December 2011

December was a great month! There was the typical hustle and bustle of preparations for Christmas, Bday celebrations with Derby's, MOPS group and Lunch at Colers once for Amanda and Samara, Art Show and Sale at Pennell's, Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve, Day and the Day after, some bowl games to watch, New Years Eve... oh, and then there was work as well!

I have been working Tues-Fri each week in order to help in my current and previous dept. One more day per week is definitely doable. One week in December I worked 5 days and I realized how hard a full-time working mom has it. The laundry wasn't done, the dishes were a mess and I was tired! I am so very thankful that I am able to work part-time, but the larger paychecks have been nice, too! :) I am a firm believer in the "you can do anything for a certain amount of time" thought process, and keep telling myself that, and enjoy the balance I have of work and home life. Jeff has been working hard, and I have to believe that he is one of their best employees. He still does an amazing job being a Daddy and husband, going in to work well before the sun is up so that he can be home with Samara in the afternoon by 4:30. Most days that I work, he is texting me to ask what he can start for dinner, since I don't get home until 6:00.

Samara has been working hard as well at her job- playing, learning and testing limits. She is now tall enough to easily reach things on the table and can even reach the counter top. So, we have been cautious about everything we leave out on any surface now! She picks up words at an amazing rate and I couldn't even count how many words she knows. She knows animals and their sounds, many colors (but throws out yellow!, whenever she doesn't know), food words for her fav's especially hot dogs, mac n cheese (roni), milk, peas nutella (ella) and berries (ewees) to name a few. She got VERY good at the word cookie during the holidays as well! She even knows who to ask for cookies that gives the greatest chance of getting one - Daddy, Auntie Courtney, etc... Mommy is not on her list for some reason. She babbles on and on sometimes, and sometimes it is understandable. She loves music and dances when it comes on-if she feels the song is her tempo I guess. She can run pretty quickly, and will run around the house saying un-un-un!, ast! (run, run fast!). In the new light-up she shoes she got for Christmas she runs looking down. Hasn't been a problem yet, but surely a fall or collision is inevitable. Jeff likes to throw her up and wrestle, etc - she loves it too. Hoping she doesn't start jumping off the couch on her own though. We know we are approaching two year mark, as she has the occasional melt-down when she doesn't get her way. She will get all stiff and scream loud as she can. Typically that is the end of it though. Only sometimes does it turn to no, no, no and rolling on floor. She knows what a time-out is and they work very well in calming her down. She got lots of fun toys, clothes, crayons and books for Christmas. She likes to help pick out her clothes in the morning with some help and she loves to play of course! I don't know what her favorite toy would be, each day she tends to latch on to something different daily. She is really starting to play on her own and play "with" her stuffed animals. Elmo gets to do many fun things with Samara now! She also learned a new trick on Christmas-climbing out of the pack and play and her crib-much to our dismay! She came walking out of my parents bedroom after a nap in the pack and play and said "Out!" She then climbed out of her crib that night when we got home. She was quite proud of herself as she came down the stairs into the kitchen and said "Yay!" while clapping her hands. When Jeff was less than excited in his response she immediately burst into tears. Such a girl. :) I took her upstairs and talked about why she needed to stay in her bed, etc. Apparently she was okay with our talk because that was the last time she has tried it. Good!! We weren't ready for her to be out of her crib yet. And I guess she wasn't either because she enjoys her almost hour in the morning of playing in her crib with animals and books.

New Year's Eve we went over to a friends house, the Scheef's, and talked and played games wiht some other couples while the kids all played. A fun time was had by all! Hope I got it all for 2011... We look forward to a great 2012 and hope you all do as well. Happy New Year!!