Geo-Journey

In The Meantime....

2010-06-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

It's August. The heat is in full swing as the dog days of summer settle in; the leaves are starting to brown (yes, that's how it goes half the time in Oklahoma) along with my yard (I refuse to waste water). Life seems to sputter along....quickly!

Shepard started walking around May 17th!!! That's about a month before Samara started walking. This fact led us to a hypothesis: The larger (heavier) the child at birth, the longer it takes them to walk...

Shepard has a favorite blanket. He's not attached to it, it is just his! Don't lay on it without leaving enough room for him...or he'll kindly let you know. The blanket is a tan-colored micro-fleece queen-size blanket...enough verbs for you...that he trots over to and buries his face into for several minutes at a time. One day, it was laying on the floor and I decided that I was tired of it being on the ground! I folded it and set it on top of the bean bag in the corner. All the while, Shepard was eying me from about 10-15 ft away. After I set it down, he made a grunting noise (obviously distraught) and crawled over to the bean bag, looked up at me, then proceeded to drag the blanket back into the floor and bury his face in it! I'm glad he can't talk...

Last fall we told Samara that she might be able to start 'Big School' next year. Little did we know that she would ask on a weekly basis "when am I going to start 'Big School'". We're now counting down the days; Samara starts her pre-K classes on August 19th! Growing up fast! She's very excited and is looking forward to getting a backpack and supplies (and ride the bus!). I told her she needed to get a job because I can't afford it! As with everything else I tell her, she just looks at me with a smile and spouts. "No Dad! You're silly!" I'm serious little girl, the way Shepard eats crayons...it's a rainbow when he messes his diaper....

Shepard has been picking up signs...no, not stop, yield, or merge signs but sign language. His first sign was 'more'...which he has quickly attached to mean 'give me this NOW"! One day when he was ill and I was home with him, he found his cup, sucked down the fluids (like a thirsty, parched desert nomad), and walked over to me. He threw his cup down at my feet and signed 'more'. Pretty awesome! He now uses the 'bye bye' sign to indicate that he wants to go outside. We noticed he'd use the sign and go grab his shoes...indicating to his dolt parents that he is tired of being inside...

One of Shana's favorite stories of Shepard was when he asked to go outside for a walk. It was around the time he was just getting over being sick. Shepard pointed out the front door. Shana asked him if he wanted to go outside and he grunted in response. She took him outside into the front yard and he pointed back toward the front door. Shana asked him if he wanted to go inside.....as he grunted again. She proceeded to take him inside and as she entered the front door, he pointed back outside. Turns out, the stroller was sitting on the front porch just outside the front door. Shana finally figures it out (she can be really dense sometimes!) and takes him for a walk. He was a happy camper!

On Samara's 4th birthday, she told me that her only friend was a girl named Rayne. I asked her about a couple of boys she ALWAYS hangs out with (DeCory and Luke). She said that they weren't her friends...that they were her BOYFRIENDS! Time to buy that shotgun...

Samara was outside playing one day, humming a tune. She had been humming it that morning and I wasn't sure what the tune was. So I asked her what it was. She did a little reverse psychology..."you know daddy, use your brain!" I love it!

In the meantime...we have a slew of photos taken over the 1st half of the YEAR that I thought we'd share. I'm getting behind...it'll be winter before I get the Water Park photos up!

Shep in the tub...

Samara coloring in her room. Great shot...

A cold, dreary February weekend with the nuggets cooped up in the house...running amok. What can you do when you can't go outside? You bring 'outside' 'inside'....the Greenhouse! Samara loves this place because they have a sandbox for all the kiddos to play in. One day, we actually witnessed a 2-year-old girl peeing in the sand. Nice!

Last fall, Samara asked for a sandbox of her own. In February, we took apart some old fence panels and built a sandbox! Samara helped!

Grandma bought Samara a new toy at the circus...

Fill in the blank on this one. What did Samara do? What is Shana telling her? Hmm...

Shepard at the Children's Zoo in Oklahoma City...

And Samara walking around barefoot at the 'river exhibit' at the OKC Children's Zoo.

Samara and Samantha at Great Grandpa's funeral...

Shep and Shana at the Lake Oolagah park...

Nice!

What!?!?!? Eating IS entertainment with these kids!

Samara and Shepard both like eating outside...when the weather is nice. Samara always asks if we can have a picnic!

Take it easy....

Happy Birthday, Shep!!

2010-05-21T11:02:00.000-07:00

Picture it! Edmond, OK. April 16th, 2010. Approximately 9PM. The day before Shepard's first birthday party. In addition to his fantastic immediate family, Shep's grandmothers, uncle, 2 aunts, and 4 cousins come drudging through the front door only minutes after the Return of the Father from a training course in Virgina!

Over the course of the next 2 days, chaos would consume the household! Mother Nature was intent on providing moisture to the clay-dry central-Oklahoma soil; it rained ALL weekend!!! The intrepid plans of Shep's parents to tie the children to a tree in the backyard drastically foiled!! No playing in the backyard. The sandbox was inundated. A march through the swamp to the swing set. The only option: to painstakingly tread through endless civil wars, alliances, compacts, resolutions, skirmishes with the cats, and finally PEACE!

But before the final dust cloud blew away, before oblivion went sweeping out the door, grandma, Sheldon, and Samantha joined the battle...6 adults and 7 children in our household...about 100 square feet per person! There have been wars over less!

Oma and Shepard!

The Nuggets having a sea skirmish the night after the party. John doesn't look very happy...must be boys vs girls...

Shepard didn't have a cake, he had CUPCAKES!!!

I swear if this was a banana, he would have had it down in 6.3 seconds...

Yummmmmmmmm.....

When asked 'any present ideas', we responded with "food" and "clothes". Most of the time, Shep would rather eat than play!

Big sister "helping" out...

The only birthday party you'll go to where you could eat half of the gifts!

And once again, Shepard is eating. Of course, Samara helps with the clothes!

Nicknames

2010-03-01T11:06:00.001-08:00

Every parent gives their children nicknames. Most of the time, the children grow up with an infinite amount of animosity towards their parents for various acts done onto them. I now have additional ammunition as I have just been informed that my nicknames as a child were 'Kissyfer' and 'Chrisy-pooh'. I am now convinced that this has had irreversible effects on my psyche! On the other hand, Shana's was a very suitable 'My Little Angel'!!

When Samara was younger, we called her 'Scooter' because of her ability to scoot from one place to the next. Our neighbor in Colorado called Samara '9-pounder', which is a reference to her birth weight. Now, Samara also goes by 'Mara' and 'Niveh'.

We have several nicknames for Shepard…for various reasons:

“Little Brother”- Both Shana and I like the movie “The 13^th Warrior”…mainly because we’ve read the book “Eater’s of the Dead” by Michael Crichton, for which the movie was based…and the Norsemen have nicknamed Antonio Banderas’ character “Little Brother”. I think it's just the way they say it in the movie...

“Rabble Rouser” – When Shepard gets hungry, the boy yells and raises Cain, often to the point of instilling a rebellion in the household. Very political when you have a 10-month old getting the 3-year old riled up and demanding tribute in the form of food at about 5:30-6:00 every evening. Luckily, Shepard like strawberries…and strawberries just happen to fit perfectly in a wide-open 10-month-old mouth. Sometimes we have to stuff them into his mouth…but it works!

“Nugget” – The funny thing about this nickname, Shepard actually recognizes it as his name…often turning around when you say it. This one comes from two origins: 1) it’s better to say “nugget” than “butt nugget”. “Nugget” is the name of the lower-ranked fighter pilots in the TV show Battlestar Galactica, which is one of my all-time favorite shows.

I’ve brainwashed Samara into thinking “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Journey” is a great movie! She runs around sometimes saying “excellent” and playing the air guitar! Also, “No way Bill”! You know, the movie does have historical figures…she has recognized the name Billy the Kid…

Shepard had a bout of ear infections in November/December. It took him nearly 1 and a half months to get over them (after 4 different antibiotics of varying success). His next treatment would have been ear tubes...or so the all-wise Oracle (doctor) says.

Shepard started crawling the week after Christmas!! Development-wise, that’s 8-months old vs. Samara’s crawling age of 7 months. His passion is to crawl over to the cat food pan/watering bowl and stick his fingers in the water and cat food. Sometimes we catch him before he starts eating the cat food...sometimes not. One day we weren’t quick enough and we found him faced-down in the water bowl, drinking! Good stuff!

Samara has been moved up into the pre-K class at ‘school’ and seems to be adjusting very well, although it seems that she is becoming more susceptible to peer pressure. For example, she refuses to wear a certain pair of pants because a kid told her they were disgusting or that her Pistol Pete shirt makes her look like a boy!!! The next step: Edmond Public Schools has a pre-K program (or lottery, as we've been told) that we'll try to get her into. Yea!!! Less money out-of-pocket...

Every child has those household items that are more entertaining to play with than the expensive toys; Shep is no different! His favorite toy is a green, plastic watering can that I use to water the house plants. He loves all the endless curves and the hollow sound that it makes when one repeatedly beats it on the floor. He also likes the dishwasher...standing up by it and grabbing clean silverware etc etc.

The second major snow storm of the season rolled into Oklahoma around January 28^th/29^th. We wanted to get out, so we plopped the kids into the Schwinn cart and took a 2-mile roundtrip walk to the grocery store in the snowy conditions. That was fun; the kids fell asleep on the walk back.

One day, I took Samara and Shepard in to ‘school’ and as I was getting Samara out of the car, she handed me a piece of paper that she had in her coat pocket from the previous day. She said she cut it out at ‘sensory table’. I looked at the piece of paper and Samara said ‘I want this”…for my birthday. The paper was an advertisement from a magazine or newspaper to this:

http://myprincessparty.net/Home_Page.html

I’m in serious trouble….

Shepard had a 9-month check-up exam on January 18^th:

Height: 27 ½ inches

Weight: 19 lbs 13 oz

Parents always want to compare their children…let’s take it to the extreme! Samara’s vitals at 9 months:

Height: 28 ¼ inches

Weight: 18 lbs 6 oz

I wonder who would win the 9-month wrestling match. Probably Shep, since he has 4-5 teeth now (first one came in right after Christmas – 8 months) and Samara didn’t get her teeth until she was about 11 months old…no rules; biting allowed!

Here are some photos from the last 2-3 months:

Shana and Samara in my mother's pasture the day after Christmas...

Christmas Shepard...

Samara's new underwear...she was ecstatic!

Shana and Shep on our visit to Gioia's (and the girls)...

These are some shots from our visit to the zoo. It was a nice and quite day!

The kids in the tub!!

Shep playing in the living room...

Samara stamped her forehead...

Shep's pastime...

The Nugget and his food!

Ahhh...a nice warm day at the park. The last shot was near sunset...great color on the wood frame...

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

2009-12-24T09:03:00.000-08:00

...and I need to catch up with stories and photos...

Happy Holidays everyone! Normally, I’m Mr. Scrooge when it comes to Christmastime. However, I’ve come to the realization that having kids means getting an attitude adjustment. A strong statement indeed!

Shana and the kids went to Claremore one Friday several weeks ago to hang out with Grandma. The trip gave me the occasion to wrap the gifts we had purchased to date and stuff them under our faux tree. When Shana and the kids came home Saturday night, Samara saw the presents and proceeded to take them out from under the tree and stack them elsewhere! Kids will be kids! Surprisingly, she hasn’t asked or tried to open any of the gifts…waiting until Christmas, I suppose.

Samara and her princess outfits. She’s hit a phase where she’ll come home from “school” and strip down to her underwear (in a 60-62F house) and put on tights and a princess dress. One day, Shepard had a doctor’s appointment and I took her with us. Before we left the house, she stuffed one of her backpacks with “stuff” and brought it with her. I didn’t mind…not really a big deal. We get to the doctor’s office and are called into one of the smaller waiting rooms. You know, the rooms they put you in to make you feel like they’re paying attention to you, but make you wait another 30 minutes. Well, we get into the smaller “waiting” room and Samara proceeds to strip down, pull her princess clothes out, and morph into Princess Samara…all within about 2 minutes. No big deal…since I figured we’d be there another hour!!

I periodically ask Samara what she wants for Christmas. One day, she replied with her normal rhetoric. After several moments, she said she wanted a “weedeater”. I replied ,“Like the one mommy and daddy mows the yard with?” “Yeah!” “Ok.” Several more moments pass, “A pink one!” Sorry kid, you’ll have to be satisfied with the “My Parents Are Poor” t-shirt.

Shepard has been sitting up since before Thanksgiving…at about 7 months. Comparing the two wee ones (because what parent doesn’t), Samara was sitting up at around 5 months. Now the pressure is on Shep to start walking before Samara’s pedestrian 14 months of age!

Shep is kind of crawling now. The kind of crawling where the child gets on all fours and pushes himself backwards. He also does a head bobble when he’s lying down…almost looks like he’s trying to scratch the back of his head. At other times, when he’s sitting up, he’ll start to tilt his head and look sideways at things…then rotate between right-side-up and sideways. What a discovery!

Let me tell you, Shepard is an eater! When the kid gets hungry, he lets everyone know! I mean, the kid gets royally pissed! Sometimes, when you set him in his high chair and walk by with a jar of baby food, he starts crying like he just lost an arm. Typically, we feed him 2 different foods…say liquid beef/carrots and a fruit/yogurt blend (or something like that). If he doesn’t like one of the options when you stick it in his mouth, he’ll cry until you stuff the other option into his mouth. When this happens, we alternate spoonfuls…so crying…happy…crying…happy…etc.

I picked up the kids from “school” one day and once home, proceeded to find something to cook for dinner. Shep was sitting on the floor of the living room and Samara went to her room to play…with a pair of scissors, apparently!! Not a horror story, honestly! After about 5-10 minutes in her room, she comes running out holding up a piece of paper yelling, “Look daddy, a pentagon!!!” The child had cut a piece of paper into the shape of a pentagon! It was almost perfect. Shana is saving it in order to frame it just in case this is as smart as she gets…

Shep in the tub. Samara can get him to laugh at a moment's notice!

Waterfalls near Guthrie! We went here while doing fieldwork on the Garber-Wellington Aquifer.

Samara and our Christmas tree.

Number 1 draft pick.

Photos of the kids taken around Thanksgiving...

Our Halloween costumes...

Samara accidentally put her coat on upside down. She was running away from me because she was embarrassed...

Samara and Shep...sitting on daddy.

Shepard in his crib...

Samara likes to help out...

Samara and Batman at a Will's (our neighbor's child) birthday party.

My new nephew, Chuck, who was born on October 12th.

Shana and Shep in the pasture behind my parent's house.

John, Tori, Samara, and the watchdog...

The kids in the pasture in October...

Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge

2009-10-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

It was our 6th anniversary in September (Wow, 6 years!!!), so we decided to take the kids down to the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Oklahoma. Both of the kids had a blast!!!

Shana and Shepard near the east entrance to the Refuge.

Samara at the east entrance; Mt. Scott is in the background.

Samara overlooking a field near the visitor's center.

Samara, Shana, and Shep on the trail to "Little Baldy". We told Samara we were going to go climb the mountain, which motivated her to do the 1-1.5 mile round trip hike!! She loved it!

Samara off the beaten path...

S^3 on the climb up Little Baldy.

Samara posing on top of Little Baldy...

Samara and Daddy...

Climbing down!! On the way down, Shepard was laughing as he was getting jostled around on Shana's back! It was pretty entertaining!

Some rocks (granite to be exact) on top of Mt. Scott; a wind farm is visible in the distance.

Quanah Parker Lake in infrared viewed from Little Baldy.

An abandoned guest house in infrared...

Quanah Parker Lake in color as viewed from Little Baldy.

The view from Mt. Scott looking east-southeast.

We were eating our picnic lunch and I thought the leave/sky contrast from this oak tree would look great in infrared.

Blended Green Beans

2009-09-22T19:15:00.001-07:00

Shep is evolving; the kid loves to smile all the time and enjoys people talking to him. Shepard is also a thumb sucker, which is the complete opposite from Samara! He's been sleeping well at night until recently...he's gotten into the habit of falling asleep at about 8 pm, which translates into uneasiness during parts of the night.

Shep doesn't cry very much; only when he's hungry or tired. Speaking of hungry, he's started eating food. He's not particularly fond of blended green beans but has been really munching everything else. I suppose munching isn't appropriate at this point...maybe drinking or slurping is the proper term...

One day last week, Shepard's teachers said that he bounced himself to sleep in one of the bouncy seats. Shep's teachers actually argue and fight about who gets to hold him etc. One day we picked him up and one of the teachers complained that the other wouldn't let her hold Shep all afternoon! I'm still convinced that all teachers are trained to say those things...

We finally got a bed for Samara! Before Shep was born, the crib had been converted to a daybed and that was Samara's bed. After Shep was born, the bed transformed back into a crib and Samara slept with us. Well, it took us awhile, to say the least, to acquire a bed (my old bed as a child/teen). Samara loves it and is so proud of sleeping by herself. Although on one of the 1st few nights, Samara claimed that something was under her bed. One of my favorite movie scenes is in Major Payne, when the Major pulls his sidearm out and fills the closet full of bullets and tells the kid "if he's in there, he ain't happy"...I really wanted to do that...

Samara started asking about 6 months or so ago at dusk, "Is it getting dark?" "Yes" would be our response. And of course came the "Why?' question. Perfect time to teach your child about celestial mechanics! After showing videos of the Earth rotating on youtube, she now knows that the Earth spins.

Samara had "Show and Share Day" at school. The night before, she gathered some things and put them in two backpacks...small little children's bags. Anyway, Shana and I didn't bother to check what she put in them. When we got to school after work, we noticed that she had on a different pair of shoes. So, I opened both bags up and found....5 pairs of shoes stuffed into the bags in addition to a doll and a book. I better nip this one in the bud!! No fetishes here...

We've had some check-ups with the Doctor:

Shepard (4-month on 6/29/09)
Height: 23.5 inches
Weight: 14 lbs. 8 oz.

Shepard (6-month on 8/21/09)
Height: 25 inches
Weight: 16 lbs.

Samara (3-year)
Height: 36.5 inches
Weight: 32 lbs.

Samara loves blueberries! Actually, she loves most fruits and vegetables. I picked some banana peppers one day, she asked if they were spicy...I replied "no, not really"...and ever since she eats banana peppers. Once, she ate 3 before dinner...talk about an afternoon snack!

Samara, cousin Tori, Aunt Shannon, and our neighbor Peyton during Samara's birthday party.

Samara's birthday cake. You might ask, "why is there a square missing?" Well, that would be Samara grabbing a fist full while it was in the fridge the night before her party...

The party...

Big sister and Little brother...

Samara at A Taste of Edmond in June...

Shana and Shep at a Taste of Edmond...

Thought you might like this shot of Natural Falls State Park that I took on the 4th of July weekend.

The battle...

Samara and Tori's cuz Josephine snoozing after the 4th celebration...

Shepard at the zoo on the train....

Samara enjoyed playing at the zoo...

Samara enjoyed the train...

Samara and Uncle Mike on the Illinois River...

Shana shot this one while Samara was running around in an open field near our house...great lighting...the shadow draws your eyes away from the subject...or is the shadow the subject?

These photos were shot on different days. The top one illustrates Samara's cheesey smile...the one she had when she was 9-months old...check posts from 2007. The bottom one is a bit more mysterious...kind of hard to imagine what she is thinking...probably "what the h#@$ does daddy want now..."

Rough day...

One of Shep's 1st meals...probably oatmeal or rice cereal...

The bridge over Grand Lake...

Samara "Wind in her hair" during a boat trip on Grand Lake for Oma and Crazy Grandpa's 40-year anniversary.

Shana and Shep with Uncle Mike in the background...

Tragedy

2009-09-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

I had planned to add these picture to a longer post but decided to separate them based on the content and the circumstances. These photos are from early August, when Shana's sister was murdered by her live-in boyfriend. Luckily, the kids had been living with Grandma and were not around during the incident.

Shana is doing well and we all have questions that will never be answered, but at least we have each other and can move forward. I will not send this out in mass e-mail, but if you do happen to catch it on the blog, send your regards to Shana (shanalichelle@hotmail.com).

Shana and Shep at the luncheon before the funeral. Aunt Kathy is in the background.

Stacey's casket covered by a Pendleton Blanket.

Shana's half-sister Christy and Aunt Joy with Shep.

Christy and Shep....

Shana with her Aunt Blanche and biological father, Stuart...of course, with Shep.

Shana, Christy, Samara, Shep, Sheldon, and Samantha.

Breathe a sigh!

2009-06-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

We are beginning to breathe a sigh (or maybe gasping for air).... I will offer a piece of insight to those of you with one (or no) children: two definitely becomes more intense. It's not like we didn't expect this, but until you've experienced it, you really have no idea!! I don't understand how single parents do it (or those relationships where one spouse is never around). "Spare time" is a relative phrase these days...when will it be normal again!

Shepard is quite the "talker". When he doesn't like something in his environment, he let's you know...loudly! Both Shana and I don't remember Samara expressing her discomfort as much...or as intense. Maybe the new "Whiskey Plan" will alleviate that...

We had a semi-rough 1st month or so (as evident by this posting 2 months after birth) with Shep's sleeping habits. You see, Shep would get his day and night mixed up for some reason and would be awake from 1:30 AM to 5:30 AM (approximately). One day, we made sure he was awake for 6+ hours during the day...futile effort. But now, he seems to be getting on track.

Speaking of sleeping, our children are belly sleepers. One of the nurses at the doctor's office about gave birth when Shana explained to her that Shep sleeps on his belly. "Oh! We really don't recommend that." Fine, give us your number and we'll call you at 3 AM when he's not sleeping. Come on, we're not robots here...at least we're not feeding him crack! Jeez.

Big sister loves her little brother. She tries to sing to him when he's crying; she is constantly hugging and kissing him. As a matter of fact, she gave him his first cold several weeks ago! She also was infected by a virus when Shep was a couple of weeks old...took her to the doctor...and the doctor said "stay away from little brother". For the next week or so, she ran around saying "the doctor told me to stay away from Shep" and resorted to blowing kisses...

And just to keep notes, the little guy has a case of thrush that we haven't been able to get rid of...here comes the purple stuff!

Shep had his 2 week checkup on May 4th:

Height: 20 1/2 inches
Weight: 8 lbs. 12 oz.

Now, don't ask me how the child can lose 1 1/2 inches from birth! Maybe he's a mutant...

Funny stories:

Shep was sitting in his "bouncy chair" crying, Shana was cooking, and I was paying bills. Samara decided that she was going to try to calm Shep down and began singing to him and rubbing his head, etc. After several futile minutes, Samara became frustrated and yelled "STOP IT!!!" Take it easy Samara....She now has a tendency to cover his mouth up with her hand...or she tries to stuff his burp rag into his mouth...

We went to the annual Red Earth festival on June 5th, which is a showcase for Native American dancers and artists. We had set down to eat lunch...corn dogs, roasted corn, indian tacos...and Shana got up to go to the bathroom. Well, Samara and Shana don't exactly have the same skin color...and when Samara got up screaming and ran after mommy, who had already migrated through crowded area, all of the bystanders became worried when Samara caught up with Shana and grabbed her hand (thinking Samara was lost). Shana heard "I think she came from over there"...and "Where are you going to take her". About 5 or 10 people were willing to help Shana find the parents of this lost child. Finally, through all of the advice, Shana was able to say "She's my child!"...or something like that. I wasn't there, so I'm not sure if Shana used explicits or not...

Finally, he shut up...here's some pictures:

Samara at a birthday party...

Shepard and great-Grandpa Adams...

Samara at the park...with that cheesy smile...

Samara and cousin Tori. Tori was just a little agrevated that I was including Samara in the picture...

Oma and Shep...She hasn't sit on this one yet...

Our boy...

Our girl being a Big Sister...

Grandma and Shep...

Snoozin'...

Big sis helping out after a diaper change...

I'm not sure you can see in this photo, but Shepard has my forehead...more specifically, the wrinkles...

I shot the rest of these at home with a black and a white bed sheet:

Take care!

Round 2!

2009-04-18T16:40:00.001-07:00

Round 2 has begun!

Shepard Nocona Lewis Neel was welcomed to this world at 9:12 AM on April 17, 2009! At 8 lbs 8 oz, he wasn't nearly the size of his older sister when she was born (9 lb 4 oz). However, Samara was 10 days past her due date and Shepard was born 11 days before his due date! Shepard (Shep) was 22 inches long, which is longer than Samara's length when she was born.

Shepard and Shana are doing well! We arrived at the hospital at about 6:40 AM on the 17th...Shana was a bit aggravated, to say the least, that we were 10 minutes late arriving! Everything went well and by 10 Am, we were showing him off to our families!

To say the least, the 1st 24 hours with Shep was definitely easier than with Samara. There have been no latching problems and we actually were able to sleep somewhat last night!

Samara has been a great big sister! We couldn't be more proud of how well she has adjusted (so far). She always wants to hold Shepard and make sure he's ok when he cries. Once, when the nurse came in to get a blood sample for a glucose test...Samara has just woken up...Shep started crying after the nurse "stuck" him with the needle. Samara instantly started crying and reaching for him (although she was about 10 feet away)...yelling "my baby (brother)"!

So, some may wonder how we came up with Shepard. Well, we (I) wanted to stick with the same basic format that we used on Samara. Yes, I am that much of a nerd! So, a space-related name, a comanche name, and a family name.

Shepard was about the only space-related male name Shana and I both liked. Shepard being the last name of the 1st American astronaut in space; Alan Shepard.

Nocona is a variant of the Comanche Chief Quanah Parker's father, Peta Nocona. As with Quanah, Peta Nocona was a great leader for the Comanche's whose name means "he who travels alone and returns." Nocona simply means, "wanderer".

Lewis was taken from both Shana's and my grandfathers. Shana's grandfather is Lewis Albert Adama and my grandfather was Frank Lewis Palmer. We didn't hit on this name until a couple of weeks ago; we had Shepard and Nocona nailed for the last several months...

There's the story! I'm sure I'll be subjecting you to more spam in the future. I hope all is well. As always, photos:

Sounds like a Gremlin!!

2009-04-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

The last week and a half have been interesting. It all started with a coworker asking if I liked knowing the birth date. I thought about it for awhile before I came up with an answer: I do not! The logic: when you don't know the date, you wake up every morning with a taste of excitement and thinking, "this could be the day!" I can now say that knowing the date takes that excitement away. Even though labor can happen at any time, the perception of knowing the date changes everything. Now, and over the last week or so, there has been a steady, constant climb to the apex. Coasting. Last week I was very anxious...tough to concentrate at work...maybe a result of knowing the date..but who knows?

Preparing for the arrival of our families, we cleaned the house last weekend...spotless. Shana bought enough food to feed an army (and subsequently stuffed it into her new freezer)...and that may not be enough after thinking how much my nephew and brother will eat. And, we have enough space this time around to house our own cult, if need be. Speaking of a cult, we may have to subdue my father...or as my niece calls him, "Crazy Grandpa".

Shana is doing ok...a lot of Braxton-Hicks...consistently! The baby has been moving around, causing pain every once in awhile. She's "pretty quickly irritated"...in her own words. Oh, Shana got a pedicure last week...pretty red toe nails!! If I say anymore, I may end up sterile.

We have 99.9% decided on a name for our son. Interesting story about that, for posterity's sake: Over the course of the last 8 months, the naming game consisted of me finding names and Shana shooting them down (for the most part). So, when our doctor was late for our last appointment, Shana and I were able to nail out a name within the several precious moments that passed.

And the name is:

You'll have to tune in! But I can tell you initials: NLS (or some variant).

Speaking of our last appointment with the doctor, we were talking with her (our doctor) about when to show up at the hospital. "Show up a couple hours early." Which, by the way, means: show up at 6:30 AM for an 8:30 AM procedure!! She then added, "No food after midnight." To which my reply was, "Sounds like a Gremlin!"

"Bright light, bright light!"

And, these are a bit overdue, but here are some ultrasound scans. Unfortunately, the quality of the images are not as good the ultrasound(s) with Samara. The 1st image shows the baby looking straight at the "camera". The second image shows a profile view. It's been interesting to experience the differences between the doctor in Colorado and the doctor this time around. Our current doctor doesn't do the "extra" ultrasound that the doctor in Colorado preformed.

Some images from the last month:

A nice shot of Shana...of course, she'll probably do bodily damage as soon as she finds out I posted this one!

These last three are of Samara at the local park.

Samara holding up an Easter egg she found at school...

Samara during her egg hunt at home!

Samara was playing one day after work and I was able to catch the sun illuminating her...great shot.

Samara and Shana leaving school...

And the ultimate 1st date photo!!

An old Samara story before I go: We were driving home one evening from Best Buy and Samara asked if we were going home. We both replied "yes" and continued to talk. A few minutes later (while Shana and I were still talking), Samara intruded again and asked, "Are we going home?" To which an annoyed Shana halfway shouts, "YES!!! How many times do I have to say it?" Samara promptly shouted, "TWO!!"

Take care all! We'll post some pictures of the baby this weekend!

T-minus 4 weeks

2009-03-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

T-minus 4 weeks and counting; well something closer to 25 days. That's how long we have to magically pull a name out of the hat. Twenty-five days to prepare ourselves for the newest arrival. I must admit, I'm not as worried as Shana (as she complains on a daily basis..."we need ____ and we need ____" (feel free to fill in the blanks...be creative, this may be you last chance).

We scheduled our c-section for the morning of Friday, April 17 (just in time for the weekend nightlife). I am a bit disappointed that we were not able to schedule for April 22nd (Earth Day); I'll get over it...maybe. Everything seems to be going well. However, from my limited observations and experiences, Shana has been experiencing a bit more discomfort than the last pregnancy. Shana feels like the baby could come any day, which, I must admit, frightens me a bit. But, if he's anything like Samara was when she was born (i.e. sumo wrestler attributes), everything should be fine.

Samara is excited for her new brother to arrive. After watching the Big XII Championship and seeing Oklahoma State's mascot, she wants to name the baby "Pistol Pete"! And as names are concerned, we've been discussing the possibility of the following names: Romulus, Gunther, Sagan, Archimedes, Klaus, Icarus, Mowgli, and Bill (along with a slew of other names we are actually considering). You'll have to wait 25 days ...or for a small fee, say college tuition, you can have naming rights. So, if you ever wanted to name a kid Yukon Cornelius, here's your chance!

As always, some photos of Samara are below. Over the next several weeks, I'll scan in our ultrasound photos and post them here. Take care!

Samara painting some pots...

Reading a book...

Getting ready for our new one with Glenda and Caleb...

Shana taking a break during a recent field trip...

Samara at her 1st bowling trip...

Taking it easy...

And one from January...

Make-up!!

2009-02-01T09:15:00.001-08:00

There are many things a father has to prepare himself for when raising a daughter. Most of those items occur around the glorious Age Of Puberty: dating (and everything associated with that), kissing boys, breasts, etc. As parents, that’s when we discover how difficult we were as children. Fortunately, parents have at least a decade to prepare for those days halcyon days. Unfortunately, parents are rarely ready!

So, this leads us to the “joyous”…I mean stressful… time before Christmas: lights, trees, and joyous songs. The time when you aren’t sure what to buy your favorite relatives and hope that what you get them is adequate. And, if you have enough cojones, you “slyishly” ask them what they want. Well, for a 2-and-a-half year old, you never know…unless you ask. My mistake! Samara’s answer: “make-up”! Panic attack for Daddy…puberty is around the corner!

Other Christmas photos:

Samara's new Princess clothes...

As a stocking stuffer, we gave Samara a set of Tinkerbell underwear. She must have loved the gift because she undressed herself (relatively quickly, I might add), stripped off her underwear, and put on her new Tinkerbell underwear. I have never seen a child act so enthusiastically toward underwear, ever.

This is an awesome gift for the 2-3 year old. It definitely makes brushing more fun! However, Samara still likes to suck the fruity flavored edible toothpaste off of the brush before brushing!

Samara and cousin Samantha...

Samara watched Sponge Bob for 3 weeks straight! She especially likes to walk around in public singing the Spnge Bob theme song. We get a lot of giggles from innocent by-standers...

One of the other items on Samara's Christmas list...baby doll's...

Samara and Cousin John...

Samara with Cousins Tori and Jasmine along with Aunt Shannon...

Good luck to everyone and your New Year's resolution(s). My resolution is to loose 5 pounds...hey, you gotta start small!

Do You Want Me To Shoot You!

2008-12-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

Most of you may have heard the news by now, but for those of you who haven’t, Shana has been invaded by parasite. Yes, the kind that grow over a nine-month period and weigh approximately 8 pounds! Although this one won't burst from her stomach...well, it might be like that!

We found out that we were expecting in September and officially let the news out at the end of October; the due date is sometime in the end of April. Shortly before Thanksgiving, we found out that we are having a boy! I’m a little terrified actually! Samara has been great, so I’m a little scared that the next one will be totally different (especially now that we know it is a boy). I hear two stories: 1) that the 2nd child will usually behave the same and 2) that the children will be totally different and that the next child will be a terror (ouch)! Stay tuned...

I asked Shana if she wanted to schedule a c-section on April 22^nd, Earth Day. She responded with something like “Do you want me to shoot you!” I take it Earth Day is out of the question.

Samara has been wonderful over the course of the last few months. We have been preparing her for the change, telling her that she’s going to have to share mommy and daddy with the new baby, asking her if she’ll help us with the baby, etc. Shana asked her one evening if she was going to help feed the baby…Samara responded with a “yes”…then I asked her if she was going to change the baby’s diaper…she responded with a “yes”. I’ll hold her to it!

Samara is very excited about the new baby. When we first told her Shana was pregnant, Samara wanted a sister. However, she has grown to the idea of a baby brother and has even adopted the name of one off her school teacher’s newborn: “Baby Bryson!”

She understands where the baby is at; If Samara accidentally hits Shana’s belly, Shana will say “watch out”, which Samara promptly says “Sorry baby!”

Samara has begun to carry a baby doll around and insists on having a play bottle around to feed it. One day Shana was going to get groceries and Samara wanted to go…she also wanted to take her baby doll. Before Shana could say anything, I told Samara that if she was going to take the baby, that she needed to get some diapers, baby wipes, and the bottle. Shana was very thrilled at that!

Some interesting Samara-character-development stories:

Samara now knows that the Starbucks sign means “coffee”, as she yells it every time we pass a Starbucks!

Samara watched the Harry Potter movies for 2 months straight; she knows most of the main characters and talks “Harry Potter” with one of the teachers, who is an avid fan!

Samara got in trouble at school one day because she somehow convinced the other school children in her class to start saying “poop”. From what I hear, it was an interesting day.

This will be Samara’s 3^rd Christmas, but the 1^st where she really has an understanding of what all the commotion is about. So, we asked her after Thanksgiving what she wanted for Christmas and she replied, “make-up”! Help me!

Samara has been potty trained since early October; only two accidents since then! She loves wearing her “princess” and Dora underwear!

Several of Samara's favorite songs over the last several months have been "I'm In The Mood (for a Melody)" by Robert Plant, "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" by Gayla Peevy, and her ABC's song, which she sings..."ABCDEF poop HIJKLMNO poop QRSTU poop WXY poop". I hear every child goes through a poop fascination...

And some photos...

Shana and Samara at Brian and Ali's with Wrigley and Brady...

Samara loves vegies...

I think someone had a little too much to drink...

Shana and Samara swimming at Lake of the Arbuckles in July. Samara also tubed...

Sheldon and Samara during one of our camping trips...

Great lighting! I was able to catch this at the right time!

More recently, Samara has put bubble on her face in an attempt to look like Santa!

Samara at Canadian River Vineyards and Winery!

Samara and Tori in the 40-acre Wood!

They had fun throwing things into the pond...

Samara loves walking in the pasture...

As well as sitting by the fireplace when the weather is cold.

Aunt Shannon, the cereal killer, and cousin Tori...

Samara, as Dorothy, Princess Tori, and Uncle Mike, as Death.

This is a nice shot of Samara at her great grandmothers funeral...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Time is of the Essence!

2008-09-18T08:29:00.001-07:00

I keep saying this and never seem to follow up on my promises, but I need to write more often. Three months is a long time, in my opinion. What can happen in 3 months, you may say? Considering 3 months is a quarter of a year and say, the average person lives to be 80 years old, then 3 months is approximately 0.3% of your life. Ok, it doesn’t seem like very much. But, those of us with children, it’s a long time! What has happened? A camping trip in Oklahoma, a camping trip to New Mexico, Samara’s 2^nd birthday, 4^th of July, etc etc. I tell you, “action packed” is an understatement.

First of all, I’d like to congratulate some friends from Colorado who informed us that they are expecting in December of this year! Wow! And, of course, congrats to Brian and Alli on a new marriage! Let’s see..Brian and Alli getting married…Sean and Sarah expecting their 1^st….Brad and Amy with a 1-year old….Shana and I planning our second…Brian and Kelli with three boys….very interesting spectrum. And, some psychology…every couple I named the male 1^st, except for Shana and myself…hmmm…

Here are some great Samara stories and developments to share:

Shana and I were driving back from her mother’s house and stopped in at the local Starbuck’s in Owasso. My idea, since they give you their coffee grounds for gardening. Shana ordered her “usual”, a caramel frappacino. For anyone who doesn’t know what a “frap” is, the beverage is a concoction of coffee, ice, sugar, and what ever flavor you choose blended into something that would be called a coffee slurpy at 7-eleven. So naturally, a 2-year old would love this beverage. That, and the fact that Samara likes a little coffee now and then, makes for an interesting outcome (on a side note, Samara can smell coffee from a mile away…the kid has a nose for smell). So, Shana received her beverage and gave Samara a drink (this wasn’t her 1^st frap). Samara held on to the beverage while Shana went to the restroom, taking some generous sips. After Shana was finished, she realized that Samara wouldn’t relinquish the tasty beverage. So, on the way out of the store, we talked to Samara about sharing (again) and that it was mommy’s turn to drink. Inside the car, she reluctantly handed over the drink. As we were driving, Shana took a couple of leisurely drinks. After a few moments of silence, Samara belted with air of deception in her voice, “Give me my coffee back!!!” My crystal ball tells me that Samara’s college fund will be spent at Starbuck’s!

Samara turned 2 in June. Wow! The speed at which life plays out in the grand scheme of things is amazing. And what is equally amazing, is how slow time can feel (My extra philosophy of the day…nothing like Emerson or Thoreau, of course). Samara loved opening presents and seemed to be really in the groove, unlike her 1^st birthday, when she counted on help from her young friends. The interesting part of the day (no, this is not about my family being one and a half hours late) was after we had passed out cupcakes to everyone. We planted two candles into Samara’s cupcake and set it ablaze. As we started to sing “Happy Birthday”, Samara became frightened! She jumped off of the park bench and started running away from the party, which must have seemed to her young, impressionable mind, like a devil-worshipping ceremony seen in the movies. She finally stopped at a fence and was crying and in a frightened state. A little child psychology on that great day…

Samara can recite the ABC song; we’re working on recognizing the letters. She has also learned her colors over the last several months. Instead of calling everything yellow, she can now identify colors correctly about 95% of the time. She has trouble with colors that are a mix, say, yellow-green, blue-green, lighter color purples.

We’re also in potty-training mode! During the weekend at home, we let her run around without a diaper or in underwear and she does a great job letting us know when she has to go. Interestingly, she doesn’t do as good at daycare…maybe there’s just so much going on! Speaking of diaper/potty training, Samara has a mild interest in looking at her poopy diapers, which I may have mentioned before. But now, she likes to say, out of the blue, Daddy poopy…mommy poopy…Orion poopy, and of course, laugh!

On with the pictures!

Samara playing in the dirt at Bandelier National Park

Table surfing at Badelier...

Our photo ops....

A nice walk...

Is there a doctor in the house?

Good morning sunshine!

Samara with her new baby in front of our house...

Samara and Tori on our camping trip to Greenleaf State Park...

I'm having a hard time figuring this one out. Maybe the audience can leave a message with an appropriate caption!

Uncle Mickey....

Going Commando!

Samara helping with cupcakes....

Samara, Eden, and Aidan at Samara's birthday party...

Samara running away while we were singing "Happy Birthday"...

Mmmmm....birthday cupcakes...

Shana and Cousin Jasmine...

It's great to know that someone will always be there when you need a helping hand....

Samara's new pool...

Samara's first bike...now I need some leather...

I had to put a picture of these braids up...

Adios!

Samara's New Home

2008-05-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

We are now homeowners! Let me take a couple of sentences to relay some thoughts about finally owning a home. It’s nice being able 1) to stand up and stretch, 2) have a greater than 1-butt kitchen, and 3) not listen to upstairs neighbors have sex! Awesome!

Shana flew in from Reston, Virginia at 10:30 pm on Friday, March 21^st; she had been taking a modeling course at the regional USGS course. By 3:45 pm, we had closed on our house. By 6:00 pm, we had picked Samara up from “school”, bought a refrigerator, and grabbed dinner; we had Sonic and a bottle of wine for our first meal in our new house!

The past several months since then have been very tiresome. We still don’t have everything unpacked, and from what I understand, some of those things will never get unpacked (future garage sale items, I’m told). I guess Shana’s dominatrix suit will make someone a great gift down the road….

And I must apologize to those of you who like to see pictures of Samara for the extended length between blog posts. As some of you know, we don’t have cable or internet (please refrain from comments such as “heathen”, “what’s wrong with you?”, etc; “weirdo” is ok), so it is difficult writing this with a hand and leg in the air trying to “steal” someone’s unprotected wireless signal!

Here are some Samara stories from the past month or so:

I had prepped Samara one morning for school (while Shana was away) and had set her on the sofa. While she watched Shrek, I dressed myself for work. After I made myself pretty, I walked into the living room and asked Samara if she was ready to go to school; she replied “uh-huh”. As I stood their watching her, she looked up at me and raised her juice cup toward me. I didn’t immediately grab the cup away from her, which must have vexed her because she frowned and said “take it!!!”

Samara and I went to the park after diner one evening (a compromise from the day before). She loves the play structures and watching other little kids; she has become a very social person. However, when there are few kids around, she prefers to walk around in the park exploring new things. I mostly meander 10 feet behind her so she feels like she’s being independent. When she needs something, or wants something, she politely calls my attention. On this particular trip, we had walked around for about 45 minutes and she was getting tired (one can tell based on her moodiness); I decided to close the distance between us. She began turning around every 10-15 seconds and mumbling something while pointing a finger in my direction. I finally realized she was saying “go back!!!” I reiterated this and she said, in her smoker’s/possessed voice, “yes daddy!”

We had moved into our new house and were going to grill sausages for dinner. I dumped charcoal into the tiny grill and began to rearrange the pieces carefully (in the optimal burning formation; of course). Samara approached with curiosity, looked down into the bowl, pointed, and announced “one, two, three, four, five, six” and after I said “Oh my God!” in a stunned voice, she said “seven”!!! Unbelievable! I know at this age it’s all repetition, but how cool it is!

Samara moved up into the next age group a couple of months ago (even though there was a girl in her old room who is older). She love’s being in the room and has not bitten any of the other children. Everyday when Shana and I pick her up, she wants to go visit her old room. She often will say “I want to see Kylee”, or Noah or Coby; and so we spend 5 extra minutes hangin’ out with her old friends and teachers…

Samara likes to pass gas and proclaim with a grin, “I farted!!” A co-worker of mine has a keychain called Dr. Fart…no explanation is necessary, I’m guessing. I took it home one day and started pushing the button behind my back. Samara would turn around and start laughing and say “eeewwww” (imagine Jim Varney in the Ernest movies). I finally gave the device to her….it was non-stop Dr. Fart for about 20 minutes!

Samara’s favorite movies are now Shrek and Mary Poppins. She’s ventured away from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the other day she wanted to watch it. In the middle of the movie, she asked “What’s Charlie doing?” In addition, Jerrod bought her The Sound of Music; she’s been watching that on a regular basis and has been singing the songs. She seems to enjoy adult movies more than animated kids films. I hope the birthday-gift National Geographic Lion vs. Hyena documentary isn’t too carnal.

Samara enjoys singing; she’ll sing on long car trips until she gets tired, eventually falling asleep. One of her favorite songs is the ABC song…which is awesome! She gets most of the letters but skips some or mumbles 3-4 of them together. Another of her favorites is Ring Around the Posey…after we fall down she proclaims “yeeeaaaa” and claps….

Ok…time for some photos! Take care! Until next time…

Samara and the ferret at the Safari in Tuttle, OK

The Burmese Python...

Samara received her 1st trim...

Samara and I walked around the apartment complex one afternoon; she was feeling adventurous on this particular day...

The killer smile...

Ummm...cake....

The anticipation is overflowing...

Samara and Aunt Cathy at the Golden-Brick Road Sedan, Kansas...

Where are the ruby slippers???

I shot this photo right before we went down the park slide...

Samara at the park...

Samara looking at ducks and geese at the park...`

Samara playing with rocks...

Ahhh...future geoscientist...

I see Aloha in Samara's future...

Samara playing on her tricycle in our new backyard...

Samara's library...

Samara, Shana, and Sheldon at the zoo...

Samara found the Harpy Eagle's at the zoo...

Samara thought the rhino's were cool...

One of Samara's favorite animals! She became scarred after the tiger made several intimidating noises...

Samara Eating a Blood Orange

2008-03-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

2008-03-12T20:29:00.001-07:00

Graduation!!!

2008-02-23T11:50:00.000-08:00

Samara has graduated from her daycare class and has moved to an older-age classroom (several of her old "teachers" have told us they miss Samara so much)! Apparently, she had been biting the younger children who couldn't walk (who been using Samara to prop themselves upward); the director thought it would be a good idea to "graduate." We have since given Samara a pair of brass knuckles...

Three syllables is very difficult for young kids to pronounce...you should hear the school kids trying to pronounce two syllables! So, Samara's new name at "school" is "Mara", which we have picked up as a nickname. We also use her middle name Niveh as well! It's really great being able to use a variety of names for your child...I remember dear ol' dad using "rummy", "nincompoop", and "twit".

Samara loves to take a bath. She also loves barging into the bathroom when mommy or daddy is taking a shower and demanding to get into the tub by stripping off her clothes and diaper (my response is typically, "no stripping until you've moved out.")! Below are a couple of photos of fun time with cousin Tori...

Oh, speaking of Tori, we were home during Christmas and Samara was exploring the vast expanse of my m other's living room. She was trudging along when, all of a sudden, Tori came screaming "no" from the living room running toward Samara. At the last second before reaching her target, Tori extended her arm sideways and clotheslined Samara Dr. Death style. This would have been a good time to introduce the brass knuckles...

Samara finally realized the joy of opening gifts during Christmas...chaos and entropy. At least this year she didn't choke on a piece of tape!

Everyone asked what to give Samara for Christmas. Being in a one-bedroom apartment, we didn't want too many toys. She loves books...and that's what she received! She did get several toys though, and to our surprise, she absolutely loves the "fridge DJ" that Gioia, Eden, and Aidan gave to her.

Samara's Christmas dress at grandma's house.

Samara has increased her vocabulary enough that forming sentences is second nature. She uses "help mommy/daddy", "watch Oz", "bad/no Orion" (when he eats her food), etc. She also uses "I'm coming" when you call for her; although she waits several minutes before she follows through. This reminds me of myself....hmmm...is this learned or genetic....

Samara got liquored up in January and had a grrrreeeeaaaatttt time! One of Samara's new favorite animals are horses (horsey). A coworker of Shana's had a retirement party and who also owns two horses: Scotch and Guinness (a Clydesdale).

Who doesn't like to go outside and play! We really like the angle of this picture...the flowing hair. While typing this, she saw the picture and I asked who it was...she didn't know.

Samara loves helping out when she can; even if it means dumping her yogurt out on the table and asking for a towel to clean it up. In the photo above, she insisted on watering the plant herself!

And now introducing Samara's new cousin, Jasmine Elizabeth...

By this time next month, we should be living in our "new" house! It's a very exciting time for us! We spent 3 weekends in January/February looking for the perfect place; we realized that no place is perfect, however. But, we really like the place we made an offer on and look forward to making it "ours". Samara is going to be so excited to live in something larger than 600 square feet (and someplace where you don't walk outside and expect bombs on the sidewalk). During the whole process, we would take Samara into the houses and she would get so excited that she would run around sreaming and yelling! It's a great thing to see....

Survival of the Storm!

2007-12-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

It’s been awhile. Shana, Samara, and I are trudging through apartment life with shear annoyance. For instance, I woke up one evening at about 12:30 AM to a repetitive banging on our front door. I woke Shana and, stuporously, we tip-toed into the living room and opened the door. To my surprise, a police officer flashed his light into my eyes while backing up cautiously! At the same time, a message came through his police radio…something about “looking for building 10”. The officer then stated, “Sorry, wrong building.” We should start looking for houses next month…

So, we survived the December ’07 ice storm with relative ease; we were without power for only 9 hours or so! I believe our parents were without power for 3-4 days! Ah…Oklahoma weather! It's nice to be back...

Life has been on auto pilot the past several months and we’ve been busy celebrating birthdays and enjoying extended weekends with family (a 6-day extended weekend for myself during the ice storm; Shana was not so “lucky”). Samara’s personality is growing every week; it’s hard for us to imagine that 3-4 months ago, Samara was just beginning to to walk! Her speech capabilities are amazing and she seems to be able to attempt any word we ask her to say. As a matter of fact, Shana was in the kitchen and yelled the "s" word; Samara immediately responded with her version of the word! Samara’s care givers comment every week how her speech ability is better than any of the other kids in her group. I always comment, “I’m sure you say that to all the parents!” At this point, her most frequent words (or mutterings) are eat, shoe, outside, mommy, daddy, juice, chip, broccoli, apple, sock, couch, oompa loompa, poppins (Marry Poppins), light, NO (she yells this word), yes (she always whispers this word; odd child), night night, puppy, kitty, cow, please, thank you, pop, tea, cheese, etc.

She also knows the names of friends and family…Grandma, Oma (Grandma in German), Mikey, Bubba, Jerrod, Julie, Amy, Tori, Jon etc. I’ve been teaching her to say “nanny” for my sister Shannon because that is what I used to say when I was young (I couldn’t pronounce her name). However, a couple of days ago we were talking about Shannon and Samara looked up at us and said her name! Amazing!

Although she can’t say much, she understands an enormous amount. I was at my parents place over Thanksgiving lying on the couch; Samara was playing on a tricycle-type toy. I asked her if she would grab me a pillow (because I was too lazy and I wanted to see if she understood me). She got up, walked over to the other couch, and grabbed a pillow twice the size (volume) as herself. As she was dragging it across the floor, she grunted several times before reaching her destination. I graciously gave her a hug and said/signed thank you.

Speaking of thank you, Samara is the most polite kid I’ve known, honestly. She says thank you and please whenever appropriate. One day I peeled an orange that a coworker had brought from Mexico. I explained to Samara that the orange was daddy’s but I’d give her a couple of slices. I started peeling slices and she signed/spoke “please”, I gave her a slice, she’d respond “thank you” and asked for another slice. She ate the whole orange (except for a couple of slices) and after every slice I gave her, she told me thank you. Amazing! She also repeats phrases such as “I got you”, "I love you", and “happy birthday”…

Although she is learning words quickly, she hasn’t been able to put two words together. However, she has on occasion, signed two words consecutively (other than the phrases). Signs she has conquered include more, cat, dog, juice (drink), book, want, please, thank you, bath, brushing teeth as well as her own form of outside, cookie, dad, and mom.

As always, Samara loves food! Maybe she’ll grow up to be a chef. We have to watch out when we open and close the fridge because she’ll be in it as fast as the cats scrum out the door when we get home. Her favorite foods now seem to be yogurt, raisins, chips, toast, pizza, apples, oranges, chocolate, broccoli, ketchup, barbeque sauce, ground beef, and ice.

As always, Samara loves being outdoors; however, the cold weather limits her activities. As a result, I speculate, she has taken up other activities. One such activity is watching her favorite movie: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. She often finds the DVD case lurking around the apartment and brings it to us while pointing toward the TV and vehemently muttering “oompa loompa”. It is interesting to see addiction in its primitive form!!

Samara loves to dance to music; she has more rhythm than I do. Stated earlier is her affinity for Willy Wonka and Marry Poppins. An interesting thing has happened over the course of the last few months. Shana and I subscribe to Netflix and I have been renting the TV series Stargate: SG-1. For some reason, Samara absolutely loves the opening theme music! Whenever she hears the music, she comes running into the living room and starts dancing; most of the time holding her arms up and wanting me to dance with her. After the theme music ends, she screams “Yyyyeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhh!” and claps her hands!

Having a child is awesome! The joys definitely outweigh any negatives! The next phase will be “having children is awesome!”

Below are some photos from the past 3-4 months:

Shana and I were invited to a coworker's house for a barbeque and bonfire. The photo was taken at dusk while people were fishing. The shutter speed of the camera was slow with a flash that captured her instantaneously. I like this because it makes Samara look ghostly.

Samara was taking a nap and Shana took a peek to see if she was awake. To her surprise, she caught Samara sleeping as if in eternal prayer. Maybe she was wishing for a Dora doll for Christmas!

Our anniversary was on September 27th and we had a weekend to ourselves. We had a nice evening at a cabin...fireplace and all. The photo above is from one of the 3 vineyards and wineries we visited. Shana was kind enough to pose in the vineyards at Summerside Winery. We also enjoyed some hiking and an afternoon at Lindenwood Gardens in Grove, Oklahoma. The photos below are from the gardens...

Samara loves the park! She finally figured out how to go down feet first...

Samara swinging away...

Samara went riding with Uncle Mikey during cousin John's birthday party...

Ahhhh! A nice day at the park...

Samara helping mommy cut veggies...

Feet first!

Nice ride!

She loves the ducks and geese!

Samara's new couch; it also fold out into a bed (handy for trips to Oma's and Grandma's house). I took this picture while Samara was waiting for us to get ready during one morning; she was watching Curious George.

Samara's Halloween costume...she likes to roar like a lion! Next year she'll be an Oompa Loompa!

A Bonk on the Head!!!

2007-09-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

Every parent needs a reason why their child is, or will be, retarded; this is, jokingly, mine.

Shana and I had a newborn baby and she was going to sculpt the rest of our lives. We wanted to journey back to Oklahoma and reveal her to the rest of our family and friends. As we traveled throughout our homeland, we visited many people. On one such occasion, our trek took us to the house of Brian and Kelli DeHay. They enjoyed seeing Samara for the first time as we enjoyed seeing their kids, a 1 and a half-year old and a half-year old (at the time). Naturally, Kelli wanted to hold the 9 pound Samara and, as all mothers do, enjoyed it. However, their littlest child did not like the attention his mother was graciously giving Samara. He marched over to his mother (and Samara) like a warlord-king on a crusade and brought forth his fist on Samara’s hard noggin!

Samara has been doing great this last month and a half; growing, running, and learning new and exciting things. We are starting the potty training process with some mild success, which is great! I can’t wait until we don’t have to spend money on diapers!

Samara has increased her vocabulary, most of which is slightly garbled, but we understand what she says. She has learned the words more, up, no, yes, please, thank you, and bus. Soaking up the knowledge! And, she has learned to vigorously shake her head (no) when she does not want something. Speaking of body language, Samara has started to learn sign language at school; and, as a consequence, we have begun to sign at home (with our limited knowledge). Her only word she has down is “more”; for instance, we can sign more while she’s eating dinner and if she wants more food, she’ll sign “more” back at us. She’s also learning “milk” at school (even though she hates milk) and we’re trying to teach her “outside” and “drink”. Other signs we are incorporating into our daily routine include diaper, bath, hot, mom, dad, cat, dog, and book. We’ll see how it goes, but we are always amazed at how well she learns! I may incorporate “the bird” into her arsenal of words

She’s also latched on to some new foods that include, cottage cheese with apple sauce, fruit-flavored yogurt, and of course, whatever Shana and I are eating! In the last blog, one of her favorite new foods was cat food. Well, she has comprehended that we give Cassie and Orion kitty treats from a separate container. Every time she sees us handing out treats she desperately wants to be the one who gives the cats their “dessert”. One day, after giving her a handful of treats to give to the cats, we noticed she was eating just as much of the treats as the cats!

In early August, my brother, sister, and niece came to Oklahoma City for a weekend getaway. Shana, Samara, and I took them down the street to the Edmond waterpark called “Pelican Bay” and played in the water for several hours. Samara had a moderately enthusiastic time; Tori, my niece, didn’t want to leave! It was fun, relaxing, and a great time. The pictures below are from the extravaganza:

Shana’s aunt and her son, daughter, and granddaughter came for a visit at the beginning of September. Shana hadn’t seen her aunt Cathy for over a year and her cousins for, a lot longer. We were able to “hang out” for several days and enjoyed the weather, which had begun to have a “fall” feel to it!

Samara had her 15-month check-up earlier this month! Unfortunately, I was doing field work and could not make the trip. Samara needed her shots and took them like a baby, as I heard! Shana informed me that the needle was at least an inch long, which made me wonder, “does the needle hit the bone?” Ouch! Samara also got her vitals checked out:

Weight – 21 lbs. 12 oz.

Height – 29 1/2 inches

Since Samara has learned to walk, her favorite pastime has been playing outside. When she was younger, we couldn’t keep shoes and sock on her feet. These days, she brings us shoes and socks!! She also puts things around her shoulder (like a p

urse) and waves “bye” to us! I’ve also seen her grab my car keys and head for the door…

Here are some photos of “my girl”:

Yep, born near Boulder! Raising a tree...kisser, in her case!

I look at this picture and everytime wonder, "what did you just do?"

A favorite hobby of Samara's is chasing Orion down and giving him kisses!

Samara has discovered sexual organs of coniferous trees...pine cones.

Samara showing Julie how to pick and eat her boogers :)

Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven,...and Samara! Thanks for the lesson Jerrod!

Shana is teaching Samara how to look stoic!

Samara's 1st Concerto was anything but enjoyable....

As a result, she had too much to drink...juice, that is. Then a bath!

I wish someone would pull me around...

Samara has begun to learn the intricacies of flag football!

Samara has decided to dress up as Elton John for Halloween!

Hanging out with her bud, Griffin.

Samara with her new playmate, Ean!

The Dog Days of Summer!!

2007-08-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Samara is now a year old; as we look at the birth of our friends’ (Brad and Amy) child, Ean, it’s amazing to see how fast they grow. Samara began taking her first steps on July 18 and we were lucky enough to video her achievement. We’ve posted several walking videos on our Myspace account (click here and select videos under her picture). Since then, Samara has really taken off; never crawling and always walking!

Samara also received a belated birthday gift from our good friend Alli (and Brian) in Colorado. Alli started making it about a year ago and was able to send it in the mail before they left for a backpacking trip in Wyoming. Samara absolutely loved it and we were able to capture it on video. We've also posted it to our MySpace account, click here.

The annual World Cup of Softball was held in Oklahoma City from July 12-16. Shana and I became familiar with the team while watching them on ESPN win the championship in 2006, so we decided to catch a game. Our friend Julie met us at the park (we were a little late) and just as we walked up to see the field, one of our favorite players (Crystl Bustos) knocked one out of the park. It was a hot day! As a matter of fact, it was the hottest day to date (at the time) with temperatures soaring into the mid-90's. Samara had never been exposed to the heat and beloved humidity that this day had brought. We were a little worried and tried to keep her cool by putting cold water on her head. One of the security ladies noticed and told us we could go into the training room (which was right behind where we were sitting) and grab a couple of towels and some ice for Samara! It must be nice to be a child! Samara had a good time (I think)...she chomped on a plum (which to me, looks a little like a liver!) and hung out with the family!

Plums are good....

Samara hanging out with mom at the ballpark!

Even though Samara isn’t old enough to realize the importance, I think it was a great opportunity to expose her to the world of female athletes! A few of our other favorites are Jennie Finch, Natasha Watley, and Crystl Bustos.

Jennie Finch

Natasha Watley

Crystl Bustos

Shana, Samara, our friend Jerrod, and I decided to take a day trip to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur, Oklahoma. We enjoyed the famous Vendome Well (and its sulphurous odor for which the town is named) and tasted its 8,000 year old waters. After Vendome, and lunch, we took a 2-mile round trip hike to see Antelope and Buffalo springs. The plan was to do a little wading in the spring water; however, the springs were flowing so much that any wading by Samara would have been swimming. Coupled with sub 60 degree water, we decided to forgo that portion of the excursion. Samara did get her feet wet at Buffalo Spring; as soon as her feet touched the water, we heard a great gasp emanate from her little body. After leaving th CNRA, we headed to the Blue River where we actually were able to wade a little; the water was flowing too fast to let Samara explore on her own.

Samara enjoyed the risk in touching the frigid water at Buffalo Spring!

Samara was beginning to get tuckered out toward the end of our journey at the Blue River...

One last family photo opportunity!

We are enjoying our time with our families and work has been great (at least for me - Chris). Samara's Rapunzel-like hair continues to grow! It is so hard to manage (especially when she eats) that Shana is thinking about trimming it!! Samara has also learned where the trash is, which is extremely helpful! Now she can throw her dirty diapers away! She is currently going through a phase (I hope) where she calls me mommy and refuses to give me a kiss when I ask for it! She also likes to give kisses to trees....we have begun the successful raising of a "tree hugger"!

Her vocabulary continues to grow; some new words include wall, duck, weeeeeee, poopy (which is hard to distinguish from puppy), and she has begun to say Orion! Her favorite foods include peas, rice, broccoli, plums, peaches, mandarin oranges, blueberries, whatever Shana and I are eating, and cat food! Samara and Orion get into fights over the cat food!

Below are some random photos we have snapped since the last blog entry. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the dog days of summer! Take care!

Samara finally spotted a plane...

As evident when she pointed to the sky!

Is Orion driving? I had to throw this one on the web!

Samara's flowing hair while bathing...

Samara hanging out with Amy and unborn Ean!

Samara learning to walk with her scooter!

Samara after chowing down on a plum!

Shana and Samara sitting by the pool at Grandma Mashburn's house. Samara is sporting her bikini she received at her birthday party.

Samara and Grandma Mashburn during G-ma's visit.

Samara meets a new friend on the 4th of July.

Birthday Bash!!!

2007-07-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

Holy crap! Shana and I have a new respect for all of those mothers and fathers out their who go through the first birthday party! Everything went smoothly; however, my brain felt like it had been through a "labyrinth" with David Bowie's package making several appearances and scaring me into childhood!

We originally scheduled Samara's party for 10:30 in the morning so we could beat the Oklahoma heat. Who wants to sweat it out at 90 degrees and 70 percent humidity?

So, we wake up at 7 AM and rain has been falling for 4 hours already; we postpone until noon. By noon, it is still raining and we postpone again until 4 PM (total rainfall amounts were about 4-5 inches). Luckily, the clouds broke and the sun shone through enough to dry things out a bit. And, everyone was still able to make it out! Below are some photos from the grand adventure!

Samara had plenty of help opening gifts!

The clean up!

Cousin Taz and Aunt Shannon!

Cousin Samantha!

My father!

Uncle Mike and Samara.

Kelli and Collin.

Cousin John!

Eden and Aidan.

Collin and Griffin.

Glenda and Shana's mother, Shirley.

Life in Oklahoma!

2007-06-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

Many of you can recall a change in your life that forever imprints your personality. Events that change the very essence of who you are; life changing events that morphs you into a new person. I can think of a few of you that have recently gone through some of these experiences and I can see changes in who you are now versus who you once were. Wether these experience are "good" or "bad", many of us welsome these experience with open arms because they define us! So, with our change in scenery, we welcome every new challenge with open arms and an open mind...

Our move back to Oklahoma went smoothly, if ever anything of the sort can be called smooth. We left Louisville, Colorado, the place we called home for almost 2 years, at 3:30 PM (local time) on May 26th. Needless to say, we were hoping to get on the road earlier, much earlier, in the day. Our plans were to travel until we got to Oklahoma City. But somewhere on I-70 we decided that a good night's rest would beat feeling exhausted for the next week. We eventually stopped in Salina...settling for a room in the Salina Inn. Don't ask me why we chose this place over the Days Inn, Super 8, and the likes. Our floor was stained and the door had a big crack that prevented the door from being shut; we had to jam the door. So bad was the environment, my brother commented that he felt like he was going to die there if we stayed. We decided to stay! Orion and Cassie acted possessed most of the evening and my brother had a hard time sleeping. He thought the cats were going to attack him....

We arrived in Oklahoma City the next day and our welcoming party helped un unpack. It took us a couple of days to get things situated and we finally have everything squared away in our apartment. I think Samara misses the stairs from our house...she'll survive!

Work has been great; I've been extremely busy analyzing data collected on the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer Project. Shana started work at the USGS on a temporary part-time schedule splitting her time between Denver Basin (work that she brought back to Oklahoma) and the Norman Landfill Research Site. It'll be nice to have incomes...we may soon buy a house, if Shana can get on a full-time schedule. We'll see!

Shana and I are having a hard time fathoming the events from the past year; As I read through our past postings, everything seems like a lifetime of events that's been crammed into 365 days. It is hard to imagine that a year ago Samara was not born, that she did not breathe the air you and I inhale. Amazing!

Samara is continuing her pursuit to reach adulthood before we realize it. She now has 4 little teeth (2 incisors on top and bottom) and she's learned to use them efficiently. Instead of gumming her food, she can now bite and chew diligently. I was able to get a photo of her top tooth...

Our girl is finally beginning her graceful steps toward walking; She has now realized that her leg strength allows her to stand upright! Almost on cue, when we ask Samara to stand, after a few seconds, she kindly "obeys" :)

We attended the Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma City during the first weekend in June; we ended up dragging a couple of friends , thanks Jerrod and Julie, with us to enjoy the artwork and dancing. Samara seemed to be entertained, which is a good thing, as she would "dance" with the music. She love to dance to music and flail her arms wildly (much like most of generation Y). Shana saw her half-sister and aunt while at the festival and spent a little time visiting with them before we left the show. Later that day, we met up with Brad and Amy at the ballpark and watched the Oklahoma Redhawks play Colorado Springs...busy weekend!

The weekend around June 13th, we decided to go camping with some family before the weather became too hot to handle. Shana. Samara, and I joined my older sister Shannon, brother Mike, niece Tori, and cousin Ben for a relaxing evening at Sequoyah State Park in northeastern Oklahoma. It was nice; we swam out at the lake, grilled dinner, relaxed by the campfire, and on Sunday, Tori took a pony ride!

Samara started "school" on June 18th and seems to be enjoying herself; the picture to the left is from her first day...Shana is thrilled as always at this time in the morning. After we took Samara out of daycare in Denver, her sleeping schedule became a little skewed. Instead of taking short naps during the day and going to bed at 8:30 PM, she started taking 1-2 hour naps during the day and going to bed at 10-11 PM! So, it was nice after her first day at school that she went to sleep at 7:30 PM and slept almost 12 hours without waking in the middle of the night! Little Samara slept like a rock!

And, just as she started daycare in Denver, Samara became sick during the second week of "school". Wednesday evening we awoke to Samara trying her hardest to imitate Chunk from the movie "Goonies" when he talks about vomiting in the theatre. After a doctors visit, everything is ok (just a "cold").

I hope everyone is doing well! Samara's birthday party is fast approaching and I'll send out another update documenting the chaos! Take Care!

--Chris

The Next Chapter

2007-05-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo from the archive; it was taken at our friends (Sean and Sarah) wedding in August 2006:

Shana, Samara, and I flew home on the weekend of April 28th so I could watch the NFL draft with my brother (a male bonding thing). This was Samara's first plane trip and I was sure to take several photos of the journey to and fro. The planes were small and we got to walk out on the tarmac; so, I asked if I could take a picture and they obliged! Here are some of the photos:

Samara was a perfect angel during both plane trips. I'm affraid that if we had attempted this when she was in her terrible 2's, it would be a different story!

While at home, Shana took Samara, Taz, and John for a ride in the wagon!

Samara and I have been hanging out at home for the last several weeks. We seem to take walks on a daily basis; this calms Samara. She enjoys being able to go out and explore, even though I direct where we go. On several occassions, she'll see someone walking on the other side of the street and yell out to them...her version of "hi"! One day, I decided to let her loose in the front yard and let her explore for herself. Needless to say, she put things in her mouth as well as those tasty pansy's. Here are some images of her adventures!

Samara has been developing nicely and has NOT been sick, thank goodness! Samara is now able to crawl up the stairs and slide back down on her tummy with amazing speed! She's also speaks words on a regular basis now and her vocabulary is growing on a weekly basis. Some words she uses regularly are: mum, daddy, bye bye, hi, hi kitty (when she wakes up in the morning and sees the cats), puppy, cat, stop, no no no, ...

I have added several new videos of Samara on our MySpace account; click here and then click on the "videos" link below Samara's picture. One of the videos I dug up out of the archives and is of her sneezing just after she was born. The other video is of her sliding down the stairs on her tummy!

She has also learned how to signal touchdown, throwing her arms up in the air for a few seconds, then bringing them down to clap in celebration (We are especially pleased at this coordination)!

Oh! Samara finally got her first tooth!!! Finally! No more gumming her food.

Lately, some people (and you know who you are) have been telling us that Samara looks more and more like me (Chris) than Shana. My response is typically, you are full of it! However, I must recant a little here. One day I was cleaning our computer room and found several photos of myself when I was a wee one...older than Samara though...and I noticed some striking similarities. So, I have decided to post several of those photos and photos Shana and I dug up of her youth. You be the judge...and let us know what you think!

Chris at 2 years of age...

Chris at 3 years...

Chris at 3 and a half years...

Shana at around 6 months...

Shana at around 2-ish with her older sister Stacey...

Remember, feel free to leave a comment!

Life seems like an endless battle to surround oneself with stability. And when there is an inkling of instability, we become a little frightened at what that might entail. When Shana and I moved to Colorado so that I could go to school, we had some of those thoughts that accompany a change in stability. Moving away from home, from friends and familiy, from the familiar; all of this was to be the challenge. At first, much of the transition was easy

Being away from the familiar was a little tough to deal with; especially now that we had started our own family. But, it was a sacrifice we were willing to wrestle for the next few years. Driving, or flying, back home as much as possible to make up for lost time. Life seemed like the bare minimum of family interaction; I am certain most everyone understands the complexity of what I'm attempting to explain.

Like most situations, there is not a clear black and white boundary; mostly grey's. And if you throw a little color into the spectrum, things can get very complicated. While we were coping with life away from the familiar, life at school was not rosey. Over the last several years, everything associated with what we had came to Colorado for, predominantly school, was becoming awash in muck. I was brought to Colorado to work on Mars related research and a time passed, I realized that my advisor had less and less interest in working on that type of research. If your boss isn't interested in what you're doing, then you'll be less motivated. I did not feel challenged and as a result, became really bored with school because research was going nowhere (however, classes were wonderful). There were a few other issues for instance, funding, connections with colleagues that had dissolved, etc etc. Essentially, I was unhappy and it was time to look for another "job". So, back in December, I gave my old chums at the OWRB a feeler and by April they had decided to hire me. So, we move back to Oklahoma City in less than a week and thus, start the "Next Chapter" in our journey.

We will miss everyone we have become accustomed to in Colorado and hopefully we'll be able to trek back for a visit. As we turn the next page in our book, we say "So long and good luck." Until next time.

Round 2 and 3

2007-03-05T09:47:00.000-08:00

Everyone said that when Samara went to day care, she'd bring home viruses...etc. Around the end of February and beginning of March, Samara caught the bronchiolitis bug that was making the rounds at school. For the first few days, she had a fever, sore throat, caugh, and running nose and was not allowed to go to "school". However, the fever eventually broke and the green river of snot dried up. As a result, she felt well enough to go to the Denver Museum of Art (see pictures). Samara had a great time; she always enjoys getting out of the house!

Shana and I get our exercise every semester through intramural co-rec flag football. It's a blast, but if we're both playing, someone has to watch Samara. That duty is bestowed on our friend Maureen (her husband Jeff plays on the team). Samara generally likes going to the games; the atmosphere of early evening games in the outdoors is invigorating. Unfortunately, the games last past her bedtime, and she becomes very cranky! I know I'd get cranky if I was up playing football past my bedtime. But, she weathers the wear and tear of a football season very well. Speaking of weather, one of games was played in the rain, but, Samara slept through it! These pictures were shot after one of our games. Samara has developed a new smile this last month; we call it her "scrunchy face"!

It's a shame this blog entry tells the tale of two episodes of illness for Samara. On March 11th (Sunday) I flew to Houston for a conference. Early Monday morning (2AM ish) Shana called and told me that Samara had been throwing up for about an hour! The next morning, after staying up all night taking care of a vomitous little girl, Shana took her to the doctors office. Samara was dehydrated; the prescription, fluids. Shana went home and tried to keep Samara hydrated with no luck. After conversing with the doctor, Samara was admitted to the hospital (while vomiting) and was set up on an IV. At the hospital, Samara weighed in at a pound less than what we had been weighing her at home. Samara was lethargic for a good portion of this time; Shana would lay Samara down on the bed and she wouldn't move (or even think about moving). During the first 3 hours at the hospital, Samara was given 1 liter of saline (and eventually another liter throughout her overnight stay). Samara eventually began to keep fluids down and was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday (and I was able to make it back the same day). While at the hospital, she eventaully began her bout of diarrhea, which did not subsist until Sunday morning (5 days later)! By Saturday (St. Patrick's Day), Samara began feeling herself, i.e. crawling around and vocalizing! So, we went to an acquaintance's house and had green waffles!

So, in a nutshell, Samara has been in daycare for 3 1/2 months and has been sick 3 times! Argh!

Samara had her 9-month checkup on March 22nd (a week after she started feeling better). Her vitals:

Weight - 18lbs 6oz (30th percentile)
Height - 28 1/4 inches (55th percentile)
Head - 17 1/8 inches (25th percentile)

For comparison, when she was born her percentiles were 90%, 90%, and 50% , respectively.

The Denver March Pow Wow was on the 23rd-25th and we were able to catch some of the action on the 24th! We weren't around for the dancing competitions, but we saw the parade of dancers that are escorted by the color guard, which essentially kicks off the event. Samara was exhausted after several hours and need cat nap!

Being a white male, culture is always good (although my mother is a "full-blooded" German from Hess). I don't usually express my opinion in this blog because it is essentially Samara's blog and in essence, what opinions does she have at her age? Butt paste or powder, right?

However, one thing I'd like to enumerate is the fact that Native American's take great pride in serving in the Armed Forces of the USA; a country that has taken so much from them and given so little in return. The honor of being a "warrior" (exact words from the commentary at the event) for the country in which we all live is an enormous dignity for Native Americans. The commentator spent the better part of an hour introducing the color guard groups at the Pow Wow; including three groups from Oklahoma. Enough of my rant, Samara will take the butt paste.

We decided to travel home for spring break and visit friends and family. Samara enjoyed her visit thoroughly; we suspect the reason she enjoyed it is because she has learned how to crawl since our last visit. In addition staying with our immediate families, we traveled to Carnegie, Oklahoma to visit several of Shana's Kiowa/Comanche Aunt's and her half sister. They were really thrilled to see Samara and gave her a stuffed horse; "every Comanche has to have a horse" was the comment! Being so close to Oklahoma City, we were able to briefly visit the city before we absconded the next morning.

The following photos are a hodge-podge of photos from our visit:

Samara with me, Aidan, and Eden...

Samara after eating a blood orange...or a "purple" as I convenced Eden and Aidan.

Shana holding Grayson, Brian and Kelli's new addition (and a potential new friend of Samara's).

Samara with cousin John, who appears to be picking his nose!

Samara with cousin Ben...

Uncle Mike holding Samara with Taz in the midst...

Shana with our nephew John...who appears to be chewing on a snot sucker...does he have a fascination with nose stuff..

My mother decided that she wanted some photographs of her three grandchildren and we ended up heading to the Wal-Mart photographer for a grueling photoshoot! Once there, the photographer wanted to start with the youngest child first because in her experiences, younger children were harder to deal with. Well, most of you know how calm Samara is, but coupled with my niece Tori, aka Taz (The Tazmanian Devil), we vetoed the photographers wishes. And, surprise surprise, we were correct. The Taz was all over the place! Oh...and my mother decided it was a good idea to give her a treat if she acted well...candy! Well, that worked for about 2 minutes (the time it takes for sugar to hit Tazs' blood stream)! It was a fun experience! We really to love Taz!

Samara has done a great job riding in her car seat on these vast journeys; mainly because we drive through the night when she's sleeping. But, nontheless, we never have to stop because of a crying baby and only halt our expeditions due to waste management proceedures! These pictures were taken on Highway 412 in the panhandle of Oklahoma during one of our brief stops; no cars around equals great driving, in my opinion!

We've uploaded a couple of movies to our myspace account; so, check them out! Just click on the "videos" link below Samara's picture. The video with the snow was shot in December when we had the 33-inch snowfall. The exercise video was taken in early April! Take care!

--Chris