16 pounds 7 ounces

If this was Jeopardy there would be 2 correct questions/answers.

1.) How much does 66 sticks of butter weigh?

2.) How much did Sam weigh at her 6 month check up?

We weighed in at 16 lbs. 7 oz. and are 26 inches tall. All of our measurements fall into the 50-75% percentile. We already knew she was perfect this just confirmed it.

This picture was pre-shots but even post-shots we held up pretty well. We even managed to squeeze a Target run in after the Doctor visit and she was as charming as ever.

Does anyone know if they sell the paper that they put on the tables to normal people (as in non doctor people)? It occupied her for the full 20 minutes between the initial check up and the doctor. We couldn't get enough of it. Thankfully the doctor didn't seem to mind.

This is the "Uh, yeah I made this mess. What are you going to do about it?" face. It's the Philly girl inside coming out.

Checking to see if that second tooth showed up yet.

Thank god we went to the doctor yesterday. She gave us lots of good tips to survive teething. We took some Motrin (by we I mean Sam, not us) before bed last night and slept like a log. Other than KC knocking me in the head in the middle of the night it was a very restful sleep.

Chewning Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family websites - Descendants

Ok, so this look-a-like meter is contagious. (Thanks Christina, some people are trying to work here and would appreciate if you would stop posting such fun and interesting things...)

I had to know. Based on 99.9% of reactions since the day Sam arrived she is KC's double. I have to admit, I can see it. Admitting it doesn't make me wish just a little bit that she looked like me. This website gives me a little hope that someday someone will take a look at her and say those magic words of "Wow, you can totally tell that she is yours."

And by the way - I know that I used a picture of me in my skinny, prebaby days. It's my Look-alike meter and my blog so I can do what I want! Here is where you picture me maturely sticking my tongue out at you.

Chompers

I didn't really believe. Everyone kept telling me that she was teething. And while I agree that she chewed on everything in sight I thought isn't that what babies do??? We have been chewing on things for what seems like forever with no teeth in sight.

A tooth arrived. Not a full fledged tooth but the tip of one popping through the skin. Apparently this tooth arrived between the hours of 11pm and 5am last night. We have somehow avoided getting too sick (thank you nursing) and a real boo-boo so this was our first venture into baby pain. It sucks and it is a place I never, ever want to go again. It is possibly the worst feeling in the whole world looking at that sweet little face and not being able to fix it. Having 2 grown ups without sleep and a baby in pain made for a lovely family gathering in our bed from 2am to 7am. Yes, I know that we made all kinds of promises to ourselves about Peanut sleeping in her bed and not in ours but cutting a tooth throws any rule right out the window. And our resolve was strong for the first three hours but with no signs of relief our bed looked like a good place to weather the storm. Honestly, Sam could have asked for pretty much anything she wanted last night and we would have agreed - car of her own, semester abroad, designer purse collection, this was her chance. Since she can't talk and we seem to be doing much better this morning her window of opportunity is now closed.

We go for our 6 month check up this afternoon and get to see how much we have grown in the last 2 months. At our last appointment we weighed 13 lbs. 15 oz. and were 24.5" long. Any guesses?

As soon as I can I will post a picture of her smile. You may or may not be able to see any teeth but I promise the beginning of a chomper is in there.

Miss Independent

Sam is already showing an independent/stubborn streak. Her soothie is the best example of this. Even when she was an itty bitty thing she wasn't a soothie addict. She liked it and it would calm her down when she was losing it but we didn't have a 24 hour dependence on it. I think it is hereditary, neither KC or I were pacifier kids. Now she won't take it from KC or I AT ALL! I like for her to take it first thing in the morning because it seems to relax her right after she wakes up (and it will usually send her right back to sleep - at 5am I will take anything). She will only take it if she puts it in her mouth. I have to put it in her hand and she will get it to her mouth. If I ever figure how to put videos up I will post one of this event. It is hysterical because as she is doing it she talks to herself. I like to think "ahhh, bahhhh, ahhh" are words of encouragement in baby talk.
We have no idea where she got this stubborn independent streak from but we think it's a sign that we are in for trouble down the road.

What were we thinking???

Yep, we took our 6 month old to a golf tournament. And not just a neighborhood outing. An actual professional golf tournament, aired on television, with real money for prizes. This has been a tradition for KC and I since we moved to Dallas. It is such a pretty golf course and it is alot of fun. What doesn't sound good about sitting in the sun/shade, relaxing, and enjoying some adult beverages. We considered the fact that we may be insane for even attempting it. But we decided in spite of the disapproving looks we may get, we would give it a shot. We had tickets to the Champions Club, which is a large air conditioned tent with waitress service where we could spend most of the day.

The reactions ran from looks of disgust to alot of "she's adorable" to a drunk man stumbling over to tell us he had an 8 month old son at home and that he knows how crazy mothers are about people touching babies hands. I'm not quite sure what my reaction should have been to him but I'm pretty sure it was something along the lines of "uh, great...congratulations?...have a good time".

We sat in the grass for a little bit. After rolling onto our tummy we got our hands down in the grass and realized that if we pulled hard enough it came off (and into our mouth it went). The discovery of grass shortened our time outdoors since it was all we could focus on for about five minutes.

Enjoying the view of the 9th hole after the players were finished for the day.

We even managed to squeeze in a nap.

Here we are giving our Uncle Jimmy a big thank you kiss for taking her to her first Colonial.

Overall, it was an exhausting day but we had an unbelievable time. We also thought we may have to skip this next year since she will be mobile and probably all over the place.

House Rule: A 2 Lick Limit

Over the past month Sam has changed quite a bit. We now roll over all the time, including when we are trying to dress her, grab for everything we may be able to get our hands and hopefully into our mouth, and show a suprising amount of interest in the morning news. But most of all we love animals. More than anything else in the house our 2 labs fasinate her. Since they weigh a combined 170 pounds we have always been a little concerned about what would happen when Sam noticed them. So far they are very patient and equally enthralled with her. To Raja and Jake she is a mini person perfect for licking and sniffing. And best of all she likes it! She doesn't say "no, off, down, stop it, RIGHT NOW" so they love her right back.

She hasn't quite mastered how to get them to play with her at her command but she's certainly working on it.2 of Sam's favorite things - the Around We Go & Raja Bell

"Raja, up here. Pay Attention!"

As a first time mom I fell squarely into the camp of "Keep ALL Germs Away from my baby." I had no shame in handing people the bottle of sanitizer when they reached for the kid. This image would have sent me over the edge about a month ago. Her hand in raja's mouth?!? Now, Raja gets a little bit of "Be gentle" and "ok, 2 licks is enough" and a "stay away from the face please" if we catch this in action.

Between 2 dogs and one active baby, even looking away for a second can spell dog slobber all over the place. Besides, how clean can every other thing that she puts in her mouth be? I have put "clean the remote" on my short list of things to do since it's her favorite toy of the moment and I can not remember the last time we cleaned it.

Just to give the grandparents a little piece of mind - we always wipe Sam down after any licking (that we catch).

A long, long time ago...

I actually updated this blog. And now I am going to try again...(but please note I am making NO promises that this will happen on a regular basis)

The obvious did happen. Peanut arrived. 2 weeks early via c section. Mom and baby were great right from the start. I won't bore you with what has happened in the first 5 months and 2 days of her life other than to share the important stuff. We named her Samantha. It took us 2 and a half days to decide on the name. That's 2 and a half days AFTER she arrived. She goes by Sam, Samster, Samberina, Sammy, Munchkin (if you ask me), Lovebug (if you ask KC), and of course Peanut. Aside from some eating issues in the beginning she has been an absolute joy and motherhood is so much better than I ever anticipated.

She has very little hair and what is there is blond. I am hoping she ends up with white blond hair like her dad had as a kid. She has these gorgeous blue eyes. Hopefully she keeps them! She was so bowlegged when she arrived but it has slowly changed. (At least now her knees can touch. Her dad is very excited about this). We think she is going to be left handed (He is actually REALLY excited about this). And she has the chubbiest thighs, which I love. I swear there is skin on her thighs that has never seen the light of day. She also has these little bits of hair on the sides of her ears. Sam is going to kill me for this when she is old enough to read and be embarrassed by her parents. She has had it since the day she was born. I call it her werewolf hair.

Here she is wearing the hat that Mom-mom knitted for her to come home from the hospital in. The day she came home from the hospital it was 80 degrees out (December 7th) and her mean mom made her wear it anyway. I spent too much time picking out a coming home outfit to let the weather ruin it! My first of many, many Mother of the Year moments.

At about 3 months old. Now that I look at it again she kind of looks like a boy here. Sorry Sam!


The past five months have been pretty busy. We have had Mom-mom (my mom) visit for a total of 9 weeks. 6 after her arrival and 3 in March to take care of Peanut when I first went back to work. We are lucky enough to have found a wonderful woman to watch her for most of the day and then Grandma (KC's mom) picks her up and takes care of her for a few hours. Peanut has already had one plane trip, back to Philly for a visit to Yardley. She has had quite a few house guests - the Palsky's in Feb, Pop (KC's Dad) almost every month, Auntie Kara from Houston, and Auntie Ande at Christmas. So now we have had 2 visits with our future hubby Chase. The most recent went well. He lent Sam his Around We Go for a little bit, played a little grabby face, and then Sam, being the sweetheart that she is, shared her first cold with him. Sorry Christina!

She gives these coy little smiles that almost always end up in a big, open mouth grin. She hasn't developed a belly laugh yet but she does have this quiet laugh that is infectious. Whenever we discover a new thing that makes her laugh we will repeat it endlessly. Until we drive the other person absolutely crazy with kissy noises, or feet tickles, or whatever else it may be. Her favorite thing is to blow raspberries. We have found that this means she is frustrated or well on her way.

She had to have one flaw and it is the unbelievable amounts of spit up that she can create. She is still gaining weight perfectly and is happy so the doctor has told us not to worry just do lots of laundry. We are completely unfazed by the spit up now. I think we only realize how bad it is when we are spending time with new people (people without babies that puke everywhere) and we see the look of terror on their faces. Sam doesn't make a sound when she spits up. It just kind of falls out of her mouth - onto the floor, your shirt, the table, the couch. You name it Sam has thrown up on it. Unfortunately for Dad she even got it in his mouth once. Punishment for playing airplane with a baby already prone to spit up immediately after a meal. Thankfully we are still nursing so the stains have been kept to a minimum.

Before I end my first entry post Sam I have to redeem myself with a picture of my daughter where she doesn't look like a boy.

All dressed up for Mother's Day

Yes, that is spit up

(See we're so used to it that it doesn't even faze me to post a picture of her spitting up - again a Mother of the Year moment.)

One more note - Mother's Day rocks! It is like getting another birthday. I told KC if he had given me a sneak peek at Mother's Day I might have gotten knocked up earlier.