Rewind

Yes, I know we got back from the Dominican Republic over a month ago but I really wanted to post some of the pictures from our trip. We had so much fun hanging out with friends and family that we never get to see and the wedding was beautiful.

Our trip didn't get off to a smooth start or end on a good note but we had fun in between! The airline has never found our car seat and they can't even tell us if it got out of the Dominican Republic.

We did learn a few lessons on our trip:

1.) Traveling internationally with a baby is hard. I can guarantee that we will be staying in the good old US of A for the next few years. There is a comfort factor in knowing you can run out of baby food, or diapers, or any other necessary baby thing. Running low on diapers and baby food ended with an expensive, international call to KC's dad to bring extra provisions for Chase and Sam. (Thank you Pop and Di!) Plus, have you ever tried to bathe a squirmy baby and not get water anywhere near their mouth? Sam has never been as dirty as she was by the time we left. We were wiping her down with baby wipes and counting pool time as bath time.

2.) Always, always get another room for the baby or just avoid hotels. And no, I don't mean avoid hotels as in don't go anywhere, just go somewhere you can rent a house (Hello North Carolina summer of '09) or go somewhere you can get adjoining rooms. Trying to keep the baby asleep while you are still in the room, or keeping her awake since no sane, non-pregnant adult wants to go to sleep at 8pm, is miserable.

3.) If at all possible, bring your own pack and play or make peace with sleeping in the same bed as the baby. We learned this lesson the first night when the crib in our room clearly said on the outside of the rails THIS IS THE INSIDE. Seriously, in ALL CAPS and red letters. Um, hello death trap anyone? I called housekeeping and got another one but never felt quite the same about using it. We are heading to Arizona this fall and the pack and play is coming with us.

4.) Lots of sunscreen and just when you think she has enough on...go ahead and put some more on. This was one of my lower moments as a mom. I swear I put sunscreen on the kid every hour. We applied the recommended 15-30 minutes before going outside to let it sink in and then about every hour we were outside. And her arms still got red on the third day. Who the heck lets their 6 month old baby get burned? It didn't phase her a bit so I am guessing she couldn't feel it but her arms looked pretty pink to me. The only thing I can figure I didn't factor in was the inordinate amount of time we spent in the pool. I cried and then we wore long sleeve shirts outside for 2 days.

OK, enough about all of the things that I screwed up on. Here are the pictures...

The future Mr. and Mrs. hanging out in their floaties

"How many pictures of Auntie Ande and I are you going to take???"

We took naps where ever we could get them this week...poolside, in the stroller, on a lounge chair

Chase and Christina

Sam and her Pop

Sam, Pop, and Dad

"Check out my cool new shades!"

Big, big fan of the pool

Aren't the Palsky's such a cute family?

Beginning of the photo shot on the beach. My MIL made these adorable outfits for them. Sam had never been on sand before. And didn't really notice it until she fell over.

Sam still thought this was so fun. And so did I until....

...she started rubbing her eyes and then my new mom paranoia set in. I thought "oh my gosh, she's rubbing the sand in her eyes. She's going to scratch her corneas." Seriously this is where my mind went. I grabbed Sam and race to the pool and dunk her in repeatedly until the sand was almost gone from her face. I swear she was looking at me and thinking "Are you insane?" After I came to my senses I figured out that every kid who has rubbed their eyes at the beach didn't end up with scratched cornea's. (Duh.)

Loni and her boys at the rehearsal dinner

We didn't plan it but we certainly look patriotic don't we?

Introducing the new Mr. and Mrs. Chewning

Hanging out with my Auntie Ande

Kc and I take one of these silly pictures every time we go on vacation. It's a little harder to get three heads in.

Gotta love kisses from Dad

Mr. and Mrs. Palsky in 2033 (or about there)

Ready to head home

The excitement of the week tuckered Sam out

Brush 'em! Brush 'em! Brush 'em!

Is anyone else a huge Grease fan and remembers this line from the sleepover scene? Or is it just me?

When we were teething last weekend this little toothbrush was a big hit. Apparently Gerber makes a little "toothbrush" (really a rubber, thimble shaped thingy) and a baby toothpaste that you can use on their teeth and gums. Apparently it is beneficial to brush even their gums - who knew? We haven't given the toothpaste a try yet but the toothbrush is a hit! (Thanks Auntie Dev!) She looks a little ticked off in the picture but we "brushed our teeth" for a good 15 minutes.

KC doesn't have the best teeth so we are going to encourage good dental hygeine early in our house. (I am pretty sure we could have bought a nice, used car with what we have spent on his mouth.)

President, Not Princess

I am not a big fan of the "princess" or "diva" things. It took me a long time to make peace with the massive amounts of pink things that you receive when you have a baby girl. I have never been a pink (or purple) person. But there are a lot of pink and purple things out there for little girls, some of which are adorable. Now Sam wears pink and purple on a regular basis and (of course) looks so cute.

It's not that I am a big tomboy. I like getting dressed up. Getting a pedicure is one of my favorite things in the whole world. I wear dresses and skirts more than pants or shorts. I make a mean key lime pie and Sweet Home Alabama is one of my favorite movies. But the princess and diva thing I just can't get on board with.

Apparently I won't have to. I love this website and can't wait to get one of the shirts for Sam. I can't decide between the "President Not Princess" and the "Doctor Not Diva".

We now have four!

Teeth, that is. We had fun this weekend with Pop, Mom-Mom, and Auntie Kara. And KC and I had a lot of fun since Mom-Mom babysat Friday AND Saturday night - Whoo Hoo! I have some pictures and a funny story to post later but wanted give an update on the teething nightmare. On Saturday morning we woke up with 4 fully cut teeth.

Somehow we survived this round of teething and Mama and baby are happy again.

What Could Be Worse?

I'm sure there is a long list of things that could be worse, and are in fact worse then what I am about to write...BUT none of them have happened to me in my 29 years so this is at the top of my list.

Holding your child at 2am while she screams uncontrollably. A guttural cry that if you ever have to hear again you feel like you might go deaf. And you sob as a result. That's my worst, and that's where I was at 2am this morning.

I HATE TEETHING. We have tried, and continue to try Motrin, Tylenol, Baby Orajel, and those homeopathic teething tablets. Everything seems to work for awhile and then we are miserable again. She is holding up pretty good during the day and even at dinner last night she wasn't too bad. Just wanted to be held and not much interest in eating. She is still nursing, so I am assuming that she is getting enough nutrients that she is not dehydrated. She peed through her diaper last night so I think we're ok. (TMI?) Why can't this other tooth cut? RIGHT NOW.

I think the baby gods are thinking "well, you have had it pretty good the last 7 months and we haven't thrown you too many problems since that whole weight thing right at the beginning. You seem to be getting a little cocky about this parenting gig. Let's throw a wrench in there for you." Now picture me making an obscene gesture at the baby gods.

Side note: if you are wondering I don't have make-up on today either and the circles under my eyes are much, much worse. The whole nap in the car thing has not yet been ruled out for this morning. I am supposed to get a pedicure at lunch today. I wonder of the little old lady will be offended if I fall asleep in the chair?

My mom will be here today. She'll have all the answers.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

We'll start with the bad...


After 7+ months Peanut had her first fever last night. While I was thankful that we lasted this long without one her sad little face and glazed over eyes almost did me in. We sat at dinner with Pop (part of the good news) and just snuggled and watched. I know doctors say that teething will not give them a fever but I'm not sure what else to attribute it to? When we woke up at 4:15 AM the fever was gone and it was still gone this morning. I am positive of this because I took her temperature 6 times in 20 minutes.


That leads us to the ugly...


There are 2 parts to the ugly - first the fact that we were awake at 4:15 this morning and would not go back to sleep until after 5am, a mere 60 minutes before Mom has to get up to go to work. Since KC is on vacation today you would assume that he would have taken care of her. Except for the fact that she screamed like we were torturing her unless I was holding her. Seriously, screamed like... (I'm actually at a loss for words at this point). There really isn't a good way to describe how she screamed other than the fact that it was awful and I couldn't take it so I held her.

The second part of the ugly is me this morning. I am so tired. I have ridiculous circles under my eyes and no make-up becuase I couldn't muster up the strenght to put it on, or care enough about wearing it. Since she also screamed while I took a shower, combed my hair, and got dressed I had to minimize my time away from her. At least when she was a newborn and sleeping in short bursts I didn't have to go to work. I am considering sneaking out to my car and sleeping. The only thing stopping me is the fact that gas costs $4 a gallon and it would cost me $12 to take a nap. Well, that and the fear of losing my job.


I don't want to leave you with the thought that all is bad here in our corner of the world so onto the good news...


Our Pop arrived last night. Yea!!! Even though Pop still lives up in PA he has seen Sam every month since she arrived. We have a special corner of heart just dedicated to our Pop. Here is Pop doing story time before bed last night.

Now it's ok to giggle a little when you read the end of that sentence. Personally I am cracking up. Why? Because I know that story time was not followed by bedtime. Bedtime came a few hours after story time. And even then we can't really call it bedtime, more like nap time since it was just a few brief hours.

And more good news...

Mom-mom and Auntie Kara arrive tomorrow! Yea for Mom and Peanut!!! They will be amazed at how much Sam has changed. I have to be honest. It will also be fabulous to have 4 more eyes to watch our little demon. Her newest obsession is playing with the computer cord. Before you call child services know that we don't let her play with it we just catch her after she already has it in her hands.

One last thought...THANK GOD IT'S THURSDAY....

A Picture Show! (or 2)

We were having So much fun last night just crawling around on the floor that we had to get the video camera out.