The McBryders: November 2005

Catching up

Well - it's been awhile since I posted. Not for lack of trying, however. I did make one attempt, but gave up in a fit of frustration when my infuriating computer froze.
Let's see...
I'd always heard that new moms suffered from absentmindedness. I never thought it would happen to me though (why do we always think we are immune to such things?!).
But no. It has happened to me.
Case in point: I woke up a couple of Tuesdays ago and thought it was another typical day. I meandered down to the computer to check my email only to discover that it was THIS Tuesday that I had scheduled a 9:00 am meeting with a client at my office. That is 25 minutes away on a good day. It was 8:53. I managed to make it to the office ahead of the client (who, fortunately for me, got stuck in our wonderful Seattle traffic.)
And this: I have done not one, but TWO loads of laundry without soap. What is up with that?
And lastly: I went to the store and had to get some conditioner. I spent the necessary 5 minutes debating cost versus quality before I finally made my selection. It was a week later before I realized that I had purchased shampoo.

Here is a picture as a distraction:

She's laughing at her absentminded mom.

Yesterday Samantha was 16 weeks old. In that short period of time she has been down to Long Beach, Wa twice. Has gone out to (watch her parents) eat more times than I can count. Has gone to Leavenworth. And has seen three movies (Elizabethtown, Dreamer, and Rent) and has been to two plays! Quite the social butterfly already.

The first play she saw was actually a musical - she went to her here dad play in the orchestra of Cats! She seemed to enjoy it - staying awake longer than I would have expected. At one point, however, I was grateful that we were sitting in the cry-room. The next theater didn't have one of those so David had to rush her out to the lobby when we went to see Midsummer's Night Dream at my old high school. But I wouldn't have missed that production for the world. My good friend Sarah and I performed in that play our senior year under the wonderful directorship of my favorite teacher Mac. I had to introduce Sam to Mac! If only I had brought our camera. That is the second time that Sarah and I have returned to see Dream in the (ack!) seventeen years since we performed it.

We had a FANTASTIC Thanksgiving week. David, Sam and I went to down to Long Beach and stayed at his parents house for almost an entire week. Bob, Janey and Josh were there, as were Aaron and Ariel (and soon to be Abigal), and to round it all out nicely, my parents also came down! It was so nice. Here are a phew photos:

Sammy's all packed up

Cousins

Table Dancer

(check out her first dollar in her pocket!)

The fam

Personalized Lullaby

I love my Sammy Sam Sam

I'm in love, I am

When she cries all day,

she just wants to hear me say

I love my Sammy Sam Sam
I'm in love, I am

When she looks at me,

I wonder what it is she sees

I love my Sammy Sam Sam
I'm in love, I am

Her smile is open and wide

It makes me warm inside

I love my Sammy Sam Sam
I'm in love, I am

I call her my little sweet pea

As she laughs at me

I love my Sammy Sam Sam
I'm in love, I am

Paul Simon, I'm not. The first stanza of this was born out of the frustrating days of the weeks three and four when she was inconsolable. I had to remember that I liked the little bundle of loud wails. So I sang the first stanza over and over as a lullaby to myself. ("I love you Sam. Stop crying.")
I'm sure singing nonsensical songs just comes with the maternal territory - what songs have you made up?

Three Months and Some Change

November 9th happened to be little Sammy's third month "birthday". We have been having so much fun watching her grow and get new habits:

Intermittent reaching for her toys: she is able to grab hold of the smaller toys - her rattle, her bunny blanket, her favorite doll Sprout:
Her hand (and sometimes just her thumb!) gravitates to her mouth much more smoothly - in fact, she has put her thumb in the hole of her binkie and will take it out of her mouth and then put it back in, but it has to be aligned just right.
Man, she has become SO vocal! She will start chattering to herself with a wide range of shrieks and coos - when she gets going we can't stop laughing. She will keep us entertained for about 15 minutes at a time, at which point she either starts actively fussing or she falls asleep. Hilarious!
I woke up to find her reaching out and scratching the mesh side of her co-sleeper - she has gotten enough control of her arm that she was able to keep brushing it and feeling the sensation of the mesh against her fingertips. I could tell it was intentional since she was watching her hand, enthralled.
And, the thing that truly keeps us going: the wide mouthed smile. Sam will sit for minutes at a time exchanging smiles with whomever is holding or interacting with her - it is such a wonderfully, enthusiastic, uninhibited look of joy. I have yet to get the perfect picture capturing it, but this one of Sammy and our friend Sue, is close:

I think (I hope) she is going to be a reader! Look how fascinated she is:

Perhaps fascinated is too mild a descriptor, shall we say obsessed?

It seems that she really enjoys the bigger books - if I try reading one of those tiny "Baby's first board book" type of book, she looks right past it, but stick a big book in her face and she is all over it. Especially this one:

I wonder why, Sam-I-am?

One last picture - yesterday, Janey, Joshua, Sammy and I went to our niece Ariel's baby shower. Can you believe it? Four babies in this family in the space of 6 months! Here is Sammy with her third Great Grandma: