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!

16 pounds 7 ounces

If this was Jeopardy there would be 2 correct questions/answers.

1.) How much does 66 sticks of butter weigh?

2.) How much did Sam weigh at her 6 month check up?

We weighed in at 16 lbs. 7 oz. and are 26 inches tall. All of our measurements fall into the 50-75% percentile. We already knew she was perfect this just confirmed it.

This picture was pre-shots but even post-shots we held up pretty well. We even managed to squeeze a Target run in after the Doctor visit and she was as charming as ever.

Does anyone know if they sell the paper that they put on the tables to normal people (as in non doctor people)? It occupied her for the full 20 minutes between the initial check up and the doctor. We couldn't get enough of it. Thankfully the doctor didn't seem to mind.

This is the "Uh, yeah I made this mess. What are you going to do about it?" face. It's the Philly girl inside coming out.

Checking to see if that second tooth showed up yet.

Thank god we went to the doctor yesterday. She gave us lots of good tips to survive teething. We took some Motrin (by we I mean Sam, not us) before bed last night and slept like a log. Other than KC knocking me in the head in the middle of the night it was a very restful sleep.

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.