Random Samuel Updates

Samuel is smiling and cooing now. October 21st was his first smile and the last few weeks he's been smiling and cooing more and more.

He has a sleep schedule at night now (We're still working on the day one. During the day he usually wakes up whenever we put him down.) At night, usually between 1am to 2am he'll go down and most of the time he will sleep til between 6:30-7:30am, nurse and go back to sleep for 2-3 hrs. Although, last Thursday, November 17th, Samuel slept through the night. An entire 8 1/2 hours!

Samuel is all set up here to have in home physical therapy. We are very excited about that so we don't have to worry about exposing him to any illnesses.

Samuel had his first RSV shot a couple of weeks ago and will get the 2nd one in a couple of weeks. At that appointment he weighed 11 lbs 11.5 oz.

Samuel no longer has eye goop! As of a couple weeks ago it all cleared up.

Random Noel Updates

Noel isn't taking anymore naps. She started refusing to take them and so we tried her without them and she didn't seem extra whiny or tired but sometimes she'll still conk out randomly.

Noel had a close call with her life this past week. Friday afternoon I was sitting nursing Samuel in our living room and Noel was 4 feet away opening the drawer on our "tv stand" (what we use for our 100+ lbs box tv isn't really a tv stand and is much lighter than the tv itself... not too smart to use). The drawer got stuck and she was pulling really hard to open it. I watched the entire thing unfold and still can't get it out of my head. The tv and the "tv stand" started falling over and Noel was kneeling just underneath it. I leapt up from feeding Samuel to stop the tv from falling on her and crushing her. I guess I was able to deflect it enough to not full on crush her but on it's way down it knocked her in the head a couple of times. The tv crashed to the floor and Noel instantly started screaming. As I was holding Noel to see if she was okay I noticed Samuel was on the ground laying on his back and I don't recall if he rolled off of my lap when I lept up or if I laid him on the ground. He didn't seem hurt which was good considering he could've just rolled off of my lap. My brother Chris came running downstairs because he heard the crash and the screaming and he helped clean up the mess while Morgan rushed home. He took Noel to her see her doctor and it was concluded she didn't have a concussion which is a miracle. The doctor mentioned that there have been children who have died from tv's falling on their heads, so I am very grateful Noel didn't even have a concussion. She did have a few large goose eggs on her head but that was it.

A few pics as of late. If you look at the 4th picture down, you can see where Noel gets her silly faces from.










Noel falls asleep in the funniest places.



Here is a video of Samuel smiling and cooing for those interested. He is such a cutie

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A Wonderful Visit

This last weekend my brother Mikey came into town and we all had such a wonderful time. He came in super early Saturday morning and in the morning, Chris and Kareena came over for a waffle and bacon breakfast and in the evening we all went thrift store shopping and then we had a Taco and Nacho birthday dinner for Mikey. Later we had cake and ice cream for his birthday and after that we all just visited and talked which was hilariously fun and then we watched a movie.

Morgan holding Samuel last week.

Noel loves holding Samuel now. She asks to hold him all the time and when she does she'll say, "Can you smile Bud?" And she just giggles and gives him kisses. It's so cute!


So for Mikey's 22nd birthday I made him a dog food bowl cake. When we were little, we were best buddies a lot and me being the older sister would ask him to do things for me and his reply would be, "Only if you call me a big brave dog." So I would, and he would do whatever I had asked him. I know, not a very nice thing but we are super close now and I think and hope he's forgiven me;)


Mikey holding Samuel for the first time. He had the magic tough. He put him to sleep a couple of times.
Mikey's reaction when he saw the cake.



By the way, the "dog food" was "whoppers" (Morgan's brilliant idea).

Noel helped him blow out his candle.

Mikey took a few pictures of Noel.

Samuel getting a bath last night.

Noel wanted to watch:)

Thank you for visiting this weekend Mikey. We all had such a great time with you. You are such a great guy and we hope you enjoyed your time here. Thanks for being Mikey, the big brave dog:)

Good ol' Utah

We are a family again! I am now in Springville, Utah and finally was reunited with my wonderful hubby. After 2 months of not being together, Samuel's doctor said that he was healthy enough to make the move from California to Utah. Samuel did well during the drive and is doing well here. His pediatrician here said that he probably has what they call "Super Colic" which is common in premature babies. It's colic plus the super, literally. He is way more colicky than Noel was. The last 4 or 5 days though he has been so good compared to when he is unconsolably fussy. We are hoping he has grown out of it.

Here is a picture of Noel, Samuel and I with Morgan's parents before saying our goodbye's in CA.
Here's a picture of when we were reunited on October 22nd.
My brother Chris and sister-in-law Kareena are so amazing. We are currently renting out their basement and I absolutely love it. It's the cutest little basement with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath and a laundry area. We are so grateful to them and all that they've done. They've brought us cookies and our mail, had us over for dinner, played with Noel, and have invited us over for movie nights in the man cave. Thanks Chris and Kareena. You guys have made the move and the settling in more easy. It's so nice to have family so close.

The friday before Halloween, Kareena took Noel to work for some Halloween festivities. Kareena was Elastagirl from The Incredibles and Noel was her child.
Chris comes over often asking if Noel can play. He is going to be such a good father (in 3 weeks;))
Noel and I made sugar cookies on Halloween night. She loved eating the dough off of the beaters.
She is such a big helper. We had fun making cookies together.

The day after Halloween, Morgan and Noel carved pumpkins. Noel refused to stick her hand in the pumpkins to pull out the pumpkin gunk and the seeds. Whenever Morgan pulled anything out of the pumpkins she yelled "Ewwwwwww!"
What is funny about this picture is first of all, we can see who Noel gets the funny faces that she pulls from, and Noel in this picture looks so much like me when I was little, with the big full cheeks and a big/little grin peering through.
The finished products.
Noel recently expressed interest in holding Samuel. This was her first time holding him. She did so good with him.

She loves to give him kisses.

Samuel has been smiling here and there for the last couple of weeks. It's so brief when he does it and I'm still not sure if it is intentional or just gas;) although sometimes he seems so focused on your face and he gives a little smile, so it's during those times that it seems that he means to smile.
Noel eating soup like a big girl. You gotta love her cheesy grins. That's all she gives these days when you ask her to smile for the camera.
We just celebrated Noel's birthday a couple of days ago. On November 4th she turned 2! I still can't believe it. For her birthday I tried to replicate what we call her "ugly bird". She got this bird for her 1st birthday and due to it's ugliness, his name is Ugly Bird. Noel even calls it that. Anyways, she sleeps with this bird and often involves Ugly Bird a lot throughout her day. I thought it would be fun to do an Ugly Bird Cake.

We had Chris & Kareena over to celebrate Noel's birthday along with each set of Noel's grandparents on skype (hence the two laptops).
Noel eating her cake and ice cream.
Kareena and Chris enjoying their cake and ice cream.
For her birthday, we gave Noel an accessory set for her dolls/stuffed animals. It had a stroller, a front pack, a high chair do-hicky that attaches to a table/counter, and a carseat. I had to put my front pack on before Noel would put hers on. She absolutely loves everything she got for her birthday.
"Fridge Phonics". My parents gave her this and she loves playing with it.
Noel loves her little brother.
Another little smile.

He is sure getting big. At his appointment a little over a week ago he was 11 lbs 4 oz!!
It has snowed a few times since we've been here. Just little flurries here and there. This last sunday morning there was about an inch or so of snow on the ground and we bundled Noel up and let her go experience snow for the first time. She looked so cute.

In a daze.

Chris came out because he heard Noel squealing and he started throwing snowballs at her. It was too funny. She just stayed put while he tried to hit her and she just giggled the whole time.

HE GOT HER! Don't worry, there was still laughter and no tears.

And lastly, my handsome hubby with our little boy.

We are one happy family and so grateful to be together. We've really been so blessed and we are so grateful to Heavenly Father that Samuel is here and doing so well, that we are now together, and especially for all of our family and friends who have helped us get to where we are right now.