The coolest kid in church

Playing games with girls. Oh, they do learn young, don't they?

whoever said little boys are like old men...

...had it right. Here is my little old man, crying because he can't reach the fruit and yogurt parfait. What's that on his feet? Why, it's white socks and blue crocs!

These crocs were purchased for Samuel's friend, Hudson, about 2 years ago. Hudson wore them and wore them and wore them some more and when he finally grew out of them, they were passed on to Samuel.

We discovered them in the closet this morning and since Samuel has been obsessed with shoes lately (he wants to wear them with his P.J.s to bed!) I put them on him. They, of course, were too big, but he insisted on wearing them. I put the socks on thinking, "I'll just put his sneakers on when we get downstairs" then the crocs went back on his feet. He was so proud of them, he would NOT take them off and I just figured is wasn't a battle I wanted to fight. He won.

White-socks-with-sandal-wearing old men of the world, please welcome the newest member to your club: Samuel Kelley. 

thankful

Just discovered a saved draft from last week. Thought I'd pass it along. It's still true, so why not? Just a little bit of old news...

I'm am so thankful it's Friday. This has been a busy week! Up early for boot camp, which has been a great release for me lately, then up late with VBS at church. And we haven't even been every night; only 2. But it's made those 2 days very long!

Kevin (DH), has been to VBS more than I have but we all went on Wednesday night. It was great! The team who has organized has really outdone themselves again this year!

That being said, Samuel is too young for VBS :( . He just doesn't understand the games, or even staying with the group he is supposed to be with. I guess there is a reason the youngest kids they register are 5. hmmm...

Without going into too many details, our Wednesday night trip to VBS was cut short. Little guy was very sleepy and had about 3 head bonks too many (again, touching on the point, he's too little - people didn't see him behind doors and plowed him down). So we left. On the way home, while he was resting/recovering, I was thinking about how it will be in a few years when he IS old enough to enjoy VBS along with all the other crumb-cruncher, germ slathered kids there. How will it work when snack time comes around and he has to take enzymes before snack? Am I going to have to provide applesauce and a tutorial on administering meds to my child just before snack time? Maybe he'll have a buddy to help him every night.

All of this reminds me of the book we were given on diagnosis day, talking about experiencing "acute grief" from time to time, like when seeing a chubby baby in the grocery store and grieving that your child has a difficult time getting those chubby thighs. Now, every chubby-thighed child I see, everywhere, brings on those thoughts of "Samuel had chubby thighs for a day or two." I guess VBS brought on some acute grief the other night. 

Anyone else ever experience this? I'm sure other CF Mommees do from time to time. How do you get through it?

A big weekend

What a great weekend to follow Samuel's test on Friday!

First, Samuel's test on Friday went very well. There have been improvements since our last IPL 10 months ago. Everything is "normal" and we couldn't be happier. Well, we couldn't be happier with the results. All celebrating ended with the ice bath Samuel got when we were trying to wake him up after the test. When he doesn't want to wake up, just leave him alone! :)

Also last week, Samuel's 18 month check-up (a month late) complete with pokes. 3 pokes and he cried longer this time than ever before. Not just crying from the pain but from a broken heart and hurt feelings. I felt bad for him.

Samuel hamming it up at the doc's office while we were waiting:

This past weekend we had a first. Samuel's first hair cut. We've been getting lots of grief over his mullet but, really, I don't care what others think of his hair. Clearly, since we haven't cut it for the last 19 months. But it was getting very long in the back...so long it was getting tangled up all the time. It looked like he had bed-head all the time. And I will say, if it had been a little curlier, there is no way a pair of scissors would have touched his head. All in all, he did great! He wasn't too hip on the idea of being buckled into the fire truck he was sitting in, but he got over it pretty fast. He was very comfortable in the place, playing video games and all the other toys they had there.

Admiring himself in the mirror.

In the fire truck. Complete with a cape.

In: a baby.

Out: a little boy.

This weekend he also got a hold of a pen. Nothing new, but he has never used it before either. I wouldn't let Kevin wipe his leg off until I could take a picture.

Samuel has been learning all kinds of new stuff lately! Seems like I say that every time. But it's true. At his well-baby check, they were asking how many words can he say and does he make any animal noises yet. At the time he didn't but that changed in about a day. By the end of the week he was barking like a dog. "Samuel, what kind of noise does a dog make?" "Woof Woof Woof!" So cute. At a friend's house, he was chasing their little dogs around, barking at them. By the end of the night, he was barking at their cat too. Fine by me, I don't care for cats so much. If a barking toddler keeps them away, bark on!

As for the words he says, well, it's not too many. However, he is learning how to communicate in other ways. I will whole-heartedly encourage new parents to teach your baby sign language. Samuel is a signing sponge! He signs all kinds of words: more, eat, drink (while saying "juice"), candy, please, thank you, cheese, airplane, ball, bird, and his latest, shoes! (Definitely his mother's son).

Eating grilled cheese. Well, eating the cheese out of the middle...while standing up in the high chair. A good shot of his crazy hair.
My brother, Andy, his lovely wife, Morgan and baby Will. And cousin Samuel.

Not sure whose kid this is that fell asleep at Olive Garden.

Thanks for checking!