Sam and her new kitty Max

So I mentioned in an earlier post that we have a new cat named Max. Here he is! As you can see, Sam thoroughly enjoys having him, can't say that Max really enjoys her as much but he is very patient with her. The other day she gave too much food in his bowl and when we asked her about it, she simply stated "Max needs a lot of food because Sammy loves him sooo much". That makes for a nice kid and an overweight cat!

A quick update on Hunter. He had his akiles tendon on the back of his leg cut to allow the doctors to pull his heel down and continue to shape his foot normal. He will have this cast for another 3 weeks and then that will be the last of casting hopefully. He will then wear spacial shoes with a brace in between them to encourage his foot not to turn in. He will have this on indefinite until his foot does not turn in anymore. This will be a long-term commitment for us but we feel blessed that this is the only major problem he has! This is illustrated when we walk in to the Orthopedic office and see so many other kids with more severe problems than him. We count our blessings.

In the mean time, I am preparing to sit for a section of the CPA exam this coming winter. So that, plus work keeps me out of trouble. Amanda's life is pretty much being a Mom and keeping things together. She does a great job and I am proud to have her be the mother of my children.

That's all for now, I will let Amanda post the rest. Peace and love to all our family and loved ones!

A quick entry since it is late

Since it's late, this will be a short posting.  This past weekend we adventured out to Jordan Lake on our 1st camping trip with the kids!  To be honest, I didn't know if we were going crazy of having fun!  We'll I think we were having fun, at least Sam had a blast eating smores.  We forgot half our food, good thing we were only like 20 min from our house.  One of the things we love about Carolina is that you can do stuff like this pretty close to home.  Two beautiful lakes, only 20 min away.  In two weeks, we will attempt the ward campout at Falls Lake.  We should be pro's now that we have gone camping once...right?

I must be crazy!! (by Stephan)

This past weekend we brought a new kitten home for Samantha!  She has been wanting one really bad so we told her for her birthday (November 1st) that she could have one.  Of course once that was decided, it was all over, Amanda was on Craigslist searching all over the triangle for the "perfect" one.  We found him, according to her, and brought him home.  Sam is so proud of her new kitten and even named him Max.  For those who have known us for a while will know that when we first got married we had a cat named Max who died.  But Sam loves to listen to bed time stories about past pets so that's why we have Max Jr. now.  He is a orange tabby and only about 6 weeks old.  I will try to get a pic of him up soon.  

Life goes on with it's interesting twists and turns.  Hunter is doing way better and is much more delightful to be around now.  I saw that Amanda mentioned that I am 30 now, yes I am an old man according to her!  We went out to dinner with a few friends and that was about it.  Birthdays are not that exciting when you get old!   Graeme tells me that I am actually a 45 year old stuck in a 30 year old's body.  I promptly told him that he is a 16 year old stuck in a 25 year old's body, we called it even!  The funny thing is for those who know me fairly well they will tell you that Graeme is pretty much right on, oh well!  


We did get some fall pics taken of the kids, I will post more online and send invites to those who want to see them.  Peace for now, more to come later.





 

My Apologies!

Man I was so proud of myself for posting to our blog and then I see it has been almost a month! Not only that but Im posting at work so I don't have any new pictures! Which honestly is my favorite part of blogs. As for news Hunter is now a much happier baby. He smiles all the time and loves to talk. Still working on the sleeping but it has greatly improved. Samantha was given some Strawberry Chapstick by her Granny Gail. She call's it her Strawberry Shortcake Chapstick. She carries it everywhere. The funny thing is you would think she has had an allergic reaction to it because she always has her lips puckered but she is just really proud of it. She walks around with her lips puckered and even talks to us with them puckered it's pretty funny.
We celebrated Stephan's 30th birthday! He's an old man! The kids were supposed to spend the night at Mimi's to give us a break but an hour before we were supposed to take them to her house and head to dinner Samantha Barfed all over me. It was quite the fiasco. Mimi ended up coming over to our house and watching the kids while we went to dinner with some friends and then we came home to be with Samantha who of course claimed she was all better and needed some chocolate. We sure are greatful we have family that is willing to help us out like that. Im working on pictures and will have some news ones on soon!

The Time has Come!!!

Well the time has come for me AMANDA to write something in our BLOG.  I feel as though I have been in a dream (or Nightmare) for the last 11 months.  My pregnancy was not fun I was sick all 9 months and huge.  Then Hunter was born with a feisty spirit and we will leave it at that!  We have been really blessed to have family near by and family visit. It has been a big help.  Our ward was also awesome bringing us meals for a week!  I finally feel that things are coming together.  Hunter is sleeping more and crying less and I am starting to get the hang of 2 kids.  I wish I could get the hang of housework along with that!  But that will come with time.  Thank you to everyone for your kind comments on our Blog.  I love to read them. 
As for my perspective on Hunter he is Stephan through and through!  He looks like him and will definilty have the same personality as him.  So Sam is my Mini-me and Hunter is Stephan's!  It's pretty funny.  Hunter greeted me with a big smile this morning and started talking to me.  It sure is rewarding after so many sleepless nights.  Samantha is my little helper and my little love bug.  She always says "Oh Mom!  You need Hug? Sam make you happy mom!  Snuggles?"  It's pretty cute.  So hopefully things will continue to improve and I will be able to update our blog more often!  Love to all!!!!

Getting the hang of two!

So Samantha loves her new brother as you can tell! Having two kids has proven to be quite the challenge but we are already seeing the blessings. Plus, when you have cute kids, it makes it a little easier! Amanda is a trooper with them. She is a good mom and has the patience that I don't have. Good thing too since Hunter had reflux and Sam was already a "mama's girl" before Hunter came a long. Yeah, you can imagine how needy she is being...well multiply that by 2 and you will be pretty close to accurate to what's going on.

Welcome Hunter!

Finally, Hunter has arrived! He was born July 7th, weighing in at 9lbs 3oz. He had a few little complications so he spent 12 hrs in the NICU but he is fine now. Amanda is recovering well from the surgery and is up and about trying to get back to normal life. We are ever so thankful to have Hunter and that there were no major complications. A thanks for everyone's prayers and support.

So now that we are home, it has been an eye-opening experience in adding another kid to the mix. Samantha is very good with him but feels the lack of attention that she is used to getting. It will take some work, and that is the hard part. I like to call them "family growing pains". I think that sums it up for now. More to come later...