Hello Blue Eyes!

Burnin' Calories

I think this photo and video should explain why I'm such a skinny little guy...I NEVER stop moving! Today I even crawled right up into mommy's magazine rack and got stuck!

9 months old

I’m 9 months old and before you know it, I’m gonna be 1 years old! At my doctor’s appointment last week, I heard the doctor tell mom that I’m growing like a weed and weighed 19 lbs and was over 28 inches long. They had this cool computer that charted my growth and the doctor compared me to my big brother Sam when he was 9 months old. I guess we are almost exactly the same weight and height! Mom was glad to hear that because I’m not a real big guy and neither was my brother, but now he’s a big dude (48 lbs, 42 inches). I don’t think I’m all that small because I just upgraded to a big boy car seat, I’m wearing 12 mo. clothes and I eat a ton of food! Mom hasn’t found a food yet that I won’t eat and I especially love to eat “big people food”. My favorites are chicken, cheese, carrots and peaches. Sometimes I get a tiny bit of ice cream and I really wish I could have more because it makes me smile and squeal!


I’m almost ready to start walking, but right now I prefer to crawl or walk along the furniture. You should see how fast I am! I am very determined and like to do things that make mommy say “No!” For example, I love it when mom or dad or Sam forgets to close the bathroom door because I cruise right over to the toilet and start splashing my hands in the water. Mommy always says “yucky!” but I don’t know what the big deal is? I also like to get into the trash can and Murphy’s water bowl too! At least once a day (usually right after mommy changes my clothes) I like to dump over the water bowl and get myself nice and wet. Then she has to change my clothes again! For some reason she gets kind of frustrated with me because I’m a “wiggle worm” and I refuse to sit still when she changes my diaper or clothes. All I want to do is explore and play with my big brother Sam, so I get really mad and sometimes scream when she tries to hold me down. Get this…she even puts her leg over top of me to hold me down and sometimes calls for “Help!” from daddy. I think that’s really unfair!


Last week my Grandma Ellen from Tennessee came to visit me for 3 days. She is really nice and I even let her rock me to sleep. I was a very good boy for her and didn’t even wiggle when she tried to change my diaper.

Overall, everyone says I’m a really good kid. I like to smile and giggle a lot and I’m a pretty good sleeper (unless my teeth are bugging me). I take 2 naps a day and sleep from 8:00pm-5/6:00 am. Mom feeds me a bottle and then I go back to sleep until 7:30-8:30. From the minute I get up until I go to bed, I’m always on the go. I also love to play with my dad and big brother Sam. We sort of wrestle a little and I make growling noises at them. Daddy calls me "the little roughian" because I'm so aggressive. I'm also getting really good at stealing Sam's cars and trains and he usually gets really mad at me about that. Mom keeps reminding him to share and now he has given me a couple of his old cars! I like to push my little cars all over the living room and make funny noises. Everyone says that I’m “all-boy”. <
Well, gotta go! Somebody just left the bathroom door open and I’m gonna make a beeline for that toilet! Bye-bye!

Birthday Boy

On April 5 Samuel turned 5 years old! It's crazy to me because I can so clearly remember the day he was born. It was cold and sunny and I remember looking out the window in our labor and delievery room at Spectrum Hospital at around 11:00 a.m. on Monday, April 5, 2004and feeling so anxious and fearful about what was to come. There were so many unknowns at that time...would Sam have to have surgery on his heart immediately after birth? would I get to hold him? would he be a normal little boy? And now 5 years later, all of those fears and worries are gone. God has watched over our little miracle boy and carried us and him through 2 open heart surgeries and 2 heart cathedar procedures. Those sure were some scary times for us, but it has made us love him more deeply and treasure his health and boundless energy with more appreciation and gratefulness for how good God has been. Samuel basically only functions with 1/2 a heart, but you can't tell! He is ALL BOY! He loves to run and jump and climb and get dirty and wrestle with his daddy. Praise God from whom all blesings flow! Samuel certainly is a special blessing to us.

Here are some pictures from his 5th birthday party...
Sam requested a Spiderman cake this year. Usually I just buy them from Walmart, but this year I attempted my own cake! Thanks mom for help with the baking (she taught me how to make Great-Grandma Kleinheksel's beloved pudding filing and homemade buttercream frosting). I did the decorating myself and I think it turned out pretty sweet!

Giving Grandpa Rudy a hug.

Lovin' on Grandma Judy

All fired up about the Spiderman car and action figure with Cousin Mya helping to inspect.

Taking off the blindfold to see what daddy has been building in the garage....a trampoline! His reaction was very anti-climatic. I was hoping for lots of screaming and jumping around, but instead all we got was a little smile! I think he was unsure as to what is was at first plus he's not a big fan of large crowds staring at him, so he just kind of stood there. But once he got to try it out...then the fun began!

Yahoo!

Bouncing with Mya

Here comes the cake!

Happy Birthday buddy! We love you so much!