Group Hug

Samantha and Carson have been getting along really well.

They are playing together all the time now and it's so fun to watch.

Here they give their giant rubber ducky a group hug in the bath tonight.

Bubbles

This girl loves bubbles.

She was introduced yesterday and it's love!

She can't get enough bubbles....

If you need me, I'll be outside, blowing bubbles to Samantha.

The look on her face when she sees them is worth another trip to the dollar store to buy every container of bubbles they have.

A Day in the Life of Sam....

Our beautiful girl

On the go 24/7...

Everything goes in the mouth...

Addicted to climbing...

On everything....

Our perfect and amazing little dickens...
Beautiful eyes and no hair....
Lighting up our world with joy minute after minute!!



Life is an adventure with you baby Samantha!

Antics

When you leave Carson alone for a few minutes....and he's being really quiet.

I used to think....Wow, he's being so good! Playing by himself so nice! What a good boy!

Several months of being a mother to a little boy have taught me....

silence means trouble!

Like last night....he was in our bedroom for a few minutes...

Trying on my boots!

Putting baby lotion in his hair in front of the mirror!

Here's Sam in the midst of her hives drama....

Sitting in Carson's booster seat.

She loves to sit in it while he's at school.

She's like "It's MINE! ALL MINE!"

I love the look on her face in this picture.

New trick

Samantha's new trick this week....If you sing "Old McDonald" to her, she says "EIEIEIEIEIEyoooooooooo" at the right time.

Excuse the hair. Daddy had just made it into a mohawk before her bath. Silly Daddy.

Sam is talking so much this week... This week she said "See ya!", "Tico" (for a character on Dora), "How bout......", and "Hey!" She is a talking machine. Our baby Sam is growing up so fast!

Gettin' there!

Carson is getting better at smiling for pictures.

We are practicing.

He is standing up to his Aunt Jenny's wedding in May, so we are really practicing posing for pictures in hopes that, by then, we will have a big "cheese" for the photos.

Here's our big boy and his best buddy, Daddy, giving a cheese!

Hitch

On Wednesday, Sam developed these weird spots on her body.

They were red and scattered on her abdomen and legs and under her arms.

On Thursday they were EVERYWHERE and a trip to the doctor confirmed that she has "Urticaria", or hives. To go along with the hives, on Thursday her ear, lip, and eyes swelled up so she looked like Will Smith in the movie "Hitch" when he has the allergic reaction.

The hives are from an unknown origin. It could be a virus in her body or an allergic reaction to something. She hasn't had anything different this week so we can't pinpoint the reaction to something specific. Poor Sam is looking pretty scary these days, with red welts all over her body that come and go. They've been better in the last day or so, so I think we are turning the corner.

It's been an interesting week.

Luckily it hasn't stopped her from acting normal...for the most part she is pretty happy and doing all the things she loves to do, like run on the couch and wrestle with big brother.

(See below)

Here's a pic of the hives before her bath the other night.

Poor baby!

Here's hoping our beautiful Samantha will be back to her cover girl self sooner than later!!

First day of school!

Carson started school one week ago.

He looks forward to going and stands by the door with his backpack and shoes and coat on, waiting for me to get myself together on school days...All the while saying "Mommy, I want to go to schoooooooooooolllllll!!!!"

His class only has 6 kids and we've already learned several surprising revelations about our boy, including that he likes to clean up after he eats (i.e. throws all of his dishes away and cleans his area...this is nice...why doesn't he do this at home???), he uses the potty perfectly and hasn't had a single accident at school, and he was a little reserved in music and movement class the first day (but today was dancing the funky chicken just like his usual self).

Carson loves school! Here are a few pics from his first day.

We are so proud of our boy that he can join a class full of people he's never met and enjoy it right from the get-go at such a young age.

What a good boy!

The cuties

Here's one of my favorite pictures of our cuties -

Baba took this picture of them one day while I was at work.

We have a big one hanging in my office now.

My patients totally love it!

Snow in Las Vegas!

We woke up to a big treat this morning....

Las Vegas got a beautiful dusting of snow today and the kids thought it was most exciting.

Carson said "Look, Mommy! SNOW! But where is my snow suit??"

I had to break the bad news that he didn't own a snow suit, but we still went out and played.

He played for ten minutes and then said "Mommy, I'm cold."

That's a desert kid for you.

Sam was more excited about the sidewalk chalk but we did throw snowballs at her.

Lied Children's Museum

We took the kids to the children's museum last week.

They had a blast!

Sam in the baby pit....She just wanted to crawl in and out 500 times.

A little hopscotch in the Berestein Bears section...

Painting a masterpiece....


Playing with a campfire....

Our babies had so much fun running around and exploring the place.

We will definitely be back...soon!