Keeping Up with the Kramers

Sam did really well on his first flight! He slept the whole time! Even the crew marveled as we left the plane as he hadn't made a peep the entire flight!

Taking a ride on the shuttle to the gate

Just about to board his first flight

Our first stop was at Bob Evans (Grandpa Kramer would be proud!) to visit cousin Jenna and Alexis and to meet baby Makai! Kai is such a sweet, tiny baby! We could have cuddled him all day!

Us and Baby Makai

Happy Uncle Shawn with Makai and Sam

Cousins Jenna and Sam

From there, we booked it to Logansport for a cookout at Bucky and Mandy's house. We had an awesome evening with everyone and were so glad that Sam and Grandma Kramer got to spend a little more cuddle time together.

Back row: Ben, Debbie, Butch, Cody, Shawn, Heather, Bucky, Mandy, Jim, Ryan Front row: Arrick, Grandma Kramer, Sam, Courtney, Kim, Christian, Tina, Grayson, Tyler, Jen, Mason

Grandma love

Arni's!

To be closer to the area where I was working, we ended up staying at the Westin Indianapolis our last two nights in town. Sam sure made himself at home in our Westin Heavenly bed with this two friends - giraffe and moose. Actually, Sam slept in a Westin Heavenly Crib.... how cute is that?  He was so good to us and slept really well in the hotel room despite being away from home and being put to bed later than usual.

Sam and Aunt Linda with the Kappa Kappa Gamma Butler Bulldog

Uncle Rick, President Lincoln, Sam and Daddy inside the capitol building

Before heading home, we did a little shopping for some souvenirs of our visit. We stopped into the Indiana History Museum to see what treasures we could find. While we didn't come away with anything special from the museum (Sam did get an Indiana state shaped teething ring the day before), we did manage to take a few fun photos to commemorate our trip and Sam's first visit. We're looking forward to our next visit and making more fun memories with Sam in our home state.


 
Here is the complete album of photos from our visit.

We had a great visit with the Evards a few weeks ago, and we were so excited to finally introduce Sam and Ollie to one another.

The highlight of the weekend, other than meeting Ollie of course, was a very special meet-and-greet with a huge celebrity - Mickey Mouse!

Oh boy! Meeting Mickey for the first time!

Go Phillies!

Amber, Maggie, Tim, Ollie, Sam, Shawn, Heather and Dianna at the Phillies/Braves game

Still growing into his Phillis Phan garb

We also enjoyed having our friends over to our house for a BBQ. Despite being completely exhausted from a long Disney day, Ollie was super smiley and especially tickled by Teddy. He cracked up at Teddy playing with his ball! It was so cute to hear his belly laugh over and over again!

Sweet Ollie

Hanging out with Uncle Tim, aka "Slim"

Sam turned two months old last week and is weighing in at 13 pounds 7.5 oz. He's grown to 23 1/4" too. That means he's in the 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height! What a big boy! He did really well with his first set of immunizations. He cried of course, but was easily settled with some hugs and kisses and some time with his pacifier. In other developmental news, Sam is very curious about his surroundings and holds his head up pretty well now. He's still not completely mastered it so we have to be careful of accidental head butts when we're face to face. He started smiling back at us late last month and continues to offer us plenty of hilarious expressions, making up the "many faces of Sam."

Serious face

Giggly face

Sleepy face

Happy-to-see-you face

Sam spent more time with family and friends these past few weeks. He got to see the Shenks during their Florida trip and picked up some sun poolside at their vacation condo. He was a guest of honor at Grandma Ewen's birthday party where was loved on by all the party goers. Sam was also visited by his Great Aunt Linda and cousins Becca and Sara.

Hanging out with Aunt Jill and SBJ

Partying with Aunt Holly, Aunt Kim and Grandma Ewen

Visiting with Aunt Tammy, Aunt Linda and Olivia

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a concert performed by the Orlando Philharmonic in downtown Winter Garden's Newton Park. It was a gorgeous night and we think that Sam is already a big music fan.

It ain't easy wearin' green!

A Night at the Pops

My first St. Patrick's Day at Lake Apopka

Sam also had his first road trip to Palm Harbor to visit Aunt Kath's house. He got to spend time with cousins Lis and Lleyon, Aunt Kath, Uncle Mike, Audrey and Aunt Shell.

Sporting my "Future Purdue Band Member" in honor of my first road trip to Aunt Kath's

Snuggling with cousin Lis

Loving my Aunt Kath

You know how much hair this kid had when he was born, so it won't surprise you to hear that he got his first haircut, courtesy of Grandma Ewen, just before he turned 8 weeks old. He didn't really seem to mind it at all.

The results!

Check out our March Picasa album full of more fun Sam photos that are just too cute not to share!

Sam is 6 weeks old today and growing like a weed! We've noticed some changes in him that definitely signify his beginning the newborn to infant transition. We knew it was inevitable... we just didn't want it to happen so quickly!

First, his weight has increased to nearly 12 lbs and he has stretched to 22 inches! Sam and I attend a nursing group each Friday now where the mommies are able to weigh their babies before and after nursing to see how much they are taking in. Sam eats about 3.5 oz. per feeding every three to four hours. He's wearing 0-3 month clothing as well, which the cloth diapers help fill out nicely.

Speaking of cloth diapering... it's is going really well. I love the way they look on him and on the drying rack! They are like a little rainbow on the drying line. They are very easy to care for, wash up nicely in the machine and they contain the messes pretty well. We've had a couple of small leaks, or "security breeches" as I like to call them, but mostly due to us not getting there before the absorbency capacity ran out. We are laundering them every other day or so. We do use the disposables too for nighttime and when we are on the go.

Rainbow of cloth diapers and shark wet bag

Just in the past week, we've noticed Sam has become more wakeful and less sleepy during the day. He fights sleep pretty hard now so he's more wakeful at night now too. He's stirs a lot during the night hours, fussing and looking for that pacifier. Sadly, almost as quickly as we return it to his mouth, it falls out and the fussing starts all over again. So in the next few weeks, we are going to be working on keeping a sleeping baby asleep!

Hanging out with my beloved Boppy and pacifier

"Whose that handsome baby?" "Hello? Grandma? Is this thing on?"

We've started to try to implement some sleeping habits by introducing a bedtime routine. We are trying to put him down around 10 p.m. (give or take a half hour). Before nursing him to a drowsy state, we change his diaper, put on a onsie and then read a storybook. Our favorites right now are "I Love You Through and Through" (thanks to Cousin Olivia), "I Love You Stinky Face" and "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb" (thanks for Aunt Jill). When he's awake, we like to sings songs like "Jesus Loves Me", "Zip-A-Dee-Do-Da", "Old McDonald" and "BINGO."

Singing songs Catching some Zs after a long night Here are some other fun photos from the past few weeks including ones taken at the first birthday party Sam has ever attended. He was a hit at our friend Andrew's third birthday party. He slept, he ate, he watched as the other children bashed a pinata... it was a good time all around!   Enjoying Andrew's birthday party in the park on a chilly day

Baby Burrito

New friend, the seahorse

This post is titled "Take Two" not only because it's all about Sam's second week, but because it's the second time I'm writing it! We would have posted this sooner, but mysteriously, the contents of the post disappeared after I had completed and saved it. Boo, Blogger! Moving on...

At just seven days old, we invited Kristin from Ella Lu Photography over to do Sam's Newborn photo shoot. We had planned this shoot well before he was born so we were so excited to finally get it underway and capture some cute pics of our new treasure. "He was so CHILL!" is what Kristin had to say about Sam. After a projectile poop episode (that's the risk you take when you undiaper a baby, I suppose), our little guy went to sleep and turned into 9 lbs of posable cuteness. Check out this album of the final photos.

Newborn Photo Shoot

Daddy couldn't resist getting a snapshot of this cute little bum

This was also a big week for meeting new family and friends. Sam and Grandma Kramer got to spend nearly a whole week together! They snuggled and shared plenty of sweet smooches.

Daddy, Grandma Kramer and Sam

Smooches with Grandma

Sam also got to meet his Aunt Shell, Uncle Craig and cousin Lleyton. The boys were fast friends and even let us take some photos of them together. Both sets of parents had a good time posing them and shared some laughs at the "outtakes." Sam also went out to dinner with the family to our favorite Winter Garden restaurant, Thai Blossom. Restaurant owner Ty came by to visit with his newest customer and was so proud that his place was our choice for Sam's first dining-out experience.

Sam meets Aunt Shell

Sam (1 1/2 weeks) and Lleyon (4 months)

Sam: Hey, get your fingers outta my ear!

Sam also made several new friends this week. We visited with Charles, Michele and Madison and met his future role models, the Henderson boys! Sam also enjoyed his first tour around the neighborhood in his stroller, during which we introduced him to Bob & Cheri, great friends who have been anxiously awaiting his arrival. Our next door neighbors have also been very excited to meet Sam and spend a little cuddle time with him. They just can't wait for Shawn and me to plan a date night so that they can babysit!

Madison & Sam

Fast friends with the Henderson boys who wanted to sit right next to Sam. So cute!

Neighbors Bob & Cheri

Future Babysitter Leilana

In other "firsts" this week, Sam went to the Mall at Milennia for a short errand. And he also experienced his first Super Bowl. Go Giants! He enjoyed the big game from the comfort of Uncle Scott's arms. Sam also did his first Tummy Time session on his activity mat. While many babies protest Tummy Time, Sam didn't really seem to mind it and frequently lifted his head. We are such proud parents of our strong boy!

Not much of a cheerleader, that Sam

First Tummy Time with the encouragement of Daddy

He is a good sleeper, sleeping most of the day, waking only to be fed or "request" his pacifier. He is awake for only short periods right now, usually in the morning and early evening hours. Time is going by quickly, but we are working hard to take in every precious moment and cherish the blessing that he is.

Such a good sleeper And most awake in the morning and early evening hours Click these links to view more of our photos from January and February.