Christmas and New Year!

Samuel got a lot of great stuff for Christmas this year. Since he's still so young, his main gift this year was all the money that everyone contributed to his new college savings account. We're really excited to be able to give this to him and we hope it will actually be worth something in this economy when he needs it! :P He also got an awesome bouncy chair that he LOVES, which means I love it to since it provides some hands free happy time for Samuel – at least for a little while. He got some great books and videos, cute outfits, and some fun new interactive toys, too. Plus, Mema gave him a great CD player for his room so that he can go to sleep with some good music now. Best of all, he was given a lot of extra attention from his doting family at Mimzy & GPA's and at the lakehouse. :) Even though we've all been sick, there was one exciting event that took place this week. Mimzy and GPA couldn't forget about Marble too, though. She got a really great cat stratch post that actually goes floor to ceiling with three levels at different heights for her to perch on. She loves sitting at the top and watching Samuel as he plays on our bed. Plus it's really entertaining for Samuel to look up at her while he's getting his bottle. They have staring contests every once in a while. :) New Year's Eve we gave Samuel rice cereal for the first time, and it was quite an experience! He screamed bloody murder the first time I offered it to him, and he was far too concerned with getting food to fill his belly to be interested in any new experiences. It finally took us giving him his bottle first then testing the waters again once he was mostly satisfied. This strategy worked much better. He was so interested in the spoon and tried desperately to grab onto my hand and guide it into his mouth. It was very impressive, except that I had to work extra hard not to gag him with the spoon because he wanted to really force it in! He did so well, in my opinion, especially for a first feeding. We got some shots on our video camera, but we're not able to convert it to digital images, so I can't post the Very First Feeding. But, we tried again when we visited Mimzy and GPA on New Year's Day and we got a little bit on film of Samuel getting bored toward the end of his feeding and spitting it back out at me. He actually eats very well and this was really the only time I've seen him spit it back out so much, but I guess that makes for good television, right? However, when he's full and wants to let you know he doesn't need anymore, he's developed a new trick of blowing raspberries with his mouth...while he still has food in his mouth...so he blows it everywhere. It's quite amusing for him, apparently.



He's also getting really good at sitting up on his own which is exciting.



Thursday, I decided to take Samuel to the pediatrician finally. He had been fighting a cough/cold for a while and it finally got to me and I had to take him in. He now weighs 13 pounds, 12oz! The pediatrician said his ears looked ok, his lungs sounded ok, he still just thinks it's a cold (same thing they said last time I took him in), that it's definitely not pneumonia (just like Dad had said), but that he wanted to swab for a couple different tests just to be sure. I thought that was probably smart, no big deal, just a couple nasal swabs, Sam could handle that... wrong. 'Nurse Ratched' came in and jammed 4 different swabs so far up his nostrils, I would have sworn she was trying to reach his brain!! He screamed so loud and high-pitched, you could just tell it really hurt him! It was pretty terrible. I know they have to get way up in there, but goodness! The next morning I wiped some blood streaked mucus from his nose and it just broke my heart! So, the tests took about 5 days and they called me yesterday to say that it wasn't Pertussis or RSV, both of which are pretty bad for a baby. He had gone ahead and started Samuel on some antibiotics, and both Daniel and I have been on them for a couple of days too, but as it turns out it was just viral. He's getting a little better, but I'm still coughing a good bit. Daniel's doing much better too except that his ear is still clogged up and hurting him. He's going to the doctor today to see what can be done about it. We're all sort of limping along this week, but we're getting through it. We hope you're all doing a little better than we are physically and that you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Welcome 2009, we hope you're as good to us as 2008 was!!