It's ok Bob

For those of you new to the blog, Bob is Sam's little doggie/blanky thing. He sleeps with it every night and treats it like it's a person a lot of the time. Today Sam brought Bob along in the van when we went to WalMart but neglected to bring him back inside once we got home. That, of course, led to a "Bob Hunt" this evening before bed. I finally remembered that he (see - even I am starting to treat Bob like a person....I just said he instead of it!) hadn't been seen since getting home and went out to the van to look. I found him and brought him inside. Sam decided Bob had been scared and was crying for him because he didn't know where Sam was. He was so cute trying to calm Bob down......the first time was the best (which I did not catch on video), but I got him to recreate the moment for me. It's pretty soft, but I still had to post it. He's saying "Calm down. Calm down. I'm right here. I'm right here." Isn't he just the sweetest little boy?

Thank you Uncle Matt!

My brother Matt loves to buy Sam good "boy" toys. Last Christmas I suggested a few items that he deemed not quite masculine enough, and he bought Sam some trains instead (which have been a BIG hit!) This Christmas and birthday he followed up with a few additional pieces which Joe has put altogether into our own little city. We have had tons of fun playing with it the past couple days.

Not so sure about being 3

We are having sleep issues with Sam....again. That seems to be the story of our lives. He has a good streak and then something messes him up again. This time it seemed to be Sadie's surgery. He had been doing very well. However, once she was home after surgery and waking up every 3 hours for more pain medicine he seemed to feel the need to compete for attention even in the middle of the night! We would be up with Sadie, squirt some medicine into her mouth, crawl back into bed, and then we'd hear some sort of noise/cry/yell from Sam's room.

It's never anything major - covers are loose, cup of water cannot be located, a random desire for a kiss or hug from one of us - but still requires attention. I know I should probably just make him deal with it and not go in there, but frankly I get more sleep if I go in there for 2 minutes than if I would make him cry. (Thankfully I have managed to break him of the need to have me lay with him in the middle of the night - I can just go in, do what needs to be done and leave - a major improvement since this summer.) He is one stubborn little boy and if left to cry it out can be hysterical for over an hour - then I am not sleeping anyway because of the noise, plus the fact that then Sadie would most likely be awakened as well.

Anyway - Sadie has been improving with waking as her pain is lessening, but Sam apparently hasn't gotten the message. Last night he was up more than her and Joe and I are very, very tired - both physically and just plain tired of seeing him anytime between the hours of 8 pm and 7 am. Tonight we tried to have a little pep talk before bed about what to do if he wakes up in the middle of the night.

Joe: Sam, what do you do if you wake up in the middle of the night? Do you need to cry?
Sam: Sometimes I cry.
Joe: But what should you do?
Sam: Just go back to sleep.... (Yes - he gets it!)
...with Mommy. (What!? Are you kidding me?)
Joe: No - not with Mommy. Just go back to sleep all by yourself. You are 3 now - 3-year-olds just go back to sleep!
Sam: I don't want to be 3.
Joe: Sure you want to be 3. 3-year-olds get to do all kinds of stuff. You get to go to Sunday School, you don't have to take a nap like Sadie...
Sam: .....I get to stay up late to wait for Grandma and Papa....
Joe: Yes. Isn't being 3 great? (Never mind the fact that Sam already did all those things while he was still 2, but thankfully he did not realize that.)
Sam: No. Can I change back to be 2 please?

Birthday Fun

We had a great day with Sam. How can you go wrong with cake for breakfast, McDonald's for lunch, pizza for supper with lots of presents in between? The only thing more I could have asked for was a nap! (That's me speaking, not Sam.)

Are all these for me? I love my birthday!Everybody is ready to celebrate. Here's Sam blowing out the candle on the Care Bear cake.
There is nothing better than cake for breakfast!
Sadie enjoyed the cake too. In fact, she signed "more" all day long in its direction........
The airport with "flying" plane from Matt and 'Lisa - the adults will be playing with this after he goes to bed.....it is quite awesome!
A new Handy Manny from Carl and 'Lissa - Let's get to work, muy rapido!
Playing with the new fire truck from Robyn and Wes and the kids - this boy can never get enough firemen!
Cracking up at the singing Elmo balloon - Who knew you could get a singing balloon? That's what happens when Dad is in charge of buying one.
Ending the day with a birthday pizza - Mom's favorite meal.

T-shirt Tradition

Each year on his birthday we take a picture of Sam in an old t-shirt of Joe's, a tradition I read about in a magazine (Don't think that I am that creative!) . Here's the past three years of shots:

1 year old
2 years old
3 years old

Much Improved!

Last year I was a bit lazy on Sam's birthday. It was Joe's first day at work in Illinois and Sam and I were still in Muscatine. We had just spent 2 days in Plainfield house-hunting and the 2 of us had left Joe in his apartment and driven back on New Year's Eve in a blizzard, arriving home after midnight. I just didn't have it in me to bake a cake. I made a pan of brownies, found a train-shaped cookie cutter, and called this slightly pathetic-looking train engine good enough for a 2-year-old's birthday "cake." (He was happy with it - he was very Thomas-crazed at the time.)
So this year I was determined to make up for it (and I knew my mom was coming to town to help out!) Sam and I made a trip to Michael's last night, he picked out a Care Bear cake pan, and we did this tonight - quite the improvement!
I just baked the cake (from a mix). All the decorating credit goes to Grandma!

Birthdays Past....

Three years ago right now we were pulling into the hospital in Skokie, Illinois. We had known about the Sam's birthmother for 4 days. We had gotten a call from our social worker that afternoon telling us she was in labor and wanted us to come to the hospital. We threw every baby item we had in the car, called Joe's mom to come down and pick up the dog, and Joe drove to Chicago as fast as I would let him. We were with his birthmother until she started pushing, and then Sam was brought to us as soon as he was born around 2 AM.

Sam is born! January 2, 2006

Sam turns 1! January 2, 2007


Sam turns 2! January 2, 2008