February 2012

February was a good month! After a resurgence of Samara climbing out of her crib, we decided it was safer for her and better for our peace of mind to convert her crib to a toddler "big girl bed". She was all about helping Daddy with this process (and she is about most anything you are doing). Lots of "MY do it" and phrases of the like are heard at our house. Independence is a good thing right?! She loves helping Daddy shovel snow, fix the sink and Mommy do the laundry and vacuum, etc. So anyway, once the side of the crib was off, we threw a body pillow on the floor and highly promoted sleeping and staying in her big girl bed! We would find her sleeping in all kinds of positions in her room, but usually just let her enjoy the body pillow or carpet if she was happily snoozing. We did have some episodes of her coming into our room at 4AM just because she was awake, but thankfully with some coaxing we were able to get her back to sleep. It was very reminiscent of having a newborn...Hey, we basically slept all night list night (except the two times she was up for an hour!). The newness of getting out of bed wore off-thankfully-and things were back to normal after not too long. Valentine's Day was so cute this year! Samara had her first experience with finger painting and loved it of course. She and Mommy made hand (AND foot) print cards for all the grandparents and Daddy too. They were a hit and diaper-clad Samara kept saying "More" after each hand or foot print we did! She also now knows when she is doing something that is funny - like making silly faces. She often says "Samara funny face" and then her fingers go in her mouth to pull it as far open as she can. She also loves playing with the couch cushions while they are OFF of the couch -thanks to Daddy's help. They wildly play games while Mommy is working or coming home from work, and of course she loves playing with her Daddy. He loves it too. :) A milestone for her favorite Lambie this month was getting his first "bath". He had actually gotten so grimy that we found the same one and purchased a replacement. Daddy revealed the new clean Lambie as he emerged from the bath (it was quite a production). She didn't quite like him at first, calling him "Mommy's lambie". But after a few days she decided it was better than no lambie at all and snuggled with him again! In February we had to say goodbye to Jeff's Grandpa Derby. It was the end of a long battle with cancer. Though it was sad to see him go, it was comforting to know his suffering is over. We had lots of time with family to remember good times and great memories. Jeff, his Mom and sister Michelle all spoke at the visitation service and they all did a wonderful job of portraying the man that Grandpa was. We'll miss you Grandpa Derby!! My job situation became a month of transition as I trained on days off from Slosburg when possible and then officially took over my role as Executive Director at the end of February. I knew I had a lot of learning coming up, but didn't really know exactly how busy I would be over the next couple months! March - will be in like a lion it sounds like (at least as far as work is concerned)...