Old Friends and Crawling

Sam LOVES feta cheese!

They definitely weren't here long enough, but Sam and I enjoyed every minute that we got to spend with Kelly and Brian and Zack and Josh. A walk along the Great River State Trail, a hike up to Brady's Bluff, watching The Badgers at The Trempealeau Hotel, burgers on the grill, listening to The Toasters and Louie Prima and Muddy Waters and talking politics while Sammy snuggled into the crook of my arm on the couch. Anyone who popped their head in would have thought it was us visiting them by the way that they took care of us. Kelly was, as always, the generous chef filling me with lots of delicious treats, and Sammy was happy just watching those boys whose legs seem to get longer by the minute. Brian took on the more-work-than-expected task of installing the baby gate, and not a moment to soon. You can see pictures of our weekend with The DeGraves here, but for a look at how Sammy feels about his new found freedom now that he can crawl, watch this video.

The REAL Wisconsin Motion W

Can you believe he's nine months old already?! We just got back from another great weekend at TT's... this time with a Sammy that never stops moving.

Parties Galore and Another Victory

Pay no attention to the electrical plugs behind him. Who has time to baby proof and install baby gates when we have such a busy social calendar?

This past week we went to a baby shower (Sammy and a room full of 40 women), a birthday party (Sarah's boys' annual party) and a just-because-post-packer-victory party (more fun with Lucy, Dave and Jamie). Sam's not even a year old yet, and he's making me go on "playdates." I'm just glad we both got to hang out with people we enjoy like Lucy and her parents (and the great food they served BOTH of us---Sammy particularly enjoyed the roasted pumpkin with cinnamon), Ari and his parents (and their delicious lemon raspberry cheesecake), tiny Elijah and his very sweet mommy Stephanie, Gabe and Jacob and their very cool parents Mel and Aaron (who suggested beef jerky and dried mango for teething), adorable Macy and Memphis and their very helpful caretaker mommy Kristen, and of course, Zak and Nathaniel and their parents Sarah and James (who served me pulled pork and cranberry hard lemonade among other things) and their grandparents Sandy and John who made me jealous with their photos from Alaska. All in all a very full week. No wonder Sammy collapsed in exhaustion.

See our pictures here.

And there are more pictures on Lucy's page here.

Maybe He'll Walk Before He Crawls

I know. I know. It's too soon for another post. But the little man is in the middle of a major stage of development and every day he does something that Mommy thinks is extraordinary.

This is what he's currently doing at Daycare while I'm working:


And this is what happens when his Bad Mommy lets him walk along the furniture alone:



(By the way, Sammy was not hurt in the making of this film. As a matter of fact, after I threw down the camera to tend to him he started laughing.)

Another Sticky Milestone

They tell you it will happen, that with each new thing they learn and each new phase they grow into you'll be excited and thrilled and just a little bit sad. Sammy has finally figured out finger foods and with the explosion of Cheerios and Gerber Sweet Potato Puffs that are starting to decorate our dining room floor (and surprisingly turn up in every other room of the house, transported in his bib or in the folds of his onesie or stuck to the ends of his fine blond hair), Mommy has just a tinge of sadness that her little boy is no longer a teeny-little baby. They leave over and over again throughout your lifetime, and I felt that today as Sammy pinched a crunchy sweet potato puff between his sticky fingers and wobbled it to his mouth and grinned at me. "Look at me, Mommy," his face said, and I felt the back of my throat tighten a little and my heart twist upside down and maybe a little inside out.

The Next Generation

Young new QB. Young new fan. Sam and Aaron Rodgers embarked on their first Packer season together. Sam was not so sure what this was all about, but he liked that Mommy talked to him a lot while these guys in Green and Gold ran around on the grass. And he liked that when Aaron Rodgers hit Greg Jennings deep over the middle to put the Packers 1st and goal, Sammy got to practice the high five trick that Grandma taught him. When I told him it was time to go to bed at halftime, he seemed genuinely upset about it, but it was nothing a little snuggling and a pacifier couldn't rectify, and he slept through Mommy's celebration after the QB sneak and Lambeau Leap in the 4th.

Our New Friends

Dave stops in to my office every few days and we talk about midnight screaming and drool-soaked clothing and umbrella strollers and what to do about diaper rash and sleepless nights, and we've always talked about how we should get our kids together. So this week Sam and I went over to Dave and Jamie's house and met Lucy, an adorable little girl with endless energy and a very sweet smile and curious hands and a beautiful little tuft of hair that sticks up on the back of her head and a very definite mind of her own. Sam took a while to be sure about these strangers, but after a few hours of watching Lucy outdo him in the crawling department and shovel barely chopped chicken and peas into her mouth faster than her mommy could put it on the tray, Sam started to warm up to our new friends. Thanks, Dave and Jamie for being such gracious hosts. We both had a lot of fun.

See more photos here. And here.

:)