Dear Sammy,

I am so overdue on this letter but better late than never. Wow-this has been a tough month for you. Let me see-first an ER trip with a 105.5 temp to the Southern Ocean County Hospital, then a case of Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease, then a yeast infection and then  spider bite that landed us in Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia but you are fine, tired but fine. I have to say that despite being sick-especially the high fever, (which scared your mom and dad so much), you were still your wild free loving self. And let me also say that the drive to the ER from Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island was 45 minutes and it was the longest drive for me EVER. I was so scared but you were fine and you are good now.

I have also come to learn that my mom says we are exactly alike in personality. I did know this when I saw how independent you are…I just had that feeling that the “apple did not fall too far from the tree”.

You are talking so much. You call all dogs ESTHER because our dog is named Esther. You now say MOMMY and I love it. It warms my heart. You also say NO constantly and Bad. OH Geez. You love to say no and move your finger back and forth like I do-I swear little girl-you will cause me to gray early. You have a fire that cannot be squashed and a  personality that is louder than life.

You love your babies, strollers, cell phones, bags and most of all SHOES! You want to sleep in your shoes and wear them all of the time It is so funny. You hate getting your hair brushed, but love putting lotion on yourself and by the way-you even enjoy eating shea butter..you are so funny. You love to brush your teeth and splash in the water. You love to read books and dance on them too. You love to dance and sing.

You still love PIZZA more than any other food. We also call you swiper because you like to eat anything that anyone else is eating. It is hysterical. You prefer to eat with your fist, hands, fingers…you love to dip and you would bathe in marinara sauce if you were allowed..you love sweets too..anything that is candy and you beg for Omega DHA balls daily.

You love Max & Ruby, Curious George and Shrek. You enjoy TV but you really love to play. You love anything that has animals as one of your favorite movies is about a cat and dog, Milo & Otis. You basically love life. Your Dad and I always joke that your brother wants to create the party but you want to be the party. I love you so much. I love your zest for life and the fire inside of you. I love that you refuse to sit in a cart and that I cannot food shop with you because you have to walk. You are teaching me so much about how to tame a wild and beautiful little girl. Don’t change ever but understand that life does have rules. I love you little one!

So it seems Miss Samantha has started to walk-she can take about 5 steps and then she drops and then she stands up again and tries again. It is so cute. She also has this obsession with standing up while holding different objects. She loves to hold her bottle and drink while standing. She also loves to hold dumbbells and work out with me in the morning. It is so cute because Max did the very same thing. Samantha is so proud of herself. She is full of love and full of fire. It will be a ton of fun when she is fully walking because she will be unstoppable.

Max has been doing amazing. His speech is doubling by the day and he now can use 5 words in a sentence. His teachers are amazed and so are we. It is so funny the things that come out of his mouth. He is also starting to use the potty. We have been asking for a while but he had no interest and then last week he went pee 5 times and today he went pee at school on the potty. Such a big boy.

Max’s party was an absolute success. We had so much fun and even the dad’s were having a blast. We had it at this bounce place and the kids jumped and bounced and just had a great time. It was funny to watch because all the kids hit a wall at 45 minutes where they were sweating and just plain exhausted. They were all ready for some food and yummy allergy free, egg free cup cakes.

I am glad the month of December is over and I am hoping for a great year. A year where I can learn to  let go a little more and enjoy the grace in my life. I have an amazing family, a new career path, and a good life. I am thinking 2010 will be wonderful.

Do your kids ever look at the camera? HAHA

Dear Max,

Happy 3rd birthday. It has been a month of gifts. Hanukkah started last friday and since then there has been a gift a night not to mention the gifts that have arrived from family and friends. As you can see by the pic above, this is what you have  looked like everyday and it has not stopped. You asked for presents and gifts constantly and today I actually had to say that soon there will be no gifts for a year. I guess it is a tough concept to explain because then you cried for 40 mins. I guess today was not the day to say that or explain that you have it REALLY good.

Today is your official birthday and we celebrated with your family. We were supposed to have your big party at Bouncetown but the snow storm of 2009 wrecked our plans. So it snowed and you had a ton of fun yesterday playing in the snow, so I guess that was a pretty cool way to start the birthday weekend. As for me, I shed some tears because I had done all the planning and wanted you to have such a fun day but I let it go by 7:30 am and then just enjoyed the day. So in total we got about 22 inches or more and it was the first time you ever saw this much snow and thankfully I bought you snow gear this year-but forgot boots so you wore rain boots that your MIMI bought you. I am am mom and moms tend to forget at least one thing. You shoveled snow with your dad three times and we went sledding for as long as you and your sister could handle it..about 45 mins and then came inside and ate some muffins.

You are chatting up a storm and saying the funniest things. Your aunt told you the other day that you are handsome and you said, I KNOW! I cracked up laughing. You are still a jokester and love to make people laugh. You love to play games and play little tricks on people and then say..JUST KIDDING. You are funny and really enjoy being the center of attention when you are comfortable. You can now break dance or at least that is what we call  it-I guess you could also call it the happy dance. Daddy showed you the move at the end where you hold you arms across your body and almost hug yourself like all the break dancers did and you look so cute doing it.

You love school and you are learning so much being there. I am amazed daily. You told me NO THANK YOU the other day when i asked about if you wanted a burger for lunch. You are learning so much at Montessori school, basically how to be a good person in the world and how to love yourself and others.

You are still very tender and very loving. I am so lucky that you are this sweet. You are such an amazing big brother. You love to cuddle, snuggle, kiss, hug but you are also ALL boy. You love trucks, airplanes, trains, helicopters, balls, and anything that can crash into something. You love football and of course you love the EAGLES, Phillies home team. You are enjoying dressing up as  super heros these days and astronauts (our current costumes in the house). As of right now, Bob the Builder rules in your mind..Curious George still has a place in your heart and you sleep with a stuffed anaimal curious george but Bob is the best!

It has been an interesting month with doing the amy yasko protocol. I have been detoxing your gut and supplementing your organs to protect them from the detox. I am even giving you B12 shots in your butt and you are doing great. You are detoxing but you are still smiling. You speech teacher thinks you have 600 words, which is amazing since you said 0 words in March 2009. I just adore you and so does your Dad. You are loved by so many people and so many people say that you are so special and handsome of course. Just don’t ever stop exploring. I love that you always want to find out the answer. Don’t stop looking. I love you kiddo!

Love, Mommy

Dear Samantha,

I look at this picture and it seemed like it was yesterday but ti was so long ago. You were 2 weeks old in the picture and now you are a little girl, a little girl who is one years old. You are not that baby anymore but you are still my baby girl.

You are full of life and full of personality. You love to dance and you love to sing. I find you often singing “The Wheels on the Bus” and making the SHHHH noise that the mom says and then saying RRROOUUU for the wheels on the bus go round. You love to splash in the tub. You actually splash so much that you tend to cough but it does not stop you..sometimes you even make your brother whine begging you to stop but that does not stop you. I guess that is a huge part of your personality-you are such a strong driving force. You are sweet and cuddly. You are tough and feisty. You are such a special girl.

Sometimes you are serious…and you have such a determined look

BUT MOST OF THE TIMES YOU ARE LAUGHING AND SMILING…

You are cruising everywhere and you can climb an entire set of stairs. You still don’t love foods but you do eat tons of squash and a lot of yogurt. You enjoy carrots and parsnips as well. You love your bottle and you love your crib. You are just such a sweet little girl. You always giggle and you love to play.

I remember the moment I met you. I had no idea that life with you would be so grand. I had no idea you would be so different than your bother in personality. I am so lucky to have you. I am so lucky to watch you grow. I am so lucky you are my little girl. You have taught me so much about myself and have forced me to be a better woman. I guess having a little girl has made me want to be a FULL woman full of self esteem and love for herself so that I can that to you. Thank you so much! You are loved so much by so many. happy Birthday Samantha!!

Love, Mommy

My little girl is almost turning ONE! Where has the time gone? We had a small family get together and it was a lot of fun. We ordered trays of food from our favorite Jewish deli in Philly called “The Famous 4th Street Deli” and it was so more food but so good. We made a fruit tray that was gobbled up by both the kids and the adults. My husband also bought cookies from them, which are too die for and I swear they must be about 700 calories each but damn they are good. Then we ordered a cake from the “Pink Pastry Shop” on 4th and Bainbridge and the cake was amazing. I had so many pieces of cake and could not stop eating it. I even ate cake for dinner one night-it was out of control.

We did it the Saturday after Thanksgiving so our family could be there and it was a nice way to end Thanksgiving. Baby Sam loved all the attention and she looked adorable in her pink and gray party outfit. She has these little leggings that had an adorable bubble skirt with poka dots. Adorable.

Samantha helped open her gifts, which included some first play with me dolls and some pajamas and a fun toy where balls went into a funnel and then you watched them travel across to another tunnel. Very cool stuff. Mostly it was fun just watching family together and celebrating our little girl.

Max enjoyed cake with his cousin Abigail (she is one he is also kissing in pictures at family celebrations-they adore each other).

I think Max was a little shocked that it was not his b day party but he got used to the idea-I guess having their birthdays one week apart can be confusing for a little guy but he got real happy soon when the cake came out!

Happy Soon to be birthday little girl in just 1 day!! !! We love you!!