On Our Own...

This week we have been redefining "normal" for our little family of four.

Since Caleb was born we've had Grandma Roberts and Grandma Stacey with us to help Emily with the boys while I have returned to work. We really appreciated having them here, and appreciate it even more after being on our own this week. Emily misses her naps that she took while the grandmas watched the boys, Sam misses his walks and bike rides with his grandmas, and I miss having dinner ready when I get home every night. We asked Caleb what he missed, and this is all we got:

We actually get that look a lot.

Here's Sam and his Grandmas:

And here are a couple of Halloween pictures:

As Halloween was getting close we kept having people tell us Sam should be Charlie Brown. I guess he has the head for it: big, round and bald. Actually he is getting more hair, but it is very light and very thin. So all he needed was the yellow shirt with the black zig-zag stripe and, of course, the trademark curl in front. It turned out pretty good.

He even won "Best in Show" at our ward's Halloween Carnival costume contest. He walke across the stage and when he saw everyone clapping, he walked right up to the front and started clapping too. We always knew he loved being the center of attention.

Caleb was a baby for Halloween. Emily wanted to make him the football that Charlie Brown is always trying to kick, but even the smallest Halloween costumes aren't really intended for babies who are only four days old.

Emily was beautiful for Halloween. But she's always beautiful.

With another kid in the family we've all had to pitch in...even Sam. He's been a great helper.

He seems to really like his little brother. He sometimes seems impatient that Caleb can't really play with him, but they've found they enjoy watching movies together. Their favorites are "Horton Hears a Who" and "Curious George".

And then there were four...

So, it's been a pretty busy week for us.

Emily was technically due last Thursday, but since Sam came 11 days early we've been expecting it any day for the last two and a half weeks or so. In fact, Emily's mom came in a couple of weeks ago and her dad drove down a few days later. They helped us paint the outside of the house and a few other projects, but nothing was happening as of Sunday so they headed home.

On Monday Emily had an appointment with her doctor. He had told her the week before that he would probably let her go a week past her due date before inducing her, which would be today. But on Monday he said circumstances were favorable to induce and he would be going out of town, so we could do it Tuesday or wait another week. The idea of being pregnant another week did not appeal to Emily so she scheduled it for Tuesday. Her mom had been home in Oklahoma not quite 24 hours, but when she heard they would be inducing on Tuesday she hopped on a plane Monday night to head back down (by the time she goes back on Sunday, she will have been here for 17 days, minus one; we really appreciate her).

This is starting to seem like too much writing, not enough pictures, so...we went to the hospital Tuesday morning at 6:30am and at 4:44pm Caleb Eugene Burkinshaw was born.



He was 7lbs 11oz and 20.25" long. For comparison, Sam was 6lbs 1oz and about 18" long. Also for comparison, here's a similar shot of both of them (Caleb is the first one).



We wondered how Sam would react to having a new baby brother, and when he came to visit at the hospital there were too many buttons to push and cords to pull on to pay attention to any thing else. But Emily and Caleb came home last night, and this afternoon Sam finally started to notice there was a new little person in the house.



Then this evening he was holding his arms out while I was holding Caleb, so we sat him on the rocking chair and they both did great for a little while. Then Caleb started getting fussy and Sam started getting bored, but we think they bonded. Don't you?

Sam has always been on the small side for his age, but now after holding Caleb, Sam seems huge. He's been very interested in all his old stuff that we've gotten out for Caleb. Here he is in his old bouncer.

We're very happy to be a family of four, and very grateful for these two little boys.

Long over due!

There is so much to say about what we have been up to! Mainly it's chasing Sam all over the place.

Some things about Sam. He likes to hide things in drawers. Today I found a puzzle piece and a remote in the Tupperware drawer.

He also likes to get out pans and try to slide on them.

He is very picky about what he eats.

Right now he loves pretzel goldfish!

He also likes mommy's yogurt covered pretzels.

He really likes drinking from a straw. He doesn't backwash much so that's good. John is usually willing to share whatever he is having.

He is an amazing tantrum thrower. He flips and flops all over the floor. I will leave and come back a minute later and he's on the other side of the room still flipping and flopping. It does make me laugh sometimes which is better than the alternative. However, he gets real tears every, so even though he's being ridiculous, I still feel bad for him. Who knew I would have such an ornery child. ;-) He usually gets pretty bummed when dad leaves for work, meetings or church. Sam is a total daddy's boy! He walks around saying Dadda? Dadda? And when he hears the garage door open, or any noise from that end of the house, he runs to the back door, Dadda? Dadda? and starts knocking on the door. It's precious. When it so happens that John is not home and he hears a noise, the poor child will lie on the floor and cry at the door. It's a little sad, but pretty funny to see.

He loves little babies. There is a 2 month old in our ward that he is just fascinated with. He'll go squat by him and rock the car seat (not things that I have have taught him). He has on occasion even tried to drag the car seat with him when he wants to go. I'll have to keep a close watch when his little brother gets here!

Sam loves seeing new people, and we're teaching him to give kisses. He was running away from me at the mall and stopped next to a lady who bent down to talk to him while I caught up. By the time I got there, he was sitting on her lap and trying to give her kisses on the cheek. It was pretty cute. I have no idea how he got so bold!

In the last few months Sam has put his amazing balance to the test. Here are a few of the things he likes to climb up on. (He can also balance on a plastic box of wipes!)
The picture where his nose is scraped up is from when he got going too fast down our driveway and his shoes got in the way of pavement, and he took a dive. It was pretty traumatic! But that doesn't stop him from trying to run!


Sam likes to help out whenever possible. This is him helping dad make some muffins for Conference morning. He did not like it when we tried to show him how to stir the ingredients. He had been doing a great job with the empty bowl. And he didn't like it when we took away his measuring cup to pour the milk in. He is quite the independent child.


Grandpa Burkinshaw came to visit last month and for FHE treats he bought some ice cream sandwiches. I think Sam might have eaten pretty much the whole thing. Thank goodness Grandpa was willing to sacrifice. :-) Sam will eat pretty much anything sweet!


Aunt Chelsea and Aunt Kathleen and cousin Spencer came to visit us! This I believe is the only picture I have from their visit! I'm not good at documenting things! It was fund having them here and it was fun to see Sam and Spencer interact. :-) Sam also fell in love with Aunt Chelsea's phone. He loved to take it around with him and and he liked looking at the pictures. Thanks Aunt Chelsea for keeping him happy! :-)


Sam likes to help Dad with his work out these days. He will just lie on John's back while he does push ups. This used to be my job when I was less pregnant and much lighter. It looks like he has the better end of the workout!

John also likes to use Sam as a weight when he does pull ups. Sam of course loves it too. He is just smiles all the way!

Over all, things are going well here. We expect our 2nd little one soon, and we can't wait to meet him! Hopefully we won't have to wait much longer!

Sam's Birthday Day!

So Sam woke up from his afternoon nap with a fever, and just not feeling too well, so it wasn't quite as fun for him as I think it normally would have been. We have also discovered he doesn't really care for cake. We couldn't get him to touch his cake. He did like the ice cream so John sat on the floor with him and had some ice cream! :-)
His cake was a frog...I will not put this much work into baby #2's first birthday. I love him, but he didn't really much care what it looked like so I will make it easier on myself!
He did eventually end up having fun following all the kiddos around. Thank you all for your Birthday wishes for Sam!


Bears that I will magically turn to frogs!

Airheads made into a lily pad.

The whole cake with Sam sitting behind.

Sam not wanting to touch his cake.



When we were in Dallas with my parents, we had a practice birthday party for him. Here are some pictures from that.

Sam wasn't too sure about this birthday cake either.

We practically had to force the first bite of frosting, and then he only dabbled in it.

Sam opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa Roberts

Sam finally warmed up to George. This was what he looked like at first.

We love you Sam!

Happy 1st Birthday Sam!

So our little Sam is getting to be such a big boy now. He had his first birthday yesterday, and woke up from a nap with a fever (hopefully he's getting some more teeth!) and so he had some grumpy moments, but he certainly loved playing with the toys he got! :-)

Some things we love about Sam:
Sam loves people. When not tired, he will go to pretty much anyone, and almost always has a smile to give. Even perfect strangers at the store are drawn in by his friendly face.

Sam likes to drink from straws. He is usually pretty good at it, and it makes it much easier to let him drink from us because previously he would grab the cup so ferociously that we wouldn't be able to get it away from him. Love the straw.

Sam also loves his pillow. I had made this huge pillow when we were first married to put on our futon, and now it resides in our living room. Sam will crawl all over it and plop down face first into it. It's usually followed by a wiggle to snuggle in deeper with a little giggle too.

Sam likes to be included in the fun. If there are other people laughing and having a good time, he will start laughing and give his biggest smile....which is very big!

Sam likes to make faces and talk to himself in the mirror in the car. We will hear him back there just jabbering and laughing. It's good that he will have a little brother to play with soon. I think they will get a long great.

Like I said, Sam likes to jabber. I remember when I was little and just made noise all the time; I believe Sam is on his way there. He just likes to hear the sounds his sweet voice makes.

When he's concentrating extra hard, he puckers up his lips and blows real low through them, making a whistling sound. I was quite impressed with this and if he can keep it up, he will be the first in his class to be able to whistle!

There are also some things that Sam does not like. Sam does not like to be away from his Daddy. Yes, he loves his mommy too of course, but if it is a choice between mom and dad, it will be dad. They are best buddies.

Sam also does not like furry animals. He starts to cry when they come near, and he will watch them to make sure they won't pounce, I guess. We got him a book of touch and feel furry things for his birthday, and he has had a hard time warming up to it. Hopefully he will grow out of this soon.

Sam also doesn't like the community water fountain. He doesn't like water shooting up at him...which I can understand. It even scared me once!

Because he is our first child, I could not pick just a few from the hundreds of pictures that we have. So here are collages of several! I have divided the pictures into months. I hope you have enjoyed seeing how much our Sam has grown. We are so glad that he is in our family and just love seeing him learn new things and grow!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!

July 17th, 2009 6lbs, 1 oz., 18 in long

1st Month of Life


2nd and 3rd Months


3rd-4th Months


4th-6th Months


7th-9th Months


9th- 11th Months


Goofy Sam Pictures

Birthday pictures will be on a following post . :-)

Sam is now walking!!!

So he took his first steps on July 2nd, and I was completely caught off guard. It took me several seconds to realize what he was actually doing! It was also a surprise because Sam didn't really like to walk much holding our hands. He has been increasing his balance, and finally I guess he felt good enough to take a few steps. Now he is trying to walk around everywhere. It is still faster to crawl, but as long as he doesn't get too excited walking, he can stay up for a while. He can even change directions standing! What a talented kid!
Of course, when he started doing this I tried to get out the camera to take pictures and videos, but sometime during scout camp our memory chip did something and we haven't replaced it yet. So no pictures yet, but we will have some soon!!! :-)

Catch up time!

So I realized that in a few weeks, our little Sam will be 1 years old, and thinking that time does go by quickly! Sam has started to do all sorts of fun things. He started crawling a few months ago, and of course as soon as he did he was pulling up on things. Now our little boy can stand all by himself in the middle of a room with no help. I can tell he's going to have his daddy's strong legs, because this boy can stand, squat and then stand again like it was nothing. Probably learned it from seeing John work out. :-) Everyone keeps telling us that soon he'll be walking, but he gets around pretty fast with his bear crawl, and I'm thinking it still may be a while before he does take his first steps. As long as he does it before his little brother is born, I will be happy! By the way, we are having another little boy!

Sam has graduated from formula. I got tired of the smell, and he started spitting up more, so we have switched to whole milk...which he loves, of course. We're still trying to get him to eat big people food, but with only 2 teeth on the bottom, it's still pretty tricky. Some of his favorites are graham crackers, goldfish, popsicles (thanks John), rolls, and anything he finds on the floor, except for peas. I was trying to be sneaky one day and put some on the floor because he eats EVERYTHING off the floor, but he just rolled it around until he found some other speck to munch on. You would think that I didn't feed this boy the way he does that. Just yesterday I was doing dishes in the kitchen and I turned to see Sam sprawled out on his stomach on the floor. He wasn't crying so I figured he hadn't fallen, and then I look closer and the little stinker is trying to lick something off the floor!!!! I have started sweeping and moping more often, but he finds everything. I did not have my camera at the time, but it would have been a great picture!

As I have mentioned before, Mr. Sam just loves being around people. I have started going to the gym, and Sam goes to the Nursery. To think that I was ever worried about him was pure craziness. He thrives on being around other people. Yesterday he had a little friend over to play (and I got to hang with his mommy) and the two boys just had a great time chasing each other around the house, and crawling all over each other. It will be nice to have a built in playmate!


(Sam went to the beach a few weeks ago, and loved eating the sand and tasting the salt on his fingers. What a cute little boy!)

Sam has also started throwing little tantrums, which I must say is pretty darn cute. When he's upset, he'll throw his head back and then sling his body forward. Right now, it's pretty funny, we're trying not to encourage it, because it won't be so cute in another year or so, but he's just so dramatic about the whole thing, it's hard not to find it amusing. And it's better than feeling mad about it, right?

John returned last week from 5 days of summer camp, and he kept telling me how excited he is that he'll get to do that with Sam and #2. (That's what we're calling him for now). John has been very excited about this idea of having two boys as they will be fairly close in age, and therefore will be able to do lots of things together, like be in scouts together, go on camp outs, be deacons, teachers, priests together. I have to admit I have have been getting excited about another little boy too. Everyone keeps telling me they'll be a handful, and I'm sure they will, but they will have a blast together I am sure.

I am about 24 weeks along and can tell that it is definitely different being pregnant with a little one, than it was with the first. The time has also gone by so quickly. Pretty soon, I will be going to Dr. appts. every other week!


In preparation for #2 we have switched Sam's room with the guest room. It's bigger, and will allow for two beds once #2 is ready for sharing.

Well I believe that it pretty much up to date on what has been going on in the Burkinshaw household. Sorry I have not been very good at posting! I will try to do better this next month! :-)