Samuel is now 10 Months old and becoming more like a real person every day. At his pediatrician appointment we found out that he is essentially a tall string bean. He is around the 90th percentile for height and 20th percentile for weight. His personality is really coming out more and more. Here are some of the highlights of the photos:

Smiling with his Tongue

Making Silly Faces with his Tongue

Being Serious

Snot Bubbles

Some other milestones were that he stood on his own once, and is probably capable of walking as soon as he shows interest. He has also become quite adept at feeding himself small chunks of food and prefers that to any other method of eating.

This month was also my first Mother’s Day and Samuel gave me the wonderful gift of falling asleep in my arms – which he hasn’t done since he was very little.

Take a look at more photos in the Samuel 10 Months Album, Samuel & Friends 10 Months Album, and Mother’s Day 2010 Album.

I have really been enjoying the opportunity to grow food lately, in both the edible and felt varieties.

Edible Food

We’ve had this raised garden bed in our backyard since we re-did the backyard over a year ago, and just last month I finally had some time to plant in it. There are six different kinds of Bell Peppers, Banana Peppers, Zucchini, Green Onions, Chives, Mint, and three different kinds of Basil.

The Zucchini just started to flower and the Bell Peppers aren’t far behind.

In a large pot near by are three different kinds of Tomato plants in varying sizes and a Tomatillo plant.

All of the plants in the container have flowers and two of them have a bunch of babies. It’s fun to watch the babies grow!

There are also some Strawberries in the yard that are having fruit, but the slugs are enjoying them.

Just about all of the flowers have started to bloom in the yard. There are a bunch of pictures in the Backyard Spring 2010 Album, but this one was my favorite:

Felt Food (Play Food)

My latest hobby has been making play food out of Felt. Here is a basket of what I have created so far.

From left to right there is a sliced Kiwi, Avocado, Lemon, Orange slices, sliced Grapefruit, and a peel-able Banana.
Here is the Banana being peeled, the top stems each have Velcro on them:

Here is a better picture of the Orange slices (I will be making the peel soon):

My favorite food item I have made was a 1st Birthday Cake for Emily’s Birthday, because it is super girly with Pink and Lavender frosting, candle and a Purple Flower in the middle. It is fun to make girly things sometimes. Here is a picture of Emily holding it:

There are more close-up photos in the Felt Food Album. Many people ask me why I have started to make Felt Food, and the main reason for me is that I remember how much fun it was as a kid to pretend with fake food. I think when Samuel is old enough he might enjoy it as well, but in the meantime it is a fun thing to make and is something that works well with my skill set – I only know how to sew by hand.

Samuel has now officially been outside of the womb for as long as he was in it. It’s pretty crazy that he was the size of a poppy seed when we found out that he was alive. For size comparison, here is his first “photo” and his most recent photo:

This was a really big month for Samuel’s development. Here are all of the milestones that he had this past month:

Sitting. He has completely mastered sitting. Sometimes he will sit and play with toys, but mostly he just does it as a means to something else.

Crawling. In a few short weeks he has become an avid crawler.

Standing. In a few seconds, he can go from laying on the ground to holding onto an object standing.

Crusing. He can move between objects that are close together by holding on.

Talking. He is a real chatterbox, especially when he is sleepy or frustrated. When he is unhappy he says mamamamama. When he is content he says dadadadada. Probably a sign of things to come.

Eating. At the beginning of the month he wasn’t so sure about Cheerios, but they have become one of his favorite foods. He hasn’t quite mastered getting them from his hand to his mouth, but if you put them in his mouth he eats happily.

Folsom Visit

Samuel also had his first visit to Folsom to meet a bunch of his Great Uncles and Aunts (and Great Great ones too), Cousin, Great Grandmother, and Great Grandfather for the first time.

He was well loved by the ladies.

Meeting his Great Grandmother Thelma.

Meeting the Great Edo.
There are a bunch more photos in the Folsom Visit Album.

Samuel is really growing, moving, and getting into everything. He still is really cute and a lot of fun. There are a LOT more really great photos of Samuel this month in the Samuel 9 Months album. Also there are some fun photos in the Samuel & Friends at 9 Months album.

Samuel at 8 months is already learning the art of reviewing techno-gadgets. We had the opportunity to borrow an iPad this afternoon. We took some photos of him with it while wearing his Apple shirt that we were given:

It seems to be just the right size for him.

He enjoyed looking at the dragons on the screen.

He figured out how to touch buttons on the screen.

He was very sad when we took it away.

Samuel was very curious about the iPad and it kept his attention. He gives the iPad a 4 out of 5 stars because he enjoyed playing with it and the device looks very edible but he wasn’t allowed to eat it.

We have been having lots of fun with friends and enjoying our newly re-done downstairs.

Daniel & Lynn’s Visit

Last weekend we had a really fun visit from our friends Daniel & Lynn with their baby girl Arianne who is 3 months. We had fun playing at our house but my highlight was going to Montaña de Oro. I got a really sweet picture of them in front of the water.

Lynn, Laurie and I hung out a bunch together during the weekend with our babies in tow. We managed to get a picture where all of us were looking at the camera.

There are lots more pictures of the cute babies in the album Daniel & Lynn Visit.

Home Improvement

I’ve been meaning to post this now for a month, but during January and February Joe and I with some help from friends transformed our downstairs. We painted all of the walls a really beautiful blue and it makes everything really stand out so much more. We have a bit of touchup to do, but that will come later. Painting was prompted by us putting in an entirely new entertainment area to make things safe for Samuel. We did a bit of decorating to match the color by getting a photo I took in the backyard of the sunrise printed and hung with two sconces on the wall. Here is a picture of what that part of the room looks like:

Joe and I only completed the living room side of the wall and didn’t have much energy to finish the other side of the room (kitchen/dining room). A few weeks later I had the day off of work and was able to get some friends to come over to surprise Joe with the other side of the room being painted. He didn’t even notice it when he got home because it just seemed to fit so well!

For the techno-geeks here’s what we did with the entertainment area:
New LCD TV that is mounted on the wall with a speaker bar and the subwoofer is on the ground. The component cabinet is actually a TV stand that we use just on its own. Inside the cabinet is a component switcher, Blu-Ray player, Mac Mini (we are borrowing) that is connected to the TV and controlled using Mouse Mote, DVD/VHS player, printer, Wii, and PS2. As you can see from the outside it doesn’t look like all that is in there since we got some cable management devices behind it that are painted the wall color to blend in. The TV mount swivels and extends and our speakers are hooked up also to the Airport Express. Everything is controlled by our Harmony remote. Phew. There are times when I wish we didn’t have any electronic devices at all.

Even though all of these changes and techno-gadgets are nice – especially now that the TV is the appropriate size for the room – it still doesn’t compare to being able to let Samuel roam around the living room and have his playthings available to him. He seems to really like the new setup and the extra room he has to play. Joe and I are really enjoying it, even though it was a lot of work, it was worth it.