Ok, I have so much to talk about my actual vacation and plenty of gorgeous pictures to share, but first I thought I’d cover a few things that happened while I was out of the country.

1. A mere hour after we were dropped off at the airport and were happily consuming bloody marys (or small cups coffee in my case), Mac managed to jump off the couch onto a toy and hurt himself badly enough to warrant a trip to Urgent Care with some nervous grandparents. After x-rays were taken (hopefully he’s seen the “Call the Clambulance” episode of Bubble Guppies often enough to have not been scared!), it was discovered he’d sprained his foot. Yup, hadn’t even left the country before Mac managed to hurt himself badly enough to justify x-rays. Luckily, it seems the incident hasn’t scarred him emotionally or physically and the only lingering effects are an occasional limp.  Of course, I felt awful when I heard the news (3 days into the trip because our internet access was a joke!) but I guarantee my mother-in-law felt worse. Was really happy I thought to leave all medical info for the grandparents, though!
2. Perhaps out of guilt or perhaps out of disgust at the state in which we live, my mother-in-law found time to clean the entire upstairs of our house. Like, scrubbed our kitchen (places that haven’t been scrubbed in a VERY long time — yes, I’m looking at you microwave and stove), washed all our towels and folded them, and cleaned our living room top to bottom. I’m pretty sure I haven’t even realized how much she cleaned yet because I feel like every half hour I stare at something and realize it’s not the way I left it. I am simultaneously mortified that she felt the need to clean our house but incredibly grateful that she did so. Because it was really nice to come home to.
3. Someone taught Mac to pee standing ON the toilet. I’m not pleased about this development. If he doesn’t know how to control his boy parts in order to get pee in the toilet, then he is not old enough to stand — in front of or on — the toilet!
4. Box elder bugs officially took over our house. In the first hour we were home, The Husband and I killed 10 between the two of us. It’s disgusting.
5. I’m pretty sure Mac grew a foot taller and a year older while we were gone. He seems so big to me and his speech improved so much! Maybe we notice the improvement because we were away for so long (and he wasn’t exactly chatty on skype) but I think it has more to do with the fact that he had to work harder to communicate for a week. I’m really proud of him for making such huge strides in the language department!
6. Okay, somewhat vacation related: while in the Dominican, there were 3 incidents requiring urgent medical care and 1 more (that I know of) the morning after we returned. NONE of those had to do with me going into early labor or exploding from extreme swollen-ness, so I’m feeling pretty good about life. Also none of the medical issues were life threatening (there was an incident with a shattered shower door resulting in a lot of small cuts on the arm, an incident with a barrel in the ocean gashing my friend’s face, a strep throat incident, and a bad sun reaction incident) so wins all around! I suspect there’s some more strep throat diagnoses to come, though.
7. Mac missed us so bad that at dinner with my parents and grandparents shortly before we were to be picked up from the airport, he kept kissing the picture of me from high school that my grandparents have on display. They then took that picture and set in on the table to make Mac feel better. It feels good to have been so missed, but I don’t forsee leaving my kiddo for that long again any time soon. I missed him WAY more than I thought I would and it feels so good to get back to our routine (our complete and total slug life Sunday routine).
8. Oh, one more vacation related thing — if you are obviously pregnant, travel to the Dominican Republic NOW. They freaking LOVE pregnant women! Everyone at the resort was completely delighted with my absurdly huge belly and when we were at the airport, me and my traveling companions were whisked through every imaginable line. It was AWESOME. Normally I don’t love being fussed over while pregnant (I am more than my belly!) but when it meant cutting through lines that I would’ve been standing in for an hour or more or getting seated in a restaurant that’s on a wait or even getting better poolside service, then I am all for playing that pregnancy card. Sure, rub my belly while you make my life easier, thankyouverymuch!! Also, all those excursion hucksters don’t bother you when you’re stupidly pregnant and can’t participate in anything. It’s pretty great.