Connecting With My Roots

Mommy tells Daddy that she works really hard to keep the house picked up, but I know the real truth. Miss Eva is the ultimate house cleaning goddess. Another perk of her visits is that she is smitten with me and converses with me in Polish.

Here we are in some impromptu play time. How pretty the Polish language is!

Dear Mother Nature

I am very much in support of the four seasons. I look forward to the lovely autumn color palette of the trees, which is about all I can see from the rear facing car seat, and adore the crispness of the air. And winter is around the corner, snow angels here I come!

I'm concerned that it has rained for the last two nights and predictions are as bleak for Saturday as well. My parents haven't taken me out on our walks and even made me a no-show on my Neighborhood Watch beat. Sure, they walked me around the house to 'make up for it', but do they really think the pots and pans need my protection? Who are they kidding? This is cat territory and she has no intention of relinquishing to a pip squeak like me.

I beseech you to consider making the weather between 5-7pm EST a bit warmer and drier as to not interfere with my nightly routine. As you may not know, we babies rely heavily on the simple things in life and I've come to seek comfort in knowing that for just a few hours each night I am able to enjoy all you've created.

Verdict is Still Out and Other Updates

So far, so good. I seem to be a lot more alert and happy with this round of shots, though last time it took a day for the full effect to show through. Keep your fingers crossed!

Yippee for new fun- I forgot to tell you that I met a new boy yesterday at our Wednesday group. Older man Dylan took a liking to me and grabbed my hands and arms. He really liked grabbing my face and only words of caution I heard were "not the eyes!". When I started to perform my signature dainty cries Mommy put my pacifier in. Dylan thought that was the coolest thing because he reached over as swiftly as an eight-month-old can and snatched it right out of my mouth. The nerve to engage in petty theft right in front of the parents! And their reaction? Pure laughter. What has this world come to?

I've also been grabbing at things and putting them in my mouth for the past week. One day I WILL put the entire receiving blanket in my mouth! Anything that doesn't fit in my mouth is branded "Samantha" with 100% Burt drool.

Migration habits- I can now navigate the entire length and width of my crib while sleeping just to jam my scrunched up legs against the crib slats. How's that for muti-tasking?

I'm trying to roll over and my chances are getting stronger now that Mommy has stopped swaddling me at night. Here's what Daddy saw when he came in for his kiss good-bye.

More Shots

Hib and Polio this time.

On a positive note, Mommy asked them to weigh me and I'm a whopping 11 pounds, 14 ounces!

Good Morning, World!

Where'd She Go?

The past few days I've learned to be a bit more mobile. I think it's because Mommy has been trying to put me down at night without a true swaddle and I am able to wiggle about.


She's come in to get me in the morning only to see my feet resting on top of the crib railing. Check this out- on Sunday I managed to turn myself around 180 degrees while Mommy and Daddy were talking.



This morning she set me down in this position.



And I ended up in this position.

Sleeping Beauty

Mommy finally let me catch up on my sleep all day Monday. She put me in my Pack N Play and almost cried when she saw how big I'm getting.

I did wake up to take my official post as Neighborhood Watch and met another family. They commended me on my efforts and said they've never felt safer these past ten weeks. I drooled with pride!

Sunday Adventures

Here I am before we started the day and I was a chipper baby. Mommy says my hair looks like an old lady's permed hair-do. I think I look just perfect!

We took a family stroll at Tyler State Park. The weather was gorgeous! All the toddlers we passed who were staring up at the big hills looked longingly at my super-duper stroller and wished they could hop aboard.

Here's a family picture.

Mommy screwed up my bottle, so my feedings were off the rest of the day. So were my naps. And we had plans to visit Daniel and Bridget. Can you guess where this is going?? Yep, that's right, I was a mess and became a very unwelcome visitor on an otherwise peaceful Sunday afternoon.

When we arrived at Daniel and Bridget's home, I was greeted with a super thoughtful makeshift play area. They were so excited to have me as a visitor and so was I until I remembered that my normal routine would have allowed me to have outside time. Bridget and I went outside and I watched her on the swing and slide, but that only appeased me for so long.

After much fussing, an embarassed Mommy swept me up and put me in the car and off to home we went. I took my bottle and was asleep at 8pm. I had a lot of sleep to catch up on so I slept until 12pm the next day.

PS- For those of you who have seen "Dude, Where's My Car", my shirt in the top picture says "Sweet". Yes, Mommy and Daddy spent most of the day back and forth with the following:

[Jesse and Chester have tattoos on their backs that say "dude" and "sweet."]

Jesse: Dude! You got a tattoo!

Chester: So do you, dude! Dude, what does my tattoo say?

Jesse: "Sweet!" What about mine?

Chester: "Dude!" What does mine say?

Jesse: "Sweet!" What about mine?

Chester: "Dude!" What does mine say?

Jesse: "Sweet!" What about mine?

Chester: "Dude!" What does mine say?

Jesse: "Sweet!" What about mine?

Chester: "Dude!" What does mine say?

Jesse: "Sweet!" What about mine?

Chester: "Dude!" What does mine say?

Jesse: "Sweet!" What about mine? [later]

Chester: [angry] "Dude!" What does mine say?

Jesse: [screaming] "Sweet!"

Thumbs

Oh the thumb-sucker's thumb

May look wrinkled and wet
And withered, and white as snow,

But the taste of a thumb

Is the sweetest taste yet

(As only we thumb-suckers know).

Anyone know who wrote this fitting poem?

My Calling

As you may know Mommy is a frequent reader of Hollywood trash magazines. She subscribes to two gossip magazines and we read them faithfully each weekend. As soon as we saw this ad we realized that with my hand poses I am the perfect contender to be an Olympic gymnast or print ad model. See what I'm talking about?

I'm An Angel!?

When Dads are away, babies will play- and play we did!


On Wednesday we went to our Mommy and Me group. I must brag a bit because I did turn out to be the unintentional star of the show. The leader of the group was discussing this week's topic while all of us babies were feeding, putzing around and generaly being babies. Mommy flipped me over for some tummy time- when will it ever stop? Then she let me play on my back. About ten minutes later the instructor stopped the conversation and looked at Mommy in amazement and said, "Did your child just put herself to sleep?". Mommy was a bit confused and replied, "that's what she does when she's tired." The other mommies were all jealous because their babies don't know how to go to sleep on their own. Apparently their doctors haven't given them the 'tough love' talking to!


Lest Mommy's head get so big that she can't carry me and fit through the door I deflated her ego a bit the next day. She was carrying me while waiting for a repairman to arrive when the phone rang. I waited until she answered and then had a big ole' crap that shot right out of my diaper, all over the blanket, all down her shirt and pants and then puddled on the carpet. That'll teach her!


Here's some really big news--- on Wednesday night, for the first time, Henry slept the night in his crib. He's been doing so ever since and is so much better rested he can't believe he protested so much before giving in.


When Daddy came home on Friday he was the newest applicant to be accepted as my Neighborhood Watch escort. I am proud to say that our neighborhood has been safe since I took over. Here's Mommy and me on my second shift of the evening.

I Can See It Now

My first sentence is going to be "I no like socks", which is baby speak for "Mom, stop putting those damned things on my feet". After all, I am a Burt!


Mommy put my socks on because I was fresh from a bath and she didn't want me to be cold. Then she scooted off to a shower of her own and came down to see that I gingerly took my socks off and laid them down by my feet in an artistic manner to irk Mommy. Either that or I just kicked them off....

Routines

Just in case the grandparents are wondering how I spend my days, here is a quick post on my day to day activities.



Mommy wakes me up around 2am for a bottle. Then it's burp time and right back to sleep.

I wake up on my own around 6:30am super hungry for my breakfast bottle. Back to sleep!

Between 7 and 9:30am I'm finally reading to greet the day. Bottle time!

Every other morning I get to take a bath in my super cute blue tub placed in the kitchen sink.

I sometimes sneak in a few cat naps between my feedings every three hours.

In the afternoon I take another nap- refer to the tough love post.

Then in the late afternoon we take our neighborhood watch stroll.

Between 6 and 7pm Mommy and Daddy do everything they can to keep me up.

Anytime after 7pm is game time for my nighttime bottle.

After my bottle they put me in my crib, kiss me goodnight (one from Mommy, one from Daddy and a bonus kiss) and let me put myself to sleep.

Recovered

Saturday was still a day of rest though I woke up to say 'good-bye' to Daddy just before he left to spend the week in Southern California. I felt much more like my old self on Sunday and was super excited that Mommy was diligent about her calcium intake- yeah for Dominos and ice cream! We spent the day with Henry and his Mommy, who we are now calling Aunt E. I discovered how much fun a swing is and am happy that Bridget lent me hers to play with.

When we went for ice cream after dinner we were super surprised that Aunt E's dad, her sister and family were at the same ice cream parlor. What a coincidence! Liam kept us entertained with stories of his soccer game. We look forward to hearing about Liam's adventures.

Monday was boring, so no stories. Instead, here is a milestone update-I'm learning to grasp things. Here I am holding onto Ollie's tentacles. Can you tell I spend most of my day on my activity center?

Here I am threatening to punch his tentacles out if he dares to say a word about my funny hair.




I sure miss my Daddy... Here's a picture of the two of us to tide me over until he comes home.

And the Yuckies Continue

So, I'm still recovering from the shots and Mommy finally had to call the doctor tonight to make sure my reactions are documented.

Here's the deal- when I had my Hep B last month, I went to sleep at 1pm and slept until 6:30 the next morning. It took me three days to get back to normal and the recovery was lots of sleep and cuddle time, which we all know is not my favorite pasttime. This time I had my two shots and an oral on Wednesday. Went to sleep at 8pm and woke up at 9:30 on Thursday. So far so good as I tend to take my morning nap right after waking up, figuring it's more efficient that way. That's when it got funky... I took another 1.5 hour nap around lunch time and then took a 'nap' at 2pm and slept until 8 THIS MORNING (Friday). Then I napped most of the morning and went down again at 2pm until Mommy woke me up at 6pm and I started to show signs of activity. Mommy called the doctor at 6:30 because I'm due for two more shots this Wednesday to round out the 5 I was supposed to have this last appointment. The doctor said that this amount of sleep is highly unusual but since I'm still eating and don't have a fever above 101 that I get another 24 hours to feel better before having to go back to that place that started all this hoopla.

I think we should wait another week to have more shots. I don't want to be feeling more yuckies when Daddy is out of town.

The Day After

Shots suck.... Thank goodness Mommy didn't have any play dates scheduled for today because today is my day of rest. I had a horrible time going back to sleep last night, feeling the yuckies associated with the vaccinations.

Mommy made cupcakes for Daddy's Luau Day at Work tomorrow.

We must be in a Hawaii mode these days because Mommy decided that next year I get to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Burt while she jets off to the Big Island to visit Tiffany.

Here I am contemplating why on earth Mommy makes me watch so many Lifetime movies. Really, they are ALL the same!

On a side note, I understand my verbal skills aren't up to par quite yet, but I do think my non-verbal skills are extremely clear. Mommy puts a blanket on me for sleep time and I kick it off, repeating this cycle throughout the night and nap time. Why, oh why, does she continue to put a blanket over me?

Wowsers, What a Week!

It's been a crazy week and it's only Wednesday.

On Monday we visited Henry and his mom to celebrate her birthday with bagels. What a coincidence that us little ones and the bigger ones have birthdays really close to the other. Makes for easy birthday celebrations! We also went back over to bust in on their family festivities as well. We met Henry's cousins, Liam and Nora, for the first time but it feels like we've known them forever because we get to hear fun stories about them growing up. Liam is 4 and Nora is 2, both are such cuties- it must run in the family :)

Here is a picture of my hottie Henry and his grandmother... She is the newest member of my extended family, anointed last week when I drooled all over her shoulder.






Tuesday was Daddy Ditch Day. Mommy and Daddy got up really early (around 5:30 am) and started the process of packing up our entire house to relocate to Avalon (Jersey beach/shore) for the day in honor of a very special visit with Aunt Katie and Uncle Craig. They live in Southern California, but spent the week on the east coast to visit with his family from PA and of course to meet me. Turns out that it is much harder to have day trips when I'm included. After several false starts (Daddy NEVER remembers the camera!), we finally left the house at 7:45. By the time we got on the road we were all ready for a nap!


I loved visiting with Aunt Katie and Uncle Craig. I got to snuggle lots with Aunt Katie and am already looking forward to visiting them in sunny California this Christmas. I'm going to be big enough to play with their doggy Malibu in the pool so long as Malibu doesn't splash me too much.


Here I am at the beach house with Mommy. The dry cleaner lady thinks I'm starting to look more like Mommy. What do you think?


Here is some quality time with Daddy. I think he is trying to put me to sleep with some boring story.


Here is my photo shoot with Aunt Katie and Uncle Craig. Yes, I am wearing two different outfits today. Mommy put me in the most adorable blue dress but it wasn't warm enough when the storm came, so she put on my green running suit to keep me toasty. I love Baby Gap!




Another first was my visit to the beach. In Jersey we call it the 'shore', but between you and me- I think it looks just like the beach. I don't think you're supposed to go to the ocean after a huge storm, but Mommy doesn't listen and said I HAD to go to the beach for picture time. Here we are for about three minutes, just long enough to take pictures.






Today was my two month visit to the doctors to see Dr. H. He was really happy with my progress in reaching the typical milestones.



I am 11 pound 5 ounces, making mommy lose her bet that I was at least 12 pounds. I kept telling her that I'm not a porker, but she never listens!


I am 23 inches long and my head is 15 inches.


So far I am still taller than I am chubby.


Dr H listened to mommy brag about all I can do, including progress towards potty training and thought she might be slightly exaggerating my ability to wait for the diaper to be unsecured to let it rip (because I don't like to sit in a dirty or wet diaper). That is until he opened my diaper to finish my exam. In that split second I decided to liven the visit up with exploding poop. Dr H did a jump right out of the movie "Dodgeball" (the end, not the beginning where everyone sucks at staying away from the ball) and narrowly missed being nasty for the rest of his appointments. The carpet was not so lucky. Anyways, his jumping and my pooping were way too much for me and I had a total meltdown that made every parent in the entire office glad I'm not their child. Note that this was all BEFORE my shots and I got worse after those nasty needles. Needless to say Mommy had her hands full all afternoon and into the evening until I finally went down for the night at 8pm.


Mommy did get a talking to about my napping habits and I think I'm in for some tough love tomorrow afternoon at 3pm. Something about letting me cry (mean mommy!) for up to 30 minutes while I 'work it out', whatever that means. I'll keep you updated. If you don't see a post tomorrow, then you should contact Daddy and tell him that I'm still a baby and Mommy is way too tough on me!

What a Day

Must be the half-moon, but Henry and I duked it out for grumpiest baby on the block today. Daddy and I let Mommy sleep in really late and then she left to spend an amazing afternoon with Meave. I lulled Daddy into a false sense of contentedness and thirty minutes later let my inner bad baby out. Daddy said the day sucked and Mommy says it sounded like many weekday episodes. This fussiness is directly caused by my inability to take real naps during the day. Please help me learn how to sleep during the day!



Mommy came home and found Lake Salty Tears in my ear from all the crying. So much for my bath this morning.



Here is our first family self-portrait taken after I finally calmed down in preparation for a good night's sleep.

I'm Famous

In these parts of town, at least.

Handsome Henry's cousin, Liam, heard the story about me being born with a patch of skin missing on my hand.

For those who aren't familar with the story, I sucked my hand so much in utero that I actually sucked off a mouth-sized patch of skin between my thumb and pointer finger. The nurses realized my insatiable need to suck while in the hospital and hooked me up with several pacificers to take home. I've since turned in the best hickey giver on the block- shoulders are my favorite!

Anyways, when Liam and Henry have their playdates, Liam asks about the crazy baby who sucked her own skin off. He has been looking forward to meeting me for weeks. Thank goodness he didn't ask for an autograph as my fine motor skills are still a bit off, but he did ask me to share Tastykakes with him. What a friend!

Two Words: Hair Product

My mommy has learned that bath day means unruly curls. It's totally uncontrollable and makes for many funny moments in our house at my expense. She likes the next day when I'm slightly greasy and my hair can be combed straight so she can feel comfortable taking me out in public. Mommy predicts I will be using hair products before my first birthday.


Take a look at this mess! Mommy says I look like the boss from the comic strip "Dilbert". Daddy says I inherited the "Burt Bedhead". Look closely to see what they are talking about-what do you think?

Two Milestones, One Day

What a day! Mommy turned 30 and I got my first taste of time with a babysitter. I am so lucky that Miss Bridget and Mr Daniel volunteered to spend their evening with me so Mommy and Daddy could celebrate the big day with cheeseburgers, fries and malts. I promised not to comment on her lame choice of venues for such a milestone birthday...


When they dropped me off at play central Mr Daniel pulled out his guitar and sang "Happy Birthday" to my Mommy. It was so special and he is quite talented. Look at for him on American Idol- Season 29.



We also took a picture of Miss Bridget with me. She is a great playmate and I look forward to many more fun times with her. Just wait until I'm old enough to paint my toe nails with her!




Here's a picture of Mommy and Daddy to celebrate Mommy's birthday and their first official outing without me. Don't they look sad?

J&J Friends

Mommy took me to JJHCS and Corporate today to introduce me to her former co-workers and have lunch with super special friends. It was great to meet everyone that I only knew when I was in mommy's belly.

She took a great picture of me with Ms Debbie, but Ms Debbie has first right of refusal so you'll have to wait (maybe forever) to see the great photo. She also took a great picture of me with Ms Gail, but they made the same deal.

A great, adventurous day and no photos to document the day's activities. Has mommy lost her gumption to risk the wrath of Miss Debbie by posting her picture anyways?

I was on my best behavior until mommy missed the clues that I needed another bottle. I mean really- why else would they put a SUPER Stop and Shop on Rte 1 with such a big parking lot if they didn't want us to use it as a pit stop for my afternoon bottle? Afterwards I went right back to my afternoon nap, resting up for our big playdate with Handsome Henry. Here's a picture of my cutie-patootie boyfriend. (It's a little dark because mommy's finger was over the flash-what a dummy!)

Mommy and Me Group

We just got back from our first session of the Mommy and Me group offered by Princeton Medical Center. Today's topic was infant CPR. Mommy learned how to handle choking situations as well as CPR. Then, we headed out for a bagel lunch with three other babies (Peter, Lily and Abby) and their mommies.

I am looking forward to going to this group every week because there are lots of babies and it is the perfect opportunity for me to practice my talking and socializing skills. I even snuck in a nap at the bagel shop despite the bazillion kiddies running around trying to out shout each other.

Oh, and Mommy found out that I'm not the only baby who is has defective thumb sucking skills. Turns out lots of babies have trouble looking graceful shoving their thumb, and sometimes entire fist, into their mouth with their hands turn backwards.

PS- Daddy watched the 90210 series premiere during our nighttime bottle and loved it!

Labor Day Weekend

Mommy and I had lunch with Toni. We like visiting with her!





Daddy helped start the weekend early by coming home Friday mid-afternoon. It's always more fun with Daddy home!


We visited with the Mulligans for a Labor Day grill fest. I had so much fun watching Daddy compete with Daniel playing boxing on Wii. Mommy spent a lot of time reading stories and stacking boxes with Bridget while I spent quality time with Aunt Brenda, my very own baby whisperer.


Daddy spiced things up during diaper change duty by making his version of the Pope's Papal Tiara for me. What do you think?

Mommy has decided to include me in her self-portraits. She sure takes a lot of pictures of me without asking! Check out what Daddy lovingly calls "Sam pattern baldness".

I am officially able to focus on people and objects. I also am officially smiling when happy, which happens predominently during diaper changes when I manage to make a mess outside of my diaper. Bonus points for making Mommy or Daddy have to change their outfit after my diaper change!

Another new thing is my discovery of snuggle time. Before I preferred my activity center to being snuggled, but this week I realized that a little snuggle time every day is just what the doctor ordered. It also gives Mommy and Daddy quiet time to surf the internet while spending time with me.

Tomorrow it's back to work for Daddy and back to my routine of sleeping and eating. Oh, and catching up on my Lifetime movies.

Solicitation for advice: Samantha HATES being read to. She liked it for the first two weeks and it's been a bust every since. It's really strange considering how much we love to read, but we can't seem to convert the little one. Any suggestions?