Sammy boy

A few weeks old

Samuel Andrew Lee

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I was tagged to write some facts about my little Sammy- now two and a half years old.

1. He was born 2 weeks early and still weighed a hefty 8 lbs. On Columbus day by a Dr. who sang his own made up songs during the birth and the time thereafter while he was stitching me. It was weird and annoying. He has been a robust boy ever since. He ate a lot and was such a good nurser that all my pregnancy weight came off pretty quick plus a tiny extra. That still left me heavier than I wanted to be, too bad I ate pretty much whatever I wanted, it was fun, but I could have used it to my advantage to lose more weight!

See how chubby he was! He is playing with his brother who he thought and still thinks is the coolest person EVER!

2. Sam's middle name is Andrew after his brother that was born stillborn 3 days early, and 5 years prior to him. Andrew is also his Dad's middle name. Sam was born with the tons of dark brown hair just like Andrew and also like his older sister Ashlin. Alex too had tons of hair but it was blond. Sam had his first haircut at about 4 weeks old.

3. He has his dad completely and utterly wrapped around his finger. He gets away with things he should not because he melts his dad's heart with his endearing smile and mannerisms. Apparently the feelings are reciprocated because when he isn't following Alex everywhere he is following his dad. He is his dad's best company out in the garage. Ed even lets him get in his old 65 corvette that he is fixing up to play. He puts on Ed's sunglasses- If he sees Ed wearing a hat he has to have his on too.

4. Here are some pictures of him rockin' it out with rockband. He likes to play anything Alex is playing- Lego Star Wars- anything- and he will sit there patiently for a long time and "play" but usually his controller is not plugged in. He is getting wise on that though, so now it is sometimes plugged in and his guy just walks into walls and falls off of buildings. I tried to get it on video but he stopped-a month or so ago he was sitting on the ground messing with the rockband guitar and singing oooh oooh- bah-yee, ha-yee (you know the song that goes oo-ee- oo- I look just like Buddy Holly, oh- oh- and you're Mary Tyler Moore?). It was much cuter to observe than explain. I figured most 2 year olds stick to songs like ABCD or Twinkle Little Star, but Buddy Holly was a little unexpected. He often busts out into song and rarely are they children's songs.

5. He loves candy and snacking. He always grabs the oddest container I have in the whole kitchen and fills it with cereal to snack on. He has gotten pretty good at getting his own food.

When I try to help him he gets mad and says "no I do yit!" Anytime he notices that I am about to run the mixer he runs full speed to see what I am making. He insists on pouring everything in himself and tasting it often. He also asks me what I am making a lot. I'll say bread (or whatever it is) and he will repeat like 7 times, "oh bed?" "mommy make bed?" I guess you can say that if something is happening he is always there- not about to miss out.

6. Dad was always his favorite and when we would go on walks if he caught me pushing the stroller he would freak out. The problem was that my height was much better for pushing the stroller comfortably than his dad so we would try to trick him. He would turn around occasionally to check and I made Ed stick close by so we could pull the switch if necessary.

7. His favorite show right now is "Curious George" or Dorge. He also likes too too- "Thomas and Friends." He asks for them all day long. He likes playing with trains and setting up track but he gets so mad when he can't get it to work that he screams like he is hurt- which we don't much like. He also likes an R2D2 robot thing that Ed was given for Christmas-- it responds to commands. Here is a video of him trying to command R2 who he calls doo too. You can see him yelling "no" at Alex when he tries to help. You can also see that he has no idea what to say besides doo too. Then you can see him whisper like his dad is doing in the background trying to keep the older kids away.

PS If wonder why so many of our pictures are of us wearing pajams and if we wear them all the time. The answer is yes. We love pajamas and we wear them a lot especially when it is cold outside.

Oh I forgot to tag people:

Eli Wood

Shelley Parker

Logan Ginos

Addy Allen

Annika Wood

DARN YOU Bobby Flay!

Ed and I like to watch "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" on the Food Network (while I'm cursing people I should add my two sisters Julie and Erin for introducing me to the show!) EVERY TIME I watch his show I end up not being able to get my mind off the food that was throwndown until I make it. There is no other show, no anything, that has a power over me like this! Here are some of the things that I have made while under the Throwdown trance: Chocolate Chip cookies (that were good almost like the Ben's Cookies I have posted about in the past), Sticky Buns (those are sitting in my freezer- which is where I had to put them so I would stop eating them), lasagna (I made that one healthier as I do most of the recipes and I posted it), chili (although this one I was already making for Sunday dinner when we just happened to watch an episode about chili) and then there was pie. The pie and chili were our Sunday double feature. The entire family was salivating because I turned Throwdown on while we were all still fasting. I know not smart. So having the chili to break our fast was a good thing. But when were done we were all, really still thinking about the Blackberry Peach Pie Bobby made and won with. So--I made it(I was lucky enough to have both those fruits in my freezer) and it WAS awesome. Ed didn't want me to ruin the peach/blackberry (peach is one of his favorite fruits, being a southerner) by trying whole wheat in the crust, like I ruined the hockypucks ... I mean-biscuits I made on Easter. So I made an apple pie as well trying whole wheat in the crust. They were both amazing! I did use some white flour in the crust as well as the whole wheat but I honestly liked that crust better than the all white flour crust! I used all the regular stuff in the crust like you'd expect shortening, flour, salt and water, but picked up the hot tip of grating a little bit of cold butter into the dough as well. I haven't successfully made a crust in years- honestly. I have failed so many crusts in the past that I had gone strictly to using store bought roll-out crust when I need to make a "homemade" pie. I also am embarrassed to admit that although I have made plenty of pies in my life I honestly don't remember a time that I have made a two crust fruit filled pie by myself with no help. Usually its a cream pie or strawberry or pumpkin or something with one crust. So I was really excited to see if I had it in me. I was worried it would turn out too runny or crumbling apart or something, but I was an actual success! We have been eating pie ALL week-DARN YOU Bobby Flay!

This is a picture of Bobby's Blackberry Peach abomination.

Last night I watched another Throwdown. You are going to tell me to stop watching them, but there is no way THAT'S going to happen. This one was soft pretzels. I have always loved soft pretzels in all their over priced, 3 dollars per ounce or two of high-carb, low-fiber, doughy, salty, buttery glory. So I didn't stand a chance. He even had a recipe for pablano cheese dip to accompany it. So today yep I made pretzels (with whole wheat). It is now out of my system. They were no Auntie Anne's (those are my favorite) but they were pretty good and I ate my fair share. DARN YOU Bobby Flay!

Bobby's pretzels

The next one is Cheesecake. That frightens me. I have never made a baked cheesecake ever. There are a few reasons: 1)you have to have a special pan 2) you have to let it rest for a really long time like overnight or something, I feel like it right then not a day later! 3) it takes like 5 blocks of cream cheese which I never have that much on hand 4) they are just way to fattening -to have the ability to make it would be far too dangerous 5) Mine would never in a million years turn out as good as the Cheesecake Factory's and so what's the point? The fear is there though and its real. Because like I said his Show has a hold on me, every time I watch it I have to make it! I think its because watching them make it, I can see the steps and the tricks and then believe that I CAN actually do it. And the food looks so so good. Bobby Flay- I am NOT going to make your freakin' Cheesecake! I'm on a diet for cryin' out loud!