...and I need to catch up with stories and photos...
Happy Holidays everyone! Normally, I’m Mr. Scrooge when it comes to Christmastime. However, I’ve come to the realization that having kids means getting an attitude adjustment. A strong statement indeed!
Shana and the kids went to Claremore one Friday several weeks ago to hang out with Grandma. The trip gave me the occasion to wrap the gifts we had purchased to date and stuff them under our faux tree. When Shana and the kids came home Saturday night, Samara saw the presents and proceeded to take them out from under the tree and stack them elsewhere! Kids will be kids! Surprisingly, she hasn’t asked or tried to open any of the gifts…waiting until Christmas, I suppose.
Samara and her princess outfits. She’s hit a phase where she’ll come home from “school” and strip down to her underwear (in a 60-62F house) and put on tights and a princess dress. One day, Shepard had a doctor’s appointment and I took her with us. Before we left the house, she stuffed one of her backpacks with “stuff” and brought it with her. I didn’t mind…not really a big deal. We get to the doctor’s office and are called into one of the smaller waiting rooms. You know, the rooms they put you in to make you feel like they’re paying attention to you, but make you wait another 30 minutes. Well, we get into the smaller “waiting” room and Samara proceeds to strip down, pull her princess clothes out, and morph into Princess Samara…all within about 2 minutes. No big deal…since I figured we’d be there another hour!!
I periodically ask Samara what she wants for Christmas. One day, she replied with her normal rhetoric. After several moments, she said she wanted a “weedeater”. I replied ,“Like the one mommy and daddy mows the yard with?” “Yeah!” “Ok.” Several more moments pass, “A pink one!” Sorry kid, you’ll have to be satisfied with the “My Parents Are Poor” t-shirt.
Shepard has been sitting up since before Thanksgiving…at about 7 months. Comparing the two wee ones (because what parent doesn’t), Samara was sitting up at around 5 months. Now the pressure is on Shep to start walking before Samara’s pedestrian 14 months of age!
Shep is kind of crawling now. The kind of crawling where the child gets on all fours and pushes himself backwards. He also does a head bobble when he’s lying down…almost looks like he’s trying to scratch the back of his head. At other times, when he’s sitting up, he’ll start to tilt his head and look sideways at things…then rotate between right-side-up and sideways. What a discovery!
Let me tell you, Shepard is an eater! When the kid gets hungry, he lets everyone know! I mean, the kid gets royally pissed! Sometimes, when you set him in his high chair and walk by with a jar of baby food, he starts crying like he just lost an arm. Typically, we feed him 2 different foods…say liquid beef/carrots and a fruit/yogurt blend (or something like that). If he doesn’t like one of the options when you stick it in his mouth, he’ll cry until you stuff the other option into his mouth. When this happens, we alternate spoonfuls…so crying…happy…crying…happy…etc.
I picked up the kids from “school” one day and once home, proceeded to find something to cook for dinner. Shep was sitting on the floor of the living room and Samara went to her room to play…with a pair of scissors, apparently!! Not a horror story, honestly! After about 5-10 minutes in her room, she comes running out holding up a piece of paper yelling, “Look daddy, a pentagon!!!” The child had cut a piece of paper into the shape of a pentagon! It was almost perfect. Shana is saving it in order to frame it just in case this is as smart as she gets…
Shep in the tub. Samara can get him to laugh at a moment's notice!
Waterfalls near Guthrie! We went here while doing fieldwork on the Garber-Wellington Aquifer.
Samara and our Christmas tree.
Number 1 draft pick.
Photos of the kids taken around Thanksgiving...
Our Halloween costumes...
Samara accidentally put her coat on upside down. She was running away from me because she was embarrassed...
Samara and Shep...sitting on daddy.
Shepard in his crib...
Samara likes to help out...
Samara and Batman at a Will's (our neighbor's child) birthday party.
My new nephew, Chuck, who was born on October 12th.
Shana and Shep in the pasture behind my parent's house.
John, Tori, Samara, and the watchdog...
The kids in the pasture in October...
