An Unexpected Surprise!

I got the stomach flu the day after my birthday.  It wasn't fun.  Eric had to take the day off work and entertain Samuel because I was so sick!  It was eventually decided that Eric and Samuel would spent the day at my in-laws house so I could get some rest and so Samuel wouldn't have to be around all my icky germs.

So I spent the day after my birthday being sick and sleeping.  Ugh!

When Eric came home that evening he said there was a huge package on the porch, did I order something?  I hadn't.  So he hauled in a massive Amazon box.  We let Samuel help us open packages, so he was THRILLED when he opened the package and there was a toy inside!!!!  A sit and spin to be exact!!! 

I hadn't ordered it.  My mom was prepping for surgery, so it didn't come from Virginia.  I was baffled!  Who would send Samuel such an awesome gift!!!  Then I found the lovely note...it was from my dear friend Mel!!!  She and her family sent it for Samuel's birthday/Christmas gift!  How sweet is that????

Melissa is actually one of the very first people I met when I moved to Maryland!  She was actually a very unlikely friend at first!  She was a Mormon Missionary from Utah who did volunteer work where I worked!  The missionaries are under really strict requirements so it wasn't like we could hang out or talk on the phone or go to the mall whenever we wanted.  To top it off, she was just in Cumberland for a few months!  But we just hit it off, and kept in contact over the years during her mission, then through hand written letters, then e-mails, then facebook, and now she's a blogging buddy!  She just recently became a momma herself, so it's been so awesome to see the exact things I experienced that first year through Mel's eyes and words!!!  I always get a good chuckle (mainly because the exact things she writes about were me two years ago)!!!  To make it even worse...we haven't seen each other in FOREVER!  Like years and years and years and years...BUT she has recently moved back to Maryland and once our children are tolerable of 1. Being in a car seat (Mel's child!) 2. Not having a tantrum every 5 seconds (that would be my child!) Then we WILL be getting together (right Mel?!?!?!?)

Eric and I debated whether to put it away and wrap it up for Christmas or to let him go ahead and have it since he had already seen it and was using the box as a race car station.  Since our originally plans had been to spend Christmas in Virginia, we decided it would be one less thing to haul down and back, so we let him play with it!

Eric and Samuel being manly and putting the sit and spin together!

Meltdown! 

Lesson learned: get toys together BEFORE your toddler see's it!

Eric and I both loved the sit and spin during our childhood!  How awesome is it that they are still made?!  It is such a great toy...especially for a wild man like Samuel!!!

Samuel's Sit and Spin Lesson:

It only took a few tries for Samuel to figure it out!!!  I had secretly been hoping that Eric would have to get on it himself to demonstrate, but Samuel is very coordinate...so it wasn't necessary!

Result:

Samuel LOVES it!

And it still doubles as a place to play cars!

Thanks Mel, Rob, and Lydia!  You guys are the best!!!!

But just FYI...Lydia will be receiving her own sit and spin for her 2nd birthday.  Just be warned!!!