Fall Run-Down

Jackson and Samson at the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago.

Here is a brief run-down of what is going on/coming up for the Blake family!

In true Fall spirit, we have recently visited both a Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch and Boo at the Zoo. Then last night we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. We got there late because we were coming from a baby shower for a good friend, but Jackson was excited to once again don his Spiderman costume and say "Twicka Tweet!!" When we came home from the zoo, he kept requesting his candy bucket, saying, "I want my Twicka Tweet, Mama!" Unfortunately I have yet to capture the boys in their Halloween costumes, but Jackson is Spiderman and Samson is Superman. I wanted to get him a costume that was a little more unique, but he was SOOOO excited to be Spiderman, and after all it is HIS Halloween experience, not mine, so I relented. We did see about 10 other Spidermen at Boo at the Zoo though. Jackson was the cutest though, but of course, I am biased, haha.

Ben finished up his Internal Medicine rotation which was an extremely hard rotation for us. He starts Surgery on Monday which he is both excited for and nervous about. He is afraid he is going to love surgery and want to go into that field, but he doesn't want to love it because a surgeon's work schedule is not conducive to a lot of family time. He starts out in Orthopedic Surgery, then he does Vascular Surgery, then finishes up in General Surgery right before Christmas Break. He gets 2 weeks off for Christmas, but I doubt he gets any time off for Thanksgiving, so it looks like the boys and I will be venturing off to Galveston alone this year. Good thing there will be plenty of family around to help me! It is always hard to spend time in a house not baby (or toddler) friendly. The amount of things I will have to pack to salvage some semblance of a vacation for me endangers the level of space we will have in the Jeep!

Samson turned 5 months last Thursday. He is very close to being able to sit up on his own now. He can hold himself up, but he leans too far forward and gets angry because he isn't quite strong enough to sit himself back up straight. I also moved his bath location to the tub now, and I just lay him down in a very low level of water. Like Jackson did, he enjoys being surrounded by the water and having his legs free to kick and explore it.

Samson can also roll over both ways and scoot himself around a little on his blanket to get the toys he wants. He can't really crawl, but he finds a way to get what he wants. The other day I started group time with Samson in the living room on his tummy playing with some toys. We started group time and our songs, and he began to protest from the other room that we were having fun without him. By the time I got back in there to check on him a few minutes later he had somehow managed to position himself facing the doorway to the playroom several feet away from the blanket. It was as if he had decided that if I wasn't going to come get him despite his vehement demands, he was going to find a way to get in there himself! (He really likes to sit in the doorway to the playroom in his Exersaucer and watch the kids play, but lately, I have been trying to keep him separate from them as much as possible since we have had swine flu and strep throat going around.)