Samantha at 36 Weeks

Have I mentioned how much I love being a mom?  Every day is made so much better when I'm around Samantha.  Any problem or stress from the day completely fades away when I get to pick her up and hold her, see her smiling face and make her laugh.

Samantha continues to eat baby food at lunch and dinner time, which is great.  We have been introducing fruits lately, and she seems to like all of them so far, bananas, pears, and peaches.  She really took to the pears in particular!  Over the weekend we tried several new things with her.  I gave her a sippy cup with some water in it, just to see how she would do.  She didn't quite know what to do with it, but if I would tip it up for her, she would realize there was water in there.

Ben and I went to a parenting seminar at our church over the weekend, which tired Samantha out.  She slept on the way home from church on Saturday and Sunday, falling asleep around 12:30 and sleeping until almost 3:00 in her car seat both days!

She makes some of the greatest faces.  I often wonder what it is that she thinks  when she makes faces like this!

Also on Saturday night we gave Samantha Cheerios for the first time.  She is definitely working on her pincer grasp and is trying to figure out how to get the food out of her fist and into her mouth.  She loved the taste of the Cheerios, and Roscoe had a good time cleaning up the floor under her high chair, making sure to get any that fell down on the floor.

Samantha continues to crawl around like crazy whenever she gets the chance, and she is getting a lot faster at it with a little practice.  It is great to see her being mobile and watch her explore the world around her.  It's interesting to see life from the eyes of a baby and to watch what things they are curious about.

One of the things I love most about Samantha is her enjoyment in the little things of life: Feeling the texture of things with her hands and mouth.  Pulling out her whole box of books from under the coffee table and dumping them on the floor.  Crawling to the doorstops in the hallway and hitting them so that they vibrate and make noise.  Playing peek-a-boo.  Laughing hysterically when tickled.  She is such a joy to have in our life, and our love grows more and more every day.

Samantha at 8 Months Old

This past week was marked with several big things in the life of Samantha, teething (again!), learning how to crawl, and turning 8 months old!

For the past week now, it seems like Samantha has been working on her left top tooth.  It has been a considerable nuisance to her and affected many things about her every day life.  Her appetite definitely decreased some, and she had some difficulty nursing, although not as much as when her right top tooth came in.  She was rubbing anything she could get her hands on across her gums and was a little fussier than normal because of the pain it was causing her.  Her sleeping was affected as well.  Some nights she slept for a long time, some nights it seemed like she stirred and made noise many times throughout the night.  There were a couple nights we gave her Children's Ibuprofen and let her suck on a teether before bedtime to help ease her pain and help her sleep better.  However, no matter how much she slept at night or during her naps, she always looked tired and had big bags under her eyes.  To compound the problem, or maybe because of teething, Samantha was pretty congested.  One day her nose was like a leaky faucet, there was nothing we could do to stop it from running constantly.  We felt so bad for her and her little stuffy nose.  However, we were very glad to see that it finally came through today, so hopefully her appetite and sleeping habits will go back to normal, at least until the next growth spurt or tooth!

Going along with her teething and stuffy nose, one of the cutest things happened during that time at night.  We keep a monitor in her room at night so we can hear her when she stirs or cries, and this week, while Ben and I were lying in bed, we could hear Samantha snoring/breathing heavily over the monitor.  It was so adorable.  I loved falling asleep listening to the small breaths of my sweet baby in the next room.

On Saturday of this past weekend, we took a trip to Indianapolis to have dinner at Jason's Deli with Ben's parents, and we also did some shopping.  Like usual, Samantha did great.  She enjoyed watching all the people, and Grandma and Grandpa Toll got to feed her her pears and bottle for dinner.

Sunday morning, while we were getting ready for church, Samantha crawled for the first "official" time.  She has been working on the movements of crawling for a couple weeks now, but this was the first time I watched her move one hand, then one leg, the other hand, and the other leg until she crawled over to the toy she was trying to get.  I didn't get this particular instance on video, but we did take one on Tuesday night of her crawling to document the occasion.

It is amazing to see her determination to move from one place to another, especially when she really wants to get to a toy (or Roscoe).  She still rolls around quite a bit too, but I have a feeling she may use crawling more often now because it is a much more efficient way to move around.

Over the last 8 months, I have realized how fun it is to dress up a little girl.  Now, I wouldn't say that my fashion taste is the greatest, but we love to dress her up nice for church and this is the one day of the week that I attempt to put a headband or bow in her hair.  Especially since Samantha appears to be blessed with so much hair, I am going to have to quickly learn how to do some cute little girl hairstyles!

Then, on Monday, January 16th, Samantha turned 8 months old!  We had to take her to the doctor to get her second dose of flu shot, which Samantha wasn't a big fan of.  However, we did get her weighed and she is about 21 pounds, 5 ounces.  We asked the doctor about several things in regards to how much food she should be eating each day, as well as if we can give her water and use sippy cups.  It's amazing to me how fast she is growing up!  I can't believe that in 4 months she will be a year old!  Where has this year gone?

One of my favorite times of the day is when I am nursing her and putting her to sleep.  I love the closeness that we share, and I love to watch her peaceful face as she drifts off to sleep.  Sometimes I think that I might be able to just sit like that all night, rocking her back and forth in my lap, holding her tight, and etching the memory of these special moments in my mind.

Samantha at 34 Weeks Old

This past week was my first week back to school after a wonderful Christmas break off with my family.  It's amazing how much I missed Samantha when I went back.  I knew it would be hard, especially after having two straight weeks with her every day, but I found myself just longing to go home and be with her, resulting in not too much motivation on my part in the classroom.  However, for everything there is a season, and I know this season will only last a short time longer.  The first day back to school it snowed, not too much, but enough to cover the ground. This was only our second real snow all winter and it is already almost the middle of January!  I had Ben take some pictures of Samantha in front of our patio door in the living room, to capture her with the snow in the background.

Since Ben's classes hadn't started yet, he got to spend some quality time with Samantha this past week.  It's amazing how much she seems to have changed just in the last week.  Over Christmas she began to roll around a lot more to get places, but now she is rolling EVERYWHERE!  There is no containing her anymore.  If she wants to get somewhere, she will normally try to crawl, but then will get frustrated when she can't do it, and will just lay down on the ground and roll there.  She has even rolled all the way down our hallway!  Now we have to be a lot more careful with watching her at all times because she can get into things.  She will try to eat Roscoe's toys, pull books and papers off our coffee table, pretty much anything she can get her little hands and mouth on.  She loves to feel the textures of things like our metal utility closet door and the vertical blinds for our patio door.  We have actually gone around the house and started baby-proofing by putting outlet covers on and moving decorations or things we really wouldn't want her to get into.  As she gets more and more mobile, we will have to continue to watch out for things that she can get into and things that may be dangerous for her.

The other new thing Samantha is doing now we are crediting to Alaina because over Christmas break Samantha has switched to eating only four times a day, in the morning, at lunchtime, early evening, and then bedtime.  And, she is loving her baby food!  In fact, many times this last week she has devoured a whole jar of baby food at lunchtime along with her five ounce bottle.  We have introduced all the vegetables and are now introducing her to some fruits.  It's amazing how much more interested in food she has become which I have to admit is a relief for me.  Again, my silly mommy brain had irrational fears of Samantha never taking to eating food.  We have been giving her either vegetables or fruit at lunchtime and some type of cereal in the evening.  She is turning into a little birdie, opening her mouth wide, and sometimes we can't get the spoon into her mouth fast enough!  Thank you for rubbing off on our daughter Alaina!


On Thursday night there was a Target Free Family Night at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis so I figured that would be a fun thing to go to with Samantha, especially because it was free.  They still had their Christmas area up, and it was great just walking around with Samantha, showing her the different exhibits and letting her look around and take it all in.  Unfortunately, we forgot our camera so we didn't get any pictures of her there.  I would have to say that her favorite part was probably the hallway of mirrors and the Barbie exhibit (who knows, maybe she will like Barbies like her mommy).


This past weekend we had no plans at all which was so wonderful and a welcome change to the busyness of the holiday season.  On Saturday Samantha and I both slept in until 10:15!  We were very well rested after that!  Here are some cute pictures of Samantha on Saturday morning in her pajamas.

Our weekend consisted of lots of good playtime with mommy and daddy, along with relaxation before Ben had to start up with another semester at school.  On Saturday night, Ben was holding Samantha on his shoulders and Roscoe was being needy and crawled on Ben's lap.  I thought it was a hilarious sight with Ben and both children so I had to take a picture of it.

Here are some pictures of Samantha playing on the floor.  She particularly likes these balls with different textures on them.  She likes to bang them together and put them in her mouth.

Doesn't she look mischievous in this picture?  If it could be captioned it might say, "Hey, you got a problem with me, kid?"


I think I talked in my last post about this funny face she makes where she squinches up her face and nose and breathes in and out of her nose really fast.  Well, I fell captured it on camera!

On Sunday, we finally got to go to our home church, ECC, and it was great to be back!  We dressed up Samantha in her cute little dress that Ben picked out for her for Christmas.  I got some great pictures of her.  I might be a little biased, but I think our little girl is completely adorable!

Here is Samantha with her stuffed cat from our friend Ian.

It is amazing how fast Samantha is growing up.  I can't believe she is already almost eight months old.  I enjoy all these precious moments that we have together.

Samantha at 33 Weeks

On Wednesday, December 28th, we left Chicago and traveled to Upland, Indiana for our Christmas with Ben's family.  It was great to see Ben's brother Tim, who we don't get to see very often.  The first night we were there, Tim taught Samantha a little trick with her mouth where he moved his finger back and forth across her lips and she would make noise as he did it.  She actually picked up on it really fast and learned how to do it with her own hand as well!

I got to see my good friend Janell for a little while on Thursday, which was nice.  She got to see Samantha for awhile until Ben's parents came to pick her up from the coffee shop we met at, so that she could take a nap.  It's always great to catch up with a friend from college.

On Friday, Aunt Jeni, Uncle Andrew, and Cousin Alaina came to stay in Upland for the weekend.  It was our self-declared Christmas day for the Toll side of the family, and we had a great time doing our annual tradition of drawing numbers to see what order presents would be opened.  The only difference is that this year we had to add two extra numbers into the mix!  Samantha got several very cute outfits, along with a fun ball popping toy, activity walker, giant penguin stuffed animal, and a new stroller for when she outgrows her car seat stroller.  It was so cute to see how much more Samantha and Alaina interact with each other and notice each other.  We would often sit them across from each to play with toys, and they would reach for toys that the other one had and take them.  At least they're at the point where they don't get too upset when a toy is taken from them.  Nancy Kitt, a friend of the family, also came for our family Christmas.  We had a good meal of ham, potatoes, and other delicious food and desserts, of course!  Here are some cute pictures from Samantha's Upland Christmas.  She's wearing her new "My First Christmas" pajamas.

On Saturday we celebrated New Year's Eve by hanging out more together as a family, eating sub sandwiches (a Toll family New Year's tradition), and playing games.  Although the only person that was probably still up at midnight was Tim.  It's amazing how much having a baby makes you care a lot less about staying up late.  You'll take as much sleep as you can, at least that's our motto. Especially when we are not at home and we never know how that night will go with Samantha sleeping.  Here are some pictures of the babies playing with their new Christmas toys on New Year's Eve:

Here is a great picture of the girls with with their daddies:

We went to church with Ben's family on Sunday, took some family pictures together both at church and at the house, ate lunch together, and hung out more while our babies took their afternoon naps.  After that, we headed back home to Bloomington.

It was a great trip to see family, but it was also a long week away from home.  We were glad to get back home.  Even though our apartment is small, it is a great size for us.  There's just something comforting about being in your own house and bed again after being gone for awhile.  However, I had mixed feelings about it all because coming back home meant school starting again the next day.  I thoroughly enjoyed my two weeks off.  This is a time of year I look forward to every year.  Especially with having Samantha now, it was wonderful to be able to spend a solid two weeks with her, and to spend time with Ben while he did not have any obligations to do work.  I love hanging out with my new family of three, and this first Christmas of Samantha's will always be a precious memory to me.