Blended Green Beans

Shep is evolving; the kid loves to smile all the time and enjoys people talking to him. Shepard is also a thumb sucker, which is the complete opposite from Samara! He's been sleeping well at night until recently...he's gotten into the habit of falling asleep at about 8 pm, which translates into uneasiness during parts of the night.

Shep doesn't cry very much; only when he's hungry or tired. Speaking of hungry, he's started eating food. He's not particularly fond of blended green beans but has been really munching everything else. I suppose munching isn't appropriate at this point...maybe drinking or slurping is the proper term...

One day last week, Shepard's teachers said that he bounced himself to sleep in one of the bouncy seats. Shep's teachers actually argue and fight about who gets to hold him etc. One day we picked him up and one of the teachers complained that the other wouldn't let her hold Shep all afternoon! I'm still convinced that all teachers are trained to say those things...

We finally got a bed for Samara! Before Shep was born, the crib had been converted to a daybed and that was Samara's bed. After Shep was born, the bed transformed back into a crib and Samara slept with us. Well, it took us awhile, to say the least, to acquire a bed (my old bed as a child/teen). Samara loves it and is so proud of sleeping by herself. Although on one of the 1st few nights, Samara claimed that something was under her bed. One of my favorite movie scenes is in Major Payne, when the Major pulls his sidearm out and fills the closet full of bullets and tells the kid "if he's in there, he ain't happy"...I really wanted to do that...

Samara started asking about 6 months or so ago at dusk, "Is it getting dark?" "Yes" would be our response. And of course came the "Why?' question. Perfect time to teach your child about celestial mechanics! After showing videos of the Earth rotating on youtube, she now knows that the Earth spins.

Samara had "Show and Share Day" at school. The night before, she gathered some things and put them in two backpacks...small little children's bags. Anyway, Shana and I didn't bother to check what she put in them. When we got to school after work, we noticed that she had on a different pair of shoes. So, I opened both bags up and found....5 pairs of shoes stuffed into the bags in addition to a doll and a book. I better nip this one in the bud!! No fetishes here...


We've had some check-ups with the Doctor:

Shepard (4-month on 6/29/09)
Height: 23.5 inches
Weight: 14 lbs. 8 oz.

Shepard (6-month on 8/21/09)
Height: 25 inches
Weight: 16 lbs.

Samara (3-year)
Height: 36.5 inches
Weight: 32 lbs.

Samara loves blueberries! Actually, she loves most fruits and vegetables. I picked some banana peppers one day, she asked if they were spicy...I replied "no, not really"...and ever since she eats banana peppers. Once, she ate 3 before dinner...talk about an afternoon snack!

Samara, cousin Tori, Aunt Shannon, and our neighbor Peyton during Samara's birthday party.

Samara's birthday cake. You might ask, "why is there a square missing?" Well, that would be Samara grabbing a fist full while it was in the fridge the night before her party...

The party...

Big sister and Little brother...

Samara at A Taste of Edmond in June...

Shana and Shep at a Taste of Edmond...

Thought you might like this shot of Natural Falls State Park that I took on the 4th of July weekend.

The battle...

Samara and Tori's cuz Josephine snoozing after the 4th celebration...

Shepard at the zoo on the train....

Samara enjoyed playing at the zoo...

Samara enjoyed the train...

Samara and Uncle Mike on the Illinois River...

Shana shot this one while Samara was running around in an open field near our house...great lighting...the shadow draws your eyes away from the subject...or is the shadow the subject?

These photos were shot on different days. The top one illustrates Samara's cheesey smile...the one she had when she was 9-months old...check posts from 2007. The bottom one is a bit more mysterious...kind of hard to imagine what she is thinking...probably "what the h#@$ does daddy want now..."

Rough day...

One of Shep's 1st meals...probably oatmeal or rice cereal...

The bridge over Grand Lake...

Samara "Wind in her hair" during a boat trip on Grand Lake for Oma and Crazy Grandpa's 40-year anniversary.

Shana and Shep with Uncle Mike in the background...

Tragedy

I had planned to add these picture to a longer post but decided to separate them based on the content and the circumstances. These photos are from early August, when Shana's sister was murdered by her live-in boyfriend. Luckily, the kids had been living with Grandma and were not around during the incident.

Shana is doing well and we all have questions that will never be answered, but at least we have each other and can move forward. I will not send this out in mass e-mail, but if you do happen to catch it on the blog, send your regards to Shana (shanalichelle@hotmail.com).

Shana and Shep at the luncheon before the funeral. Aunt Kathy is in the background.

Stacey's casket covered by a Pendleton Blanket.

Shana's half-sister Christy and Aunt Joy with Shep.

Christy and Shep....

Shana with her Aunt Blanche and biological father, Stuart...of course, with Shep.

Shana, Christy, Samara, Shep, Sheldon, and Samantha.

Breathe a sigh!

We are beginning to breathe a sigh (or maybe gasping for air).... I will offer a piece of insight to those of you with one (or no) children: two definitely becomes more intense. It's not like we didn't expect this, but until you've experienced it, you really have no idea!! I don't understand how single parents do it (or those relationships where one spouse is never around). "Spare time" is a relative phrase these days...when will it be normal again!

Shepard is quite the "talker". When he doesn't like something in his environment, he let's you know...loudly! Both Shana and I don't remember Samara expressing her discomfort as much...or as intense. Maybe the new "Whiskey Plan" will alleviate that...

We had a semi-rough 1st month or so (as evident by this posting 2 months after birth) with Shep's sleeping habits. You see, Shep would get his day and night mixed up for some reason and would be awake from 1:30 AM to 5:30 AM (approximately). One day, we made sure he was awake for 6+ hours during the day...futile effort. But now, he seems to be getting on track.

Speaking of sleeping, our children are belly sleepers. One of the nurses at the doctor's office about gave birth when Shana explained to her that Shep sleeps on his belly. "Oh! We really don't recommend that." Fine, give us your number and we'll call you at 3 AM when he's not sleeping. Come on, we're not robots here...at least we're not feeding him crack! Jeez.

Big sister loves her little brother. She tries to sing to him when he's crying; she is constantly hugging and kissing him. As a matter of fact, she gave him his first cold several weeks ago! She also was infected by a virus when Shep was a couple of weeks old...took her to the doctor...and the doctor said "stay away from little brother". For the next week or so, she ran around saying "the doctor told me to stay away from Shep" and resorted to blowing kisses...

And just to keep notes, the little guy has a case of thrush that we haven't been able to get rid of...here comes the purple stuff!

Shep had his 2 week checkup on May 4th:

Height: 20 1/2 inches
Weight: 8 lbs. 12 oz.

Now, don't ask me how the child can lose 1 1/2 inches from birth! Maybe he's a mutant...


Funny stories:

Shep was sitting in his "bouncy chair" crying, Shana was cooking, and I was paying bills. Samara decided that she was going to try to calm Shep down and began singing to him and rubbing his head, etc. After several futile minutes, Samara became frustrated and yelled "STOP IT!!!" Take it easy Samara....She now has a tendency to cover his mouth up with her hand...or she tries to stuff his burp rag into his mouth...

We went to the annual Red Earth festival on June 5th, which is a showcase for Native American dancers and artists. We had set down to eat lunch...corn dogs, roasted corn, indian tacos...and Shana got up to go to the bathroom. Well, Samara and Shana don't exactly have the same skin color...and when Samara got up screaming and ran after mommy, who had already migrated through crowded area, all of the bystanders became worried when Samara caught up with Shana and grabbed her hand (thinking Samara was lost). Shana heard "I think she came from over there"...and "Where are you going to take her". About 5 or 10 people were willing to help Shana find the parents of this lost child. Finally, through all of the advice, Shana was able to say "She's my child!"...or something like that. I wasn't there, so I'm not sure if Shana used explicits or not...


Finally, he shut up...here's some pictures:

Samara at a birthday party...


Shepard and great-Grandpa Adams...


Samara at the park...with that cheesy smile...


Samara and cousin Tori. Tori was just a little agrevated that I was including Samara in the picture...


Oma and Shep...She hasn't sit on this one yet...


Our boy...


Our girl being a Big Sister...


Grandma and Shep...

Snoozin'...


Big sis helping out after a diaper change...


I'm not sure you can see in this photo, but Shepard has my forehead...more specifically, the wrinkles...


I shot the rest of these at home with a black and a white bed sheet:









Take care!

Round 2!

Round 2 has begun!

Shepard Nocona Lewis Neel was welcomed to this world at 9:12 AM on April 17, 2009! At 8 lbs 8 oz, he wasn't nearly the size of his older sister when she was born (9 lb 4 oz). However, Samara was 10 days past her due date and Shepard was born 11 days before his due date! Shepard (Shep) was 22 inches long, which is longer than Samara's length when she was born.

Shepard and Shana are doing well! We arrived at the hospital at about 6:40 AM on the 17th...Shana was a bit aggravated, to say the least, that we were 10 minutes late arriving! Everything went well and by 10 Am, we were showing him off to our families!

To say the least, the 1st 24 hours with Shep was definitely easier than with Samara. There have been no latching problems and we actually were able to sleep somewhat last night!

Samara has been a great big sister! We couldn't be more proud of how well she has adjusted (so far). She always wants to hold Shepard and make sure he's ok when he cries. Once, when the nurse came in to get a blood sample for a glucose test...Samara has just woken up...Shep started crying after the nurse "stuck" him with the needle. Samara instantly started crying and reaching for him (although she was about 10 feet away)...yelling "my baby (brother)"!

So, some may wonder how we came up with Shepard. Well, we (I) wanted to stick with the same basic format that we used on Samara. Yes, I am that much of a nerd! So, a space-related name, a comanche name, and a family name.

Shepard was about the only space-related male name Shana and I both liked. Shepard being the last name of the 1st American astronaut in space; Alan Shepard.

Nocona is a variant of the Comanche Chief Quanah Parker's father, Peta Nocona. As with Quanah, Peta Nocona was a great leader for the Comanche's whose name means "he who travels alone and returns." Nocona simply means, "wanderer".

Lewis was taken from both Shana's and my grandfathers. Shana's grandfather is Lewis Albert Adama and my grandfather was Frank Lewis Palmer. We didn't hit on this name until a couple of weeks ago; we had Shepard and Nocona nailed for the last several months...

There's the story! I'm sure I'll be subjecting you to more spam in the future. I hope all is well. As always, photos: