We have been very busy, On Friday we went to a park (Agua Caliente) a very pretty park with palm trees, streams and ponds. Sam loved looking at the ducks! Yesterday (in the rain) we went to 4Th Avenue and to San Xavier Church on the reservation down the road. Today we braved the cold (4degrees C-VERY cold for Tucson) to go to the Old Tucson Studios. They have filmed lots of Weston's here. Sam was wrapped up nice and warm and loved watching the gun fights. Here he is chewing on his biscuit ♥
We were heading down to Tombstone, AZ and stopped so nana fag could well none other then smoke a cigarette
Sophie feed sam 2 jars of baby food and samuel was still hungry so she bought rice krispy's in a desperate move which made an awful mess I must say
This is Samuel after his First Jar of food he loves food I mean he LOVES FOOD!!!
Here is Sam with his new toy (again) He loves 'walking around' and usually just crashes into a wall.
He is finally over his cold, which is good news for everyone, especially Sam and I since lucky Daddy gets to sleep in the spare room as he works nights. So there were a few days last week that resulted in less than an adequate amount of sleep for me, and poor Sam was just miserable with his stuffed up nose and cough!
For good measure there is also a photo of Sam and I from this afternoon, you may notice he has some crusty sweet potato on his face...it's his ultimate favourite food!
Sam just gets into more things by the day! Here he is trying (and succeeding) to get to the CD player on the table. The bean bag is there to prevent him from going under the table to get to the wires, however it just serves as a 'beanbag-ladder' to enable him to climb to where he wants to go. I weighed him yesterday and he is now 22lbs and 3oz!!
This is the earliest our tree has ever been put up, but it seems a lot of people here put up decorations as soon as Thanksgiving is over (so we did too) It also makes it feel like it's almost time for my mummy, Harriet and Steve to get here! We just got a small tree as we only have a shed...i mean, small house. I think it's pretty though. Sam doesnt seem too bothered by it so far, I thought he'd want to grab it as soon as he could get his grubby hands on it, but so far so good. 
Grandad and Nana Jo sent Sam a box today and inside was.....A SANTA OUTFIT Sam was SO excited (ok....mummy was so excited!!) and he tried it on straight away!! here he is modelling it.
Sam is amazed by running water, he tried to 'catch' it at every bath time! Sam and I have evenings all alone now as Bryan has swapped shifts, its hard to do it all alone every night, if I'm feeding him and need something i would usually call for Bryan to bring it, but now I just have to stop, take Sam and go and get it! Its especially hard on nights like tonight when Sam took two hours to go down and screamed in my ear as i desperately tried to watch season 5 of 'House' (one of my only self indulgent pleasures) and then proceeded to wake 5 more times in the one and a half hours that followed! He is now screaming and squirming on my lap....how we need Daddy right now! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!
Here is Samuel. He is 9 months old now!! (as of Thursday!) This is him today having a snack as I cooked. He hasn't been feeling too well since last night, I think he has a slight cold, so, to entertain him I gave him some snacky food to eat as I cooked some yummy cauliflower cheese. He ate his way through some grated cheese (or course!! that's his favourite) some cottage cheese and some mashed sweet potato. This is all before dinner! As you can see, much of it ends up on him rather than in him! I have to take him outside after every meal to shake the cheese off of his clothes! haha
He has started standing alone and every day it's getting for longer and longer periods of time!! He makes me so worried when we does it in the bath I have to stand there ready, incase he slips! I cant believe he will be 9 months old tomorrow. This year has just flown by! He is such a joy and makes me smile everyday with his funny ways.
Samuels latest trick is clapping, he thinks its terribly clever. Catching him on video was tricky as he is usually more interested in the camera than actually doing anything worth filming, but here I managed to catch a few seconds. Excuse my hideous voice, it was early and I was trying to excite him into doing it!
The sleeping is getting somewhat better, on Friday night Daddy babysat while mummy went out and he woke at 10pm for an hour (poor Daddy!!) but then slept until 4:30am (which is VERY good for Sam) and then last night he was awake at 11:30pm (for quite a long time) but slept until 6:30am!! Admittedly it was in our bed, but we'll do anything to get some sleep in this house!
These photos were taken last weekend when we decided to drive to 'Agua Caliente', a park not too far from here. It was lovely, there were three lakes (admittedly 2 were dried up haha) and little streams and ducks. FINALLY the temperature here in Southern Arizona has become more bearable. We can actually leave the house without gallons of water and without the worry of Sam over-heating. Its been in the 70's lately!! I decided to add the top picture as it shows what a big boy Sam is (last week he weighed in at his WIC appointment at 21lbs 14oz and 29.5inches long!!) Everyone asks me 'How old is you baby?' and their mouths drop open when I tell them he isn't even 9 months yet haha!!
Here is Sam last night, so happy in the bath. He enjoys his daily bathtime and last night he was especially happy! He will probably hate me when he is older for posting these!!
Today it was the Halloween party at Playgroup. Sam was in his monster outfit and we met all our friends at the park. Here he is with his best friend Michael (the monkey). We are so lucky to have found Sam a friend that is roughly his age. Michael and Sam have so much fun together (while Nellie and I chat!!) they steal each others dummies and Michael loves to lick on Sams head.
Sam wore 'proper' pyjamas for the 1st time today. It was VERY exciting. They are the ones Grandma Cindi got for him when he was tiny. They are actually for an 18month old, but he is a big boy so they fit perfectly. Lets hope he actually sleeps in them, instead of giving me the night from hell like last night (awake from 10pm-1:30am) that was NOT very fun. In fact, I could have cried with tiredness!!
Our new routine includes a nightly lavender bath in an effort to get Sam to sleep through the night (fat chance of that gaaaaaaaah!!) he LOVES to pull him self up and stare at the water running, it's so sweet. Im sure it does help a little bit, he goes to bed without a fuss at 7pm and sleeps through usually until 2am when he wants milk and then he'll usually sleep until 5am ish...so not too bad I suppose....except for the fact that after the 2am feed he stays in bed with us and takes up all the space so I cant really get any more sleep! - we NEED a bigger bed (or a child that sleeps though-that will probably be cheaper haha)
This is Daddy supposedly helping me wind down Sam so he is sleepy for bed!!! yeah...doesn't exactly look like that was happening! Sam LOVES playing with Bryan, he seems to enjoy this game too. Luckily about 20 minutes after this was taken he was fast asleep!!
Recently nappy changes have become a test. Sam thinks it's so funny to roll over during the procedure and even more funny to flip over and crawl away at high speeds. Here he is demonstrating his high-speed naughty crawl!!
Everything goes in Sam's mouth, his toys, my flip-flops, daddy's boots (yuk) the wheels of the pushchair!! aaah!! we have to be so careful about where he goes and what he sees as it ALL goes in there!! oh well, it boosts his immune system I suppose.
So the milestones are coming thick and fast now. He has started crawling (properly) sitting (confidently) and now standing all in a matter of weeks. He is such a happy boy. The whole sleeping thing isn't going too well. Most nights he ends up in bed with us, which, while annoying in a way is also nice in a way. I hate the thought that he feels lonely in his own bed..and its lovely to snuggle with my small man. However, it is a squash in there, we need a bigger bed!
Excuse Bryans legs (and boxers) in the video haha.
Sam has finally got the hang of crawling properly...not his weird 'Sam crawl'. He is now just gathering speed. If he knows I want to pick him he'll crawl away at a crazy speed and have me following him all over the house as he squeels in naughty laughter. People say 'oooh you'll have your hands full with him'...but I already have!!! He is so full of character. This video doesnt actually capture it very well as he is distracted by the nappy box! ....which I then put him inside and he LOVED it haha...what a beautiful fool!
I was tidying my clothes cupboard and i turned around to see Mr. naughty knickers doing this, so i grabbed my camera!
Here's Sam and Daddy this morning. Daddy is wearing his new uniform. Sam has been doing lots and lots of crawling and sitting. He's getting very good now. He is also eating like a crazy! Although im having to mix banana or apple to anything to make him eat it. Some of his favourites are: pea, sweetcorn...and banana. Sweet potato...and banana and yesterday he had courgette, pea, sweetcorn and ....apple!! haha!!
haha..the 1st photo, while 'overexposed' as my mother would say still makes me laugh, it shows Sam in his true mischievous light. The second photo is Sams new talent-sitting up. He has been 'sitting' for a few weeks now, but until yesterday has always had to lean on one arm, yesterday he perfected the 'no hands' sitting. Its actually very useful he can play now (with 2 hands) and it makes bathing him MUCH easier. Poor Sam developed ANOTHER cold over the weekend. I suppose its because he is mixing with lots of different children now. He has lovingly provided me with 2 nights of almost NO sleep. I hope, hope, hope that tonight I can at least get a few hours in!!
