International Man of Mystery

"Hola Guapo!" was the official and most common greeting during our trip to Mexico. Apparently, Callan's appeal is international. I had no doubt.

We had a seriously wonderful trip! Callan is perfect, and he behaved perfectly---no airplane crying, no tantrums, just wonderful wonderfulness. Can you even stand it? He was awesome (and as noted in previous paragraph) practically too cute for words.

Every day with my little Mister feels like heaven, but it was a wonderful treat to also wake up in paradise! Yay Eric for winning a wonderful vacation for us! We could get used to this kind of thing!!! ; )

Callan just enjoyed everything! He loved the water and watching the other kids. He also was very pleased to learn that on vacation, there are on no food rules. You aren't forced to eat your vegetables and meat isn't snuck into your mouth sandwiched between banana slices. He was able to pretty much eat only fruit, yogurt, cheese and cheerios for five straight days. We have already begun the veggie revolt now that we are back home!

Our first trip taught us, or tried to teach us a lot of things:

1..You can't change yourself too much. The universe won't let you.

I have spent WEEKS preparing for this trip. I had spreadsheets of check lists, due dates---I mean I was seriously working against type to make sure we had everything we needed. I even shipped freakin' boxes to myself ahead of time full of all the things I knew we would need. Infant sunglasses that are 100% UVa & UVb, pool float w/shade, sunscreen, deet free bug spray, antibacterial wipes, creams, lotion, shampoo, canned organic fruit, cereal...I think I would have made Martha Stewart proud...I mean I was ready. Or so I thought. Apparently my research on international shipping was a little lacking. 2 of my 3 boxes were held (and are currently in captivity) in Mexican Customs in MexCity. BOOO. I was frantic last Monday trying to track the boxes and then giving up and working to replace everything that was in the boxes to pack and bring with us. Phew. Crisis averted. Lesson: I did twice the work to try and be something I'm not (organized) than I would have done if I would have just waited until the last minute in the first place. OH well!

2. Giving Birth is a Right of Package.
This being our first family trip since Callan was born, I discovered an ascribed role I was previously unaware of: Family Packer. I assumed I would be in charge of packing up Callan. I know Eric would have done it, but I just didn't want Callan to have one t shirt and one pair of sweatpants as his only clothes for the trip. So that one, I was ready for. What I was not ready for was that I also had to pack Eric (who was having a little what to wear in a tropical paradise while working clothing crisis) and pack Vegas up to go to the Kennel. In addition to packing myself. Luckily, we got everything in, and I didn't even have to sit on a single suitcase!

3. Haircuts before vacation = Bad idea!
Or maybe that should be, letting your mom cut your hair is a bad idea. Callan, are you reading this? Callan's hair is growing like crazy! And as you may have noticed, it has a mind of it's own. So we figured it was time for a trim. Well I got started and thought I had done a pretty fine job. Eric took one look at it and told me I hadn't taken enough off. I have been using the clippers so as to not cut Callan, but my greatest fear of cutting his hair (aside from actually cutting him) is to accidently give him a flat top. SOOOO against my better hair cutting judgement (despite the red hair incident of '03 I do have some better hair judgement sometimes) I took the clippers to the top of his little noggin. I almost started crying!!! IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOO short! Or it seemed like it. I had a moment of feeling like ok, maybe I could glue it back on. Or that Callan could wear a hat for the next month. Or I could just tell everyone he was terribly advanced and had cut his own hair. With pinking shears. But, luckily, the majority of the problem was just his bed-head. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. And thank GOD it will not be the bad haircut that is forever memorialized in all of our vacation pictures. Seriously. I'm sure that will happen sometime....but not this time! Yay!

4. Eric is right. Sometimes. Or at least once.

But we were in a foreign country, so it could have just been the international waters throwing me off. Nothing interesting, just worth mentioning as I am sure I won't admit to it again and want to document this one occurrence.

5. Pina Coladas are the new water.

Seriously. Most delicious thing ever. They make the beach better and the beach makes them better. It is a ridiculously wonderful mutually beneficial relationship. Plus, they both make me happy. I believe Micheal Scott would call that a win-win-win.

6. McGruff did not say take a bite out of your mom. He said crime. Crime.

I ate dinner over a swarm of mosquitoes our first night there. So I had about 40 bug bites from my knees to my ankles. Those were annoying. But my nastiest bites were from my hungry or thirsty or teething son!!! Since we haven't had teeth yet in tank top weather, more often than not Callan, lets me know when he would like to belly up to the bar by giving my t shirt, or sweater, or sweat shirt a little nip. Well, apparently the warning nip still happens even without the protective clothing. So I have about 15 baby bites from shoulder to shoulder. And they are hanging around longer than those of the mosquitoes. The good news is---you can't get west nile from baby bites!

7. Swim "diapers" is kind of a misnomer.

OK. Swim diapers may keep solid waste out of the water---but they do not repel, hold or absorb pee. Which after thinking about it, of course they don't. That totally makes sense. But, we know how I like my experiential learning! The first time Callan got out of the pool and sat on my lap I thought, hmm. That's weird the water feels so warm now. Right. Water. I learned and relearned this lesson a few times a day while on our trip. A high chair and a few pool lounge chairs also learned this lesson. Whoops.

Even though we had the best time ever, we are glad to be home! And if the universal greeting in Mexico was "Hola Guapo" our most common greeting upon returning is "How are you feeling?"...all feeling perfectly well--thank you for asking! But not to worry, the momachondriac has been taking regular temps just to be sure. (Thank GOD for digital ear thermometers! The old fashioned way I would really, really have to think about that. Yuck!)

I wasn't sure how Callan would feel about being home. He was glad to see Vegas, thrilled to see his room and toys, and absolutely beside himself to see his Grandma Char and Grandpa Mike! I guess there is no place like home!


Love to all!

P.S. I am seriously delayed in my posting, and consequently, seriously delayed in my blog bday wish to my sister! Glad you had a great birthday Ang! We are looking forward to seeing you this weekend and cheering you on to victory in your first ever half marathon! Can't wait!

Beat It.

Callan's first Easter was so much fun! We spent Saturday with Eric's family in Wahoo. The weather was beautiful! Aunt Beth brought lots of eggs so Callan was able to enjoy his first egg hunt....he seemed to know just what to do! And when he lost interest his cousins were more than happy to pick up his slack. Callan loves to watch his cousins, especially Rachael! He was also especially thrilled that MoJo, Stephanie's teeny tiny Yorkie was there, he was lots of fun to watch run around. Lucky for MoJo Callan can't quite catch him just yet....

Now that Callan is eating 'table' food, these events present an interesting challenge for us. ME! I am learning that any special occasion that normally involves dessert or candy also involves people wanting to feed said dessert or candy to my baby. After spending the last ten months feeding Callan exclusively breast milk and making all of his baby food homemade so that it was completely organic with no pesticides or preservatives....you can understand that I might be a little resistant to this idea. This started early in the week when my dad sent me an email asking me if I would be letting Callan have Easter candy!?!?! (written "will you be letting Callan have a little candy on Easter?", meaning: "Do you intend to ruin one of the great pleasures of grandparenthood by refusing to allow me to give Callan one tiny little harmless piece of candy on a holiday that is all about candy?") ((ANSWER: NOOOOOOOOO CANDY! (sorry Dad!)) On Saturday I was diving between Callan and wrapped candy, blocking a well intentioned great grandmother trying to feed Callan pie, cake and, just for balance, a Hershey bar. I was succesful! But hours of being on sugar watch started to wear me down. By the time Sunday rolled around my resolve was weakening.

Sunday. Callan's first Easter basket was full of lots of fun stuff from The Bunny! An Elmo puppet, some bubbles, a new book and a little chicky. Callan loved the bubble container and Vegas loved and wanted to eat Elmo, the book and the little chicky, with a helping of Easter Basket for dessert. My parents, my grandma and Grant and Johanna came over to have Easter dinner with us. We had a great time! Callan was thrilled to see everyone and was almost immedeately tired from all of the attention! I too was starting to feel a little tired.

And by the time dessert was ready and I was whipping the cream for pies...I crumbled. I decided since it was just cream and an isty bit of sugar and vanilla, that it would be ok. Just a little taste. Well, of course, Callan was delighted. I had no idea the beater instinct was so strong. I think it is a Hon gene. But we are back on the bandwagon! If I keep this up, when we get to Mexico, Callan will arrive in a protective bubble and by the time we come home he'll be drinking a margarita at the airport. I have to get a hold of myself!!!! No more lines in the sand. No more sugar until the big birthday cake! I MEAN IT!

We were so glad to get to see Grandma Char and Grandpa Mike, GG, Uncle Grant and Aunt Jo, but we missed Angie, Joe, Ethan and Liza! Can't wait to see you all in June!!!!

P.S. We also missed wishing Aunt Beth a Happy Birthday! And an early Happy Birthday to Grandpa Roger!

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service

As long as they don't require pants we should be in business!

The first of April brought April showers and Aunt Angie!!! Boo on the rain, YAY for the Auntie! Ang came to visit and volunteered to be the Grandma Char's Apprentice Sitter. Our union is pretty tough here, I don't know if she'll get her card soon, but the customer seemed pleased with her work. I think that she may have been slightly surprised to learn that for someone who is only a few weeks away from running a marathon---her endurance needs a little work! I think that she was shocked at how much energy Callan has and that 'watching' him is not nearly as passive an activity as it sounds! We got some great pictures while Ang was here---but of course they are not on my camera. Here's one that is... I can't remember for sure but I believe Ang was on diaper change duty immediately prior to this picture being taken. It is a testament to how great a communicator our little man is becoming...he was able to let her know, times up--we are getting up and getting moving now--pants or no pants!

We loved seeing Angie---but seems like it is never enough time!

Back That Thing Up

OK! We are so far behind on posts. (When implying guilt I duly imply there is more than one person to blame. Are you fooled?) But you've heard this before. I have promised improvement and failed to deliver. I think we can all agree that forgiveness is more likely than change...but lets hold out hope!

One important thing to catch up on...pictures! Just before the U.I.F.A. (unfortunate incident featuring the appendix), we got Callan's 9 month pics taken. Below are a few of them---they turned out AH-MAAAAAAAAAAZING! Behold!

Now is that a sweet baby, or what????