Grammy nomination

I know haven't posted in FOREVER but I must say this. We just found out that Shawn has been nominated for a GRAMMY! A friggin GRAMMY!!!!!!!!!! We are beside ourselves!!! I am so proud of him...!!!

Best Contemporary R&B Album
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of VOCAL tracks.)

Growing Pains
Mary J. Blige
[Geffen]


Back Of My Lac'
J. Holiday
[Capitol Records]


First Love
Karina
[Def Jam]

Year Of The Gentleman
Ne-Yo
[Def Jam/Compound]


Fearless
Jazmine Sullivan
[J Records]

New pictures of me!! 3 months old!

First Election night!


Watching My Friends Tigger & Pooh


Mommy & Me at the Wedding


I was the ring bearer and Aunt Julianna pulled me in a wagon!!! I was so scared!


Right before the wedding. I was little nervous and saying my prayers

It's been ages since I've blogged...oh the daily duties of a mommy. I figure that while the little Monkey is napping now would be the perfect time to try and drop all of my adoring blog fans a line :-D. Phoenix is doing great! He's a little long thing. He's 10 lbs and 23 3/4 inches long! He's the average length of a 14 week old! He's almost half my height LOL. He's absolutely adorable and I could eat him with a little blue spoon (??). He's still incredibly alert and talkative already. He loves to people watch and sit like a big boy (see pictures in album). Phoenix is getting better with the sleeping at night thing. He's only getting up about once a night now and then at 6 AM, which is great because he's a morning baby and he has a morning daddy so they go downstairs and hang out while I sleep a little bit longer and when he comes back to me he's in the best mood! He also loves to be outside, we call him our little sun baby. I'm still loving being his mommy! It's great. Sometimes it can be a little tiring but I'm lucky to have a lot of help! I have a great baby-daddy who will sit up with me at 2:30 in the morning while I feed him, I have a great mom and dad and sisters and brothers and Phoenix gets to spend the night with them every Friday, I have a great housekeeper that takes care of all that other stuff for me, and best of all I have the most perfect little baby who makes all the sleepless nights, stretch marks, tender boobs, and wrinkly clothes worth it!

We are moving (again) this weekend. We decided to go back to Howard County to be closer to my family. The house is great! It has lots of space and a huge yard, which will be great when its time to plan the Monksters 1st birthday. The house is about 5 minutes from my parents and very, very close to some of my favorite shopping destinations. What could be better? Oh I know! To live IN the mall :-D.

Whenever you need a daily dose of sweet deliciousness check out my photo album, I update it often with pictures and some videos of Phoenix.

shameless plug

New CD buying alert:

Go and buy Karina Pasian's album "First Love"
Why? Well duh! Shawn has TWO songs on the album...The title track "First Love" and on the international version of the album he has "Cry"

Please and Thank you :-D

the time is just flying

My Baby's 4 weeks old today. It honestly does seem like just yesterday I was screaming my head off and begging for someone to get me a gun (I'm a little dramatic). But it's been a great 4 weeks. Phoenix is changing everyday and as much as makes me happy to see him growing sometimes I get a little sad knowing he won't be like this forever, so sometimes I literally will just sit and stare at him. He's a great baby. He can be a little testy at times. He hates being stripped down to only a diaper and loves to be held, bounced, and rocked at pretty much all times. Thus making sleeping and showering two things I don't really understand anymore. But he still has this quiet zen like quality to him. He went to his first movie last week. Sisterhood of the traveling pants and he did great! I never wanted to be one of those moms who's like chained to the house because of a baby so in his short little 4 week life Phoenix has made it to several restaurant outings, several shopping trips, the movies, the pool, school orientation, church twice, and a birthday party. He's really awesome when we go out. He's never fussy and sleeps most of the time. He also is starting to develop a liking to being outside. Shawn loves to go jogging in the morning and he took him with him yesterday and Shawn said he was just a laughing and smiling the whole time. And because of the run (I believe) he was in the BEST mood yesterday even allowing us to undress him for the doctor without going berserk! He also loves to go outside on the porch and sit in his little chair with his Dad. I'm not what you would call an "outside kind of girl" so the outside outings are his times to bond with Daddy. He has an abundance of nieces and nephews that love him to pieces! Every time I'm with my family arguments are breaking out over who held him last and for how long.

Also in these 4 weeks Phoenix has undergone one major life change....A name change....I know you're like "What in the world?" See when we found out we were having a boy Shawn and I decided we wanted to honor our dads by using their names, (Alexander for Shawn's dad and Scott for my dad) well the other day Shawn and I were talking about how his 2nd middle name should have been Troy (my Dad's first name) because of his Greek heritage (now he will end up with 3 Greek names) and Troy was also the site of the great victory Alexander had over Asia, plus we liked how it sounded. So now he will be Phoenix Alexander Troy Campbell....I know we must be awful parents to change his name at this stage and then saddle him with such a mouthful!

Well it seems like my little Monkey (one of his several nicknames, I also call him Fin, Fin-Fin, Finni-Fin-Fin, Butter, Butters, and Butter Ball)seems to be stirring so I must tend to him....

And check out my photo album because that's where I post all the new pictures

More pictures of Baby Phoenix

Phoenix Alexander Scott Campbell

He's here!!!

UPDATE: My mom also wanted me to add in here that once I reached 6 cm I asked to go home every 10 minutes. I do remembering looking at my mom and Shawn at different times and begging and pleading with them to just take me home for a few minute. At one point I even said if I didn't start pushing in 10 minutes I was done and that they would have to figure out how to get him out.



Introducing Phoenix Alexander Scott Campbell. Phoenix was born on Friday, August 1, 2008 at 10:40 AM after several long hours of labor. I went in on Thursday for a schedule doctors appointment and when my doctor checked his heart rate it was reading at 120, then she checked again and it jumped back to 140. My doctor was uncomfortable with that so she sent me up to L&D to be monitored. I got to L&D at 2:15 and they strapped me to the fetal monitor and did an ultrasound. At 5 my doctor came in and said that his heart rate was great and everything looked great but she was nervous about sending me home because if something happened we wouldn't know until too late. So she decided to induce me. I had a total mix of emotions. I was very excited because I was finally going to be able to meet him, but I was scared and felt a little unprepared. So I was admitted at 6 PM. Shawn, my mom, 2 of my sisters and my dad (who was in and out of the room because he said he couldn't watch me go through the pain and didn't stay for the actual delivery) stayed in the room with me. It was a loooooong night. Part of my birth plan was to go totally natural, but man oh man was I in for a shock! The pain was way more then I could possibly ever, ever, imagine or describe. So I asked for Demerol. Before giving it to me they decided to check me and I was already 6 cm, so I decided not to get it. About 2 hours later I asked for it again but it was too late, so then I asked for a gun....They didn't have one, so I did I made it all the way to the end all on my own. But by 10:20 Friday morning I was ready to push. I opted for a mirror to see the whole thing which was great because as soon as I saw his head it was like I become super women and didn't want to stop pushing until he was totally out. 20 minutes later they laid him on my chest and he looked right at me and held my fingers. It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my entire life. In fact remembering it now is bringing tears to my eyes. As bad as the pain was I have to say that I honestly do not remember how bad it actually was. I know it was bad, but I can't remember it. Which means next time (4 - 5 years down the road) I could go natural again! Going without the drugs was the best thing for me.

Phoenix weighed 8 lbs 1.4 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long and has red hair!! Everyone was amazed that this long baby was in my little 5 foot self! Everything with Phoenix was great except he was a little jaundiced. They put him in the bilibed and then they had to put him in the actual incubator with lights above him, but luckily he was able to stay in the room with Shawn and I the entire time. They discharged us on Sunday but we literally had to go back every day to have his levels checked.

So now our little red headed white baby <---?? no idea how that happened, is home with us and he's utterly amazing. He's a pretty zen baby and eats really well (and yes the boobs are totally working. He loves to curl up on our chest and just lay there. And he's incredibly alert, which he was as right at birth as well. And I swear he smiles all the time, although some may say it's just gas.

Christian The Lion

You must watch this video. It was shown this morning on The View and I was totally in tears at the end.

Ever since I was small I've always loved tigers (although this story is about a lion) and have always wanted one. In fact (silly, naive me) dated a guy before I went to Bible School and he said we could get a tiger name her Sahara and sail around the world. And do you know I actually researched tigers as pets. Obviously I didn't end up with that guy sailing around the world with our white pet tiger. But I've always thought it would be pretty awesome to have one as a pet. And this video only made me wish a lot harder :-)

light at the end of the tunnel is shining brightly!

So here we are 37 weeks and 3 days. Full term and could be happening any day now. We had a doctors appointment Thursday and as of then I was 2 cm dilated. I could be more now though. Saturday we took Shawn to the Maryland Aquarium and saw the dolphin show which I LOVED. My Gannie used to take us all the time and it's my favorite part. But there was tons of walking and that night I was having pretty strong contractions. One was so bad I started crying. But they weren't close enough to go into L&D or call the doctor. Once I got all settled in for bed and ate some cereal they pretty much stopped. But I had more Sunday, again nothing to be totally alarmed about. But I have noticed in the last week I feel really different. I can't fully explain it, but something has changed. If Baby P decides to come this week or early next week I won't be surprised. So I've gotten our bags all packed. I've blown up my birthing ball and we're all ready to go. I'm very excited and ready for him to come. Besides wanting Baby to get here soon or right on time so we can meet him, Shawn also has a big work thing coming up and has to go to New York on the 14th. He wasn't going to go but I really want him to go. It's an album release party for his next song and although it's just a party, it's still part of his job. And I'm really proud of him for the work he did on this song because it's really awesome. So I want him to be able to go, but of course we could have a very, very new baby right then. So we are trying to decide how we can make it so he can go for the night and that I'm comfortable. Not sure how to do it, but we're going to try and figure it out. As long as baby doesn't come on the 12th or 13th or hasn't shown by then, I think it can be done. We'll see.

Almost there

Shawn asked me to come down and hang out with him in the studio, and I figured since there's nothing to do but sit and watch him, now would be the perfect time to update my blog. We just got back from our breastfeeding class, which was not as helpful as I wanted it to be. I expected to learn more about techniques and instead it was just basically a two hour class on the benefits of breastfeeding. But it was still informative, and I did learn stuff like, Colostrum is yellow because of Vitamin A, If you get a flu-shot the benefits of that is passed right on to Baby, and if Baby puts his hand on your breast while feeding it releases more oxytocin & prolactin which helps with bonding and the milk let down. So there was beneficial information. We also had our first childbirth class on Monday, which Shawn and I both really, really liked. Our instructor even prayed and crossed herself (we're delivering at a Catholic hospital) before starting the class. Right now I am 36 weeks & 1 day. It's so exciting to realize that in 4 weeks time, give or take a day or two (or three or four) that our baby will finally be here! There is certainly still more things I need to do and purchase (who knew babies needed SOOOO much) but emotionally if this baby decides to come today I'm ready! Physically I'm starting to reach the point of "How much longer!?" I can't sleep at night, which means I sleep until like 10 or 11 (or noon like yesterday!) or I sleep in the afternoon. I don't know what it is about the night time, but I just can't sleep! I pee about 12 times a night and have to heave myself over every time I want to roll over. I still am thanking God though that NOTHING has swelled or started to spread. No pregnancy face, no cankles, or swollen hands and fingers. Everything else besides my ever expanding belly is totally normal sized. I am starting to take on a slight waddle as well. And with the expanding belly I've had to start rolling down the belly part on my maternity pants. I swear it feels like my circulation is being cut off! Well that's my update for now, Monday brings another doctors appointment, and with that...maybe just maybe, keep your fingers crossed, but possibly another update! Aren't you excited? ;-)

34 weeks

So here's our quick update for the week. We are 34 weeks today, we had another ultrasound to check his size and my cervix. Baby P is measuring 5 lbs and 6 ounces. The tech said we should have a baby in the low 7's. My cervix looks good, so I think that we are good until August. Which is great news, seeing as we still have a million things to do. Shawn and I are both procrastinators. I've had to step up a little in that department to keep our lives together, but when it comes to preparation for baby we are kind of lacking in that. We just signed up for our birthing classes that start a week from Monday and end 4 days before my due date! Every night I go to bed I just pray "God just push him back up in there if he starts to slip down".

Here's a quick picture from the ultrasound. I don't have a scanner so I had to do it the ghetto way and take a picture of the picture. But hopefully you'll get to see how freaking adorable he is! In this particular picture he's pursing his lips :-)

New Pregger Pictures

New pregger pictures. 33 weeks and 6 days. I would write an update along with them, but there's a baby sitting like in my ribs and it's rather uncomfortable. But we have an ultrasound tomorrow to determine his size and other stuff so after that (providing he's not in my ribs) I'll post an update.

32 weeks!

We are now getting very close to Baby Day and we still have a million things to buy! We made our first big purchase the other day, a Graco Pack n Play for the living room. We we're going to get a crib but couldn't find one I liked (and yes I have changed my mind since I posted pictures of Nursery stuff way back when). So now we have this cool vibrating musical bassinet pack n play just sitting in the living room looking oh so lonely and waiting for an occupant. This past Friday was Shawn's 7th birthday so we took him to the Maryland Science Center which he loved. They had a huge dinosaur exhibit that we spent most of the time in and then went and saw this really cool Sea Monster 3D movie. Later that night we took him to see Kung Fu Panda as well, and it is a must see! It was really hilarious! (Other good movies seen this weekend: First Sunday (funny as hell!) and The Other Boleyn Girl) For Shawns birthday we got him a bike and soccer goal thing and a pool. The pool was a small $30 thing from Walmart but I think it was the best $30 we ever spent! He stayed in the pool ALL DAY Saturday and Sunday and did not want to get out. Shawn and I bought lounge chairs and laid out over the weekend which was nice. Sunday afternoon and night however I started having contractions, and at my scheduled appointment yesterday I mentioned it to my Doctor and she checked me and surprise, surprise, I'm 1 centimeter dilated already and Baby P is measuring at 34 weeks. So she said that I could be further along then we thought (but I doubt that since I'm positive of all the dates you need to give to come up with your due date) but she put me on moderate bed rest for the next 2 weeks. So we either have 6 weeks left or 8 weeks. I'm really hoping it's 8 because I need ALLLLLL the time I can get!

Pictures

Uncle Tim and Shawn on roller coaster

Zack, Gabi, and Shawn





Uncle Paul, TT, Zack, Gabi and Shawn








Sierra and Shawn (as Beethoven, courtesy of Sierra)










Tons of other pictures on my myspace page...

no title...

I feel like it's been ages since I've posted last. We got back from our road trip to Minnesota memorial day and we had a really great time. I'm not what you'd call a well versed traveler so I drove through (and got pulled over, thank you Ohio police officer for not giving me a ticket) a lot of states I never thought I'd visit. But I have to say to all you Minnesota residents you all are pretty lucky. I really, really, really loved Minnesota. So much so that a lot of Shawn's cousins were trying to (seriously) convince us to move there. And all though I would love to I'm not sure how I would handle the winter. We went to the Mall of America amusement park and I was so jealous watching all the kids riding the coasters. I wanted to get on soooo badly. But the park was great and all the kids had fun, especially Shawn. The whole weekend Shawn was just like on air with all the kids to play with and things to do. He really loved it and wanted to know if we could go back Thursday. LOL.

The trip up and back was not as bad as I expected it to be. Little Shawn handled it the best, I on the other hand got leg cramps, headaches, heart burn, nauseous all on the 2nd day up and back. Awful, not fun, but worth it. Gas prices are of course CRAZY. $4.37 in some parts of Indiana.

Little Baby P is doing great! We just had our 30 week appointment. I'm flying high because I've only gained 17 lbs and in 2 weeks I've lost a pound. Shawn wants to keep feeding me, but my Doctor says as long as Baby is growing everything is good. Baby P is kicking like a mad man! So much so it's starting to hurt. I'm not sleeping much at night which sucks, and my house doesn't always stay as perfect as I want it to. I feel really bad, but some days I'm just so exhausted or nauseous that I can't do much. I forgot what my feet look like, I can't get up off the couch or roll over in the bed without Shawn heaving me over! But I'll stop complaining, we're getting closer and we are very, very, excited! One thing I do like about being pregnant is swimsuit shopping. I have always loathed swimsuit shopping because I never could wear the cute triangle bikinis like the other girls because of the two "girls" sitting on my chest, and even when they shrunk (all though they are certainly starting to come back) there was the other body issues. But now being pregnant I have moments where I really love my body (especially when the Doctor says I've lost a pound or haven't gained anything) so I really embraced the whole bathing suit shopping thing and was able to find a cute (not-totally) maternity looking swimsuit.

Anyway, it's 11 PM here, Obama has the nom (like duh), Hilary is finally gone, yeah! (I know, I know, take my girl card away) and I'm tired and need an orange.

I have tons of pictures from the trip, I'll try to post them later this week.

Good report

Today was another doctors appointment and ultrasound. This ultrasound was scheduled because back at our sonogram where we found out the sex they found a choroid plexus cyst on Baby P's brain. We found out about it at our appointment after the sonogram at like 20 weeks or so. And let me tell you it was a long and scary 8 weeks. Our doctor assured us that there was 99% chance that everything was fine because everything else checked out A-OK. We had the option of having an amniocentesis test but the risk of miscarriage with that test was higher then what I felt comfortable with. So we decided to wait until 28 weeks for another sonogram. When the doctor first told us I put on the bravest face I could but as soon as she walked out I just crumpled. But after coming home and doing hours of researching I was calmed down a bit. There was a lot of prayer going on with Shawn and I. Not just that everything would be fine, but also if it wasn't that God would give us the strength that we would need to deal with the situation. So we arrive today and as soon as I get on the table my heart started racing. I ended up having to turn on my left side several times because I was getting so dizzy I thought I was going to pass out. But thank God the technician assured us that everything was fine and the CPC had cleared up.

We did find out that Baby P has a big head. His head is measuring at 30 wks. That didn't come as a shock to us because big heads seem to run on both sides of the family :-D Baby P is already in position which is good so fingers crossed he'll stay that way. He seems pretty feisty and a little, uh, difficult. Because just like the first sonogram we had the hardest time getting him in the correct position to check the important things. We were however able to get a 3D shot. I'm going to post it but it's not the greatest quality because I don't have a scanner so I had to take a picture of the picture. But he is soooo cute and reminds me of my little sister Julianna.

Pray for us, we are headed on an approximately 17 hour trip to Minnesota Wednesday for Shawn's brothers wedding (yeah Paul and Becca). The guys are really excited about the drive, I on the other hand am not looking forward to the drive so much as I am to get to the hotel and swim. For the last several months I've been "craving" water...like swimming water. It's so weird. I want to swim sooooooooooo bad!

The joys of pregnancy

So today I had the dreaded Glucose test, which actually wasn't bad at all. I had heard that the soda type drink they give you is really gross. But it wasn't bad. I mean I wouldn't order it in a restaurant or anything but it wasn't bad. It tasted like flat orange soda. After downing the drink we had to sit for an hour which I wasn't looking forward to because I was really tired. However, the "older" people coming into the lab kept Shawn and I very entertained.

Warning: The following will be an account of some non-attractive pregnancy symptoms. For all of those out there who think I am one of those sweet, delicate, girls who never does anything gross, this may be TMI and may shatter that pure and pristine image you have of me, so I recommend you click off now

My first trimester I was working and I heard that morning sickness can be kind of gruesome. So I was praying the whole time that while I was working it wouldn't hit. Luckily it didn't and I stopped working right when the exhaustion set in. However, what would pregnancy be without some discomfort, gross side effects, and unpleasant surprises. Well about 3 weeks ago this weird thing set in. Every time I try to eat, I can't. I hardly ever want to eat and when I crave something I take a bite and then I'm done. When I do eat I take a bit or two and I have to sit back and let out these huge belches and then I can continue to eat. I take a few more bites (like 3 or 4) sit back belch 2 or 3 times and take my last 3 bites and I'm done. And even when I'm not eating my stomach is really bloated or I even threw up which I detest doing! It's so annoying. So at my doctors appointment a few weeks ago I mentioned it and she said I could take Maalox. I got some last week but I'm afraid to take it because I think I'll vomit and I'm just not interested in doing it. I'm short, thus I have a short torso so there's not much room and what room I do have Baby P has occupied!

The other annoying new side effect of this wonderful adventure they call pregnancy is how hair my stomach is! I'm Greek, not sure how much or how little but enough to get the excessive hair gene. I've always had a little hair under my belly button, it's never bothered me much so I don't do anything about it. But yesterday I had my shirt up because I was watching him flip across my belly and I noticed the obscene amount of hair on my ENTIRE stomach! I was like "Holy crap!" Luckily my "I'm proud of my bump and I'm going to wear a bikini" idea was nixed due to the oddly formed stretch mark (the only one might I add) on the bottom of my belly, so because of that and now the hair I've decided not to "embrace" my new shape and wear a bikini this summer and just wear a regular old maternity suit....

Oh the joys of pregnancy ;-D

almost there!

27 weeks/2 days. 13 weeks. 3rd Trimester. Coming into the home stretch people! I can't believe I'm 7 months pregnant already! Everything here in Baby World is going good. Baby P is kicking like a wild man! He's not as active during the day (much like his mother) but all of a sudden at night he comes alive! Some nights he's kicking so hard I swear he's trying to escape. I've just reached the point now where I can actually watch him kick me. It's amazing, he's amazing, and I'm amazed! Whenever I read all of the books and get my weekly updates of how I should be feeling I always check them against my actual feelings. I've been waiting for the onslaught of crazy hormones and mood swings. For a little while I wasn't sure if I would really be able to tell the difference between my normal mood swings. I'll confess I am a bit of a mood swing person. I am not laid back at all. But the one thing I have never really been is super sensitive. So now the pregnancy mood swings have kicked in and instead of being (more) of a raging bitch (I'll admit) I am this sensitive little sissy! Everything makes me cry. Last week Shawn was complaining about how cold it was in our house (I'm always hot) and usually I would just say "Get a sweater or some socks and hush!". But when he said it the other day I felt like it was this personal attack on me and I started bawling! It's so crazy how sensitive I am. I haven't had any swelling of the hands, ankles, or face (yet) and I'm really hoping it stays that way. I have new pictures to post from today and up until I reviewed the pictures I didn't feel like my belly was getting any bigger, but then when I saw the pictures back I was like "Whoa! He's in there!!!'"

So 13 weeks and counting! Let's do this!

I heart singing

If any of you know me in the real world you know that ever since I was about 8 I've always loved to sing. When I was about 9 my sister and I partnered up with two of our friends and sung this song by Jaci Velasquez called "If this world" at camp. When we got back home one of the leaders who had gone with us told everyone how good we did and cute we looked in our matching silk long skirts. So one Sunday our Pastor let us do our song. Afterwards I remember our worship leader coming up to my sister and I and saying that when we turned 15 we better join the worship team. Over the next few years my sister and I would do different special songs in church and sing with another friend for weddings, Christmas and Easter plays and graduations. We also ended up joining the worship team waaay before our 15th birthdays. My sister loved to get up and do specials but I always had to be pushed and made to do them because I felt like I was showing off and that I wasn't even that good.

It wasn't until I met Shawn and he started recording me for fun that I heard myself back and realized..."Hey I can do this! I sound good, and that's without any Autotune!" I've gone back and forth over the years about trying to get into the music business. I never really pushed for it because it's such a competitive world I wanted to make sure that it was something I really, really, wanted. Something that I absolutely had to have. I've finally reached that point. I'm ready to go for it. It may be an awkward time for that realization to hit considering I'm about to be a mom. But I know that God gave me this gift and I don't want to waste it.

Having said all of that I finally recording my first real song today. The song is called "Stay in bed" and no it's not a Christian song so hopefully that doesn't bother any of my old friends LOL. Shawn wrote and produced it for a real artist, whom I can't mention now as that stuff is kind of "secret". The song was made for a certain male artist so you'll have to ignore the female love references. Anyhow back to the story....Shawn needed a reference singer for the song....and tada! It was either me or little Shawn...So I got to do it.

I created a MySpace Artist page so that people could hear the song. I didn't feel like figuring out how to do a Podcast. Oh and the song is short because it's just a verse and a hook. That's all we have for now. Hopefully you'll like it and if you don't, please don't be too harsh it's my first time :-/

www.myspace.com/allyleighann

pregnant pictures

New pregnant lady pictures (24 weeks and 1 day)









To me I don't think my belly is getting much bigger, but my boobs certainly are! I feel like I'm all belly and boobs with these short little legs!

Oh and ignore our ONE ugly maroon wall. We still haven't gotten around to changing it. Soon. Very soon.

D.C. Trip and shocking revelations

We were all set today to take a spur of the moment trip to the D.C. Zoo. We dressed quickly and ran out the door...But one problem...We had locked both set of keys in the house! UGH! Of all things! So for about 30 minutes Shawn climbed up and down the deck (no stairs) trying to figure out how to get inside the house. We called a locksmith of course and they wouldn't give us any kind of quote of what it could possibly cost and then they had no available locksmiths. So Shawn and I went underneath the deck to the entrance of the basement and noticed the window and miraculously we were able to literally pop the window out without breaking it and pop it right back in! By then I was already hot and couldn't imagine walking around the zoo. Not to mention my calf muscle was having these weird painful spasms all night and into today. So we decided to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. All set to go to D.C. we then take the wrong exit and end up driving all the way down Connecticut Ave (which is totally stop and go with all the lights) to get downtown. Finally we make it, force ourselves into the parking space and head to the museum and what do we see? A huge police convoy. So we're thinking "Great! It must be someone important! Little Shawn will love this!" The day before little Shawn had been asking about court houses and judges (we were near the courthouse)so I explained what a judge was, etc, etc. So today on the way to D.C. Shawn decided to turn our drive into another lesson (trying to earn some more parenting chips) and started talking about the President and such (by the way little Shawn is voting for 'A-rock Obama. So anyway back to the police convoy. We're all excited (I'm thinking it's the President), but it turns out its a bunch of neo-Nazis protesting! I was absolutely flabbergasted! I couldn't believe, number 1. That they were allowed to do that and 2. That our tax dollars we're paying for it! I was almost near tears. On one hand it's a realization how free America is and lucky we are to live in our country where we have the right to say and believe what we want, but then you realize how hateful these people are. They were marching for a "pure white America" yet I saw many, many, black police officers, Hispanic officers, and I'm sure some Jewish officers actually protecting them. It was really sad and disgusting.

We eventually did make it into the museum and had a great time. Looking at all those huge skeletons of animals and things and the exhibits of nature pictures just shows me how amazing God is. How complex our world is and that He took the time to create all of these amazing things. How could you not see His hand in this? Who else could have done it? Certainly not some explosion in the galaxy!

Here's a few pictures from our trip: