Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail

Sam's first word today? ROW-WERS!

Sam and Gram and I headed down to Dallas last week early for a visit to the Arboretum. They had a special exhibit called "Peter Rabbit's Village". We were able to visit several little cottages belonging to Peter, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, and Miss Jemima Puddleduck. Sam loved the bees, butterflies and ladybugs made of moss, and gave a mossy Miss Puddleduck a kiss on the beak.



 













Sam and Gram watched a fountain grow "big, bigger, BIG!" and played catch in a maze garden. We saw some koi fish taking a morning swim and I'm sure they heard us leaving with Sam screaming and kicking his feet. Apparently he likes real fish, too, not just the cheddar ones.




We ended the day (at noon - it was hot) meeting a big, friendly Peter Rabbit along with some real-live critters including a bunny, hedgehog and mouse.  When we got home we were tired and sweaty, sweaty, sweaty but we had a great time!  Flower collages to come....

Arboretum Fountain from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Sunday Best


A couple of Sundays ago the Straka Family headed out to church. Two of us loved it.  One of us didn't. 

Not a big surprise who didn't enjoy our Sunday outing very much, I'm sure.  It was Baby Sam's first time not being with Mama, Daddy, Gram or Pops and he had a hard time.  It was difficult dropping him off - I had Brian take him back, knowing that there would be enough crying without throwing my disappearing act into the mix.  We were given pagers that would vibrate if we needed to go back and get him, which thankfully never buzzed.

The minute the service was over, Brian and I looked at each other and said "He made it!".  We hurried back to his room only to find him red-faced and sobbing.  As he waddled over to me saying "Muh-mah, Muh-mah in his odd French-like accent, the nursery workers explained he cried for the first ten minutes, then calmed down, only to rev up again a few minutes before we came back.  Those poor ladies.



He sure looked dapper before we left though, didn't he?  I wish I'd taken a picture of him when we got home - shirt crumpled, hair sticking out all over, red cheeks, sweaty, exhausted.  That would've been a great before-and-after.  And his nursery teacher said the following few Sundays might be worse because he'll remember what happened that first week.  I wouln't be surprised if we end up getting buzzed after all...

Happy Fourth of July!


Sam had an All-American Fourth of July. Gram, Pops and Uncle Andrew met Sam, Daddy and I in downtown McKinney for a picnic and a parade on the square.

Sam did great during the parade - he waved to the floats and even waved the flag Pops got for him. The motorcycles were a little loud and scary, so it was a good thing Gram was there. He shared an ice cream with Daddy and met a puppy named Zack.

The weather was a little warm and humid, but not bad for Texas in July. We had some cloud cover and a breeze and no rain!

Last year Sam was too little to enjoy the 4th, but he definitely had a good time today. Happy Birthday America!
Had to take his shirt off to eat strawberries...       Playing with the ball Uncle Andrew brought him



Dad bought Sam some ice cream to help him cool off, and we all know how Sam loves "sssk-eam"
                     The motorcycles were sooo loud!
This is how all our family photos would look if I were 6'3", but I'm up on a curb today!

Khaki, gray and black??  You guys!!

Zack the "bow-wow-wow-wow"

Happy Fourth of July 2010 from Sara Straka on Vimeo.






Flyboys

Sam's got the bug. "Airplane, airplane!" he calls whenever he sees one fly across the sky.  He spots them way before his dad and I do.  He always waves, too, and says, "bye-bye now".

Brian had the idea to take him to McKinney Airport to watch some planes take off and land.  Sam sure was captivated.  So was his daddy for that matter.  I love planes, too.  As long as I'm not in them and my feet are planted firmly on the ground...

More Swimmin', More Picnicn'

We had a picnic on Memorial Day at a spot we'd picked out over three years ago.

We have lots of little parks in our neighborhood with benches and shade. We chose to picnic at the park that Gram and I drove by one day back when Brian and I were house-hunting and she said, "If you move here I want to take my grandbaby on a picnic right there" - so we did!






This was Sam's first time at our neighborhood pool and he had a great time. Gram put him on the side of the pool and he "jumped" to her on the count of three, he swam on his tummy with Pops, got a horsey-ride from Daddy, and bopped around the pool with Mama. I think his favorite part was the walk-through water fountain area. My favorite part was that Sam slept great that night!

Something to Do



Sam and I were looking for something to do. Even though it was a SUPER HOT day, we didn't want to just be inside, walking around a mall or grocery store. So we headed to Mama's old neighborhood where she lived back in the day when Sophie was her only baby! We enjoyed a (hot) walk, the pond, two fountains, some birds, an impromptu photo shoot, and then, of course, some yogurt. We also hopped on over to the bookstore and had a great time running amuck through the children's section. Sam even waddled smack-dab into a rack of books - the Klutz brand of books, no less! We were exhausted and sweaty by the time we got home, but we'd accomplished our goal - we'd found something to do!










A Picnic and a Dip



Sam had his first picnic last Sunday. Daddy found a nice Audubon park just a few minutes from Granny's house and it turned out to be a great place for a picnic. Sam sat at the picnic bench like a big boy and we all enjoyed a nice lunch. We blew lots of bubbles then took walk through the butterfly garden.

By the time we'd finished our walk we were all hot and sweaty, so we went back for a dip in Granny's pool! We weren't planning on swimming so Mama and Daddy had to borrow swimming suits and Sam just swam in his diaper. Boy did it get heavy! But Sam seemed to enjoy the water, for the most part.













A Picnic and a Dip from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Lunch on the Patio

Granny Nell came over for a Happy Birthday/Happy Mother's Day lunch a couple of weeks ago. We ate outside under what Daddy called our "Starbucks" umbrella. We all ate Mama's chicken salad, even Sam, and then enjoyed some ice cream, of course! Sam showed Granny how he helps mow the lawn and water our herbs, then we blew some bubbles which were so tiny and sticky that they stayed on the walls for days!









Sam's Other Playground


Sam's not afraid of anything. It's a little scary. He likes to play on our bed - I have to take him in there to play several times a day. In addition to attempting headstands, we always play his favorite game which is to "fall back", where he twists and falls face first on the bed, and once I see he hasn't flung himself off, I duck behind the footboard and hide. Then he finds me and we both squeal. Then he signs "more" and we do it all over again.  Such a daredevil.

Waddle, Waddle, Boom!

It all just clicked today. Looks like a giant melon and little feet can't hold this guy back any longer. All Sam's wanted to do the last couple of days is walk the front sidewalk and go up and down the front steps. Of course, he always had my finger and would hold on for dear life.

I think that was all just a warm-up for today. Because when he woke up from his nap we started to practice walking in the living room and when I let go, he just kept going. After several successful attempts, I figured it was time to set up the video camera. He did really good - I was most amazed at the fact he could stand up from the sitting position. That was new today, too!

I apologize for all the "whoopsie-daisies". If you watch the video more than once, put it on mute. Sam was really cranky today and I was worried a fall would send him into total melt-down. As annoying as it is, "whoopsie-daisy" makes him smile and distracts him from the fact that he just landed hard on his tush!

Now...will he do it again tomorrow, or will he decide this walkin' business is just too much work and go back to crawling to basketball and blankie? We'll just have to wait and see.

Regardless, it was a nice early Mother's Day present!


Look Who's Walkin' from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

World Balloon Convention


Lines at Six Flags? Crowds at Disneyland? Bring it on.

Brian and I took Sam to the World Balloon Convention in Dallas a couple weeks ago. I think the reason they call it the World Balloon Convention is because the entire world was there. The line was unbelievable, though it moved rather quickly. Sam was a trooper, especially considering he'd had a very small nap that day. It was an interesting event. Balloon sculptures of all kinds, everywhere you looked. It was a little hard to see the sculptures, especially for someone short like me, but I think Sam still enjoyed it. At first we thought we weren't going to make it through the whole show because Sam thought he got to take the balloons. Oops! It makes sense because most of his life people have brought him balloons to keep! But this little hiccup was soon over and we were able to walk him through the convention and enjoy the amazing balloon creations!







(giving the balloon a kiss)

The Latest Face

Sam is a man of many faces. Another mom at the library yesterday noticed this right away. "My, he has so many expressions!" she said.

Mm-hmmm.

This scowl is a relatively new face. We see it many times a day; when he sits on a toy, when we're feeding him food too slowly for his liking, when we say "no-no" for any reason...you get the idea.

It didn't occur to me that this scowl was inherited from one of us, until I saw this picture in my baby album the other day:




Ahh...that's where he gets it.

Happy New Year





Happy New Year everyone!

Sam had a great first day of 2010 - Gram and Pops came over for dessert and coffee to help us complete our New Year's Day celebration.
They brought gifts for Sam...of course they did, right? Because it's been, what, less than a week since they last gave him presents. Somebody's getting spoiled - it's peach puffs, cheesy snacks and best of all, another BALLOON!  Food and balloons - no better way for Sam to start off the new year!











Happy New Year!
Love,
The Strakas

Christmas, Part II of II



We didn't have to dream of a White Christmas - we had a real one.  Because of that, we ended up spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Gram and Pops house. It was just too icy and windy to drive home. 

Sam had lots of fun opening presents on Christmas Eve, and we all enjoyed a cozy dinner of mushroom-crab soup, salad and bread.  Sam slept really well in Gram and Pops' crib...Sophie kept us up throughout the night, but we kind of expected that. 

Christmas morning we had a nice breakfast looking out on the snow, then spent the rest of the day hanging around, watching TV and eating snacks.  With hardly any room left in our tummies, we finished the holiday off with a ham and sweet potato dinner!

Enjoy the pictures and video of our little guy's First Christmas! 

















































































Christmas with Gram and Pops 2009 from Sara Straka on Vimeo.


15 Minutes



The creator of the design website Spearmint Baby contacted me the other day. She asked me if she could use the photos I posted on flickr of Sam's nursery on her website. "Of course!" I said.

Today was our day, our little 15 minutes of fame. Sam's cozy room is featured among some pretty great spaces. Kind of exciting!

Here's the link and a picture of Sam and I in his room doing one of our favorite nursery activities: reading a story. This is one of his favorites - a story called "Mommy Loves". I have it memorized - I'll recite it for you sometime if you'd like :)

http://www.spearmintbaby.com/2009/09/featured-nursery-baby-boy_23.html