Little Miss Muffet

So, I haven't written too many posts about the critters here.  There are many things other than mosquitoes (pthhhht on them!) that creep and crawl and sometimes fly in our apartment.  Recently, elephantine spiders have been all the rage.  In fact, knowing, as I'm sure you do, the precious nature of the sleep of an infant (sleeping like a baby, ha! what a silly phrase), you will appreciate the horrific nature of these beasts when I tell you that not once, but TWICE we chose to sacrifice the sleep of Bean in order to kill one of these spiders.  It had to be done.  The day after the second kill, I found a group of ants working diligently to carry up the wall and presumably out the window a spider leg that we had missed in our clean-up.

Sure, it is photographically weak, but ITS LEG IS AS BIG AS A DIME!  Creepy.

Now, let me go back.  I said "we" killed these spiders, but it was really Wonderman.  The first two were all him.  The third was spotted when Bean and I were home alone and she had just fallen asleep.  It was right by the open door that led to her bedroom.  It had been a struggle to get her to dreamland.  I wasn't about to forfeit that if I could avoid it.  That's right, I faced the behemoth and I won - silently.  The silent part took great self-control.  And this time I got slightly better pictures.  This one is for the ick factor:

And this one is just for relative size (Keep in mind that this is the monster curled up in death.  In life, with legs radiating to grotesque lengths, he was much larger):

Conclusion: Sometimes a princess in a tower remains alone and has to fight her own battles.

Paradise?

Dominica, being in the tropics and all, gets a lot of sun.  For someone who is brown-ish and "ethnically vague" like I am, this is no big deal.  For someone who is white and pink like Wonderman is, it is a big deal.  Bean takes after her father.  Sigh.  I have come to the conclusion that a person like me (brown and completely unaware of sunscreen) to have a baby like Bean (white, white, white, and a little pink) in a place like Dominica (S-U-N-N-Y) is the perfect storm of bad luck.  Thankfully, I did think (by chance really, but I am very grateful) to buy her a sun hat before we came down.

 Conclusion:  Sometimes protection can be fun.

Eaten Alive

Um, all my posts may begin to seem a little Bean-centered.  Good thing she's so adorable, eh?   (Don't answer that.)

So, we live on a tropical island.  It sounds like paradise.  In many ways it is.  Not so much in all ways.  One not-so-paradisaical element is the beast known as "mosquito."  They always seem to eat the newcomers first.  Both Bean and I seem to count as new-comers.  After just a couple of days here, her little face looked so sad (and yet she grins), with all the bites on it:

And her little arms and legs were worse.  Especially the tender (ok, it's all tender on her) under-arm area, since she always sleeps with her hands above her head as though she is surrendering to a brutal police force.  Thankfully, a friend of ours had a mosquito net he was willing to lend us.  Now she sleeps like this:

The puffy pink spots have GREATLY decreased.  They really didn't seem to bother Bean (although she is just developing enough body awareness to rub her eyes when she's tired, so maybe she doesn't have a way to show that it bothered her), but it definitely makes for a much happier mommy.

Conclusion:  Armor of all kinds has value.

In Hot Water

Bean had a conniption fit during her first bath (I was rebellious and didn't let them bathe her at the hospital.  I probably would've waited even longer than I did to bathe her if her daddy hadn't been leaving.  He wanted to bathe her, so she got her first bath at two days old).  Both Wonderman and I were doing everything we could think of to make it less horrible, as her tiny body turned purple from screaming so hard.  Bath time slowly got better as time moved on, but there were still many nights that she screamed, and screamed, and screamed when getting out of the bath.  I think it was the combination of being tired and COLD.  Cold is not so much an option here in Dominica.  And she almost always loves her bath.  She ends her baths with a smile:

It's so much nicer this way.  I'm not sure what to do if I ever have a baby in the winter time again.  I don't think we'll be living on a tropical island for the rest of forever.  I suppose I'll just have to enjoy it while I can.

Conclusion:  Take joy in simple pleasures

Blessed

Did I tell you that Bean got a name and a blessing (ok, so she had the name for a while before this, but it became official on the records of the church) on January 2, 2011?  It was a sweet day.  I got choked up as I heard Wonderman start to speak, then he got choked up as he blessed her.  We are quite a pair.  Then Bean took over for both of us and cried heartily throughout.  Of course she stopped as soon as it was over.  We think the bouncing was, in fact, too vigorous with so many hands working together, trying to keep her happy.  Alas and nevertheless.  It was a good day.

Forever? I want it NOW

So, our little family has not been together for a while.  Wonderman was here when Bean was born, but then had to leave us to return to school.  He flew out just three days after Bean arrived.  This is our first family portrait:

(Yes.  I took a tiny newborn to the airport, a cesspool of germs and disease.  It was our last chance to spend any time, quality or not, with her daddy, whom we both adore.  Don't judge me.  She is fine.)

This is what she looks like now:

She has grown and changed so much already.  Her daddy has been gone for TOO LONG.  I can't wait for him to see her, and vice versa.  Skype, while a miracle sent from heaven, can only do so much.  However, he will be home in one week and I am so excited I am having a hard time breathing.  I try not to think too much about it, since constant breathlessness could make that week seem really long, but still.  It's tough.  Eeeeeee (this sound is accompanied by my biggest smile - which you know shows every tooth I've ever dreamed of having - and some general bouncing/dancing)!

Behind

I've never been a stellar blogger, that's now a given, but much has changed since that last post.  I'm not nearly so hot, nor so roundy.  A lot took place in between now and then.  Not only am I surrounded by snow and ice (I've been in Utah since September), but . . . . .

 

I went and had myself a baby.  Bean is here, and she's a delight.  I'd promise that there will be more frequent posts in the future, but you and I both know that I hate to lie.  We'll play it by ear, eh?

Discreet

Without further ado, or any inappropriate yet blurry photos of my baby's junk, the latest news on the home front is this: Baby Bean is a girl!  Now the adventures in naming begin.