Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Sammi has been singing a lot of songs lately. Last night while I was giving her a bath she sang:

Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Gently down the Street
Merrily Merrily Merrily
Life is but a dream

Go ahead picture Sammi rowing her boat down the street! I told her it was stream, not street, and she gave me the most serious look and said ohhhhhhh nooooooooo.

Samantha is home sick today. She didn’t sleep very well last night and woke up saying her ears hurt. So while she is acting just fine her Daddy took her to the doctors just to be safe. Of course she doesn’t have an ear infection, so she probably could have gone into school. Oh well. We’ve had some issues with the concept of the doctors since early December. We made the mistake when Jesse passed away of telling Samantha that we had to take Jesse to the doctors because she was sick. When we had to let Jesse go…we left without her. Samantha kept telling people that Jesse was at the doctors. We kept trying to explain to her that she wasn’t but Samantha is only two, and didn’t quite get it. While we were on vacation Sammi told Granny that she missed Mommy and Daddy and wanted to go to the doctors. I think that she thought that when someone disappears that is where they go. Granny did a good job of explaining once again that Jesse was in heaven. Last week I had to get some blood taken (I finally went an allergist about my hives!). Samantha did not like that Mommy had to go to the doctors. So I let her come in with me. I think it helped that I went to the doctors and was back two minutes later. This morning Samantha told Ken that she was going to the doctors. And that Jesse wasn’t at the doctors, she was in heaven. And that Mommy wasn’t at the doctors she was at work. She might actually be getting it now.

Missing Sammi, Enjoying Vacation

It is so good to be back home. Not that Ken and I didn’t enjoy our vacation, we did, but it is good to be back home with Samantha. We missed her so much while we were gone but she had a great time staying with Granny, Grandpa, and Aunt Jen. They took her to GGZ’s birthday party, to visit GGS, to the library, and of course shopping. We went ten days without seeing Samantha, and a week without talking to her. But we got lots of e-mails!

Here's a sampling of some e-mails we got from Aunt Jenny, Granny, and Sammi:

January 11, 2007 (from Aunt Jen)

Your little one was so cute this morning. I woke up as she was waking up. I asked her if she wanted to get up and go with Granny. She said, 'No, I want to stay here with Klondike.' After my shower I got her up and she said she went poopy. So she went and woke Granny up. They played with Klondike while I got ready in the bathroom. It was fun just being able to listen to them as I got ready. Granny asked Sammy where Aunt Jen was going and she said, 'Too work.'

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January 13, 2007

Hi Mommy and Daddy,

I just wanted you to know what a good time I had at GG's birthday party. There were a lot of people there.......they said they were family.....but I don't remember them. Anyway I had fun helping GG open her gifts and also blowing out the candles. I sang the best out of everyone! Granny took a few pictures, you know Granny isn't the best picture taker but, she does her best any way here are some pictures. I
love you and miss you.

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January 14, 2007

Hi Mommy and Daddy.....
Today is a slow day at Granny and Grandpa's. I slept til 9:00 this morning and Aunt Jenny and Granny tried to put me down for a nap around 1:00. It didn't work, I just played for an hour or so.....I didn't cry, I just played. Granny said it was okay cause then I go to bed a little early tonight and she and Grandpa can watch 24 :) Anyway I did have fun today and played with my babies and everyone here played with me. I had pizza for dinner tonight and something called fried mushrooms....gosh they were good. I hope you are having so much fun on your boat that you don't have time to write to me :(

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January 16, 2007 (from Aunt Jen)

Well, today Sammi came to school after the kids left. Everyone just loved her and couldn't believe how big she has gotten. She loved playing at the sand table. Granny told her to come look at the blocks, but she said, "No, I'm busy." Finally she did go over and play with the giant blocks. I asked her what she was playing with and as she was holding a big triangle shaped block she said, "A triangle." She is so smart. She also loved playing on the big colorful carpet. She liked jumping on all of the squares. She did not want to leave, but I told her we were going to go to the library. She agreed and got her coat on.

When we got to the library, I think she was a bit overwhelmed at the size of the building and then with all of the books. Then watch out, she couldn't wait to explore. She picked out some books, but didn't quite understand that you pick out some books to take home. She kept picking out books and then would go to the big chair to read them. So of course we read several books. One of my students was there with his mom and little sister who is two. Samantha immediately started talking to her.
She even went and got the little girl a book and said, "Here you go." They both climbed up in the big chair and read their books and chatted with each other. It was like they were having a book club meeting to discuss the books they had read. Then the little girl had to leave. I showed Samantha the Curious George books. They had so many and she got so excited. She kept saying to Granny, "Curious George, Curious George." Finally we had a ton of books so decided that it was time to leave. Samantha loved her first trip to the library and I enjoyed being a part if it.

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January 17, 2007 (from Sammi)

Today we had a lazy kind of day. Granny and Grandpa and I played a lot and we read lots and lots of books. I told Granny that I had to go to the doctor today because I missed you sooooo much. Guess what, I love mushrooms......granny is making a pot pie tonight and she put some mushrooms in it because I love them. :) :)

I am going to New Jersey on Saturday but, don't worry, I'll be back before your plane lands. I love you and I miss you Mommy and Daddy......I hope you are having a great time on your boat without me :( I bet you bring me a present......

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January 17, 2007 (from Aunt Jen)

Things are going very well here. I just love having Samantha here. When I got home from work today, she screamed, and as she was running towards me screaming she was saying, "Aunt Jenny, Aunt Jenny!" It was such a nice feeling to come home to.

She told me she had a fun day with Granny and Grandpa. Grandpa read her some of the books that she got at the library. She was a little wired, so I questioned Granny to make sure she didn't give Sammi a bowl of sugar for lunch. I was told no, she had pasta [editors note: Doesn't pasta turn to sugar?].

I gave her a bath tonight and she was such a good girl. We played her music and just had a blast in the tub. She didn't even cry when it was time to wash the soap out of her hair. [editors note: whatever!]


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January 19, 2007 (from Aunt Jen)

Sammi had me up at 5:15 this morning. She was wide awake. She wanted juice, which I got for her, but then she never really went back to sleep. The next thing I know at 5:40, she is telling me she needs to go potty, so I got up again to take her to
the bathroom. By now she is really awake, but I am clearly not, so I told her to get in Aunt Jen's bed. By the time I folded up her diaper, and threw it away she was already in my bed. I turned on the TV and we watched TV. Eventually we both fell asleep until 7:30.

Last night I was changing her diaper and she told me, "I really love your house." I smiled and said, "Well I love your house." She said, "Thanks, my kitty is at my house." I asked her what her kitty's name is and she said, "Rosie". Then she preceded to tell me that her other kitty is in heaven. So I told her yes that Jesse is in heaven with Uncle Steve, and she said, "Yea." It was so darn cute.

I just love having her at home when I get there. I get the nicest and warmest welcome home. She tells me how much she missed me and that she is happy to see
me.

Welcome to the Family, Little Kevin Rocco

Sammi has a cousin! Aunt Kelli and Uncle Matt had Kevin on Friday, January 19th. Kevin was about a month early and has spent the last week in the NICU, but he is doing really well and should go home today. We tried to plan our cruise around the baby's arrival, but that didn't work out!

Sammi is very excited and we keep asking her what her cousin's name is. And last night we showed her pictures of him. She wanted to see more!

Sammi told us two weeks ago after Kelli and Matt spent the weekend with us that she would see them in two weeks. When we asked her why she said that Aunt Kelli was going to have her baby. She knew what she was talking about. When Aunt Kelli's water broke at 5:30 in the morning on Friday, Sammi couldn't sleep. I think she knew her cousin was going to come!

Congratulations Kelli and Matt. We are all very happy for you.

The Holidays

Where to begin. Its been a while since I blogged. I guess I should recap the holidays.

I never even mentioned how wonderful Thanksgiving was at Granny and Grandpa’s house. We got to spend the day with Granny and Grandpa, Grandma and Pappy, her GG, and lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Sammi couldn’t get enough! We spent the whole weekend in Bel Air.

The weeks leading up to Christmas are always a special time for mommy. Its so fun to pass my own little traditions onto Samantha. I feel like my excitement is seen through her eyes and it makes it even more fun for me. Although, I was exhausted! I had her singing jingle bells in November and she is still singing it! She also loved all the Christmas songs and would do her best to sing along. Aunt Jen and Granny came up to help us make cookies. We made so many cookies I still have some left! We took Samantha to a holiday “concert” at the mall, she loved it. Even though it was getting close to her bed time she sat in her chair like the good girl she is and even danced around a little bit.

Our Christmas was great! We had the traditional Christmas Eve dinner at our house this year. We watched the Steelers play the Ravens. We enjoyed roast beef, turkey, and all the yummy sides. We opened gifts, played games, and just enjoyed Samantha. We took a walk after dinner where we looked in the sky for Santa’s sleigh. We did see a really low-flying plane that Samantha thought was Santa. We did get a visit from Santa! Samantha really “got” what Christmas is this year. She was so cute opening her presents. She would tear the paper off them but was careful to make sure each piece of paper was thrown in the trash. A few times she would actually stop opening gifts in order to play with some of her new toys. She has a lot of favorites. She received a bunch of games that she loves, she got a tunnel that she and Rosie crawl through, she got a ton of new books which Mommy and Daddy are happy about.

We spent the New Years weekend at Grandma and Pappy’s house in Hershey. We had a lot of fun with Grandma, Pappy, Granny, Grandpa, Aunt Jen, Aunt Kelli, and Uncle Matt. We played games most of the weekend and ate a ton of fun. Samantha, of course, had a blast.

We were eating dinner right before we hit the road and I was telling Samantha that she could watch Little Einsteins with Rocket in the car. She said “Little Einsteins at home” when I told her that no, it was in the car she looked at Grandma and very quickly said “Bye.” Well, we were roaring with laughter when Samantha started to cry. I guess she doesn’t take to well to being laughed at. Crying is her game now. She’s such a drama queen (Ken calls her DQ), she pouts and “cries” and it is hilarious. Yesterday she started to “cry” and walked into the bathroom and stood in the corner facing the corner. Jen and I were hysterical laughing.

One of Samantha’s favorite new gifts is her musical instrument set (thanks again granny, no, really, thanks). She loves to bang on the drum and play the obnoxious flute that came with it (a flute, shaped like a clarinet). We even had a little concert with Grandpa on Christmas day. When she was playing the other day it was giving me a headache. So I decided to be smart and call granny and grandpa’s house so they could listen to it too. I grabbed the phone, hit redial since I had recently called granny and grandpa, and handed it off to Samantha. Only several seconds into her playing the flute into the phone did I remember that Ken had actually used the phone to call the pizza place. Sure enough, yes, I had called the pizza place. I hope they don’t hate us!

Samantha also got a home depot tool box with tools in it for Christmas. She was so excited to open it and immediately took the hammer out, got up, walked across the room and banged on the wall. When our garbage disposal got jammed she was right down on the floor with her tools and her daddy helping him fix it. She even tries to use the saw on the couch. Our little helper.

Ever since Christmas and the excitement of New Year’s we’ve had more trouble getting Samantha to go to bed or leave the house. Now, Samantha is fantastic when it is time to go to bed. Sometimes she even tells us she’s tired and goes to bed. But lately she doesn’t want to leave her toys! Last night I took her up to bed and she started digging toys out. I red her a book and put her in bed. Now, she likes to sleep with her books which is really cute too. But about ten minutes after she went to sleep she wanted a mickey mouse book. So Ken went up and gave her one (she has a set of 20 Mickey books). When he gave it to her she told him the title of it! It was cute. Then she saw Chip and Dale on her book and kept saying “chip and dale, chip and dale.” Maybe you had to be there, but it was adorable!

Sammi is very happy to see people. I went to the mall one night last week and when I came home she said “Mommy, I am very happy to see you.” When Granny and Grandpa came to visit in December she said “Grandpa, I am very excited to see you.” Over the weekend she said the same thing to Aunt Jen. It is very cute.

One of her favorite phrases these days is “I Love it.” She says it so appropriately too. She has also started walking around with her hands on her hips. It’s a little bit of adorable attitude if you ask me.

Samantha is getting very excited for her cousin’s arrival. When Pappy asked her what is in Kelli’s belly she says “Hector” (that’s what Pappy calls the baby).