Worth the wait......?

I know, I know, no apologies this time, I'll just get on to the good stuff. Samuel has developed a love of music. As soon as the worship band starts up in church he claps and lifts his hands in the air! I promise I didn't teach him! Anyway, here he is with his new favourite book, Noah's ark. The music does get a little irritating after a while.....

And lastly

I couldn't go without posting a photo or two of Isaac Jump, the second cutest baby in the world. He is such a sweetie, with a little husky laugh and a huge smile. There is only 6 weeks between him and Samuel, so I'm hoping they'll be pen friends.

Check out the picture of them laughing, Stephen was doing his best southern preacher impression and they LOVED it!

And still more

His new pyjamas, I know real men don't wear leggings but with thighs like these....

If you look really closely you can see the tooth

Sulky face

Uncle Colin, see the red cheeks again... those pesky teeth

Easter Sunday at church

The hair tamed...... it never lasts

More photos

Surprised by the flash

Happy to be out for breakfast with Daddy

Cool Dude (the teeth were coming hence the cheeks)

He's not so sure he agrees with this guy (doesn't Stephen look like Andrew!)

I love this face!

Missing in Action

So sorry for the lack of contact, the last few months have been extremely busy and blogging has fallen off my radar. We have been

• Up to Monson


• Visited by Mum
  
• Visited by Daryl and Mary


• Visited by Colin and Louise all the way from Jamaica
  
• Dealing with teeth (2 little gnashers have made an appearance)


• Up in Vermont


• Visited by Gill, Paul and Isaac Jump
  
• Organising a women's retreat with PCF (Emma)


• Learning to sit up (samuel)
  
• On an elder's retreat (stephen)
  
• Writing a talk for Women's Bible Study (Emma)


• Writing countless sermons (Stephen)
  
• Learning to make a clicking noise (Samuel)!
  

Samuel is doing very well, he has two bottom teeth and I think a top one is on the way. He dealt with it remarkably well, with just a little fussing in the night. He is growing fast and learning lots of new tricks. He is now sitting pretty well, with just the occasional tumble, and he LOVES the exersaucer. He says dadadada and makes clicking noises and does lots of 'talking'. He also has quite the pout as Mum can testify.He can communicate grumpiness pretty well. He's a lot of fun!

Without further ado I'll post some pictures. Enjoy.

Jumping Around

Samuel's new favourite thing (and therefore mine too) is the exersaucer we borrowed from friends at church. He likes to be upright and engages well with the toys all around him. Rather than describe it to you i'll simply let you see him in action.

Enjoy

Recent Pictures

Hey all, I don't have time to write much so here are the latest pictures of Samuel. As you can see he is beginning to sit up, although very shakily so needs a steadying hand at all times. He has a tendency to topple over sideways or suddenly launch himself backwards in an unnerving fashion.

He continues to eat well and has a great bib which was made by a woman in our church. Don't be fooled by his expression, he loves it.

Lastly I've included the outtake video when I tried to get him to greet his new cousin. I hope Malachi isn't offended!

Cousins

Malachi James Witmer, your cousin is very much looking forward to meeting you. He hopes you'll take him fourwheeling someday. His mother is hoping you won't!

Tim and Amy we are so thankful everything went well and are very much looking forward to meeting this little guy.

Family Resemblance Pt 2

Who has the reddest cheeks?

Family Resemblance

So which one of us makes the better Incredible Hulk?

Sunday lunch at the Witmers

We've been making an effort to entertain church folk as much as possible, Stephen recently preached a sermon on practicing hospitality and we thought we'd better lead by example. We are working our way through the elders and their familes first. It's been a lot of fun and is making Samuel into an extrovert. We want him to grow up in a house full of people.

Here he is with Bryce, the hilarious 4 year old son of one of our elders. We fed them creamed corn, from the kitchen of Mary Witmer. Bryce loved it so much he put his plate up to his face and licked off the remains. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to capture that on camera.

More peas please

I'm trying to introduce Samuel to as many new foods as possible, I don't want him to be a picky eater. This week we tried carrot and parsnip, and pea. He's pretty good once he gets used to something but the first few bites are always hilarious. Here is his first taste of pea....as you can see he was a little suspicious at first!

Daddy Time

Samuel LOVES his Daddy, and responds enthusiastically to any of the games Stephen plays with him. It's just as well he has one parent who doesn't mind making a fool of themself! Here's a video of some fun on the bed. Samuel was laughing much harder before I produced the camera (he is always a little distracted when it comes out) but you'll get the idea.

The second video is some very rare footage of Stephen feeding Samuel solids..... carrot again. I promise he does eat more than carrot, I just never seem to film that. I hear if a child eats too much carrot they actually turn orange, so I am doing my best to avoid that phenomenon.

A little more conversation....

For some reason, Samuel is always very chatty after a meal, especially a meal of pureed carrot. Here are two recent dinner time conversations. Please ignore my ridiculous comments and focus instead on Samuel's cuteness! You'll notice his response to kissing noises is always to open his mouth (although that is his response to most things) He also enjoys a good suck on his fingers, in tribute to Auntie Lucy. However since this video was taken he has progressed to thumb sucking, which is possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. I will try and capture it for you soon. In the meantime, enjoy these carrotty conversations.

A selection of pictures....

Sorry for my absence, life has been rather busy of late. We've been entertaining quite a lot, usual church business continues, and my son likes to be entertained! Here's a selection of pictures from the last few weeks. As you can see, he continues to grow at a rapid rate. He loves sitting (propped up) and standing (with lots of help) and the feet move constantly. His hair gets crazier by the day and he is developing quite the belly. Bathtime is a particular delight now he has moved to the big tub. He lies in his seat, draws his feet up to his chin and then slams them into the water, creating huge waves that splash his unsuspecting parents. Stephen reckons it's not intentional.... I am not so sure.

Enjoy

Bathtime fun (looking innocent)

Crazy Hair!

The Belly

Enjoying life from an upright position

His ultra clever car seat cover- snug and warm

Snow on snow

I never really understood that line in 'In the Bleak Midwinter', being from temperate N Ireland, but boy has New England been an educator.

We had another 6 inches this week, and then lots of rain, and then some freezing temperatures so we went from snow to slush to sheet ice. Poor old Stephen (back recovered) was out shovelling for a long time on Wednesday.

We took Samuel out for some 'family fun' in the snow and even propped him up in a snow bank. As you can see from the pictures he was unimpressed with the experience. Before grandparents everywhere protest, no child was harmed in the taking of the picture. He was well wrapped up and waterproofed.

On Friday we took a particularly icy walk (the snow boots came in handy) and Samuel promptly fell asleep. Isn't it amazing the positions babies can sleep in!

A Milestone..

So firstly apologies as I know I haven't posted anything for a while. I have lots of pictures waiting to be posted so bear with me and I will try and get them up this week. Rather than doing them in order though I need to go straight to todays footage as we have reached A Milestone (capitals for effect.)





Samuel has been moving a lot more lately, and his little feet move constantly, usually accompanied by a serious expression, actually Caroline it looks a lot like your 'running man' dance move! I'll try and capture it for you sometime.





Anyway, today he was playing on his mat, his new favourite pastime and I got some great footage of him rolling over on to his side (and then getting his legs tangled in comical fashion!) See for yourself in clip 1. I thought that was as good as it got and then... just as Stephen walked in the door he managed to flip himself all the way over on to his belly. He stayed there looking shocked for a while (after all belly down is not his favourite position) and then promptly did a face plant into the floor. He is a stoical little chap though and was unperturbed by this. Stephen and I put him back on to his back and waited with the camera for it to happen again, see clip 2.





I never realised how proud I could feel of something so small. It feels like the most defining milestone he has passed yet, smiles just became gradually less gassy and the neck got slowly stronger. This was a watershed, one minute he couldn't turn over, and the next he could. What a boy! The sky's the limit for this kid I think.

Clip One

Clip Two

A not so manic Monday

Today was a good day. Much as I love people and being out and about, I also love a day at home. It is great to wake up and know that you can spend the day working down the 'to do' list, it must be the control freak in me.

So today Samuel and I cleaned, napped, did washing, spat up, pureed carrots and pears, made muesli, chewed on fingers, and had some tummy time. I'll leave it up to you to guess who did what.

The fruits (and vegetables) of my labour.

Tummy time, once hated, has become slightly more successful since we added a rolled up towel under his arms. This helps him stay upright a little longer, and distracts him from his fingers which he always wants to put in his mouth. He still only last for about 10 minutes before the fingers are in and the head is down but still, it's an improvement! Maybe someday he'll roll over, like the books say, but I think he might just lie around until he's ready to crawl. I'm beginning to learn he will do it all in his own sweet time!

Up and happy

All tired out and in need of a thumb suck

Tickle time

One of the fun things about the stage Samuel is at now (5 months!) is that he loves to be played with. He adores any sort of interaction and is actually pretty good company as he chatters back when you talk to him. He also laughs a lot, and there is nothing quite like a baby laugh.



He has an especially tickly neck, so here he is with Daddy taking advantage of that.



Try and ignore;

1. That Stephen has his hood up (it was cold)

2. That the video ends with a bit of husbandly instruction.



Enjoy!

Also, I have endeavoured to add a comments feature, so I think you can now add your comments when you view. It'll help me to know if anyone is actually reading any of this!

Talky Samuel

I thought it was about time or we had another video of Samuel. This one is for die hard fans only as not much happens! He is very vocal these days so I thought I would try and capture it on camera. As you can see at the end, the line between talking and shouting is a fine one and easily crossed.

All things weather related

T S Eliot you are wrong, January is officially the cruellest month. The weather for the last few weeks has been bitter. If it's not snowing then that's because it's just too cold to snow. I think back fondly to N Ireland where anything below 5c was cold. Here we registered -20 and then some! (On a side note- I realise Maine temperatures knock the socks of these stats. MA is positively balmy in comparison)

Anyway, this weather has led to some fun times. I have enjoyed doing (some) of the shovelling. Last winter pregnancy meant my lovely husband did it all. Actually he probably would have this year too except he hurt his back so i stepped in. For the record, he was so emasculated his wife was shovelling instead of him that he couldn't come outside to take the photo in case he was spotted by a church member. That's why I am a mere dot!

The cold temperatures have also meant Samuel gets to wear his LL Bean snow suit. He likes it for it's fuzzyness but is quickly frustrated by it when he realises he can't suck his thumb (his new favourite pasttime.) I have attached a photo from last Saturday when the two of us took and walk. Unfortunately I can't go far with him in the sling these days as he is over SEVENTEEN pounds. And if i hurt my back there is noone left to do the shovelling....

Train up a child......

Andrew and Maureen, this one is for you.

It's never too early.