Just for Nancy

Aunt Nancy gave Sam some holiday boxers and socks for Christmas. He wore them to a New Year's Eve party tonight. The best part for Sam was eating the socks!

The waistband around the boxers reads, "99% nice, 1% naughty"!

6 months today!

Who knew 6 months could fly by so fast?

Toupe Sam

Michele's brother Mark (who is officially the last immediate family member to see Sam) mentioned that Sam always smiles. So... we had to show Sam's unhappy side.

Now he's really mad.

Oh boy, here comes the sign language.

And then bedtime comes... Sleep little buddy. Tomorrow is a new day.

Just photos...

Our first Halloween

Thanks to our friends, Sam had 2 costumes for his first Halloween! He was a pumpkin during the day... but by nighttime, he'd become a monster...

Trick or Treat!

Michele & Sam made a surprise visit to see me at work on Halloween. Here Sam is hanging out with my friend Mike.

Our first trick or treater's were the Chrisman's! Michaela and Jacob were excited to see Sam. Michaela dressed up as a dancer. Jacob dressed up as a cat -- check out the mouse crawling up his shoulder!

Cassidy and I help hold up Kenley's costume -- dirty laundry! A few years ago, Cassidy dressed up as dirty laundry (one of our all-time favorite costumes). Now she's passed the costume down to her younger sister. Gotta love those Halloween hand-me-down's!

Shaun & Jenny with Isabel and Atticus. Jenny hand-sewed Isabel's dress (after her sewing machine broke)! Atticus the turtle is already 2 months old... and about the same weight as Sam. Jenny is a great bargain hunter -- she found Sam's monster costume for $1 and let us borrow it.

Greg & Stacey with Lauren the cat. Our friendship with Greg goes back to our early years at Truman. Now Greg works in the Alumni office and Stacey works with me at the hospital. They're also the proud owners of the "McPherson Mansion" -- a house that Ann, Tara, and I all called home at one point or another during our college careers.

Good times

Our lives have never felt more complete. Sam is truly a gift from God.

Getting ready for the Truman homecoming parade

Checking out Grandpa (Rob's dad). My dad spent 3 full days with us helping fix up the windows in our living room. They are Anderson windows from the 60's and the wood frames were in poor shape. We were considering replacing them, which would've cost a few thousand dollars. But my dad though he could take them apart and refinish them. He did and they look great. Total cost was about $80 -- $60 to replace the dual pane glass in one window and about $20 for misc repair items. Thanks Dad!

Chillin' with Mom. We are so blessed that Michele is able to stay home with Sam. I always knew she'd be a great mom, I just wish the journey hadn't taken so long. We still look at each other and are amazed that we have a little guy. He's only 5 months old but it's already hard to imagine life without him.

Reading with Dad. It's become our evening routine. Just before Sam's last snack of the day, I give him a lotion rub-down and change him into his jammies, then we read a book. Michele received numerous books as baby shower gifts and Sam's room looks a little like a library. He has two large bookshelves (thanks to Grandpa & Grandmother Lawson). It's fun picking out a story every evening. My current favorite is "Goodnight Moon". Sam's favorites are the ones with sounds! Above we're reading "The Frog goes Ribbit". It has a built-in button that makes a ribbet sound.

Nice bib, Sam! I'm pretty sure he picked that one out on his own. Michele likes to lay down and lift Sam up on her legs. She does sit-ups while Sam giggles!

Aunt Nancy visits!

We had a special treat a few weekends ago when Aunt Nancy and cousin Jace came to visit. Nancy did a great job summarizing the weekend on her blog. Here are a few photos:

Checking out Aunt Nancy

Having fun with Jace

Jace, Uncle Tomcat and Aunt Nancy playing Guesstures

Sam tries cereal for the first time.
"What are you shoving in my mouth, Mom?!"

It's taking some time, but Sam is starting to get the hang of eating with a spoon. So far he's tried rice cereal and carrots (fresh ones pureed by Mom). Mmmm-mmmm.

We have a winner!

Blog posting has been sparse lately as we've been terribly busy looking into a potential job opportunity, visiting family, family visiting us, and just keeping pace with life. But we were excited tonight when we saw the blog comments and read Melanie's verse to our song:

When I'm sick she rubs my tummy,
Pats my back and wipes my bummy,
That is why I like my Mommy better.

Thank you Melanie! Great verse! It reminded me that I need to post some photos of you and Michele from our visit a few months ago... and apologize for not visiting on our last trip to Springfield a few weekends ago...

Best friends

Melanie's kids - Rilla, Aulden, Whitman & Georgia (holding Sam)

Having fun with Mom
(taken the same night as the photo in our last post)

Getting ready to go outside!

That is why

It's no secret that kids like their moms more than their dads. (Especially when some moms have an unfair advantage of hanging out with them all day while the dads are slaving away at work to put bread on the table.) Anyway, it's inspired a new song...

"That Is Why"

Mommy plays with me all day long
Then Daddy comes home and sings me silly songs
That is why I like my Mommy better

When she gives me a bath, she cleans between my linty toes
When I get slimy boogers, she picks my little nose
That is why I like my Mommy better

OK, your turn! We need help writing more verses to this song. Post a comment and Michele will pick a winner!!

And while you're thinking up rhymes, here are some photos to inspire you:

Having fun with Mom

Loving on Mom

Visiting Uncle Tomcat and making friends with Spiderman

Supervising Mom's work as she stains some quarter-round boards for our dining room project

Impersonating Pop

One great day

We celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago. Having a new person in the family sure made it special. Michele & Sam walked up to the hospital and brought me a picnic lunch. We had to get the car inspected, so the scenery for our picnic was the local auto repair shop. The lady behind the desk at the repair shop has a daughter who's a former student of Michele's, so she got a kick out of seeing Sam. The guys doing the inspecting saw we had a baby and made an extra effort to work up our inspection faster than usual. It's small town goodness.

My birthday falls towards the beginning of the month, which is our busy time at work as we close out financial statements for the prior month. So my birthday was a busy workday. But I got home around 7-ish and enjoyed a simple, yet wonderful evening at home with a quiet dinner, some play time and bath time with Sam, and a movie with Michele. Our movie was "The Astronaut Farmer" -- pretty good, especially considering we hadn't seen a movie in months.

Here are some photos from the past few weeks:

Playing on my birthday

Smiling for mom

Tummy time!

Starting a new fashion trend

Saturday morning

Soldier Sam: Mission Mommy

by Mom & Dad
The first in a series of silly short stories.

Sam woke up hungry. Really hungry.

“I wonder where Mommy is,” thought Sam. He looked and looked but couldn’t find his mommy.
Daddy didn’t know where Mommy was either. But Daddy had an idea.

“Why don’t you go undercover and try to find Mommy?” suggested Daddy.

Sam had never gone undercover before. But he trusted Daddy and he listened to Daddy’s idea.

“We’ll call you Soldier Sam,” said Daddy. “Your camouflage clothing will keep you safe.”
Soldier Sam followed Daddy’s instructions and began searching for Mommy. He laid on his tummy and crawled. Then he opened his eyes wide and looked all around.
“Wait a second… is that Mommy under my crib?!” Sam thought to himself.
Sam was relieved that Mommy was safe. And he was even more relieved to know that his tummy would be full again soon.