So Smiley!

Sam is starting to smile a lot - especially in the mornings when he first wakes up, everything is worth a smile at that point. He's also mastering rolling over from his tummy to his back, he gets a little mad when he can't figure out how to move back to his tummy though :) The early intervention team from the school district have finalized their plan for him, they will have a teacher and physical therapist visit once a month to monitor his progress and at this time they feel that's all that's necessary. He's completely done with the phenobarbital and will go back to the neurologist on March 13th for another EEG to see if he can come off that keppra. He has his 2 month well baby check on Monday which means vaccinations, so I'm sure that won't be too much fun for him, but he's just a delight every day! He loves to look in the mirror that Julia gave him when he's having tummy time, and he loves to sit in his swing and talk to the animals on the mobile. Sam and I went to Ash Wednesday Mass this week and he got ashes, so that's what's on his head in the picture with the red shirt.

Fun with the Family!

Sam's doing great - some new thing appears every day. He's doing a lot of smiling now, especially in the mornings and we weathered a couple of cranky days last week. He's doing a great job with "tummy time" and keeps getting stronger with holding up his head every day. Friday, I had to testify in St. Paul at the Coleman/Franken trial, so Sam and Dad got to hang out in the courthouse for a couple of hours. Note to anyone who ever has to testify at a trial: a crying 7-week old baby can get you moved to the head of the witness list! They were about 2 hours behind and there were two other counties scheduled in front of me, but Sam happened to let out a squawk when I was talking with the attorney in the hallway and since it echoed really well in that building, it got us moved right up to the head of the line! Matt said that after that first bit, he was really pretty quiet - perfect timing!

After the testimony, we went to Denise and Chad's house and Sam was having some tummy time, and he ROLLED OVER all on his own! I thought it was a fluke the first time, so we put him back on his tummy, and boom - right over on his back again. He did this about five times, I think the grips on his hiking boots he was wearing helped a lot with traction since he hasn't done it again, but I'm sure it won't be long now. Julia was such a helper cousin, she put Sam's pacifier in his mount for him and read him a book and played with the keys with him. She gave him kisses too - so cute!

Saturday, while Matt was fishing, Sam and I went to Joe & Brenda's and hung out with Bren, Rylie and Jesse. Sam and Jesse are really close in size now - Sam still has a couple of inches and maybe a pound on Jesse. Jesse has two outfits that are exactly the same, so we dressed the boys in the outfits and took their pictures. They look like little prison inmates in the striped sleepers - Sam even smiled for one picture. He was smiling a lot during the "photo session", but Auntie Brenda missed most of the smiles with the camera, but we got one good one.

We'll continue to update as we get new pictures and events that happen.

Snow Snow Go Away

Sam and I are wishing that the snow would go away so that we could get out and go for some walks! Hopefully in a couple of weeks it will be clear enough for us to do some strolling. We've been out doing a bit of shopping and going to the grocery store this week. Sam does well untill he's had enough of being stuck in his seat and then likes to be held through the rest of the trip. Mom just needs to learn how to plan the trips around nap time because he always falls asleep in the car and sometimes there's just not enough trip to keep us asleep before the next store.

The physical therapist from the school district came today for his evaluation and she was impressed with his abilities. He had good muscle tone and held his head up for quite some time while on his tummy. She suggested a couple of exercises to help work on his extension, but basically he's where he should be for six weeks old. He will be able to qualify for some obersvation, maybe a couple of times a month just to track his progress, so that's great.

Here's some new pics - he's so cute with those ears!!

New Pics!

Here's some new pics of Sam. He just keeps growing more every day! He's sleeping well at night, about 5 hours to start and then usually 3 hours after that. He's really happy and content in the mornings and has his fussy time in the late afternoons or early evenings. His favorite thing to do seems to be to wait for Mom to put a clean diaper on him and then promptly fill it!