Samantha

Samantha Fenway is nine!  It doesn't seem like nine years ago that we had the most exciting Christmas Eve of our lives and welcomed this little one into our family.  I found some pictures of sweet Samantha so we could see how she's grown and changed since that crazy Christmas Eve in 2004.  

It was such a crazy time that we didn't even take any pictures of her until she was two 

days old and ready to come home from the hospital.

At one year old, Samantha could crawl but not walk, had zero teeth, and was a tiny little girl. She had been growing steadily until around ten months and then she just stopped.  By one year she had dropped off the growth charts and we're still waiting for her to catch up to the other kids her age.

By her second birthday Samantha was very verbal and loved to talk.  She was still very small for her age and looked closer to 15 months than two years.  People we didn't know were often astonished when she would start having a conversation with me or one of her older sisters.

I honestly don't remember too much of what Samantha was like at three.  I know she had started to love princesses and spent a lot of time reading/looking at books.  She still liked to talk, but was much more shy about who she would talk with.

We celebrated Samantha's fourth birthday in a hotel and she got cake from the bakery at the commissary.  Not perfect, but we were happy to finally be all together again after Jared's deployment to Iraq.  At four Samantha was becoming a quieter little girl who would spend time observing before participating in the things going on around her.  She liked to color, read books, and play dress up. Also, we need to apologize to her for that unfortunate haircut.  I'm not sure what I was thinking there.

Samantha was a very conscientious and serious five year old.  She would work hard to make sure anything she was doing was just right - actually that still describes her today.  She had started to look less like a toddler and more like a little girl.  At five Samantha lost her first tooth, learned how to hula hoop, and discovered her love for shoes.

At six Samantha continued to be silly yet serious and smaller than every other kid her age.  She was in her last year of kindergarten and was excited to start first grade which would be "real school".  She learned how to ride a bike, how to read, and, even though the picture above doesn't show it, she stopped smiling for pictures a lot of the time.  We can occasionally get a grin out of her, but for the most part she just stares at the camera and gives us half a smile.

Samantha at seven was so grown up!  She had finally started Grundschule and was having such a great time going to school all day every day, she played her first season of soccer and was lucky enough to have Jared for her coach, and her piano abilities really took off and she started playing songs by ear.

Eight is a special birthday at our house.  Samantha was excited to be baptized and we were happy for her.  I love this picture because you can see that Samantha comes by her half-smiles naturally.  

She looks so much like her amazing Dad.

And here she is at nine - still smiling while somehow not smiling at the same time!  Everywhere we go everyone loves our little Samantha.  There is something really special about her sweet personality that people are drawn to.  We are so blessed to have her as part of our family and look forward to seeing how she continues to grow and change.