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.