What were we thinking???

Yep, we took our 6 month old to a golf tournament. And not just a neighborhood outing. An actual professional golf tournament, aired on television, with real money for prizes. This has been a tradition for KC and I since we moved to Dallas. It is such a pretty golf course and it is alot of fun. What doesn't sound good about sitting in the sun/shade, relaxing, and enjoying some adult beverages. We considered the fact that we may be insane for even attempting it. But we decided in spite of the disapproving looks we may get, we would give it a shot. We had tickets to the Champions Club, which is a large air conditioned tent with waitress service where we could spend most of the day.

The reactions ran from looks of disgust to alot of "she's adorable" to a drunk man stumbling over to tell us he had an 8 month old son at home and that he knows how crazy mothers are about people touching babies hands. I'm not quite sure what my reaction should have been to him but I'm pretty sure it was something along the lines of "uh, great...congratulations?...have a good time".

We sat in the grass for a little bit. After rolling onto our tummy we got our hands down in the grass and realized that if we pulled hard enough it came off (and into our mouth it went). The discovery of grass shortened our time outdoors since it was all we could focus on for about five minutes.

Enjoying the view of the 9th hole after the players were finished for the day.

We even managed to squeeze in a nap.

Here we are giving our Uncle Jimmy a big thank you kiss for taking her to her first Colonial.

Overall, it was an exhausting day but we had an unbelievable time. We also thought we may have to skip this next year since she will be mobile and probably all over the place.

House Rule: A 2 Lick Limit

Over the past month Sam has changed quite a bit. We now roll over all the time, including when we are trying to dress her, grab for everything we may be able to get our hands and hopefully into our mouth, and show a suprising amount of interest in the morning news. But most of all we love animals. More than anything else in the house our 2 labs fasinate her. Since they weigh a combined 170 pounds we have always been a little concerned about what would happen when Sam noticed them. So far they are very patient and equally enthralled with her. To Raja and Jake she is a mini person perfect for licking and sniffing. And best of all she likes it! She doesn't say "no, off, down, stop it, RIGHT NOW" so they love her right back.

She hasn't quite mastered how to get them to play with her at her command but she's certainly working on it.2 of Sam's favorite things - the Around We Go & Raja Bell

"Raja, up here. Pay Attention!"

As a first time mom I fell squarely into the camp of "Keep ALL Germs Away from my baby." I had no shame in handing people the bottle of sanitizer when they reached for the kid. This image would have sent me over the edge about a month ago. Her hand in raja's mouth?!? Now, Raja gets a little bit of "Be gentle" and "ok, 2 licks is enough" and a "stay away from the face please" if we catch this in action.

Between 2 dogs and one active baby, even looking away for a second can spell dog slobber all over the place. Besides, how clean can every other thing that she puts in her mouth be? I have put "clean the remote" on my short list of things to do since it's her favorite toy of the moment and I can not remember the last time we cleaned it.

Just to give the grandparents a little piece of mind - we always wipe Sam down after any licking (that we catch).

A long, long time ago...

I actually updated this blog. And now I am going to try again...(but please note I am making NO promises that this will happen on a regular basis)

The obvious did happen. Peanut arrived. 2 weeks early via c section. Mom and baby were great right from the start. I won't bore you with what has happened in the first 5 months and 2 days of her life other than to share the important stuff. We named her Samantha. It took us 2 and a half days to decide on the name. That's 2 and a half days AFTER she arrived. She goes by Sam, Samster, Samberina, Sammy, Munchkin (if you ask me), Lovebug (if you ask KC), and of course Peanut. Aside from some eating issues in the beginning she has been an absolute joy and motherhood is so much better than I ever anticipated.

She has very little hair and what is there is blond. I am hoping she ends up with white blond hair like her dad had as a kid. She has these gorgeous blue eyes. Hopefully she keeps them! She was so bowlegged when she arrived but it has slowly changed. (At least now her knees can touch. Her dad is very excited about this). We think she is going to be left handed (He is actually REALLY excited about this). And she has the chubbiest thighs, which I love. I swear there is skin on her thighs that has never seen the light of day. She also has these little bits of hair on the sides of her ears. Sam is going to kill me for this when she is old enough to read and be embarrassed by her parents. She has had it since the day she was born. I call it her werewolf hair.

Here she is wearing the hat that Mom-mom knitted for her to come home from the hospital in. The day she came home from the hospital it was 80 degrees out (December 7th) and her mean mom made her wear it anyway. I spent too much time picking out a coming home outfit to let the weather ruin it! My first of many, many Mother of the Year moments.

At about 3 months old. Now that I look at it again she kind of looks like a boy here. Sorry Sam!


The past five months have been pretty busy. We have had Mom-mom (my mom) visit for a total of 9 weeks. 6 after her arrival and 3 in March to take care of Peanut when I first went back to work. We are lucky enough to have found a wonderful woman to watch her for most of the day and then Grandma (KC's mom) picks her up and takes care of her for a few hours. Peanut has already had one plane trip, back to Philly for a visit to Yardley. She has had quite a few house guests - the Palsky's in Feb, Pop (KC's Dad) almost every month, Auntie Kara from Houston, and Auntie Ande at Christmas. So now we have had 2 visits with our future hubby Chase. The most recent went well. He lent Sam his Around We Go for a little bit, played a little grabby face, and then Sam, being the sweetheart that she is, shared her first cold with him. Sorry Christina!

She gives these coy little smiles that almost always end up in a big, open mouth grin. She hasn't developed a belly laugh yet but she does have this quiet laugh that is infectious. Whenever we discover a new thing that makes her laugh we will repeat it endlessly. Until we drive the other person absolutely crazy with kissy noises, or feet tickles, or whatever else it may be. Her favorite thing is to blow raspberries. We have found that this means she is frustrated or well on her way.

She had to have one flaw and it is the unbelievable amounts of spit up that she can create. She is still gaining weight perfectly and is happy so the doctor has told us not to worry just do lots of laundry. We are completely unfazed by the spit up now. I think we only realize how bad it is when we are spending time with new people (people without babies that puke everywhere) and we see the look of terror on their faces. Sam doesn't make a sound when she spits up. It just kind of falls out of her mouth - onto the floor, your shirt, the table, the couch. You name it Sam has thrown up on it. Unfortunately for Dad she even got it in his mouth once. Punishment for playing airplane with a baby already prone to spit up immediately after a meal. Thankfully we are still nursing so the stains have been kept to a minimum.

Before I end my first entry post Sam I have to redeem myself with a picture of my daughter where she doesn't look like a boy.

All dressed up for Mother's Day

Yes, that is spit up

(See we're so used to it that it doesn't even faze me to post a picture of her spitting up - again a Mother of the Year moment.)

One more note - Mother's Day rocks! It is like getting another birthday. I told KC if he had given me a sneak peek at Mother's Day I might have gotten knocked up earlier.