Random Shots

Sam has such a sweet -- but very silly -- disposition. Here are some pics taken over the past few days. (Note that he put on both hats all by himself ... and he was very proud of himself, I might add.)

The Floodgates Have Opened

We were starting to get a bit concerned when Sam's vocabulary wasn't blossoming like we thought it should. That is, until last week. He had been saying 'Dada' for months, and uttered 'Mama' a few times in September before he decided to retire the word. As much as we begged and prodded him to say it, he wouldn't! Little stinker. That all changed on the morning of Feb. 13 when I was changing his diaper and he looked up and said 'Mama'. Talk about my heart melting.

And in the past 11 days he has added the following words to his repertoire:
- Mama
- Hi
- More
- Bye-Bye
- No
- Moo
- Yum-Yum
- Thank You (sign language)
- Nana (banana)
- Night-Night (this happened when he got his new bed!)

There are a couple more that I can't remember just now. But thanks for letting a proud 'Mama' share.

Big Boy Bed!

Thursday night was probably my most difficult so far as a parent. Around 12:30, Sam was crying a little so I decided to go check on him. His diaper was pretty wet so I figured I'd change him real quick and get him back in his crib before he woke up any more. He had different plans, and didn't want to get back into his crib. Of course I told him it's "night night time" and I loved him and I'd see him in the morning. As I was standing near his door, he started to climb out of his crib. Only his legs went flying over his head, causing him to do a complete flip and land on the back of his head. Extremely hard. On the hardwood floor. It all seemed to happen in slow motion before I could get to him. The poor kid was crying really hard as I frantically checked for blood or bumps or anything. In the meantime, Brian ran into the room to see what was going on. And wouldn't you know, there is not a bump on his head at all. We were so glad that he was okay and acting 'normal'.

Needless to say, we didn't want to put him back in his crib for fear that it might happen again. So we brought him to sleep in our bed. (Not a great idea ... He just wanted to sit on our heads, play with my hair, tickle us, pinch us, stand up, etc.) Next I took him to the spare room and laid in bed with him. Same thing. Finally we brought out the pack-n-play and set it up in our room. We were all finally back asleep around 3 a.m.

So, guess what? Sam is now sleeping in his "big boy bed"! Since we had previous plans to stay with my parents on Friday night, on Saturday we set up his bed in the living room so he could "try it out" while watching one of his favorite videos. He loves it, and we are so glad! We figured he'd be running all around his room but the darn kid went right to sleep last night. And he's napping in it as I type. We couldn't be more proud of our "big boy"!!!

Sam In His Office

As we were looking outside at all the snow today, Sam discovered that his little bottom fit perfectly in the window sill. Boy, was that fun!

I Wanna Be Like Dad

Our clean laundry was sitting in the living room before I had a chance to put it away. Mr. Manly found one of Brian's shirts and got a huge kick out of putting it on.

Superbowl Fan

Sam was pumped up tonight when he saw the football on TV. He ran to get his ball and couldn't take his eyes off the TV. I am not sure if this means he will want to play football when he gets older, or just watch it REALLY CLOSE (I don't think he could get any closer to the TV). Time will tell. In the meantime, check out his form.

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na ... BAT MAN!

Yesterday, Matt (Brian's cousin) came over so we could work on the newsletter for the annual Knoll Family Reunion (aka "KFR"). KFR is a wonderful tradition and will be celebrating 28 consecutive years this March. Although there are 60+ members of the family, it is so neat to see and experience the closeness of such a loving family. And KFR is one reason why.

Each year, a newsletter accompanies the reunion, and Matt, Brian and I (and now Matt's wife, Andrea!) have put together the past seven. It is always so much fun to hear Matt and Brian reminisce -- and it seems their stories get better with each beer. (If you have ever read "The Onion", that is very close to their version of a family newsletter.)

Anyway, as per tradition, they were putting away a few beers while I was typing up their drunken scriblings. All of a sudden I heard some sort of commotion coming from the dining room so I went to check it out. Turns out we had a bat in the basement! This is our very first rodent of any kind and it completely freaked me out. Since I was the only sober one, I went back to the other room and decided to let them figure it out!

And of course I tried to take pictures without letting the bat inside the main part of the house. They got the darn thing after a few minutes but not without Matt injuring his hand. To which he replied, "It probably would've been a lot funnier if we were drunker."

Fun With Dad

The other night, I had the pleasure of watching and listening to Sam laughing uncontrollably as Brian pulled him around the house on a blanket. It is such a joy to see him so happy and enjoying some very simple things in life. We are truly blessed.