Life as a Leach

The other half of our trip to Baltimore was a visit to the Baltimore Aquarium.  It's not a cheap excursion, but I think we got our money's worth.  Caleb loved every second of it! We were able to see the dolphins for a few minutes before they were taken in for their show.  They were being fed, so they were still enough for me to get a picture! The jellyfish exhibit was there.  It was pretty cool, but crowded with lots of rude people that don't understand the concept of waiting your turn.  I really liked the jellyfish that looked like coral so that they blended in on the reefs.  The bubble tanks gave Caleb an opportunity to actually bang and run around a bit.  Lucky for us, there were divers in the big sting ray tank feeding some of the animals.  The big sea turtle is missing a flipper.  :(  We watched them for a long time.  Caleb was absolutely fascinated. We visited the rainforest, but didn't spot the sloth.  We ...

Yesterday, we boarded the USS Torsk so that Caleb could visit a real submarine.  This is out of commission, but you can tour it and touch a lot of the stuff inside.  The boy was in heaven! He loved being able to "drive" the sub.  I couldn't get over the number of levers there were all over the place!  I'm pretty sure I'd sink it... The men slept in beds that were literally inches from the roof.  One was so close that you had to climb in through another person's bed and kind of slide into yours feet first.  It freaked me out just looking at it! Caleb loved the doorways between areas, but he kept wanting to shut the doors!  He also liked pretending he was the captain. He even pretended to eat dinner at the crew's mess hall! He loved the torpedos and even got to touch one!  That hole is where they would load a torpedo.  Beds were directly over top of the torpedos...no thanks! Of course, he HAD to sing, "We all live in a GRAY ...

5.  I get a day off.  3 day weekends are always nice, right?? 4.  Memorial Day usually equals food on the grill or some kind of yummy dinner. 3.  I like singing patriotic music at church. 2.  It brings back hysterical (but now touching!) memories of my childhood.  We would always watch the Memorial Day concert in D.C.  My dad, who LOVES Memorial Day, would wear a patriotic tshirt, one of his sweat bands, and bring a couple of little American flags in the living room to wave around in time to the patriotic music.  As a child, I would love to sit and laugh at him.  Now, I am anxiously awaiting 8 p.m. on MPT so that Caleb can wave his new American flag around and listen to the patriotic songs! 1.  I am learning more and more just how incredibly blessed we are to live in this country and am thankful for all of those who risk their lives for our freedom!

I am feeling the baby move around a lot now when I'm sitting still, and I even felt a real kick today.  It was pretty exciting!  I can't wait for Matt to be able to feel them.  I graduated from Notre Dame last week.  One of my friends went to his wife's graduation and saw my name in the program.  I'm so glad that I'm finally done!!  I can officially say that I graduated with a 4.0 and Master's in Elementary Education.  There are storms coming to our area.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow too, so our field day was postponed until next week.  I'm staring at a basket of my husband's laundry that he was supposed to put away on Monday.  I'm refusing to do it because it's all his (from his trip last weekend) and it's principle.  I really want ice cream.  Like really.  Like, I have a brand new ice cream maker and am contemplating examining the ingredients needed to see if I have everything I need to just make it, since I can'...

Submarine Update: As you know, we are working on a submarine incentive with Caleb.  He really wants to go on a real submarine, so he has to earn it.  A day with all of his magnets on his responsibility chart means a sticker on a different little chart.  When he collects 10 stickers, we will go visit the submarine in Baltimore. Side note:  It doesn't actually move, but it is in the water and was a real commissioned submarine.  The actual submarine rides were only in exotic places like Hawaii and the Bahamas.  That would have to be a pretty big incentive! Well, the boy has been doing SO well with his chart that he has now earned SEVEN stickers!  He only needs THREE more, which means that we will quite possibly go on the submarine this weekend.  This is actually what we were hoping for, because it was a free weekend for both of us (imagine that!) and we wanted the reward to be fairly immediate so that the draw isn't lost.  We are pla...

Caleb and I went to Chesapeake's Bounty on Saturday to get some strawberries.  Sadly, they are out of local ones and didn't have any "imports" yet.  The guys there are great and always let Caleb see the lively crabs they have for sale.  When we got back in the car, Caleb started saying that he didn't want a crab to bite him.  I agreed, saying that one pinched me once on the foot and it hurt.  He asked where I was, and I replied that it was when I was working at camp wading in the water. He was very quiet for a minute. The wheels were turning.  Finally, he asked, "But how did they get out of the pot?" The poor guy had never seen a crab in its natural environment--just in a bushel basket or on a table ready to eat!  He didn't realize that they actually lived in the water.  :)

I'm pretty much always on the look out for fun activities to do while Matt is gone.  I have learned that Caleb does much better dealing with the Daddy Withdrawl when he is busy!  Sooooo, we ran home on Friday to eat a quick dinner and then headed off to the Farmer's Market on the North Beach boardwalk.  It was FABULOUS!!!  He played on the ship and even made a friend while digging in the sand. There was a car show there, and we were able to see an old friend of ours who used to be our neighbor.  Caleb adores him and ran to him screaming, "Wally!!!"  This is one of his many classic cars! We did a bit of exploring and finished the night off with a bit of Maggie Moo's ice cream!  There were tons of people there and I lost count of how many I knew! We had such a great time (and Caleb was soooo well behaved) that we went back the next night with Nina and Paw Paw!  Too bad the rain ended our evening a bit earlier. Yay for good behavior and a ...

It's no secret that I'm a Gleek.  This is just my kind of show:  spontaneous breaking out in song is a must in any show!  I have a lot of favorite moments in Glee, but this was my absolute favorite.  dream 2 @ Yahoo! Video Idina Menzel (the older woman) originated the role of Elpheba in Wicked and Maureen in Rent , two of my favorite musicals.  She also played Maureen in the movie version of Rent .  She's seriously one of Broadway's leading ladies. Lia Michele is one of the stars of Glee, and I absolutely love her voice.  I have often compared her to Idina Menzel loooooooooong before she became a reoccuring role on the show (and now her MOM!  Ahhh!)  Her voice is so beautiful and pure.  She's a little older than the high schooler she plays (I think she's my age), but I love her.  *Sigh*

I was washing dishes at the sink tonight, minding my own business, when Caleb came tearing into the kitchen at full speed, did a giant leap for the bar on the oven, and tried to do a chin-up.  Can we all guess where this is going?! Well, the oven door fell upon him, knocking him down with a vengence.  As he laid there with this stunned look on his face, I couldn't help but laugh.  His statement? "I fell." Yes, son.  Yes, you did. In other news, I cannot get this boy to go to bed.  He's been in his room for an hour, come out twice, and is calling for me again.  *sigh*

I love his eyes in this one! resting after playing hard! Zooooooom! What a silly guy! He's so smiley!  Love it in black and white! Getting ready to go on an exploration I spy with my little eye... And a bit of yellow for you from my garden!

Caleb can now stand to go potty (depending on the height of the toilet).  About a week and 1/2 ago, we heard a howling from the bathroom.  Matt rushed in to see what was the matter and started doing that half laughing, half pitying sound.  I walked in and found a very pitiful, sobbing little boy.  After a little research, we realized that he had slammed the toilet seat down on a very sensitive area.  OW! We put an ice pack on it (which we disinfected!!) and calmed him down.  It turned raspberry red pretty quickly, then darkened to a nasty purple color.  Thankfully, it didn't hurt him to go potty, which was our biggest concern.  A week and 1/2 later, he seems good as new.  Poor guy...he has had so many issues with that area of his body!  I am thankful that it didn't cause any damage, because I don't think he would be too happy to be examined there again!

Disclaimer:  I'm having some real trouble with the formatting this time.  I don't know why, but the pictures and captions aren't matching up and I can't get them in the right spot.  Hopefully it won't confuse you too much! As promised, here are some pictures from our weekend with Emmy Lou.On Friday night, we visited Nina and Paw Paw at their camp site at the Navy Rec Center. We took a walk around the campground and Caleb came in full explorer gear: binoculars, bird caller, etc. We also did a lot of playing at the house.  Emma loves Caleb's tool bench--we called her Kelly (as in Handy Manny's hardware store helper!)  The kids really liked playing with Nina's cool camping toys and hanging out in the bunk house.  However, naughty Caleb kept trying to slide the door to the bunk house shut so that we couldn't see them...what were you doing back there, boy??? Emma enjoyed Caleb's drum, while Caleb found enjoyment in the laundry basket.  Cale...

On Sunday, we were taking Emma back to her house to meet her grandma, who would stay with her until her parents got home.  On the way there, Caleb announced that he needed to go potty.  I asked him to hang in there until we got to Emma's house, since we were almost there anyway.  Mrs. Sullivan wasn't there yet, and of course , the boy HAD TO GO!  I had no idea what to do, as we were in a housing development with no public rest rooms.  Do I knock on someone's door?  That's a bit creepy!  Plus, Emma was asleep in her car seat. So, I did what any resourceful mom would do...I took my last sip of hot chocolate from my Panera cup, took off the lid, and told Caleb to use it!  Yes, it was gross.  Yes, I felt a little trashy. Yes, Caleb loved it and asked if he could use the cup all of the time.  Another first in this adventure of mothering... (Side note:  Mrs. Sullivan actually was there at the time!  She was vacuuming a...

I got some new maternity clothes this weekend.  Some I bought used from a friend of my sister, and some I bought new.  I was in pretty desperate need, seeing as I didn't show with Caleb until September and pretty much any short sleeved stuff I did have was my sister's (which she is currently using!!)  Today at the mall I got 2 tops, a pair of khaki capris and shorts, 2 tank tops to wear under stuff, and a denim skirt.  **Side note about the tank tops:  They are an absolute necessity with maternity clothes because for some reason the designers make everything low cut!  I am not a fan of low cut stuff in general, and my body is not shaped for it either, so I wear a lot of tank tops underneath.  My non-maternity ones are starting to ride up a bit, so I needed some bigger ones! Caleb's girlfriend Emma is staying with us this weekend while her parents are at a wedding.  I have lots of pictures to post, but not tonight!  She has been so sw...

The boys got me some hanging baskets for Mother's Day. Gerbera daisies right after a spring rain My little herb garden