Samantha's first blog

pamelamyers | April 28, 2013

Today we went to Tyler Arboretum again – one of our favorite places. We love the quiet of it and just being in nature.  As in any park, when you are near the entrance, there are always crowds, but when you venture inside a little further off the beaten path, it becomes quite solitary. We have taken a lot of photos over the years in this meadow, and it still remains one of our favorite places.

Sam was in her glory, surrounded by wildflowers.

Mark and his girl – she is so lucky to have him as her dad.

We went to check out some birdhouses – when Mark peeked into one, a bird flew out! Thankfully not while Sam was looking!

Hopefully, you will see this same picture many times in the days to come. No matter how big Sam gets, I want her to always enjoy being outside, enjoying nature, with her family.

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pamelamyers | April 17, 2013

Oh boy. I guess I didn’t see this one coming, but I should have.  Sam has reached that stage where potty talk is the funniest thing ever. She is obsessed with saying Poopy! and Pee Pee! whenever possible. And it cracks her up every time.  Why do kids think this is hysterical?  God, I just hope she gets over the fascination quickly. I know she finds it funny, but it is getting old fast!

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pamelamyers | April 8, 2013

We all survived my first real trip away from Sam and Mark! This was the first time that Sam and Mark were alone together overnight, much less for a few days. I went to Chicago for 4 days for a conference. I knew that Mark and Sam would be fine, I mean, Mark is an awesome dad and he can handle anything, but Sam can be — well, headstrong — and I was worried she would give him a hard time. I put her to bed every night, and am the one she calls out for in the middle of the night among other things. Deep down, I knew a lot of Sam’s bossiness is only because she knows she can get away with it, and if I am not there for her to boss around, she would just fall in line and do what Mark needed her to do.  And she did.  They were just fine without me. Mark took her to my mom’s each morning and picked her up at night, fed her, put her to bed, and did everything she needed. And Sam loved every second with her dad. She was just fine. I missed her so much and I know she missed me. I called home, of course, every day, and even managed to do some FaceTime video calls with her on occasion, which was great!  How amazing is technology? Sam is so much easier to talk to when she can actually see your face.

Every time I called home and heard her “Hi Mommy!” it just broke my heart. I missed her more than I thought possible. She would tell me all about her day, with her long, drawn out stories, and I was sad that I was missing out on what was going on.  I didn’t realize how wonderful it is to be able to experience each little part of her life in that way.

Mark and Sam just about made it through the week without calamity.  Just about. Then I got a call from Mark on Saturday morning, the day I was supposed to leave Chicago. Sam stuck a Polly Pocket shoe up her nose.  If you are not a parent familiar with Polly Pockets, they are tiny dolls and have many little parts including shoes, which are even more tiny and perfectly sized to go up a preschooler’s nose.  Thankfully, Sam was smart enough to tell Mark that something was wrong with her nose and eventually he figured out what was wrong and managed to get it out with a pair of tweezers, but she gave us all a scare. She scared herself too. I don’t think she’ll be making that mistake again!  Putting things up her nose is not on Sam’s agenda anymore.

Coming home was the greatest thing ever. Mark let Sam stay up late to greet me since I got home after her bedtime and seeing her little face peeking around the door was the best sight ever. She gave me the most huge hugs and kisses and told me all about her time with Daddy. I swear, she grew a foot in the few days I was gone. We had a wonderful time catching up and of course, opening Sam’s presents I brought home!  Gotta have presents when you get back, that is parent rule for travel #1.

Hopefully, I won’t be travelling anytime soon. Now, Mark on the other hand…he is already gone in Rhode Island for his conference.  Sam and I can’t wait until he comes back!

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pamelamyers | April 2, 2013

Well, it’s technically spring.  It still hasn’t been very springlike, weatherwise, but at least on this day, it was warm. Windy, but warm. It was the perfect day to let Sam run around like a crazy person in our yard. She was a little reluctant because of the wind, but I finally convinced her to go as long as she was allowed to wear a hat to keep her hair from blowing around.

She looked so cute in her orange hat that Mark wanted to take some pictures. I couldn’t believe my luck finding this hat. I was poking around in a little kids boutique and saw these hats and other accessories with letters on them. The orange hat randomly had an S! It was pure luck.

We never did manage to get Mark in any of our pictures on Easter, so I made sure I took some when we were outside.

Off she goes! Sam loves to get her picture taken, but it is usually in small spurts at one time.  I guess that’s being a kid — all full of energy and too full of spunk to stand still.

She stopped for a while to ponder her next move. I was sitting on the ground right in front of her and managed to get this cute shot.

Sam was kind of done smiling until she was the victim of the tickle monster!

She was done with the photos and ready to just run around and play. She loves to hide under her hats. Where’s Sammy?

There she is!

She dug out her rock collection and was showing me all her very best rocks. We have such a huge bucketful and if you try to ditch them, even one, she knows!

Almost every day, Sam asks me to spin her. It always ends up with her feet flying off the ground. We never did it outside before, so I thought she would think it was fun. At least it gave us more room than our kitchen, which is usually where we spin.

Hopefully, the warm weather will come soon. Mark and I are both looking forward to spending more time outside.  Sam really misses going to the playground and running around outside. She tells me she wants to go to the beach so often that I wonder how we are going to make it through the summer. Ah, the beach, the pool, the playground, all those fun warm weather things are coming.  Come on Mother Nature — let’s get moving!!

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pamelamyers | April 2, 2013

Mark got a new lens recently and of course, had to try it out on his favorite test subject. She was pretty cooperative, as usual. He took these in the morning not long after they both woke up.

I love her sly smiles.

It’s been a long time since we’ve had any super close ups of her beautiful face. I think she has the most expressive eyes.

And we couldn’t forget our other favorite test subject, the original, Zephyr. She was pretty cooperative too, which isn’t always a given. She is a cat after all!

Ok, I’ve had enough.  Nap time!

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