Samantha at 39 Weeks

This past week was an interesting one, definitely different than normal.  When I picked Samantha up from Melanie's on Tuesday, one of her boys was complaining about his stomach not feeling well.  Tuesdays are our days to chat for awhile, so after that, I nursed Samantha before I left because we were going to go to Latest Glaze and make a Valentine's Day present for Daddy.  I sponge painted a small tile and then we covered Samantha's hands with paint to make handprints on the tile.  She was not really a fan of having the paint slathered all over her hands, maybe she is her mommy's daughter!  We got fairly good handprints out of the little wiggly girl.  I then wrote "Samantha 9 Month" in puffy paint and wrote a message on the back for Daddy, marking that it was for Valentines Day 2012.  I thought it turned out really nice, and I couldn't wait to see what the finished product would look like once they fired it.  Hopefully Daddy will like this sentimental gift from his little girl.  I will include a picture next week of how it turned out.


Well, the next morning, Melanie texted me saying her boys were sick, so I ended up just calling in sick that day since it was too late to call our backup babysitter, and I really don't mind taking a day off to spend with my little girl anyways.  :)  Luckily, Samantha didn't seem to catch the stomach bug from them at all.  We have been so lucky with her.  She is a really healthy baby.  The sickness she has had has been minor fevers or runny noses every once in a while.  Maybe she has her daddy's genes in that regard, as he rarely gets sick.  


On Thursday, Melanie's boys were still sick so we had our backup babysitter, Heather, watch Samantha for us.  She has two kids, a girl and a boy that are a bit older, school-age I think.  The oldest, the girl, commented to Ben when he picked Samantha up that she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth.  Yep, that about sums up Samantha (and any other almost 9 month old you will meet).  Thursday night we also made the trip down to Louisville to go to our favorite restaurant Chuy's.  Samantha had two jars of baby food for dinner and fell right asleep in the car for our drive back home.  Again, what an awesome baby!


On Friday, Samantha stayed home with Daddy, and it was evident that she was starting to not feel very well.  She was very clingy and needy, and didn't want to be put down.  That is very unlike her, especially since she has learned to crawl and explore.  She took a pretty good nap that day even though she wasn't feeling well.  In the afternoon she developed a fever, but really had no other symptoms of not feeling well.  She doesn't really let on when she's not feeling well because she is so easygoing.  I feel like she's one of those kids that could have an ear infection, and we wouldn't even know it.


On Friday I also developed a pretty bad cold myself, and we tended to just take it easy over the weekend.  Unfortunately, Samantha seemed to catch the cold as well.  I feel so bad for our little girl when her nose just won't stop running and we have to suction it with the bulb syringe (that being her least favorite part of the whole process).  The good thing is that Samantha tends to just sleep more and be more lethargic when she is not feeling well.  She isn't overly grumpy or doesn't cry a lot, which is good.


Here are some pictures from the weekend with Samantha.  It was a colder weekend, and we hung out around the house for most of it.  Consequently, we left Samantha in her pajamas for a good majority of our Saturday.  As you can see in these pictures, Samantha discovered the stairs.  She isn't trying to get up them at all yet, but she is definitely more interested in them now, and we have to keep a closer eye on her, especially at the top of the stairs.

Here is Samantha wearing Ben's Cubs hat.

On Saturday night, we decided Samantha's fever was gone for long enough so we could make it to Melanie and Ryan's house for a game night.  Since they have a pack n' play, I  just put Samantha down for sleep in that and once we were ready to go home around 11:15, we just went and got her up to take her home.  She was so cute when I woke her up, with a very confused look on her face.  Sometimes when we wake her up from a really good sleep, she gives us this look like, "Why are you waking up a sleeping baby?  I was really warm and comfortable!"  She had a little bit of trouble falling back asleep once we got back home, but once she fell asleep she was out like a light until 10:00 Sunday morning.


Sunday morning for church we dressed Samantha in the cutest little outfit.  We got a shirt that has a hood that looks like a panda head.  She hadn't ever worn it until today because it was too big for her, but now it fits her pretty good.  We couldn't get over how adorable she looked in her outfit!

The last two Sundays at church, people in the nursery at church have complimented us on Samantha, asking if she has siblings because of how well she gets along with other children.  There was a new little baby in the nursery that day and Samantha was being very gentle and nice with it (maybe that's a sign that she is ready for a little brother or sister?).  We always love getting compliments about how easygoing and happy Samantha is.


Samantha continues to work on her development, crawling fast for objects that catch her attention and making this loud, throat sounding, "Ahh!" monster noise.  I will have to get that on video some day, too.  I can't remember if I've mentioned this or not, but one of my favorite things about her now is that she reaches out for people.  Sometimes she will even crawl towards you and reach out for you to pick her up.  She is so much more interactive, day by day, as she grows up.


Now that she is almost 9 months, we are making the official transition to 9 month clothes.  Because of that, she is wearing all new outfits, so it's fun to dress her up in different things.  Here are some pictures of her new outfit that my friend, Janell, got her at the baby shower last March.