Samuel: 12 months

This post (and several others that I have tried to work on) are late because I usually write up posts and import photos from my phone, but the app I have used these last few years is acting up.  Anyway - lots to catch up on!

Samuel will be 13 months in 2 weeks!  So, I wanted to jot down a few stats and thoughts on 12 months before it got away from me...  From here on, I'll just do sporadic updates on him like I currently do James.  And will continue with lots of other photo updates on every day life!

At his 12 month check up, little brother was a whopping 21 lbs, 10 oz (56th percentile... and only 3 lbs less than James!).  He completed his 1st year with 3 whole teeth and the fastest army crawl known to man.  He pulls up and eases back down to floor confidently, but no steps yet.  He loves food, but is getting picky.  Favorites include fruit (strawberries, grapes), plain Greek yogurt, some meat (sausage), and sandwiches (almond butter, grilled cheese, etc.).  Least favorites include some meats (chicken), pasta, green vegetables (he throws these off his tray without even tasting).  He is the comedian of our family and knows how to make each of us laugh in different ways (bobble head dancing for Stuart, cackling loudly for James, and scrunching his nose with a big grin for me).

He is our sweetest darling little brother and we adore all the things about him!

Birth story coming... One year ago, Samuel finally popped out after a brief shoulder dystocia that made me flip on to my back and yank my knees back to my ears REAL quick!

One year ago, the best brothers there ever were.

A couple weeks ago, celebrating his 1st birthday (the cheeks just linger...!).

Charlottesville, VA

I have a lot of upcoming posts!  We have been busy celebrating Samuel's 1st birthday, traveling for Stuart's LAST fellowship interview (glad those over over!) and a week at the beach with the Acrees... Posts with photos on all of those coming soon!

For Stuart's last fellowship interview, we drove up to UVA in beautiful Charlottesville, VA.  We stayed one night in a hotel and explored the area a little bit while Stuart did his thing at the interview...

Stopped at Burger King on the way up for Stuart to grab lunch (he left work after a half day to head up in time for him to be in Charlottesville for the interview dinner)

James and Stuart played with this random cat while I nursed Sam in the car... The cat ended up biting James some how.  He turned out to be just fine, but I totally freaked out!

The little boys and I strolled around near UVA while Stuart was at the interview dinner, and I found this little shop right across the street from our hotel - Babes in the Wood Restaurant.  ("The ultimate farm to table - free range, rare breed pork.") They just opened a month ago!  They run their own hog farm, and now they've opened a restaurant to showcase all their delicious pork.  I got a brat sandwich with peppers and onions and a side of house-made baked beans.  So delicious.



James and Sam had almond butter sandwiches and watched cartoons for dinner :)





Found Samuel half out of his PJs the next morning, though he never cried about it overnight.  He's such a mild-mannered babe, never complains about anything!



Breakfast in the hotel lobby - cantaloupe and oatmeal for James, toast and western omelets for me and Sam.





I had heard delicious things about this cupcake shop from a blog that I read, so when I saw it across the street from our hotel, naturally I had to stop and buy 4 cupcakes.  Yum.



Upon recommendation from Casey (who went to college nearby at JMU), we ended up at Carter Mountain Orchard for apple picking.  It was a little early in the season, so they only had 3 varieties available.  But we picked all 3 and liked them all!



There obviously wasn't much for Samuel to do except ride around in the stroller, but James had a blast.







Then we picked up Stuart from his last interview and drove back home!  Charlottesville, I love your mountains and natural beauty and delicious food and sustainable living... I hope to be back someday!

Samuel's 1st birthday

Samuel turned 1 yesterday!  We had a small celebration with Stuart the night before (he's on a pretty busy rotation, so we wanted to make sure that Sam got to celebrate with daddy).  We made party hats and opened presents and ate strawberry cupcakes!

(Flower wrapping paper because he's a 2nd child and I forgot to buy boyish wrapping paper...)

He didn't love his party hat...

Good morning birthday boy!

Birthday breakfast: peaches and bananas (naturally - his favorite), plus whole wheat pancakes with almond butter and birthday sprinkles!

Later in the morning, best friend Ezra came over to play in our backyard pool (Sam's favorite home activity) and we had a deck picnic (more favorites: almond butter sandwich, blueberries, cheese) with more cupcakes.  Aunt Case brought us a balloon, and a card that sings with a dancing hamster.  Those Reagans... they love us so well!

Happy birthday Sammy Sam!  We are so happy you were born!  (12 month update coming later this week after our check up with Dr. Zimmerman on Friday... and also, in honor of his 1st birthday, a birth story!)

Yellow Dog Farm

My family has these amazing friends named Randy and Lisa Whitley in Wendell, NC who used to help with the youth group at our church when I was growing up. Recently they were able to purchase some family land and now are finally are living their dream and have created a little farm for themselves. They grow vegetables and have a little fruit orchard and some chickens... are able to sell all of their goods! The other thing that they do is raise miniature horses. We took James and Samuel by to visit them today. It was a lot of fun!



Riding around in this was James' favorite part



Mini horses!  That little white and brown one is a baby, and of the dwarf variety of miniature ponies.  Only 16 inches tall!



James petting the mini pony with P\paw and Mr. Randy

Sam scoping it out with mama



James somehow ended up in this position with Mr. Randy while he was helping to collect eggs in the chicken coop.



James watching the chickens enjoying his own favorite food



Sweetest boys



"Farmers... Somebody has to feed you people" :)

More from our road trip 2015

I finally got my hands on Stuart's phone and was able to snag these photos that he took on our trip...

James liked this giant peach water tower in SC

Running off some energy during a picnic lunch stop (we looked for parks/playgrounds on Google maps as we planned to stop for lunch... what a great way to spend lunch time for James!  He's big enough that even if he didn't eat anything during the hour long stop, he was able to eat in the car.)



Stuart found a photo of his mentor, Dr. Kenny Kim, during his interview at Birmingham (where he graduated fellowship)



For the first time in 3 days of driving, James finally fell asleep in the car on the drive between Birmingham and FL... praise God, because we didn't arrive at the beach until almost midnight.



Ready to hit the beach!











We had a couple of cloudy days (not complaining!) but it only rained for about 10 minutes one afternoon.  We had great weather!