Pot o' Gold?

While driving down 3rd Street on my way to a birthday celebration, i noticed the sky - very dark with sunshine everywhere. Time to look for a rainbow! Before my eyes is a FULL rainbow spanning the sky. I called Ron on my cell to let him know. The picture tells the rest!

BWAA-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!!!

DEVIL BOY SAYS:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Thank God for the Playroom!

Here are some shots of Sam in action in his playroom, a small room off our middle room on the first floor entirely dedicated to All Things Sam. So far, he loves it, and so do we. It makes for a safe play environment, he can scooch and crawl and stand and soon WALK in here virtually free of dog hair and "crappola" that inevitably floats around our floors. I'm looking forward to the day when he doesn't constantly put every dust bunny and crumb in his mouth, but i'm told that day is NOT around the corner. Until then, the playroom it is. Or rather, "The Kid Club of Sammy V" - as you can see, we have those foam floor letters, and Ron arranged them to say that. Very cool. I love hanging out with Sam in here. It's in this room that i'm watching his SKILLS ("Chicks dig guys with skills") develop. The one that really cracks me up is when he goes over to this little play table and intentionally spins a part to play the Alphabet Song, then looks to me with a great big grin. He definitely KNOWS this song, and seeing the recognition in his face is really fun.

My Husband

I just wanna tell you how awesome Ron is. I was "in a mood" today, starting early this morning, and had to work all day. I came home to the following sculpture, which warms my heart the more i look at it...

My Lil' Guy

What parent doesn't say this phrase A BILLION times in the span of their kids' lifetime:

"You are getting SO BIG!"

I must say this to Sam at least once daily, and I'm not "just sayin it." I truly mean it. There are some days that i have to be at work before Sam gets up, and then for some reason or another, i don't see him before he goes to bed, so i've gone a whole day without my "Samson Fix," and honestly (and this is weird to me), he looks OLDER the next day to me.

For example, today, when i came home from work, he had this little side-corner-grin thing going on. At first i thought it was from teething, but i had to chuckle when i asked Ron about it and he said, "babe... he's just testing out all the faces he can make." I'm sure Ron is 100% correct (eventhough Sam has had some tough times with the teething - he's up to EIGHT teeth!). The idea that Sam is TESTING OUT facial expressions thrills and fascinates me. Sam is doing things every day that I get to witness and soak in.

I love watching him use his fingers in such an INTRICATE way, eventhough his hands are so small. He quickly learned that a little yellow button on one of his toy trucks makes it beep. Sure enough, he 'commandos' over to it, pushes up to sit, and very precisely (and with great concentration, i might add) pushes that button. He often looks to me now for "approval" when he's mastered something or pushed a button to make a song play. Sam definitely knows the alphabet song - his eyes light up when i sing it (I also sign the letters as i sing). Sam knows what's coming when i grunt slowly "I'm - - gonna - - get - - cha." That means he's gonna be tickled and i LOVE that he knows that what i'm saying LEADS TO TICKLING!

Sam spends A LOT of time having entire conversations in "baby speak." Sounds, tones, gibberish and screeches all over the board, all while he's exploring and banging and smiling. So far, i have not heard any WORDS, but i am listening for them. Part of me THINKS he is saying "milk" when he says "mah" at supper time. It's pretty random and he's not pointing, but who knows.

Life is Grand with Sam. I love nothing more than being a mom to this awesome lil guy!!! (p.s. Ron is a phenomenal Dad too!)

HOPEY!!!

Ron's sister Hope and her boyfriend Sebastien (sorry, no pic of him this go-round... Hope, send me one and i'll post it!) came to visit for 5 days last week. It was awesome, as always, seeing her, and even more awesome meeting her "beau." We all had a good time, and one day, the entire family (including Shirley) got up to Ithaca to hang out, give Seb the tour, that sorta thing. At the end of the journey, we stopped at one of the small parks that lets you walk near the falls.
Sam seemed to enjoy everything, especially after I fed him! Too bad it wasn't warmer, i would have walked into the water and seen what he thought of it. It was a nice day.

Hope and Sebastien left on a bus on Thursday and Hope accidentally left her purse on the bus. While you might first think "OH NO!," the good news is they tracked the purse very fast and it was found and kept. The problem, of which i won't waste the space, your time, or my energy typing, is, GETTING THE PURSE BACK TO EITHER HOPE OR ME. There were many many many many many 'miscommunications' between the bus company dispatcher (named RON) and myself and Hope. They promised several times to put the purse on the next bus to Corning for me to pick up and it never happened. Then they were going to drop it off at the bus 'station' in Corning (read: a very small decrepit hardware store, run by a 100 yr old man and his 82 yr old son (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but GO SEE THEM!)). That never happened. FINALLY, just today, i physically obtained the purse from the Elmira station, after a week of running around and being told one thing vs. another. In fact, i thought i was going to wring the old lady's neck after the first thing she said was, "oh... YOU'RE the girl who keeps saying she'll be at the Corning station then never shows up." *FUMING* Don't mess with me old lady and JUST GIMME THE PURSE!

Purse is en route to Hope, and with any luck, will actually GET TO HER tomorrow, as my $18 Overnight promised...

Call me "Stands with Feet"

Sam scooched over to me and slowly but surely pulled himself up into a standing position! Good Lord. Here comes trouble now! I predict he is walking by his first birthday, Christmas at the latest. I could be wrong, but that's the feel i'm getting now. He's funny - he grunts and sticks his tongue out when he's really working on something challenging him. THAT'S MY BOY!!!

The Next Larry Bird?

[Well, not that Larry Bird is the best LOOKING person, but i'm mostly referring to his "vertically gifted" attributes.]

Sam had his 9 mo. check up today. He's 31 inches long (that's 5 inches short of THREE FEET! Hehe... I like to think of it that way) and weighs 21 lbs. Doc says he looks good, is right on course, and by his stats, just might turn out to be a big boy! Ron and i think its funny to imagine he'll end up 6 foot 3 and towering over us. I would just love it! Wouldn't it be funnier if he was all pumped out and athletic to REALLY live up to his moniker! ;-) We'll just have to keep his hair long, i suppose.



The above picture: This is how Sam celebrated the two hepatitus (sp) shots he received this morning. He's wearing a "frog skin cap" (read: little blankie with a stuffed froggie on one corner) and a bull ring (read: colorful ring toy with a big rubber ball on it). I can't wait to see if he's the joker of the family, constantly cracking us up (not that Ron and i don't do a pretty good job!). He's already comical at 9 mos. old, that's for sure!

Telford Family Vacation

Well, its been just about a month - long overdue for an entry here. We went to Maine for a week and had a GREAT time. So did Sam, experiencing both lake and ocean water (he prefers lake - like his mom!).

Right now, Samson is cutting five teeth at once (is that a record, or the norm?). I call him Chompers. He'll be nine months old in a week. He's standing very strong and scooching around. Will he walk by Christmas? Watch out world!

Enjoy the photos!

More Baby Milestones

Three more things to show Samson is growing up: 1) First ride in the front of the shopping cart (so cute, lookin all around!), 2) First (and subsequent) successful "i finally get it!" sips from the sippy cup and 3) First "scooch" forward by tucking his legs under his belly and pushing forward! I was starting to think that he might not figure out crawling the just dive into WALKING. More pics forthcoming (I can't find the disc i just made...)