Here's a video of Samuel from two weeks ago. I couldn't get it to load to the blog, but it is on YouTube if anyone's interested. Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/v/_crAcgF1-CU He was laughing a lot and it was cute, but I missed some of the best part... This is probably something only the grandparents will appreciate. It was pre-hair cut, so don't let the 'fro scare you!

I've had some technical difficulties with Skype- sorry to those who have tried to use it to contact us. Right now Jimmy and I have been using MSN messenger. Samuel's fussing, so I'll post some pics later!

Success Stories...

Here are a few pictures and then a couple of success stories from the day!
This is Erick pushing Samuel around in the walker. Samuel just loves any attention he can get from Erick. Doesn't even object when Erick bites his feet :).

This is Samuel talking to his Dad on speaker phone. He was more interested in eating the phone, but did perk up when he heard Jimmy's voice.

Success Story #1:

Have I already said how thankful I am for the other moms I live with? Today was the perfect example of why I'm glad I'm here! One of the other babies, Milo, sustained a pretty severe burn on his hand this week. It is a long story, but basically he was at a restaurant with his mom and the waitress sat a bowl of scalding hot soup right in front of him which he immediately put his hand in. He has 2nd degree burns on 4 fingers and the top of his hand. It's healing well thanks to lots of TLC from his "mum", Angie. So today Angie was trying to decide what would help it heal better. I called Mary, my mother-in-law, for some medical advice and Lee Anne devised a cup to fit on his hand to protect his hand without having to wear a bandage that sticks to his skin. I'm sure some doctors are probably cringing at the contraption, but I was pretty impressed. We're thinking Lee Anne should patent it.

Success Story #2 and 2.5:

This is a post-bath picture. Samuel took a bath without screaming tonight- yea! He actually laughed and played in the water. I don't know what changed, but he was very happy. He also pretty much rolled over on his own today. I sort of helped give him a bit of leverage, but he's got the hang of it now and is SO proud of himself. He also started eating in the big kid high chair today because he has figured out how to arch his back and escape the bumbo seat.

Tomorrow we're going to attempt church. We'll see how that goes! I could be "that mom" again who has to flee church with a screaming child.

Buenas noches!

El terremoto

So today started with a mild earthquake at about 6:00 AM this morning. I thought Samuel was kicking in his crib and then realized it was a bit more than that. Things shook for a few seconds- enough to wake up anyone who had been sleeping. Apparently it was a 4.8 and the center was about 30ish miles from here. What a way to start the day! Another experience I probably won't repeat in Missouri!

Today's been fairly calm. Our friends, the Embrey's, left Antigua today. The pictures in this post were taken by their soon-to-be daughter Caterin, who is 8. The first is Samuel reading/eating a book with Cindy, the Embrey's other soon-to-be daughter. The second picture is also Cindy. These pictures were two of about 30 that Caterin took with my camera today. Needless to say, these are the only two I thought you might want to see!

Lee Anne and I did some hotel hunting this morning for visitors and then grocery shopping this afternoon. Grocery shopping was a 2 hour event with visits to three different stores to get all we were looking for. I was excited to find pickles in one of the stores so I can make tuna sandwiches- it's the little things that I get excited about down here!

Have a great weekend!