Prosecution Exhibit B

As I mentioned below in the post about Samantha spilling the beans to her WaWa, here are more examples I'm sure will come back to bite Amy and me in the butt one day when Samantha presents her case to the judge.

All Amy and I can do is throw ourselves on the mercy of the court because Samantha is just too cute and too fun not to take her picture or feature her in videos!

Just chilling out in her room

Trying to explain to the Sock Monkey that "she's new here"

Daddy mocking Samantha's "stubborn" pose . . . she was too cute!

Making new friends after church one Sunday at WaWa and PaPaw's house

Can you find Samantha? She is surrounded by all of Teddy Bears her Big Guy has given to her Mommy over the years

In this video, Daddy is having more fun with Samantha's Bumbo seat than she is!

3 Months Old . . . Evolution of the Smile

Samantha turned THREE months old yesterday (7/23). It is unbelievable to think that she has already been in our lives for three months. She has been a wonderful baby and has been sleeping thru the night for 10-12 hours (with a few exceptions) for the past two weeks . . . . I'm knocking on the wooden kitchen table as I type!

Samantha spent her 3 month birthday the way she does most days. She woke up in a swaddle . . . had her diaper changed . . . took a 6 ounce bottle . . . played with Jimmy the Toucan . . . napped . . . took another bottle . . . you catch my drift.

We did end the night at WaWa and PaPaw's and celebrated Samantha's birthday the way any red-blooded American family . . . by having Hibachi Chicken from Fuji Japanese restaurant. Samantha of course opted for another bottle of Enfamil formula. However, at the rate she is growing I'm sure it won't be long before she is digging in on "real" food right there with us.

Samantha has started to smile more and more. The pictures below show the evolution of Samantha's smile on her birthday.

Here is Mommy showing off her beautiful smile for Samantha as an example for Samantha to follow

Samantha starting to warm up to the whole smiling thing . . . she is real glad Daddy is home from work so the birthday celebration can begin!

Just finishing up supper with PaPaw . . . she thinks her PaPaw is pretty funny

Worn out at the end of a long birthday . . . no chance of coercing a smile now! Get that camera out of my face!!!

Whattchu Talkin' bout Samantha?

Samantha has figured out that her mouth can make more noises than just crying, burping, snoring, and sneezing. She has been "talking" for a little over a week now, but we did not really get a good video of her holding court until the other day.

Samantha and her WaWa talk a lot. No one is quite sure what they are talking about. I guess it is the school teacher coming out in WaWa, but Samantha sure seems to "open up" whenever her WaWa is around. Lord only knows the things she will be telling her WaWa about when she can actually form words and sentences. Like the time Mom cut her PJ's off of her with sharp scissors. . . . or the time they took a picture of her with a sock monkey . . . or the time Dad treated her Bumbo seat like a hover-round (with her still in it). It will not be pretty once Samantha figures out how "normal" parents treat their babies.

It is real cute to watch and listen to her and this video does not really do justice to just how much she is bumping her little gums (it was the only video small enough to fit on our free blog site).

My Life ... So Far

Today I want to take a page from our friend Sara's book. Our blog, I hope, has been fun for all who read it. Steve and I like to have fun and laugh, and we are trying very hard to make sure Samantha (our ever serious baby) enjoys life as much. But God brought us down a long and winding path to get to this place. It wasn't easy. It wasn't fun. But it was so very worth it! Samantha will officially be 3 months old at 12 minutes after midnight. I am so overwhelmed with joy and awe that I want to share thoughts that are not the norm for our little blog. Life isn't always fun. We're all faced with challenges and difficulties, but those are the times, I have found, that truly define who we are. Do you just get angry? Do you turn to God? Do you question Him? Do you shut people out? Or do you let them in? I think I have done a little bit of everything along the way. I'm human.

Even if you have looked back to the beginning of the blog, back to the shots that I had to have to ovulate in order to create this precious child, you may not know that our journey to have a child started 2 years before that. It involved countless pills (progesterone, Clomid, Tamoxifen, Femara ... ), ultrasounds, bloodwork, a disheartening diagnosis, a devastating miscarriage, anti-depressants, and more prayer than you can imagine. There were times I wanted to give up all hope. There were times that I just knew the next round of pills would be magic. Through it all, I tried to never lose sight of the absolute truth that God is good, ALL of the time. It took lots of love, encouragement, and support, but we stuck with it and found the "formula" that worked for us. I hope to never take that for granted, and my heart breaks for the many people I know who haven't found their "formula" yet. You know who you are ... hang in there. It will happen.

This time 3 months ago, I was in the hospital, pushing with all my might. Steve was right beside me, holding a leg, counting. Its so funny what you remember from those moments - I distinctly remember Steve skipping numbers (on purpose, by the way) in his 10 count. And I remember thinking "Oh thank you!" Alas, my sweet pea was stubborn and was brought into this world at 12:12 am via c-section. I remember the first time I saw her, the first moment I heard her cry. I am overwhelmed to think of it now. She is truly a miracle, an answer to prayer, and proof positive that God listens.

Samantha, my precious gift from God, I love you more than you will ever know. I wanted you before you were ever conceived. I will mess up, unfortunately. I will fail you and dissappoint you. You won't always understand me. You will feel like I don't understand you. But, please know, I desire only wonderful things for you. My goal in life is to make sure that you never, never, never, feel unloved or unwanted. You are so special. This first 3 months has been amazing. I am looking forward to all of the many other wonderful things that God has in store for us. I am looking forward to many more "adventures" with you, even if they are nothing more than a trip to Kroger to get you to go to sleep. Your addition made Daddy and me a family. We love you so much! Happy Birthday!

Big Guy and Grammy

What a great weekend we had! My Mom and Dad (aka Big Guy and Grammy) came and spent a few days with us. While they were here, we celebrated Dad's 60th birthday. Dad probably won't appreciate me putting his age on the blog, but 60 is a big deal!! Isn't 60 the new 40 anyway? I hope so, because that would mean I'm 12. Sigh ... life was so much easier then. But, I digress. We really just hung out so they could get their "Samantha fix." We took her shopping on Saturday, and she slept most of the time. She thoroughly enjoyed being toted around by her Big Guy while Grammy and I looked around.

We continued our celebration on Saturday night with some barbeque and chicken wings from M&M, complete with all the fixins. (If you live here, you know they have the best que around. And they just moved less than a mile from our house! Score!) For dessert, we had Mayfield's birthday cake ice cream, which Dad can't get in West Tennessee. And, just in case you are wondering, candles do a great job of melting ice cream to a dippable consistency. It really wouldn't have mattered if we had Happy Meals and Oreos as long as he was celebrating with his Samantha!

We LOVED having you here, Big Guy and Grammy! Please come back and see us soon!

Ready for the party!

Proof that Big Guy will do anything for Samantha!

Classy!
Samantha loving on her Big Guy

Happy Birthday, Big Guy!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Big Guy,

Happy Birthday to you!

I can't wait to see you this weekend, Big Guy! I'm looking forward to celebrating your birthday with you. I love you very much! xoxo, Samantha

Prosecution Exhibit A

Greetings from amy-n.blogspot.com. We hope all of our loyal readers are doing well out there. Samantha is doing wonderful and seems to be thriving despite her parents (mostly Daddy) not knowing what they are doing.

When Samantha is finally old enough and smart enough to read this blog she will more than likely be embarrassed beyond belief . . . . especially at some of the things her Daddy makes her do (99 bottles of formula on the wall is just the tip of the iceberg).

As you all know Amy is a lot more mature than I am (of course Samantha is also giving me a run for my money in the maturity department). I see Samantha for the peaceful, gentle, fragile, perfect creation that she is, but I also see so many opportunities to have fun with her like she is a living puppet . . . . you have to admit though it makes for some great pictures/videos.

However, tonight Amy and I could not pass up the opportunity to take this video. Samantha will no doubt cringe when she watches it one day, but her little snore is just so cute and the chance to put my hat on her was just the icing on the cake. This was shot right after her bottle tonight. She only took 5 ounces tonight but last night before bed-time she took SEVEN ounces (Daddy wanted to see how high she could go). Typically we give her 5 ounces per bottle, so needless to say having 7 ounces in one sitting knocked her out . . . . for THIRTEEN hours!

The Pajama Dilemma

Yesterday started out wonderful ... When I went to get Samantha out of her crib, not only did she stop whining when I peeked in at her, but she actually smiled at me. It absolutely melted my heart! She got up, and we did our thing. After eating and playing for a bit, I decided it was time to change her out of her PJ's. Hmmm .... zippers stuck. Okay, no harm done if I wait a little while longer. We play more, and Samantha proceeds to spit on herself twice. She's saturated. I realize Wawa will be over soon to pick her up so I can get some work done at the house. Wet pajamas are simply unacceptable. (Jerry and Connie, God love them, wash, dry, and iron any outfit Samantha spits on. Even her onesies. Their spit tolerance level is much, much lower than mine and Steves.)

So, I take her back to her changing pad. And I tug, and I pull. And I get out tweezers to get a better grip on the zipper. Nothing. Nada. Not even a litte-bitty bit to give me hope of taking it all the way. Samantha was amused at first, but gradually became a bit more irritated. Not knowing what else to do, I did what I felt any sane mother would do. I got out the scissors. Yes, the scissors. Yesterday I cut a pair of pajamas off of my 2 month old daughter. Please feel free to use this blog post when you submit my information for mother-of-the-year. Or craziest-mother-of-the-year. I'm just happy I got the dang things off!

Our Adventure Continues

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... (I asked Steve for a journaling prompt and this is what he gave me!) Friday, after our big night of burgers, dogs and fireworks, we went to spend the afternoon with Bill, Elise, Will and Caroline, who were in town visiting their friends the Hinkles. Steve and I used to babysit Will, Caroline, Conner and Carly back in the day. Oh how far we have come! It was good to see the Hinkles again (not to mention their great pool), though it makes me feel old to see how the kids have grown. It won't be long before Caroline and Carly can babysit Samantha! Steve - big surprise - was on the golf course with an old high school buddy while we soaked in the rays. Well, I soaked. Samantha slept under the porch in one of her favorite spots, Aunt Elise's arms.

With Carly and Caroline

Relaxing with Aunt Elise

Samantha sporting her new Fourth of July outfit (complete with matching bibs and headbands) picked out by Caroline and Carly

After we all showered off, we hopped in the ol' family truckster and blazed a trail down I-75 to Signal Mountain. Jeff, Elaine and Collin were in town to visit the Mitchells and take in the sights of Chattanooga. We had another great cookout with Bill at the helm and then enjoyed more fireworks courtesy of the neighbors. Samantha, of course, was doted on the entire time she was there. I don't think she minded. Even though she's only 2 months, you can tell she loves Elise and Caroline by the way she stares at them, like she already knows who they are. It's really sweet.

Samantha slept in Will's pack-n-play. It was in amazingly great shape considering we celebrated Will's 15th birthday while we were there. Samantha christened it, along with one of Caroline's baby quilts. Steve and I were introduced to the Wii Fit, and we now feel more out of shape than ever. (I'll take anybody on in hula hoop, though!) Caroline, our future baker, introduced me to some amazing cake decorating shows. Steve and Will won a close game of 2 on 2 versus Bill and Jeff. I'm not sure exactly what he "won" outside of an ego boost ... he could barely move the next morning! The best thing about being with the Mitchells is that we don't have to do anything at all to have a great time. It's just fun being together. Thanks for letting us crash your pad!

By the way, Elise, Steve wanted to make sure I gave you props for the roast beef ring. He asked that you make 2 next time we head your way - one for him, and one for the rest of us!!

Checking out cousin Caroline

Will's 15th (!!) birthday cake

Tummy time with the whole family

Samantha napping with her new floppy bunny that we have named Nya-Nya, which is what Caroline called herself when she was little

Staring at Aunt Elise

Like great-uncle, like great-niece ... Relaxing with Uncle Jeff

Miller Time!

Just a few more pictures from our celebration ....

With the Miller girls - Lindsey, Heather and Courtney Teaching Samantha the art of the "goofy shot."

Snuggling with Lisa

An All-American Girl

We had a great fourth ... lots of new adventures for Samantha. We started the weekend out right on Thursday night at the house with a cookout. The Pierces, Millers and McCullochs joined us. The church in front of our neighborhood has a huge community celebration every year, complete with fireworks, so we usually throw some sort of shindig before walking up the street for the big show.

We started the kids out up close, knowing we could go backwards if they didn't like the fireworks. (It was Garrisons first fourth, too ... his birthday is August 1.) We put Samantha in her stroller sans carseat (she looked so big!) and made our way to the festivities. Outside of one bottle-related mini-meltdown, the kids did great. It was a fitting start to a very exciting weekend.

Taking a siesta with Lindsey before the big show.

Steve and Brent have come a long way from their Sig Ep days!

Taking in the fireworks show.

Garrison was a little more skeptical than Samantha about the whole thing.

Though it didn't seem to bother her, I was worried about Samantha's little ears!

Our First "Big Bath"

Last weekend we had our first trip to the big pool with Brent, Jenny and Garrison. Brent's Aunt Sharon was nice enough to let us come over for a late afternoon swim. It was a quite fitting locale for her first dip in the water ... Steve and I have spent many a Saturday at Aunt Sharon's pool. I bought her a baby bikini with matching cover up for the occassion. Just what every 2 month old needs! Plus, I really wanted her to make a good impression on Garrison, her little boyfriend. Unfortunately (or maybe thankfully), he seemed more interested in his first corndog than Samantha's attire.

She was NOT happy when I first put her in the water, but she eventually warmed up to the whole idea. She did love it when Steve held her close and pulled her around the shallow end. She's still not smiling much, so we assumed she enjoyed it since she wasn't crying. We all had a great day! Thanks, Sharon!