Teeth on the way!

Squinter Magoo trying to wink...


I'm pooped!


Yee Haw Uncle Eric!!! There's awesome video of this too, but I'm too tired to figure out how to take the sound off...


Glad I'm on this side of the door!


Wish I was out there drooling with you guys!



The top right tooth is partially through- though it evidently takes some imagination to see/feel it- Lisa at day care does not believe me that it's through, but I have first-hand info!
We've also been working on winking and giving the thumbs up- important skills for a young man to learn- who needs the alphabet?! He mostly squints and laughs...
Best of luck to Auntie Mara with her current term- quick and painless, right? Ha Ha Ha...

Thank You!

A BIG heartfelt thank-you goes out to Lisa Donatell, Gatfly and Cindy Millin for helping watch Sam while our Day-care gal was off after her knee surgery. She was out for a week and a half and we truly appreciate these ladies pitching in and helping. Also Great Grandma Palmberg helped in the morning one of the days so Momma could go to the dentist...we won't be posting about the dentist...
Anyhoo, Sam continues to grow and surprise us daily with his sense of humor and his temper. He also had his one year appointment and measured in at 23lbs (50%), 30 inches (50-75th) and a whopping head size of 49 1/2 cm (still ABOVE the 95th). They reassured me that he continues to grow on the same curve so all is well! He yet again was not impressed with the shots and go VERY angry, though recovered more quickly this time.
No more independent steps yet, but lots of practice standing and walking with only one hand from Momma/Daddy to support him.
We also had a Birthday gathering with the family Aho- they will have to send us pictures to post of that!!! A big thank-you to them as well for helping celebrate with more cake!!



Big Boy sitting in the rocking chair "Old Grampa" made for him. He climbs in and out of this as often as he can...



I can climb into this chair too!



This toy is a Ball Popper- air forces the balls back up when he puts them in- Lisa from DayCare gave this to him and he can turn it on himself- he is very impressed by that...



Awesome!



Thanks Gatfly!



Quick, take the picture before the mosquitoes find me!

Big news!

Just seeing if I can get Gatfly going...
Sam took his first steps alone today!!! He was standing by his daddy who was in the recliner and I was sitting on the floor and we were tossing the footbal back kand forth...I held out the football and Sam took three shaky steps towards me!!! No repeat since, but he's been working on his standing balance without hanging on. Hoping you're all enjoying the gorgeous weather today!

ONE!

We're still not sure where the time went, but Sam turned one on July 5th! We had a wonderful time with family- siblings (and nephew!) and cousins and their kids...lots of kids! And we are looking forward to celebrating soon with the Aho/Palmberg side of the family as well. Sam "survived" his first birthday...note in some of the pictures the marks on his face- he reacts to bug bites and had several on his face including one right by his eye. Poor guy looked pretty rough- and was on Benedryl for swelling, so he was a bit intoxicated as well. He also had a few tumbles on his Birthday including a fall (fell about three inches) from the hammock, a croquet ball up the side of the head (courtesy of little cousin Erik), and a bump on his noggen from a lawn chair. There was one point at Aunt Mary's house that we put him in the play pen outside with the mosquito netting and he looked relieved- "finally somewhere I'm safe!" Oh, and he went swimming for the first time and LOVED it!!! He splashed and giggled and drank half the lake!
A big thank you to everyone who celebrated with us and gave Sam all sorts of fun toys- and a potty seat- for his First Birthday!! We got to spend some quality time with first cousin Thomas- boy is he ever changing and growing!!! And I'm going to be an Auntie again- my sister Mara is due in February!!!!!!! We are SO thrilled for her and can't wait to compare notes!


**Narrowing down the pictures was tough- there were a lot of precious moments! Will add captions later when there's more energy/time!

:-)

You didn't want those clothes IN the box, did you?!


This is the face he makes when he grabs at the phone too...picture that when you hear the him press the buttons...





Perfecting the "How YOU doin'?" look...

We keep forgetting to take the camera with us...went to Jayvid's Birthday party today- we met his parents in birthing class and Jayvid happened to be born the day before Sam so we've kept track of progress and compared notes over the last year. Sorry no pictures, but they're pretty similar in size and development with two major differences: Sam has WAY more hair and Jayvid has WAY more teeth (6 to Sam's 2). Sam has evidetly spent more energy growing hair than teeth... :-)
After Sam's midday post party bath I set him on the floor in the batroom for a moment before getting him dressed. I stood up and heard "water" running...yeah, he was peeing on the floor. He looked up at me and giggled, so I threw the towel down in front of him while he finished. Two thoughts on that: #1 he saved us a diaper, #2 he was doing that right next to the toilet, so that means he wants to be potty trained, right? Ha ha ha. We'll work on the walking first...

Summer Fun!

Can you balace a car on YOUR head?


Why?!


Aha! This will do just fine!


Arr...


Aw gee Grandpa!


A new contender for "Uncle Stinky"...watch outUncle Josh...check out those pipes too!


Going for a stroll...


Fell asleep in the car with his remote in his hand...typical male...


Which was more amusing...Cosmo or her leash...



Grandma Diane and her "babies"


Busy couple of weeks! Diane was kind enough to take a day off and watch Sam so we wouldn't have to take our time off when our Day Care gal had an appointment (the down side of home daycare- there's not always back-up...). And it sounds like they had a blast- except for not wanting to sleep- too much fun to be had with Grandma!
Sam also had his first taste of corn-on-the-cob and LOVED it! And he did very well over at the campgroud in Algoma. He especially loved the camper, as everything is close enough together that he can "walk" wherever he wants to. Ah yes, the question of the hour- is he walking yet?! Short answer...no. He is making progress on that front though and will take a few steps with only holding on to one hand. Thanks to day care he has mastered stairs- an art he doesn't get to practice at our house as our living area is all on one level. Watch out grandparents! He's fast!! And it sounds as though cousin Thomas may catch and surpass Sam in the tooth-growing area. Have fun with that Debora!!! We are so looking forward to spending time with cousin Thomas over the Fourth! TROUBLE!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Sam and his Daddy got lots of quality time together this weekend at Baldwin's "June Bug Days." It was Daddy's choice this weekend, so we went to the tractor pulls (Sat and Sun). Saturday they had the lawn tractors and ATV's and today was the Big Boys. Sam seemed to enjoy it though did not like our attempts at protecting his ears. We hope all you fathers out there had an awesome Father's Day as well!