Sam is feeling better

Samantha is feeling better. A rash appeared yesterday and her fever broke last night, so we think she had something like Roseola. She remained prety playful despite not feeling well, but would have moments of being pretty puny. She also has not been eating much. She did better today, but it has been rough. She also backtracked, so now we have to reconquer night feeding and self-soothing issues. But we are so glad she is better. And now have to get her eating well. Above is a picture of her with a toothbrush given to her by Sarah. We thought her gums might be hurting from the teeth coming in, and she loved using this.

She wanted to wear this dress today and then insisted she needed a hat, which she usually will not leave on. Nick thought the combo was too funny, so we snapped a picture.

Here she is in a Florida Gator outfit from my Aunt Julia. When she saw it I asked, "Do you like the alligator?" She said "A!" She loves the Dr. Suess ABC book with Aunt Annie's Alligator.

Here she is drawing a picture. She is quite the artist right now. Line up for the Samantha Kelling originals.

We were glad we still got to see my grandmother and Aunt Eunice while they were here. I took pictures on my mother's camera, so I will upload those later.

Some babies have it, some babies don't (aka, poor Samantha)

What am I refering to, you may wonder. Well, today is it immunity and weight. My poor baby came down with something. Her fever was up to 102.6 yesterday and she obviously felt awful, She just wanted to be held and rest her head on you (asking "rock a bye baby"), which is unusual for my active little peanut. We called the doctor and they told us we should come in. So even though her temperature was down to the 99-100 range and she seemed much more like herself, we went in to see if her ears or throat were affected. It seems it is just a cold or something like that. So, since she is also in the process of getting at least 2 teeth, poor thing, we kept giving her tylenol. But she still did not get much sleep last night or today. She went down early and I hope she will sleep well tonight.

The other news is her weight. We go back in next week for the 15 month check, but in the quick check today she was 18 pounds 11.5 ounces, a mere 1.5 ounces in 3 months. So, not good. We were told to get her through the next few days and then start thinking about ways to get calories in her. So we will be buttering her bread, adding olive oil to veggies, etc. I was pretty shocked since she seems to be eating so much better. But she is so active and tall for her age (29 7/8 inches at 12 months). So we have to cut back on cheerios, rice crispies, crunchies, bread, and fruit; all her favorites. And force more cheese and really work on whole milk. She has been sipping some soy milk, but still does not like whole milk.

But today she seemed more like her self off and on, even though she would not eat. Here she is drawing, a new favorite past time.

We pulled out a train we got from friends when she was born (Thanks Jenny and Ray!). Thought a new toy would be nice on a rough day. Although, most of the day was spent in my lap watching Elmo. I cannot get the song from Elmo's world out of my head! And by the way, she chose the outfit. Even when she feels awful, fashion is important. And I could not talk her into anything I thought would be more comfortable. She really wanted this gold dress.

Hopefully tomorrow will have a happy, healthy peanut.

Everything's cuter in Texas!

So, we just got back from an amazing trip to visit Nick's old roommate from senior year, Martin, and his family. He has a wonderful wife, Sarah, and two adorable kids, Sebastian and Luciana. We went out for Luciana's Christening as Nick had the honor of being her godfather. Here are some assorted, in no particular order, pictures of our fun. Samantha had a blast and jumped right in to play with Seb's toys. Thanks for sharing so well and being so sweet to Sam! We miss all of you so much already!

Your just as cool as what you drive, right!

What a sweetheart! Such a cutie, too!

I was so proud to catch a bubble on the wand after chasing an evasive one and Nick snapped a photo. So I thought I would share :)

Ah, that new baby smell, but nope, not ready for number two quite yet. Give me a little while to juggle Sam first.

Such a beautiful dress for a beautiful girl.

I thought this was really cute, they were not so much playing together as co-playing. But they had such a great time.

Sam loved this hat. She walked around for at least a half-hour holding it on her head. Guess we will have to start pulling out some dress up stuff.

Getting all three in one shot was a challenge. Not the best shot, but pretty cute.

Seb loves to sing and Sam borrowed some bling and jumped right in to be a groupie. Although she did take her turn playing the drums as well.

Hugs to all of you. We miss you! Sam keeps asking about "uncle." Cannot wait to get together again.

Elmo and dancing

So, here is a cute story. Samantha was playing with her toy phone. She handed it to me and I asked her who she wanted to talk to. "Do you want to talk to Nana?" She said, "No, Elmo." I could not help laughing. She has only seen Elmo on tv a few times and she has a few books, but obviously she is already in love!

Here are a few from Music Class. Here she is with Eli trying to break into the guitar.

And here she is dancing.

Cute Videos

Easter Fun with straw!

Happy Birthday Uncle Jon! Took a little while to get her to cooperate and she really wanted more guava! She IS a fruit girl. But she does pretty well with other foods most of the time. And is always up for a cookie.

Happy Easter

Some miscellaneous pictures and one from Easter. Here is Sam in some cute overalls from today.

Here she is with her favorite Easter present, the straw. Thanks for the adorable dress, Grammy.

Here is a picture from Eli's party, a little ago, but I just downloaded them. Sam could not believe someone else was the center of attention.

Here is a random one from a few weeks ago.

Greetings from VA!

Before I left today I downloaded some pictures in case I had time at the airport. Well, I did not, but I do now. I miss my baby so much! But sounds like she did well. She is getting so big, playing with toys and being so cute. But she sure can be trouble and her temper is really showing some days. I think she may be an early bloomer for the terrible twos as she already knows the word no, despite the fact that we try and avoid it, and she has thrown a couple of tantrums. But she is used to the world revolving around her, so I guess it is our fault. We are working on it. But mostly she is as sweet as can be.
Some of her recent antics...here she is wearing my croc.

And trying to get both feet into Nick's shoe.

And riding an old horse that was mine.

And she has been Papa's girl lately. They play the cutest games and she just giggles. It is such a treat to watch them. They have a very special bond.

I miss you peanut!

Here comes a crazy week...

Here is Samantha hanging out and having a snack. If the outfit looks familiar to you, you are right...
She also had the same outfit in a smaller size.

And here she is in her high chair, although she is "all done" (in sign language) pretty quickly and asks to get down ("dow"). She also has a new favorite food, bananas.

Please keep us in your thoughts next week. Nick and I both have overnight job trips, back to back. It will be rough! But hopefully we will get some offers.