Mom on the Beach

Here I am at Playa del Carmen. We took a taxi here from the port at
Calica (there's nothing at the port). The water is cold! Glad we
didn't bother bringing our swim suits. Tomorrow we'll lay out by the
pool on board - it's our "fun day at sea".

Fwd: fishing with Lukas

Here's an update from Grandpa...

Begin forwarded message:

>
>

> Our fishing trip (in the back yard) was very successful. We caught
> 5 fish in about 30 minutes. We put them in a bucket of water so
> that grandma could see them when she returned from a doctor's
> appointment. They are now back in the creek.
>
> Lukas enjoyed playing with the worms almost as much as fishing. We
> have lots of worms left so we'll probably go on another fishing trip
> tomorrow and grandma promises to capture all the action on a video.
> Until then, dad.

Lukas & Grandpa

Lukas & Grandpa are buying worms today so they can go fishing. This
will be Lukas' first fishing trip. Hope they have fun.

Cozumel, Mexico

I'm finally having a daquari here on the island.... Yum! We're
shopping & drinking today. We'll drag ourselves back on board this
afternoon in time for another tasty dinner. I've ordered the
vegetarian entrée the last 2 nights, so I'm hoping for some tasty meat
tonight.

Happy Day!

First, happy to be on a cruise with my pal Sarah. Second, Happy Anniversary to Rich - we've been married 8 years today. Third, happy because I passed my exam to become a Certified Professional Coder!!! That might be the most happy one... nah.

We're having fun on the cruise & we'll be in Cozumel for some shopping tomorrow.

Happy Day!

We're Off!

We've set sail & I'm looking for the USS Alabama. I'm not sure it's
around here....

1 more hour till dinner!

Sitting on a Ship

My new hobby appears to be finding new & exciting ways to do self
portraits. We're still waiting to do the emergency drill and we're
walking around touring the boat. The fun won't be in full swing
untill we hit international waters around 7pm.

On the Lido Deck

We're on the ship standing in line to get some lunch. Our rooms
aren't ready yet, but should be by 2:30 (it's 1:00 now). Hooray for
buffets!

Lukas News

Grandpa emailed me with the Lukas news. He says they had crab legs &
Lukas liked them. Guess Daddy will have to take the boy to work with
him to sample some other seafood delicacies since Mommy will never
cook it at home.

Mom in a Bed

Ahhhh.... Sleeping in a nice big bed all by myself, what a luxury!

Taco Casa

I just enjoyed a couple of yummy tacos at Taco Casa in Vicksburg, MS.
I've been reading Geek magazine, trying to knit (ha), and playing
travel Uno with 7 other ladies (I won 1 game).

Mom on a Bus

It's 2pm & I'm on the bus in the church parking lot. We'll be pulling
out any minute!

Here's a self portrait...

Mother's Week Out

Today Rich & I met Grandma & Grandpa Haddock in Texarkana to hand off the boy. He's going to stay with them 10 days! Sunday I'll be taking the dog to Nanna's house to spend the week. Where is Mommy going? Sailing the high seas to Mexico with the ladies! Rich has to work :( I'm going on an all-girl cruise with my pal Sarah & her church lady friends (that means I'll have to hide my margaritas). It's going to be paradise... no food to cook, nothing to clean, nowhere to be, only one hiney to wipe, and I'm even going to let the nice cruise peeps iron my clothes when I get there. My goal is to have 2 carry-ons and not have to wait for my luggage to arrive late that evening, so I'll have to cram it all in very wrinkly-like.

Stay tuned for blogs from the boat...

Tied Down

Lukas is chatting with Nanna on the new corded phone she gave us for
our anniversary (8 years on the 18th). He's not used to having to
stay in one place to chat.

Doctor

Friday Lukas had his 3 year check-up with the pediatrician. We've been talking about it for a while because his first question was "am I going to get a shot?". He has not had a shot since he was 2, and I'm surprised he remembers any of that. I told him that the nurse would be giving him a flu shot. He wasn't too excited about that. We brought "Frog" with us (he's so clever when it comes to naming his stuffed animals) and Frog endured many check-ups and medical procedures before the doc came to see us. Earlier in the year the doc had some concerns about a heart murmur, but at this visit he described it as "musical, benign". So, no worries there. Lukas asked him lots of questions about what he was doing and "what's that?". The doc let him listen to his own heart with the stethoscope. The doc asked Lukas what he heard and Lukas said "my heart". The doc said "did it sound like a thumpthumpthumpthump or a thathump thathump?". Lukas whispers to me "what did it sound like?" and I told him I didn't hear it. The doc then made sure he could hear Lukas' heart and put the scope back in Lukas' ears. This time Lukas said he could hear it and when the doc asked how it sounded, Lukas said "fine". The doc said Lukas' verbal skills are "excellent".

Next came the dreaded flu shot. He got the shot in the thigh, then I stood him up to pull up his pants. Of course there were tears, then Lukas started in on the guilt trip. He looks at the nurse and says "Why did you do that? Why did you do that to me? I didn't want you to do that." She explained it was so he wouldn't get sick and I told him that I told the nurse to do it. He was still saying "why did you do that?". It was sad and funny. We headed out and as promised before the visit, we went to Shake[y]'s and got him an extra-thin milkshake.

I ordered the shake extra thin because some shakes are so thick that he collapses the straw and never gets a drink. I said "extra thin for my 3-year-old". They definitely made it extra thin, then put some ridiculous lid on it with an opening almost as big as the top of the cup. Next, she handed me an 18" straw for the thing. As an experienced Mom, I knew that if Lukas sat the cup straight up in his lap, the straw would be at about eyebrow level. He would have to lay it on its side to be able to get the straw to his mouth, and the shake would be in his lap. Luckily the handed over an appropriate lid & I put a buck in the tip can.

The crying over the flu shot wasn't over... 2 days later I yanked the bandaid off while Lukas cried (he was in the tub & it was flapping in the waves). The nurse hadn't been able to tell where she poked him when she applied the bandaid and had put the sticky part on the injection site. I think if you can't tell where the boo-boo is, you don't need a bandaid.