16 March 2010

Sam's first haircut!

You may have noticed in Sam's birthday post that his hair was getting a little bit on the long side. I had been resisting cutting it for a long time because it was SO cute. Especially because it would go every which way and he looked like a little Einstein. Plus, baby hair is so soft! I was having a hard time resigning myself to the fact that our little Sam was growing up and needed to have a big boy haircut.

Well, Taylor and Ryan returned our hair clippers and Eric convinced me it was finally time. So on Friday after Sam's birthday we took the plunge. And of course we documented with pictures for your enjoyment...
Before - you can see how his hair was going over his ears. He'd have had a hard time going to the BYU Testing Center...
Getting his hair cut was a team effort. Taylor held him, I did the cutting, and Eric filmed the process. Sam thought it was great to have so much attention and hammed it up for the camera :P
Sam wouldn't stay still for a good after shot, but you can see a quick glimpse of him as he's on his way to other things.

Aww, my little baby is all grown up. Ok, so not really, he's only one, but it is amazing how much older he looks even with just a little bit of a haircut.

15 March 2010

Sam's birthday

It's crazy to think that a year ago we brought home this little thing -
And now we have this big thing -
Yup, March 4th was Samuel's first birthday. It's kind of funny having a birthday for someone who doesn't really understand what a birthday is, but we had fun all the same. Sam and I were home alone the night before since Eric had Omniture Summit up in Salt Lake that day, so it wasn't too special during the day. I made him french fries for lunch because he loves them, and I would read to him whenever he wanted, and I sang Happy Birthday to him in place of his usual lullabies. Not exactly major concessions, but I wanted him to have a good day. We decided to only have a very small celebration for Sam since he's still a little wary of most people. So we had Grannie & Grandpa Hansen and Taylor and Ryan Lockwood (my sister and brother-in-law) come over for dinner. We made Chicken Fettucinne Alfredo for dinner because Sam thinks it's really funny to play with noodles. Also, have I mentioned that it's an AWESOME recipe? Oh yeah, like every other post since we discovered it. Well, we still love it and I don't feel bad about posting about it because it's not my culinary expertise (read: I don't have any culinary expertise) that makes it great, it's just a delicious recipe.

Taylor came over a little bit early to help me get the meal ready which was especially helpful since she was able to go pick up some ingredients for me as Eric still had the car in Salt Lake. Eric tried to get out of Salt Lake as soon as he could but ended up having to stay until the end of the closing ceremonies for Summit. Unfortunately that meant that he had to drive home while it was snowing AND rush hour. Not a fun way to have to make that commute. But he still made it home in pretty good time, all things considered. AND he beat his parents here, so he could still be a good host (it probably helped that they were also coming from Salt Lake and had to deal with the same conditions :P ).

Dinner turned out well and we enjoyed the people that we had here. After dinner was cleaned up Sam opened up his presents. Grannie and Grandpa had brought Sam Green Eggs and Ham (because it has Sam-I-am in it!) and a touch and feel farm book. Sam LOVES to read books, he spends most of the day trying to hand me books and get me to read them. He even likes to turn the pages on his own which I think is super cute. So the books were perfect. He loves to touch all the different textures in the Farm book too which makes it an even better sensory experience for him.

Eric and I got Sam a little toy bus to push around. Just before Christmas I'd decided that Sam was too young to play cars and decided against getting him any for Christmas. The day after I finished my Christmas shopping we were at a bridal shower and Sam started playing cars with another little boy there. Guess I was proved wrong! So, I'd been planning for awhile to get him a car for his birthday. What I didn't realize was that in addition to having little people inside this bus the people bounce as you push the bus, and you can push the driver to have it sing songs and light up! Score! The bus has been a big hit with him too.

Then of course came the most fun part of a first birthday party - the cake. Eric informed me before we got married that there is a tradition in the Hansen family of giving kids their own cake on their first birthday and letting them go to town with it. This seemed like an awesome tradition so we definitely wanted to keep with it for our family. Here are the results -

He started off eating with a spoon...
Then decided to ditch the spoon and eat with his hands. You can tell he's pleased by this decision because he's clapping.
Then his Aunt Taylor shoved his face into the cake (hence the large amount on his forehead. Surprisingly he thought this was the best part yet and kept insisting that she do it again
He really got into the whole cake eating thing at this point. Just dug right in face first
Our very happy birthday boy!

Thanks to everyone who helped make Sam's first birthday a wonderful day! We love you Sam! Thanks for being a part of our family :)

09 March 2010

Sam Stats

So I have a few posts that are backed up right now but since I took Sam in for his 1 year appointment today I thought I would post his stats for everyone while they are fresh in my head.

Weight - 21 lbs. 4 oz - 30th percentile
Length - 30.5 inches - 75th percentile
Head circumference - 48cm - 90th percentile

So basically we have a tall skinny kid with a HUGE head. Where did that come from? Last time I checked Eric and I were both on the shorter end of the spectrum. Oh well. But everything's looking good. He's growing well but could probably use being fed more solid foods and less breast milk. So that's what we're working on.

One interesting thing happened at the doctor's this morning. Eric wasn't able to come with us and since I don't do well with needles I was left with the conundrum of whether to stay with Sam to support him and risk passing out, or to leave him and feel like I'd abandoned him. I was debating between the two until I was sitting with Sam in the doctor's office just thinking about the needles and started getting a little woozy. I decided it was best for everyone involved if I let the nurses do what they do best with me out of the way. Of course, Sam wasn't a fan of being left behind and started crying when I left the room. He screamed a lot and I felt really bad about leaving him. What was interesting though was that the nurses said he didn't really fuss for the shots - just for me leaving. I felt a little bit better that at least he wasn't upset by the shots, but really sad that he felt abandoned. I'm definitely going to make sure that Eric can come next time!