Samuel is 1 month old today!

Today is Sam's one month birthday. It is really going by too quickly this time around.

James is back at work now, but he's almost done with his night float rotation. Grandma G came for a week and it was fabulous! She is such a wonderful grandma. She thinks our kids are as great as we do, so she's always fun to have around. Plus, she got up with Ben and let me sleep in with the baby every day, she played endlessly with Ben, she cuddled endlessly with Sam, and with James gone at work every night, we had lots of time to talk. I love my mother-in-law!

Sam is such a good baby. He had his first real smiles yesterday and James was the lucky recipient. He is really putting on weight and has amazing cheeks. One of my favorite things is when he's nursing and I have to life his cheek up in order to check his latch. He's still sleeping better than Ben did at this age, but he is plagued by major gas pains, which sometimes interrupt his sleep. He's also had a diaper rash since he was a few days old, but I think I've beat it (for now) through a combination of cloth-diapering, washcloths and water instead of wipes, and gobs of vaseline.

Here are some photos...

Sam & Grandma G

Ben "holding" Sam

Ben loves to talk about Harry Potter and Dobby. He has never seen the movies, but he likes to look at the pictures on the DVD covers. In fact, every night before we leave his room, we have to take Dobby & Clark (a creature from a Dr. Seuss book) out with us. Here he is wearing Harry Potter glasses and snapping like Dobby.

The enthusiastic big brother.

See those cheeks and double chin?

We went to the "Bunny Bounce" at the zoo last Saturday, where Ben got this fabulous flamingo visor and had his first Easter egg hunt.

Sam is snuggled up with me in the moby wrap.

Ben's little legs can only carry him so far, then Daddy takes over.

I love this baby.

My sister Bonnie, her husband Kirk, and baby Claire (3 1/2 months old) had a layover in Seattle yesterday, so we all headed down to the airport. We hadn't met Claire yet and she is a doll! It was so fun to see them all. It made me want to spend so much more time with them, but I'm just happy we had an hour. And I'm glad Sam got to meet a cousin so soon. I love you, Bonnie!