Back From Jamaica Mon!!!

This time I have an excuse!  Really....I was out of the country and I didn't want to spend a go-zillion dollars for the wifi connection at our resort.  Back from Jamaica already, that just doesn't seem right.  Just like everything else, you prepare for so long, anticipate the arrival and it comes and goes before you know it.  Such is life.  Well, we had a wonderful time, regardless of how fast it went by.

We started out bright and early on Saturday, 8/24 and got into Montego Bay around 3pm local time.  We were all pretty exhausted so we slept much of the flight, Eliseo still has a great track record for airplane flights, thank goodness for small favors.  I imagine as he gets older flights will get more difficult, but for now he still gets the gold star for traveling.  We made it to the resort by about 4:30 and we were in the Caribbean within oh 15 minutes of check in.  I carried E down to the beach and put him down in the sand.  BIG SMILES :))).  We took him in the water and he loved it.  The water was nice and warm, Daddy was throwing him up in the air and he was loving every minute of it.  SCORE!!

The second day, I took him to the pool, which incidentally was bathwater as well.  We played in the shallow water next to the built in tile loungers, perfect height for E as he could stand and walk in the water or sit on the loungers and play his splashy games.  We hung out in the pool for a little over an hour and then took a break.  Naptime in the shade, and it was a good one.  So good that after about an hour I decided to recline him in his stroller to continue sleeping while I laid in the lounger again and got more sun.  We had had an unfortunate baby food incident (a jar of it exploded in G's suitcase) so Glenn spent some time that morning cleaning it out of pretty much all of his clothes while E and I were at the pool.  When he was finally done we joined the rest of our crew down at the beach for a few hours.  We sunscreened Eliseo up really well, reapplied several times and spared him the discomfort of any sunburn, GO MOM!!  It was really a perfect day in the sun. 

Third day, everyone agreed was a pool day since there were some fried shoulders and the pool area provided more shade than the beach.  E loves the pool, he's a little fishy like his mommy.  He was content to spend all day in the water.  He enjoyed another shady nap, this time with Daddy.  We must have been in the pool for 5 or 6 hours.  Another great day. 

Fourth day,  DOLPHIN DAY!! :)))  We headed out to Negril to go swimming with dolphins.  It was AWESOME.  Glenn stayed in the shallow water with E where they got to have a dolphin encounter, which included petting a dolphin and getting kisses.  The rest of us (we were with a group of 7) got to get in the deeper water and not only pet the dolphins and get kisses, but we got to hitch a ride from them too!  So cool....the dolphin approached us one at a time belly up, we held onto their fins and they swam us in for I guess 100 feet or so.  I will have pictures to post of this tomorrow, as I am not currently in possession of the CD :).  We have a video as well, but I still haven't mastered the art of video posting.

Fifth day was a quick jaunt of shopping for those unfortunate souls that couldn't join us ;) and then more time at the beach.  Sadly, we got rained out in the afternoon, but we got to spend at least a couple of hours playing in the sand and water before the rains came. 

We stayed at an inclusive resort so we didn't leave much, other than to see our dolphin friends...everyday pretty much was fun in the sun, then maybe a quick snooze in the afternoon and dinner around 7-8ish and then the resort had some pretty decent shows at night.  We brought our stroller that reclined so we brought E to the shows every night and he would fall asleep despite all the noise.  It worked out very well and I'm really glad that we decided to bring him.  He was picture perfect until the last day when he cut a tooth.  Even then, he was only a little fussy as long as Mommy was holding him.  But, if Mommy wasn't holding him, "a little fussy" doesn't even start to describe it.  So...Mommy pretty much held him most of the night.  He did enjoy walking around the resort, exploring every surface and cracking up while doing it.  I wish we could have stayed a little longer, but I think it was the perfect amount of time to bring along a 15 month old. 

We got home late Thursday night after a long day of travel.  E did well on the flights, slept on both of them but the time in between the flights (6 hour layover) was a little trying.  He wanted to crawl and walk around, but Glenn and I were just tuckered out.  We had a few conflicts of interest, which to E meant temper tantrums. 6 hours is a long layover.  But at least he was ready to sleep for our final connection back to St. Louis.

So, lucky for G and I, we don't have to be back to work until next week (Monday for G and Tuesday for me) so for the first time ever, I get a little bit of rest after vacation before reality strikes again. 

I am about to post a ridiculous amount of pictures, and I will have more after tomorrow.

SMILE MON....no problems. 

15 month appt ..Finger Pricks are the WORST!!!

Yes we had our 15 month appt at the pediatrician today. Things were going well: undress the baby, take measurements, baby plays until the doctor comes in. He was having so much fun, crawling around in his diaper, playing with the toys provided as distractions. When the doctor came in he was a little reserved but still laughing and smiling. He really enjoyed the little "massage" she gave him while checking out his heartbeat, kidneys and lungs.  But then she went too far. She wanted to look in his ears. He did NOT trust her with her handy little light inn the side of his head where he couldn't keep an eye on her. And this little guy has some muscles! So, begin the crying. We finally got him to sit still long enough for her to check out the ears, despite all his protesting. But then came in the most dreaded person in the doctor's office: the shot giver.  It just went downhill from here.  First off, the finger prick to test his iron. He was sitting on my lap and Glenn was next to me...he had to sit still AND sacrifice his poor little finger. Now I've gotten finger pricks before and those things hurt! He absolutely SCREAMED. :( and of course he didn't bleed well enough so she had to prick him a second time. More blood curdling screams.  I tried to keep my composure, but I'm pretty sure Glenn was wiping away tears.  But you know what he hated more than the prick? The bandaid and everything it represented! He just held up his hand and screamed at it...all the way to the car when I finally took it off.  But not before he got 2 other shots in the legs.  Boo I hate shots.  But, they are over now and no fever as of yet.

15 month stats:
Height: 29.25 inches 8%
Weight: 18lbs 11oz < 3%
Head circumference: 17.5" < 3%

She's still not concerned about his weight because he is gaining at a normal pace.

So that's our excitement for the day! Now we are recovering.  All bandaids have been removed!

Shouty caps: HE'S WALKING!!!

Well hellllllllooooooo readers!  I bet you were all wondering when you would see another post (all 4 of you that follow me).  Today is the day.....WOOHOO! 

Obviously the biggest update I have for you is the fact that my child is now getting around on 2 feet rather than on his hands and knees!  YAY!  He is still in transition, but he's trying it out more and more.  He'll think about it and decide to stand up, take a few steps, get wherever  he's going, clap for himself and move on to the next thing.  Ain't no thing, he says.  But, if he needs to get somewhere fast, like when Snickers barks and freaks him out, he's back down in crawling mode.  He will walk next to me though, if I'm holding one of his hands (which my back is very happy about).  We are running into the inevitable problem however:  don't even try to pick him up after he's been down.  So if we are going to have to be sitting somewhere for a while, I try not to let his feet hit the ground or we might have a little temper tantrum.

Next topic:  the words.  I posted a few weeks ago about his constant chatter, this is still pretty much the same.  But he is much more expressive now, and I wish I could explain in detail some of the faces he makes when he talks, but I'm not creative enough with my words to convey it.  Suffice it to say, it's darn cute.  And laughing, always laughing.  He is also saying Daddy, much to Glenn's satisfaction.  It's kind of more Gah-Gee, but it's definitely to address Glenn.  And I think the cutest thing he's doing now is counting to three.  Another mimic of me saying:  "Ready?  One....Two....THREEEEEEE"  saying the 1 and 2 in a lower tone and singing out the 3.   For him, it's more like:  "uhhhh, oooooo....fweeeeeeeeee!!"  CUTE!!!  And of course, he barks at all dogs.  And anything that looks like dogs, such as cats, bunnies and giraffes.  Yes, giraffes...as in the ones that decorate Grammy's apartment. 

So this past weekend, we traveled to Pittsburgh for my cousin's wedding.  We weren't sure about making this trip, because our Jamaica trip is right around the corner, but my mom was here a couple of weeks before the wedding and she was driving to PA from here.  So Glenn and I hitched a ride with her (and E, of course) and only had to fly one way back, making it a doable trip, timewise and financially.  We got to see all of the fam again, which is always awesome.  We've had a lot of excuses lately to get together with the extended families, either for good circumstances or bad.  But this is the reason we moved back to the Midwest, to be part of the crazy hubbub that is my family.  We have one more wedding in September and then we are planning a Michigan trip sometime in October.  Then, well, the holidays will be here and another year will be gone.  So between now and the end of the year, we will be seeing plenty of Grammy, Aunt Dawny and family, which makes us very happy. 

And that is mostly all for today, I guess.  Jamaica is coming up, getting very excited!  But needless to say, all the travel and preparation is exhausting so my blog has taken a bit of a nosedive lately.  I'll try to at least post some pics to keep you all coming back...all 4 of you.

Oh Just some pics

Perhaps a post to follow, but for now here are some new pics.