The Hillian Collection

Sammy is a terrible eater. It's been this way from the beginning, but especially since we introduced solid foods, he's never quite been--how you say--a fan. Even foods he really, really likes (steak, pork, chicken), he'll refuse even when he hasn't eaten in a while. It's enough to make a momma go off food, too.

So I've started documenting his meals before and after, particularly because his 15 month appointment is less than a month away. And, what do you know? One of his first documentations was a success. Yes, we sat at the table for about forty-five minutes, and yes, YouTube videos were playing constantly. But he got most of it down!

Before:

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Sammy can walk after all! I'm not even sure when Sammy officially took his "first steps" because he didn't follow through with them until now (I think it was around 12 months). He's just such an efficient little crawler that anything more than one step from his comfort zone and he would just end up on the floor to zoom to where he wanted to go.

But last night, when I wasn't paying attention, lo and behold, he walks across half the living room. So as soon as Daddy came home from class, and Sammy was in his night-time-crazies mode (see video below), we tried to encourage him walking, and he did it! I've got to wonder how much better he would have done last night if we wasn't so giggly, but you'll see in the second video, which was taken a mere 12 hours after he starting this walking showcase, how much sturdier he is.

Last night. Approximately 9pm. 14 months, 2.5 weeks old.

This morning. Approximately 9am.



I knew that once he finally started walking, he would be an expert. It was this way with crawling too. And as I write this, I realize that Sammy has actually been crawling longer than he was immobile--from  7 months to over 14 months. Oh, Sammy. You goofball.

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I've officially gotten my butt-kicking regarding Sammy's over-the-top cosleeping habits. If you were to ask Sammy where he used to sleep, he would, of course, say that he slept in his own bed. But what he would be leaving out is that he considered it his bed only after seizing it from Mommy and Daddy. But after some pressure from an elder at our church as well as Daddy finally having enough, Mommy was forced to get her butt in gear and her baby out of their bed.

Sammy's room has, until now, never properly been Sammy's room. First it was a guest room for helpers when Sammy was a newborn (since we only had a bedside bassinet at that point), then we got a crib, but shoved it our bedroom in order to keep the "guest room" intact. But then we finally got rid of that queen bed with big plans to make that room Sammy's officially, but when push came to shove, Mommy got cold feet. I had my excuses: Sammy was sick and not ready to be on his own, I wanted to stabilize the art about his crib so it wouldn't fall on his little head in the night, etc. etc. Until the room was fairly nonfunctional as anything other than storage.

But when Sean told me that "tonight's the night," I got my act together and finally, after 14 months in this house, made Sammy his very own functional space that's all his own. I don't have any before pictures for you, since I'm pretty embarrassed about it's former stages, but this is how it looks now:

His crib is pulled about a foot away from the window, and those curtains block adequate amounts of light in the morning so that he'll sleep in until 7:30am or later. I never stabilized that art on the shelf, so I just decided to move the changing table under it, which is where the crib used to be. And that rocker has always been there, but the arrangement of the room before made it so out of the way that it never go used. Now we sit and read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Freight Train and Chugga Chugga Choo Choo to him at night as he's winding down. I also moved one of Sammy's two giant toy baskets in this room in an effort to declutter the living room, but it's served itself well in this room as a fun way for Sammy to let off some steam in the late hours of the evening. He used to cry whenever he went in this room because it was never fun and only used for "abandonment," but now he really loves it. And we cherish the time we spend in there together with Sammy at night. And Sammy will even take his three hour naps in here now. I've been able to get so much done in just the naps Sammy's had this past week, since I used to always lay down with him since I was so tired in my first trimester.

Here's the living room's "Sammy corner" with one less large basket full of toys (it's hard to imagine that there were two HUGE baskets next to each other before):

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As Sean told me the other day, "My allergies are really bad, but it's okay because it means football's almost here." Ah, college football Saturdays, when Sean dons his Gators shirts from seasons past, we set up all our electronic devices to display as many games as possible, and Sammy puts on the Gator garb that currently fits him. Wait--Sammy has no Gator outfits in 2T? This is a disaster!

So off to the semi-annual consignment sale, Just Between Friends, we go to get not one, two, three or even four outfits, surpassing five and six (and, of course, seven since 789), to get TEN new Gator outfits for both Sammy and his new brother* so that they're properly decked out for game days.

So, say it with me now: Heeeeere come the Gators!

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So fine. It's been over two months since my last post. I'd be surprised if anyone is even going to check my blog. Kudos to you from me if you're reading this now. ;-)

Back in March, after Sean essentially completed his Master's degree by finishing his thesis, he planted a vegetable garden in our backyard. He has ten tomato plants, eight eggplant plants (or eggplants?), four cayenne pepper plants and seven collard plants. They're just about matured enough to harvest. Mmmm mmmm. Here's Daddy and Sammy working hard to put it all together.

Relocating grass before gardening.

Sammy can put away dirt like it's no one's business.

In April, I took Sammy to a local park and snapped some great photos of of my cheese-ball. I meant to share them earlier as updated 10-month-old shots, but they've just been sitting on my computer since then. My bad. Here are some of the highlights.

See? Cheese-ball.

What in the world?

Sammy's signature bear crawl

And finally, for those of you who can't see any of me in Sammy's features, here's a baby picture of me around 6 months for comparison.

Megan in 1989

Sammy in 2011

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