Dominican Republic

On Saturday evening my heart POUNDED with excitement as I was being driven home from the airport. Usually I'm NOT excited to be coming home from vacation. But in this case, I was thrilled to be coming home. Why you ask? Because it had been a week since I had seen, heard or held my little Parker baby!

Q&A

Q: Why were you away from Parker for a week?!
A: Darrin and I went to the Dominican Republic. We had buddy passes that expired on October 31st that we needed to use. It was going to be very expensive to bring Parker along and wasn't going to be quite the vacation we were in need of with a baby. My AMAZING mother in law seemed eager to spend a week with Parker, and so we couldn't resist :).

Q: Why the Dominican Republic?
A: Well, good question. Jet blue flies there which is the airline we went through. And we found a super awesome deal for an All-Inclusive resort there, so we thought, "what the heck! Why not?"

Q: What about feeding Parker while you were gone?
A: I pumped as much milk as I possibly could while still feeding Parker before we left. The grand total of milk I left with him came to...drumroll....90 ounces!! (can you tell I feel pretty proud of myself? :)) But unfortunately, it wasn't enough :(. So, he got about 2 bottles per day of formula in addition to my milk.

Q: How did he take the formula?
A: My mother in law said he had a little trouble the first time but after that he took it great. I am so blessed with a versatile baby! He took the bottle great, the formula great, my milk great, and then resumed back to breastfeeding right when I got back great!

Q: Was it hard to leave little Parker at only 4 months old?
A: YES! But to be very honest, not as hard as I was imagining. It was really hard to see all the little babies over in the Dominican Republic and not have my baby! BUT it was a much needed vacation and it really helped us to rejuvenate. When I got to come home, I appreciated my little one all the more. I spent more time worrying about missing Parker BEFORE I left then when I was gone. Plus, it REALLY helped that I trust my mother in law 110% with him. I knew he was safe and sound.

Q: How did you keep up your milk supply?
A: Pumping, Pumping, Pumping! EVERY 3 hours. Not so much fun. But worth it to be able to come back and resume where we left off.

Q: How was the Dominican Republic?
A: It was great! Mid 80's the whole time and VERY humid which made it even warmer. The ocean water was INCREDIBLE!!! Like walking into a nicely heated pool. We went to Ocean World (like sea world but on a smaller scale in a good way), went snorkeling (saw some amazingly beautiful things and fish!), and went sea fishing (a bit boring until a large Mahi-Mahi was caught).

Q: What's the Dominican Republic like?
A: Very warm, CRAZIER THAN CRAZY driving, humid, lots of sugar cane, beautiful greenery everywhere, beggers all over the place, VERY friendly people, people from Haiti go to the Dominican Republic illegally (just like people from Mexico coming here) and the Dominican's really don't like that, all in all I would just tell you that it's a lot like Mexico there with a few exceptions.

Q: Would you go back to the Dominican Republic?
A: Probably not. Once was enough, although I think we'd love to go back to the Caribbean since the ocean water is SO AMAZING!

Q: Did you go with anyone?
A: We went with my Parents which was a lot of fun! Thanks so much mom and dad for coming! We had a blast with you!

It's good to be back. I love being a mom! Speaking of which, today Parker has his 4 month appointment and get's to eat rice cereal for the first time this week!!! Very excited for that milestone. Here are some pictures from our vacation:

We were on a red-eye flight and so they gave us these SWEET eye covers :)

The beautiful beach by our resort.

Of course we got all the food and drinks we wanted at our All-Inclusive resort. Lots and lots of Pina Coladas. Those will be missed!

With my awesome parents and a typical Dominican Republic background. Beautiful.

At the cigar factory. They practically made me roll one. Haha. The guy insisted. But at least I can say I've rolled one now.

My Mom and I got braids.

Yummy Food at the Mexican Restaurant at our resort.

Our friend the Lizard that was in our room. Sweet Darrin took it out carefully. It was really quite cute though. Lots better than finding a spider in my room :)

The Love Birds at Ocean World that ate out of your hands!

Parrot kissin' Darrin

Sharks...Run!

Shark show at Ocean world. Pretty amazing!

The Beautiful Dolphins

Swimming with tigers. Now how many people can say they've done that?

Cool Mermen

Gone fishin'

Clear blue waters

The Mahi-Mahi that was caught

The shell we found while snorkeling and the creature that was inside

Kinda creepy

That's my man drinkin' his drink

And we got to come home to this handsome little dude!

LOL

My niece Kalli is 12. She's a talented song writer, guitar player and singer. SERIOUSLY folks-she's going to be FAMOUS so LOOK OUT! Anyways, she has a blog and I had to pass along her recent post because it brought a WIDE smile to my face :) (Keep in mind she's 12!!!!!) If you don't Laugh Out Loud something is wrong. Just remember back to when you were 12:

Crushes are tough! Recently I had a crush on a very cute boy named Issac. He had those angel eyes---ya know? But he turned out to be a huge jerk. So this is for all you girls who are having cutie crushes. ;)

Dude, before you decide to fall in love you need to know something: if you are as old as from elementry age to around 15....there is no such thing as love at your age! I am 12 and I know that even 16 is a dangerous age to fall in love. The reason is, you don't know what you are doing!!! 16 is GROUP DATES! 18 is when you can single date. Other than that, no suree!!! But if you are sure that he is just a crush and that you won't get yourself into a HUGE mess--like I did. <.<-- then make sure he is a nice guy. I'll quote my friend Christene now who was having a difficult time with crushes. She was very angry. She said "All the cute guys are jerks, all the nice guys are 'not very good-lookin' and all the cute guys that aren't jerks are gay." I was surprised. I opened my mouth and then closed it again and then said, "You have a point." So--to see if he is a nice guy and to get to know him-- ask him a question a day. For example, like "What's your favorite color?" or "What do you like to do?" Those might sound ,like, waaaaay cheesy but hey. This might give him the hint that you like him but guys can be SO oblivious sometimes... Come on, agree with me girls!

So, here are my tips witch probably really suck:
~flip your hair just a teeny bit, but really don't overdo it--that will just make you look mental
~if it is appropriate, wink, but then look nonchalant as if it is just his eyes playing tricks on him
~go into the light often, most of the time, in the light, hair SHINES!!!
~smile at him often
~sort of let him know you like him but not with words--never mention it
~make him laugh
~ have fun flirting
~blink slowly (it makes your eyelashes look long and beautiful) but don't go slow mo--you WILL look retarded
~ do the peek-a-boo eye--that is when you look up through your lashes
~ often play with your own hair--braid it and do other things with it
~smile and laugh all the time
~HAVE FUN!!!


And most important of all:
BE YOURSELF!!!
everyone else is already taken!