She has stayed by his side and protected him…

she’s there by his side during play time…

and has coached him during his work outs…

she’s the first to greet him when he wakes up…

Why wouldn’t his first word be DOG?!  It’s only appropriate.

Ho Hum, not much happening here.  Aside from Brad Womack choosing Emily, and a disappointing After the Final Rose episode (poor couple doesn’t stand a chance. sad).  I’ve taken on a few clients and have been keeping myself busy.  Here are the recents taken on the iphone:

We got all Jimmerfied and watched each game suspensively.  The last game was (clearly) disappointing, but Sam seemed to enjoy the company of Charlie.  {Thanks Grandma JoJo for the outfit!}

We’ve found a decent BBQ place.  Being a born and (mostly) raised Texan, I feel like I know everything about consuming BBQ.  Their brisket isn’t shredded, and it’s not like Jimmy Boy’s, but it works.  It has quickly become one of our regulars. Mmmmm, look at all that meat.  I smell like smoke for the next couple days, but I suppose it’s worth it.

Sam’s hair is getting to the point where it needs to be styled.  I guess I got his little brush a little too wet and this was the result.  His father’s reply, “He looks like a Trump!”  Luckily it was mostly water (with a hint of hairspray), and in a couple minutes it dried.  But it was fun to see our son all greased up.  I can seem him now: pulling the clear plastic wrap over a newly restored fire-engine hot rod, shaking his hips, and singing Greased Lighting…

I will end this rather random post on a better note.  Sam is still fun.

Toodles!

I thought I’d hang out at the airport today and maybe run into a certain elder who was passing through SFO on his way to Korea.  After anxiously waiting for three hours, my attempt was a failure.  Since we’re trying to look on the bright side, here are a few lessons learned.

-Take a picture of where you park.

-People watching can be entertaining for 10 month olds too.

-Pack a lot of food tubes.  {we’re so in the future aren’t we?!}

-Airports can actually be a good way to spend a rainy Monday: there was a nice exhibit on Japanese porcelain.  And in honor of the poor Japanese, we got to know the culture better.  {watching the scenes has been so hard}

-And my instagram app is a fun way to pass time.

Perhaps it was all for the best, my little brother later confessed to my parents that “he wouldn’t have said hi anyway, I’m not supposed to.”  Thanks a lot Joe, love you too.  Luckily the eclairs I bought him got eaten tonight while watching the Bachelor.

I don’t get it.  My son’s odd behavior can mean one of two things:

Either he really does love his mom and want to nurse.  Yes, Sam.  I’ll take you up on that offer.

Or his sucking/trying to bite the stone is comfort for his new teeth.  Didn’t know stone would be so relieving.  Perhaps it’s the cold temperature? I’m still trying to figure it out…

Two of my nieces had birthdays and Sam asked if he could add a personal touch to their presents. So we pulled out the chocolate pudding and basting brush and got to work.

**gasp** I’m speechless.  His work is a masterpiece.

Hopefully his cousins enjoy brown paper packages tied up with strings.

Perhaps it’s cool to roll your eyes at the popular, overplayed musicals.  But I think there’s a reason for it.  They’re beautiful, moving and inspiring.

If you know the context of this song, then maybe it’ll give you chills and bring a tear to your eye like it did to me.

Its was a beautiful Saturday in the city.  Followed by a downpour of rain on Sunday.  We didn’t mind.  It was actually kind of nice having a relaxing weekend hanging around our neighborhood, overdosing on pasta and pizza (I’ll have you know we boxed up half of that meal and ate it for dinner), and working on updating my website.  Any spare time I have with Mick I put him to work–he’s such a good guy to put up with me.

I think that picture of Sam and his dad is my new favorite.  Not only because they look like two little hooligans about to get into trouble, but it’s just a great memory of the pleasant afternoon we had together.  The sun was shining, we had a nice stroll outside, and best of all, Mick was away from his phone for an entire 45 min!

I’m now offering tree cutting services.  If I could actually cut down what I want, then I have a feeling the business would be quite successful.  Unfortunately all that I accomplished was a day gardening in the sun, climbing fences, and getting into mischief with a girlfriend.  All while little Sam slept soundly.

Anybody know anything about banana trees?  My extensive internet research has left me empty handed.  For a year now that massive flower has grown from something beautiful, to something very daunting.  It keeps growing down and down.  And for some reason I thought it was supposed to do that!  My sweet friend from Mexico grew up with these in her back yard and kindly told me that’s not how it works.  So, off we go on an adventure trying to cut (hack away) at the base of the flower.  And believe me, that is one THICK flower.  To no avail.  Perhaps this should just be added to the honey-do list.

We try and take advantage of any free day we can.  Unlike our last visit to the museum, this particular museum trip was more for me.  Although Sam seemed to be really into his graham crackers…

We need a big art piece to fill a space.  I wonder how hard it is to splash some paint on a canvas?  I bet the process is fun, the colors are cool, and the overall image is interesting enough.  But for some reason it just doesn’t speak to me.  I’m on an art kick right now, and feel so strongly that art should speak to you and represent something about you.  Not something that just fills a space.  But who knows, I’ll probably end up going the more cost-effective way and try and make something.  Yikes.

There seemed to be a particular theme to what I was drawn to: mommies, boobies, and submissive dogs.

Poo everywhere.  Isn’t he a little young for that?! I guess not.

Little Sam often times is very easy going.  But the second you bring him over to the changing table to change his diaper he arches back, screams, and eventually resorts to fake sobs.  It used to just be hard to contain his rolly-pollyness.  Now it’s a tantrum every so often (I know what you’re thinking: nope, it’s not diaper rash).  Last night I was changing his messy diaper before bed and he kicked his feet into the messy diaper; smearing poo all over his clothes, somehow onto the wall and pictures, and even a little in my hair.  Fed up, I scolded him.  Yep, shook my finger in his face, used a firm tone and scolded him.  First time ever.  Isn’t he a little young for that?! Then he had a frightened little face and burst into tears.  My heart broke.  My little baby is so used to me ooing and smiling over him I startled him so much with what I had just done.  I know there are going to be many, many, many (many, many…) times in his life when he’s going to need to be disciplined, but for some reason that first time was hard.

While Sam never took a pacifier, he finds comfort in sucking/biting his bottom lip. Any piece of cloth he finds comfort in.

{I ended the rough day  with a girl’s night watching bachelor, eating cupcakes and ice cream. :)}

Today it was starting to happen again.  Before I let the situation get too bad, I tried again.  This time not so sternly.  “No, No, Samuel.”  What does he do? Pauses a minute, then lets out a little giggle.  I knew he wasn’t being defiant, he just wasn’t used to me using such a serious, stern face.  So instead of being so stern, I thought I’d distract him other ways:  I pulled out all the silly faces I could to get that little boy to laugh.  While my face was making goofy faces, my hands were frantically trying to clean things down there.   (Yes, I’ve used toys and other things in the past.  But they’re not working anymore, and sometimes they’d get grody in the diaper changing process.)

Lesson Learned: Don’t get mad, get glad!

I know skinny jeans and skater shirts are cool for the little ones, but I figure he can wear that the rest of his life.  I think sweet little boy rompers for him to wrestle around in are so tender.  He’s only my baby for a little while…

Hopefully these goofy faces will work for a while, but if anyone has any other suggestions, I’m all ears…