Toes in the sand, fish in a tank

Editor's note: Videos to come later.

The Karlin Clan's summer has come to an official close. Erin went back to work. Jacob is back in day care. But we refused to let summer go quietly into the night.

Before Erin headed back to work, we embarked on an Interstate expedition to Houston, Galveston, Dallas and Atlanta. The nearly 3,000-mile trip took Jacob to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico and on a deep-sea exploration of the millions of wondrous creatures that inhabit our rivers, lakes and oceans, with plenty of pool time in between.

Getting there

Having already made the 11-hour trek from Nashville to Dallas when Jacob was 2 months old, we learned a few things in preparation for this go-around:
1. It's a really, really long drive with a baby and a dog.
2. If the baby isn't happy, none of us will be.

So we made a few adjustments:

First, we decided to break up the drive to Houston into two days. Last summer's 11-hour trip to Dallas turned into 13. There was no way we were going to drive straight to Houston, which was already at 13 hours. We drove eight hours to Texarkana (so nice, they built it twice), spent the night and then proceeded with the remaining five hours.


Next, we moved Jacob's carseat to the side behind the driver seat to give Dolly more room. Poor 60-pound Dolly was stuffed in the corner last summer for the entire drive. This time she was able to lie down, stretch out, and occasionally rest her head on the middle console like she did before Jacob stole all of her attention. Jacob now faces forward, so unlike last time, keeping him entertained would be much easier.

Erin came up with an idea to fasten our portable DVD player to the back of the driver seat with a bungee cord. It held up fine, but Jacob's legs were long enough to reach it. So he felt obliged to kick it. Erin then stacked it on top our cooler and a Cheez-It box so he couldn't reach it. That worked well until he figured out he could reach the Cheez-It box. So he felt obliged to kick it.


Annoyed, we placed the DVD player on the console between us. I couldn't rest my arm and Dolly couldn't come up to the front, but the baby was happy (see lessons learned NO. 2).

We were worried before the trip that Jacob would show a disinterest toward the DVDs. We couldn't have been more wrong. Elmo and Sillyville saved our sanity. The only times Jacob took his eyes off the screen were during boring parts. Then he would he just look out the window.

We also allowed him to suck on his pacifier. He's been 95 percent weaned from his paci (only using it when he sleeps), but we knew it would help him keep him content. Sure enough, when he wasn't feeling fussy, he would place it in his cup holder.

Overall the drive went surprisingly smooth. Jacob and Dolly behaved and didn't complain about stopping on our schedule.

Toes in the sand
After a brief overnight stop in Houston, the Karlin Clan (minus Dolly; she stayed at our friends' house), Uncle David, Nana and Papa Bodzin drove down to Galveston. Erin's parents rented a condo overlooking the beach.


Tropical Storm Bonnie was there waiting for us. Luckily she was out on her way out as we were getting in.

The rain stopped before sundown that night. After dinner we took Jacob to the beach. He was a little hesitant of the waves at first. He loved playing in the sand, though. We went to the beach the next morning. We plastered his pasty skin with sun screen and spent nearly the entire day on the beach. He napped in his stroller for a couple hours so we didn't have to cut the day short.

He preferred to play in the sand.

He helped me build sand castles. Well, I would mold the castle with his bucket and he would tear it down. He loved tossing the sand in the air and watching the rest trickle through his finers. And yes, he tasted it, too. He didn't make that mistake twice.






Georgia Aquarium
A couple weeks later, we drove a mere four hours to Marietta, Ga., to see Jacob's Mimi and Grandpa and Aunt Heather and visit the Georgia Aquarium. The spectacular view inside was well worth the pushing, kicking and biting through hoards of sweaty people outside. Atlanta's a very busy city.

Inside, Jacob saw sharks, sea dragons, penguins, otters, Beluga whales and jelly fish, among many other sea creatures. He also touched a sting ray.

After the aquarium, we walked across the street to Centennial Olympic Park so Jacob could cool off in the Olympic-ring fountains.

Little update

We're experiencing technical difficulties with our new video editing software we purchased along with our new computer. Apparently we need a more powerful graphics card. Thanks Best Buy representative for informing us on this minute detail after we repeatedly asked if the new setup would handle HD-quality editing.

After we solve this problem (if a graphics card truly is what we need), we'll post stories, pictures and videos from our summer-ending road trips to Texas and Georgia.


Stay tuned.

Jacob at 15 months

SOOOOO.. we took Jacob to his 15 month appt. with a new Pediatrician. I am not thrilled about it. We love love love Dr. Rhoads!!!! He is absolutely wonderful and def. spoiled with a great doctor. The new pediatrican was not kid friendly and seemed like she really didnt know what she was doing. We are going to try out a new pediatrician for his 18 month appt. Hopefully it will be better.

We are going to compare stats from 1 yr and 15 month appt

1 yr.- 19.1 lbs and 29 in. long
15 months- 19.9 lbs and 29.5 in. long

Jacob is having a hard time growing. The Dr. told us to not give him us much liquids and give him more meat. He eats wonderful at daycare so hopefully something will happen and he will go through some kind of growth spurt between now and his 18 month appt.

Also, the Doctor told us that Jacob is a little delayed in speech and asked if we wanted to do a hearing test. We decided to wait till his 18 month appt and see how many words he can say then. At that time he was saying 3 words when he should be saying 5-7 words. He was saying mama, dada, and Hi.
Now, Jacob can say talk a lot but having a hard time getting the consonants out. He can say all gone but cant say the consonants with it.. he can also say night night but with out the consonants. I am a little worried so I have scheduled a hearing test for next week and see what we need to do. Since scheduling the hearing test, he now says 2 more words. He says bye-bye and ball. So hopefully he will be ok and wont need Tubes!.. other than that.. he is an extremely healthy boy!
Stay tuned for more posts!

Introducing Beau Stafford!!

My cousins Annie and Trey had their first son, Beau, at the end of April. We are so excited for Jacob and Beau to grow up and be able to play together. We went to houston and was able to finally meet Beau. Jacob has never been around a little baby, but he did really well.

happy 4th of July!

The three of us enjoyed a wonderful evening on July 3rd at Lee Victory Park in Smyrna. We had so much fun eating watermelon, walking around the field, hanging out in the back of the truck. Jacob enjoyed playing ball with the other kids. He didnt understand to kick the soccer ball but he picked the ball up to give it back to the kids and then ran after it when it was kicked. It was too cute. At 9, we watched a great firework show and Jacob absolutely loved it. He sat very nicely in my lap for the first 5 minutes and then got up to watch it standing up. I am so glad he liked the fireworkS!

An important message from Jacob Lee Karlin

I replay Jacob's "Hi!" all the time in my head while I'm daydreaming at work, and it always brings a smile to my face. It's really weird to hear his true voice. For the past few months he's been grunting, squealing and whispering under his breath in the form of "dada" and other consonant sounds. But those sounds, to me, are different from the word he just created through his finely-tuned vocal chords.

Can't wait to hear what comes through those high-pitch pipes next time. I hope it won't be anything inappropriate.

Jacob's first word: Schlep

No, that's not his first word, but it should be.

We just bought Jacob his first backpack with his name embroidered across the top. He doesn't like the feel a cap on his bald head, but he doesn't seem to mind the loose straps draped over his shoulders. We'll see what he thinks after we load a few dozen rocks in it.

Without the use of a rapid-fire camera, it's very difficult to capture a photo of him standing still because it does not happen. He's like a wind-up car. As soon as you release your hands, he's off until something stationary distracts him.

Hopefully his backpack will last until he gets to preschool.


Jacob is going to love carrying our stuff.