how long does it take to get to the mall?

much, much longer when you are steps behind the olympic torch...

sammy and i without knowing it drove into the wake of the olympic torch today. and while it usually take 15 min to get to the mall, today it took almost an hour. bummer.

thankfully sam was is great spirits most of the way. the trip, however, took a further disappointing turn when i realized the bottle i had 'just in case samantha got hungry' spilled all over my purse. gross!

at this point we almost gave up and got in the car and drove home.

but i was determined. so we carried on. and it is good we did because i found this super cute ioutfit for samantha jean to wear for her dedication at church - feb 21.


and as you can see it has the spirit of her birthday, july 4th. :)

today

sammy is feeling much more like herself today - which has been great for her and for me. special thanks to christina for this super cute outfit and matching bow!!

thank you!

thanks to all of you for your thoughts and encouragement!! i have been to a few pharmacies and looked for the teething tablets - one is going to order us some tomorrow!! i will also be on the look out for orajel swabs. today has been much better. sammy has slept for most of the day. and we are praying for a better night.

one other funny thing - in the bath tonight i gave her the generic tylenol from target (heck if she threw up she was already in the bath and she has taken it before with no problems), which the mosers kindly gave us this fall. with fingers crossed i gave her a dose and she took that no problem... so we may have to stock up on target tylenol the next time we are in bellingham, especially as it seems it is the only thing she will tolerate. sweet, opinionated, samantha - certainly her parents' child :)

an unlikely companion

well Sammy's number 2 tooth is on the way and unlike tooth number 1 - it is making a grand entrance.

all was as "normal" until 3 am last night when she woke up screaming. screaming.

we promptly tried to give her some tylenol mixed with applesauce - as she has decided she hates all forms of medicine and will gag herself until she throws up (much like her i did as a child). well i guess we didn't mix in enough applesauce because she quickly was pucking on herself, on me and into the sink (thankfully we were standing close by).

solution through medicine - fail.

we then began many different strategies to help sooth her pain - ice: fail. nurse: fail. in bed with us: fail. walking the apartment: fail. singing: fail. the only thing she seemed to tolerate was drinking cold water out of a frosted mug. (she loves water!)

so at 4:30 a.m. tim headed into the dark streets of vancouver searching for an open pharmacy in the hopes of finding some baby advil (maybe she would tolerate...) and some orajel. for a number of reasons i was hoping to avoid giving her orajel but my heart could not take much more.

tim found the one open pharmacy in the 5 mile radius of our house and made it home. thankfully sammy had taken some tylenol in mass amounts of applesauce and didn't gag when i put a bit of orajel on her gums.

and by 5:30 we were all once again asleep.

today she seems better. but we are all tired. she and i did not make it to church - poor tim left the house with a mug of coffee, filling our families commitment to help with communion.

orajel - an unlikely companion. but when your child will not tolerate medicine, a thankful solution. tooth number 3, please be kind.

bath time!

Samantha Jean loves bath time. i think a few nights ago she felt especially old sitting in the bumbo in the bath. she looked so cute we just had to take a few pictures.
when sammy gets excited she opens her mouth wide. it cracks us up every time. she is holding back a bit here but you get the idea.
sweet baby.

mornings like this

being home feels nice. granted i have a slew of things i want to get done over the course of the next few days. but settling back in - anticipating rhythm to the weeks - soaking up time with sammy - being with tim - all of it is good for my soul.

samantha and i have had a couple of good/normal mornings together and the time makes my heart happy. waking up slowly - time to read - breakfast and bath time - i love mornings like this.

and the pictures- taken our first morning home. sammy is almost 7 months and proudly sporting a tooth, although i don't think you can see it in these pictures.

crazy life

today was the funeral for my dear, sweet, uncle jim. a beautiful tribute to a great, kind man.

tomorrow sam and i are headed to texas to visit my fabulous college friend, christina. we will spend the weekend with them and are really looking forward to it!!

and sam is getting her first tooth.

lots of action. hope to reflect more in the coming weeks.

until then, kristi :)

uncle jim

yesterday afternoon my great Uncle Jim died. i imagine his reunion with his beloved wife Betty was sweet. and seeing Jesus face-to-face, awesome.

tim's and my relationship with uncle Jim developed when we moved to denver in 2003. That fall Uncle Jim and Aunt Betty took us out to their favorite french restaurant. That night was the first of many fantastic dining experiences with Uncle Jim. He had great taste in food!

Uncle Jim hosted great parties! He loved getting together with his friends, having delicious food, drinking wine and simply being together. He was constantly learning - he enjoyed reading. He and Tim would often talk about the books they had been reading, theology and the things they were learning. And almost every time we were together he would urge us to consider going to school to get our PhD. Uncle Jim and Betty loved to travel. The reason he didn't finish his PhD was because they decided to invest in their travel instead.

Uncle Jim loved his friends. I have never seen a community of people quite like his friends, especially in the last few months of his life. He was able to remain at home because of the care and support of his friends.

I will miss Uncle Jim. I will miss his passion for life. I will miss his wisdom. I will miss eating amazing food with him. But my heart rejoices because he is with the two people he loves most - Betty and Jesus. Even after Betty died he would always end our phone conversations by saying, "we love you." I guess after a lifetime of loving someone it is hard to say "i". And oh he loved his Savior. He had a heart to see the lost come to life in Christ. He spent his professional life as a pastor - I know there will be many at his funeral that were at one time in a community he was leading. His gentleness and wisdom spoke of his time spent with the Lord, as did his love for people and the Church.

I trust that when the Lord brings me Home Uncle Jim will be there to greet me and will have some of his favorite restaurants already picked out for us to visit and enjoy together.

pictures from colorado

sweet sam and her pink hat
the whole fam
we were able to go skiing!!!
sam and grandpa k

don't worry i haven't forgotten about the blog - i have just been a little sick... bummer. being sick and trying to be a mom is hard. i am extremely thankful for my amazing mom and husband and the way they have stepped in to care for sam while i have needed to be in bed. hope you enjoy these pictures. we sure loved being in colorado!

christmas day pics

first thing in the morning and sammy is happy :)

yes, this is first thing in the morning - right after we woke up and before having a cup of coffee...sam enjoying her bananna, sitting close to her christmas monkey
we hope you all had a wonderful christmas!

fun times in crooked creek

i took these pictures shortly after our arrival to Crooked Creek. we are spending christmas in the mountains at a young life camp near winter park with tim's family. we are loving our time together!!

christmas in bellingham

we have been in bellingham since friday and yesterday we celebrated christmas!

here is sam in her christmas attire:

sammy loved opening presents - it was really fun to see her interest in it all! (notice we are all in red - even faith :) - i do not deny the cheesiness of it)
sam in her cute hat from marilyn - thank you so much for the adorable hat!!
beautiful auntie d
daddy and daughter
i just love this picture

look out denver here we come!! we fly tomorrow and then head to the mountains for christmas with the knipps. we can't wait!

silly daddy

the other day tim changed sammy's diaper and her outfit... well.. it was a little different afterward... - can anyone guess what changed? :)

ps - bek - tim loves his taylor shirt - he wears it almost every day :)

christmas cookies with auntie defense!!

danielle came up to vancouver for the day this past week. and we decided to make christmas cookies. it was a very, very fun day. and the cookies turned out well too!

sweet sammy
yummy cookies
we love each other
thanks sis for a great day!

christmas is coming!

and it is snowing outside!! very exciting. here are some pictures sam and i took after church today.