Samantha: 15 Months, Week 1

This week was my first week of school with students, and it was a lot harder than I expected it to be.  My class is definitely going to be a challenge this year, I was at school late many days, and worked late at night getting ready for the next day.  It always seems like however much I prepare ahead of time, there are always so many last minute things to do at the beginning of the year.  With all the stress and exhaustion, it made it even harder for me to leave Samantha every day.  I would have much rather stayed home with her, enjoying her company, playing with her, and not having the stress of work.  There were a couple nights this week that I cried myself to sleep because I missed being with Samantha every day and wasn't thrilled about returning to the classroom again the next day.  I know I have posted about this before, but it is extremely hard leaving Samantha every day, and the beginning of the year is exceptionally difficult.  I know it is just for a time, and I pray that God will give me the endurance and perseverance I need to be both a full-time mom and a full-time teacher.

Samantha also turned 15 months old this week.  It's hard to believe she is that old already.  Time just seems to be flying by.  She seems so big to me now.  I don't know if it's just because she is walking now and acting more like a toddler or what, but she just amazes me every day with how much language she understands and how much she learns.  She can respond to simple questions and commands, like picking something up and bringing it to us.  She understands when we ask her to come upstairs with us, to go outside, and to take a bath; and she definitely understands when we say "no" or "yucky" or "ouch-hot."  Here are pictures of our cute 15 month old!

Ben's Uncle Don and Aunt Sandy gave Samantha a book with baby pictures and little sayings, and it has fast become her favorite book.  She has it memorized. We read the pages and she will tell us what little phrase comes next, in her own words of course.  We can even recite the book without looking at the pages.  We will say the sentence, and Samantha automatically repeats the little phrase.  Here is a video of us reading that book:

Samantha's hair is one of my favorite things about her.  It is almost a strawberry blond color and getting curlier and curlier the longer it gets.  She doesn't let me do much with it yet because she just yanks out hair clips or ties, but this Sunday I decided to put it up in a ponytail after she woke up from her nap.  It didn't last long, but it was adorable while it lasted!

Samantha has begun climbing into and onto anything she can, the couch (with help), benches, even baskets around the house.  In these pictures you can see that she took all the toys out of her basket and then sat in it for awhile and played.

Samantha: 14 Months, Week 4

This week was my first week back at school for teacher inservice.  I was sad to see summer gone and the school year starting again.  I wasn't really ready for it.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Samantha this summer.  I feel like she has changed, grown, and learned so much, and it was exciting being a part of that.

On Tuesday this week, Ben and Samantha met Grandpa and Grandma Toll at the Indiana State Fair. We took advantage of the fact that tickets only cost $2 on Tuesdays, so it was a cheap experience even if Samantha were to not enjoy herself. Who were we kidding, Samantha loves being outside and around people, so she had a great time. 

On the way to the fair, Samantha slept for about 45 minutes in the car which made it easier for her to handle all the excitement to come. She was somewhat surprised to see Grandpa and Grandma Toll at this exciting place, but really enjoyed spending the day with them. Samantha got to get up close and personal with several types of animals. She liked petting the baby calves, but I think her two most exciting places were the horse barn and the barn holding chickens, ducks, swans, etc. Samantha really likes ducks and chickens, especially being able to see little ones was very interesting to her. She kept making her noise for ducks (which sounds more like bock bock than quack quack, but q is a hard sound).

The best part of the fair for Samantha was going on two rides. One ride was more of a mini roller coaster. It was a little jerky and during the ride Samantha had a look on her face that made me think she was not too excited by it. However, as soon as the ride ended she started doing sign language for more. Apparently she liked it. The ride that made her the happiest, as you can see in the video, was the ferris wheel. She could not stop smiling/laughing through the whole ride. It was very cute. On the way back from the fair Samantha passed out the entire way back. You know she is worn out when she doesn't wake up at stop lights!

It's always fun to come home after school and play with Samantha.  Here are some cute pictures of Samantha around the house.

Samantha is learning how to get in and out of chairs.  I think she just likes the feeling of accomplishment that she gets when she sits down successfully.  She also LOVES to be outside.  Oftentimes, she will point to or go by the door and say "bye bye" meaning that she wants to go outside.  We find ourselves going out many evenings with Samantha, especially when the weather is nice, and letting her walk around or taking her on the swings.  Since she loves being outside, she also loves going to the park.  When Ben took her to the park a couple times this week, as soon as she saw it she squealed with delight and sometimes it's hard to pull her away and back to the car.  She usually chooses to go to the swings first, then will play on the playground and slide down the slides.

We have also been teaching Samantha animal noises lately.  As we mentioned above, her favorite animal is a duck, so that's the noise she makes the most often, but she can also make the noise of a dog, cat, pig, monkey, cow, and an "Uncle Timmy."

Over the weekend, we took a family trip to McCormick's Creek State Park for a hike, picnic lunch, and time in the park.  Samantha had a great time, and we really tired her out.  It was all I could do to keep her awake and relatively happy in the car on the way back home.  On our hike we actually let her walk part of the way, but when we do this we don't get very far because she likes to stop and look at the leaves on plants, pick up dead leaves and rocks off the ground, and just observe nature and the world around her.  We like that she is so curious about everything.  She particularly likes flowers which she calls "ower."  We always tell her to be gentle, and she does a pretty good job of not pulling the petals off.

Samantha: 14 Months, Week 3

After being gone for many weeks this summer, it was nice to finally be back at home in our own environment.  My dad came down Monday of this week to bring Roscoe back and stayed the night with us.  We had a good time being with each other, and I think my dad was surprised at how much she's grown and how active she is.  On Tuesday morning we made a trip to the art museum on the IU campus.  It was interesting, though small, but the security guards were a little uptight.  I don't know if it was just because they weren't used to having babies come or if they were just bored and had nothing better to do, but they would not stop following us around.  I was not letting Samantha run around or touch anything (I think I know better than that!), but they didn't seem to trust us.  This art museum wasn't as good as the one in Ann Arbor that we visited over the summer because it had more artifacts than paintings, and no portraits (which are Samantha's favorites, she loves to look at people's faces).

One of my favorite things is getting Samantha from her crib in the morning.  She always wakes up happy.  If she is ever crying when she wakes up from a nap or during the night or in the morning, that means that she isn't done sleeping, it's usually pretty easy to tell.  Well, she is very cute when she wakes up so I just had to include some pictures of her in the morning.  Wouldn't you like to wake up to this happy face every day?

This picture was taken with the screen facing her so she could see herself.  It's about the only way we can get a close up of her face while she is still!

We didn't do too many other things this week, just errands around town, hanging out at home, and spending time together as a family before my week of teacher inservice.  It was still pretty hot this week, so we went to the pool for the first time over the weekend.  They have a little kid area with a zero depth section, water spouts, and various other water elements.  She had a wonderful time!  Unfortunately, we didn't bring our camera, so we don't have any pictures, but maybe I will post some later at another pool outing.  Samantha loves to watch other kids play and try to join in with them.  We also took her into the big pool and carried her around in the water with us.  The pool has a couple slides and a diving board which Samantha really enjoyed watching.

Samantha has a new favorite game where she knocks the blocks out of her lap with her arms.  She loves it, the more we throw at her the better!

After being around so many dogs this summer, Samantha has really grown to like them.  She gets really excited anytime she spots a dog.  Now that Roscoe is back home, she is extra interested in him.  She likes to try to give him his toy and watch him play fetch up and down the hallway of our apartment.  Roscoe does really well with her, largely ignoring her and sleeping most of the day.

Another new thing we tried this week is having Samantha try using a fork.  She doesn't quite know how to hold it, but she's working on it.  It makes her feel a lot more independent trying to feed herself, and especially using a fork like adults do.

To end, I will include some pictures of Samantha sporting a Cubs hat.  She saw Daddy wearing it when we went to the farmer's market, so after that she kept grabbing it, trying to put it on herself, and asking us to put it on her head for her.  We think she looks pretty adorable in it.

 These pictures show Samantha reading one of her favorite books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  She loves any books about animals, and particularly likes the duck page.  We think ducks are her favorite animal.  That was the first animal sound she learned how to make.  Any time she sees a picture of a duck in a book, a stuffed animal duck, or a real duck, she will make her duck noise.

Samantha: 14 Months, Week 2

To start off this blogpost about our vacation in Pennsylvania, I will include some cute pictures of Alaina and Samantha at a grassy area by a stop on the turnpike.  The girls enjoyed walking around and stretching their legs before continuing on in the journey.  (It was a Sunday so we couldn't resist putting Samantha in a cute skirt and shirt that we had just gotten on sale.  All dressed up and nowhere to go, but that's okay.  It's fun dressing up a girl!)

Samantha is waving hello in this picture.  This is her new thing.  She will wave to anyone that she passes, stranger or not.  Everyone thinks it is so cute.

The girls are chilling out on a chair in our bedroom at the rental house.  Oh, the trouble these two will get into as they get older!

The first day of our vacation in Pennsylvania we visited an Amish Village.  There was a tour of an Amish house, animals you could walk around and see and feed, and a one room schoolhouse.  Samantha did not make it through the tour.  When people are talking quietly, like on a tour or in church, Samantha has a hard time being quiet.  She doesn't cry, she just wants to talk, walk around, and explore.  Ben ended up taking her outside and walking around the village with her.  The animals on the farm were probably the highlight for Samantha.  She particularly liked the horses because she watched Grandma feed them and was brave enough to reach out and touch one on the nose.  (She pulled her hand back whenever it seemed like the horse was going to try and lick her.)  Alaina and Samantha had a great time walking around outside, looking at all the farm animals.  It was a wonderful morning excursion for the girls.

In this picture and the one below, Alaina and Samantha are carefully examining the goat.

Here is Samantha in the one room schoolhouse.

The next day, we went to Hershey, Pennsylvania to Chocolate World.  In this building there was a free ride you could take in a sort of people mover car like you would see in Disney World.  It took you on a tour showing how they make chocolate.  Samantha was enthralled with the ride, pointing at the singing cows, loving all the sights, sounds, and lights.  I tried to get a picture of her cute facial expression on the ride, but it was too dark, so here is a blurry picture anyways.  It makes me excited for our trip to see my grandpa in Florida over Thanksgiving break.  We are planning on going to Disney World while we're there, and I think Samantha will love the little rides we can go on there.

Here are some other pictures of the girls walking around after the ride.  The third picture, where you see Samantha's mouth wide open shows our crazy girl making all kinds of noise as she walked around.  The room was big and open, making a great place to hear your voice echo.  I think Samantha likes the newfound freedom that comes with walking.

After going on the ride, we went to a small zoo that had all animals from North America.  The girls were in great spirits even though they were getting tired.

Here is a little video of Samantha walking around the zoo, you can tell that she is one that likes to "stop and smell the roses."  She likes to look around at everything in her environment so if you are trying to get somewhere while you walk, letting her lead the way is usually not the best idea. :)

After our fun and exciting morning, the girls were completely worn out.  We stopped for a quick lunch and went back to the house to put the girls down for a nap.  It took a lot of work for me to keep Samantha awake in the car on the way home so that she would not spoil her nap.  She was so thankful to finally get to sleep that she slept for 3 hours and 45 minutes!  We actually had to go in and wake her up finally, since she had been sleeping for so long.  

The other issue that was causing the extra long naps is Samantha teething.  We believe she has all three of her remaining canine teeth coming in at the same time.  It is preventing her from sleeping as soundly at night, too.  This same night, Samantha woke up around 11 crying and wasn't falling back asleep.  I went up to the room to comfort her and as soon as I picked her up, she fell asleep on my shoulder.  I tried to lay her back down again, but she woke up immediately.  I left my hand on her tummy and could feel her muscles tensing up.  After telling that she was not going to fall asleep like that, I picked her up again to check her diaper, had to change her, and then held her again, rocking her back and forth as she cuddled herself into my shoulder.  However much we don't like it when Samantha wakes up at night, it's these moments that are priceless to me.  I love snuggling with my little girl, feeling her limp body in my arms, hearing her soft breaths as she drifts into a deep sleep.  I love being able to lay her down for naps, leaving my hand on her back, and watching her eyes get heavier and heavier, watching her move around less and less, until she peacefully drifts off to sleep.  These are precious moments to me.  I'll take them whenever I have the chance.

On Wednesday, we went to Gettysburg and did the driving tour of the famous battle sights.  Samantha slept for about an hour on the way there, but on the way home it was probably the roughest time she's ever had in the car.  She was extremely tired, but for some reason, wouldn't allow herself to calm down and fall asleep.  I tried to ignore her for awhile (because I was sitting in the backseat with her), hoping she would stop fighting sleep eventually, but to no avail.  Finally, I gave up, feeding her snacks and pulling out every trick in the book to keep her happy on the hour long trip back the house.   That night, we utilized our free babysitters (Thank you Grandparents!), and Ben and I snuck out to Hershey Park to ride some roller coasters.  If you go after 5 o'clock, it's only $20 in comparison to almost $60, so it was definitely worth it.  We had a good time, as we hadn't been to an amusement park in over three years, and it was only the fifth time we had been out together (not working) since Samantha's been born.  It was a welcome break for us, and Samantha had a great time eating lasagna, swimming in the pool, and playing until she literally couldn't walk straight anymore.  We love that little girl so much!

Thursday we took it easy, not taking any long trips anywhere.  We went to a local farmer's market and a pretzel factory.  The girls always attract a lot of attention from others, probably because they are so cute, and also because it's fairly rare to see two babies together that are so similar in age.  It seemed like the girls acknowledged one another a lot more than ever before.  They interacted more with sharing toys and mimicking one another.  Here are some pictures of them playing/being together in the house.

I would say one of Samantha's favorite activities of the trip was swimming in the pool.  We went swimming several times while we stayed there, and she had a blast every time.  The last night in the house we got the whole family in the pool!

Another of Samantha's favorite things was watching the horse and buggies ride by the house.  We stayed in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, right in the heart of Amish country, and our house was on a fairly main road so there were a lot of horse and buggies that rode by.  Many days, we would go out on the front porch to get some fresh air and count the number of horse and buggies.  Samantha loved watching the horses, and of course, she would always wave hello and sometimes a few of the Amish women would wave back and smile.


While we were on vacation Samantha learned a few new things, one particularly from Cousin Alaina.  Alaina will say "night, night" when she's going to bed, and Samantha picked that up from her.  Now, whenever she is going to take a nap or going to bed (or wants to do one of those things), she will say "night, night" as well.  Well, it actually sounds more like "ni, ni," but we find it adorable.  Uncle Tim also taught Samantha how to roar like a bear and make a bear claw with her arm when people enter the room.  As I mentioned earlier, she now waves hi to everyone, whenever someone new comes in the room or passes by her on the street.  She honestly seems upset if she says hi to someone and they don't acknowledge her in some way.  (I don't know how we got this social butterfly for a daughter.)

Here is our best attempt at our annual family picture.  It's difficult with two toddlers!

I was sad to see our vacation end.  We had a really good time.  The house we stayed at was great.  It was wonderful spending time as a family with Ben and Samantha, as my summer is coming to an end faster than I would like it to.  Our trip home was pretty uneventful.  We again stayed overnight on the way back, even though we got there a couple hours later than we planned due to road construction.  We were glad to be on our way back home, but it was bittersweet coming back to reality.  Samantha got right back into her normal routine.  On Sunday, we put her in the new outfit from Grandma and Grandpa Kappel, and after her afternoon nap we just had to take a picture of her in her crib because she is so cute when she wakes up.  But then again, we always think she is cute.