The Gringo in Panama

We went to Panama a week ago to visit my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and 4-week old nephew, Noah. Dean's first international travel and he was the hit of the country - no exaggeration. Every Panamian that we saw was completely taken by him. I think it was his bright white skin, blond hair, and blue eyes...and maybe the fact that he is like half their size already. Every where we went he had a crowd around him.

We had a great trip. It began with our first flight being a 2-hour wrestling match with a one-year old. We were on one of those planes where there are 3 seats in a row, and we had 2 of them, with 3 of us. While it's "free" for a kid under 2 to fly (they sit on their parents laps) we are realizing that we are about at the end of the time where we can take advantage of this -- he is too big and too strong. By the time we got to Miami we were exhausted, bruised, and bleeding...ok, maybe not bleeding. Luckily, he passed out for the majority of the second flight.

We arrived in Panama to find out that 2 of our pieces of luggage were lost, but spent 2 hours waiting in line to report it. We finally got to Zach and Lauren's house at 11:30pm. Noah was kind enough to offer up his bed since our pack-n-play was one of the pieces of luggage lost. He slept in his bouncey seat for 2 nights - what a guy.


Poor Dean got a cold the first day and had ropes of boogers hanging down his face for the first half of the week and then a nasty cough, but through it all he was in a great mood. He seemed so interested in his new cousin, especially his feet. He was fascinated by those tiny little toes. We did get a glimpse into what it will be like when our second comes along. Dean seemed to have a little jealousy. He wanted all the toys, he didn't want Noah to sit in the bouncy seat he wanted to sit in it, he wanted to be held whenever Noah was held...but all in all he was great with him.



Lucky for me, it was Mother's Day while we were there. Zach, Josh, Noah, and Dean took Lauren and I out for a walk in the rainforest and out to lunch on the canal. We tried to get Dean to ride in the backpack so we could go on a real hike, but he was having nothing of it, so we were quite a sight in our skirts with our big Graco strollers hiking through the rain forest. After our hike we went to this great outdoor place on the canal and had a WONDERFUL lunch watching the boats go by. Noah did what he does best...he slept. We called it the Noah Coma while we were there. That kid can sleep!



Josh turned 33 while we were there. We had a day of fun for him. He and Zach went in to Zach's office to meet everyone. Then we all went bowling. Josh was too good so we made him hold Dean the whole time which Dean thought was hilarious. Good fun. That night we got a babysitter and went out for dinner and drinks. We brought Noah with us, but he was almost like a carry-on. He fell asleep before we left and didn't wake up until the way home!



The week seemed to fly by. Noah had some big milestones while we were there. He gained what seemed like 2 pounds, started tracking things with his eyes, smiling even when he didn't have gas, took his first real bath, and took his first bottle. It was fun to relive some of those moments from Dean and think forward to what it will be like with our next kids (not quite yet).