Monthly Archives: January 2010

Goodbye, Uncle Bill

Uncle Bill

My uncle Bill, my dad’s brother, passed away on January 9th. It was an unexpected illness, but there was enough warning that his family had a chance to say goodbye. Unfortunately, due to the miles between us, we didn’t make it in time. Sam and I traveled out for the funeral, though, and it ended up being a really nice service where, thanks to some anecdotes collected from different family members, we got to hear some great stories about Bill and what he meant to his family and his community. We will miss you, Uncle Bill.

One of the small silver linings to any funeral is that it ends up gathering together a lot of people who haven’t seen each other in a while.Sam and I were able to spend some nice time with many of our extended family. Kate made it to Wisconsin at the end of the week so she was able to share in the reunion a bit, too. The nice thing about Sam’s current age is that he’s finally old enough to know his family, at least from pictures, and to look forward to seeing them. He had a great time playing with his grandparents, uncles, nieces and nephews. We’ve been looking at pictures from the trip almost daily. You can take a look at some of them by clicking the image below. Unfortunately, I only had my cell phone camera so the photos aren’t the highest quality…

Tree

Pictures from Wisconsin

Posted by Todd

Potty

We brought the potty chair home last night and Sam LOVED it.

Then tonight he pooed in the potty—no kidding!  Success, but it was just a fluke (he’s got some obvious signs that it’s coming).  Sorry, no pic for that one….too gruesome.

Posted by Kate

First night without Sam

Last night was my first night ever without Sam.  Todd and Sam left for Wisconsin yesterday to lend support to his family and attend a family funeral.  It was a tough good-bye and there were several moments yesterday when I really missed both of them.  It was also a little freeing to be completely on my own terms again (I wasn’t working yesterday either!).  I’m not excactly living it up, though.  I’ve got a lot of work to get done so I’ll be working longer hours.  I will be having fun toinght–it’s my first volleyball game of the season (also my first since Sam since I injured my wrist several months ago). 

There was a very touching moment yesterday before they left.  Todd and I were hugging with Sam playing on the floor.  Sam looked up at us then came over and hugged my leg.  He’s generally not a cuddly kid and only comes in for a hug when we ask him to, but he must have sensed my sadness since he let Todd and I crouch down and have a little family hug!

Sam is doing really well with the change of scenery.   Todd told me the flight was a breeze (although no nap….so much for his schedule!).  The stranger anxiety seems to be gone and he’s having fun with all the new things to play with and places to explore.

Posted by Kate

Looney Tunes

Sam saw his first Wile E Coyote cartoon today, though, instead of laughing at the coyote’s bad luck Sam seemed to empathize with him instead. The entire 3 minute cartoon was punctuated with him exclaiming “oh no.” “Oh No.” “OH NO!” Guess we’ll wait until he’s a bit older. I can only imagine his reaction to Bugs Bunny…

oh no!

OH NO!

Posted by Todd