New Wock-n-Woll

Yep. There's more...

Sam calls this song "new wock-n-roll" and we usually play it after the song in the first dancing video.

Not as much movement in this one, but there is a lot of shoulder action!

Let's Hear It from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Pants on the Ground

Sam has a new-found love for "wok-n-woll".

And no matter where we are - at home, in the car, the middle of a TJ Maxx - when he hears this particular song he can't help but dance. He's pretty good, too. He can sort-of keep a beat and excels at moving his shoulders. Most surprisingly, he changes his moves based on the tempo of the song. Pretty impressive stuff.

What I like most about this video is the shirt he's wearing. It's bright blue, just like my senior year show choir dress. I think I've passed down the dancing gene...

*the blue painter's tape on the carpet was for Sam to practice "walking on a bridge".  It's not part of our permanent decor!

Wake Up Call

Mama loves naptime. But getting Sam up after a nap is fun, too. Here Daddy has filmed us getting Sam up from a nap on two different days.

Gram noticed the other day that Sam likes to "take roll". Maybe he got some teacher-gene from me. Whenever he wakes up he runs down the list of whoever is not in the room. In these videos it's Mama and Woof-Woof. When Sam and I get home from running errands, he calls for Woof-Woof and Dada from the driveway. As soon as Gram gets him out of the car at her house, he asks for Pops and Andrew. He likes to know where his fans are!


Wake Up Call from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Winding Down

It often goes like this:

Bath done (hence the hair-do), jammies on, toothbrush going, blankie ready.

Toddler?....wiggly.


Winding Down from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Blueberry Boy

This kid is bonkers for blueberries. And I'm sure it's no surprise to you that bath-time always follows blueberry-time.

Blueberry Boy from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

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.

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.

Smooth Cheeks

Oh! What have we started? About a month ago, Brian pretended to shave Sam's "whiskers" with the back of his electric razor. Sam loved it. Now when he hears Brian's razor, he speed-crawls to the bathroom to watch, waiting not-so-patiently for his turn. We started pretending to put aftershave on him, too, by shaking the closed bottle and then patting his cheeks. Now, every night after his bath, he points to the razor, whines, and then pats his face. Actually, he does that several times throughout the day, including every time we walk past the bathroom. What can I say? The kid loves to shave. His cheeks are as smooth as a baby's bottom!

Samuel's Five O'Clock Shadow from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Hello?

Pops called. He wanted to talk to Sam. This was Sam's first time "talking" on the phone. He seems a little amazed at the idea of a tiny Pops hidden in Gram's phone. They talked about Sophie and playing ball. You know, guy stuff.

First Phone Call from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Pearly Whites

We've added a new step to our nightly routine. At our last check up, Dr. G said it was time to start brushing those teeth.  He recommended the electric toothbrushes - said the kids love them and he was right. Sam's got three teeth on the bottom and almost four on the top and boy does he love to brush them! I couldn't get the toothbrush away from him tonight. He loves the buzz on his gums and the fruity baby toothpaste. "Mmmm!" he says!

First Tooth Brush from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Easter

What's better than one Easter celebration? Two Easter celebrations! Sam and I spent Easter Sunday at Granny Nell's house. We had a nice Easter lunch and played the rest of the afternoon. Granny Cottontail even hopped down the bunny trail will presents for everyone. What fun!

Easter Ball from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Early Easter

The Easter Bunny stopped by early with a basket for Sam. This basket had a theme: balls, balloons and bubbles. How did the Easter Bunny know these are Sam's favorite things?

Not only were there balls and bubbles and balloons, there were snacks.  Snacks of all kinds.  Snacks hidden inside plastic eggs, basketballs, and chicks.  There were yogurt drops, baby goldfish, cheerios and peach poofs.  Because of all the snacks, Sam spent a long time just eating his way through his basket. 

(Here he is...signing for "more")

Once we were able to pry the snacks out of his chubby little hands, we all took a walk to the park to play on the swings and look at the ducks. 

We ended their visit with pizza and another bubble party in the backyard.  Then Sam had his first bubble bath with his new bubble soap. 

What a tasty, bubbly Easter celebration!

Easter Chick from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Sunny Spring Day

The kids had fun at the Arboretum. Sam felt green grass for the first time and it took him a while to feel comfortable sitting in it. He did everything in his power to keep his hands and feet from touching it. He also had his first popsicle - strawberry - a treat that Claire was nice enough to share with him. The kids played in the frog fountain, rolled down the big hill and roamed through "Texas Town". You would think that would wear us all out, but no, we still had enough energy for a bubble party in the backyard when we got home. I think we all slept well that night after all that fun in the sun!

Arboretum Day from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Baby Sam

Some very special ladies came to visit "Baby Sam". They loved Sam, and Sam loved them...and all the attention. They read stories, played toys, blew bubbles and sniffed flowers. Mommy wishes they lived closer because these ladies have major babysitting potential in their future. Thanks for visiting KC fam. Hope to see you soon.

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.

Christmas, Part I of II

We had a very nice Christmas celebration at Granny Nell's house last night. We had a nice steak dinner, opened presents, and played with Baby Sam. He got lots of neat presents; I'd tell you what his favorite one is if I knew - I think they're all his favorite! If I had to pick, I'd say the Noisy Car book (it makes noise) and the Gymboree musical instruments. Those were cool!

Sam did really good, considering he can't take a nap there.  After our dinner he took a quick snooze on Daddy's lap, but woke up again in time for a little more playtime with Granny.

 

Christmas with Nell and Vic 2009 from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Who Knows Nose?

Sam does!! He's my little genius-baby. Oops...I promised Daddy I wouldn't call him a genius on the blog. But, I mean, come on! Let's call it what it is!

Pops was the one who got Sam started on learning where noses are, so thanks to Pops. Next we'll work on eyes!


Who Knows Nose from Sara Straka on Vimeo

We Are Thankful

We are so thankful that Papa and Grandma came to visit us. It made for a very special Thanksgiving.

They arrived at our house late-morning on Wednesday. Sam was just waking up from a nap as they walked through the door, so Papa and Grandma joined us in getting Sam out of bed. He was sleepy and a little shy at first, but he really warmed up quickly.



The first order of business was opening the presents Grandma and Papa brought for Samuel.  They brought two handsome outfits - one to wear while watching baseball with Daddy - and a really colorful bag that was fun to look at!





Sam showed Grandma and Papa all his toys while I finished getting lunch ready.

Grandma was good at playing giraffe. She really kept those blocks moving!

After a yummy lunch and a tour of the neighborhood, everybody took a little snooze. Then it was time for more toys! Papa was really good at the musical keys. He just kept pushing that sunshine button and singing Sam those nursery rhymes. I'm not sure how excited Papa Emil is to have this video on the blog, but it's just too sweet to keep hidden in the camera. What a great Papa!

A Sing Along with Papa from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

After all that playing our tummies were starting to rumble so we headed to Plano and ate at Mi Cocina, (which also happens to be Uncle Jeff's favorite Texas restaurant).



The Christmas tree and lights were up and looked so pretty. Sam was such a good boy and enjoyed his baby food at the table with the grown-ups.

We took a stroll to see the lights before heading for home.
Such a fun first day with Grandma and Papa!

Excitement

Sam likes to eat.  Yes, I know, he takes after his Momma.  Here is the new "excited" move I told you about in this picture that starts as soon as he sees me get the baby food bowls out of the cabinet and continues well into his meal.  He also does it when he gets a giant pumpkin basket for Halloween, when he sees Sophie run by, pretty much any time he's feeling extra happy.
Happy Sam from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Oh Boy is My World About to Change...

Look who's on the move. He went from a creep to an almost-crawl so fast I couldn't get the original video up. So, here's a compilation of the last week-and-a-half of Sam, on-the-move.

Sam On the Move from Sara Straka on Vimeo.