I back...or I'm trying to be.

So it's just shy of a year and a half since I last wrote on the blog. SO much has changed I am somtimes amazed at all we managed to squeeze into 18 months.

Here are the highlights:

1.) I'm currently a SAHM but probably reentering the workforce in the next month or so. I've been home for a year and a half.

2.) We are back in Yardley. We lived at my mom's for a year and then bought our own house. We are right back where we started (in a good way). So much so that Sam will go to the same gradeschool that her Dad did. And he is very, very excited about it. In a cute way.

3.) we spent 9 weeks taking on some serious renovations. Our house is 60 years old and the same family lived in it for the last 53 years. And last updated it in 1974 so needless to say some updates/repairs were and are still necessary.

4.) I ended up with a 32 month old amazing little girl. I know, you're thinking, "duh, what did you think you were going to end up with." But it surprises me all the time. More on that later.

5.) Best of all we have a new little one! Ian Whittaker was born June 14th. He weighed in at 8 lbs 13 oz and 22 inches long. I was just happy we came in under the 9 lb mark that everyone insisted we had passed (even my doctor was "sure" of it).

Welcome to the world Baby Ian!

The rest of our trip north

We were home for almost two weeks and we did a lot. The snow and the Please Touch Museum were just two things we fit into our schedule that seemed to get really busy, really fast.

Our trip got off to a pretty rocky start. It took us a total of 17 hours to get from Dallas to Philly - via air! And that includes spending a few hours at a hotel just outside the Dulles airport. That's right we couldn't make it all of the way to Philly as planned due to weather so Sam got to pick up another state while we spent 3 hours asleep in a hotel in Northern Virginia.


After a hellish flight the next day (including delays in Dulles before boarding, circling in the air, and over an hour on the ground in Philly AFTER we landed but before we got to a gate) we finally arrived!

We got spoiled by Mom-Mom and Skipper, got to hang out with Christina, Chase (after he recovered from the croup), and Andrew, have lunch with my aunt and uncle, go to music class with Chase (which Sam loved), see Auntie Ande's and Uncle Jay's brand new apartment in Hoboken, go to the zoo, get our picture taken with our future hubby. I even got to catch up with some friends, including a really fun dinner out with the girls! Overall, it was a fabulous trip home. I didn't want it to end. And apparently neither did American Airlines.

I was originally supposed to fly home in Wednesday but pushed my flight back a day with no charge since I was delayed a day coming in. Thursday at 3am I got a call from AA that my flight was cancelled and I rescheduled for the same flight on Friday. No problem, we missed KC a lot but we got the chance to hang out with the Palsky's some more and spend some more time with Mom-Mom and Skipper. Friday we were on the way to the airport and I get another call from AA - our flight is cancelled and we can't get out until the next day again! We finally got home on Saturday. Other than the crazy travels we had there and back we couldn't have asked for a better trip. I am already planning another one for April! We can't wait to go back. And this time we're hoping for warmer weather. (What can I say? I'm a Texan now. My blood's thinner.)

The toy she is riding on was mine when I was little. It's a Little Tikes toy and still in really good shape. She loves it!

We had dinner with Pop before he had to jet off to Phoenix to visit DiDi.

Giving Auntie Ande some love.

She is a shoe fanatic. These were Auntie Anj's cowboy boots. When she saw them in the front hall she HAD to have them. She wasn't to happy with we pried her away from them.

We took a trip to Auntie Ande's new apartment in Hoboken and tried pizza for the first time ever! We have had some food issues off and on since she was born so I am always hesitant to try new things. I working on it though. Back to the pizza....SHE LOVED IT!! It turned her into a monster! Once she tried it she walked around begging everyone for a bite of theirs. I haven't broken the news to her yet that pizza in Dallas is nothing like pizza in Hoboken.

This was the Mad Dog face when she ran out of pizza (before she realized what we had replaced in front of her).

We took a walk down to the water. Here's Sam's first view of the NYC skyline.

We took a drive to Maryland to have lunch with my aunt and uncle so Sam picked up 2 new states (Delaware and Maryland) and got to meet their dog Rags.

Rags is a Portuguese Water Dog and so good. He was so sweet to Sam and as with all dogs she couldn't get enough of him.

Here's a picture from the Please Touch Museum. I thought it was too cute not to include but I forgot it when I did the post.

Sam and Chase had there picture taken and then spent some time with Chase showing her the ropes. We could tell he'd spent some time behind the wheel before.

And of course, since we were at Grandma's Sam got a little spoiled. She had a fudgesicle. Can you tell by the look on her face how much she hated it?

Please Touch Museum

Best Place Ever. Seriously. Sam LOVED it. Absolutely loved it.

When Sam and I went home a 2 weeks ago we took an afternoon trip to the new Philadelphia Please Touch Museum. If you haven't already been I would highly recommend it. It's awesome, even for a one year old. When I found out that I would have to pay $15 for me and $15 for Sam to get in I thought that was a little ridiculous but figured we would give it a try. It was well worth the money. They actually had to kick us out of the place. We'll definitely be back next time we go north!

I'm pretty sure Sam's wondering exactly how much Mom-Mom will get away with at the water table.

She may have been a little too short to really enjoy the water tables but she loved the air dryers. We spent a good 5 minutes turning these back on after they would shut off.

All time favorite thing - the slide. She goes down on her butt, face first, upside down, backwards, however she can wiggle out of my fast enough once she gets to the top.

She really liked this one but there was quite a traffic jam at the top after only one trip down.

Big fan of ducks and let's be honest - a goose looks like a big, white duck. if you didn't know any better this is a duck, just a prettier one.

Walking in Tom Hanks foot steps - How cool! (She actually doesn't weigh enough to make any music. That's why nothing is lighting up. It really did work.)

Her Highness

Her face went back and forth between this and complete amazement.

She could climb on almost anything she wanted - which she LOVED!

Of course we couldn't pass up the standard favorite, the carousel.

We are heading to Cincinnati for a wedding at the end of March and I'm hoping we get to check out the children's museum there too. It was the first place we have been there was so much stuff really geared just for her. I'm sure I'll try to squeeeze in a visit everytime we head back east.

Sam's First Day In The Snow

We are here in PA for a week visiting my mom and we were lucky enough to arrive in the middle of a snowstorm. By lucky enough I also mean that we were graced with a 17 hour trip here but that's another blog entry.

Sam just had no idea what to do with the snow other than eat it. She kept putting some in her mouth and smacking her lips. Althought it looks like we bundled her up like Ralphie from a Christmas Story I was worried that she was going to freeze so we only stayed outside for about 10 minutes. Maybe next time we'll brave sledding.

She could walk. Barely.

Tasting the snow. Again. And again. And again.

Great Uncle Mike teaching us how to make snow balls.

Sammie and Mom freezing our butts off. (I'm a Texas girl now. It's too cold up here!)

Pickles, Car Washes, and Giggles

Since I seem to be having no luck at all in getting time to write about the absolutely insane December that we had (including a first birthday party, house guests, a second Christmas, new years, our first swing set - which we LOVE, and lots of other really, really exciting things) I thought I could at least quiet the naggers (you know you who are) and post some pictures. Yes, they are a bit random and some a bit fuzzy. I took them with my phone this past weekend on our adventures around town.

We were in Sam's and her new favorite place to sit is the big part of the cart. It's also the only place where she will sit for any length of time. I swear if I had a dollar for every time I have said "Sam, please sit down" in the last week I would be typing this from our own private island in the South Pacific.

We were in the car wash and Sam really wasn't sure what to make of everything that was going on. I am positive that she has been in the car with us before when we got the car washed but she looked she freaked out I had to take a picture. The crab in her lap counts in English and Spanish so any day now she'll be bilingual (we're holding our breath).

Does any other baby just get the giggles sometimes? Everything we said made her laugh and then it made us laugh and so on. Vicisous cycle. Notice the feet. Her feet are ALWAYS crossed at the ankles. Even when she sleeps.

Chowing down on a pickle at Corner Bakery. She sucks the juice out of them. It makes me cringe just thinking about it. She loves them!

Honest Scrap Award

Since I have now been tagged twice to do this I am going to skip what this blog is supposed to be about (a baby blog) and just blog about me! I figure it's been almost a month at this point - what's a few more days???

What's the Honest Scrap award? Well, I am supposed to write 10 true things about myself and I was tagged by Christina and Rhyme and Reason, so here goes...

1.) I spent my first 2 and a half years after college as a traveling sales rep driving all over Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. And had some really, really crazy experiences. I got stuck in the mud in Louisiana, followed a truck filled with dead pigs down a two lane road in West Texas, met lots of really sweet people, crossed the Mississippi River at sunset (which is beautiful), and did it all by myself. At the beginning I never thought I would be able to do it but by the end I actually enjoyed it. And then spent the next three years traveling all over the country as a national sales manager which had it's own set of challenges...

2.) I love office supplies. I could spend hours and hours (and thousands of dollars in Staples). Specifically, I love pens. If I find a pen that I like I will buy at least five of them and put one in my purse, one in my desk, one at home, etc.

3.) I hate winter. There is a small part of me that misses the Northeast but I miss the people more than the actual place. I just can't imagine living in a place with real winter again. In Dallas we flirt with winter. As in, today we have a high of 45 but tomorrow it will be 70! I can deal with that. Always the possibility of spring around the corner. But no warm weather for months - no thank you.

4.) I have always wanted to be a runner. But I HATE running. Some people honestly look like they love it. Who are those people? How do they like it? What is the secret???

5.) I am one of the most uncoordinated people you will ever meet. I always have at least one bruise, bump, cut, or scratch fro running into something.

6.) I am a really big fan of the Eagles although I really don't get the fuss over college football since there is no even playing field to evaluate all of the teams on. I don't get how you can have a national champion when everyone doesn't play on the same level.

7.) Excluding alcoholic beverages, if I could only drink diet coke or iced tea for the rest of my life that would be completely fine with me. That's how addicted I am to both of those. Isn't that sad?

8.) Between KC and I we have kind of a crazy family tree. I have two regular (for lack of a better term) sisters who share the same mom and dad. They are both younger than me. I also have a younger half brother from my dad's second marriage. Then I have a younger step sister from my dad's third marriage. I also have two older step sisters from my mom's second marriage. One of which we talk to and one of which we do not. Are you keeping up?? KC has one younger regular brother (the one who got married in the Dominican last year) and two younger step brothers from his dad's second marriage. Did you get all that?

9.) I can't watch people embarrass themselves, even on television. I have to turn away. I can't explain it. It's the weirdest thing and I have no idea why it makes me feel so uncomfortable but I just can't do it. If there's a shrink out there reading this - any ideas?

10.) Growing up we didn't play school; we played office in our house. We would drag out chairs and tables to use as desks, phones, notepads, the whole thing. Our living room has french doors that I would sit behind as the president of our "company". My middle sister Ande was the secretary and the baby sister Kara got to be the messenger. Apparently we could not think of any other roles in a company other than president, secretary, and messenger.

I'm not really sure who I would tag since everyone I would tag seems to have already done this except for Kara - so here's an assignment for you Bear - add it to your list!

Sammie the Shrimp

We had our one year check up last Friday (the 5th) and while healthy, we weighed in on the shrimpy side. She had a stomach bug recently so the doctor wasn't too worried but as she has said in the past "let her eat whatever she was and as much as she wants". If only my doctor would say that to me...

Our official stats:

Length: 29"

Weight: 19 lbs. 14 oz. (25% boo!)

Head: 17 and 3/4" circumference

And here is how fast things change in a year... (2 month checkup picture is missing or non existent. I was still too far in the "new mommy" cave to notice.)

At our 4 month Checkup

At our 6 month Checkup

At our 9 month Checkup

We have obviously graduated from just laying on the table posing for pictures and causing destruction to anything we can get our hands on - including mom's camera bag. You will also notice that I actually remembered to bring a camera to this appointment. No grainy phone pictures this time.

And then last Friday. Already a year. WOW.