Luuucy...

One of my good FLYfriends said she read my blog entry and also found herself wishing she spent more time with others instead of being "in the rut". So we decided I would pack up Sammy and take her over to Laurie's house for the afternoon, just to hang out. It was great! We passed Sam back and forth, had coffee and scones, did some housework and chilled and chatted. I felt like Lucy and Ethel (without the pranks!). :-) I suppose nowadays women get together during the day at places like Starbucks, but it must've been so convenient to have friends right in the same apartment building that were also home in the afternoon!

On a different note: can I just say... 9:30 to 6 am? Woo-hoo. Keep it up Sammy-girl!

Stolen Moment

Sleeping...

annoyed at being woken...
and oblivious to it all...

gives me a stolen moment to document and share this:

The cleanest bathtub in the world!

My FLYfriends came over yesterday to do a "surface cleaning", but I tell ya - my bathtub has NEVER been this clean. Thank you!! Once again, you all have outdone yourselves. Looking forward to returning the favor next month.

Downhill all the way

Another fun week at the McBryder residence. Those RV-ing nomads, my Aunt Janice and Uncle Kenny, came to visit! Samantha gave them a rousing welcome showing off her operatic set of lungs. Aunt Janice made a fantastic tri-tip meal in honor of my mom's birthday. We visited Grandma R. Played some pegs and jokers on a wonderfully "toled" board set (Aunt J - you do such marvelous work!). All in all, it was a nice and mellow visit. A few pics:























David and I took Sam to my company picnic on Sunday. It was nice seeing my coworkers again. We got a bit of a reprieve, since Samantha was so comfortable in Jennifer's arms - we didn't have to rush through those amazing barbecued ribs! Mmmm.

The next night was our "Cousin Night". Janey and I went to a movie while Bob and David watched Monday night football and watched the kids...and hatched a plan. When Janey and I returned we were greeted with "Bob and I are going to play hookey on Wednesday". And this is what they did:

They certainly deserved the break - David has done a great job with Samantha and it can definitely be tiring. I'm glad they got a chance to "get back to nature"!

Last night, Stephanie, Rick and Willow came over to meet Samantha. It is always good to see them, and sadly it doesn't happen often enough. Why is that? It seems that life is trucking along as usual and making time to do anything out of the ordinary ('ordinary' being staying at home, making dinner, watching TV, etc) is FAR too much trouble. It is way too easy to get stuck in that rut - and it was even before Sam was a part of our life. Note to self: make time for friends and the out of the ordinary! That is the joy in life.

OK, as I clamber down from my mental soapbox, I'll let you check out a sweet picture of Sammy in the outfit that Debbie gave her:

Ok, I'm down.

So, the title. Sammy has passed her sixth week, and all the books say that the fitful crying jags "peak" at six weeks. Yesterday was a great day for Sam (and us!). She had a nice long nap in the morning, ate, played, took another nap around noon (while my mom and I walked around the zoo), ate, played, and didn't really nap after that. But...she didn't really cry either. She just kinda hung out, checking out the things around her. When our company came over, she was mellow - just breaking into soft cries a couple of times. She went to bed pretty easily (the second time) and slept all they way until 3:45. So I am hoping that she has climbed to the top of that peak and that it will be downhill all the way.

But...I'm not holding my breath.

Sammy McGrunt

As we move into the fifth week, things are changing yet again. Luckily the chronic crankiness appears to be replaced with a nice mixture of tears and smiles. For some reason whenever Sam looks at our ceiling fan nowadays she breaks into huge smiles. I wonder what she sees when she looks at it - four big smiles? Check this out:

And this: Nope - it's not her mom that she is laughing at, it's that ceiling fan! What's up there that is so funny?!

Well, I'm glad to share that the night shifts have been extemely helpful. I actually got a (relatively) solid six and a half hours of sleep last night. The most uninterrupted sleep I've had since before I was pregnant (is that peeing-while-pregnant-thing an attempt to get the body used to no sleep? Sheesh!). With better sleep comes better coping skills. :-)

This last weekend my cousin Debbie came up from California to visit. I hadn't seen her in 14 years! Unbelievable. She brought her 1-year old Jayden. What a cutie! And a handful! Actually, she probably is less of a handful than many 1 year-olds since she has such a sweet personality - but David and I got to see just how physically taxing it is keeping a 1 year-old within sight. Those little tykes can move! One night we had dinner with Tony and Stacey, and the next morning we went to the zoo. Here is my dad and Jayden:

And one of the cousins:

Okay, I have a question for all the moms out there: Is it just our kid? When Samantha falls asleep at night (not during the daytime naps, only at night) she starts flailing her arms and legs and grunts. Nonstop. We've swaddled her, but she squirms her way out of it. I've picked her up, but she raises her eyebrows to the top of her forehead trying to open her eyes and when she gets them open she looks at me with a baleful look "why'd you wake me up, Mom?". I tell ya, she is it out. Asleep. Sawing logs. But grunting. Like a snorting snuffling creature.

We've taken to wearing earplugs at night.

Whoever coined the phrase "sleeping like a baby" had an ironic sense of humor.

Sunday Morning

Last night we tried a new approach.

Lately we haven't fared well in the wee hours. Samantha has preferred to be awake and uncomfortable, or asleep and vocal, intermittently or perpetually (so it seems), and sometimes outright distraught for reasons not readily explainable. It's been taking a toll on mom and dad, who, at times, haven't been as nice to each other as they're used to (dad says "sorry." You know he loves you both dearly).

So, we decided to take a page from my sister and brother-in-law's book. We've decided to divide the night up into two shifts, 10:00 p.m. - 3:00 a.m., and 3:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.

As it happened, dad got the first shift last night. Sam went down at 9:30 p.m., grunting, gurgling, sucking and thrashing until about 12:30 a.m., when she woke up for real. Mom had earplugs in, so, dad assumes, got to sleep through this performance. After a new diaper and 4 ounces of formula, dad and Sam went back to bed.

Sam's next conscious appearance was at 3:12 a.m. Mom's turn, thank god! So far, so good. But, now the flaws in the plan begin to appear. It seems the parent with the second shift (3:00 to 8:00 a.m.) would have to, on a "normal" night, get up at least twice. As it turns out, Sam was awake and hungry again at 6:00 a.m. Oh well. Dad gets to look forward to this tonight :-)

Anyway, when dad got up this morning at 8:30 a.m., here's what he saw downstairs in the living room:

Thanks for the comments, you guys!

Sleeping Baby

We are back! The three of us spent a wonderful 6 days at the beach at David's parent's house. Last Monday (the 29th) David's sister and brother in law and their new son came over to our house for dinner and "cousin time". The three of them had just gotten back from a two week stay at the beach house and we decided that since Labor day was approaching we should ALL go back down to the beach and hang out with the grandparents! Very spontaneous. Very fun and very relaxing!

After this weekend, I fully appreciate the "it takes a village to raise a child" sentiment. If either of the children were crying there were six pairs of loving arms to comfort and calm. David and I were able to go out to lunch one day and walk about the town on another - alone, holding hands, and comfortable knowing that Grandma Helen was enjoying time with Sam.

It was encouraging seeing how Sam's cousin has grown - he is a whopping 2 months old! A few weeks ago he seemed inconsolable, and now he is a happy, chattering, alert baby. Sam has recently moved into that cranky, crying phase and it certainly helps knowing that there is (most likely) an end in sight.




Here are the two of them holding hands - baby style.










It has been a long time since we have had such a "beach-y" vacation - complete with roasting hot dogs around a fire pit and building a sand castle. Much of the family got involved in the castle building while others of us bore witness:


















There were many walks along the beach - including this wonderful sunset walk - this was a surefire way of getting Samantha to fall asleep for her naps!

Getting Samantha to sleep during the day has been the latest challenge. I think she is a lot like her mom: not wanting to miss anything! Luckily she has been pretty good about sleeping at night. She usually wakes up twice to eat and then falls right back to sleep, so we are only up for 30 minutes at a time. But the daytime naps...not quite so easy! However, she is asleep right now, so I shouldn't complain too much.

I will leave you with one last photo: the first documented toothless grin took place while she was in the arms of Grandpa Jack!