Samantha - 6 months

How is it possible that my little baby is 6 months old already?

I picked up some baby food for her last week in preparation for our traditional solid food introduction at 6 months. I couldn't believe it. I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to believe it. In fact the baby food hasn't been touched. I know it's only been 2 days, but Dave will tell you that with Morgan and Adrienne it was on the exact day they turned 6 months that we tried the food. Does this mean I'm "done", that I'm trying to hang on to her being a baby? Or does it mean that she is the third child and we simply haven't had time to try the baby food?

Whatever the issue, the fact remains ... Samantha is 6 months old.

Samantha continues to...

• be really laid back and for the most part a truly happy baby.


• love being where the action is. She wants to be able to hear us, see us, and talk to us.


• be extremely ticklish, especially her neck. She giggles every time I wash her neck during a bath. It never gets old!


• belly laugh with/at Morgan. I love it.


• love it when we talk to her and sing to her.


• put everything in her mouth she can get her little patties on. Watch out. She has 2 teeth and they are SHARP!


• fall asleep on her own, without crying. What a trooper!

Samantha is now ...

• grabbing toys and holding on to them to play/chew on them.


• spinning around in the excersaucer to play with the toys.


• fake coughing.


• "singing" herself to sleep.


• taking much longer naps. Usually 1 -2 longer naps, sometimes up to 2 hrs, with 2 shorter ones. Good riddance 30 minute naps!


• sporting 2 shiny sharp bottom teeth.


• pulling our hair. Morgan has the longest hair and feels the most abuse.


• riding on my hip.


• wanting to stand.


• playing with her toes and as of today realized they are fun to suck on. mmmm :)
  

Samantha is the happiest when her cloths are off. As soon as the shirt comes off she is all smiles and coos. When it's time to get dressed again the smiles are gone as fast as they appeared. She usually is tolerant of the clothes going over her head, thanks to the peek-a-boo. By the time I try to put her sleeves on she is fully annoyed and isn't afraid to tell me.

We love our Samantha Marie!

Colorado

Let me tell you a little bit about my parents and skiing. My parents learned how to ski when they were a little over 50, my senior year of high school. That year we took two ski trips to Colorado with friends. On the way back from one of those trips we got caught in a blizzard and I really thought we might not make it. Really. That is a story for another post.

Back to my parents. They learned to ski and it changed their lives forever.

They LOVE skiing.

I might even go as far as to say they are obsessed... in a good way. :)

So this year one of their dreams came true. My dad got a job running a snow cat shuttle. I guess you could call my dad semi-retired since the dairy cows have moved down the road and the hogs are no longer. With his new title of semi-retired they were able to move to Vail, Colorado from December 1st - April 1st.

They are in heaven. So of course we wanted to visit them to see what this heaven was really like.

THE JOURNEY

We received countless smiles and several looks of amazement as we navigated through airports with our three cutie pie girls and the mounds of equipment that goes with them.

Except for feeding of course, Dave was on Samantha duty. She did really well, taking several naps, and flashing smiles at everyone around her while awake.

I got to sit between these two lovely ladies. They also did great. I wasn't worried about Morgan since she loves movies.

Unlike Morgan, Adrienne is not amused by movies. She did however, like playing with the headphones and pretending she was watching. Hands down the biggest thrill for Adrienne was her juice that came with a straw. Oh, and the bathroom. We went several times. That should give you a laugh. Just try to remember how small they are, the fact that it was me AND Adrienne in the bathroom, and that I was telling her over and over again "Don't touch anything!"

After a ride in a car, bus, elevator, moving floor, airplane, moving floor, elevator, train, escalator, and a bus we were there! Each one of those provided a crazy amount of excitement for the girls. And for that we were very grateful!

DENVER

Before heading up to Vail, we were able to spend some time with friends in Denver. We had a great time with Zach, and Brian and Angie. We were also able to meet Xavier, Brian and Angie's beautiful little boy. The girls were shy at first, but ended up loving our friends! Angie even made cookies with the girls. :)

VAIL

From Denver, Dave headed out to Oregon to work a few days and I headed up to Vail with the girls. My trip up was far less than enjoyable and definitely not my best moments as a parent. I will spare you most of the details. Here is what I will tell you. I wasn't expecting to have to drive it alone. I forgot Samantha's medicine at Angie's, so 30 minutes into the trip I had to turn back. Bless you Angie for driving to meet me. When Morgan woke up from her nap her butt was asleep so she cried and SCREAMED that her butt hurt for the majority of the trip. It was snowing and the roads were covered. There was an accident and we sat for about 30 minutes. During this time Adrienne was farting and telling me that she had to go potty and by the sounds of the farts I was 95 % sure she was pooping her pants. During this time Samantha also started crying because she was past a feeding. AND last but not least ... I had to change Samantha's poopy diaper while the girls were eating. I reached into the bag to discover that my wipes were IN THE TRUCK! SO I wiped my baby's bottom with napkins. Oh and in case you were wondering Adrienne DID NOT poop her pants. THANK GOODNESS! OK, so I apparently lied about sparing you the details. Sorry. I can smile about all this now, but I assure you I was not amused at the time.

The important thing is that we arrived safely. The girls were SO excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. And the next day I got to ski with my dad while Morgan was at Ski School!

I had so much fun with my dad! I was a little worried since it had been 10 years since I had last skied. By the end of our day I was feeling pretty confident. It felt so good to be out and active again. It was also nice to spend some time with my dad in his beloved mountains.

When we picked Morgan up after ski school she was all smiles! She learned how to stop so she even moved up a level. She thought she was pretty hot stuff, and so did we!

Being the great Mom/Grandma that my Mom is, she had been busy checking out potential adventures before we arrived. Story Time at the Vail library was something Mom had been talking about long before we got there.

The bus stop is super close to their condo so we ended up using the bus almost every day. It was great. Of course the girls loved it since that isn't part of their daily lives. And as you can see from the picture Samantha spent a lot of time in the baby wrap.

Story Time ended up being just as great as my Mom thought it would be. The library was every parent's dream. The children's area was separated from the rest of the library. They had a great train table, a club house, and tons of floor puzzles. The girls loved it!

After Cricket read the kids several books, did a few finger plays and some songs, she pulled out the paint. Yes, did you catch that. The lady's name was Cricket. ANYWAYS...

Adrienne decided the paint would make nice "dip doss", ya know lip gloss.

I'm so glad Mom knew about this. We spent a fun couple hours there.

After a couple of days of work, Dave made his way to Vail to join the fun. We were all excited to see him again. I know Samantha was happy to have him munching on her cheeks again, even if she doesn't look like it here. :)

Dave and I met Dad at work that afternoon to make a run with him in the beast of a machine. It was fun, and at times a little scary for those of us who are scared of heights. Dad got us all where we needed to go safely. It was fun to see exactly what it is he is getting paid to do. :)

Since Dave had never skied before, we signed him up for an all day lesson. We were happy when he too came home with a smile on his face. It was a tired smile, but a smile.

Mom took another turn staying home with the girls the next day so Dad, Dave and I could ski together. Dave did really well considering it was his 2nd day ever.

Another day Dave went in to work with Dad for a couple of hours. Then Mom and I and the girls met them at the top of the lift to get a group picture.

The girls seemed to really like the ride up the mountain in the Gondola. If it isn't obvious by all the squinting, it was a beautifully sunny day.

Here we are. Our first family trip to the mountains to visit Grandpa and Grandma. It really is truly beautiful up there!

I just can't get enough of this little cutie all bundled up. I love kissing those cheeks!

Later that day Dave stayed with the girls so I could ski with my parents. We had so much fun! They could have been skiing circles around me, but they never rubbed it in. I know they would have been skiing much harder runs without me, but we all had a good time.

Although skiing was fun, it was also fun to just spend time together at home. We hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving. With little ones, a lot changes in 3 months.

It's amazing how our family filled up their condo. There wasn't much free space with us there, but Mom and Dad didn't seem to mind.

Our last day in Vail we decided to go "exploring" in Vail Village. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for exploring. There were numerous animal statues, a giant stuffed bear, a "jumping" fountain, and even a real fur to snuggle up under. Morgan and Adrienne had a great time and Samantha was content all snuggled up next to me.

We ate lunch at Blue Moose Pizza. Of course they had a giant blue moose. And of course we had to sit right next to the giant moose. :)

We decided to walk home instead of taking the bus. We had to stop to rest a couple of times, but Morgan did a great job. I was even winded. I guess that doesn't mean much right now, but that altitude is rough.

We had a big day of exploring and Adrienne just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer.

Later that afternoon it started to snow, and by snow I mean HUGE snowflakes. What a perfect ending to our time in the mountains. Inspite of Morgan being sick with the pukes for a few days, we had a really great time with my parents.

Can't wait to go back again next year!