It's a Wonderful Life: July

July was a whirlwind and came and went in an instant...or so it seemed most days. Other days felt like an eternity. Sam's personality is becoming more apparent every day. Unlike his brother, Sam is laid back and never in a hurry. It sometimes takes him an hour to finish (and he doesn't always finish) a four ounce bottle. Hence the reason some days all I do is feed, burp and change him. He is also a boy who knows what he wants. A few weeks ago, Sam decided he no longer wanted to take a bottle and only wanted to nurse. For a stay-at-home mom, this might have been okay...at least for awhile...but I have to return to work in two weeks. We had to get him to take a bottle. We tried everything...tried slow and rapid flow nipples, tried four different kinds of bottles (at least), Wade tried feeding him hoping he'd take a bottle from someone other than Mom, tried starting feeding when he was calm and barely awake, tried starting when he was mad and REALLY ready to eat...nothing worked. Finally after lots of tears and long days, we're having more good feedings than bad. Any advice is welcome.

With Henry, it didn't matter how the food came, he just wanted to eat! Sam - a different story.

Other July happenings:

1) Henry's first attempt to hold Sam all by himself. It lasted all of 10 seconds until Henry started saying, "Mom, here you go", pleading for me to take him back.

2) After 9 months of calling him "Peanut", I couldn't resist this onsie. Sam was a big fan of his new organic baby wear...started dancing the minute we put it on him.

3) Henry had his first outbreak. It started on his legs and looked like a mosquito had gone to town...the next morning we noticed red whelps all over his stomach and arms. They were everywhere but his face. Poor little fella...he was rubbing himself against the furniture to scratch. Daddy took him to the doctor and discovered it was an outbreak of hives. Henry had had a reaction to something...we may never know what. Several doses of Benadryl later, Henry was perfectly fine.

The hive discovery

4) Henry sported big boy underoos for the first time...no, not potty trained just yet, but we're getting close. Afraid Henry starting a new school in a couple of weeks might prolong our training. But it's amazing what Henry will do for a gummy bear!

Very excited to have cars on his bottom

He wanted to make sure I got a close up of the car

5) Sam is strength training. A few more tummy times and he'll be lifting his head like a six month old...NOT. Sam loves tummy time so much he goes right to sleep the minute I roll him over.

6) Sam's darn umbilical cord didn't fall off until July 30...make that flew off. It now lies somewhere on Carissa's floor. Sorry, Carissa. Will surely make for a fun surprise if Michael discovers it. Can't wait to see the pics! And enjoyed catching up with you...already looking forward to seeing you again in September!

Because we had to wait to give Sam a "real" bath until he lost his cord, Sam got to experience a couple of sponge baths. Like his big brother, Sam prefers the real bath to the sponge.