Fruit of the Week: Prunes

By the reaction on his face, I think this has been Sam's favorite fruit so far!

Sweet Pup

Sam Loves Cookie!

No More Swaddling

Well, the dreaded day has finally come..no more swaddling for Sam. As many of your already know, swaddling has been the best thing that has happened to all of us. Since Sam was about 6 weeks old, we have been wrapping him up at night and it has been like magic. Once we did it, he started sleeping through the night and we have never looked back.

I knew the day would come when he would start turning over and would need to have his hands free. Adam is off all week and called me at work to tell me that he found Sam sleeping on his belly still in his swaddle blanket. He also said that his eye was really swollen, but it was the eye that had been closest to the mattress. It went away after he had been awake for a little while.

Poor boy - this is what happens after you sleep on your belly/face for the first time!

After talking to the nurse at Dr. Sherwood's office yesterday..my fears were confirmed, no more swaddling! Adam and I were very nervous about how this was going to go, would we ever sleep again? Since he was wrapped so tightly every night I didn't know how he would sleep being able to move around so freely with his hands free. We did decide to put him in a sleep sack to keep him warm and to put some mittens on his hands so he wouldn't scratch his face to pieces. I rocked him for a while until he was sleeping soundly and put him down. We didn't hear a peep from him until the next morning - success! He did great!

Still snug as a bug - just with my arms free!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends. We definitely had a busy, but fun, Christmas making the rounds to see everyone. The holiday festivities started on Monday night with my office Christmas party. We had a delicious dinner at The Steam Room Grill and Adam was able to meet all of the nice people I work with. While we ate, Sam stayed with Lili and Shuffie and opened his first Christmas gift..an exersaucer to stay at their house!

Help me Shuffie!

This looks fun!

Then on Wednesday night, the 23rd, we celebrated Christmas with my extended family. We had a house full with my grandmother, my aunt and uncle from Missouri, and my cousins Natalie, Nathan and Nick and their families. We used to always celebrate Christmas on the 23rd because that was my grandfather's birthday so it was nice to celebrate again on that day like old times. We had a great time visiting and playing and the kids loved Sam.

Cade (11), Caimbrie (3), Natalie, Chloe (5), Sarah, Cole (8), Pamela & Christian (7)

Adam, Sam, Carlin & Kelly

Christian, Meme & Nathan

Opening gifts

Thursday we went with both of our families to the Christmas Eve service at church. It was extra special for me this year to be able to sit in that service and hold baby Sam. I can vividly remember sitting in church last Christmas Eve wondering if he was ok or if we had lost him. It was wonderful to get to hold my Christmas miracle in my arms as the entire church went dark and sang Silent Night by candlelight. It was beautiful!

After church we headed to Bobi and Papa John's for Christmas at their house. We all wore matching PJ's, ate a yummy breakfast fixed by Bobi and Uncle Eric and opened gifts.

Uncle Eric, Aunt Amanda, Banks, Carlin, Sam & Adam in our matching PJs

Little Sock Monkey

Sam riding his rocket from Bobi & Papa John

Sam was so tired from all of the celebrating that we had to wake him up on Friday morning to see what Santa brought. His big gift from Santa was an exersaucer and he LOVED it! He also got some books, a cookie monster, a dump truck and an animal sounds puzzle.

My two favorite boys on Christmas morning

Sam and Mom on Christmas morning

Playing in his gift from Santa

After we finished opening gifts from Santa, we headed to Lili and Shuffie's house for brunch and presents with Meme.

Meme and Sam

The cutest Santa I know!

Carlin & Rusty's tail lost in a pile of gifts at Lili & Shuffie's

Friday night we went to Adam's Mimi's house to celebrate Christmas with his Aunt Jeanne & Uncle Steve, Aunt Robbie & Uncle Paul and all of his cousins. We had a great time and enjoyed a good game of Redneck Life - it was one of Adam's gifts and it was hilarious!!

Sisters & Cousins

The whole family

We wrapped up the Christmas celebrations with lunch at Cock of the Walk with Adam's Mammy and his Aunt Jan, Uncle Bill and cousins from Atlanta. PawPaw wasn't feeling well so he stayed home, we missed him!

Payton, Amanda, Banks, Aunt Jan, Sam, & Stuart

Thanks again to EVERYONE for the delicious meals, wonderful gifts and most of all the time spent and memories made. We had so much fun with each and every one of you!

Eskimo Sam

Fruit of the Week: Pears

Five Months Old!

Happy 5 month Birthday Sam! Another month has gone by and before we know it he will be half a year old! Boy does time fly when you are having fun =)

What has Sam been up to lately?

*He is still in a size 2 diaper but they are beginning to look like "bikinis" as Dr. Sherwood says. I feel that size 3's are in our immediate future!

*This big boy is wearing mostly 6 month and some 6-9 month clothes.

*His eyes are still blue and an absolutely beautiful color of blue at that. I wonder if they are going to change or stay blue?

*He really enjoys eating his cereal and baby food fruit and is adjusting well to eating out of a spoon.

*My little bald boy has started to sprout some hair and it looks like it is going to be pretty light.

*He is grabbing at anything and everything that gets within his reach, including my hair..OUCH!

*He still has an extreme love for T.V.

*He enjoys listening to music and one of my favorite times of the day is right before he goes to bed. We rock in the glider and sing to the music on my iPod while drifting off to sleep.

*He is a great sleeper! He will go 10-11 hours at night and then take at least one good 2-3 hour nap and other little cat naps during the day.

*He is still such a happy baby and rarely ever gets upset unless he is tired or hungry.

We love you Sam!

Sam's Baptism

"May the Lord give his angels charge over you to guide you in all your ways." Psalm 91:11

Today, on his 5 month birthday, Sam was baptized by Rev. Vicki Landrum at Christ United Methodist Church. The church looked absolutely beautiful with all of the Christmas decorations! Vicki was so sweet to check on Sam when he was in the NICU and she even came and prayed with all of us his little hospital bed so it was very special to have her perform the baptism ceremony today. Sam is definitely loved by so many and we were so glad that our family and friends could join us today. After church we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Bobi and Papa John's and a wonderful time of fellowship with everyone.

Putting on his "robe" (Daddy wouldn't dare let us call it a gown)

Lili & Bobi helping Sam get ready

Precious!

Adam, Carlin, Sam & Rev. Vicki Landrum

Beautiful decorations at the church

Our family

Shuffie, Adam, Sam, Carlin, Lili & Meme

Bobi, Adam, Sam, Carlin, Aunt Amanda, Uncle Eric, Papa John & Banks

Sam's delicious cake

4 Milner Generations

My precious blessing - I love him!

Oh, What a Difference a Year Makes!

One year ago today Adam and I went to the doctor for our first ultrasound. We were told that there was a yolk sac but they couldn't find a fetal pole (no heartbeat) and that I would probably lose the baby. They scheduled another ultrasound for Monday, December 29th to check once more for a heartbeat before we moved forward. We were crushed! In a matter of days we had ridden an emotional roller coaster. We had experienced the greatest joy of finding out we were going to be parents only to find out that we were probably going to lose this baby.

With the holidays upon us, we tried to remain positive and prayed for strength to get through the days ahead. We knew that God was in control and He would comfort us no matter what happened. By the time Monday morning rolled around, I was ready to go and get the appointment over with. I had decided not to get my hopes up and had prepared myself for the worst. We were called back to the room for the ultrasound and this is what we saw....

A precious baby with a strong heartbeat!

We were absolutely speechless, overjoyed and so thankful for this miracle - the same miracle that sits in my lap today and melts my heart with his precious smile.

I can't imagine life without him and am so thankful that God sent us this little boy.

Fruit of the Week: Bananas

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good boy this year.

Love,

Sam

We took Sam to the Bass Pro Shop tonight to have his first picture made with Santa. All of the decorations were so pretty and the Winter Wonderland they set up for the kids was really neat. All of the "grands" came with us and we had a great time. Merry Christmas!