Arts and Nature

Randy filled up the bird feeders over the weekend and Caleb has become an avid backyard birdwatcher. Every day at lunch there seems to be a flurry of activity so we take our time and watch the birds. He's already able to identify a blue jay by eye and by ear.



I finally got my nerve up to do some more finger-painting with Caleb this week. We set up on the sun porch and it worked out pretty well. Of course, the fun-to-cleanup ratio wasn't all that great...but it was worth watching him get messy.





A video of our budding artist....

Grandma and Pa Pa Visit

Grandma Gi-Gi and Pa Pa arrived on Thursday night and Caleb was ready to play first thing Friday morning. Caleb enjoyed showing Grandma and Pa Pa how to drag his orange bucket around and how to play with playdough.

Friday was a low-key day because of my big ultrasound, but we cooked a big dinner which we all enjoyed eating. I baked a blueberry pie, which was not only delicious to Caleb but also fun to play with. He definitely was putting on a show.







Saturday we drove up to Crane Beach in Ipswich and took a nice walk by the ocean before lunch.







After our picnic lunch, Caleb and Grandma enjoyed some time on the boardwalk.


Caleb sharing freshly picked flowers with Grandma.





In the afternoon, Caleb was treated with a trip to Toys R Us. He had fun running around the store and of course he wanted one of everything. We spent a while letting him pick out a tricycle. As we were leaving, he got to ride the very exciting Speed Racer.



And here he is riding on his gift from Grandma and Pa Pa.



We had a really nice weekend and I'm sure Caleb's going to miss all the extra attention from everyone. Back to boring Mama tomorrow!

Baby B/18 week ultrasound

Today was our big 18 week ultrasound. I was so nervous this morning, but everything looks great. Baby B was cuddled into the side of my uterus and gave the ultrasound tech a little trouble with getting all the measurements. When she tried to look at Baby B's heart, his/her hands were in front of the chest. When trying to look at the umbilical cord, his/her hands moved down to the belly. The tech had to smack my belly around several times to try and get Baby B to move. At one point, we got a good look at Baby B holding his/her hands together. Very cute.

Baby B weighed in at 11 ounces today. I didn't get a length measurement, but I think Baby B is close to 6 inches long now. The heart rate was 167 bpm. The tech counted 10 fingers and 10 toes....and we still don't know the sex. Yay for surprises!

Here are the pics from today. I'll do my best to explain what you're looking at.




Baby B's spine


Baby B's face. Top of the head is on the left side.


Another look at Baby B's face.


A profile. Baby B's hand is above the head. The dark white lines in the skull are jaw bones. The black circle in the torso is Baby B's stomach.


Baby B's feet


Another profile picture. Nice look at Baby B's arm and hand


Another profile. Part of Baby B's head isn't visible here because of the angle.

Bar Harbor - Day Four/Five

Wednesday was by far our favorite day in Acadia. We drove down to the Southwest Harbor to explore a different part of the island. As soon as we got out of the car at Ship's Harbor Nature Trail, we knew we had made a good decision. There were birds everywhere, including white-winged crossbills, a variety of warblers, and very loud ravens. We didn't leave the parking area for at least 30 minutes. Once we started on the trail, we were thrilled with the scenery.





























After Ship's Harbor, we made a quick drive to the Wonder Land trail head. This hike also provided us with great looks at more white-winged cross-bills and beautiful views of the coast.














Here's a video of Caleb "helping" Daddy bird!


Because of pregnancy dietary restrictions, I'm only allowed two servings of fish/shellfish per week...which was torture! So I saved up my quota for one big meal....and I knew that I wanted lobster. We had heard of a place along the SW harbor called Thurston's. It's a no frills "lobster pound" where you can get insanely fresh shellfish. This would be my meal....and Randy and Caleb gladly came along. I even drank an O'Douls! Too bad for Caleb, he's too young to eat shellfish but he still enjoyed his lunch of a grilled cheese and a bowl of chili.























After lunch we drove to Beech mountain for a little hiking and hawk-watching. Caleb was not done taking his nap, so Randy carried him until he woke up.


We had a wonderful hike up the mountain, again with beautiful views of all that was below. When we got to the summit we were thrilled to have two bald eagles (one young and one adult) being harassed by a mob of ravens.














18 weeks pregnant!





No vacation is complete without a little drama....so we added that to the mix on the hike down from Beech Mountain. We weren't exactly sure which trail to take down the mountain, so we asked a hiker with a map which way to go. He assured us that he just hiked up a particular trail and that he came from the main parking lot. Perfect! So we headed down the trail that he pointed us too. Somehow this trail landed us on the far opposite side of the mountain from where we started...but we didn't realize this until later in our adventure. We ended up on a road and we figured that it would lead us back to the parking area, but we were wrong. To make a long story short, we stopped a local woman who happened to be driving by and asked for help. She ended up giving us a ride back to the parking area....which was at least 10 miles away!!!! We didn't get her name, but we've been calling her our Guardian Angel. She told us that she's having lots of medical tests today and that our repayment is to pray for her....so I'm asking you all to do the same.

Today was day five of our trip, and it involved nothing more than grabbing breakfast and driving hope. It was a wonderful trip!