Sam sits pretty!

Samantha has been getting better and better at sitting up. Here is how she was doing on July 12th. She is doing even better now.

LA and Sam and Isabelle

So the last post was mostly early in our trip. After a few days in Phoenix, during which we drove to Tucson, we drove to Loma Linda to visit Isabelle (and Jon and Robyn). During that time we hit the LA zoo. Grammy also had matching outfits for Sam and Izzy, but Sam was not feeling very cooperative, so we did not get great pictures in their outfits. But they looked really cute. After Loma Linda, we returned to Phoenix where we did some shopping and got Sam's 6 month portraits done (see above for cute shots). She was such a good sport for the whole trip, but really did great for the 2 hours or so of having her picture made. And she slept the whole flight home. What a dream baby, such a blessing. She is so wonderful and we cannot believe she is almost 6 months old! We started rice cereal when we got home and I will post those soon. Just trying to spread it out some.

Sam takes flight

Nick, Sam and I headed to Phoenix, Tucson, and Cali to visit his family. I have tons of pictures, so here is a bunch. I will add more later. Sam may have been in withdrawal from being separated from her jumparoo, but she had plenty to play with and she got lots of love and a whole new wardrobe. She got to see Grammy, Poppi, and Uncle Terence in Phoenix. She also got to see a few of Nick's aunts and cousins. Several family friends stopped by, too. We drove down to Tucson where Nick's brother, Chris, and his family live (Amy, Jessica, Zach, and Devin). We also drove all the way to Cali to see Nick's other brother, Jon, and his family (Robyn and Isabelle). So Sam got to spend lots of time with cousins. We even got to swing by the LA Zoo. A very busy trip that we were crazy to take on, but we wanted to squeeze as much in as possible since we are so busy and do not get to go many places. We are all still recovering. The old saying need a vacation to recover from our vacation applies.

Misc pictures

Here are some cute pictures :)

The strawberry outfit is one Alexandra, Sam's second cousin, wore when she was this age. The toy tv is one I played with when I was little and Sam seems to really likes it. The red dot outfit is one my grandmother made for me. The other pictures are ones I think are just cute.

Happy 4th!

I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th. I do have some good news, I have decided to take a full-time visiting faculty position at Kennesaw State University (http://www.kennesaw.edu/), which is 20 minutes north of Atlanta. I will be teaching 3 courses in the Fall (Intro, Social, and Physiological Psychology) and then 4-5 in the Spring. So it will be a lot of work, but will be good for the vitea and keeps us from having to move for another year.

Here is a short video clip. Sam has been rolling over in both directions for a while now, but we never seem to be able to catch it. Here is as close as we have gotten so far, it is from June 15th. She is trying hard to be mobile, but often gets herself into trouble, such as rolling onto her tummy in the crib in a corner and wanting to be on her side or back. So we have to rescue her.

Sam's favorite hobby

I know I am getting bad at posting every week, but here are some cute pictures and a really cute video of sam doing 2 of her favorite things. She loves to jump in her jumparoo and she loves to babble. In fact, last night we were treated to a concert from 1-2 am.

Who does she look like?

So a lot of people say sometimes they see me and sometimes they see Nick, depends on the pictures. Although, Sam has my coloring, so we are getting more and more that she looks like me. But I do see a lot of Nick in her. So here are some photos for comparison. The toddler ones are from Winter 1981, I am 2 1/2 and Nick was 1 1/2. There is also one of my mom and me when I was 15 days old. And I think that photo is exactly like Sam looked at that age. There is one of her at 8 days to compare. I do not have any of Nick that young, but I hope to scan some in next time we are in Phoenix.