First foray into food

Last night we tried rice cereal in Sammy's milk in hopes that he would be so full, he would immediately pass out and sleep 12 hours straight. More on that later...
He started out very clean with only a bib and diaper.

He wasn't too sure of the eating-off-of-a-spoon deal.

And yes, I intentionally chopped myself out of this picture due to the fact that I'm overdue for a shower, and apparently, an overall makeover. Also try to ignore the leaning tower of moving boxes in the background. :)

It didn't get as messy as I'd imagined it would, and after some frustration on Sammy's part, we gave it to him in bottle form. He couldn't understand why the spoon was not producing milk after he sucked on it.

And like I said earlier, we were really counting on this stuff (followed by a bottle of formula for good measure) to put him down for the count. Not so...
It's currently 3am, we've been up since midnight, and Sam is wide awake, giggling, playing, and looking as if he will never tire out. Looks like we're not going to Philly to see the snow tomorrow. :(

Sam at 3am

I'm gonna be the one smirking tomorrow. Pray for us, people. :)

Happy birthday to Steve

My Steve is turning 23 today! How will we celebrate (on a Wednesday)? Probably by eating this-

chocolate mousse torte (super easy!!)

and then keep with our current schedule of going to bed at 7:30. :)

It's so funny to think that last year on Steve's birthday we found out that I was pregnant with Sam... and now he's here. with us. every day. and night. especially at night.

Steve was positive that I was pregnant. I was so sure I wasn't. We were following NFP and had successfully avoided pregnancy for five months. I thought there would be some sort of grace period, allowances for mess-ups, something. There's no way I could get pregnant by straying from NFP for one month. Wrong. So wrong. Surprise! But what a lovely surprise. A lovely little red-headed surprise.

 

And loving two red-headed boys is better than loving just one, right?

Steve, I'm so thankful for your life, your love, your ability to never meet a stranger, and your drive to always to a top-notch job. I do not take one day with you for granted!!

So happy birthday to the most amazing husband the world has ever seen. My life with you has already been full of surprises and I can't wait to see what the next 70, 80, (dare I say 85?) years has in store for us together. (We're pretty healthy right???) :)
Now let's eat some cake torte and go to sleep before you-know-who wakes up!

A trip to the Shirley Plantation

Steve, Sam, and I drove to Williamsburg this past Sunday to go eat at Zaxby's (because it's amazing and for some strange reason, no one will build one closer to our house...) and along the way, the ever-so-untrustworthy Garmin got us lost. This is not the first time she's done this. But surprisingly enough, when she leads us astray, we always end up discovering something really interesting. And Sunday was no different. We drove down a road that had at least ten old Southern plantations dotted along the way. We didn't stop on the drive to Williamsburg to look at any of them up close (because a few of us were really ready to eat lunch), but on the drive back, we stopped at the last plantation on the road: the Shirley Plantation. It was closed because we got there as the sun was setting, but it was amazing. I went back to get a closer look yesterday with Sam and this is what we saw:

front of the plantation

back of the plantation (which faces the James River)

We signed up for a tour, and since it was such a slow day there, I got my own personal tour (ooh-la-la). It is a very interesting place, with a really rich history. The land surrounding the plantation is still in use today (approximately 800 acres) and the same family is still living in the house (on the 2nd and 3rd floors). Robert E. Lee's mother grew up here and he spent time here as a young boy. I won't give away all of the details, but the inside was even more grand than the outside. Of course, someone began to get a little bored and fussy...

He passed out as soon as I stuck him back in his carseat. :) He was very good overall and was quite the charmer while we were talking with the people who worked on the plantation. No complaints from this mama!

Overall, it was a VERY interesting day and I can't wait to see a few more of the other plantations that are so close to our house. (Shirley Plantation is literally 10 minutes from our front door!)

Thank you Garmin for yet another hidden gem.

I can sleep when I'm dead..

That seems to be Sam's school of thought here lately. So the first order of business this morning was to bundle Sam up, put on some shoes, ignore the 23 degree temps, and head to Dunkin Donuts for some coffee.

 

An extra large coffee, to be exact.

My goal for today is to keep this little man's eyes wide open until bedtime tonight so we can all get some much-needed SLEEP!

It's nifty to be thrifty

Sam and Wil, and Sammy and I went into Richmond this week in search of some good quality thrift stores. We were not disappointed. Our first stop was a shop called "The Love of Jesus Thrift Store." Was it shady? Yes. Was it worth poking around in? Of course! Our next stop was much more successful. I found:

four Polish pottery bowls for $3 each

 

 

this lovely tray/plate for 99 cents

and this quality turquoise "Club" pot for $10

 Seriously? There's nothing better than finding a great deal. :)

And Sammy had his first real play-date with Wil! So cute. Sam wasn't too aware of anyone being in the pack-n-play with him, but every so often they would stare at each other.

It's so fun to hang out with another stay-at-home-mama! Especially one that lives only a few doors down. No reason to change out of the sweats, right? ;)

Now he sleeps..

Sam and I had quite a night last night.. Apparently he wasn't as tired at the end of the day as I was. He would only sleep for an hour or two at a time (I thought we were finished with the newborn stage!!) and ate like a fool when he was awake. We finally called it quits around 7 this morning and guess who is now taking a nap..

As much as I love staring at this cute face at all hours of the night, I'm impatiently awaiting the night where he konks out for 12 hours straight. Elaine (wonderful, life-saving, home-visiting lactation consultant) told me that we should expect him to sleep through the night when he's 4 months old and/or double his birth weight. So my question is: how do we pack the pounds on this kid already?? :)