What happens when you sneeze with a mouthful of carrots?

Christmas Highlights

These pictures are truly Christmas "highlights" ... a very few of the 200+ we made. It was truly a wonderful week. We started out in Humboldt last weekend, eventually travelling to Jackson, Lexington, Gatlinburg and Farragut before spending the entire day Christmas day in our own home. Steve and I have not pulled off that feat since we've been married!

Samantha, no surprise, did amazing, despite the fact that she was off schedule and way overstimulated at times. This week solidified our belief that we have the best baby in the world. Samantha also did well in the gift department, though she would have just as soon had the paper. I'll put up more photos later, but here a few we wanted to share. We hope your Christmas was as blessed as ours!

In front of Mommy and Daddy's tree before our road trip started.

A very happy Big Guy and Grammy.

At the "Christmas Tree" house ... 38 trees that put ours to shame!

Pumped up about her first trip to Los Portales, Mommy's favorite mexican restaurant.

Visiting with Aunt Teddie, Gran's little sister.

With her favorite Uncle Johnny.

With her Great-Grandma in her very own rocking chair.

Partying in the paper ... forget the gifts!

All smiles with Wawa and Papaw.

Checking out her loot from Santa.

Trying to decide what to play with next!

Enjoying Christmas day with Will and Caroline.

Singing Happy Birthday to Jesus ... his birthday cake was homemade by Jerry Lee right off the pages of Southern Lady magazine. Thanks JL!

Merry Christmas!!

Samantha would like to wish the loyal readers of amy-n.blogspot.com a very Merry Christmas! We are looking forward to many more adventures with our little miracle in 2009. Blessings!

Christmas Happenings, Part 1

Christmas is in full swing here at amy-n.blogspot.com. Hard to believe, but we will be packing up the sleigh and heading to West Tennessee this weekend for the first of our festivities. Where in the world does time go?

Aside from not liking ol' Saint Nick, young Samantha seems pretty taken with what is going on around her. While she is fascinated by our tree, she is more intrigued with the lights across the street, which truly rival the Griswolds. They are classic. We make a nightly trip to the living room window so she can see them in all of their glory. There may be an inflatable Santa Claus yard ornament in our future at this rate.

She's still not mobile, so we haven't worried about her getting into the presents. But she loves, loves, loves the paper. I spent an hour wrapping one afternoon and kept her occupied with a scrap of paper and the empty roll. It was all she needed. Samantha is also being hit full force with my love of Christmas music. It is all we listen to these days. Her favorite, sadly, seems to be Eric Cartman's rendition of O Holy Night, though she is also partial to the Chipmunk Christmas song.

I hope to be better about sharing with you the wonder of the season as we experience it through the eyes of a child. I have been struck more than once that Jesus started out just like Samantha ... relying on someone else for his every need. I suppose I always knew it, but holding my sweet miracle it has touched my heart all the more. What an amazing God we serve. May we not lose signt of that in the madness of the holidays!

Samantha's pretty fired up about Mommy and Daddy's new coffeemaker.

A candid pose ... and one of my all-time favorite photos.

Ready for her first holiday party with Mommy.

Her first party, with Mommy's old work cronies - Ruth, Jerry and Kathleen.

Bundled up for an outing, in one of Daddy's baby blankets made by the original Wawa.

Enjoying her new favorite toy, a water bottle.

Hanging out and admiring the tree.

Fantasy of Trees

When Mom and Dad were in town for Thanksgiving, we all went to the annual Festival of Trees so Samantha could see the lights and meet Santa. Here are some photos from the big day.

Waiting in line to meet Santa. Samantha is blissfully unaware of the tragedy about to befall her.

Samantha + Santa = not happy!!

Sleeping on her very first carousel ride.

Posing with Mommy in one of the displays ... before we saw the sign that said "please do not enter the display area." Oops.

Checking out lights with Big Guy and Grammy.

A happy little girl, pre-Santa.

Wondering where the heck she is and what the heck is going on.

With Grammy at the entrance.

Papaw's Birthday

For those of you counting, Jerry Lee celebrated his 60th birthday last month. (I'm waaaaaaay behind with my blogging.) Since the center of attention, Samantha, goes to bed at 7, we had a little shindig here at the house. We could have gone to McDonalds and Jerry would have been happy as long as Samantha was with him! Here are some photos from his big day.

Samantha helping blow out the candles.

With Wawa and Papaw

Watching Papaw's video with him, a gift put together by yours truly.

Samantha inspects Papaw's new picture frame by licking it.

Helping read the card.

The guest of honor with his favorite granddaughter.

Samantha, meet Santa

I'll post Thanksgivng photos later, but I thought you might enjoy Samantha's first time meeting Santa Claus. I'll let you be the judge of how it went .........

Weekend on Signal Mountain

Last Saturday, we went to Signal Mountain to spend the day with Bill, Elise, Will and Caroline. We had a great time! The last time we were there, Samantha's main activities involved laying on her back or sleeping. Now that she is a bit more animated (thats an understatement), she LOVED seeing and playing with all of Caroline's things. Caroline is certainly the trendsetter in the girly girl department, and she keeps me up to date on the latest and greatest things. I'm glad Samantha can't crawl yet ... she would've been into everything!

Of course, Samantha also enjoyed plenty of time cuddling with Aunt Elise, as well as playing with Uncle Bill and Will. She also managed to get some shopping in with the girls. What a full day! I'm sure we'll have many more adventures with the Mitchells as Samantha gets older, but, for now, hanging out suits all of us perfectly fine! We are looking forward to doing in again SOON.

Caroline becomes Samantha's new best friend.

The aftermath - messy, but worth it!

Bill and his little girl

Playing dress up

Samantha tries on the "Lola" wig

Snuggling with Will

Naked Baby = Happy Baby?

Greetings out there to all of our loyal readers of "Samantha's Blog" (amy-n.blogspot.com). Sorry we have been slack on posting lately (this is my first post in over a month). However, tonight was an posting opportunity that we could not pass up.

Since we last spoke Samantha has cut her first tooth. So far this tooth has been met with mixed results. At times it does not appear to be bothering her, and other times it appears that it has stricken her entire body with excruciating pain.

Tonight was one of those "painful" nights. I walked in the door at 5:40 after a three hour meeting at work. I open my car door and I can already hear Samantha. I open the door to the kitchen and Samantha is red faced from crying and Amy looks like she is at her wits end. Here is Daddy to save the day right? Not so much. Samantha continues her tirade. I pull out all of my "go to" moves. I toss her high in the air (and catch her), I take her to look at herself in the big mirror, I tickle her stomach, and NOTHING seems to be working.

We decide to feed her her peaches a little early in hopes that will get her to chill. She loves the peaches! Crisis adverted! Parents of the year! Unfortunately we run out of peaches . . . . this does not set well with young Samantha. It is quite possibly the worst thing that has happened to her in her 7 short months on Earth. How in the world could Mommy and Daddy possibly run out of PEACHES! Meltdown returns. Now what are we to do? I suggest extracting the troublesome tooth. I get out voted (Amy's vote counts as 2 to my 1). Amy says put her to bed early . . . we go with Amy's idea. It was GENIUS! Not because Samantha went to sleep, but because we had to take Samantha's clothes off to put on her PJ's. Once naked she proceeds to laugh, smile, and play for the next 45 minutes. Shocking!

Check the video at the bottom

I'm naked! Party Time!

HA! HA! It's knee slapping funny all the stuff Mommy & Daddy were doing to make me quiet

Seriously Mommy . . . I just wanted out of my clothes that whole time!

Big Orange Baby

We just had an AMAZING day. For several weeks now, we've contemplated taking Samantha to Neyland for the homecoming game. (A sure win, right?!?) We had Mom and Dad's tickets, and we were hoping that someone would offer up a ticket to an adorable 6 month old. Since the weather cooperated, we set out this morning for another adventure.

Samantha, not surprisingly, was a hit. We went to a few tailgates before heading into the stadium. Samantha did get her ticket, by the way, compliments of Mrs. Donna and Ryder. Once we were in, we had a very special treat. Our friend Amber is a former majorette and marched with the Pride of the Southland Alumni Band since it was homecoming. Before the festivities got started, she was able to get us on the field to meet the cheerleaders, dance team and, of course, Smokey. I think Samantha was a bit overwhelmed by it all, as she slept straight through the second quarter and the halftime show. She was all smiles when she woke up, especially since her buddy Lindsey had joined us. The stadium isn't exactly full these days, so we actually sat close to the field in the student section. Steve and I feel like we broke her in right!

Pre-game, all smiles.

Her very first tailgate.

Visiting friends Kristy and Kaitlyn Bruce at the McMichael family tailgate.

With Daddy in front of the stadium.

I think she's more interested in the pom poms than the cheerleaders!

With Amber and the dance team.

More interested in her pacifier than Smokey.

On the field for her first ballgame ... we may have set the bar a tad too high!

"This is fun and all, but seriously, I need to lay down and take a nap!"

With Brandon and Amber, our heroes for the day.

"Cool! A grown-up cup!"

Daddy shielding Samantha's eyes from the lackluster performance of the Vols.

Steve's football man-crush ... Eric Berry.

Snoozing with Mommy and Lindsey.

Our only touchdown.

A future Miss Homecoming with Miss Homecoming 2007.

Heading home ... she made it midway through the 3rd quarter!