Playing in the snow

After I got off work on Christmas Eve, I decided that since we got quite a bit of snow that I would get Samantha all bundled up and head out and play. She LOVED it! She loved walking in it and touching it. It was great! We also went sledding on Christmas day. She LOVED that too! She kept saying weeeeeeeeeeee...lol. I'll have to get those pictures from mom.


Alright, I'm ready to go, Mommy!

 Walking around in the snow

 All smiles! :)

 She's so stinkin adorable all bundled up! I LOVE IT! :D

Christmas

On Christmas Eve we always stay the night at the in-laws. We've done it for about 4-5 years now and I totally love this tradition and don't plan on changing it anytime soon. I love just hanging out with them and looking at their beautiful Christmas tree and pretty decorations. It's more Christmasy over there then it is at our house. lol. We always get to open a present on Christmas Eve. Which is always pajamas.
We all got up pretty early the next morning. Except Samantha...lol. She's the only one that slept the longest. Seth had to wake her up, actually. lol
We all dug into our stockings. We got a lot of goodies, that's for sure! :o)
We got to open our gifts once Seth's brother and his family came over. It's always fun to watch a 2 year old open gifts! :o) Samantha wasn't that into it though, which kinda stunk. But hopefully she will be next year! :o) She got a lot of great stuff. Lots of toys, a little 4-wheeler, pop-up tent, a little folding table and clothes.  Seth got a lap top, gifts cards and clothes(he's hard to shop for) and I got a cricket (WOOHOO), movies, new coat and a few other things.
We had a great dinner! Believe it or not, the men made, LOL! Usually Seth's mom makes dinner but this year, I guess the guys wanted to make it. lol. After dinner we just hung out and played with all of our new goodies.
It was such an awesome day!


Opening her Christmas eve gift

 Christmas pjs

 Her new bike from Daddy

 Her new 4-wheeler

 Daddy chillin in the pop-up tent with Samantha

 My new(AWESOME) Cricket

 On her new bike!

2010 Christmas Picture

Here's our Christmas picture! I think it came out great! :)

 Daddy being silly! At least Samantha looks cute! LOL

My baby is...

14 months old today! It doesn't even seem possible. She does so many things now that she didn't just 2 months ago. She learns everything so fast. She's just beautifully amazing! I love her with all my heart and soul!

Santa Clause 2010

Here's Samantha with Santa, as promised! :)

Samantha knows her S'

Samantha got a package of foam bath tub alphabets and numbers from her cousins for her birthday. During bath time I work with her on her letters and numbers(mainly letters, for right now). She knows her s' that's for sure. She knows a couple more letters but not as good as she knows her s'. This little girl amazes me every single day!

Here's the proof :)

'Tis The Season

I decided to get Christmas photos taken of Samantha. I didn't think I would but I just could not help myself. She did amazingly well. Usually she just wants to run off to explore, which ended up happening after about 15 minutes into the session. But she did a GREAT job!
Grandma came along with us. She suggested that we should go see Santa Clause while we were there.  The ladies at Sears told me a little trick to try to get a good photo of her with Santa. Well, lets just say the "trick" didn't work, AT ALL!  She completely freaked out. It just broke my heart that I played that nasty trick on her. :( But all in all, we got a decent photo. I'll post that later.

Happy (late) Thanksgiving!

Except for the fact that I had to work on Thanksgiving, it was a great day! We had a feast at Seth's parent's house, which we do every year and every year, I swear, it gets better and better! They made everything you could ever want for a thanksgiving meal. It was very yummy. I made my usual, lemon pudding pie. I also thought I would try making scotcharoos and mint brownies. I think the scotcharoos were awesome!! The mint brownies weren't too great. 

I'm thinking Grandma and Grandpa may have to upgrade and get a bigger table by the time thanksgiving comes along next year. There were 6 adults, 1 teen and 3 babies there. But I couldn't of asked for a better crowd.  I am so thankful for my amazing and healthy family! 

Wordless Wednesday

Potty

I decided to purchase a potty for Samantha this evening. It was kinda sad. Seeing it up on the conveyor belt just before I paid for it. I just couldn't believe I was about to pay for a big girl potty for my Samantha.
I won't full blown potty train her until she's about 18 months. But I figure I would purchase the potty and start introducing it to her little by little.
To her, it's just a new toy. I'm really hoping she will be easy to train. She has been easy on everything else. So why not add potty training to that list?! Right?
Here's the one that I bought.

Belly Button

Ever since Samantha figured out what a belly button was, she loves to try and find it on everybody. If you say anything about belly buttons she will lift up your shirt and point it out. It's adorable.
Here's Samantha pointing out Daddy's hairy belly button.

1 Year Photos

Trick or Treating

Seth and I took Samantha trick or treating for the very first time on Halloween. We just went around Grandma and Grandpa's neighborhood. We only made it to about 7 houses then it got way too cold so we turned around and went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Seth's mom gave me a wonderful idea for me to dress up as a mouse. Since she was a kitty cat. So I found me some mouse ears, a gray sweat suit and some face paint. I think it all came together quite nice. :)

Samantha's 1st Year Slide Show

Samantha's 1st Year Slide Show from Jennifer Mize on Vimeo.

Pumpkin Patch

On Samantha's birthday we(Great Grandma, Grandma, Aunt Lisa and Noah) took her to the pumpkin patch to pick out her pumpkin. It was her first time to go to one. She totally loved it. The kids ran around, played in the corn bin, sliding down a big slide(over and over again), riding on some rides. We didn't get to do everything that was available. But it was awesome to see everyone have such a great time.

Samantha's 1st Birthday Party

We had Samantha's birthday party on Saturday, October 9th. It was incredible!! We couldn't of asked for a more beautiful day. Not one cloud in the sky and very hot to boot. I know, Iowa+October+Hot=Never happens! lol. But it did happen and it was all for Samantha.
We had it at the City Park in Iowa City. There was about 25-30 guests that showed up. Which was wonderful! I was expecting to be disappointed in the turn out. But, everyone that said they were coming, did. And the best guest of all was, PePa! My dad came all the way from Pittsburg to attend to her party. The last time he saw her, she was about 3 months old. It was great to see Samantha and my father together again.
We started the party off by eating, of course. The food was wonderful! Thanks to Seth's mom!!!! :)
Then Samantha got to dig into her cake. She LOVED it. She dug right in. It was so adorable to watch. She even gave me a little taste of it. :) The cakes turned out good. Her little cake was white and it was suppose to be chocolate. But oh well. She loved it anyway.
Everyone just hung out, chit chatted and played. It was a blast!
Samantha is so blessed to have so many people in her life that love her unconditionally. I hope she enjoyed her day!!

To Our Birthday Girl

Teddy bears and seas of blue

Smiling in honor of you

An infant, not long ago

Now, one candle is aglow

You are growing up so fast

How quickly a year has passed

You are special, sweet, and wise

A present before our eyes.

For a year, I’ve watched you shine

An angel I can call mine

Sent from Heaven, just for me

Filled with hope and dignity

A blessing, now and always

You brighten all of my days

Precious child, I love you so

More than anyone could know.

Baby’s breath and sun-filled skies

Ladybugs and lullabies

Starry nights and bright moonbeams

Tender hearts and lasting dreams

Each, a gift within your view

During this time, made for you

May only good things come your way

On this, your very first birthday.

With all our love

Mommy & Daddy

Busy...Busy...Busy

Tomorrow will be the start of a VERY busy couple of weeks.
Tomorrow we'll be doing our family photos and Samantha's 1 year photos with http://www.identity-photography.com/! This woman took pictures of Samantha about a month ago and I loved every single picture. She does wonderful work. I'm soooo excited to see how these pictures will turn out. I can't wait!
I have to work a couple days next week.
Amanda(Seth's cousin) is coming to town for Samantha's birthday party on Thursday. We can't wait to see her.
We pick up my dad(Pepa) at the airport Friday evening. We are completely ecstatic about that!! We all cannot wait to see him!!
Then Saturday is Samantha's big day! Her 1st birthday party! We're not sure how many people will be there but we're excited to see everyone who decides to come and join us on this very special day! I'm curious to see how her cake will turn out. I'm putting all my trust on hy-vee's shoulders. For food we'll be serving shredded bbq beef sandwiches, chips and we'll have punch. The theme of her party is just flowers, butterflies and bright colors. I wasn't too thrilled of any of my 1st birthday theme selections. I thought this was the best of them all. It's going to be a long but wonderful day!
Next week...
Samantha's birthday is on Monday the 11th at 8:56AM! I'm not sure what we will do on her actual birthday. Maybe we'll go to the pumpkin patch or the zoo, or we'll just stay home and hang out.
Samantha's 1 year check up is on Tuesday. I'm afraid she will be getting quite a few shots that day. :o( Hopefully we'll get the doctors okay to start her on cows milk. I'm excited to not pay $20 for formula anymore. I think $3 sounds so much better!
Then Saturday another round of pictures. We're doing more family pictures and more 1 year photos. I know...Call me crazy for having so many pictures done. But I'm obsessed about getting pictures taken of Samantha. I just love to see how they turn out and how gorgeous they always look.

I'm not ready

Even though I'm so proud of my beautiful daughter. I'm not ready to have a 1 year old running around here. I just can't believe Samantha will be 1 in a couple of weeks!
I remember this ...like it was yesterday!

I miss having a itty bitty baby. Even though I'll admit it, I said I couldn't wait until she was old enough to play with and chase after. I miss the baby cuddles and the cute little first smiles and laughs. But the little baby has grown into an all-over-the-place toddler. Did I just say toddler?? Wow! I never thought I'd be saying that my baby is a toddler.
I seriously can't stress how amazing this little girl is. She's just so intelligent, funny, sweet, generous, beautiful, pure and did I mention AMAZING?!? She has filled 1 year with so much laughter, silliness, loads of smiles, some tears but mainly over-loaded it with so much love!

Ear Infection

Samantha was going to stay with her Grandma last night but Grandma told me she wasn't feeling too well and that she was burning up with a slight fever. So we went to go pick her up and bring her home so Grandma and Grandpa wouldn't have to deal with her.
This morning she woke up with a 101.9 temp. So I took her to the urgent care center to see a doctor. Her temp was only 99.4 while we were there. Which is good that it dropped. but the doctor said she did have an ear infection but it wasn't bad at all. He says we caught it pretty early. Which is good.
Right now she's doing okay. She still has a low grade fever. Last time I checked it was at 100.7. She's very cranky and tired. I gave her, her bath at 8 and she was in bed by 8:45. Which is very early for her. But unfortunately I'm going to have to wake her up at 11 and give her, her medicine.
I just pray she gets over this quickly! I hate seeing her so sick.

No More Bottles+Updates

Samantha has been bottle-free for a week now!!!! YAY!! She's doing so awesome. I never thought it would have been this easy. I mean, she was in love with her bottles. Where ever she was, her bottle was right there next to her.
We had to do some searching around for a sippy that she liked. We have found that she really only likes this one http://www.munchkin.com/products/detail.html?section=prodCategories&ID=10021&pID=1098. She doesn't really get the concept of tilting her head back for the "regular" sippys. Which is fine with me. If she likes it, she likes it.


As of right now she still drinks formula. We won't start cows milk until the doctor okays it at her 12 month appointment. She also drinks water....And alot of it. She's not a big juice drinker. Her doctor says that it's great that she isn't. She might have some apple juice every now and then but she's not a big fan of it or any other juices. She eats great. There's not much that she won't eat. She's a walking pro now. She has actually been trying to run! She loves being chased. She's totally in love with her Daddy. She waves bye, blows kisses, plays patty-cake with Grandma, says a few words...she actually talks a lot but, we just don't know what she's saying...lol. There's an end-less list of things.


Gosh...12 month appointment....Really??? Already?!? Seriously?!? That's coming up next month. Oh man...My baby girl is going to be one in ONE month! I already know I'm going to be an emotional wreck on her birthday...especially her birthday party. I got warned by my boss that the tears will be flying at her birthday party while everyone sings her "happy birthday". I can already feel the tears coming.


It has been a wonderful journey thus far. But we still have many more adventures to seek together. She has grown into such a beautiful, intelligent, funny little girl. Now I know what love really is and she has made me want to be a better person/friend/wife/mother. She really knows how to change a persons life. I love every inch of her. Life without her, is no life at all!

Playing Outside

Samantha has been wanting to walk everywhere and I mean everywhere! So I thought it would be a good time to purchase some good shoes for her. This was her 1st time outside walking around. It was so fun to just watch her explore everything in sight. She had a great time and was pretty upset when we had to go inside and eat dinner.