Life lessons learned
Sammy made a grand new discovery while in the tub. He discovered that he has a really cool part of his anatomy--one that is usually hidden from his exploring little fingers. Well he found that nifty part and grabbed hold....YOINK...to get a better look at it. Loud scream of pain and confusion.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Mom cracks up as baby learns the tough way that some toys just need to stay where they are.
The fluids are flowing
Montezuma is having his revenge on my sweet baby. Mean old Mexican bug! I guess whatever it was couldn't get to our super-strong parental digestive systems, but Sammy's tender little body didn't stand a chance. I'm kicking myself that I even fed him anything there--I should have just brought Gerber from here. But I don't feed him baby food at home, so it didn't even occur to feed him baby food there. It's not like I was getting him a drink of water from roadside cantinas; he just ate bites of whatever we ate, and it got him.
So I've changed the sheets a LOT of times since we've been home. Just when I think we're through with the worst of it, he'll surprise me and let loose again. I've never had Clean Sheet Day so many times in a row!! That's going to be my silver lining. Perpetual clean sheet feeing.
After cleaning up from yet another round, I kept smelling it somewhere. Kept checking the baby--he was fine. Looked over at my sleeping Calvin, and noticed that he was sound asleep all crusted in horribleness. Now HE didn't go to Mexico, but my darling sister DID take them to the mothership for all nasty foul gross germs....Chuck...E....Cheese.....
You think it's all fun and games and tokens. Then WHAMMO!! You're wishing you'd never heard of the cheerful rat with all his latent diseases.
More laundry is going, baths have been administered, bowls distributed, and essential oils applied liberally--even to the sleeping girls as a preventative measure. I'm going to go to sleep now, because who knows what adventures this night holds for me?
Sammy got to try out the pool for the first time. He started out like this:
He loved the water for a few minutes, but I brought him down when he was pretty sleepy. He snuggled up on my chest in the water, and for a full 20 minutes I rocked him in the water. The palm trees were swaying, the sun was shining, and my baby was cuddled contentedly under my chin. It was one of those beautiful moments that I hope to always remember. I had a random German lady grab my camera and get a photo of my sweet peaceful Sammy.
And then out of the pool, he slept in his stroller while I knitted, read, and had beautiful food next to the pool. Oh, I love my life!!
Love from the south
I'm writing this from a balcony overlooking a brilliant blue pool ringed with palm trees. The gentle murmur of the ocean is in the background. Alas, my camera batteries are charging on the counter at home!! I think Steve brought his camera, so I'll have to use it. We're on our semi-annual retreat to a Beautiful Place. Since we both crave warmth in the middle of January, we're back in Puerto Vallarta again.
This time, it's not so much of a romantical getaway, seeing as we have a wriggly, dribbly 7 month old distraction tagging along. But as traveling companions go, you couldn't ask for a better. This baby is so serene and sunshiny, he'd take living upside down in stride. He gurgles and coos at everyone who smiles at him, he sleeps when given the chance, and eats whatever we have on our plates. As a nod to our tropical location, I am feeding him mango and papaya right now. He is one blissed-out baby.
There is something so restorative about spending time together--just Steve (and Sammy) and me. When we leave our regular routine for a few days, problems that were seeming so challenging are suddenly doable. I've realized that as long as our marriage is strong, it really doesn't matter what else is happening--with our combined strength we can handle it. We see each other as the person that we fell in love with--not just the one who's in the trenches fighting the daily battles. When I take a few days away, I have more appreciation for my kids, more patience, and I am a better mom.
I'm sure we don't actually need the beach and palm trees to goal plan and reconnect...but they sure don't hurt!! Since Steve travels so much, the plane tickets here cost us exactly $11 apiece. So really, why not Mexico??
We went to a little restaurant last night for some dinner. There was a table next to us with a grandma, mom and daughter here for a month long vacation. They were having a grand time with all their margaritas and kahluas, and got very drunk before too long. I couldn't help think how fun it looked--they were all dancing and laughing riotously, and Steve and I just watched with our very non-alcoholic Coca lights. I wondered if we would have so much more fun drunk, but then I decided that I don't really want to have a clubbing/bar-hopping/hook up with guys relationship with my mom, daughters, or grandma. We're okay just the teetotalling way we are!
We're going to get massages today--we'll trade off watching the baby. They have a FOUR HAND massage here!!! I mean seriously--four hands? Tomorrow, we'd like to go whale/dolphin watching. We have a pool to sit by, an ocean to walk along, and jalapeno popcorn to eat. Bliss!
My darling sister Steph has my undying thanks for watching my sweet babies at home. Thank you!!! Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures later.
A pledge
I am propping my eyeballs open to write a few things because there is a blog here at this URL, and I am the blogs owner, therefore, I should probably, sometimes, actually, well...BLOG!!
So things happened. Things like Christmas (Nutcracker, Christmas dresses, sledding, homemade marshmallows, knitted and crafted gifts galore, traveling, snowstorms), and things like New Years (games until 4 am, kids waking up at 5:30, beautiful food, fabulous times). And also some very big and important Things with a capital T--things like buying a new house and all the accompanying decisions and worries.
Other things happened to keep my from fulfilling my bloggy duties, but those are merely excuses--the diehard blogger will undoubtedly find a way. Not even beloved laptops that go plunging off beds to impale themselves on their own power cords would stop a true intrepid blogger. But it did stop me, alas. To my great shame, the computers downstairs are too far, or it's too cold (can you hear the whine??). But now there's a darling little teeny tiny itsy bitty baby laptop--truly it's small enough to slip in my purse, and I am repenting for my cyber neglect. January is the perfect time for a fresh start.
In a very oversimplified nutshell, things are good, kids are cute, they continue to get bigger (oh, both the bigness and the cuteness of the baby are overwhelming!) and we continue to be overwhelmingly happy. There will be more to come here at Together we Learn house. This I solemnly pledge!!
