Our weekend...

This past weekend, BJ and I went to Gatlinburg while Sam and Stormie went to Mimi and Pop Pop's!!!! Everyone had a great time (well, Stormie and Rocky wish Sam had let them sleep a little more!)

It snowed in Gatlinburg while we were there, we went to the Ripley's Museum, the Aquarium, The Guinness Book of World Records Museum, and on a Haunted Adventure! There was plenty of shopping too!!! It was great to get away and relax and to be on our own schedule! I dare say, though, that four nights was a long time away from our little man!!!! I missed my little guy, and every kid we heard or saw made us think of him and wonder what he was up to now!!!

Here's the snow...

BJ in the snow...Me in the snow... (can you tell we're from GA where it doesn't snow that often!!!???)

At Mimi and Pop Pop's, Sam has accomplished even more: he now RUNS in his walker, chases the dogs with NO problem, flushes the toilets, drinks through a straw, and has even stood by himself (he didn't realize he did, though!)!!!! He is taller and heavier, and he cried when we got him back in Athens yesterday afternoon!!!!!!! =( He has not one, but TWO new pairs of shoes, new clothes, and loves any food Mimi and Pop Pop offer him!!!! When I offer new foods, it gets spit back out at me!!!!! I don't know what their trick is!!!!

Sam "talks" all the time now... he has developed his own language! Sometimes I know what he's trying to say, other times I know he's trying to say SOMETHING!!! We'll get it down soon!!!!

Here we go with the pictures...

Sam and Stormie nose-to-nose...

Sam eating his first banana...

Sam eating a banana for breakfast at Mimi and Pop Pop's...Oh! Look at the mess... and notice the bed-head!!!!On the move...And up the stairs...Where is everybody????Stormie and Rocky playing... kind of... Rocky is trying to tell Stormie to leave him alone!Mimi and Sam ready for a ride on the mule...

Sam and Pop Pop on the mule...Sam flushing the toilet... isn't it cute????Oh! My! He found the toilet paper...Awww... Mimi and Pop Pop just let him go and go...

And GOOOOOO... Really... that's enough, don't you think????

He needs to flush all of that toilet paper on the floor there!!!!

All in a days.... SOMETHING!

So, now SAM has a confession to make... he would be JUST AS HAPPY if we would just shop for his toys at PetsMart from now on, let Stormie (or any dog for that matter) chew on them a little, and hand them over to him!

I swear... he will only play with his things for MAYBE five minutes. Stormie's toys, however, he will crawl around with all day - and cry if we take them away!!!???

Also, today, he said Banana... well, it was Bana, and it was only once - I can't get him to say it again!!!

AND, he found out that the toilet has water in it, and, since he loves baths, the toilet is a bath anytime! Baby hands are really hard to wash with soap and water!!!!! OK, note to self: keep toilet lids down!!!! Now, with the lids down, I bet that makes the toilet paper fair game!?

SCREAMER

OK, so I gave Sam a bath today, and was 'lotioning' him down (lathering the Eucerin that's like OIL), and he just started SCREAMING!!!!!!!!! It scared me at first, but it was just because he was MAD that he couldn't get up and play!!!! OH MY.... what to do with little screamers?

Later on, we were in the living room, and I guess something frustrated him, and he SCREAMED again!!!!!!!! Oh Boy!!!

So, onto something else! Sam naps, MAYBE two hours total in a day... what do I do? Oh, I get on the computer... I blog, I email, I go to My Space, and I go to Facebook!!!!! You could literally spend HOURS doing this - I bet at least eight hrs could get by before someone would even notice they were gone! I have to re-learn balance, I suppose! My "time off" is spent on the computer! I can't keep going this way!!! =) There's a new video/song out on You Tube that says "25/8 I check the My Space" They're not kidding! At least I have Sam to keep me grounded!

What do these people do that spend HOURS, literally, on the computer??? Do they have a job? Definitely not kids!!!! And these kids need to get outside!!!! Well, not today... it's too cold!!!! =) OK, I need to get off the computer... I'm self-governing here!!!!! =)

Happy weekend!

OH! MY! GOSH!

He climbs stairs now too!!!! He usually can be distracted away from them, but not today... so, I just let him go to see what he would do!

And he climbed ALL THE WAY UP!!! He stopped a couple of times for about .2 seconds... but he was SO FAST!!!! And so proud when he got to the top! We went back down, I got the camera, and he did it again!!!! Then, I put him in his crib, and he was OUT!!! Such hard work!!!! I am TIRED, but at least he's wearing himself out better now too... and I get a little breather here and there!

Here's some more walking pictures...Checking out these rims...Awww... it's so tough!!!!Gotta get back up and try again...And here we go again...Hoping no one noticed we ran into the wall... so, we'll wave to whoever may have seen...Uh! Oh! The wall didn't move for him!!!! Crash and Burn!!!

He walks!!!

Oh, Yes, He does!!!!

Just out of the blue, BJ put him behind this lawnmower thing on his feet, and he walked... well, ran to keep up with it, but he has caught on now, and he walks, stops (tears something down or off), and walks on!!!!

Kudos to Mimi and PopPop, who have been letting him walk around their house in a walker... I really believe that taught him what to do... we just had to give him the opportunity to do it!!!

What a cutie!!!