What's going on at 12 months....Samantha

Samantha had her 12 month check up today... all is good. She is 29in (48%tile) and 22 lbs 5 oz (71%tile) and her head is 46cm/18in (70%tile). She got a few shots today, poor baby. She also got checked for iron. All was good. They poked her for her iron at the beginning of the appointment and then at the end when she got the shots, she just started crying once I put her up on the table... she knew what was coming. Poor thing!

She is such a happy baby. She has quite the attachment to tags or labels on things, clothes, blankets, stuffed animals. Anything with a tag she grabs it and loves on it and sucks her thumb with her other hand. Below is a picture of her with 2 tags, one in each hand, one from the blanket and one from the lion pillow. She is so funny with tags. I was telling Emily I might have to sew a few tags on some of her blankets that don't have tags on them (homemade ones) so she will cuddle with them more.

She waves bye and hi, and she also will say "hello" it sounds more like "eyo" and she says "hi" too. She will also say "tickle tickle" and "nana" for mama and "dada" too. She is such a cutie.

She likes to just jabber and talk to herself or her food. She seems to eat just about anything. She does get tired of some things and then just throw them over her high chair onto the floor. She loves to eat mostly though.

She is down to 1 bottle a day now, and by Friday we will be bottle free! YEEHAW! She has switched, or we have switched her over to a spill proof cup. (Amber calls them "sissy cups") She does still have her thumb, and I am not ready to take that away yet. I love to watch her suck her thumb, I think it is so cute. I will wait until the dentist tells me to take it away... (or maybe my sister Tracy who is in the dental field and always has dental advice to give).



Samantha isn't walking yet, but she is crawling all over the place. We got a new gate for the stairs that opens so you don't have to take it down to get through the gate. It opens and closes and we didn't even have to screw it into the wall which has kept me from getting this kind of gate way back when Emily was a baby. I guess I didn't realize there was this kind or maybe this is new? Who knows. One day Samantha did manage to get the gate open and she was so proud of herself. She looked so cute opening up the gate, then crawling through to go upstairs. I adjusted the gate, and now she can't open it anymore.

I love her smile. She still seems like such a baby to me, as far as looks, but maybe it is more me just not wanting her to grow up. I can't believe she is one already. My baby is one. WOW! It doesn't seem like it can really be that way. She loves peek-a-boo. We also will play, "where's Samantha" which is the same thing. I then say, "there she is" when she peeks out of hiding. She has mastered finding things... I will take away something she has that she isn't suppose to have and kind of tuck it away and she will look and look for it where she saw it go. It is hard to take things away from her unless we take it and put it somewhere else.

Poor Samantha will have a hard time growing up with Amber. They are good friends and they share sometimes and sometimes Amber is just so mean to her. Yesterday, Samantha was crawling on the floor. Amber got on her back and grabbed her shirt and said, "go, go" and was riding her like a horse. I could not believe it. Poor Samantha was just crying trying to crawl with Amber sitting on her back.

This morning Emily was wanting me to fix a skirt for her that needed a patch. It seems like they always need it RIGHT NOW, and it is in the morning before school. I was feeding Samantha getting her ready for her doctor appointment this morning at 8:30 which meant we needed to leave a little before 8. I told Emily I would fix her skirt if she would do what I was doing, feeding Samantha. I am not sure that she really helped me out. I also realized that Lindsey has fed her more, since Lindsey said, "Emily you need to scrape her face with her spoon so she doesn't look like she has a beard."

I am sure I am forgetting something, I don't have time to write much more. Dinner needs to be cooked, and the dishes need to be cleaned, and there is a dirty mess on the table. (Literally, Emily and a friend planted some seeds in cups today.) Yeah, life is always colorful and busy here.

If I think of something else that Samantha is doing I will post it or add it I guess. Samantha got a little poly plastic pool for her birthday, so once we get a place to put it instead of in the dirt or on a sloping cement driveway, then I will fill it up for her and Amber to swim. Samantha LOVES the water. I can't wait until she can swim in it, I think she will LOVE it! Ta-ta for now!