Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | December 21, 2011

Sam loves fish so we decided on our break to take her to the Adventure Aquarium in NJ.  It was kind of a disappointment from Mark and my point of view in terms of the actual exhibit.  We had been to the Baltimore, MD aquarium and well, that place is amazing!  The Camden, NJ aquarium leaves a lot to be desired in terms of what is on show.  But, when you get right down to it, the important thing is whether Sam had a good time, and boy did she ever!  We saw fish, jellyfish, seahorses, an alligator, hippos, penguins, seals, and sharks and Sam could not have been happier.  When I was putting her to bed, she kept saying, Fish! Penguins! Big tunnel! (there was a tunnel where you are surrounded on three sides by the tank) Holding tails! (some of the seahorses had their tails linked like they were holding hands) and she got to come home with some frogs from the gift shop, so all in all, the trip was a success.  I would bet there are a lot of things that Mark and I will do as parents that start out as not the greatest fun for us, but when we look at Sam’s face, it will become worth every second.  We still think we are going to take her to Baltimore though so she can really see a true aquarium.  Here are some pictures.

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pamelamyers | December 18, 2011

This year was the first year Mark and I have ever gotten an artificial tree for Christmas.  We had a lot of reasons for doing so including Mark’s allergies, the fact that Sam would make us crazy with wanting to pick up every pine needle that falls, and also, that we wanted to be able to have our tree up for as long as possible this year so that we, but mostly Sam, can enjoy it.  Our tree is gorgeous, I have to say.  My only conditions for buying one were that it had to be large and that I didn’t want to be able to see inside the tree to the trunk.  We found a beautiful (read – expensive) one online but it was worth it.

Sam helped us decorate the tree this year for the first time.  She was so excited opening each ornament that was wrapped in tissue paper.  We have a lot of animal ornaments, which she loves, and every time Mark would open one she would say, “More animals!”  The only difficult part was that she wanted to lay them all out on our sofa and look at them instead of hanging them on the tree.  We eventually did get the tree decorated, and she even hung an ornament or two herself.

Mark let her unwrap a few and she was even allowed to touch the delicate glass birds.

Digging for some good ones!

Every one she unwrapped was like a present.

She looks so happy being allowed to touch everything!

We have a bunch of these animals and she loves them.  We went and bought more this year because she liked them so much.

Hanging her ornaments.

She was very disappointed here that this was only a Pez dispenser ornament and there was no candy inside.

After a hard day decorating, it was pizza time!

Zephyr loves the tree too.  Muffin used to sleep there more than she did, so we like to think she is doing it in his honor.  We miss you Muffin boy.

After all of our hard work, here is our tree!

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pamelamyers | December 18, 2011

Thankfully, right now Sam is taking a nap.  This is a Very Good Thing.  Lately, naptime, bedtime and a lot of wake time, have been a trial.  A few weeks ago, Sam started getting really cranky and having bad sleep habits.  She was complaining that her mouth hurt and asking for medicine so I knew she was teething.  I have been looking for her two-year molars to come in since her birthday even though I know they don’t come like clockwork.  I can definitely feel that they are there, right under her gums, on the bottoms.  Nothing on the tops though.  Before, her gums were very hard and smooth where her molars should be, and now the bottoms are sort of hard but lumpy, like I can feel the outlines of her teeth.

This has been going on for a while, but those darn teeth won’t pop through!  I have heard they are the worst teeth to come in since they are larger, and I am not even sure that they fall out with her other baby teeth, so I am sure it hurts.  I feel really bad for her, but she is making us crazy.  It is hard not to get mad at her when she refuses to go to sleep, and is waking me up at least once every night, then super early (like 5:30 a.m.) each morning.  Just yesterday, she had me out of bed at 4:40 a.m.  That was fun.  So, today’s nap, and the one she took on Friday, are a blessing, that is for sure.  Hopefully, we will all be less stressed when she wakes up.  I am hoping that these teeth come in soon — Mark and I are on vacation now for the holidays and we were looking forward to it being a relaxing time, but so far, not so much.  We are so sleep deprived that it is hard to get motivated to do anything!

Oh, Sam, my little girl, I do love you honey, and am sorry for yelling at you when I get frustrated.  I hope you remember that I am just tired and don’t take my yelling at you to heart.  I always feel guilty afterwards and try to make it up to you.  Hang in there sweetie, your teeth should pop soon!

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pamelamyers | December 14, 2011

No, it’s not Christmas yet, but Sam got a whole bunch of presents!  My friend Debbi came out to see Sam and brought a lot of gifts with her.  I kept telling Sam that Debbi was coming and at first she was confused because our next door neighbor’s name is Debbie, but then I explained that it was another Debbi and she got it.  She was so cute in the car on the way to the train station, she kept saying “two Debbies!”

Sam was her usual cute self and was not shy at all, which I was really glad about.  She was even sort of showing off a bit, bouncing all around, giving hugs and talking a lot.  Of course, the fact that Debbi came bearing gifts did not hurt one bit!

I am so glad that Debbi and Sam got to spend some time together.  Debbi and I used to see each other every week when we worked in offices that were close together, but now, we work so far apart that it is hard to even meet for lunch.  Debbi always says that she feels like she knows Sam though, because she reads her blog faithfully, so I am glad that we are doing what we are doing, blogging away about Sam’s days.

Thank you Debbi, from me and Sam, for her jewelry box, her Fur-Real kitty, her stickers, her singing stocking (which I did find the battery compartment in) and her stripey monkey (which she has been sleeping with every night)!  We will come into Old City and see you soon!

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pamelamyers | December 10, 2011

Since Mark and I bought our house, we have cut down two trees on our property.  I swear though, it is like all of the neighborhood trees work overtime to dump extra leaves on our yard to make up for it, because sometimes it seems like we have more than can be possible from the trees we have.  It is a good thing we have Sam to help with the clean up every year!  This was our last and final leaf pick up of the year and Sam was, as always, a big help.

New froggy hat on her head and rake in hand, she gets to work.

This rake seems like a better fit for me!

To heck with raking, this is taking too long, I am using the blower!

Whoops, forgot my hearing protectors!

In the bag they go!

All done!

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