6 months ago today (in about 13 minutes exactly), Samuel was born!!!  The past few weeks his legs have been strong enough to stand him up on my hand, like I did with Ava when she was little.  He seems to really like it (He must feel like a big boy!).

**Update**

I was running through the blog postings of Ava when she was 6 months old, and noticed that she was sitting up.  I decided to try and sit Samuel up on our bed.  Sure enough, he sat up for the first time, for about 10-15 seconds before wiping out on the bed.  This along with nearly puking in my mouth when I was holding him above my head (a very near miss, I jerked to the side at the last minute, and the puke missed my mouth by centimeters) has made this quite an eventful 6 month half-birthday!  Here are some pictures!

It has been quite a summer!  Between vacations and company, and the usual set of "Firsts" that come with a new baby, we have had a full and excellent summer.  I've had a chance to take Ava to her first baseball games, and she absolutely loves it.  I absolutely love going with her, and love to hear her scream for the now tied for "The Best Team in Baseball" Tampa Bay Rays.  We have a blast...  Samuel's been doing great.  He's a big boy weighing in, on August 5th, at 15.8 lbs and measuring 27 inches.  He is now 5 months old.  Around the same time (Aug 5th) we noticed him getting his first two teeth (the lower bottom front set).  He's lively, always smiling and talking, but like his sister he sleeps very poorly.  He's still waking up 2 or 3 times every night...  The lack of sleep has motivated us to try and feed him some solid foods tonight, hoping he might sleep with something substantial in his belly.  We tried rice cereal a couple weeks ago unsuccessfully, and then thought to try and mix some sweet potato baby food.  He didn't do much better....

At the end of August my sister and her family visited us, and we had an incredible time visiting the beaches, the Florida Aquarium, and watching Matt Garza pitch the first no-hitter in Rays history.  We had a wonderful time with them, and the girls had an awesome time together...  Well, Samuel's fussing and I'm on duty, so here's some pictures of the Harrington's visit with us...  Feeding pictures will come soon!

Here's some photo's of the kids over the past month.  We celebrated Amy's birthday, enjoyed a visit from Grammy and Pa pa, and Samuel has just turned 3 months.  Samuel's growing like gangbusters!  At his two month checkup he was in the top 90th percentile for height, and 95th for weight.  He's doing really well, and is such an easy baby.  He has such a sweet spirit, and smiles and laughs all the time.  He doesn't fuss very much, and is content laying in his bed sucking on his hands or feet as he absolutely loves this!

Ava has been an amazing blessing, and it seems her heart is really open to learning the stories of the bible, and about Jesus.  She has been absolutely fascinated with talking about what it means to ask Jesus into her heart.  The other day, she told Amy that she asked Jesus into her heart, and that barbie and Ariel (her dolls) were going to ask Jesus into their heart as well.  She's fascinated with Amy and I's stories of how we gave our lives to Jesus and trusted in him to forgive us of our sins.  She also seems fascinated with what it means to pray, read the bible, and spend time with Jesus.  I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit's moving in her life at such a young age, giving her an interest and a teachable spirit about Jesus Christ.  All in all things are going excellent.  We are preparing for the long, hot, Florida summer.  As always, winter was far too short!  Here are some pictures of the kids:

Sunday, April 25 was Ava's third birthday.  We had a wonderful time with our florida family, and missed those in our family that couldn't make it.  Unfortunately I botched the smoked ribs, and they turned out a bit salty from the rub, but everything else turned out great.  We had an ice cream cake, and a bunch of presents to open!  I can't believe my little girl is already 3.  It sure doesn't take much time for a year to pass or 3.  Happy Birthday Sweetheart.  Mommy and Daddy Love You so Much!

Pap Pap's birthday fell on Easter this year, and we had special guest's from Pennsylvania.  It was great to celebrate Easter with Daaryl and Warnie Cumtson, and Tom and Kathy Cumtson this year.  We had a great time, and Ava seemed to be more interested in the chocolate hiding inside the easter eggs, than looking for more eggs.  She looks, get's a few eggs, and then chow's down...

Seminole has an annual easter egg hunt that the fine folks at Seminole First Baptist Church provides the eggs and volunteers for.  We haven't been able to get around for the 9:30 start time in the past, but this year I decided to take Ava.  Im not sure, but this may be a first big easter egg hunt for her.  Usually, it is just us hiding eggs in the yard or house...

She did great, competing in the Toddler's group, but the prospect of having candy in every egg lured her into complacency in the later rounds.  She began standing around asking to eat the candy.

We were very blessed with Ava.  She required very little adjustment in her sleep schedule.  She slept at night, and sporadically during the day.  It seems that Samuel sleeps during the day, and not even really sporadically at night.  It was 4:00 Sunday morning before he went to sleep (We started trying to put him down at 9:30 PM on Saturday).  Saturday, he did manage to miss his face during the ritual diaper change peeing.  He shot a good stream, glanced my shoulder and soaked his bed about a foot or so away.  He capped it off with an explosive butt shot of  poop.  I didn't know where to start...

Today is my last day of vacation, and I'm going to miss the time with the family.  We took Samuel to his Dr. where he peed on his face.  The Dr.  said he is doing great, and Samuel has almost regained all of his weight.  He is up to 9 lbs 5 oz.  He was born at 9 lbs 7 oz, and left the hospital around 9 lbs.  He is eating very well.

Ava is doing so well with him.  She loves him so much, and he can't take his eyes off of her.  Today I was holding Samuel, and Ava was sitting next to me.  He bent his head back around, and just stared at her.  She loves the attention, and loves laughing at the different faces, and noises he makes (he snorts when he's hungry...).

One final random thought...  A blog for the kids is going to have to be in the works, and is on my to do list.