Some recent videos

Below are a couple of videos. The first is of dolphins swimming & jumping--we went dolphin-watching a couple weeks ago with Stefanie & Morgan (see previous post!)

The second is of Samuel playing in his room in the evening with Morgan.

Check out the previous post and the slideshow at the bottom of the page that goes with it!

Stef & Morgan's visit

Please see the pictures in the slideshow at the bottom of this page from the past 2 weeks! My longtime friend, Stefanie, and her daughter (Morgan, age 2) came all the way out to Guam to visit us from April 22-May 7. Rudi was in the States for most of that time--he had to take his EM oral boards in Chicago. He was gone for about 2 weeks--first to take a weekend review course, and then the actual test a week later. He got to spend time in Minneapolis visiting his mom and stepdad during the week in between. So, most of the time Stef & Morgan were here, Rudi was gone.

It was wonderful to have Stefanie and Morgan here! First of all, Stefanie watched Samuel on the days that I worked (Tues and Thurs), which means that she had both kids during those days! A HUGE thank-you to her for doing that! And to top it off, she'd have the laundry & dishes done when I got home from work! Also, having an adventurous friend here gave me the motivation to do some of the fun things on the island that we haven't done yet, as well as do MORE of the fun things that we don't do often enough!

Twice we got a babysitter and went out to eat by ourselves, plus one day we went to the Alupang Beach club and did parasailing and went on a 'banana boat' ride out in the Philippine Sea (sans kiddos).

Additional things we did:

--went out on a boat to see a pod of wild dolphins--they were jumping and doing their tricks for us!

--went to the beach multiple times--yes with both kids

--went to the pool multiple times

--went to a water park

--drove around the island to see some of the sites

--went out to eat a lot--I tried to let Stefanie get a taste of some of the local foods

--went shopping

--Stefanie went on a fishing/snorkeling trip while I watched the kids

10 months old

At 10 months old, Samuel:

--Eats solid foods better and better every day, but still doesn't love it. Yogurt and bananas are the foods he actually enjoys sometimes.

--Is doing much better with his stranger anxiety. He has done great in the church nursery for a few Sundays now, and does much better with babysitters.

--Does not sleep through the night. We have given up on that. In order to help him sleep better, we have him sleep in bed with us. Our next purchase: king size bed.

--Babbles all of the time. As for babbles representing specific things, we THINK he specifically labels me 'mama,' Rudi 'dada,' and 'baa' for ball

--LOVES balls. He throws them, crawls after them, and then throws them again.

--Can stand alone for at least one minute. Despite how good he is at standing, he has yet to take his first steps. This morning I was trying to coax him to take a step, and he just started crying.

Here are some pictures of Samuel standing and playing outside as a 10-month-old.

This pic was not taken the same day, but I had to throw in a picture of Samuel supporting the Tarheels during the final four game