Samantha at 29 and 30 Weeks

Life has been crazy lately with us and the end of the semester for Ben.  Therefore, this post will be combining Samantha's 29th and 30th weeks.  The first event of week 29, on November 29th, was the first snowfall of the season.  It came down from the sky in huge snowflakes and blanketed the ground.  It was so beautiful outside.  Samantha was at Melanie's when it happened, so she set them in front of the window and took some great pictures of them looking outside and watching the snow, although it seemed like Samantha was more interested in playing with the curtains.

Then, on Thursday of that same week, when I went to go pick up Samantha, Melanie told me that she wasn't feeling well.  She had been sleeping a lot that day and was feeling a bit warm.  You could tell she was not her normal self, she was fussy, clingy, and you could not get any sort of smile out of her.  I took her home and took her temperature.  It was between 101 and 102 which worried me because Samantha has never had a fever before except after her last round of shots.  I called the doctor, and they said just to give her Tylenol and if she still has a fever for three days after that, to bring her into the doctor. I felt so bad for our little girl.  She was so sad and felt so warm.  I gave her some medicine, nursed her, and put her down for a nap.  She slept for about an hour or so, but when she woke up she seemed a little better but was still acting so sad and so tired.  I kept her up until about 9 p.m. so that I could give her another round of Tylenol to help keep her fever down for the beginning of the night.  She ended up sleeping all the way until 10:30 the next morning!  I couldn't believe it!  I took off work that Friday to stay home with her, and I think it was really good for her to be able to sleep in and relax at home that day.  Plus, I enjoyed being home and getting to hang out with and take care of my little girl.  It's always so scary when your child is sick, especially as a baby.  Samantha has really had pretty good health so far.  It's pretty good to make it to six and half months and not really have any sickness to speak of except for the occasional cold and stuffy nose.  After her long night of rest, she seemed much more Samantha-like and her fever was gone.  We were definitely happy that it ended so quickly, even though we still don't know why and what caused her fever in the first place.


Here are some really adorable pictures that Melanie took of Samantha:

On Saturday, December 3rd, Ben's parents came down to Bloomington for the day to watch Samantha while Ben and I went to the Nutcracker at IU.  We had a great time, and afterwards, we all went out to dinner and then to Spring Mill State Park to see their Christmas in the Village.  Samantha wasn't so sure why we were walking around in the dark and in the cold, but she was a good sport throughout the whole visit.


Sunday, December 4th, we took Samantha to church and put her in her new shoes from her Uncle Andrew.  Here is Samantha all dressed up for church.

She didn't mind the shoes too much, although several times she proceeded to take a shoe off and put it in her mouth.


One thing you can tell by these pictures is something about Samantha's sleep pattern.  It is so evident now when she is tired, more so than it used to ever be.  When she is tired, her eyes show it right away.  They get red and have huge bags under them.  She also rubs her eyes when she's tired or will rub her head back and forth on your shoulder if you are holding her.  She is such a creature of habit.  She knows when her normal nap times and bedtime is, and right around that time, she will start showing signs of being tired, almost like she's saying, "Hello...mom, dad?  It's time for me to go to sleep now.  Please put me to bed."


Also, in week 29 on Sunday, we decided to move Samantha from taking a bath on the kitchen sink to taking a bath in the bathtub, but still in her baby tub.  She has started really kicking around when she takes bath, and was splashing everything around her in the kitchen, including the mirror that we have hanging above the sink.  We have also started giving her toys to play with while in the bathtub, and she really enjoys them, mostly to put in her mouth and chew, but nevertheless, she enjoys her bath time.  Here are some pictures from her first time in the tub.

We have been working with Samantha on eating food.  So far we have tried rice cereal, squash, and oatmeal.  To be honest, most of the time she is not too interested in eating much.  Sometimes we can get her to eat a couple tablespoons, but sometimes she has not interest and won't even open her mouth for it.  She will even gag sometimes when she tastes some food and will try to spit it back out her mouth.  It's interesting how she seems to not be interested which is so unlike her cousin Alaina!


Last week, nothing much too exciting happened during the week.  Ben was just finishing up his classes and wrapping up the semester.  I had my Christmas program at school, a girl's night with ladies from our small group, and then we were getting ready for heading out on the weekend.  It was a busy week, but the biggest accomplishment for Samantha was sleeping through the night every night that week.  It was rather amazing to me.  Whenever that happens, I wake up in the morning feeling so much more rested and am surprised at the time.  I usually go to sleep expecting to be woken up during the night at some point.


Here are some cute pictures of Samantha playing on the floor.

This past weekend we were very busy and did lots of driving.  I have to confess that I had nightmares about how it would go because Samantha doesn't sleep as well in new places, so then we would be experiencing  sleep deprivation while driving from Bloomington to Upland to Ohio to Warsaw and back down to Bloomington.  On Friday night we stayed with Ben's parents in Upland.  We went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant and drove past a house that had synchronized lights to music that you tune your car radio to while you park outside their house.  On Saturday we drove out to Ohio for Ben's grandma's 90th birthday celebration.  It was a surprise, and she was really pleased to see all the family there to help her celebrate.  Samantha did a really good job sleeping on Friday night, which is a first for Upland, and on Saturday she took an good hour and a half nap in the the afternoon.  Everyone was commenting on how lucky we were to have such a good napper.  We then left for Warsaw, Indiana because Samantha's cousin Alaina was to be dedicated at their church.  We hung out at their house for awhile (IU was playing Kentucky).  Then we took our tired girl back to the hotel we were staying at and put her to bed.  Even though we were sleeping in the same room, Samantha did pretty well again, waking up only one time during the night to nurse.  We were surprised, especially being in such a strange place.  The dedication on Sunday morning went well.  It was great to be there in support of Jeni, Andrew, and Alaina.  Samantha fell asleep in the car on the way home, we ate lunch and waited for her to wake up from her nap, and we headed home on our three and half drive to Bloomington.  Samantha napped on and off in the car, playing the rest of the time.  We have such a good little girl.  She is very amiable and flexible with all the crazy places we drag her to!  Here are some great pictures from the weekend:

Samantha with Ben's mom and grandma

Cousins playing together on the floor!

This picture shows Samantha's crazy hair after she woke up from her nap in her car seat.

These girls are going to cause all kinds of trouble when they grow up!

Samantha's First Thanksgiving: 28 Weeks Old

This past week of school was very short due to Thanksgiving break, which I was very thankful for.  We left for Upland on Tuesday night and Samantha took a great nap in the car, sleeping all the way there.  It took us much longer to get there than usual because there was so much traffic with it being rush hour and also the start of a holiday.  On Wednesday, Jeni, Andrew, and Alaina got to Upland early in the morning since they had to go back home early Thursday morning to have Thanksgiving with Andrew's family.  We hung out, let the babies "play" with each other, had a great meal, and played a fun family game of Cranium once the babies were put to bed.  We love to get Alaina and Samantha together as often as we can, so the cousins can grow up together.  It will be fun to observe how their interactions with each other change each time we are together, and eventually they will be able to play with each other and become friends.  They have already begun to take toys from each other, although at this point they don't seem phased by it.

After our Thanksgiving meal we went over to the gym at Taylor and took a walk with the babies.  Burning off calories makes it okay to eat dessert later on, right?  Maybe Samantha will be a future Taylor University alum too!

Here are some other fun pictures of Samantha playing at Grandma and Grandpa Toll's house for Thanksgiving.

Samantha never seems to sleep as well when we are in different places, especially in Upland.  I don't know if it's because it's darker than her room at home, or maybe because she has to sleep in the same room with us and Roscoe.  We may disturb her with our sleeping noises and moving around at night.  However, we had a couple interesting nights with Samantha where we were up in the middle of the night trying to get Samantha to fall back asleep.  I guess she is just a creature of habit and is used to her own room and crib to sleep in peacefully and undisturbed at night.

We headed back to Bloomington on Friday and had couple of Christmas activities planned.  We went to a Christmas tree farm to get a live tree to put up in our apartment.  Ben doesn't care much about having a real tree, or as a matter of fact, any tree at all.  But my family started the tradition of cutting down real trees when we were kids, and I always have fond memories of those times, so I would like to continue on that tradition with my own family.  We looked at the tree farm to cut down a tree, but they didn't have very many mature looking Christmas trees, so we ended up just getting one that was already pre-cut in their barn.  We got a Frasier Fur which is one of our favorite kinds of trees, due to it's soft, dark green branches, it's strong aroma, and the fact that it's needles are not as itchy and don't cause our arms to break out when we touch them.  Samantha didn't really know what was going on, but she enjoyed being carried around in the Baby Bjorn with Daddy.  It was a wonderful day outside!  Mid 60s is great weather for going out and finding a Christmas tree.

Putting up the tree was kind of an event this year.  What should have been a half hour job, turned into several hours over the next two days.  Our tree had branches that were too low on the trunk, so the tree would not fit into the stand that we had for it.  We bought a couple other stands in an attempt to find one that would work before we would be forced to just cut off the lower branches which would then make the tree not as beautiful.  Ben eventually found a metal tree stand that was shallower and would work for our tree trunk to touch the bottom of the stand to hold it more securely.  I still am paranoid though sometimes about coming down in the morning and finding that the tree has fallen over.

That evening we participated in a Bloomington tradition, the lighting of the Canopy of Lights.  I have to say that this is one of my favorite things about Bloomington at Christmastime.  If you are ever able to, you should come visit downtown Bloomington at Christmastime.  The lights downtown come out from the courthouse and string across the street to the neighboring stores and restaurants.  They even wrap thousands of lights around the trees surrounding the square.  It is quite the sight to see.  Here are some pictures from the lighting of the Canopy of Lights ceremony.  Samantha had a great time!  She loves to be around people.

Our busy weekend continued on Saturday with the last IU football game of the season against Purdue.  Samantha once again did a great job.  She must have been tired from all the commotion of traveling for Thanksgiving and doing so many things during the day because she took an almost three hour nap in the afternoon before the game, and she also fell asleep during the first quarter and last quarter of the game, even in the midst of all the cheering and clapping.

What could be more adorable than the precious face of a sleeping baby?  I don't know if it's just the season of Christmas, but I tend to do a lot more reflecting on my life and the way that God has blessed be during this time of year.  I feel so blessed and thank God daily, especially when I look at my beautiful, sweet Samantha.  Sometimes it takes my breath away.  Sometimes it makes me shed tears of happiness.  I never imagined loving a person as much as I love Samantha.  Being a mom brings such a different perspective on life.  I would do anything for that little girl.  I hate to see her unhappy or hurt.  I love her so much, that these meager words I write can't do it justice.  My love for her grows stronger each day she is a part of our lives, and I simply cannot imagine life without her.  Thank you, Father, for giving us the greatest gift this season, your Son.  I can't imagine giving up my child on behalf of people that don't deserve it.  I can't imagine sending my one and only son to earth to be born a baby, knowing full well that this baby will grow up to die a terrible death on a cross.  Thank you God for that sacrifice and for the miracle of the birth of Jesus that we celebrate this season.  Thank you for reminding me of your sacrifice this Christmas as I look at the soft, peaceful slumber of my baby and am reminded of the Christ-child.