the reason for the delay

...

and she hasn't stopped since :-) and we are loving every minute of her curiousity around the house!

Other big developments going on right now:

- she's pulling up and getting ready to walk

- she has two teeth coming in up top

- she's becoming a champ at eating her big girl food

- she's a talker like her momma :-)... shocker!

Sorry for the delay.... been busy

Miss Samantha has been keeping us VERY busy lately. Seems like the minute she turned 9 months, she took off developmentally!
- sitting up really well on her own - on the verge of crawling
- trying to pull herself up to stand - babbling her little head off... and ours :-)
- enjoying the heck out of bath time! - eating stage 3 and table food

Sammie had her 9 month check up a couple while back and she did very well. She's right on target with the growth chart for height and weight for preemie status... HOWEVER, our sweet daughter has inherited her father's big head! She's in the 95 percentile for head... fabulous. Only issue when we were at the dr is that they are continuing to hear a heart murmur. This is something that was noticed while she was still in the NICU, but due to Gregg's heart issues and his concern for the issue - we are going to go get it checked out tomorrow to put him at ease.

We recently took a video of Sammie enjoying her bath time - just had to share as I think it's so darn cute! Hope you guys enjoy. (Marcy & Kris... Austin CANNOT watch this video He's too young to see his girlfriend in the tub!!! HA HA)

Bath Time!!!

Samantha is really enjoying her bath time... even more now that she has discovered the toys in the tub with her! Enjoy :)

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

Em

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday. I personally could not have asked for a more perfect 1st Mother's day - Gregg and Samantha set the bar pretty high this year!

We started off by all sleeping in and then we heading out with the rest of Louisville to my favorite breakfast spot... Wild Eggs! :) :) By the time we finished with our 1 1/2 hour wait for a table we were able to partake in my mother's favorite event... Brunch! But, it was great to sit down, have a drink and enjoy a great breakfast/brunch with my two favorite people in Louisville (sorry all of my other favorite people in town, but it was Mother's day!) Next, we jumped in the car and headed to the ballpark and had a wonderful afternoon at the ballpark. It was a perfect day to be there... not a cloud in the sky and the temp. was perfect!

Then, just as we were leaving the park, we got a call from some very dear friends of ours that were downtown as well and we all decided to meet up for some early dinner... well, all of the restaurants still were working on the 2 hr wait policy so we decided to go eat were few moms would go eat for mother's day... Hooters :) :) It was great... no crowds and we were able to talk and take our time eating and not feel rushed to get out and get our table to another family... this might become a tradition with the Franklin family !!!! HA HA

Anyways - I guess it wasn't until I had a child of my own that it hit me how special of a day Mother's day really is... SO - mom, I'm sorry for all the times that I forgot about this day and had to run out the morning of and get you some flowers before church and then act like I had them the "whole time" :) :) I know my turn is coming with this little munchkin. However, I love you momma and I hope that you had a good Mother's Day even though I wasn't there to spend the day with you and take you to Brunch! I thought of you fondly all day while I was enjoying the day with Samantha

mimi

8 months old!

Happy 8 months Samantha! I look at you and I wonder where the time has gone. I also look at you and see the joy and happiness that you have brought your daddy and I. We love you with all our heart and I honestly don't know what our lives would be like if you had not come into it.

Thank you for being you - you always seem to know how to put a smile on everyone face! We love you unconditionally and I promise that will never change (even when you start to question it later on when the discipline kicks in)

Ear tubes - April 15th

Samantha had ear tubes put in on the 15th and this was a day that I was both happy about and dreading. Samantha had been dealing with one long ear infecting since the 1st of Feb. and it had never gone away, but being the trooper that she is, she never really fussed (except for when the infection flared up) and she stayed the happy baby she has always been.

Gregg took her to the ear dr and he said she needed tubes asap, not something I was wanting to hear. But, we knew we had to do what was best for Sammie and we scheduled surgery for the following week on the 15th. Well, morning of the surgery came and I was a nervous wreck... the last place I wanted to take our little girl again was to the hospital - even if it was for a 10 minute procedure. However, I put on my brave face and toughed it out with Sammie (I figured if she could do it, I could do it). Surgery went great and she has been doing great with the tubes ever since.

just waking up after surgery

more misc. pictures :)

I have become addicted to hats for my child... this is one of the latest that I have purchased for her :) She needed a summer hat - what can I say? :)

Sammie is also now big enough to wear the robe that my aunt and cousin got her... she was modeling it this particular night

The other baby trying to figure out why I am not cuddling up in bed with him... poor thing is sooo neglected - HA

We are so blessed to have such a laid back little girl - she loves to just hang out and relax with us on the weekends... in her pjs of course :)

hanging out at Grandma's house watching her get dressed... there's nothing like watching momma and her mom get ready in the morning to make Samantha feel girly for the day :)

Misc. pictures and updates

Here are just a couple of other cute pictures from Miss Samantha over the past 2 months that I just had to share: Samantha started playing in the jumparoo my parents got her at the baby shower. At first, it was just sit and observe, now it is full on play with everything... now if she can just figure out the 'jumping' aspect to this contraption, she will be set :)

The other 'baby' enjoying the weekend with momma :) we love sleeping in when daddy is working on realestate!

Samantha hanging out with our good friends the Donlin's little girl Ella Rose (who is gonna be a big sister any day now). For some reason, Ella hates smiling in pictures... I think it's because she doesn't realize how pretty she is

GO TIGERS GO!!!!!

Samantha chowing down on her first plate of ribs for the season :) YUMMY!!!!

Memphis Zoo - April 25th

We took Samantha to the Memphis Zoo the Saturday before the Baptism. This was a must for me on our trip back to Memphis as I have such fond memories of the zoo from my childhood. I used to love going to the zoo with my mom & dad and dad sneaking in marshmellows for the bears and making them "dance" for their treat :) I can't wait for Samantha to have some memories like this of her own.

Here are some pictures from her first of many trips to the zoo:

If you know us, you know we just HAD to take a pictures of this guy... to funny to pass up! LOVE the mullet! He was rocking it :)

As you can see, the animals were enjoying the day because it was so beautiful out and Miss Samantha enjoyed herself so much, that she needed several naps that day :) We LOVED that part of the visit.

BIG event - April 26th

The biggest event that has taken up so much of our time since Easter has been planning Samantha's baptism. We traveled to Memphis for this very special occasion for several reasons... 1 - all the family is there and it was much easier for us to travel to them rather than try to make room for all of the family here in Louisville.

2 - and most importantly, my parents church was so supportive to Gregg and I during Samantha's hospitalization her first 6 weeks of life that if felt so right to have it there with them as a "thank you" for all their love and support. Plus, mom and dad have found such wonderful friends in their church and it meant so much to them for it to be held there.

Since the day I told my mother that we were having a girl, she has been planning and working on this baptismal dress with such love and devotion... and IT SHOWED. The dress was beautiful!!!!Everyone raved about it so much that we didn't have any time for pictures before the ceremony :) So, mom is sending the dress up and we will get lots of pictures of the girl.

We had a great time at the baptism getting to meet all the members at my parents church who have come to mean so much to not only my parents, but also to Gregg and I. Finally being able to put faces with names meant the world to us - we have been hearing for almost 8 months about all these wonderful people asking about Samantha and praying for Samantha's health and to come home from the hospital. I was in tears walking into the church Sunday morning and people walking up to us saying "is this Samantha?" and that was the first time they had ever laid eyes on any of us. Just goes to show what a truly special little girl she is.

Daddy showing off the girl in her Baptismal Dress

Heather (godmother) Gregg, me, Darcy (godfather's wife)

Grandparents Kimmer - us - Grandparents Thompson

we are alive... I promise

we have just been super busy lately. for the past 2 months we have been on the go - here and there - rush rush rush. I have been meaning to blog about Miss Samantha and our family adventures for some time, but just have not the time to sit down, download the pictures and write a "story" to go along with the events of the day.

SOOOO, buckle your seatbelts, you are about to get bombarded with pictures and posts

HAPPY EASTER!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! We had a great one here. As you can see, we were successful with the Easter Bunny this year and got a great shot of the little bear in her Easter outfit. It took us forever to get through the line because everyone kept commenting on her attire! What can I say... we LOVE playing dress up with that little girl :) :)

Samantha got an Easter basket FULL of delicious Stage 1 baby food and a dvd... very exciting stuff. But, she seems impressed and that is all that matters. We spent the day relaxing and finished cleaning the house in preparating for Wednesday (I'll get to that in a minute) .

As most of you know, Samantha turned 7 months on the 7th of this month and she is starting to hit some milestones... she is starting to sit up all on her own for good periods of time; she's starting to roll from back to side and then back again; and she's starting to figure out the whole crawling thing... but not there yet. She's discovered her voice and is babbling away! I think she has said "da-da" a couple of times, but Gregg is in denial as she is "too young" to be forming words. I think he is in denial as he doesn't want her growning up at all! HA

Miss Samantha is starting to get the hang of the whole rice cereal "adventure." And I have to say, she is definately one of those that gets all into her food. Apparently, I can't get the spoonful of food into her mouth quick enough and she needs to help out with her mouth AND hands!!! Needless to say, there is always a bath at the end of each meal :)

Now for the big news that I alluded to earlier. This coming Wednesday, Samantha is having ear tubes put in. Gregg took her to see the top ENT last Tuesday and he said she needed to have the tubes ASAP as her ears were pretty bad. According to the Dr, it was imperrative that Sam have the tubes since she was a preemie because the ear infections might not just be bothering her ears, but also her tummy - as her tummy is not fully developed yet from being so young still. He told Gregg that when she cries, it might not be the pain in her ears, but the pain in her tummy... poor thing!!!

I know that having the tubes is the best thing possible for Samantha, but the thought of having to take her back into a hospital is killing me. I know that the surgery is only going to take an hour tops from the time she leaves us until she is back in our arms... but I can't stand the thought of going back in to a hospital and leaving her side for a second. She's already had to go through so much in such a short span of time... I just wish there was another way to solve the problem. But, I know that as long as I have Gregg by my side Wednesday morning I will find the strength to put on a brave face and not shed a tear and be the "strong momma" that I can be - just like I was when she was in the NICU.

Sorry for rambling... and just for putting up with me tonight - I will leave you with one more picture of Samantha in her Easter attire.

Love and miss you all -

Emily

It's all new

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing well. Sorry I haven't updated the blog in awhile, but it's been a little hectic around the house lately.
First of all, thanks to everyone for the warm wishes on my first day at the new job! It was very much appreciated and put a very big smile on my face that first day... so THANK YOU ALL. The job is going great. I am still going through training, but learning lots of information and slowly starting to work my own files. I'm getting the hang of it slowly but surely and think that this could be a wonderful opportunity for me and more importantly, for my family!
Second, Miss Samantha is starting to warm up to the whole rice cereal idea! When we first introduced her to the 'foreign' matter a couple of weeks ago, she was NOT happy at all. So, Gregg and I decided to back off for awhile and try again at a later time. Saturday morning Samantha woke up in a happy mood (as usual) so I decided to give the evil rice monster another try... so I strapped her into the highchair and give it a whirl. She liked it and ate all the rice cereal that I had prepared and had been on a roll ever since! We are so proud of her :) Last night, she started grabbing for the spoon and shoving it into her mouth (like I couldn't feed her fast enough!) I think we will be moving on to Stage 1 foods before we know it.
Now, as some of you know, Samantha has been battling ear infections since the beginning of February. Well, it's not getting any better and in fact, it never has really gone away. The poor thing has been such a trooper and never cries except for the day that it "starts" up. We get her started on antibotics and she is her happy self again. However, since this have been going on for awhile now and hasn't resolved and she's now had 2 single ear infections and 1 double ear infection, the dr's office has decided it's time to send her over to and ENT to discuss ear tubes. So, she will go for her first "consult" on the 7th and we will see what needs to be done at that point.

Other than that, we are just trucking right along and getting ready for the little one's baptism at the end of April

I will leave you with this picture of Sammie trying out her first plate of "solid foods" - Southern style (I got Gregg to make ribs one night and they were wonderful) :)

Button Batteries

Several months ago, I got informed about a lady who was in the mist of a crisis with her daughter over a BUTTON BATTERY!!!! Their story has been so shocking to all that have heard about it that the local tv station picked up the story and it just recently aired.

PLEASE check out the story and pass it along to all that you know so that the danger of these tiny little batteries can get out there to all parents.

http://cbs3.com/video/?id=76522@kyw.dayport.com

It's the weekend!!!!

My how you've grown!

Well, it's a sleepless night for me for some reason so I decided to go back and look back at our blog. I started with the day Samantha was born and read up until her 6 month post and I was in total "Lifetime Movie Network" - tears flowing like Niagra Falls- break down! Samantha amazes me more and more each and every day with her strength. The way she fought through her battles in the hosptial in order to come home shows such courage. I hope she never has to fight like that again, but if she does, I know she has the strength to get through it... and MORE!

We took Samantha to the Dr. tonight for her 6 month check-up tonight and she was tipping the scales at 14 lbs!!!! She is learning to sit up on her own (with very little assistance) and she is standing up 'on her own' (aka putting weight on her legs)... all very good signs. The funny thing is that our daughter has decided to bypass the whole rolling thing and go straight to the sitting and standing tasks. I guess she decided since she was 'behind the curve' given her adjusted age, she needed to make up some ground and she could just forgoe the rolling aspect of life :)

The Dr. also gave us the go ahead to try Samantha on rice cereal... this should be fun! I say this because I know that once we start rice cereal we will soon be starting to introduce other fun foods... GOOD TIMES!!!!!!!!! All I have to say is that when this gets messy, Daddy is taking over bath time :) :)

Happy 6 months Samantha!

Samantha turned 6 months on Saturday! Gregg and I can hardly believe it. That small little 3lb 13oz baby in the hosptial is now almost 14lbs!!!! She has discovered her foot and is now figured out how to insert same into her mouth... finaly entertainment for the girl that doesn't cost mommy and daddy an arm and a leg :) :)

We went Saturday and had pictures taken in honor of Samantha's 6 month birthday - here's some of the 'better' ones - although all of them were too cute

Happy - Sad

Sad... I left a job I was at for just about 3 years

Happy... I am starting a new adventure with a company closer to home with great opportunities on the 23rd.

Stay tuned...

big news to be posted tomorrow....
NO! I'M NOT PREGNANT :)

I carry your heart with me

Came across this poem this morning and it really touched my heart - So, I wanted to share it with the 3 of you that read this blog. Have a great day!


i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

It's the smile

that melts a momma's heart every time :)

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but I promise I will make an entry soon. We were without internet connection at the house for 2 weeks due to the Ice Storm we had and then it's just getting back into the swing of things at work. I will update you all on Miss Samantha soon.

Hope you all are doing well -
love and miss you all

Long over due... I know

But I have a VERY valid excuse... I'm trying to adjust to going back to work :) See, very valid!!! As most of you know, I went back to work on the 5th and it's been great! I've enjoyed having the 'structure' back in my life and not sitting around the house wondering what do do next. I'm very OCD and you can only clean your house so much before you run out of things to clean on a daily basis and I don't cook so that's out of the question :) SO, it was great to go back to work to fill my days.

The first day was a little tough dropping off Samantha, but she did great and knowing that has made it easy to drop her off and go to work with ease. She stays at the Jewish Community Center around the corner from my office, so I can go and visit her during my lunch break when I need those extra cuddles from her during the day (and what mommy doesn't!) I was prepared for a bunch of sleepless nights that first week as Miss Samantha adjusted to a new schedule, but she has been FABULOUS! Here is a rundown of her new schedule: (for those of you who might get ill - stop reading now!) wakeup at 6:30am, get dressed and fed. Hang out with mommy and daddy until time to leave the house at 7. Back asleep in the car at 7. Sleep at daycare until they wake me up at 12. Eat lunch, take 30-45 minute nap then play time with all my new friends, nap, mid-day snack around 4. Mommy comes to get me around 5:30. Asleep on the car ride home and I sleep until about 7. Hang out in my vibrating chair until 8 when it's time to get into my pjs and eat dinner and take my medicine. Hang out and play with the family until 10, when mommy & daddy give me and extra 4oz of food before bedtime. Then off to bed for me where I sleep all time long in my crib. :)

Gregg and I do have a trick to her sleeping all night - she sleeps in her car seat! We think it's due to her acid refulx that she likes to sleep in the seat, but like the dr. said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! This child definately has my sleep pattern... on the weekends, she will sleep anywhere from 10-11hrs during the night and then want to take a nap shortly after her feeding :) Like mother like child.

I have to count our blessings as Miss Samantha has been in daycare for 2 weeks now and has not gotten sick at ALL... knock on wood. I contribute this to Gregg and I giving her the daily dose of vitamins and her being in a small daycare (she is one of 8 kiddos). The ladies at daycare are so great with her, we couldn't ask for a better envirionment for Samantha to be in.

Things are going good and I truly live for the weekends now whene I can spend time hanging out with that sweet little girl watching her grow and just being in total amazment as to how much she has overcome in her short life. She amazes me each and every day...

Hope you all are doing well and surviving the cold weather
Love and miss you all -
The Kimmers

Samantha's smile

It's this smile that makes me, in turn, smile very wide. Thank God we have such a happy & healthy baby...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sorry for the delay in blogging! It's been hectic with the holidays, family in town, trying to get Samantha back on her schedule, getting the house cleaned up and here we are at the New Year.
As most of you can probably tell, Kimmer did the last post on here. What is it with men and not giving any detail? Men just want to get right to the point and women want you to know the details :) At any rate - we had a wonderful Christmas with Samantha she got some great things, but not too much as we don't want to start the spoiling process early (nor did I want to be unwrapping her gifts all day). Gregg and I got her a personalized growth chart for her room that is too cute, she also got a couple of toys and some clothes...

Our Future Tiger


Samantha's Growth Chart

I've talked to a couple of you since the holidays - but wanted to let the rest of you know that the meals turned out GREAT! For Christmas Eve dinner, I made a black pepper crusted prime rib with baked potatoes and all the trimmings, broccoli, carrots, and rolls... red velvet cake for dessert.



Christmas morning I made breakfast - nothing too fancy or time consuming, but a nice breakfast of an egg dish with sausage, cheese, apples and some spices along with some cinnamon rolls... and mimosas :-)
For dinner I made a Orange Marmalade glazed turkey, oven roasted potatoes, citrus sweet potatoes rounds, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans, rolls and gravy. Everything turned out great, but the only problem was that the oven was so full of stuff and it's 8 years old so we didn't end up eating until 9ish that night! SO, I just kept the family's cocktail glasses full until I could serve dinner and that seemed to work just fine :) :)



Samantha starts daycare on Monday and although a part of me is looking forward to it, the other part of me is dreading it because there are parts of my day with her that I will miss. We have this routine in the mornings after she eats, that I go get my coffee, come back to bed, lay her on my chest and I either watch tv or goof off on the computer while she sleeps on my chest for awhile. It's a great way for me to start my days and I will miss that - but I will get to look forward to that on the weekends. I was telling Gregg and even though we have researched daycare centers and are putting her in a great place, I think I have found a great nanny for her that will watch her at the house. I did a test run at the house this week and I think it worked out pretty well - what do you guys think?


We got Miss Samantha a BebePod seat the other day so she can start learning/practicing how to sit up on her own. She's doing great in it, but she's doing the "gangsta lean"



We hope you all have a HAPPY 2009!