Sleepyhead

Sam has been pretty good at taking his two naps in the day for his Mom, but today he seemed to have other plans. So after many attempts of trying to get him to go down for a nap and failing, Mom finally gave up and placed him in his bouncer next to her so she could have some down time at the computer. After a few minutes, she looked over to find a drifting baby and that is where he ended up taking his nap for the next 45 minutes. Whatever it takes!

Someone is knocking...

This is our pretty front door. Isn't it a great door?

This is our pretty door after two of Lumberton's finest kicked it in.

Poor, poor door.

It took a while to post this, but we thought it was worthy-so here it is. Last Saturday I went to the Manhattan temple with our ward, so Laura went off gallivanting with Sam. They had a great time shopping, Sam even lasted the entire drive home from the factory outlets. Mom was anxious to get him out of his car seat and out of the heat, so when she arrived home he was her first priority. Being a safety conscious mother, she put him in the house and promptly locked the front door while she went through the garage to retrieve the stroller. "CLICK" was the sound the garage door made as it swung closed and locked behind her. This sent Laura into a flurry of tears, and not surprisingly, as she peered through the front window she saw Sam in the same state. A couple of good neighbors later, two police officers arrived on the seen and tried to break into the house. The only consolation of the day was the comment of one officer, "Well ma'am, your house is well secured." Not exactly a bad thing, but in this case it was worrisome. So they gave Laura two options: 1-wait several hours for a locksmith (while Sam is still crying in his car seat) or 2- we kick in your door like on Cops. The broken hearted mother wanted in to console her son right away, so she chose the latter.

LESSONS LEARNED:

1. Babies forgive and forget quickly

2. Leave a key with a neighbor

3. Doors are more expensive than you realize

Father's Day!

Today we celebrated my first Father's Day! It was busy, as any Sunday is now, but I was able to break away from the church building by 1:45, a bit earlier than normal. Sam was again the hit of Sacrament meeting, sporting an awesome onesie with a tie. This was his gift for me!
Everyone loved the tie and his socks, he still gets a ton of attention from just about everyone in the ward. I just wish I could sit with him during Sacrament, but it can be fun to watch him from the stand (not so much for Laura, who gets to watch him on her own). The rest of the day I opened gifts and had a great dinner prepared by Laura, she is quite the cook (taking after her mom of course).

We have started putting him down for naps in his crib in preparation for getting him out of our bedroom and into his nursery. So far he has slept in his co-sleeper in our room. It was annoying at first to have a night light to deal with, but now we are both used to it. I am getting excited for the nights to be completely dark again, however.

Lately he is becoming more aware of his surroundings, which I guess is to be expected. He loves looking at the colors on this burp cloth, and he really loves the tree in the upstairs hallway. I think he would stare at it for hours if we let him.

He is also growing physically. I can't believe how big he is getting, and how quickly time seems to be moving. It is amazing to me to see the difference in just three months, but this is totally new to me.

3 MONTHS!

We did it! We made it to 3 months without damaging Sam too badly. It is hard to believe it has been this long! Time really is starting to speed up on us. Happy 3 months Sam!

Sam is almost three months old!

Sam is getting older, and he is progressing nicely! He loves his Bumbo chair mommy bought for him. It allows him to practice holding his head up.

He also loves his tummy time. "Look at me hold my head up! Pretty soon I'll be driving."

The cutest cankle in the world.

Sam's second favorite thing to eat is his fist. Sometimes we worry he is trying to shove the whole thing in his mouth.

I love it when he holds my finger. What a cool experience, it always melts my heart.

Sam also loves to smile nice and big for us. He is becoming more social every day. He has also started babbling to us. Sometimes it seems as though he has a lot to say.

Back in New Jersey

After all of the excitement of almost a month on the road, it was time to get back home. Things started ominously enough-Sam started crying in the security line in Salt Lake. I could sense the trepidation of the other passengers. Everyone seemed to be looking at us thinking "Please don't let that kid be next to me." If this was a portent of things to come, we were looking at a very long day. Since both of us would be watching Sam we decided to take tickets with a stopover in Denver instead of direct. We were now regretting this decision. He was actually pretty good in both airports, but we feared the flying most. Luckily, once we got on the airplane both times he turned in to an angel. He slept most of both flights, and it was actually a chore to wake him up once we got back to Philly.

Once we made it home life returned to a sort of normalcy. Sam continued to recover, and on his next doctors visit was given a clean bill of health. A week and a half later we had his two month check-up. There seemed to be no lasting affects from his virus, and he definitely didn't lose any weight. Our doctor told us he looked more like a 4-5 month old than a 2 month old. He measured out at 23 1/2 inches and just shy of 13 pounds. Everything was completely normal, from head size to his heart to his somewhat goofy mannerisms. The only terrible part about the visit was his shots, 2 in one thigh and 1 in the other. After some tears and pouty lips, soothing words from mommy calmed him down nicely enough to get him home to safety.

To celebrate his recovery, we bought him a few new toys. We got him a new mobile for his co-sleeper in our room, and the Ocean Wonders bouncer he fell in love with at the Bean's house. Both were huge hits for him. Turning them on seemed to flip a switch in his brain, commanding his legs to kick furiously while his arms would sway back and forth. Very cute!

Not much else happened for Sam. He lost most of his red baby hair, but new red hair seems to sprout daily. He continues to grow and by now is probably closing in on 14 pounds. He talks much more to us now as well, and I swear he says "daddy" every once in a while.

Sam's Blessing

Sorry, but this one is very picture intensive! Thanks to the family for sending us some of these.

May 6th was a wonderful day. We had travelled across the country to bless Sam, and to have him in the hospital just a day before was quite a blow. But since he had somewhat recovered, we decided to do an immediate family only blessing at my parents house. It wasn't exactly what we had wanted, but to even get that much was blessing enough. The day was perfect from the start. On the Bean side of the house we had Mom and Dad, along with Joel, Nat and Bronson, Christian and Samantha, Suzie and Billy with Liam and Tristan, Andy and Eddie, and Ashley. On the Stromberg side we had Mom and Dad, Susan with Hillary and Derek, and finally Jeff and Jenny with Katie, Caroline and John. We missed Tom, Alysha and Luke and Rich Holland, but circumstances being what they were we were so grateful for those that were able to make it.

The blessing went off without problem, and we think everyone had a great time mingling and eating the great food both families had contributed. Of course Jeff and I had a ton of eclairs, but we deserved it!

The Hospital

While I was at training in Oklahoma City, Laura was at home in Utah enjoying family and friends. We finally met up on the 27th after a full day flying for me. It was such a great thing to be able to hang out with Laura and Sam again. To my surprise, he had grown a bit, and was smiling. Missing his first smile was a bummer, but I am sure it won't be the last thing I miss. It was great to see everyone, we were so happy to be there! Unfortunately, things went south starting on Monday the 30th.

Sam had seemed quite congested, so we decided it might be best to get him to a doctor just to check him out. Our insurance company told us the best course of action would be to get him to an emergency room, that way we would have to pay nothing out of pocket. So began our first trip to Primary Children's Medical Center. The visit went as well as could be expected. He was diagnosed with a virus, something related to (but not) RSV. He seemed fine, so we were discharged and went home. Obviously taking care of Sam became our primary concern, so we decided not to leave the house. That was a huge disappointment, as I didn't get to see some friends or anyone in Orem. But for Sam, it was worth it.

Things seemed generally OK until Thursday afternoon. Sam appeared to be fine, but he began vomiting his milk due to all of the muck in his throat. So began our second trip to PCMC. This time, it didn't go so well. We were told the same information as before, but this time the virus was at its peak and his little body couldn't keep up with it. So we were admitted Thursday night for an unknown duration. Sam was never fussy and he never cried until they started suctioning him. What a horrible experience, one that we hope to never have again! The other memory we will never forget is seeing Sam hooked up to an O2 tube, an O2 monitor, and 3 vital signs monitors. It was horrible trying to hold him with all of those wires connected to him. I just wanted to pull them all off and make him better. What a hopeless feeling, seeing him laying there. I can usually keep my emotions in check, but both Laura and I were pretty upset.

We both stayed with Sam until early Friday morning, when Laura sent me home to rest, there was only one small bed. All day Friday we rotated holding him and comforting him. One of us would go get food, then the other. We both left when they would suction him, it was too rough to see him screaming at the top of his lungs. He did show signs of improvement, however, and on Friday they were able to pull him off O2. One step closer to going home. We had family pictures on Saturday that we were hoping beyond all hope that we would be able to make.

Saturday came, and things were continuing to look up. Sam seemed much improved, he was eating well and even his congestion seemed to abate some. We got the best news at 11:00 when the doctor informed us we would be discharged. It was like parole. We immediately unhooked Sam and got ready to go, we couldn't get out of there fast enough. Please don't misunderstand, we were extremely grateful for the professional doctors and nurses that cared for us, they were truly the best. But all things considered, we would rather not have had the pleasure of meeting them. We made it home in time for a quick family picture, which was one of the highlights of the trip as they are few and very far between in the Stromberg house. Plus we wanted to show Sam off!

The Shower

The best part about our Utah visits is the family. We have such wonderfully supportive families, it always makes it fun to come home. This trip was no different. Both families went above and beyond in making us feel at home and welcoming Sam into the family. Our family shower was on April 28th at my sister Susan's house. Sam cleaned up! He got so many gifts we had to ship a box home because of our limited luggage space.