Christmas Day

Photos from Christmas Day at home, with Santa(!) at the Vogel house and at the Sewacki house.

Christmas Eve

Some photos from the Christmas Eve events at the Vogel House.

Happy First Birthday!

Here are some photos from the Baby Einstein-themed party. He enjoyed opening the presents, but once he got his first toy open he wanted to play instead of open the rest of his presents. And yes, he got his hand in the cake while we were taking the pictures.

Sam's first visit with Santa.

Happy Holidays everyone and here's our little guy before he lost it on Santa's lap. You'd never know that he started crying after these pictures were taken.

But first, here's Sam with a few words of his own:

b v gvfgfij6ov5ijo5ujujm59o4ik4ik5fr95ifrikk,m, c. q1hrtmnn g v gh fg g--[ vbbm, vb cgt

I think that's Sam's way of saying "Happy Holidays everyone!" or "Buy me something!" I'm not quite sure which.

At any rate...on with the photos.

Fall fun and a Halloween ... Skunk!?

More pictures.
Enjoy.

As Promised...The Walk

He's covering much more ground during each attempt now, but this is pretty cool stuff.

It's been a while!

Sam is getting so big and darn smart. He's getting into everything now and we've locked and bolted down everything we can that we want him to stay out of. He's an excellent stair climber and he can walk with assistance from either furniture or his little walker toy. (video coming soon!)

He now has six teeth and is eating a variety of new foods. He enjoys feeding himself with a spoon from time to time. Just today he was eating fruit medley (not mashed), part of a pancake and well, his standard mashed foods too. He's not so keen on the macaroni and cheese or any of the other jars of dinner food yet, but he's warming up to them.

It's exciting to see the progress he is making, and though I'm sure he'll be even more of a handful, we're really excited to see him take his first unassisted steps.

And if you would like full size images to make prints of just click the pictures below and (on a PC) right click to download the image and save to your computer.

Enjoy!

Toys, Teeth and Trouble.

You may need to click on the picture of his teeth in order to see them better. I assure you...the bottom two are almost fully in now...and he can bite! Ouch!

He Sits! He Crawls! He Swims! He's Amaaaazing!

Sam has taken some pretty huge steps lately and I thought we should share them with all of you...and if you missed it...check out the video we put up last time.

And remember, if you want a high quality image to print out, you have to click the picture first, then download it.

He Crawls!

He's mobile now and becoming quite adventurous. The video says it all.

Packer Fan...Already!?

Oh gosh! Sam's already sporting a Packer jersey, and he's only 6 months old! And he looks pretty happy about it. (M: I clearly had nothing to do with this.) On June 2, Sam and Becky got to meet Donald Driver of the Green Bay Packers at the grand opening of the Aurora Clinic in Plymouth. Sam was quite happy with the encounter and didn't cry at all when Donald put Sam on his knee to sign his jersey. The kicker was that once we were heading out of the tent, we neglected to put his bib back on and Sam, in true post-meal fashion, puked on the jersey. It's ok though, we wiped the puke off and don't plan on washing the jersey. Through it all, I think Becky was way more excited about meeting Donald Driver.

I like to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas!

So as the photos suggest, Sam has started to eat solid...well mushy food. Mostly rice cereal to be exact. And let me tell you, it has no taste, but for some reason he likes to eat it. He's also become quite vocal spouting off rants of "ma ma ma ma ma ma" and "da da da da da". He still doesn't associate the words with anything yet, but he sure likes to say them, especially when he's frustrated. We're currently working on his social skills, if he sees someone who he does not know within 20 feet of him who is talking to him...he'll cry. Though he was recently introduced, again, to his Cousin Ellen and they hit it off quite well. Aren't they cute?!

5 Months and now he can scream. Yay!

Samuel is now five months old! Can you believe it! He's able to roll from his back to his belly, but not in reverse just yet, but he sure tries. He has also begun mastering the art of rotating himself in his crib, so in the morning his feet are where his head is supposed to be. Yes, he discovered loud volume screaming recently and he loves to tell Beamer every time she walks by. He's also become quite the jumper...well in his "Jumparoo" that is...he loves it and goes crazy every time we put him in it. Enjoy the photos below of Mom, Dad, Grandma and a couple solo Sam.

Baptism

This past Sunday our son Samuel was baptized. We weren't sure how it was going to go because he started to cry the moment we arrived at the church. Becky was able to console him and get him to fall asleep. They arrived a little late to the service, but just in time for the actual baptism. He woke up in the middle of the baptism while the minister was holding him, but was on his best behavior. He was wide awake as the minister showed him off to the congregation. It was a very nice service and Samuel was good when it mattered. His Aunt Val and Uncle Matt were chosen as godparents and did a great job in church as well.

Our family celebrated with us at our home after the baptism. Sam missed out on most of this due to a much needed nap.

Enjoy the pictures that we took before church (which is a good thing because he promptly threw up on the outfit when we got home after church). Mark's favorite part of the outfit was the hat.

Photos, and more Photos

Here's a few more good shots.

Long overdue update

I apologize for not getting a new post up here sooner. I really have no excuse except that I'm lazy.
So there.
As for Samuel...he is doing well and growing like a weed. As you can see from the photos in the next post, he's got quite an addictive smile. Once you get him going you just want to keep him smiling. He's also cooing and he's getting a better handle on his hand and arm coordination. He recognizes our voices, and reacts to us when we're close. It's still a learning process, but we're doing just fine.

Enjoy the pictures.