Holiday at the Ranch

We went to 'Holiday at the Ranch' at the Stowe House in Goleta this afternoon. Samantha went on a supervised date with Connor. They danced to live Christmas music, made gingerbread shaped sugar cookies and crafted fancy ornaments. The highlight of the afternoon were the "Rein-Goats".

Santa Claus was also there but Samantha cried, "No Santa!" over and over the closer we got to him so we decided not to traumatize her by making her sit on his lap. On the other hand, Connor was excited to see Santa but being the gentleman that he is, he did not make fun of his date for being afraid and showed no signs of disappointment when we skipped the long line to see him.

How cute are these two?

Tick Tock

Let the countdown begin! I am already a couple weeks into the 3rd trimester. When I told Todd this he asked, "Is that the last one?" TRI-mester Todd, there are only 3! Maybe he still needs the Baby Books for #2!

Despite bouts of insomnia (I guess this is preparing me in advance for the sleepless nights), heartburn and a bit of pain right around where my belly button is, I feel pretty good. I am still working out but I am getting weird looks from some people especially in Spinning Class. I am not that graceful trying to get situated on the bike and my knees are basically tapping my stomach each time I pedal but I am not ready to slow down just yet.

I think we better start getting serious on baby names. The hard part about not knowing for sure whether it is a Boy or a Girl is that you can't just focus on names for one gender. And although we are (well at least I am) confident that it is a girl, we better come up with a boy name just in case.

Grandma's Girl

Both Samantha and I have been very lucky lately, Dancing Grandma has been helping us out A LOT by watching Samantha quite a bit lately.

Here she is playing the piano at Grandma's (she looks so big in these pictures!) and thanks Isabella for the cute sweatsuit.

Checking out Grandma's Christmas Tree and holding on to her new makeup that Grandma bought her. Apparently she would not let go of the makeup and even slept with it.

Here she is showing me how to put eyeshadow on.

Thank you Grandma :)

2 Year Checkup

We had Samantha's 2 year checkup the other day and boy was it a disaster. Samantha definitely knows the difference between going to the doctor for Mommy's baby and going to the pediatrician. As soon as we approached the parking lot she freaked out.

She cried for 90% of the appointment and she didn't even need any shots! Todd and I basically had to pin her down to let the doctor do anything. The only stats we got for her was her weight because Todd was able to get on the big kid scale with her and then he got on alone and we subtracted her weight from his.

So we know Samantha weighs in at 25 pounds which is the 30%. We are going to do her height at home but I am guessing she is in the upper percentile for height. She is long and lean.

The only time she stopped crying was to say, "I want a lollipop now please!" This prompted the doctor to comment on how great her vocabulary was for her age. However, the doctor wasn't very amused and said she could have a lollipop after her finger prick to test for anemia (I was a little taken back by this - I normally just give her one or two lollipops anytime throughout the appointment just to make her quiet). The doctor even suggested we reschedule for another time when she was more calm. I highly doubt she would be any calmer on another day, she just doesn't like going to the doctor.

We basically left with instructions that Samantha should be on a better nap/sleep schedule, she should be potty trained before the new baby arrives (which is less than 3 months away) and how to handle "time-outs" better. Both Todd and I didn't agree with a lot of what the doctor had to say and when we found out the doctor isn't even a parent them self we have decided to switch pediatricians again (hopefully third times a charm). There is something about a pediatrician not having kids of their own that just seems off to me, they just can't possibly understand what it is like to be a parent no matter how much schooling they have had or how many patients they have seen. And I know some of you are thinking this is an unfair judgement as there are plenty of doctor's out there that haven't experienced the medicine they practice firsthand but in my mind I feel this is at least one instance where having the actual experience makes a difference.

Since I don't want this post to be entirely negative I thought I would share a major positive. Samantha took a record 4 hour+ nap yesterday and still went to bed relatively early that night.

How's that for a sleep schedule doctor?! :)

Here is what sleeping beauty looked like when she woke up. Bed head is an understatement!

We are going to start getting serious about the potty training though. How fabulous would that be to not have two kids in diapers!!! I will keep you all posted on our progress.

Happy 2nd Birthday Dear Samantha!

This day, two years ago, after 36 hours of labor (YES, 36!), Samantha Delilah was born. She was stubborn to enter this world and has not missed a beat since! She keeps us on our toes and we think she is the cutest, smartest, wildest most outgoing and independent child we could have ever asked for.

Samantha will jump from the top of a slide to the bottom without bothering to sit down and its not uncommon to find her atop our kitchen counters dancing and jumping. She is always the filthiest of the kids when they have a play date and if she could live in a bounce house 24/7, she would be quite content.

Year 2 has already brought us nap-skipping and increased time-outs, but it's not all terrible. We also get to listen to her sing her favorite songs in her sweet Samantha voice and we can hold 2-way conversations and both understand each other.

To celebrate Samantha turning 2, we had a "Yo Gabba Gabba" themed birthday party a couple weeks ago. We decorated the house with all sorts of fun "Gabba" decorations, had a bounce house and squeezed a ton of friends and family into our little home. Both sets of Grandparents came to the party which really threw her for a loop. She kept saying, "Two Grandmas and two Papas are here." Samantha was showered with awesome gifts and lots of love. Thanks to everyone for making her 2nd birthday so special.

Here are a ton of pictures from the party:

98 Days to go!

So I just noticed the Baby Ticker on our blog is now in the double digits and I got a little bit freaked out. I rarely look at it and when I do it seems like it always says the same number as the day before. I never know what week I am in, I rely on asking my friend Marina who is due 3 weeks after me :)

Around week 20 people started to ask me when I was due (by then I was sporting a pretty noticeable bump) and I always replied, "Not until February." People always respond with, "Wow that's right around the corner!" I always shrugged that notion off and would walk away thinking we still have to get through 2009.

Well now I agree with everyone. It IS right around the corner. With the holiday season beginning and our social calendar filling up with various parties and events, 2010 is going to be here in no time.

This doesn't mean I am going to get out all of Samantha's old clothes and wash and organize them (if it is a boy he is going to look mighty cute in pink) or dig through our garage for all the necessary baby gear we saved, but it does mean that I will stop pushing it to the back of my mind and start making some to-do lists.

It's weird to think that my soon to be 2 year old will not be the only baby in the house. And it is weird to think we will be a family of five (yes we include our dog in our family count and yes I can see many of you rolling your eyes at that). I can't believe my backseat will have 3 car seats (yes, Lollipop has a car seat. More eye-rolls, I feel them).

What this does mean is that I am going to spend these next 98 days loving and cherishing even more than I already do the one on one time I have with Samantha. And it also means that I am going to spend these next 98 days loving and cherishing the uninterrupted sleep I get each night :)

2009 Fallon Family Photos

Last weekend we had our family photos taken by the fabulous Meg Fish at Padaro Lane Beach. Check out her website to see more of her beautiful work - www.megfishphotography.com

I put together a slideshow of my favorite photos from the shoot.