Sunday, December 25, 2016
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Halloween 2016
Look at me posting about something that happened just two days ago!! It's a Halloween miracle!!
This Halloween was so great! It was full of emotion and the cutest little puppy you've ever seen!! I am already looking forward to Halloweens to come because I just love seeing Samuel have so much fun!
This Halloween was so great! It was full of emotion and the cutest little puppy you've ever seen!! I am already looking forward to Halloweens to come because I just love seeing Samuel have so much fun!
I didn't feel super inspired about what Samuel should be for Halloween this year, so I searched Pinterest and Amazon for some cute ideas of costumes that would be something that Samuel would actually wear. I found a cute puppy costume on Amazon a few weeks ago and decided that would be a good idea for this year. Since Samuel has two puppies of his own, we thought it would be perfect.
The Wednesday before Halloween, the costume came in the mail. That night, I got it out of it's package and put the body of it on Samuel, he didn't seem to like that very much and got mad and cried until I took it off him. I wrote that off that he was just tired because it was getting late in the day, so I put the costume away and thought we'd try again another day.
In the days that followed, I'd occasionally pick up the costume from its place on the dining room table and show it to Samuel and he'd get a really scared look on his face and run away from me.
Finally, on Sunday night, we decided we just had to go for it and put his costume on as a practice run and make him work through it. And, right on cue, he cried and cried because he was so upset about having the costume on. It was so sad but it was the cutest thing ever to see him crying in his puppy costume!
After some snuggling and positive talk, Samuel worked through it and was distracted enough to start playing again - with his costume on!
He played for a while and even interacted with the dogs since they were all one kind for a little while before Millie got excited and knocked him down and Samuel remembered he wasn't happy to have the costume on any longer. So we called it a night and hoped for the best for Halloween night!
On Halloween night, we got home from work a little early and ate supper and then started to get Samuel into his costume. We started slow by just putting on his leggings and onesie that would go under his costume... And then it was the moment of truth - when we would find out if Samuel was going to be a puppy or a brown turd for Halloween this year!
Luckily Samuel was in a pretty good mood after eating supper, that everything seemed to be on the right track!
First we put on his feet and let him walk around in those for a while and then Trent picked up the body of the costume and Samuel ran in the other direction! That's about as dramatic as it got, though, Samuel put on the body of the costume and then the head of the puppy and he was ready to go!
We gave him a bag to hold the candy that he was going to collect, which he loved to hang onto, and we headed out the door to start our Trick or Treating!
Our first stop was across the street at Jim and Anne's. Anne had made Samuel a special treat bag with some chips and crackers, which was very thoughtful! He was a little shy for a few minutes, but then started to get more comfortable, waving at the cars that were driving by and giving Anne some smiles!
We went to two more houses to get candy and show off Samuel's costume before heading back home to start handing out our own candy in the driveway and watch the kids go by. Samuel got compliments on his costume from all the kids and parents that came up to get candy from our house!
Samuel caught on to the whole trick or treat thing pretty quick - pick up candy and put it in the bag! He practiced by taking candy out of our bowl and putting it into his bag :) It was pretty cute!
Halloween went way better this year than I ever thought it would have! I think Samuel really had fun exploring the neighborhood, putting treats into his bag and just watching all the activity!
He was the cutest puppy I've ever seen and I can't wait to see how his excitement grows each year!
Soon, it was bedtime for Samuel, and he slept soundly - I'm sure all the Halloween commotion helped with that! We handed out candy until a little after 8:00 and then we retreated inside as well. I didn't count how many trick or treaters we had this year, but I'm sure it was a couple hundred... We were prepared enough this year to not run out and we actually have some leftover for us to enjoy as well :)
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Samuel's First Birthday Party Video!
I'm so behind on posting about ANYTHING and I hate it... I still want to finish my post about Samuel's birthday, but for now I have this video compilation from his party that I will share!
It was such a fun day and such a great memory!! Looking back on it, he has grown so much in the last 2 months since his party!!
Thank you to Kenzie for taking so much great video!
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Samuel's First Year - In Numbers!
Throughout Samuel's first year, I used an app on my phone (Baby Connect) to track everything that he did. I got made fun of quite a bit by different people for doing it, but I really don't think I could have done without it at times!
I think I have a pretty good memory for the most part, but when it came to remembering the last time that I fed Samuel when he was eating constantly as a newborn or remembering when his last diaper change was or what he weighed at his doctor's appointment 4 months ago, it all just would have jumbled together in my brain!!
With this app, I was able to track everything he did daily: nursing, diaper changes, bottles, sleeping, bathing, details from doctor's appointments, temperatures, medicines, food, milestones, and when and how much I would pump - among other things. So when we were at the doctor's office in the first few months of his life and they asked me about how many wet diapers he had in a day or how many times he ate in a day, I didn't even have to guess, I could pull out my phone and look! I also put in when we give him medicine so I don't have to worry about remembering when the last time was that we gave him something (I even used it for myself right after Samuel was born when I was taking a few pills and vitamins and things) I would track everything that he ate as well, so if he would have ever had a weird reaction one day, I could see what he ate the prior day or so and we could make a more educated guess of whether it was the food or something else that was causing the issue.
Now, the app was wonderful and I LOVED having all that information, but it has become quite a chore to be sure that I had everything in there, especially now that he's eating more active and eating more food and stuff!So, even though it makes me kind of sad, I decided that I was going to stop tracking everything after he turned one. I still track a few things, like his nightly sleep, doctor's appointments, nursing and pumping, but soon I will be done pumping and eventually done nursing, so I can see it turning into just doctor appointment, medication and any other milestones I want to record.
So, since my diligent recording efforts have come to an end, I thought I'd share Samuel's stats for the first year of Samuel's life. I pretty much started on the 23rd of August 2015 (so I didn't start until he was about a day and a half old) and these stats below are through the 22nd of August, 2016. I don't have full information from when he stayed with Nana and Papa in July (I was nice and didn't make them track everything that he did for those four days :) ) and I'm sure we've missed a few things here and there, but I think I have a pretty accurate picture of Samuel's first year!
Samuel in his bed at 1 day and 1 year old!
Sleep
He slept 1,669 times (4.6 times per day)
I think I have a pretty good memory for the most part, but when it came to remembering the last time that I fed Samuel when he was eating constantly as a newborn or remembering when his last diaper change was or what he weighed at his doctor's appointment 4 months ago, it all just would have jumbled together in my brain!!
With this app, I was able to track everything he did daily: nursing, diaper changes, bottles, sleeping, bathing, details from doctor's appointments, temperatures, medicines, food, milestones, and when and how much I would pump - among other things. So when we were at the doctor's office in the first few months of his life and they asked me about how many wet diapers he had in a day or how many times he ate in a day, I didn't even have to guess, I could pull out my phone and look! I also put in when we give him medicine so I don't have to worry about remembering when the last time was that we gave him something (I even used it for myself right after Samuel was born when I was taking a few pills and vitamins and things) I would track everything that he ate as well, so if he would have ever had a weird reaction one day, I could see what he ate the prior day or so and we could make a more educated guess of whether it was the food or something else that was causing the issue.
Now, the app was wonderful and I LOVED having all that information, but it has become quite a chore to be sure that I had everything in there, especially now that he's eating more active and eating more food and stuff!So, even though it makes me kind of sad, I decided that I was going to stop tracking everything after he turned one. I still track a few things, like his nightly sleep, doctor's appointments, nursing and pumping, but soon I will be done pumping and eventually done nursing, so I can see it turning into just doctor appointment, medication and any other milestones I want to record.
So, since my diligent recording efforts have come to an end, I thought I'd share Samuel's stats for the first year of Samuel's life. I pretty much started on the 23rd of August 2015 (so I didn't start until he was about a day and a half old) and these stats below are through the 22nd of August, 2016. I don't have full information from when he stayed with Nana and Papa in July (I was nice and didn't make them track everything that he did for those four days :) ) and I'm sure we've missed a few things here and there, but I think I have a pretty accurate picture of Samuel's first year!
Samuel in his bed at 1 day and 1 year old!
He slept 1,669 times (4.6 times per day)
He spent 189 days of his first year of life sleeping (51.6% of the year)
Nursing
Samuel nursed 1,837 times in his first year (5 times per day)
Spent 16 days of his life nursing (Or I've spent 16 days of his life nursing him!)
Diapers
He has had his diaper changed 2,679 times (7+ times per day)
435 of those have been poopy diapers (1.2 poopy diapers per day)
Bottles
He has had 595 bottles and drank 23.5 Gallons of milk out of a bottle
He averaged 5.1 ounces per bottle
Pumping
I have pumped 696 times (mostly from November to August) and I have pumped 27.8 gallons of milk!!
I have pumped 696 times (mostly from November to August) and I have pumped 27.8 gallons of milk!!
I have spent 11 days of my life in the last year attached to a breast pump
This means that I have spent 27 days of the last year have been spent feeding Samuel
I'm sure this next year will be filled with more poopy diapers, a lot of food eating and hopefully the same amount of sleep!!
What a year it has been!!
I'm sure this next year will be filled with more poopy diapers, a lot of food eating and hopefully the same amount of sleep!!
What a year it has been!!
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Samuel Davey - Twelve Months!!
OUR LITTLE BABY IS ONE!!! AHHHH!!!
Weight:
Weight:
I'm not sure on his weight quite yet - he has his 1 year appointment on the 1st of September, so we'll know officially then! Our estimate by weighing him at home a few weeks ago was somewhere between 26 and 27 pounds
I'll update it after his appointment tomorrow!
UPDATE: He was 26 lb 8 oz at his 12 month check up
I'll update it after his appointment tomorrow!
UPDATE: He was 26 lb 8 oz at his 12 month check up
Height:
No height measurements this month either - we measured him with a tape measure a few weeks ago and estimated him to be about 31 inches, so we'll see how close we are :)
UPDATE: He was 30.5 inches at his 12 month check up.
Clothes:
We have broken into the 2T clothes! He's got a pair of 2T jeans and a few pairs of shorts... It's crazy that he owns shorts and jeans that have real zippers and buttons on them!! He's still in 18 month shirts, but we'll see how long that lasts! We've got 24 month and 2T shirts just waiting for the day those 18 month ones get to tight!!
Sleep:
Samuel had another great month of sleep. It's amazing what happens when he isn't sick for months at a time!! We really got lucky in the sleep department with Samuel.
This month he averaged 10 hours and 55 minutes of sleep each night. His longest night of sleep was 12 hours 6 minutes and his shortest was 5 hours 10 minutes at one time (I don't remember what happened that night... I think he just missed me and wanted to snuggle for a while!)
He only had three nights this month where he slept for less than 10 hours in one stretch. And one of those nights was when we went to Nana and Papa's right after work, so he took a 2 hour nap on the way there but then was up and played for a while before going to bed and then I had to wake him up in the morning so we could get to where we were going that day, so that one wasn't even his fault!!
He's still doing the one half hour nap at daycare during the week... He's getting by with that, though, so we just have to go with it!
This month he averaged 10 hours and 55 minutes of sleep each night. His longest night of sleep was 12 hours 6 minutes and his shortest was 5 hours 10 minutes at one time (I don't remember what happened that night... I think he just missed me and wanted to snuggle for a while!)
He only had three nights this month where he slept for less than 10 hours in one stretch. And one of those nights was when we went to Nana and Papa's right after work, so he took a 2 hour nap on the way there but then was up and played for a while before going to bed and then I had to wake him up in the morning so we could get to where we were going that day, so that one wasn't even his fault!!
He's still doing the one half hour nap at daycare during the week... He's getting by with that, though, so we just have to go with it!
Likes:
Samuel loves playing! He will just play and play and play if we let him! He loves playing at daycare with his friends and all the toys they have there and then he loves playing with his toys at home, too. At night, Trent will take him to get his PJs on and then they will play in his room until it's time to go to sleep. Samuel plays with his alphabet train and his books and just crawls around until we make him stop. And he's not always happy that we make him stop!
One of Samuel's newest favorites is his Cozy Coupe Car that he got from Nana and Papa for his birthday. He is pretty much addicted to that thing!! As soon as he sees it, he has to play with it!! He will open the door and crawl in and then crawl back out and then do that over and over. We've even locked the door to the car to try to keep him from playing in it because it was time to eat or something like that and he will just crawl through the window to get into it. It's moments like that, where he doesn't listen, that I really fail as a parent because it's just so cute and so I just laugh instead of being stern with him! :) He loves to be pushed in his car and he loves it when whoever is pushing him chases Millie or some other person! It's pretty much the cutest!
Samuel trying out his car at his birthday party.
Samuel loves playing! He will just play and play and play if we let him! He loves playing at daycare with his friends and all the toys they have there and then he loves playing with his toys at home, too. At night, Trent will take him to get his PJs on and then they will play in his room until it's time to go to sleep. Samuel plays with his alphabet train and his books and just crawls around until we make him stop. And he's not always happy that we make him stop!
One of Samuel's newest favorites is his Cozy Coupe Car that he got from Nana and Papa for his birthday. He is pretty much addicted to that thing!! As soon as he sees it, he has to play with it!! He will open the door and crawl in and then crawl back out and then do that over and over. We've even locked the door to the car to try to keep him from playing in it because it was time to eat or something like that and he will just crawl through the window to get into it. It's moments like that, where he doesn't listen, that I really fail as a parent because it's just so cute and so I just laugh instead of being stern with him! :) He loves to be pushed in his car and he loves it when whoever is pushing him chases Millie or some other person! It's pretty much the cutest!
Samuel trying out his car at his birthday party.
Samuel continues to be a pretty happy little guy who's full of smiles and laughter (until he's not, that is!). Samuel continues to like food, playing in Millie's kennel, waving, playing with the baby gate that separates the family room and dining room, laughing, standing, clapping, putting his hand in the dogs' water bowl, his daycare friends and teachers, crawling as fast as he can towards the stairs (either the top or the bottom, doesn't matter!) and many other things!!
Dislikes:
Samuel doesn't like when he doesn't get his way! :) Meaning he doesn't like to be left alone or walked away from when he isn't in the mood, doesn't like to not be able to play with what he wants when he wants, and doesn't like to be held when he wants to crawl or walk somewhere on his own! (Mostly when you're trying to make him go somewhere he shouldn't be!)
He still doesn't like grass very much and is scared when balloons come at him.
Pretty typical "baby" things for the most part!
Firsts/Milestones/Development:
At the beginning of Samuel's 12th month he started being able to stand on his own for a few seconds without hanging onto anything and then, by the end of the month, he has started walking!! He took his first official steps at his birthday party for everyone!! It was pretty special!! By the end of the month, he has taken 7-10 steps in a row before losing his balance and falling down. It's so fun to see him get better with walking every day now!
His first steps:
At the beginning of this month, Grandpa Jons passed away. I'm so happy that Grandpa got to meet Samuel and see him grow up during his first year of his life. I love that I have the memories of Samuel making Grandpa smile and having Grandpa "ohh" and "ahh" at him! I know Grandpa loved Samuel!
Dislikes:
Samuel doesn't like when he doesn't get his way! :) Meaning he doesn't like to be left alone or walked away from when he isn't in the mood, doesn't like to not be able to play with what he wants when he wants, and doesn't like to be held when he wants to crawl or walk somewhere on his own! (Mostly when you're trying to make him go somewhere he shouldn't be!)
He still doesn't like grass very much and is scared when balloons come at him.
Pretty typical "baby" things for the most part!
Firsts/Milestones/Development:
Samuel got his first haircut the day after his 11 month birthday. We went to Pigtails and Crewcuts and he sat in a little police car while she cut his hair. He did pretty good. He smiled at first when we put him in there and then just kind of stared blankly for a while before kind of getting fussy and acting like he wanted out. She gave him an animal cracker to gnaw on then, and everything as better and he sat very nicely while she finished his hair cut. I did love his long hair that he had going on cuz I thought he looked super cute, but it was getting into his eyes and over his ears and he had a bit of a mullet and long comb over thing going on so it was needed! I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I absolutely loved his haircut when he got done, though. He looks sooo grown up *tear* and handsome!! I was shocked at how much I loved it! He's all ready to be a 1 year old now with his new haircut! :)
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| Before and after! |
Jocelyn started off Samuel's birthday month by giving him his first birthday gift early. This way he was able to focus on just the one present and wasn't too overwhelmed with a bunch of other presents to open at the same time. She gave him this great name puzzle. I had one (and I think Trent had something similar) when I was little, so it is pretty fun that Samuel has one too!
We celebrated Samuel's birthday on the 14th of August! I'll write a whole post about it, but we had a lot of fun celebrating! We had about 35 people here for his party. Samuel got tons of attention and was spoiled with wonderful gifts. It was such a special day!
His first steps:
At the beginning of this month, Grandpa Jons passed away. I'm so happy that Grandpa got to meet Samuel and see him grow up during his first year of his life. I love that I have the memories of Samuel making Grandpa smile and having Grandpa "ohh" and "ahh" at him! I know Grandpa loved Samuel!
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See how much Samuel has grown:
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Samuel Davey - Eleven Months
Weight:
We didn't get any official weight measurements this month because WE WENT A WHOLE MONTH WITHOUT GOING TO THE DOCTOR!!! Woohoo!!!
Height:
No height measurements this month either - he's growing, though!!!
Clothes:
Samuel is in 18 month tops and shorts now. I JUST said that he was all set for a while on clothes, but some of the 18 month stuff is already getting to small, especially the shirts and his non-mesh shorts!!
Sleep:
This was a great sleep month!! He slept an average of 10 hours and 50 minutes each night. His longest sleep was 12 hours and 15 minutes and his shortest was 6 hours and 20 minutes. That 6 hour night was by far the shortest! That was the only night where he slept less than 9 hours and 45 minutes straight! (We should be super rested, don't you think!?!)
He still hasn't taken a nap at daycare that's over an hour long in many many months, but I guess that's the way it's going to be!
He still hasn't taken a nap at daycare that's over an hour long in many many months, but I guess that's the way it's going to be!
Likes:
Samuel really likes that he's able to crawl around so well and pull himself up on whatever he wants. He loves to be standing, so he'll crawl from one thing to the next, pulling himself up to see what he can get his hands on!
He also loves his walker, so he's able to walk around with it and get where he wants that way as well! He started really using it earlier this month and has gotten pretty steady as he's been using it more and more each day.
He likes baths still! When he's crawling around in the mornings as I'm getting ready, he likes to crawl over to the bath and pull himself up there to look in. It's pretty cute! (And I much prefer that he pull himself up on the bathtub rather than the toilet! Eww!)
Samuel still loves his daycare friends and teachers and loves food! He also likes to wave and shake toys and yell in high pitched voices!
Samuel really likes that he's able to crawl around so well and pull himself up on whatever he wants. He loves to be standing, so he'll crawl from one thing to the next, pulling himself up to see what he can get his hands on!
He also loves his walker, so he's able to walk around with it and get where he wants that way as well! He started really using it earlier this month and has gotten pretty steady as he's been using it more and more each day.
He likes baths still! When he's crawling around in the mornings as I'm getting ready, he likes to crawl over to the bath and pull himself up there to look in. It's pretty cute! (And I much prefer that he pull himself up on the bathtub rather than the toilet! Eww!)
Dislikes:
Samuel does not like grass or balloons! He cries and acts like he's being tortured if he is on the grass and was super scared of balloons blowing in the wind when I was trying to get pictures of him for his birthday party invitations this month. I'm sure he'll grow out of those eventually :)
The scary grass and balloons:
Firsts/Milestones/Development:
Right at the beginning of the month, we went to Des Moines to visit Grandma Kock who was in the hospital after have surgery to give one of her kidney's to Uncle Dan. We saw her in the hospital and then went to "take care of her" a few days later after she got home. Samuel showed her how to take a good nap while we were there :)
We celebrated the June/July birthdays in the Fredericksen family this month at our house. Aunt Melodie and Uncle Russ brought along a little swing set that Taylor and Jenna used to use when they were younger, so Samuel got his first experience in a swing! I'm not quite sure he knew what to think at first, as he just kind of stared, but he was very content to just let Taylor or Jenna push him, and he eventually gave out a few smiles and waved at us!
Samuel spent his first nights away from both of his parents this month and stayed at Nana and Papa's for four nights all by himself while we were in Seattle! He had a great time and got to do some really fun stuff! He got to eat a lot of good food, go to Target and get a toy, play in the cupboards, and get all of Nana and Papa's attention!! I was nervous about how it would go (more for me than for him) since I hadn't ever been away from him at night, but he did so great! He slept well and was just his good ol' self! I know he loved it and will be something he wants to do a lot as he grows up!
Samuel does not like grass or balloons! He cries and acts like he's being tortured if he is on the grass and was super scared of balloons blowing in the wind when I was trying to get pictures of him for his birthday party invitations this month. I'm sure he'll grow out of those eventually :)
The scary grass and balloons:
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| Poor guy :( |
As I mentioned above, Samuel has been spending a lot of time standing lately. He can pull himself up on almost anything now, which makes it so he's able to get at more stuff! He started walking with his walking toy and has gotten better and better at it with each day! I love seeing him walk around with it - especially because I know he loves being able to get around that way! It won't be long before he's walking all on his own, I'm sure!
Samuel has learned to crawl really fast and he loves to crawl after all of the dog toys and their water and food bowls. We've had to start putting the water bowl up when Samuel is in the kitchen/living room because it's like a magnet and he's always crawling towards it to put his hand in it! And he knows he's not supposed to do it because he will crawl towards the bowl and then look at you and as soon as you walk towards him to pick him up or keep him from putting his hand in the bowl, he'll laugh and put his hand in there... Such a stinker! One day it will no longer be as cute when he doesn't listen! :) Luckily the dogs are pretty good with him. They love checking him out and especially loves hanging around him at meal time!!
Right at the beginning of the month, we went to Des Moines to visit Grandma Kock who was in the hospital after have surgery to give one of her kidney's to Uncle Dan. We saw her in the hospital and then went to "take care of her" a few days later after she got home. Samuel showed her how to take a good nap while we were there :)
We celebrated the June/July birthdays in the Fredericksen family this month at our house. Aunt Melodie and Uncle Russ brought along a little swing set that Taylor and Jenna used to use when they were younger, so Samuel got his first experience in a swing! I'm not quite sure he knew what to think at first, as he just kind of stared, but he was very content to just let Taylor or Jenna push him, and he eventually gave out a few smiles and waved at us!
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| Our family! |
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| On a water taxi in Elliott Bay with the Seattle skyline and the Space Needle behind us |
Samuel is just continuing to grow and grow and learn new things every day! It's so fun to watch him explore and figure things out! He's just the best! We're busy planning his 1st birthday party and I can't believe it!! This year went so incredibly fast!!
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See how much Samuel has grown:
One Month
Two Months
Three Months
Four Months
Five Months
Six Months
Seven Months
Eight Months
Nine Months
Two Months
Three Months
Four Months
Five Months
Six Months
Seven Months
Eight Months
Nine Months
Ten Months
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| He loves to look out the window in his room! |
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| Playing peek-a-boo behind the curtain with his dad! |
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