Baby Blog

Samantha is ripped. She’s got some serious muscle on her arms and legs, and she has a pretty good kick. I’ve got a few bruises from her. Gives a new meaning to child abuse. I must admit, she’s a little intimidating at times. We were giving her a quick rinse in the bathroom sink (in which she barely fits), and her look was just adorable. She was leaning back, her arms resting on the sides. She farted a little bit and made herself a whirlpool. She was one happy baby. We found it so amusing, and took a quick picture. Only after reviewing the picture did we notice a 6 pack. Our baby has a 6 pack. It seems her morning push ups and evening crunches are paying off. What do YOU think?

Samantha’s a smart little girl. Her little play mat is not complicated enough. She has successfully figured out how to tear it down with one swift kick from her little foot. We needed a new play center. Something big. Something complex… we need, “The Contraption”

This fun and exciting thing has three sets of lights, with music, and sound. Things that blink, things that click, things that move, things that change, things that rattle, and things that roll. The whole contraption bounces, folds away for “easy” storage, and the chair in the middle rotates for endless stimulation. This thing is more complex than the on-screen guide on the TV.

It took me four hours to assemble this. It also takes 9 AAA batteries to operate all the blinking and beeping. You would think that batteries would come with it… nope. Not gonna happen.

We think Sam likes her new contraption. She tries to eat all the things dangling down, sticking up, and falling over. She can only handle it for 20-30 minutes at a time before the input is too much for her. Can’t say I blame her. It’s too much for ME just watching her.

We’ve started Samantha on the Gerber baby foods. She’s supposed to start off with vegetables, then fruits, and last meats. She does alright with peas, but doesn’t seem to care for carrots (get’s that from Dad). We are a bit relieved that she’s taking well to them and not allergic, and we’re also excited because now we have an excuse to give her more exciting stuff. She’s always eyeballed our tacos and tater tots, but she also apparently has a sweet tooth.

We visited Jason’s Deli, and enjoyed our sandwiches. After a few minutes of chit chatting, Jen sends me to get our ice cream cones. Using my McDonald’s training, I make some very good swirl ice cream cones from those soft serve machines. I got up, and made two swirl cones, and came back to our table. Samantha watched me the whole time, and licked her lips a little as I sat down with the ice cream. She started huffing and puffing, and we picked her up, thinking she was tired of sitting in her carseat. Jen held her first and while Jen’s attention was on me, Samantha reached out for the ice cream. Jen was quick to tell her she couldn’t have ice cream yet, but I talked her into putting a little on her finger and letting Sam lick it off. Sam seemed to like it. Jen handed Sam over to me, and I held her while I ate my ice cream. Sam continued to look on and lick her lips at my cone. I figured, what the heck. I put the cone to her mouth, and she started licking the chocolate ice cream, and a smile slowly took over her face. At first, it was a little cold, and she didn’t know what to make of it, but quickly determined she likes ice cream. Not shortly after, there was chocolate all over her face. A true Kodak moment, but alas, no camera nearby. That’s okay. I’m sure there will be many more chocolate covered face moments.

Well we figured out how to get Sam to sleep through the night: Take her swimming. We also figured out that I’m not any good at putting sunscreen on myself.

Apparently, Samantha really enjoys going in the pool. At first, she was understandably hesitant, but she got used to it, and eventually started splashing around. We picked up a floaty thing she can sit in, and it has a small part in the front for toys, and water to splash with. She’s become very good at splashing Mom and Dad.

Of course, it’s good exercise for Jen, and good physical therapy for my leg. If we keep this up, we’ll be a fit, tan, and walking family in a few months. I wonder why Sam tans better than I do. She must have her mothers skin.

It’s been 3 months, and Sam still has no hair. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good look for her, but I think she kinda looks like that bald alien on Star Trek: The Motion Picture. You know, the pretty bald alien that was turned into a robot by V’GER. Her name was Ilia I think. I scoured the internet, and found a picture. What do you think?

Let’s face it: Sam’s bald. Only a little patch of hair from ear to ear along the back of her head. Jen and I were wondering what she’d look like with hair. Now, I can’t seem to find a website dedicated to giving bald babies hair, but I did find one for adults. The result: ridiculous hair styles for babies, yet oddly entertaining. Let’s see the results, and vote for your favorite:

Samantha has started trying to sit up. When she’s laying flat on her back, she’ll put her arms up, and arch her back a little, trying ever so hard to sit up. Sometimes we’ll pull her arms for her and help her up. She smiles and giggles, then wants to go back down to try again. She gets herself a good 2 inches off the ground by herself. When we don’t help her, she tries over and over again. It looks like she’s doing sit ups to work on her abs. Now, babies aren’t supposed to sit up on their own until 6 months. I think she’ll accomplish this task well before then.

Doing workouts can make anyone tired (not that I would know). After she was done with her 30 minute abs, she wanted a bottle. I snapped this picture after she was done with it. I think someone spiked the formula. What do you think?

Samantha has started to coo and burble quite a bit lately. We spend many hours on the bed discussing things. We talk about politics, the upcomming election, gas mileage, but our most important conversation was this afternoon, as we discussed our lunch options. Please enjoy a snippet of our discussion. Click below:

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As some of you know, I do mystery shops. It’s pretty basic. Go into a store, get help, get a business card, and get out. Sunday morning, I set out to do just that.

The shop was for a jewelry store. Nothing fancy. No real high pressure sales. It was a good opportunity to get Sam out of the house, and let Mom rest. So, we hopped in the Jeep, and headed for the store. It wasn’t a long drive. Only about 5 minutes. It’s a good thing the store was close.

We arrived at the store. Both of us in new clothes, looking spiffy. I started looking around at the different jewelry styles, and the huge price tags associated with them. Thank goodness I wasn’t buying anything. I hope I’m never in THAT much trouble. A few minutes into our shopping experience, I felt a warm sensation on my chest. Sam had a very distinct line of drool, and formula flowing from her mouth, and down my shirt. We left the store, and went out to the Jeep to wipe off, and clean up. A few minutes later, we headed back in.

We wandered around for a bit, to see if anyone would help us. It was about 5 minutes, and once again, that warm sensation hit. It wasn’t as much this time, but it warranted us going back outside again, and getting cleaned up. We did, and went back in… this time, I brought her burp cloth… just in case.

Okay, third time’s a charm. We again, waited for someone to help us. No luck. The store was NOT going to score well today. A few minutes after I thought Sam was all better, and we wouldn’t have any more surprises, she started coughing. Hard. I figured some more “surprises” were coming, and I got the cloth ready, right under her chin. I was prepared. Except, the surprise came from the other end. She farted so loud, it echoed in the store. It made people look in our direction. One lady gave me a disgusted look, as if I was the one who farted. Then the smell came. It wasn’t pleasant.

This mystery shop required me to get a business card of the employee who helped me. If I didn’t get helped, I needed a business card of someone in the store. I had to wait in line. There were only two employees, and 7 customers. I HAD to get this card. Stinky baby or not. While I was waiting at the counter behind a couple with a 2 year old, I felt something warm on my hand. Not only did she fart, she pooped. She pooped so much, it escaped her diaper, and some of it was on my hand, and some on her outfit. The 2 year old in front of me says to his dad “Dad, that man stinks”. Not a good day. I interrupted the employee at the counter, asked for a card, and left. I left quick.

I don’t think I’ll be doing shops at that store for a while.

The other day, little Sam had her first round of vaccine shots. Everything went surprisingly well. She was entertaining the doctor and nurse… until… the shots. The first shot came, and Sam’s face went red, and the scream came. 30 seconds later, the shots were done, and we picked her up, gave her a bottle we already had prepared, and everything was okay. She slept on the car ride home, slept through the night with no problem. In fact, she pulled her band aids off in her sleep.

Yesterday, Sam made it quite clear she wants to eat. We were amused with the taco incident, but thought it was a fluke. Apparently not. When some of our family went to California for a few days, I asked them to bring back some salt water taffy, which they did. I was playing with Sam on the bed while I was munching on my taffy. I got up to use the bathroom, and when I returned, she had pulled the entire box of taffy closer to her, with 5 or 6 pieces of candy next to her body, and one piece firmly gripped in her hand. She gave me the look of “I didn’t do it”. Caught red handed.

That evening, I picked Jen up from work, and we stopped by to get some food. When we got home, I was eating my tater tots, and Sam kept watching me, and reaching for my food. I put the bag of tots next to her, and was amused when she kept reaching for them. I pulled the bag away, and told her that she was too little for adult food. She gave me a frustrated look. A few minutes later, she was looking at my bag of tots, and I put the bag by her feet so she could have a look. Being a smart baby, she kicked the bag, and my tots went flying towards her. I was out smarted by an infant. Go figure.

Yep, we have our hands full. This will be fun.