Easter

He is Risen...He is Risen Indeed!!
This Easter was different than the others. It was Samantha and I up in Chicago. Jim had just finished a rotation and couldn't come up becuase the next one started on Monday. So I wasn't sure what Easter was going to entail for me. I usually go to Good Friday service, but this year I opted out. I didn't want to put Samantha in nursery, as she doesn't do very well in there, and I stayed and spent time with my brother, Jeff and his girlfriend Allison and we made the desserts for Easter. I did go Easter morning with Samantha. It was a wonderful service. I always feel uplifted everytime I leave. The rest of the day consisted of being at my in-laws and everyone was over for dinner and then we had the annual Easter Egg Hunt with the entire Kiers family! What a blast that is. Since Jim wasn't there, Auntie Ju Ju helped Samantha find eggs. There were hundreds of eggs. Some with candy and some with notes to get prizes that didn't fit. Samantha got, bubbles, princess pillow, Easter beenie baby, some DVD's & books.

Spring is in the Air

The weather over the last week has been great! Samantha has enjoyed the outdoors all week and has had so much fun. We have spent time outside by Oma & Papa's, she has gone for many walks in her wagon, she has gone to the pond to feed the fish, and has watched many of Uncle Alec's baseball games. We have enjoyed the last 2 months in Chicago so much. Here are a few pictures of this past week

Uncle Alec playing baseball

3rd Year Almost Complete!!

As we continue on with this wonderful journey called medical school, I can't believe Jim's 3rd year is almost complete. Only 2 more months and it's done! Jim just has 2 months of IM left of his cores and then he moves on. Over the last few months Jim has completed OB/GYN, Surgery, Psych, and Peds. He has enjoyed all of them, but he still continues to want to do either Cardiology or Emergency Medicine. He is actually looking into getting certified in both since he can't decide what he wants to do.
He has almost all of his 4th year rotations scheduled. Almost all of them are in Chicago with a couple of them in Michigan. Jim is taking STEP II of COMLEX and the PE exam in July and then he can start applying for residency. I'm so excited for the next year in our lives. We are hoping that he can get residency in Chicago so we can be back with all our famiy and friends again!

Piggy Tails

I have been waiting for this day since the day she was born! I was so happy when I was told Samantha was a girl! I wanted a little girl to dress and to put in piggy tails! She can be such a little fashionista sometimes! Here are her first piggy tails!

A fun GIVEAWAY!!!

Chronicals of a Babywise Mom is hosting a giveaway! It's a blanket that will stay on while taking a walk! It's such a great idea! I know I have the issue of keeping blankets on Samantha while we take a walk! Check it out here http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/2010/03/prodcut-review-piggies-in-blanket.html

Growing Spurts

We were doing so well. Sleep came back to Samantha and it has been taken away AGAIN!!! She is going through another growing spurt. Her poor legs are hurting her. I have to rub them multiple times in the middle of the night to get her to fall back asleep. My MIL told me last night the same thing happen to Jim. She said he would wake up screaming with leg cramps for hours at night. I hope that doesn't happen to Samantha, but I'm guessing its going to.

On another note, Samantha had her 1st haircut the other day too. She looks so much better now that her bangs are out of her eyes. It made her look so grown up. I can't believe how big she is getting and how much she changes on a daily basis. She is such a joy to have and makes us all laugh and smile each day. Her other new milestone is that she is now sliding down the stairs. This makes me VERY nervous, but she is doing such a good job; knock on wood, she hasn't fallen down any stairs yet :)

On our way Getting her hair cutAll done :)

All on her own!

So Friday night, Jim and I decided to go to Applebees for dinner with Samantha. As we are sitting there, I'm starting to feed Samantha "her food" and she grabs the spoon from me and starts feeding herself!!! I was shocked...I mean she knows how to pick up food and put in her mouth and occasionally she will get something on her fork but for the most part she just uses her fingers. She ate the whole container of sweet potatoes on her own! So we decided to then order her Mac and Cheese from the kids menu. She ate that too! All of it with a fork!!! She is getting so big. I joke that she doesn't need me anymore to help her with things, but I know she will always need me. It just she is going through all of these big milestones and I feel like she is growing up so fast. I thing I do know is that daughters ALWAYS need there mothers and I want Samantha to know that I will always be there for her.