Christmas Time...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Christian, Sam and I had a wonderful Christmas in Ontario.  We had dinner Christmas Eve with his immediate family and then everyone came back over Christmas morning for breakfast and gift opening.  The kids all got spoilt rotten!  Christian and I didn't do gifts this year, our gift will be our trip home (which we started today!!!).  Later on Christmas day we went over to Christian's Aunt and Uncle's place for dinner.  Needless to say we ate way too much food and had a great time.  On Saturday we headed north to London to visit Grandpa Pease and got to meet some of Christian's cousin's kids, again a great time.  It was nice to have Christmas out in Ontario, we hadn't spent Christmas out east since 2003, much too long.

Here are a few pictures of Sam enjoying his first Christmas.

Sam and I Christmas morning.

Sam and Christian Christmas morning.

Sam's at-home Christmas Eve portrait session.

Five months old!!

Portraits

Okay, so this post will consist mostly of pictures, wait a minute, most of my posts consist mostly of pictures.   Oh well, at least Sam is so darn cute that I am sure no one minds.  I am also having a little difficulty getting the captions and pictures in place so I apologize if it looks a little funny or doesn't make sense.

This is the portrait we did from Walmart.  I am really pleased with the way it turned out.  He is so photogenic. 

Last week we took Ruth, Louis and Sam to get their portraits taken.  Here are a few of the best shots.  Sam got a little beaten up by Ruth in the pictures with Nanny but other than that it went very smoothly.  They are proofs so please pardon the watermark on the pictures.

Nanny with her grandbabies!

Sam getting beaten up!

And again!

This is my favourite picture of Sam (from that day).  I think this is a keeper.

And of course more adorable shots!

The best group shot of the day!

I absolutely love these pictures of Ruth, she is such a little sweetheart!

Once Louis got a ball in his hand he was more than happy to sit on the sled and pose for the camera.

4 Months Old!!

I can't believe that Sam is already 4 months old.  I am sounding more and more like a parent everyday, every parent I know says that all the time.  

Sam is growing like crazy and is such a joy.  I love every moment with him.  Even when he is crying and I have no idea why I still enjoy being with him.  Every month I am trying to do a photo shoot so that I can properly document his growth.  Here are a few of my favourite pictures.

I love his smile, it is absolutely adorable.  His face totally lights up.

This photo cracks me up!

What would a photo shoot be without a soother shot!

Another adorable smile!

Sam's New Toy

I can't believe that Sam will be 4 months in a few days.  Time really does go by so quickly.  He is such a delightful little boy, almost always smiling and squirming about.  I went out and bought him a jolly jumper the other day.  He absolutely loves it.  

Here are a few pictures of him enjoying his new toy.

The jolly jumper is a Tigger, I especially love the curly tail.

Sometimes I think he just likes "hanging" in it.

My first movie of Sam...

I have been trying to upload this movie that I made of Sam for some time.  I think the quality is going to be pretty bad due to the original size of the movie and what I had to do in order to have it upload.  Hopefully it won't be too bad.  I hope you all enjoy it.

Shots of Niagara

Sam and I took a wonderful walk the other day down the Niagara Parkway past the falls and home again.  It was beautiful.  A little windy by the falls but other than that it was great.  Here are a few pictures I took along the way.

The falls from Table Rock, this picture was not zoomed in at all.  You really are that close to the water.

The day we walked the rainbow was incredible.  This is just one of many pictures I took.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took that day.

Halloween Fun

Here are a few shots of Sam in his costume (thanks to Auntie Cynthia and Gavin!) he was absolutely adorable and it fit him perfectly!  Sam was joined by Batman (aka Louis) and a Pirate (aka Ruth), they were so cute!

After Nap Smiles...

What mother doesn't love it when their child wakes up from a nap smiling and chatting. I know I love it. I captured one of these moments on video. I apologize for the poor quality, it was taken with our point and shoot camera. Enjoy!

Fun before we left...

I love this picture of my mom. Oma and her babies!


Before we left, we celebrated my birthday along with Nicole's. The kids and their mommies. Take a close look at the cake, Christian thought it would be funny to buy it, a old nude man reading a book and smoking a cigar, really classy!

My mom came over and looked after Sam while I packed, this is a picture of his last day with Oma. He is pouting. Sam and I can't wait for the first day back with Oma!!

Sam and Abby received these onesies as gifts. Abby's was 3 to 6 months and Sam's was 0 to 3 months, perfect for this picture! Aren't they cute!

You gotta love the expensive gifts that grandparents buy their grandchildren. Right now Sam doesn't fully appreciate his "Sophie" but he will soon enough.

Well, that's it for now. I am going to try and post a video of our little Samwich next time.

Cross Country Canada (well we travelled through U.S.A. but we ended up in Ontario)

So Christian and I decided to head to Ontario for a couple of months so his parents can get to know Sam a little bit and to give Christian an opportunity to work with his Dad. We arrived here about three weeks ago and so far things have been going well. It is a bit of an adjustment for me because Christian is working longer days and on Saturdays, but in the end it will be worth it. Here are a few pictures of our trip out East.



Family picture in front of Mount Rushmore

We drove through Yellowstone National Park. This is a shot of Sam and I waiting for Old Faithful to blow.

This is a picture in front of one of the Hot Springs.

During our trip Sam had an uncanny way of pooping through many diapers. This had to be one of the worst. We pulled over and changed him on the side of the road.

He got really used to eating in his carseat. I even discovered a way of burping him while he was still buckled in!

The trip took us 6 days and some of those days were extremely long. Christian did the driving while I did the navigating and baby duties. For the trip home we are planning on taking 10 days and driving farther South to try and avoid as much of the snow as possible.

Introducing Samuel Owen Lloyd Grierson

Our son, Samuel Owen Lloyd Grierson was born on Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 11:00 am, weighing 7 lbs 9 ozs. My labour started at about 1:00 pm on Friday afternoon, we were admitted to the hospital at around 8:00 pm and I was 4 cms. I thought that I was doing really well. Then things kind of slowed down. By 6 am nothing was really happening, I was about 8 cms. I started pushing around 8 am and by 10 am the doctor suggested a c-section. Apparently Sam's head wasn't in the right position, his chin wasn't tucked in and therefore was trying to come out top of the head first rather than back of the head. Anyway, by that time I was completely exhausted and was willing to do just about anything, so c-section it was. He was born at 11:00 am. Here are some photos.

Our First Family Photo, don't I look great! Oh well, you take them as they come.

Daddy and his new baby boy!

Big Yawn!

My new baby boy! Finally!

[I don't know how to get to the bottom of this picture for some reason] A shot of my mom, Sam and I.

Belly Getting Bigger

The other day I asked Christian to take some photos of my now quite large belly. He did an amazing job. Here are a few of my favourites.