Denver Finnfest!

We headed out to Denver this past weekend for Katie Finn's wedding.  It was wonderful to see one of my very best friends from college get married and so sweet to see the new little Finn-Santana family. (Photos courtesy of Lauren Frye- Thanks, Laur!)

The Happy Couple :)

The Bachelorette Party started at Nicole and Brad's super cute house in Denver.  It was 1920s themed so we tried our best to don flapper appropriate style.  Sad this is the only picture I took with the bride all weekend, but just wanted to say love you, KT Finn!

 Opening presents.

 The guests.  And also check out Nicole's super cute house and Vasanta's awesome 20s attire.  After cocktails and presents, we went out to dinner and did some dancing!  Latest this mama's been up in quite some time but so wonderful to spend a night with my girls!  (Three girls nights in a row happened courtesy of the best husband ever, who may have been hiding in the bathroom reading while a little Samantha slept in the room).

On Friday morning the girls headed to the nail salon for manis and pedis.  Cute bride!

Maddie was so glad to see her little cousin. Love that little girl!

You know just your typical nail salon-burrito snacking time.

After nails we did girls lunch at Grandma Jills.  Love this cute shot of Auntie Kim and Maddie :)

 The Rehearsal Dinner was at Maple Grove Park- right between Wheat Ridge and Golden.  What a cute venue, delicious BBQ and great company.

This is possibly the best family shot we have so far.  

 Samantha loved Katie's dad :)

 The girlies and their husbands!  So wonderful to all actually be in the same place (and see the husbands as well!)

 Cuteness during toasts.

 It was awesome getting to know the Santana family, and they were wonderful hosts for the rehearsal dinner.  They even thought of putting up a pinata for the kids! 

 On Saturday morning, the princeton folk headed out to breakfast in Golden.  Samantha loved spending some quality time with her aunties.

 Then some of us headed out for a walk.  Love that this picture captured the mamas together (just missing KT!)

Then we headed to the bridal suite to get ready for the big occasion!  Maddie with her Grandmas- wonderful to spend time with these ladies :)

 Seriously the best mom ever!

 And do you get any cuter then Maddie and her "Best Girl" Nora.  These two were possibly the best flower girls ever!

 Nicole doing her Maid of Honor duties.

 I don't currently have any pictures of the ceremony, but it was held in the gorgeous Calvary Episcopal Church in Golden, CO.  The minister who officiated the ceremony was a member of the family that introduced Katie and Steven, so his wedding charge was super sweet and meaningful.  What a beautiful ceremony that testified to God's goodness and plan in both Katie and Steven's lives!

After the ceremony we headed over to Rolling Hills Country Club for the reception.  Here's the Princeton 11 (minus Alex!)  Since Andrew was the only Princeton guy, he got disincluded from the picture- but promise he was there being an awesome daddy!

 Tiff, Lauren (33 weeks), Vasanta, Amanda, Nicole, STEVEN, Katie, Laura (17 weeks), Bonnie, Kim, and Joanna.  Hope Steven knows he just inherited all of us girls along with Katie!

 Beautiful view from the Country Club- everything in Colorado was gorgeous and crisp.  We definitely weren't missing East Coast humidity!

 One last family shot at the reception!

Katie, Steven, and Maddie- we so loved sharing your special day, getting to know all your family and friends, and seeing the many ways God's hand is working in your lives!  So glad you're coming to the East Coast- even if it's only for one year!

Who's that baby in the mirror? and other recent movies of Samantha playing :)

She LOVES looking at the mirror in her room.

And playing peek-a-boo...

And scratching Daddy's head...

And talking to Mommy...

And then there's piano drama :)

Eating real food!

Just as Samantha turned six months, she started sitting up on her own.  The books say when they start to sit up on their own, they are ready to try real table food.   We're hoping to try Baby Led Weaning, but if we need to do a little spoon feeding- we aren't opposed. At first, we didn't think Samantha could actually coordinate her hands enough or understand that food should go in her mouth.  Literally last week, she seemed to have no interest in picking up broccoli.  And then suddenly in this past week things have changed.  She has tried avocado, sweet potato, squash and pasta!  All of which she has gotten into her mouth on her own.  Most of this has involved sucking on these foods (still no teeth to be spotted over here) and admittedly very little is actually being eaten, but she clearly knows what to do with it, and it is so fun watching her pick things up in her little fists and attempt to get them in her mouth!

Avocado toasts.

Full on avocado mess. Loving that the beginning of this process corresponded with summer-and makes no clothes baby + dinnertime a perfect combination.

 Clearly Samantha also makes this face when she tries sweet potato.

Almost in her mouth!

Got the squash right in her mouth!

And clearly eating food is exhausting. Samantha passed out in the swing right after eating the other day- her first swing nap in ages.

Reading :)

We've been trying to read to Samantha since she was born, and our reading efforts have met with varying degrees of success.  Sometimes she'll lay with you on the floor listening and reading and sometimes she rolls away or stats talking, while we're reading.  Even if she doesn't show it yet, we hope she's developing into a life-long reader!  Here are some recent reading efforts.

She now sometimes tries to grab for the book herself.

And of course some reading time with daddy is a favorite.

Samantha's favorite books these days are anything she can feel and the ones that have finger puppets to grab :)

Trip to the pool

We took Samantha to the kiddie pool in our development last week.  The pool was really warm temperature and not much of a hot weather relief, but most of you know I'd rather have that than too cold!  Samantha seemed pretty happy in the pool although fairly frozen- just staring at everything going on around her.  

The pool was exhausting!  Literally one minute into our five minute walk home from the pool, we had this...

The Montagues visit!

Last Saturday John and his wife Mari and their son Cornelius came to visit.  We know John from our manna days when he served as the staff leader for the small groups Andrew and I led to together our junior and senior year of college.  Luckily his wife Mari has roots in Princeton so we've gotten to see them a few times when they've been back visiting, and this time we got to meet their darling son, Cornelius.  Cornelius was born exactly one week after Samantha (but he was actually due on the day Samantha was born!)  It was fun to see these two start to interact with each other.  Hope to see you guys again soon and see how Cornelius grows!  And maybe then we'll remember to take some pics of the mommies as well!

Checking each other out!

Daddies and babies!

And then there was this tummy time sequence of cuteness!

Oblivious of each other...

Samantha notices and is skeptical of Cornelius...

Cornelius's turn to be skeptical of Samantha...

And then they've made their peace...hand holding already :)

Sitting

Just a few days after she turned six months- Samantha started for real sitting.  Like she can play with toys while she sits and not just lift her hands up for a few seconds.  Sitting has already opened up a whole new host of play opportunities, and Samantha seems to be very looking at the world from her new seated position.

Six Months!

We celebrated Samantha's half birthday with warm weather, food off the grill, and friends.  How fun to have your half birthday on 4th of July!  Hopefully next week we can tell her that she gets fireworks for her half birthday.  Samantha continues to be a joy, and Andrew and I feel luckier all the time to get to spend our days with this little girl.  Dr. Marshall says she's growing and developing just as she should.  She continues to weigh in at the 25th percentile (14 lbs 8 oz) and is about 70th percentile for length (26 1/4 inches).  She still had to get three shots and an oral vaccine, but at least it was one less than last time!

Can't believe I'm six months old!

Our patriotic family :)

Samantha started sitting up my balancing on her hands this past month (tripod style), but right around her 6 month birthday she started to be able to lift up her hans for a few minutes.

 This month her hand was ALWAYS in her mouth!

...or a bear, or a blanket, or her clothes, or our clothes, etc.  Now if only she wanted to put real people food in her mouth!

 Samantha loves standing.  She always wants to push up on her legs now. In the last month her exersaucer has become her favorite way to pass the time.

 She smiles all the time now, and we can get her to giggle if she's in a good mood quite often.  Her smiles and giggles are so addicting.  The surest way to make her smile these days is to put her into the stroller and let her roll down the driveway towards us. She loves that!

 Samantha still loves being sung to and talked to.  She's adding her own voice to the mix quite often now- making a lot of vowel sounds and sometimes making little screaming/shrieking noises just to hear her own voice.

Just after her five month birthday Samantha started rolling from back to tummy- she can do it both right and left now.  The only thing is that she still can't seem to purposefully roll from tummy to back, which is supposed to be the easier direction to go.  What a silly girl!  At first it upset her that she kept ending up on her tummy.  Now she's getting more used to it.  She still decides she doesn't like to be on her stomach after a few minutes, but in the meantime she's decided that she can play with toys and grab things while she's on her stomach.  

 And tummy sleeping has revolutionized naps!  Now Samantha is a much better crib napper than a car seat napper.  She'll take two 1-2 hour naps in her crib each day (almost always on her stomach), and she often sleeps from 8 or 8:30 at night to between 5 and 6 in the morning.  Makes me wish that we could have always put her to sleep on her stomach like our parents did with us!

 Samantha has still been wearing Carters 6 month clothes this past month, but they are starting to feel a little tight and on her half birthday I put her in her first 6-9 month outfit.  

We can't believe how big she's getting! Lots of love to our little Xiao Xiao and Happy Half Birthday!

For comparison...

5 months

4 months

3 months

2 months

1 month