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  1. We're Celebrating

    Sunday, May 13, 2012


    Celebrating his birthday

    It's already been a month full of celebration. It started with Shawn turning the big 4-0 at the beginning of the month. To start the festivities, Shawn and I went to this amazing farm-to-table dinner as part of the Winter Garden Harvest Festival. We sampled amazing food - all locally sourced and prepared by local chefs - cocktails from a local distillery and beer from a local brewery. Slow food, they called it. Amazing concept! The event was held in our new downtown pavilion with beautifully decorated tables dressed with crisp white linens and fresh flowers. In addition to enjoying the food, Shawn and I took to the "dance floor" and swayed to music being performed by a couple of local acts. It was an amazing night...we want to go back next year and invite you all to come with us!

    The following day, we continued celebrating with family breakfast and the opening of gifts. Sam got daddy the Indianapolis flag t-shirt he's wearing in the photo above... he's so thoughtful! Later that afternoon, Gene and Jen came to celebrate with us. They made us a delicious meatloaf dinner and brought red velvet cupcakes! Yum-o!

    Birthday breakfast
    Bringing in 40 with friends
    We also celebrated my first Mother's Day! The boys were so good to me... they made me breakfast, picked out the loveliest bouquet of flowers and other special treats that they knew I would enjoy! Even Teddy pitched in to get me a massage gift card, saying that he was sorry that he "stresses me out." If you haven't been to our house lately, then you haven't had the pleasure of witnessing me yell at him every time Sam cries and he attacks various spots in the carpet. He's started to put holes in the rug, which displeases me to no end. But I digress....

    The mommies and the babies
    Mother's Day treats!
    (Buy local at Winter Garden Florist and Ms. Bees Popcorn and Candy Shoppe!)
    We are also so proud of our boy who has successfully learned how to soothe himself to sleep at night. It took a couple nights of crying it out - no more than 30 mins - but he learned and now sleeps very well in his crib. We can't say that he's sleeping all night now, but he sleeps well beyond the six hours that is expected of him at his age. He goes to sleep between 7 and 7:30 p.m. each night. We usually hear from him again around 3 or 4 a.m. and then not again until between 6 and 7 a.m. We aren't feeding him at night now so we really hope that he figures out that it's not worth it to get up in the night anymore. As his brain matures, we should start to see that night waking disappear... frankly, daddy and mommy can't wait. We're happy with his progress so far and are so excited to see him each morning when he wakes smiling and cooing at us.

    Speaking of smiles...
    When he's awake for the day, he's hitting all kinds of milestones. He can roll from his back to belly and belly to back. It takes a while for him to work his way around, but he can do it. He can hold toys and get them into his mouth now. We think it's pretty ironic that he will pull his pacifier out of his mouth with one hand and suck his fingers on the other hand... silly kid! He also has such great head control now that he can also sit up in the Bumbo. This is going to come in handy for haircuts, as we learned today when he got his second one.

    Baby iPod is a favorite
    Loves holding the "crunchy" block 
    Tummy time

    After my second haircut at just 15 weeks old

    Can't get enough of Sam? Check out more Sam photos from April and May.

    Posted by Heather Kramer at 9:37 PM | Labels: , , | 2 comments |

  2. First Visit to the Heartland

    Tuesday, April 24, 2012

    When a work trip to Brownsburg, Indiana presented itself, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take Sam to the homeland.... I mean heartland. And it was a good time to visit as a few of our family members who wouldn't otherwise be around were in the area at the same time.

    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
    It was a must that Sam visit an Indiana staple - Arni's - for some pizza! I guess we'll have to go back when he's on solids so he can get the full experience.  

    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.


    Continuing another week full of firsts, Sam visited a sorority house! The ladies of the Butler University chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma made goo goo eyes over our sweet boy as my Aunt Linda showed us around the house for which she is a house mother. It was so cool to see where she lives and meet the very sweet girls of the house. 

    Sam and Aunt Linda with the Kappa Kappa Gamma Butler Bulldog 
    We were so excited that Rick was able to make the trip over to see us while we were in town. We really enjoyed catching up with him and introducing him to our sweet boy. No trip is complete without a historical site visit so we stopped in to look around the Indiana state capitol building, which was just across the street from the Westin. 

    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.

    Posted by Heather Kramer at 8:42 PM | Labels: , , | 0 comments |

  3. 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!
    Sam also went to his first baseball game with his new friend, Ollie. It was a scorching hot day though, so we made them a makeshift tent by tying a swaddler to the fence and a cane lent to us by a sympathetic stranger. It did the trick and the boys were able to catch some shade and a catnap. 

    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"

    Posted by Heather Kramer at 8:09 PM | Labels: , , | 0 comments |

  4. One Lucky Kid

    Friday, March 30, 2012

    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!

    Posted by Heather Kramer at 6:39 PM | Labels: , , , | 1 comments |

  5. Six Week Stretch

    Wednesday, March 7, 2012



    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

    Posted by Heather Kramer at 3:59 PM | Labels: , , | 0 comments |