• 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.

P.S. I just was able to download the 500 photos from the last few weeks. It will probably still be a bit until the photos from the New York Visit, Samuel’s 1st Birthday, and his 1 year old album are uploaded. Thanks for your patience!

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!

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.

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.

After that we had BBQ with our friends and I took a bunch of photos. Sandra took some photos of our little family and here is our favorite one:

Samuel really enjoyed getting to be held by a bunch of people, although he doesn’t really show it in the pictures. Here he is with some of the ladies:

Our friend Amy “the Baby Whisperer” was able to get Samuel to go to sleep in her arms:

Also, it appears that the U-Haul is very romantic. Here are Samuel’s Godparents Josh & Sandra:

There are a bunch more of really fun Easter pictures.

All in all it was a great day at the beach, and we can’t wait for when Samuel is older and we can teach him more about what this day really means.

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.