Samuel became a toddler this month by starting to take a few steps at the beginning of the month and by the end of the month is using walking as his main mode of transportation. Here is a video to introduce you to our new toddler:

Samuel also started to use his first word – “Wow!”. It is so cute how he lifts up his head when he says it, here is a video of all the ways he says it:

There are also all kinds of cute pictures in the bottom two photo albums, click on the photos to see all of them:

Samuel turned 1 year old on July 25. When he was born he was 7lbs, 6oz (~35%) and was 20in long (~60%) and now he is around 21lbs (~20%) and 32in long (~90%). His feet and hands are big, but his head is small. We love how cute he is, especially with all of his quirks, except for the challenge it is to find clothing that works for him. It will be interesting to see if he is going to continue to be tall for his age. Here is a quirky picture of what he looked like when he was born:

It is amazing to see how his personality has grown since he was born, and how in some ways it has stayed the same. When he was born he came out “talking” a lot and moving constantly. He even head-butt Joe when Joe first held him. He has always been a constant mover and only in the first few months would he let people hold him. At one year old he is constantly crawling around and “talking” all of the time.

Samuel has always been comfortable around people, but as he has gotten older, he now really enjoys people. He especially loves being around kids, and he grins from ear to ear when he sees other kids his age. He gets joy in making people laugh and smile. He definitely takes after Joe in being an extrovert.

Samuel has loved music since before he was born. There were many times I could tell he enjoyed the music I was listening to or singing because he would move around and kick vigorously. When he was just a month or two he would smile whenever his little toy that made music went off. Now he shows his delight for music by “dancing” – bobbing up and down. He will even change the rhythm that he moves to match the beat of the song.

It’s so hard to believe how much of a little person Samuel is becoming and we are delighted to see how he grows in his next year of life.

Samuel turned 13 Months today and he is learning new things all of the time and has been keeping us pretty busy. Soon there will be posts about the New York Trip, Samuel’s 1st Birthday, Samuel at 13 Months and more, but I’ve finally gotten around to posting all of the photos for the past two months. Here are the links to all of the new albums in date order. Enjoy!

• Samuel & Friends @ 1 Year
• Shoreline’s Chili Cook Off
• New York Visit
• Samuel 1 Year
• Samuel’s 1st Birthday Party
• Samuel’s 1st Birthday
• Celebrating Edo
• Samuel 13 Months

Here’s one of the most recent pictures of Samuel so you can see how he’s becoming even more expressive:

P.S. There were a total of 250 photos uploaded, so might take you a while to go though them. It took me several hours to get it down to this amount too.

One year ago we welcomed our sweet son Samuel into the world. We enjoyed a great day yesterday of celebrating his birth with friends and family. There is more to come from our trip to New York earlier this week and the party yesterday, but enjoy the video below of him eating his birthday cake.

Samuel is now 11 Months old and only one month away from having been on this earth for one full year. It has been a very busy month with several travels to visit family, lots of events, and fun visits by friends. I wanted each event to be a separate post, but things have been busy, so they are all on here

Samuel’s personality continues to emerge and he is loving to babble constantly. He still hasn’t decided he wants to stand on his own or walk, since he is content crawling and leaning against furniture. This is one of my favorite pictures from this month, since he looks like a little man:

He is a hungry little boy and loves waffles and cheese, although he continues to love bananas and enjoys blueberries. He also loves to eat paper, so we only let him play with it while supervised:

There are many more pictures in the Samuel 11 Months Album.

San Diego Visit

Samuel had a lot of firsts this month, starting with his first time being around a dog. Samuel and Baron really enjoyed playing with each other, although maybe a little too much. Baron is Joe’s parent’s dog and there is a great picture that Joe took of the “guys”:

Samuel also got to meet his Great-Great Grandmother:

And his Uncle Craig:

And family friends:

We had a really fun visit and there are more pictures in the San Diego Visit Album.

Brenda’s Visit

Samuel also went to Pismo Beach for the first time when Brenda came down to visit. He and Brenda really enjoyed the company of each other:

Brenda and I have been friends for a really long time and it was fun for the three of us to hang out:

Brenda brought an early birthday gift to Samuel, and he really really enjoyed the bag that Brenda put the gift in (he’s also wearing the shirt she got him from Honduras):

My parents were also down for their anniversary and dropped in to say hi:

There are more pictures in the Brenda’s Visit June 2010 Album.

Samuel & Friends

Samuel also had the opportunity to play over at his Godparents Josh & Sandra’s house and they taught him how to play the piano:

He is quite the natural:

They also let him play with wood blocks and he thought they were rather tasty:

There are more pictures in the Samuel & Friends 11 Months Album

Folsom Visit

Samuel also had his first time in the pool when we went up to visit my family in Folsom. We went up because we needed to get a “new” car since our car was totaled (it was just me in the car, wasn’t my fault and everything is fine). Samuel wasn’t too sure about the pool because it wasn’t as warm as he is used to with his bath, although he certainly is the cutest little shark ever:

He also played for the first time in a tent. The tent had a tube for him to crawl through and he had a lot of fun:

While Samuel was in the pool, we also had a BBQ with my extended family:

The day before Joe and I also had a little “date” when my mom watched Samuel while we hung out at the mall and shopped. It was the first time we have been out without Samuel that wasn’t a wedding, since our anniversary last year when Samuel was 2 weeks old. It was strange not having him there, but we felt like teenagers again – in a good way.

The next day was Father’s Day, so I got to give my dad a card and had some special gifts for Joe’s first Father’s Day. The first gift was a signed copy of Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share, and the second gift was an engraved silver ring that said Samuel in Hebrew. Later that day, my mom watched Samuel again so that my dad and us could go see Toy Story 3. I wish my Mom was there so that I wasn’t the only one balling my eyes out. We left that day in what was formerly my Dad’s car, a really nice Toyota Camry – in Silver! Yeah for grandparents!
There are more pictures in the Folsom Visit June 2010 Album.

PHEW. That was long, thanks for reading!