Under Pressure...

I read this statistic the other day and it freaked me out about being a parent and shaping my child (aka permanently warping her).

"In the first five years of life, 85 percent of the brain is developed," said Armstrong, the psychologist who examined Danielle. "Those early relationships, more than anything else, help wire the brain and provide children with the experience to trust, to develop language, to communicate. They need that system to relate to the world."

Not only does it make me doubt 90% of what I am doing it makes me think of the million other things I should be doing. I was already a little concerned that since I still work full-time (sigh) I wasn't spending enough time with her period. Not even factoring in that I should be working on baby sign language, or vocabulary, or shapes, colors, numbers, letters, the list goes on and on. I promised myself I wouldn't be all crazy about things like classical music classes at 3 months but I should be focusing on the basics, right?

And then I worry, does she get enough hugs? Will it inspire self confidence? Does she get so many she won't be independent? If I always cave to her will she get spoiled? If I don't will she feel unloved? (At this point it is completely fine to think I am bonkers. KC is used to this and knows how to deal with me when I go a little crazy. Again, a lucky, lucky guy.)

If there was a step-by-step manual this would be so much easier.

Am I the only parent freaking out about this?

Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, and Austin = my new BFF's

Ahhh, the Backyardigans. I apologize to anyone who thought we were BFF's. I'm sure we were but I have to drop you in place of the people that can calm a screaming child in just a few short piano notes. Or distract a fussy baby from the fact that while she may feel entitled to the remote/phone/necklace I am wearing she is not going to get it. I still love my old BFF's but you just don't have the power.

This is what the power looks like.

And now you see why they are my new best friends.

This is one of my favorite videos! And we managed to capture a milestone on video. You can tell by the look on KC's face when he realizes she is clapping for the first time!

Yummy, Yummy In My Tummy

We have finally started real food (and by real food, I mean food that doesn't come in a little plastic container) and have found somethings that we love and some things we are not so fond of.

Loves: Bananas, Peaches, Watermelon, Cantaloupe, but our absolute favorite is...CHEERIOS! She will only eat about 2 for every 20 we give her but she spends a lot of time working on getting those 2 in her mouth.

Hates: Cherries, Blueberries

Eating Peaches with Mom-Mom

Our Blueberry Face

*Does this sound like a personal ad or what? No worries Chase, we're not looking!

Our Little Monkey

Sam has been all over and into everything for the last month. We finally got our new couch last week and this weekend she discovered that she can climb it. Yes, I said climb it! I'm not sure how we are going to bolt the mirror to the wall but we are going to try.

Our Little Monkey

Thinking Outside The Box

I am a linear thinker. I look at the animals below and see bath toys. And that's all. Since my mom arrived these things have been everywhere. I am pretty sure we now have one in the bath, one in the highchair, one in the pack and play, one in the car, one on the changing table, one at Grandma's, and possibly one in the bottom of my purse. She loves them. They are just the right size for her hand and they fit in her mouth. These were a present from Grandma Di when we were in the Dominican and have been a hit in the tub ever since. Who knew they would be a hit everywhere else?

Playing with Mom-Mom

And at Grandma's

In the bath

And after the bath.

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.)