Wednesday, April 24, 2013

April Snapshots

In April, Samantha has officially gone almost bald (but looked super cute doing it!)...




Started to grab things (we're not sure she can purposely grab things yet- but her swatting is starting to lead to more and more accidental grabbing)


Learned to nap without being swaddled...
Become a snow leopard...
Worked on her tummy time...


Decided she loves sucking on her hands...


Gone to cheer on Princeton tennis...


And hung out with some pretty cool people!



Video-April Edition!

Here's a little bit of what Samantha has been up to this past week.

She's working on holding up her head...

She's cooing and kicking...

And she has become an expert hand eater...

Thursday, April 18, 2013

The Chen Family Visits

We were lucky enough to have some awesome visitors two weekends ago- one of my dear friends from college, Tiff, and her husband, Julius, and their almost 9 month old- Cadence.  If you read Tiff's blog, you've probably seen most of these, but for those of you that are not chenanigans followers I wanted to share some pictures from the awesome visit.  It has been so wonderful to have Tiff and Julius a few months ahead of us on all this parenting stuff- and just a phone call away.  And we can't believe that Samantha will be doing everything Cadence is doing in just six short months!

Samantha and Cadence meet.  If not for Tiff (see her hands in the corner of the picture)- Cadence's crooked crab crawl would have taken her to Samantha in seconds.

Modeling another outfit from former students.  Thanks, Taylor and Chelsea!
On Saturday morning we attempted a hike all together.  It was a little colder than we had hoped but still fun.

The girls after the hike being twinsies!


Family Cuddle Time!
Cadence is such a little squirmy one!

Andrew played the girls music, and they loved it. Now we just have to give Andrew a lesson in kids songs and their lyrics.

We spent a lot of the afternoon playing!

It officially took four Princetonians to figure out how to put together a child's train.

Cadence is a pro at feeding herself in her high chair.
Samantha wanted in on the high chair fun as well (although no food for her for a while!).  It was nice to at least have her on our level- thanks for the suggestion Auntie Tiff.
Auntie Vasanta stopped down on Saturday night!

What a cuddle bug!
Note to self...I will stop being able to wear scarves soon (Samantha is so close to grabbing things- probably learned that from her cousin Cadence!)

Look for this picture in a PAW near you, sometime in the next few months!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Rolling Over!


On Saturday the 6th Samantha rolled over for the first time!  She did it six times that day-turning from tummy to back- 4 times to the right and 2 times to the left.  Thank goodness, Tiff and Vasanta saw her do it as well, or Andrew and I would have thought we were crazy.  She has since forgotten how to roll and practically even how to hold her head up.  Oh, silly Samantha.  But here's some evidence that it actually happened!







Friday, April 5, 2013

Happy Quarter Birthday, Samantha!

Samantha turned three months old on Thursday April 4th.  We can't believe how big she's getting (although we don't have any stats because there is no three month doctor's appointment, but our guess is she's somewhere between eleven and twelve pounds right now)
There were lots of new things for Samantha in month 3.  She recently started swatting at objects.
And for the last several weeks, she has been making great eye contact with us and smiling lots.  We are totally smitten by these little smiles!
A week ago, Samantha also started sleeping through the night. She has had two nights with 9 hour stretches and a few more with 7 and 8 hour stretches.  It's amazing how good six hours in a row of continuous sleep can feel!  We are also noticing that Samantha can wriggle herself to different locations from her crib without ever getting out of her sleepsack.  The other night, she somehow turned around 180 degrees!
Samantha has also decided she likes music.  Whenever daddy plays guitar, she stops crying, and it seems that the lullabies that her swing plays lull her to sleep quite frequently.  Next week we are going to start baby music class together!
We have tried to stay busy, and Samantha is a trooper about traveling around.  In fact, she has decided she naps much better in her car seat than in her crib so she often gets her best naps of the day in, while we are out and about.  She's been going with me to Baby Boot Camp, our bright beginnings mommy class, and Mom's Time Out Bible Study at church.  
Lastly, Samantha still loves to kick every time we put her on her back, but she's also getting better at tummy time.  She is focusing on pictures in books a little more now, but definitely her favorite thing to look at is faces.  She has also found her hands in the last week, and she loves to suck on her fingers.
And I think this is my favorite picture!  Happy 3 Months Smiley Girl!

To compare here is Samantha at Month 1 and Month 2:

Samantha's First Hike

Last Saturday was the first day that truly felt like spring here in New Jersey so Andrew and I decided to take Samantha for her first hike.  We are lucky enough to live within five minutes of the Lawrenceville-Hopewell Trail.  If you live in Central Jersey, you should definitely check it out (http://lhtrail.org/)!  We hiked the section between Rosedale Park and the Hunt House.  Even though it was more of a two hour stroll than a hike, we really enjoyed being out in the sun and Samantha did great in her first time in the ergo.

Rosedale Lake

There is a nugget in there somewhere!
Hunt House
Willow Pond
Selfie!