Do You Want Me To Shoot You!

Most of you may have heard the news by now, but for those of you who haven’t, Shana has been invaded by parasite. Yes, the kind that grow over a nine-month period and weigh approximately 8 pounds! Although this one won't burst from her stomach...well, it might be like that!

We found out that we were expecting in September and officially let the news out at the end of October; the due date is sometime in the end of April. Shortly before Thanksgiving, we found out that we are having a boy! I’m a little terrified actually! Samara has been great, so I’m a little scared that the next one will be totally different (especially now that we know it is a boy). I hear two stories: 1) that the 2nd child will usually behave the same and 2) that the children will be totally different and that the next child will be a terror (ouch)! Stay tuned...

I asked Shana if she wanted to schedule a c-section on April 22^nd, Earth Day. She responded with something like “Do you want me to shoot you!” I take it Earth Day is out of the question.

Samara has been wonderful over the course of the last few months. We have been preparing her for the change, telling her that she’s going to have to share mommy and daddy with the new baby, asking her if she’ll help us with the baby, etc. Shana asked her one evening if she was going to help feed the baby…Samara responded with a “yes”…then I asked her if she was going to change the baby’s diaper…she responded with a “yes”. I’ll hold her to it!

Samara is very excited about the new baby. When we first told her Shana was pregnant, Samara wanted a sister. However, she has grown to the idea of a baby brother and has even adopted the name of one off her school teacher’s newborn: “Baby Bryson!”

She understands where the baby is at; If Samara accidentally hits Shana’s belly, Shana will say “watch out”, which Samara promptly says “Sorry baby!”

Samara has begun to carry a baby doll around and insists on having a play bottle around to feed it. One day Shana was going to get groceries and Samara wanted to go…she also wanted to take her baby doll. Before Shana could say anything, I told Samara that if she was going to take the baby, that she needed to get some diapers, baby wipes, and the bottle. Shana was very thrilled at that!

Some interesting Samara-character-development stories:

Samara now knows that the Starbucks sign means “coffee”, as she yells it every time we pass a Starbucks!

Samara watched the Harry Potter movies for 2 months straight; she knows most of the main characters and talks “Harry Potter” with one of the teachers, who is an avid fan!

Samara got in trouble at school one day because she somehow convinced the other school children in her class to start saying “poop”. From what I hear, it was an interesting day.

This will be Samara’s 3^rd Christmas, but the 1^st where she really has an understanding of what all the commotion is about. So, we asked her after Thanksgiving what she wanted for Christmas and she replied, “make-up”! Help me!

Samara has been potty trained since early October; only two accidents since then! She loves wearing her “princess” and Dora underwear!

Several of Samara's favorite songs over the last several months have been "I'm In The Mood (for a Melody)" by Robert Plant, "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" by Gayla Peevy, and her ABC's song, which she sings..."ABCDEF poop HIJKLMNO poop QRSTU poop WXY poop". I hear every child goes through a poop fascination...

And some photos...

Shana and Samara at Brian and Ali's with Wrigley and Brady...

Samara loves vegies...

I think someone had a little too much to drink...

Shana and Samara swimming at Lake of the Arbuckles in July. Samara also tubed...

Sheldon and Samara during one of our camping trips...

Great lighting! I was able to catch this at the right time!

More recently, Samara has put bubble on her face in an attempt to look like Santa!

Samara at Canadian River Vineyards and Winery!

Samara and Tori in the 40-acre Wood!

They had fun throwing things into the pond...

Samara loves walking in the pasture...

As well as sitting by the fireplace when the weather is cold.

Aunt Shannon, the cereal killer, and cousin Tori...

Samara, as Dorothy, Princess Tori, and Uncle Mike, as Death.

This is a nice shot of Samara at her great grandmothers funeral...


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Time is of the Essence!

I keep saying this and never seem to follow up on my promises, but I need to write more often. Three months is a long time, in my opinion. What can happen in 3 months, you may say? Considering 3 months is a quarter of a year and say, the average person lives to be 80 years old, then 3 months is approximately 0.3% of your life. Ok, it doesn’t seem like very much. But, those of us with children, it’s a long time! What has happened? A camping trip in Oklahoma, a camping trip to New Mexico, Samara’s 2^nd birthday, 4^th of July, etc etc. I tell you, “action packed” is an understatement.

First of all, I’d like to congratulate some friends from Colorado who informed us that they are expecting in December of this year! Wow! And, of course, congrats to Brian and Alli on a new marriage! Let’s see..Brian and Alli getting married…Sean and Sarah expecting their 1^st….Brad and Amy with a 1-year old….Shana and I planning our second…Brian and Kelli with three boys….very interesting spectrum. And, some psychology…every couple I named the male 1^st, except for Shana and myself…hmmm…

Here are some great Samara stories and developments to share:

Shana and I were driving back from her mother’s house and stopped in at the local Starbuck’s in Owasso. My idea, since they give you their coffee grounds for gardening. Shana ordered her “usual”, a caramel frappacino. For anyone who doesn’t know what a “frap” is, the beverage is a concoction of coffee, ice, sugar, and what ever flavor you choose blended into something that would be called a coffee slurpy at 7-eleven. So naturally, a 2-year old would love this beverage. That, and the fact that Samara likes a little coffee now and then, makes for an interesting outcome (on a side note, Samara can smell coffee from a mile away…the kid has a nose for smell). So, Shana received her beverage and gave Samara a drink (this wasn’t her 1^st frap). Samara held on to the beverage while Shana went to the restroom, taking some generous sips. After Shana was finished, she realized that Samara wouldn’t relinquish the tasty beverage. So, on the way out of the store, we talked to Samara about sharing (again) and that it was mommy’s turn to drink. Inside the car, she reluctantly handed over the drink. As we were driving, Shana took a couple of leisurely drinks. After a few moments of silence, Samara belted with air of deception in her voice, “Give me my coffee back!!!” My crystal ball tells me that Samara’s college fund will be spent at Starbuck’s!

Samara turned 2 in June. Wow! The speed at which life plays out in the grand scheme of things is amazing. And what is equally amazing, is how slow time can feel (My extra philosophy of the day…nothing like Emerson or Thoreau, of course). Samara loved opening presents and seemed to be really in the groove, unlike her 1^st birthday, when she counted on help from her young friends. The interesting part of the day (no, this is not about my family being one and a half hours late) was after we had passed out cupcakes to everyone. We planted two candles into Samara’s cupcake and set it ablaze. As we started to sing “Happy Birthday”, Samara became frightened! She jumped off of the park bench and started running away from the party, which must have seemed to her young, impressionable mind, like a devil-worshipping ceremony seen in the movies. She finally stopped at a fence and was crying and in a frightened state. A little child psychology on that great day…

Samara can recite the ABC song; we’re working on recognizing the letters. She has also learned her colors over the last several months. Instead of calling everything yellow, she can now identify colors correctly about 95% of the time. She has trouble with colors that are a mix, say, yellow-green, blue-green, lighter color purples.

We’re also in potty-training mode! During the weekend at home, we let her run around without a diaper or in underwear and she does a great job letting us know when she has to go. Interestingly, she doesn’t do as good at daycare…maybe there’s just so much going on! Speaking of diaper/potty training, Samara has a mild interest in looking at her poopy diapers, which I may have mentioned before. But now, she likes to say, out of the blue, Daddy poopy…mommy poopy…Orion poopy, and of course, laugh!

On with the pictures!

Samara playing in the dirt at Bandelier National Park

Table surfing at Badelier...

Our photo ops....

A nice walk...

Is there a doctor in the house?

Good morning sunshine!

Samara with her new baby in front of our house...

Samara and Tori on our camping trip to Greenleaf State Park...

I'm having a hard time figuring this one out. Maybe the audience can leave a message with an appropriate caption!

Uncle Mickey....

Going Commando!

Samara helping with cupcakes....

Samara, Eden, and Aidan at Samara's birthday party...

Samara running away while we were singing "Happy Birthday"...

Mmmmm....birthday cupcakes...

Shana and Cousin Jasmine...

It's great to know that someone will always be there when you need a helping hand....

Samara's new pool...

Samara's first bike...now I need some leather...

I had to put a picture of these braids up...

Adios!

Samara's New Home

We are now homeowners! Let me take a couple of sentences to relay some thoughts about finally owning a home. It’s nice being able 1) to stand up and stretch, 2) have a greater than 1-butt kitchen, and 3) not listen to upstairs neighbors have sex! Awesome!

Shana flew in from Reston, Virginia at 10:30 pm on Friday, March 21^st; she had been taking a modeling course at the regional USGS course. By 3:45 pm, we had closed on our house. By 6:00 pm, we had picked Samara up from “school”, bought a refrigerator, and grabbed dinner; we had Sonic and a bottle of wine for our first meal in our new house!

The past several months since then have been very tiresome. We still don’t have everything unpacked, and from what I understand, some of those things will never get unpacked (future garage sale items, I’m told). I guess Shana’s dominatrix suit will make someone a great gift down the road….

And I must apologize to those of you who like to see pictures of Samara for the extended length between blog posts. As some of you know, we don’t have cable or internet (please refrain from comments such as “heathen”, “what’s wrong with you?”, etc; “weirdo” is ok), so it is difficult writing this with a hand and leg in the air trying to “steal” someone’s unprotected wireless signal!

Here are some Samara stories from the past month or so:

I had prepped Samara one morning for school (while Shana was away) and had set her on the sofa. While she watched Shrek, I dressed myself for work. After I made myself pretty, I walked into the living room and asked Samara if she was ready to go to school; she replied “uh-huh”. As I stood their watching her, she looked up at me and raised her juice cup toward me. I didn’t immediately grab the cup away from her, which must have vexed her because she frowned and said “take it!!!”

Samara and I went to the park after diner one evening (a compromise from the day before). She loves the play structures and watching other little kids; she has become a very social person. However, when there are few kids around, she prefers to walk around in the park exploring new things. I mostly meander 10 feet behind her so she feels like she’s being independent. When she needs something, or wants something, she politely calls my attention. On this particular trip, we had walked around for about 45 minutes and she was getting tired (one can tell based on her moodiness); I decided to close the distance between us. She began turning around every 10-15 seconds and mumbling something while pointing a finger in my direction. I finally realized she was saying “go back!!!” I reiterated this and she said, in her smoker’s/possessed voice, “yes daddy!”

We had moved into our new house and were going to grill sausages for dinner. I dumped charcoal into the tiny grill and began to rearrange the pieces carefully (in the optimal burning formation; of course). Samara approached with curiosity, looked down into the bowl, pointed, and announced “one, two, three, four, five, six” and after I said “Oh my God!” in a stunned voice, she said “seven”!!! Unbelievable! I know at this age it’s all repetition, but how cool it is!

Samara moved up into the next age group a couple of months ago (even though there was a girl in her old room who is older). She love’s being in the room and has not bitten any of the other children. Everyday when Shana and I pick her up, she wants to go visit her old room. She often will say “I want to see Kylee”, or Noah or Coby; and so we spend 5 extra minutes hangin’ out with her old friends and teachers…

Samara likes to pass gas and proclaim with a grin, “I farted!!” A co-worker of mine has a keychain called Dr. Fart…no explanation is necessary, I’m guessing. I took it home one day and started pushing the button behind my back. Samara would turn around and start laughing and say “eeewwww” (imagine Jim Varney in the Ernest movies). I finally gave the device to her….it was non-stop Dr. Fart for about 20 minutes!

Samara’s favorite movies are now Shrek and Mary Poppins. She’s ventured away from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the other day she wanted to watch it. In the middle of the movie, she asked “What’s Charlie doing?” In addition, Jerrod bought her The Sound of Music; she’s been watching that on a regular basis and has been singing the songs. She seems to enjoy adult movies more than animated kids films. I hope the birthday-gift National Geographic Lion vs. Hyena documentary isn’t too carnal.

Samara enjoys singing; she’ll sing on long car trips until she gets tired, eventually falling asleep. One of her favorite songs is the ABC song…which is awesome! She gets most of the letters but skips some or mumbles 3-4 of them together. Another of her favorites is Ring Around the Posey…after we fall down she proclaims “yeeeaaaa” and claps….

Ok…time for some photos! Take care! Until next time…

Samara and the ferret at the Safari in Tuttle, OK

The Burmese Python...

Samara received her 1st trim...

Samara and I walked around the apartment complex one afternoon; she was feeling adventurous on this particular day...

The killer smile...

Ummm...cake....

The anticipation is overflowing...

Samara and Aunt Cathy at the Golden-Brick Road Sedan, Kansas...

Where are the ruby slippers???

I shot this photo right before we went down the park slide...

Samara at the park...

Samara looking at ducks and geese at the park...`

Samara playing with rocks...

Ahhh...future geoscientist...

I see Aloha in Samara's future...

Samara playing on her tricycle in our new backyard...

Samara's library...

Samara, Shana, and Sheldon at the zoo...

Samara found the Harpy Eagle's at the zoo...

Samara thought the rhino's were cool...

One of Samara's favorite animals! She became scarred after the tiger made several intimidating noises...