Happy Birthday Samuel!!

Samuel turned 1 year old on June 2!!
We are so thankful that he is home with us and that we were able to celebrate his first birthday. The past 4 months (hard to believe it's already/only been 4 months) have totally flown by, and we have learned so much about Sam, ourselves, and our other two children. It is totally amazing to watch Grace Caroline carry Sam around the house and to watch Drew try to teach him to crawl or stand up, but even more amazing when one of the big kids looks at me and says "Mama, I love Sammy." Totally brings tears to my eyes.


Here is a list of some of the things we love about Samuel:

1. I love his toothy grin. He got a tooth a week the first 3 weeks we were home, which made for some difficule adjusting. He is now getting 2 more at once. He is almost always smiling now, especially if one of us is talking to him!

2. Those big brown eyes -- I wouldn't be looking at a Linam child if they didn't have big, dark eyes.

3. His long, long eyelashes. Grace Caroline has told me several times that she thinks we should cut them -- I think she's just jealous.

4. His chubby, chubby thighs! This kid is chubby! I'm hoping that he'll slim down when he learns to walk. If not, his Uncle Hamilton can teach him to play football.

5. His baby talk. Sam is one of the loudest babies I've ever heard. Even when he's happy he just yells all the time. I love the sound of his jabber when he's happy and when he talks himself to sleep.

6. The way he hides his head in my shoulder when a stranger talks to him -- I love that he knows I'm his Mama!

7. The way he just melts whenever we scold him for anything. Although annoying when he goes on about it, screaming for 10 minutes, it's incredibly funny at the beginning. Better get used to the word "no" dude, because you'll be hearing it more than any other for the next few years!!

8. How he claps for himself and bounces up and down whenever he does anything he's proud of.

9. The way he scoots on his bottom to get around. Still no crawling -- just the scoot!!

10. The way he gets himself from lying down to sitting up, which he just learned last week. He gets up on all 4 (hands and feet) like a bear, then sticks his knees under him, leans back, and plops on his bottom. Too funny!

11. How excited he gets when he pulls himself up to his knees or we help him stand. Still not doing it on his own, but he sure is close.

12. He loves table food and is a fantastic eater. Refuses any babyfood, and has for a while. Some of his favorite foods are FRUIT, hot dogs, pasta, rice. It's hysterical when he puts rice in his hair -- it looks like a little nest just sitting up there

Those are just a few of the many things we have learned and love about our sweet Samuel. He has truly blessed us far more than we have blessed him. Every day with him is an adventure. Unlike with the other two, who are so much like us (Grace Caroline like me and Drew like Matt), Sam is completely unknown. We don't have a clue how big he'll be, what he'll look like, or what his personality will be like. We're pretty sure he's smart, but whether he'll be good at math or english (or neither) is so much more unknown than with our biological children.

I can't wait to see what the next year brings!!! Lots of excitement in store.....