New York and Atlanta

So Nick went to New York last week. He left on early Sunday and got back late last night. Sam and I had a very eventful week. She had a playdate on Sunday afternoon. I iwll post those picutres later. She had lots of meals out or at my parents. In fact she had her first meal out where she got to eat as well. I decided it was time to take some food for her instead of feeding her when we got home. She seemed to like that, especially the water cup. She also got to play with some new toys, including the roll and roar dino. But she was more interested in pulling herself up and playing with the stuf on top than in rolling the balls. She also went to the zoo and she and Nana wondered around while I took data. Afterwards, we all went and rode the train and she and I got on the carousel. Her first time for both. It was also my birthday, so she helped me celebrate. And yesterday Nana, Sam, and I hit the botanical gardens. Sam really enjoyed being rolled around and got a kick out of the waterfall. She makes life so much better.

And she's off!

So here are 2 videos of Samantha as she has learned to crawl. The one on our bed is from last Friday, very rudimentry (we are after all scientists and our daughter is in many ways a subject in an on going experiment on development, thus we have to analyze her development with our psychologist hats on as well as proud parents). Then tonight she started to put things together and actually did a real, perhaps non-standard, crawl. She still gets distracted on her way and tries to stand instead of crawl forward sometimes. I am guessing crawling may be a somewhat transient stage as she can already pull herself up easily and seems to prefer standing to sitting. I know crawling is not really a true milestone now, given the tendency of many babies to skip it, but it is still exciting and a bit unnerving. Time to really baby proof! Here is hoping she doesn't eat too much dog fur!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Happy Birthday to Grammy! We hope you have a great day and get a chance to relax.

In Southern Kelling news, this past week continued to be a bit on the rough side. Other than the GPS being stolen, our dog, Phoenix, had her second seizure. And then Sam woke up and wanted attention at the same time. That was a bit hectic. I also had tests in 2 of my classes. But Nick has been wonderful helping me grade. Three college level classes are so much!

In good news, I also have gotten all of the results from the elephant saliva samples, so I am prepping my dissertation draft. Hopefully that will be all set soon and if all falls in place (cross your fingers, pray, whatever you can do for me I appreciate), I should defend in October. It has been such a long road, and I am so ready to be at the next fork!

Birthday shout outs

So today is Nick's birthday. He is so amazing and such a great husband and father. I am so lucky. Although he is not having a great day, issues at work and our GPS unit was stolen out of our car (actually my parents, but that is a long story), evidently in broad daylight, while the car was in our carport and we were home. But hopefully a nice dinner tonight and some presents will make for a better day.

Today is also his Aunt Betsy's birthday, his brother Chris's and it was his grandmothers. Happy Birthday to all of them. We miss you Bam!

And tomorrow is Angela's Aunt Eunice's birthday!  Happy birthday to you!

Also, upcoming is an important birthday of Sister Cordele. In celebration of 75 years of being a nun. Samantha wanted to send her wishes to Sister Cordele. Here is out attempt. Sam's favorite thing right now is paper, so she did not want to just hold the sign, but grab it and rip it.

Happy Birthday Nick from your family. We love you!

Carrots rule!

So the only thing Sam has really liked so far is carrots. She actually leans over and opens her mouth for carrots. Everything else is a bit of a battle. So as long as it tastes mostly like carrots, she tends to eat it. So we feed her a lot of orange mixes. Some days it mostly goes in, but other days look like the second picture.

Carrots up the nose! We start green veggies soon and then fruit!

Got to go to work...

So Sam occasionally heads into Tech with us. One day I was hanging out in Nick's lab and after sam finished eating she was interested in his steering wheel that he uses for driving studies. She grabbed it and knew exactly what to do. Here is a picture of me and Samantha on my first day teaching at KSU. Also, Nick and Sam came with me last Wednesday to drop of a min fridge and see the place I am spending a lot of time. Sam enjoyed having her picture taken in my chair.

Catch up pictures

Since I have not posted in a while, here are a lot of pictures. Sam has been having fun splashing in a big pool and our little play pool. She has also started drinking out of a sippy cup, although tasting and dribbling out is probably a more apt name based on her current skill level. If you are wondering what the item is in the picture where Sam is sitting on the couch, that is an insert from a car seat cooler that Nick's mom sent. That is Sam's current favorite toy. Grammy sure knows how to pick them, even if she does not know. Paper is such a big hit. In that picture Sam is wearing an outfit of mine, the best the 70's had to offer :) Also, Sam now has her own remote. She kept grabbing ours and we got tired of having the tv switched to channel 777. So Nick got an old one, we cleaned it and took the batteries out. And she loves it. Although we have to keep her pacifier in to keep her from chewing on it.

Sam has also been visiting more. We stopped by the house of some friends of my parents, Jo and Bob. And we got to have dinner with our good friends Deanna and Jon and their cute kids Kate and Gabe. They lived close to us in our old apartment and have since moved to South Ga, so we miss them and it was so fun to get together.