Sam Crackin' Up

We were over at our friends house (Hollie and Hugh) a couple weeks ago and Sam went crazy. I wanted to post the video Hollie took of him cracking up hysterically. I was only making funny faces, but he was pretty slap-happy. Enjoy!

Super Sam the Lady's Man

We had a great Mother's Day weekend with our friends and family! Jeff, Shannon and Maggie flew in from Texas and Hugh, Hollie and Laney came in from Youngsville to hang out with us and attend Sam's dedication. Bill's mother, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, aunt, and uncle all came in too. Plus, Holly, Matt and Chad stopped by for a visit. It was wonderful to have so many people around who love us.

I thought I'd include some photos from the weekend to show you how adorable all of our kids are. One of our friend's previously nicknamed Sam "Super Sam the Lady's Man" and here's a picture to prove it! This is Maggie, Sam and Laney.



Here is Sam before the big event. He's wearing my brother's hat from when we were infants. This hat commands a lot of attention on Sam. I think it brings out the blue in his eyes, and I have actually watched many a grown man's heart melt at seeing Sam in it. Of course, a small grin doesn't hurt.




His Mamaw Gilbert bought him the outfit. I was going to let him wear one that my father and both my brother's were dedicated in, but he is just too little as of yet. Still, this little jumper is adorable. Mary Ella, you have great taste!

Here we are with Sam. We clean up good. Below that picture is one of us with Dr. Ron Rowe, our pastor. He told a lovely story about praying over Sam last July while he was still in my belly. It was especially sweet. By the way, I am not pregnant - it's just the way the shirt is designed.





And, just for fun, I thought I'D post a preggo picture of Shannon. I love this one!



Shannon, you're beautiful!

We had such a grandios time seeing all of my family in Tennessee. I wanted to post a few pictures to show that you actually can capture what love looks like.

Here are all the great grandparents getting ready to take a photo. Sam is eating Memaw's camera string.



Then, Sam did something adorable and you can see the love in Memaw's eyes. Actually, it was very difficult to get a picture with Memaw looking into the camera - she couldn't help but lovingly watch her great grandson.



Here they are - googley-eyed.



And, the posed-picture is set-up beautifully...



Also, my girlfriend, Germaine, told me about a cool product that allows babies to feed themselves. I purchased said-product and Sam really loves eating bananas out of it. It's just a mesh bag that holds cooked or raw food or even ice. It worked really well when Sam was teething last week.



My grandmother TOTALLY surprised me with a party on Saturday that was Christmas-themed. She remembered that I really missed being with family at Christmas-time, so she got a tree and presents wrapped in Christmas paper and even a cake that said Merry Christmas. All of the great grandchildren (sans two) were there. Here they are with their great grandparents.



One of Sam's cousins is only nine days younger than him. Here he and Cole are getting to know each other. PS Cole is such a looker!






Mamaw came to the party too. Here we all are together.



And here I am with Sam. I thought this was a sweet picture.



And, finally, here we are with Uncle Patrick and Brian. Sam LOVED being with Pat.

TRAVEL, TRAVEL, TRAVEL

We have been traveling so much over the last month since we've been in the States. I take that back, we've already been back five weeks. Time is really flying. We've only spent a total of seven days in our own home in Raleigh.

The first visit we made was to my relatives who were in Charlotte, NC. Here is a picture of my brother, Adam, Great Aunt Joyce, Uncle Jack, me, my father and Sam. Sam slept in Dad's arms for a long time that day. Poor little thing was still jetlagging.



Then we drove to SC and visited Bill's sister, nephew and brother-in-law. Here is Sam hanging out with Jacque and Nicholas.



And, Sam with Danny. Sam had a good time spitting up all over Danny the next morning. Danny was such a good sport about it.



The next trip we took was to Sevierville, TN. We met the Patton family and fell in love! Here we are with Doug and Nina.


The Pattons had a beautiful house in the mountains. Their home has enormous windows in it and lots of birds fly into those windows every week. This yellow bird was one of the stunned ones.



Next, our travels took us to Goodlettsville, TN. My grandmother, Mary Ella, also fell in love with Sam. He loves her too.



And, here Sam is with my Uncle Scott and Aunt Beth just before a black-tie party. Sam did great and didn't spit up at all. Phew!



I was so thrilled when we got to see my Granddaddy Sam and Memmaw (Angie). Here Sam is with his namesake. He absolutely LOVES being with Granddaddy.



We took a trip to Kentucky to visit with Scott and Beth. Scott entertained Sam with an instrument I had purchased in China for him. Sam loved to watch him play it.



In fact, Scott and Beth's house was filled with fun stuff for Sam to enjoy. Here Sam is listening to and playing the drums in Scott's music room.



We still have a couple more days here and then we're back to Sevierville, Greenville and finally Raleigh. I can't wait to get back and settled down for ten days before we travel to Columbia. Geeze, this is tiring! Sam sure is taking it all in stride.

Solids

It's been a while since I've had a free moment to blog, but this one has to be quick too. I'm waiting for some water to boil, so I thought I'd upload some great photos.

Sam had his first solid food a week and a half ago. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but after a few days, he showed us he is really enjoying it.

I baked a couple of sweet potatoes and mashed them well enough to let Sam try it out. It turns out he really likes sweet potatoes. I have since added bananas, and he is a big fan.








It's been great to see friends and family while we are back in NC. Here is a pictures of my sister-in-law with Sam. I love the way she looks at him and how she melts when she's around him. This picture is especially funny since he looks like a babydoll sitting on the dining room table.

Dancin' Sam

I was otherwise preoccupied the other day when Bill and the boys were playing with Sam. Later in the day, I was talking to one of the boys, Kevin, and he showed me a video he had taken. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did (though I wonder what they didn't get on film!).

Naked Baby Sam

To quote Raffi:
The water is fine fine fine, the soap is mine mine mine, scrub 'n shine shine shine - it's my BATHTIME! The water is nice and warm, makes me feel at home, like a baby whale, it's my bathtime!

Bathtime is now funtime in our home. The weather is warmer, the water is warmer, the baby is warmer - it's an all around pleasant experience. Sam's hair has grown so long that it won't stand up anymore when I shampoo it. Pretty soon I'll need special shampoo for hair only and not this baby hair and body shampoo.

Sam is sitting on his own and loves to roll over repeatedly from his belly to back and back to belly. He is very handsy too and loves to suck on everything. Only two nights ago I got up at 3:30 to check on him and he was gripping the slats of his crib for dear life while sucking the wood. It took me almost a minute to pry his hands off of the bars.



The good news is that he is falling asleep in his crib on his own. He is also maintaining the 5:30pm bedtime. At around 8:30pm Bill and I realize we miss Sam. He's so much fun these days and we are SO excited to introduce him to our family in the States. I cannot wait.

Bill took some photos of Sam after his bathtime today and they honestly look professional. Bill has such a great eye for these things.









We'll be home in a matter of days! I hope jetlag doesn't affect Sam too much!

Sleep

Who sleeps for 13 hours in one chunk?! I am still getting used to this parenting thing and Sam keeps doing what I think are the oddest things. First, he put me on a schedule. I haven't been on a schedule in who knows how long. Second, he started saying, "Da da" at only 5 months old. Third, he fell asleep last night at 5:20 and woke up this morning at 7:10. Who DOES that?

I couldn't believe it when I realized Sam was "down for the night." He was still wearing his "street clothes." I wasn't prepared at all - since we have this nighttime ritual of reading two books and singing and then going to sleep. He totally missed his storytime.

Please, don't hear me complaining. I am thrilled that I got almost 8 hours of sleep last night. Around 9pm, I realized that I needed to get to bed as fast as possible, in case he decided to wake up at 3am and stay up. He woke up around 10pm for a "dream feed." And then again at 3:30am, but it wasn't until 7:10 this morning that he woke up for good.

On another, slightly different note...we went to the zoo on Friday with the Mowery famiy, minus Monty. We had a great time and I got a fantastic sunburn. Bill took some beautiful pictures too. I've only posted what I think are the best. I really love this one of the baby monkey snuggling up to his mother, probably nursing. Do you notice she has a chain on her neck? Many of the monkeys did, since there's a spot near the monkey exhibit where you can get your picture taken with one. I hear this zoo is one of the better in Yunnan.



Here is one of the lions resting in the afternoon sun.



The red panda exhibit made Bill smile. He said one of them was crawling around and having fun in the tree house made for them.



And, the only animal Sam actually noticed: the zebra! I guess the contrast of black and white drew his eye. Plus, there was only a fence separating us, so I walked Sam right up to it to see them.



The picture at the top is Sam in a stroller for the first time. We borrowed one from a friend and he really seemed to enjoy himself. He's sitting up now too. And rolling over. What's next? No nighttime feed?

Cats and Curls

As we are approaching our return to the States, I wanted to show my support for my alma mater, NC State. My brother sent me this picture last week. I can only hope it was his cat he coerced into wearing the wonderful red and white of State.

Go State! (Look away Mandy!)



A friend of ours, Inez, told me that her son had perfectly straight hair until she took him on a trip to Missouri to see her family. While they were in Missouri, his hair curled a bit and after they returned home, it was never straight again.

I am wondering if Thailand's humidity did the same for Sam. When we took him to Thailand, he had perfectly straight hair, but the sea air altered it, perhaps permanently. This morning Sam woke up with a beautiful curl on the top of his head.



I wanted to take some pictures of Sam this morning and found the camera had some strange settings on. This is a continuous struggle that I face - I do not like change when it comes to electronic equipment. I wish Internet Explorer had never upgraded and moved their buttons around, I hate it when I look at my computer desktop and can't find the icon I know I put in a particular spot, and I hate finding out that I've taken several pictures on the wrong setting.

Our new digital SLR is a wonderful investment, but I need to take a class on how to use it. Bill knows just what knobs to turn and ISO to change and whatever else needs tweaking, so I am absolutely dependent on him to help me. Actually, I think he does it on purpose, so I will always need him. That's what tell myself anyway, since it seems like a sweeter sentiment than the plain fact that I am not well-versed in everything. (I should be using the word "ignorant," but I can't bring myself to do it.)

Here is an example of the differences in our photo-taking. This one is mine - and while it's sweet, in general, it's out of focus and not composed well. But, the idea that I was going for is to show you what Sam does with his hands when something tickles him. Isn't that sweet?



Of course, here is Bill's obviously well-composed, beautifully-clear photo of Sam. His eyes are reflecting sunlight in just the right way and his skin is perfectly shaded with light. And, as is my father's favorite part, the foreground is in focus and the background is out of focus (i.e. narrow depth of field - I had to ask Bill what that was called while writing this. Ignorance isn't always bliss.).



Enough of my rant. On to more important things - like my child. He is doing this very funny thing lately where he latches on to my cheek when he is tired. We finally got it on camera and I was surprised when I looked at the photo that it looks like he is licking me. Just don't blow the picture up too big and you won't be too grossed out. Anyway, I guess what they say is true, "mothers only see the good." Because I don't even mind that he's licking me.

Go State!

Bragging Rights

Can I brag about Bill for a bit? He has been so busy with one project in particular, that he hasn't been able to rest for a couple months. That being said, while we were on vacation, he got some much needed relaxation. He is quite handy with his camera and I want to share some of his photos. Mind you, I haven't edited them, so he may not be happy with me, but I think the raw footage is beautiful.

They were both taken at Rayong Beach. We weren't extremely thrilled with the location, but when Bill went out with Steve early one morning, he apparently found a lot of beauty in the area.



Now, I know what these houses looked like in person, so I can honestly say I wouldn't want to live there. However, Bill's photo makes me want to move in right away. How beautiful.



Moving on to the other Klear man...He learned to suck his thumb this week. He shoves his entire fist into his mouth, then fishhooks his cheek with his thumb, then sucks.

I have a theory about thumb sucking. I think an infant will suck the thumb of the hand they will favor. I sucked my left finger and I am left-handed, but my twin brother sucked his right finger and he is right-handed. I have more evidence to base this theory on than just my brother and I, but it's still a work-in-progress. I'll let you know how Sam turns out. I'd love for him to be left-handed, since I am the only one of my blood relatives who is (there is a rumor that my great-grandmother Mama Nannie was left-handed, but I haven't confirmed it yet).



And, finally, I wanted to post this picture of our family with the Mowery family (minus their daughters). This was taken on the day we dedicated him with our friends over here. Judah, the other little one in the picture, is three days older than Sam, and we anticipate them to be great friends as they grow up together. Sam slept right through the entire ceremony and apparently Judah was none-to-thrilled about having his picture taken. The parents are thrilled though - what a blessing to be able to promise to bring up our children according to His Word. And, what a blessing Sam has been to us. I have two great men in my life now, and I feel so content with both.