Our Sweet Hannah Banana....

is now 8 years old and I just can't believe it! Where does the time go?? We celebrated her birthday on March 13, and had a wonderful time. In the past we have had parties for her but this year was a little different. We had planned to have a party at the park, but it turned out that Hannah's mom and her mom's boyfriend were down for a visit so plans changed a little. We decided to take her to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate! I have taken her to the one in Jax with my friend Megan and her son Marc and she asks about once a month when we can go back. So, seemed like a perfect opportunity. This was the second visit Hannah has had with her mom since the foster homes so I wanted to be sure to give them plenty of time together. When she was with me earlier in the week we had had some talks and it seemed like it may help things for her to see me & Melissa hanging out together as friends. So, with Hannah's permission of course, I invited Melissa and her boyfriend Mark to come with us and then after we headed to the house for cake and presents. I owe a huge THANK YOU to Jan for thinking of this brilliant plan, it really made for a great bday for Hannah so thank you for the suggestion.

Hannah had such a great time playing all the games, she won so many tickets! She just lit up in that place, it was so cute. It really is the perfect place for her, she can run all around and squeal and be loud and it is A-OK! I was thankful that Mark played some games with Hannah so Melissa and I could sit and talk and get to know each other a bit. It was so sureal to sit and be able to ask all the many questions I have had over the years. For instance, I had always assumed Melissa had rocked Hannah to sleep as an infant and that was where her "rocking" stemmed from and yup, she sure did! That info really helped confirm for me that it really is a self-soothing thing for Hannah. It was not the easiest conversation I've ever had, we talked about some very serious things, but it was nice to get to know her. I hope that it helped Hannah to see us laughing and shedding a tear here or there together. I hope that I can remain in touch with Melissa, especially seeing how important her children have come to be in our lives.

The ride home was so much fun, it is about a 45 min trip and Hannah can get a little stir crazy. Usually on rides up to Jax I have activities and all but I was not as prepared this ride so we rolled down the windows and made every effort to get each semi to honk at us and I can proudly say we had ALL except for one honk!!! It was soo much fun! We headed back to the house to have cake with Sam, Sammy, Joe, & Gloria, and then Hannah got to open her presents. I was very proud of my cake, it was only a teensy bit lopsided and tasted pretty good if I do say so myself! Hannah enjoyed showing Melissa her "room" and all her things and I was glad Sam had a chance to talk some with them as well. All in all it was a super great day and I am so thankful we were able to share yet another bday with Hannah.

Little Miss Priss as I call her is by far one special little girl and I pray daily that she will realize her value, true beauty, and potential and that she will one day give her life to God. It has been my goal through out our entire time together to teach her that God is ALWAYS there for her and He will NEVER leave her. She has changed so much in just the last six months or so and is maturing into a young lady right before my eyes! I LOVE our serious girl talks we have now, so fun. I don't know what the future holds for her and to be quite honest I struggled with understanding what God is doing with her and her situation. I realize though that I can only see one tiny glimpse of His plan at this moment. I can not see the big picture and all that He is up to or even how he will use these years of her life to grow her and her faith. I take comfort in Phillipians 4: 6 & 7 and have prayed this often when I am praying for Hannah.

" Don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts queit and rest you as you trust in Christ Jesus"

I truly trust that God is working out the details for her and her siblings in a way that will be more beautiful than I could ever imagine. I know that He knows what is best for them and every other person involved so it is best if I let Him do His thing and I just continue to do my little part while He allows my life to be intertwined with hers, and that is to love love love His little princess with my whole being and to do my best to be an excellent example and to teach her about God's love for her.

Here are some bday pics of our silly Banana! I REALLY wanted to put that video from her 6th bday party up for kicks.. you know, the one that belongs on Funiest Videos?? Couldn't find it but I promise when I do, I will post it up and we can all have a good laugh. For those of you not in my family... I never knew you had to put candy in pinatas! My goodness, for the amount you pay I just assumed it came filled with candy, but after several rounds of bashing and no candy... I learned I was wrong and Hannah was right and she STILL hasn't let that one go. So stubborn! I know, like I should talk, ha ha! Oh, good memories indeed!


Fully loving Chuck E Cheese~


Hannah had so much fun with Melissa & Mark


Cheesin it up with ChuckE!


Yay for my homemade bday cake!

Hapy Bday Hannah Banana! We love you!!


She ws so proud to have Melissa & Mark there

Thankfully Hannah was more than willing to share her balloon with Sammy

Loved her present from Aunt Gayle and Uncle Richard


Thought her shirt from Ms. Jan was "soooo totally awesome"!

I'm back!!

Hello everyone....I AM BACK!!What a whirlwind of hecticness (yes I just created a word) we have had the last month! I am sorry I haven't been able to keep up with the blog, I have had several emails asking for pics and videos of Sammy and they will be coming.... soon. Just not today, lol as I only have a few min before I need to pick up Hannah. Now, on to my big news...... are you ready for this??? I SAW SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right my friends, real snow, not the fake stuff at Disney's Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party but the real thing. I waited 29 years to see it and it was beautiful. I have to admit I was like a giant 5 year old exploring the world for first time but I don't care, it was fun and definitely one of those life moments I will never forget. For those who didn't know I was in Denver for a conference, the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), last week and the few weeks leading up to it were so painfully stressful! It was such a relief to have my presentations done and over with. Pshewy! Don't get me wrong, conferences are always a lot of fun- exhausting- but fun. This was a chance to learn about the latest research, network, meet up with friends from afar, and just have fun in a new city. I had three presentations at SRCD this time, one related to research on low-income children's problem solving skills, one on Joe's work on microgenetic aspect of learning while problem solving, and then one on the kids with prenatal cocaine exposure. They all went great.. more to come on conference later.

What was interesting was my little lesson in pride I learned along the way. The saying "not enough hours in the days" was literally true for me. I can only pull so many all nighters before it starts to affect my health. It just worked out that somehow everything came at once before I left. I had 150 papers and group projects to grade, we had our biggest meeting of the year for the World Impact Team which required us to generate our "action plan" for the year (very exciting things to come for local ministries!!), lots of data processing and analyses for Denver, and I had to lead the discussion for my class which took a lot of prep time. I had recently read Mrs. Freda's update where she discusses what she had read on pride. She described it as spiritual cancer. She then stated how pride can come in various forms, one being comparisons. I was thinking, oh pshew. I am ok there..I am a very confident person and try not to compare myself to others. Don't get me wrong, I am human so it happens without realizing it, but I try to remain very cognizant of tendencies to make social comparisons. Then I read her next line..

" or, is the comparison with myself? Do I let pride about a past accomplishment keep me from doing something today because in the past I did it “better?” That steals contentment with who I am now. It is so easy to deceive ourselves about our thoughts and motives in all areas of our lives"

Uh-oh. I was caught red handed! I had been so guilty of just that comparing the new me (mommy/grad student) with the old me (baby free grad student). I had been so upset the weeks before the conference with how I had no time for anything, and all my work was just too difficult, oh my complaints went on and on. I had even contemplated dropping out of my program! Reading Mrs. Freida's blog sure helped me realize that it does nobody any good for me to compare my work prior to Sammy and now. I simply have less time in the days now which means I just can't get as much done. It is as simple as pie! I had long ago stopped comparing myself to others in the program b/c I really and truly have an audiance of one. Now I realize that I also needed to stop comparing me to me! Sounds silly but that is what I was doing. It is difficult when I still have the same deadlines and still need to complete the same amount of work albeit my significantly decreased "available work time" BUT I am soo close and I have resovled to stay focused and push through and come next spring, I will walk across that stage and get my degree!!! I am so ready for the next chapter of our lives to begin! So ready to come home and be freee.... not have to worry about working after Sammy sleeps. Pride.. you're outta here! No room for you in my life! I love that my Jesus is never done with me. He is always working on me, instances such as this are prime examples where he is molding me into the woman He has planned for me to be. Not easy stuff, changing how you view things and your typical response in situations, but I trust He knows what is best for me so painful little lessons such as this are welcome.

In other family news.. Sammy is just growing faster than we can keep up with! He has crossed the 30 pound threshold and is still wearing size extra wide in shoes, which means still special ordering them, Ugh! He just amazes me each day with the words he pics up and how he constantly says one in spanish and then english. Like yesterday, he was eating string cheese and looked at me and pointed to it and said "cheese.. queso". He has also started imaginary play, which is a good indication that he is developing theory of mind on track. He now "shares" his play food with his stuffed animals and makes the eating sounds. He makes his car sounds and says "beep beep" while he drives them. His running is getting more normal, rather than waddling while he runs his legs are going more in front of him ( no worries, his cheeks still jiggle!) and he really is just looking and behaving more like a little boy rather than a little baby. It amazes me how rapid this onset of toddlerhood is! I know I am a developmental psychologist so I should fully understand these things, but wow! To see it occur before my own eyes in my own child is just breathtaking! Especially language development. Honestly I have always found that area of research rather boring but it is just so cool to see him build on prior concepts, God is so amazing!!! Just think, a year ago at this time Sammy still couldn't even sit up! We had to prop him up to take his pic b/c he wasn't sturdy enough. Wow. The difference a year can make.
I have learned to handle those annoying comments from strangers regarding his "wildness" as Sam calls it. We still get the phrase "wow, he sure is a pistol" and "you sure have your hands full" when we are out in public but I just smile and say "oh thank you, we sure love his big personality". Ha! What good is it to compare a child to a gun anyway??? Makes no sense.

Biggest Sammy news of all...... NO MORE BITING!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!! We are DONE (or so I am hoping and praying!) Many of you know (unfortunately b/c he bit you or your child, sorry again for that) that we had a time with biting. He had started biting when really excited and overstimulated. So, for instance, he would be having a great time and then run to hug me in the midst of his excitement and bam, would sink one into my shoulder!! Owwie! He even had an incident report at chruch b/c he bit a little girl and drew blood through her dress! It was his second time in his new toddler room in the nursery and I think he was just overwhelmed with the new friends and toys. It had gotten to where I could predict when he would bite, and exactly what situations. We tried everything- discipline techniques, with holding attention, sensory stimulation, do you want to know what I honestly think did it?? Prayer and books! His two favorite things! He loves to pray and gets so serious, really listens when we pray. So every night while we prayed we would pray for Jesus to help him remember not to bite and we ordered 2 books geared to his age group on ebay. "Teeth are not for biting" and "Biting hurts". He LOVED his new books and would bring them to us and sign "please" so we would read them over and over. Within literally 2 weeks biting was obsolete! After reading he would touch his teeth and said "No no!" while he shook his head no. So, I think he finally "got it". Wow, if only I would have thought of books first! =(


Last bit of family news.. Sam and I will celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary next Tuesday, April 13th!! Yay!!! We will both be working that day but are going to have a nice dinner and hopefully a weekend getaway sometime in May. We shall see!!!!

Pics and video to come soon!

Boys will be boys!

My little drummer boy


First and most importantly... HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH MICHELLE!!! Today is Sam's baby sister's birthday, she is all grown up now. We hated we couldn't be there to celebrate with the fam. We love you Sarah and can't wait to see you again. Sammy misses you so much, he kisses your pic all the time. Sam said he is holding your gift ransom, you have to come visit us here in Gville to get it. That's your big bro for ya!

I wanted to take a few min and just let everyone know just how much I LOVE having a little boy. I have to be honest I was not all that thrilled when I learned our sweet baby girl ( I just KNEW it was a girl, I could feel it, or so I thought) was actually a boy. Sam and Sarah were there for that sonogram appointment and actually my friend Julie was too since she was one of the nurses performing it, and I can still see that monitor screen like it was yesterday. Sammy spread his little legs and bam.. there was our proof. Everyone in the room exclaimed at the same time.. "oh its a boy!!" and they were all smiling and cheering, Sam & Sarah had tears in their eyes and all I had was a sinking feeling in my stomach. I asked her to please check again, could she be sure b/c it just couldn't be a boy, I had prayed and worked this one out with God. I too shed tears then with everyone else but mine were b/c I was just scared. There went all my hopes of how this mommy thing would go.. what did I know about boys? How would I have a close relationship with a boy? How would I play with him, what would we talk about, and on and on went my fears & doubts. Well, thankfully... God knew what was best for me and just what we all needed, and that was our silly sweet little boy. Thank God for unanswered prayers, huh?

I quickly warmed to the idea of having a boy and I couldn't have been more ready but I really was not prepared for just how amazing the mommy-son relationship would be. It just facinates me and is almost indescribable. I still think to myself almost daily just how thankful I am that God gave me my boy. All of my worries from before have been replaced with just pure joy in every aspect. No I still don't know how to play with all the boy things and in fact, just today I had to ask Sam to explain this hand me down toy he got. I could tell it was supposed to be some sort of contstruction thing, but that was about all I could guess. I just figure it out as I go and I love it. I love the car sounds & the crashing, all the many rocks, and the sweet side of boys too. The hugs and kisses, the silly faces, the tickles, our dancing, and the excellent "help" I get with every task around the house. When we have our broom.. he runs to get his "boom" and he is such a hard worker. I am amazed at just how much of the rough boy stuff seemed to come without any teaching or socialization. Nobody ever showed him that the best way to stop himself when he pushes his pooh bear firetruck from one end of house to the other is by crashing it into the door, he just started doing it. As a developmental psychologist, I am a firm believer in the value of androgonous play while bearing in mind natural tendencies too but I was just not aware how much of the boy stuff came free of socialization. It is so funny to me! Ok, sorry I am rambling now. I will wrap this up. Take home message.. I love having a little boy and have so much fun doing all the boy things. I am totally learning as I go but loving every moment of it. Even the not so stereotypical boy things like cooking in his kitchen or when we rock his teddy to sleep are just so much fun. He blows my mind literally everyday and I just love our relationship and the closeness we have. I pray daily for our relationship and for us to remain super close. We have some good talks now (well, as good as can get with a 16mos old) and I pray that ours will remain a strong, sweet relationship, one that will endure the teenage years.. eeks.

Ok, moving on. Just thought I would post some silly pics of my boys being boys to go along with this. The fist one is of Sammy's car, Sam hooked it up and put some fancy car exhaust system sticker on the hood and then this lisense plate on the back, I half expect him to put some rims on it any day now. The next is of thier fort, Fort Dito to be exact. Sam came home one day with this giant box from work and he carved out windows and a peep hole and made a flag. The fort's name came from one of Sammy's nicknames. Sam calls Sammy "Dito" which is pronounced Deeeto, short for Gordito which means fat in Spanish. Seems harsh I know but it is not an insult in Spanish, promise. He made up a song and funny thing they do together when Sammy was only a few months old and it kinda stuck, Sammy now runs to Sam and says "Dito" and they still do it together. Anyway, they play in their fort each week, it is too cute so had to put up a few pics.


Sam pimped Sammy's ride, lol






Sammy loves his little peep hole, he was spying on me here!



Had to post this, too cute. This is Sammy smelling my beautiful flowers from Sam, litearlly 2 seconds before he lost his balance and toppled compltely on top of them crushing them all. There was a Sammy shaped whole in my bent flowers when Sam came back in the room.. so sad but kinda funny too.


Finding his belly button.. classic Sammy, one sock on and one sock off.


One of his fav ways of looking at things now, I will prob cry when he stops doing this, I just love it so much. It cracks me up!


His first block tower, he was VERY VERY proud of himself. He clapped and ran around screaming and "jumping" (going on his tippy toes)


Quaking it up wih the dukies.. I love my Sams!

Bowl for Kids Sake 09

Me & Hannah Banana at BFKS 09


Hannah after her strike!!! She was excstatic!!

We had so much fun at this year's Bowl for Kids Sake. This is an event that our Big Brother Big Sister Program does to raise funds. Many from the community come and bowl and us matches get to go and bowl for free! In the past they have only had pizza but this year was soo great, they had pizza for the kids and David's BBQ catered for the adults, yummy! Several of the Florida football players were there and of course Ali & Albert, our gator mascots. The Flores Kids had so much fun with Ali, Hannah told her 4 secrets and Ali blew her kisses and hugged her so many times. Hannah was all smiles. She was VERY shy around the football players and wouldn't go meet them until the very end. Samantha and Mark ended up becoming best friends with a few of them though, the guys were so great with them, so sweet and really took interest in getting to know them. Mark said he is going to drink all of his milk to be big like them.
Our big news of the day was that my little Banana got a strike!!!!!!!! I was so proud of her! Apparently bowling on the Wii really does improve your actual bowling game b/c she sure was better than last time we bowled and I was just so proud of her. I sure didn't get a strike, far from it! Overall it was a great day. We had a few meltdowns towards the end but they were so tired and overstimulated it was to be expected. Here are a few pics for ya!


Krsiten (Samantha's Big) with Hannah & Sammy


Krista and Sammy being silly girls


Cheezin it!


Gator Girls!! Go Gators!


Mark & Sammy with some other BBBS kids and a few UF players

Have to love this pic b/c of the moment. So funny. This was right before we left b/c each of the 4 kids were having meltdowns. Hannah had just gotten over hers, Mark was on floor mad, Krista wouldn't even join her big, Wendy (in the black shirt) for the pic, and check out Sammy's expression, if looks could kill, right? She was NOT a happy camper and was very mad at me here. Anyway, is funny in hindsight so had to put it up!
Like I said.. all in all we had a blast, can't wait for next year's.. I will get a strike!
I love these kids!

So in love!

Our weekends have been so busy this year, it seems like we have had an unusual amount of events and things going on. One such event was Dallas and Virginia's wedding in Jan, it was just so much fun! Virgina is in my program and actually will complete her PhD this semester (so should I be referring to her as Dr. Holloway??) so we have been friends since we moved to Gville. They are from Jax and were married in Amelia Island, which was a great excuse for Sam and I to have a romantic getaway. It was so much fun b/c all of our friends from my grad program headed up to Jax so we just had one big ol' celebration. Sammy stayed with mom so we could enjoy our total adult weekend and it was just wonderful!
The wedding was sooo beautiful, they had an outdoor ceremony and other than being very cold in my little dress, it was just perfect! The birds were even chirping in the background, just so romantic! Wedding ceremonies mean so much more after being married for almost 7 years now, the words the preacher spoke had so much more meaning. I sat and thought about all we have been through together and our sweet little angel whose life was actually created b/c two kids fell in love 11 years ago and I just felt so incredibly blessed. It was just almost overwhelming when I thought about it all while watching Dallas and VA stand thereand take their vows. I couldn't help but think of all that is to come for them. I am just so thankful for all that Sam and I have together. I fell in love all over again with him that night, he was just so romantic- he even danced with me! Typically at weddings I just have to dance with friends or whomever is on the dance floor but not this night, my man danced with me! We had so much fun. To top it off, Matt & Sarah flew in just for the wedding! We have missed them so much since The Doc left for her new fancy job. Just a great weekend all around!

I can't believe we will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary next month! I just have the best husband in the whole world. He has sacrificed so much for me to get this degree and continues to do so daily. He still treats me like a queen and suprises me often with sweet little things. He thankfully keeps me current with wolrd news and political events, or I would be clueless. I have loved learning how to be a parent with him and he is just the best daddy he could be. We have grown so much closer to each other through growing in our faith and I am just so thankful God created him for me. He knew exactly what I need in a husband and I couldn't have ordered a better man. I am so thankful for our little family and the life we have together. Too many blessings to count. We haven't had a chance to make our anniversary plans yet but whatever we do, we have so very much to celebrate! Thank you for being you my love!!!!

Here are some pics from the wedding!

VA & Dallas

Mr. & Mrs. at last!!!

Soooo cold! brrr!


The Psych Gang all spiffed up!


Say Cheese!

My Love... muah!


Dancing with Kim

So good to have Sarah Lynne back for a few days.. here she is dancing with the bride!

Doing our Miami faces in a grand scale effort to make fun of Clint!

Could not resist posting this one of Burcu and Katherine! So hillarious!


Together again!!!!

#1 and #4

Samuelito with his great grandparents


A few weekends ago when we came up for Dallas and Virginia's wedding Sam and Sammy went to go visit Pops (the original Sam DeLucca) and Esther while I caught up on some grading. Sam said that it was just the sweetest visit. They happened to go right around Sammy's nap time so he wasn't quite as wound up as he usually is. He played with Pops and Ester some and then Sam said they just sat and cuddled! I wish I could have seen them. Esther smelled his head a lot and kissed him and Pops just sat with him and talked to him in Spanish, so Sam didn't know what he was saying. I am so thankful that Pops and Esther are still around so that Sammy has a chance to get to know them. I really hope he will have some memories of them to carry with him as he matures in to a man. I have decided next time we go I am bringing the real video camera and asking Pops to record some "life advise" for Sammy so we can show him when he is much older (can't even imagine).

I also thought I would put up some pics from our trip to St. Augustine the weekend before last. We had so much fun visiting Sam's family! We stopped by the side of the road and saw some cows and then later some horses, peakocks, roosters, and a donkey! Sammy LOVED all the animals. He simply adores his Grandpa and was so cute as he waited by the door for him to come inside, the two of them are something else together. We definitely know where Sammy gets his wild side from, he gets it honestly that's for sure. It is funny to see Sammy with Sam, Sarah, and Dad all at the same time b/c they all have the exact same smile, Sammy's is just miniture version! He hugged and kissed on his Grammy the entire weekend and is really attached to his little cow she got him. He takes it with him everywhere, h ha. He had so much fun with her on the merry go round! He was very serious and didnt crack a smile, I think he was just taking it all in. It is sureal to see him on that, all I can think of is how Leslie, Laurie, and I rode it together each summer..... so to see my baby on it is strange. Sarah and Brenan came to hang with us on Sunday and Sammy of course showed off for his auntie, he showed her his belly button, his ears, his teeth, and every other body part. He can just about say Sarah when we look at her pics, we say "where is Auntie Sarah?" and he points to her pic and says "Sayr" it is sooo cute!

My Sams are both on the mend, Sam is still not feeling back to his old self but is much improved and Sammy still has a bad cough and yucky nose but hasn't thrown up and is not as congested, thank goodness! My rough day was indeed rough, didn't get to bed until 4 am last night but I got all my work done and made it through today and am ready for my mommy & me day tomorrow! I think we will head to the park! yay! I LOVE Fridays! Ok, I'm off to bed to catch up on sleep..I was so tired today that during my lunch with the prospective candidate I had asked her about her research and when she responded I actually caught myself thinking about our bed and how soft the sheets were and what it would be like to put my head on the pillow, real productive, huh?

I love you Auntie Sarah!!!Muah!! XXOO

So silly! He was so happy to wake up and see them!

He begged Grandpa to read this book and he gave in, right in the middle of the kitchen floor! So sweet!

Grammy took him to visit the moo cows, there were so many of them!

Sammy was ready to PLAY, not ime for pics!

I love you Grammy! He held on so tight and was just amazed! What a big boy!

This was a cool slide Sammy had never been on one like this before and loved it

Giggling in the swing!

weekends...oh so much fun!

We have been very blessed to have had a serious of just amazing weekends! It is so great after our stressful work weeks to just unwind and spend some good quality time with family and friends. We have been busy going here and there as the last few weekends consisted of a super fun wedding, a couple of charity events, a trip to St. Augustine to see Sam's fam (see prev post), and this last weekend a visit to an amazing missions fair at Joe & Gloria's church and lots of fun times with our Sunday School class. Our dear friends Scott, Andrea, & their adorable son Connor stayed with us and were able to join in on our class's potluck dinner and it was as if they never moved. I have been spoiled in that they have been back up to Gville about once a month or so,maybe a little longer, so I haven't had to suffer quite as much as I expected when they announced they were moving. Every time they are here it just amazes me to watch Sammy & Connor play. They are just both growing up so fast and so quickly it went from little babies to little boys. I know Sammy is still a toddler, but he seems much less baby and much more boy now. Anyway, the potluck was just so much fun. We really have all become like a family! We have grown a lot over the years and have added a lot of babies (lol) and I am just so thankful that we have these families who share our faith and just love us. It is reassuring to know that no matter what we go through we have these precious friends to see us through.

This potluck dinner was so hilarious, it was my first one with Sammy this mobile. Most get together up until now he was either just sitting and playing or if moving, he was crawling and cruising. Well.. he is way to busy to walk anywhere these days, of course the fastest way is to run and that he did.. up and down Chad and Annie's hallway squealing and laughing, usually chasing Addie & Connor, well except for the time they did the train which didn't end so well. Connor took on a big brother role and was so concerned and caring when Sammy ran into the wall, it was really sweet. I had to comfort him just as much as Sammy, he has such a sweet little heart. Sammy also had fun with the little babies, he fully initiated sweet little Luke (5 months old, right Katie?) in to the pack as he reached in excitement and grabbed Luke's face then when I sent him to say he was sorry he squatted right down to Luke and just yelled as loud as he could ??? Poor thing jumped about a mile high and then cried! I felt so bad! Hey, at least we know he has a good startle reflex which is often tested in infant development literature.. (your welcome Katie). Sammy's highlight was prob when he chose to catch his balance by using Suzanne's plate which resulted in food, mostly rice thankfully, falling all over Annie's beautiful rug and Suzanne's pants. Oh well, thankfully everyone understood!

We had an amazing Sunday with Steve Saint speaking at church and then Abby's baby shower that afternoon. Suzanne led a beautiful devotion and we each wrote our blessings and prayers for baby Josiah who will be here before we know it. It was just such a sweet time spent with my amazing friends. We have all become such a support system for each other, we have really been through so much in the last few years. I am so BLESSED to have this amazing group of women who laugh with me, cry with me, pray with me, encourage me, and speak truth in my life when I need it. I have so many hillarious memories with many of them, times when I have literally laughed so hard that my cheeks and stomach hurt (underground showers in Guatemala, items dropped that should have never been seen by others, and the truck.... ladies you know who you are or my call to Julie a couple days after having Sammy to ask if my husband did in fact poison me and my infant son (answer is yes, but not intentionally) and I have memories of them lifting me up, keeping me encouraged whatever the situation was. I learn SO MUCH from each of you and am thankful to have an amazing group of you to "do life" with. Oh and I totally got emotional at the shower, they had the cd playing (Sing Over Me) that I played when I nursed Sammy and pretty much all his first 7 or 8 months until we switched to a new one. I hadn't heard those songs in long while and just seeing all the tiny baby boy things and hearing that music made me so sentimental! Where has the time gone??? It seems like it was just me sitting in Abby's spot, wondering what my baby would look like, how Sam and I would do as parents, if I would faint when they gave me my IV before labor, and there I sat.. on the other side, sharing my labor story, laughing about various baby moments, it has just gone by so fast! I have tried my best to enjoy each little moment and not take things for granted but I still feel like it was all on fast forward.. well not the sleepless nights, but all the rest!

Unfortunately both of my Sams came down with a bad cold on Sunday and had to stay in. Sam actually wasn't able to go to work Monday and still feels yucky today. Sammy went to the doctor and has infection and is on antibiotics. Gloria called for me to pick him up early today b/c he had been throwing up and just really sick and decided best for him to stay home tomorrow so I have rearranged my work schedule and now have 2 of my meetings moved here to the house! We will see how this goes.. I am hopefully going to do two trainings with Sammy awake and then do work and grading while he naps... please pray! Pray for Sam and Sammy to recover quickly and for my day to go smoothly. Thank you!
Here are a few pics.. he just looks so big now!




With Keira at Gloria's house

They hug and kiss each other every morning when they first see each other and then when they say Adios. She is the sweetest thing and wow.. her vocab is amazing. Obviously being at Gloria's she is learning Spanish too and it is so cute to hear her talk!