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!

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.

Christmas Party

So, just when you think I have abandoned this blog completely I return. It's not that I don't love the blog it's just that life has been a little crazy lately. So here we go...

My step mom (Sam's MeMe) works for the Dallas Cowboys. While we are still very big Eagles fans the Cowboys are absolutely wonderful to work for and treat their employees really, really well. So well that each year they throw a Christmas party just for employees kids and grandkids. A party complete with all kinds of kid friendly food (corny dogs, mini cheeseburgers, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, etc..., so many cookies from this really good bakery here in Dallas), pictures with Santa, face painting, karaoke, caricatures, people dressed as gingerbread men, elves, and reindeer. The look on Sam's face as she took everything in was priceless.

She made friends with the gingerbread men and elves. She stole a cookie off of my plate. She really did. Snatched it right off of the plate. And as I was putting her coat on as we were walking out the door I was eating the last bit of a cookie that she wanted and she completely melted down. Threw herself on the ground and everything. I thought this only happened when they turned 2?

We were there for 2 hours and she was completely entertained the entire time. Every time she turned around there was something new to look at (or eat). And of course the child doesn't know a stranger. She was walking all over the place by herself (with me a step or two behind her) and on two different occasions she walked right up to people we do not know and held out her arms to be picked up. Um, we need to work on stranger danger immediately.

We got to sit on Santa's lap. The first attempt to sit on Santa's lap didn't go over so well resulting in tears and no picture. The second time we had success. Of course I am also in the picture and making the most ridiculous face because I am trying to get her to smile. Just keep that in mind when you see the picture. I will try to scan and add it to the post tonight. Here are the rest that I took.

Making friends with an elf. Wearing our beautiful party dress from MeMe

Sitting still while getting our caricature done. The caricature was of Sam as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader. We took it home and I told KC one of his worst fears had come true :)

This is the stolen cookie. I can't even tell you the look of shock on my face when I turned around and she was holding my cookie. Thankfully she took one of the cookies without an inch of icing. Talk about sugar overload.

We had a bite of mac and cheese...

And couldn't get enough!

Sam and MeMe trying to decide which cookies we need

Sam and MeMe.

PaPa, MeMe, and Sam. Yes, she is holding a blue Tupperware container. It holds her Honey Bunnies. They are these little bunny shaped, honey graham crackers that she loves more than anything. She knows what is inside and likes just carrying the container around. I have about 10 pictures from the party with her carrying this adorable turquoise Tupperware around. Think I can photo shop it out?

Whew! We made it!

Today my amazing daughter turns one. I can hardly believe that it was just a year ago that we were all camped out in a hospital room getting to know her. I have this whole sappy letter for her that I plan on posting but for today I'll just put up the pictures from this mornings' celebration and say that being a mom is so much better than I ever imagined. And I can't wait to see what adventures are in store for us next.

We decided to steal the doughnut for breakfast idea from Christina and Michelle and it was a BIG hit. Actually as I wrestled the mangled doughnut from her hands (because no one year old needs an entire doughnut before 7am) she melted down. Red face, tears, screaming, the whole bit. But then I brought out the balloons and she perked right up. Thank goodness one year olds have short memories.

One year ago today....

Yes, I know the whole orange tinted skin really brings out my eyes...

This morning...

She kept trying to reach out and grab the flame. Notice the one finger? We have been working on that for about a month now. And yes, the candle is blue and green. As I have said before I am over my aversion to pink. Target just didn't have much of a selection when it came to the number one - blue and green stripes or blue and green polka dots.

Not too sure about the texture but the sugar - Yummy!

That first bite was pretty tame compared to what came next. Before we could stop her she was shoveling it in like a squirrel (and ended up with the cheeks to prove it).

So very, very proud of herself and her mangled doughnut.