Merry Christmas!

Well, Sam's first Christmas certainly was a big one! He had a great time watching everyone open his presents, but once again he was mostly interested in the paper and bows. It was a wonderful day for all of us. We had so much time to sit back and relax, to eat a wonderful Christmas dinner, to play with Sam, to give him lots of hugs and kisses, and to soak up and enjoy every detail of Sam's first Christmas.



He got some circus-themed Peek-a-Blocks, Touch and Tickle Roll-a-Rounds, Laugh & Learn Nursery Rhymes CD Player, and a teddy bear that plays Lullaby from Yiayia and Papou. Some friends of the family, got Sam the Learning Friends Phonics Bus, some clothes, a play flip phone, and a baby chick with a Santa hat that lights up, walks around and plays "Chicken Dance."



He loved all of the activity and sat in the middle of his toys playing for hours (not consecutively). He loves for us to stack the blocks so he can knock them over. He likes to chase the balls around the floor (he's crawling a bit better now - still the combat crawl though). He also likes the lights and spinning "CD" on the "CD player." His favorite toy while we've been here has been Taki, a teddy bear that says the alphabet and numbers in Greek. Yiayia bought that about two or three years ago. We actually have one at home too, but he hasn't been interested in it until now.



Here is Yiayia holding Sam on Christmas day. I was actually standing behind Daddy holding Taki so Sam would give us a big smile.



Now that the presents are all opened, Sam has easy access to the tree. We can't turn our backs for a minute or he'll be under the tree trying to get the ornaments.



We went to go see Chris's grandmother at the nursing home on Christmas Eve. It was the first time that she had seen Sam. Sam was very sweet. He patted her on the face and laid his head down on her pillow. Chris's grandmother is about 94. Everyone at the nursing home calls her Yiayia.



Here is Sam "playing baseball" with Papou. It's really a squeaky toy, and Sam smiles when we squeak it. He's gotten a lot of play time in this week. We've had a lot of fun getting down on the floor with him. His fine motor skills are improving -- he can really grab things, but he's not at the point where he can pickup something with his index finger and thumb.



Since we are on vacation and have plenty of time to relax, Sam has gotten to take a long bath every night. He is actually starting to grab the faucets to try to stand up! Boy are we in trouble! He'll be up and running any day now.

Here is a video of Sam playing on the bed after taking a bath and getting ready for bed. We took this video with Papou's new digital camera that he got for Christmas.

-- Emily

Early Christmas

We decided to open presents early at home since we won't be home for Christmas. Sam had a blast! Of course Sam was more interested in the paper, boxes, and bows.



We got Sam the Fisher Price Roll-a-Rounds Drop & Roar Dinosaur (which you can see in the background). He doesn't understand the part about putting the balls in the holes yet, but he likes to play with the dinosaur and the balls separately. We also got him the Rock-a-Stack and a xylophone. He loves the xylophone, but he keeps gagging himself on the "strikers."



We wanted to get him another pop-up book because his favorite book is "The Big Old Bear Who Swallowed a Fly," but we ended up getting this Pull the Ribbon Book: I'm Buildin' Me a Robot.



Nanner & Dorsey got him some really cute red flannel pajamas and a beautiful blue overall set.



Lulu got him a Nike warm-up suit and a shape sorter. He can't sort the shapes yet. His favorite thing was watching Daddy fill it up so he could dump out the blocks.



He got some other really cute outfits too, including this sweater vest. I think he's the best dressed baby around.



After all his presents were opened and Sam had his fill of paper, he decided to go after the tree and the ornaments. We kept him up pretty late and opened our presents after we put him in bed.



One thing I noticed that was different about this holiday season was the number of pictures of babies on our refrigerator. We got Christmas cards from a lot of the babies in the Mom's group along with pictures of friends and family. We got excited every time there was a new card to put up. It brought a smile to our faces every time we looked at them!

-- Emily

7 Months Old (and we're in trouble)

Ok, so he's not actually crawling yet, but it's pretty darn close. Click here to see!

Sam has gotten very active lately. He's super squirmy when you try to hold him. It's almost like he's trying to crawl or walk up your chest. If you put him down on the floor, he either rolls or scoots over to what he wants. We can't leave him alone any more. Of course he thinks it's great fun!

We went to our "Mom's Group" Christmas party on Friday. It was a lot of fun. We hadn't seen them since the end of August. Sam was very clingy. He didn't want me to leave him (which is kinda odd for him). I think he was overwhelmed by the number of people there. I didn't get very many pictures because Sam got fussy every time I put him down. Here is one of him in his cute onesy that Aunt Andrea gave him.



Here's a few shots of babies playing and the gift exchange.



The gift exchange was fun. We did that thing where you can either open a present or steal a present that has already been opened. Someone stole the gift we'd opened, so we stole a set of blocks that Sam already had in his mouth. Also, one of the moms brought the party favors that she had forgotten to give out at her daughter's birthday party a few weeks ago. So, there were about fifteen tambourines in the room. All the babies loved them. Sam played with his blocks and tambourine all weekend. His favorite thing was for us to build a tower with the blocks that he could tear down!

Sam is doing better with sleeping. He's spending most of the night in his pack and play. He takes at least two naps a day in his crib or pack and play. He's starting to get a bigger appetite now that he is moving around more. We're moving up to Stage 2 food, so he's starting to try some new things. He LOVES his bath. Chris fills up the sink and lets him splash around. He has a few bath toys and also plays with the water faucet. Now he cries when we take him out!

Click here to see a short video of Aunt Melly holding Sam while he's "walking" and squealing at Cleo.

-- Emily

Santa Claus

We went to the mall tonight to take Sam's picture with Santa. While we were waiting in line, Sam started babbling -- ba-ba, da-da, ga-ga! That may not sound like a big deal, but it was amazing. You can't really get a feel for how is voice is going to sound when he is just squealing and blowing raspberries. It was the cutest little voice, and I didn't want him to stop.

When it was our turn in line, the "photographers" were preoccupied with the previous family. I walked up to Santa and tried to hand Sam over. Santa was a little nervous and said, "Don't hand him to me until they are ready to take the picture if you think he is going to cry." I said that I didn't think that was going to happen. You can tell from the picture that Sam wasn't scared. And, yes, I realize that he is wearing shorts. Christmas in Texas -- it was in the 70's today.

When we came home, Sam started laughing at everything. It was so cute. Unfortunately, he gets the hiccups every time he laughs. It almost makes me feel guilty.

It was our 10th anniversary last night. Ian and Roya came over and baby-sat. We went out for sushi. It was nice to be able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the meal. It was the first "date" that we'd been on since he was born. Sam slept for a little while for them, but woke up and played before we came home. His present to us was sleeping through the night! I couldn't think of anything that I wanted more.

-- Emily

Saints 42 - Cowboys 17 !!!

WHO DAT?



Wow, what a game! My dad came to Dallas this weekend for the Saints/Cowboys game. Melanie surprised us by coming out here, too! Sam wore his #26 McAllister jersey that my dad bought last winter. Unfortunately, Sam was only able to stay awake for the kickoff.



Daddy's friend Roberto came up from San Antonio for the game. This is the third year in a row that they have gotten together for the Saints/Cowboys game. These two teams won't play each other for another three years (unless they meet in the playoffs).



We had quite a smorgasbord of local goodies including Dickey's Barbeque and Wing Stop chicken wings. Roberto's brother Roland also came over for the fun. Of course, Roberto and Roland are Cowboys fans, so they weren't happy with the outcome.



Here is a picture from a week ago when we were home for a "snow" day. I thought Sam was especially handsome in his monkey sweater.



We went to Jackson Johnson's first birthday party last weekend. Of course he'd never had cake before, so he wasn't quite sure what to think of it.



Sam was the smallest baby there, but he had a lot of fun watching the other kids play. He even joined in now and then. Jackson was excited to get a bunch of new toys. He found the biggest box and wanted Brad and Jennifer to open that one first. Here are some pictures of kids playing and presents being opened.





Sam had his 6 month checkup last week. He was 16 lbs 13 oz and 26.25 inches which is still tracking in the 25th percentile. Everything checked out as normal and he got all of his shots. Chris and I even got flu shots while we were there. The main thing that we have to work on is getting Sam to sleep through the night in his own bed. He is doing pretty well about going to bed at 8pm in his bed, but he usually wakes up between 11pm and midnight and wants to get in bed with us. From there it is pretty much tossing and turning all night with no one getting much sleep.

-- Emily

Thanksgiving - Part 2

We spent the second half of our trip in Indianola. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Nanner and Dorsey's house. We had turkey, ham, cornbread dressing, oyster dressing, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, asparagus casserole, squash casserole, green bean casserole, apple salad, cranberry sauce, banana pudding, pumpkin pie, and sweet potato pie (I hope I remembered everything -- I think we had one casserole per person!). Here is a picture of my dad with Sam in his Thanksgiving Day bib that Melanie got for him.



and here is a picture of Andrea and Melanie with Sam in front of the magnolia tree.



Here is a montage of Sam eating his Thanksgiving Day dinner of squash and applesauce.







We went to downtown Indianola on Friday for the First Annual Indian Bayou Christmas Fest. There was a children's craft tent for making Christmas ornaments, Christmas carols, free hot chocolate, and lighting of the floats on the bayou.



Santa Claus even came. Sam didn't get to sit in Santa's lap because it was getting dark and cold and there was a long line.



We went to church on Sunday. Sam looked smashing in his outfit! He slept for the first 30 minutes, then Chris had to take him to the cry room. After church we headed to Nanner's for lasagna.



Daddy and Fr. Sean were dressed to impress for the New Orleans Saints game. It was a very important game. The Saints won so they now have the second-best record in the NFC, trailing only Chicago and tied with Dallas and Seattle. Daddy will be coming to Dallas for the big Saints/Cowboys game next week.



Before we left MS we were able to meet Paola for lunch. Costas and Paola just moved back from United Arab Emirates and bought a beautiful house in Madison.





We went from there to my mom's apartment. She had coffee and cookies waiting and Sam got to see his first Christmas tree! Then we were off to the airport to head back home. It was a wonderful relaxing visit. We haven't gotten to spend that much time with my family since we moved to Dallas. I miss them a bunch and wish we could see them more often!



-- Emily