In the meantime...

Well, well...have I dropped the ball on posting or what? I know what's holding me up...summer vacation parts 2-5 and a lack of downtime during the entire month of September. So, I apologize for the drought, and I am still working on those posts.

In the meantime, Emma and Sam both have had their half birthdays!!! There is so much to report! In honor of these recent 6 month milestones, I will include some of my favorite moments. Since there is sooo much to catch up on, we'll start with Sam.

18 months

His new favorite thing to do is fold towels. This is the only activity in his entire 18 month life that has seemed to entertain him for more than one minute. Yes, that is an apron he is wearing. He was doing a little cooking before the laundry. My mini multi-tasker!

Sam's language amazes me everyday. We have real conversations all day long. Here are the top 10 of my favorite things he has said to me recently (in no particular order):

1. In a memory lapse, I said to Sam, "we need to turn on..um...um " and he answered "music?" Yep. Thanks sam, you know me so well. Dance party it is.

2. Turns out, Sam likes to be excessively polite. He says "thank you mommy" hundreds of times a day. Making him a sandwich, changing his diaper, getting him in and out of the car..."thank you, mommy." Who said this is a thankless job?

3. Well, it's official. Sam has a milk allergy. And, I thought gluten was in everything. News flash, milk and it's products are in EVERYTHING. Anyway, Sam looves his chocolate soy milk and can be found hanging on the refrigerator, begging for "coffee milk" on a regular basis.

4. Sam insists on helping make dinner. He needs to be in on the action and loves to throw in an ingredient or stir here and there. So, I can be sure when dinner time rolls around, Sam will follow me in the kitchen, and beg me to pick him up, repeating, "helper, mommy? helper, mommy? helper mommy?" one million times. I ususally pick him up, because he is not satisfied unless he has climbed my legs or, on a couple of occasions, completely run away with my britches. I'm not making this up. Here's to making dinner one-handed, gluten and dairy-free, with or without pants!!

5. A while back, I documented Sam's preferred affirmative, okaaay! I'm working on catching his new favorite answer to everything, "mmhmm...yeah.", on video too. Stay tuned!

6. "Try it, Mommy! Try it!" is sure to follow when he is quacking on a duck whistle, jumping on or off anything, or eating something new.

7. Me: Let me change your diaper. Sam: "No waaaaay, Jose"

8. During Emma's soccer game, Sam was sitting on my lap, shouting, "Go, Emma, go! Run, kick soccerball, run, kick, go!"

9. Last night on a car ride, Sam informed us, "I see moon." I love that one.

10. Finally, Sam loves books! He is very interested in the birthday page with pictures of cookies, cake, and balloons. He usually breaks into song, "haaaap biirrrtday to you....!" Sam also has books that accurately label large, obscure vehicles like airport feul tanker, heavy transporters, mobile crane, just to name a few. Steve found him in his room looking at a truck book and saying, "sleeper cab. sleeper cab." Seriously?

Sam's new "cheese" face

I hope this loong post is a little peace offering for the drought. I'm back. And there's lot's to catch up on!