture of Christy and Samantha, who is in her "I love my auntie" outfit that Christy bought for her.

Samantha and Roscoe have also had some good bonding time lately, especially since they both have the same favorite pastime as seen in this picture.  :)  Roscoe has done a great job with having Samantha around.  We weren't quite sure how he would handle having a crying baby around, but he largely seems to ignore her.  There are even some times at night that I find him laying right by her bassinet, almost like he is protecting her.

Samantha has been a great night sleeper so far, which is such a blessing to us.  She has been regularly giving us 4-5 hours at the beginning of the night for a couple weeks now.  However, Samantha continues to be an early bird and wakes up with the sun in the morning.  Oftentimes, if I can't get her to fall back asleep in her bassinet, I will bring her into bed with me, and we snuggle until it is time to get up for the day.  She is just so adorable sleeping in a "big girl" bed that I have to include a picture of her.

Samantha has been holding her head up by herself really well lately, as you can see in this picture.  We can often carry her around without having to worry about supporting her head too much.  However, the thing Ben and I have enjoyed most in the last week are her big toothless grins that we get on a regular basis now.  She seems to recognize our voices and our faces, her eyes with brighten, her cheeks will scrunch up, and her smile will be all gums!  However hard things are sometimes in parenthood, I don't think anything can beat the feeling you get when your child looks at you like that.

Seven Weeks and Her First Fourth of July

In the last week or so Samantha has had quite a few big days.  She experienced her first baseball game, watching the Indianapolis Indians with Grandma and Grandpa Toll on June 25th.  We sat out in the lawn seats together, had a picnic for the adults, and just enjoyed our time together.  Samantha did pretty well, she enjoyed laying on the blanket, looking at the bright lights of the scoreboard, and being held and loved on by grandma and grandpa.


 For the 4th of July weekend, we made a trip up to Upland, IN for a reunion of the babies.  We met Aunt Jeni, Uncle Andrew, and Cousin Alaina for the weekend.  It was the first time we all got together since Alaina was born and we went up to visit them when they first came home from the hospital at the beginning of June.  Even though the babies don't recognize each other yet, we want to make a point of getting together every month so that we can see how much the babies grow and change, and also to encourage the two girls to become great friends.  Here they are in their car seats taking a nap after going to church.  They are fifteen days apart and look so much different from each other in size right now!


While we were in Upland for the weekend, a friend from Ben's parents' church did a photo shoot with the babies.  We had some individual shots, some family shots, as well as some shots of the two babies together which could be quite hilarious to see.  We even took a picture of the girls wearing just their Cubs hats and diapers, sitting in a blue chair together, like bleacher bums at Wrigley Field.


To round out the fun weekend of hanging out with family, we decided to take Samantha to her first fireworks.  There are two doctors at Ben's parents' church that put on fireworks for a smaller group of people each year by the pond on their property, and we decided to see how Samantha would do.  Before the fireworks she just enjoyed laying on the blanket looking at the sky and making silly faces for mommy and daddy.  During the fireworks, she didn't seem to be scared by the noises at all, and in fact, seemed to be fascinated by the flashing lights in the sky.  We were impressed by how well she did on her first Fourth of July and look forward to taking her to more fireworks in the future.

Besides for these exciting events of Samantha's life during the past week or so, the biggest changes have been in how much she has been smiling.  It has been our goal to try and get as many pictures of her adorable smile as possible, but oftentimes we get out the camera too late.  However, last night we got several great pictures of her smile and this one is by far my favorite.  


Over the last few days, Samantha has been doing better with taking naps during the day and as a result, she has been much less crabby from being overtired.  Ben and I were hoping that it was just a phase that she is starting to grow out of.  Overall, she is such a good baby from all the stories you hear about how babies can be from other people.  Now that it's July, the realization that I have to go back to work in August is hitting me, and it is hard to even think about that right now.  I will savor all the Samantha time I can get in the meantime, from the early morning cuddles in bed, holding her close while she nurses, watching her sit contentedly in the bathtub as we clean her, seeing her learn how to hold a rattle in her hand, watching her coo and "talk" to the blinking star that sings, observing how her eyesight is developing and how she can track objects in front of her face, and even how she can recognize and respond to our voices.  These are times that I will never get back and I want to cherish every moment with my sweet little daughter.