Dear Samuel, Months 51 & 52

Dear Samuel,

Mommy is super proud of you! You are such a polite little boy. I have been complimented so many times from people on how friendly and polite you are. I learn things from you everyday. You are such a great big brother. Don't get me wrong, you have your moments with Livi, but for the most part you like to include her in things and "help".

You have been playing indoor soccer at "Soccer Buddies" and you love it. Well, for some reason every time we get there, you hesitate a bit to get on the field but once you're out there, you laugh, run, and have a great time participating in the drills, etc. One day you didn't want to go out on the field so daddy bribed you with going to Culver's afterwards. It didn't take you 5 seconds before you were on that field. So now, every Saturday after soccer we all go to Culver's for lunch. 

When we started looking at houses a few weeks ago, you really got into it. You liked playing hide-n-seek with Livi whenever you guys came along to look at houses. You and Livi would go hide in a spare bedroom and wait for us to come into that room. You also really enjoyed seeing our realtor (who's name also happens to be Ben) a lot.

Oh, every night after we read books and say prayers, this has to be said as your daddy or I walk out of the room:"Night, Night; sweet dreams; love you; bye-bye;vsee you in the morning"  you repeat it as we go. It's really cute.

you are very excited about our new house with the big backyard and rocks! You are also excited that you will get a new bed (a real bed instead of just a mattress) when we get our new house in 2 weeks!


I pray you will always be a happy, healthy boy. I am so proud of you!

Love,
Mommy

Dear Olivia, Months 23 & 24

Dear Olivia,

You are now TWO!! Oh my goodness, these first 2 years went by super fast. Seems like I was just feeding you bottles and rocking you to sleep and now you are getting so much more independent.

You can now say about 50 words and are just beginning to start saying 2 - 3 word phrases. You love to help clean up. Oftentimes, I find Samuel's room a bit messy and I'll see you cleaning it for him. You are such a help.

Here are a few videos of you recently...

I'll love you forever,
Mommy

Dear Samuel, Months 49 & 50

Dear Samuel,

In February we went to DisneyWorld!! You had SO much fun! You did really well meeting all of the characters and riding rides. Your favorite rides were Star Tours at Hollywood Studios and Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom. You rode these rides multiple times. Oh, and you really enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean, too!

Unfortunately you had to part with Big Elmo (yes, we lost him) but you did great. I think all of the excitement and your new Disney Vinylmations helped you part with him.

I am so proud of you lately! You randomly compliment people on your own. We were so busy this past month getting our townhome on the market and you said all on your own to our stager, "I really like your scarf"! The lady commented that not even her husband says things like that. So proud of you! Never stop complimenting people! Also, with getting the house ready to go on the market, we had to remove some toys and rearrange your room. You are very particular with where you keep your belongings and I was a bit worried that you would respond in a negative way, but you proved me wrong! I am so proud that you responded so well to all of this change. You chose certain toys and stuffed animals to keep and chose to send some to storage.

I love you buddy and it is so much fun to see you explore new things & grow up! I am excited to see the man you will one day become!

Love,
Mommy

Dear Olivia, Month 22

Dearest Olivia,

Wow, what a month it has been! You had so much fun at Disney World! It has been a crazy few weeks with you, though. I was very stressed about your health most days. It started when you got a stomach bug while at Disney. Grandma Watts and I took you to an Urgent Care because you didn't stop vomitting. Then, off and on the rest of the trip you got sick. The 4 hour plane ride home was simply a nightmare - you got sick twice!  We thought it was from motion sickness, but once we were home, you still got sick.  We finally attributed it to at temporary milk intolerance so we stopped giving you milk for about a week. Just when we were ready to start giving you milk again, you got a fever and were fussy for about 4 days.  Finally on day 4 of this illness, I noticed a rash on your tummy. It was actually a relief to see that rash and know what was causing the fever (Roseola). Once the rash subsided, we gave you soy milk to to make sure your tummy could handle that before milk.  Well, you still got sick off of that after a few days - not sure if it is because you drank too much too soon or what. We finally tried skim milk since it is not so thick and so far your are doing fine with small amounts.  It has been so hard to withhold milk from you seeing as you used to have milk ALL the time!  Time will tell if this goes away or if it is permanent.

You are finally back to your normal self after being sick for about 3 weeks off and on and I am so happy! You laugh and bring such joy to our lives!

Love,
Mommy

Dear Olivia, Months 20 & 21

Oh my goodness are you a little stinker! You never cease to make me laugh! You have this look that you do in which you put your head down but look up with your eyes. It is a very guilty look! Just the other day you colored with chalk on mommy & daddy's bath mat that is off white. It was very colorful and your daddy and I were very impressed that you mostly kept in the lines of the mat and didn't get hardly any chalk on the ceramic tile!  Maybe we have a future artist on hand (you wouldn't get that from me)!

Anyways, you are talking so much now. You say a new word almost daily. A few of your favorite words are no (of course), graham cracker (aka gram cacky), me and many more!

Your mommy is your biggest fan and loves you very much!

The Best of 2011

Check out this video of photos from last year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbRDR0q18wc

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Big 4 year old!

Elmo cupcakes (yep, I made them)!

Interesting way to eat a cupcake!

Louisville Slugger bat

Dear Sam, Month 48,

Oh my goodness, you are FOUR!! I have been thinking of your birthday quite a bit today and remember it well. I cannot believe it has been 4 years. Grandma Watts & daddy were there to welcome you to the world. I remember Mamaw and your daddy making lots of phone calls to tell everyone that you had arrived. You have been such a blessing to our family. You are loved SO SO much!

Now that you are four you have told me that you will start eating "mommy & daddy" food. You are quite a picky eater so I will need to get creative to have you try new foods. Believe me, mommy is about as excited as you are...(sigh).


This year will be such a fun year for you. We will go to DisneyWorld in a few weeks and you'll be playing soccer again in the Spring and then preschool in the fall. In a blink of the eye you will be in kindergarten but for now, you are still at home with us and we will try to cherish every single moment.


My life has never been the same since you arrived at 4:17pm on that Friday afternoon 4 years ago! I love you SO much!

Love,
Mommy