The great thing about Twitter is that YOU must choose to follow a user or even simply read the Twitter page of that user. Nothing is pushed out to you unless you explicitly act to read it. Additionally, the creator can easily hide the entire stream from the general public. In regards to Kickbee, this means that parents can choose to only share their baby’s activity with each other, the grandparents, or maybe their doctor. (Decreased activity is an indication of fetal distress, so the Kickbee could be a tool for monitoring this.)

Thanks to its skyrocketing popularity, there has been a lot of Twitter backlash lately. And while I agree much (most?) of Twitter is useless drivel, nearly all of it is important to somebody. At least with Twitter, you’re not forced to view content you could care less about!

Here in Arkansas we do have birds, have had as best as I recollect. The ones that tweet in the morning came back several weeks ago. It is spring, how you know is the birds tweet in the morning as the sun comes up.

When you walk near the Cedar trees just before dawn, you can hear the birds in it twitter.

Recently we learned about tweeters. Speaker parts. Not birds, but actually something to add to the expense of your boom box.

Retweeting, now thats something we just don’t do.

We know a lot about breast feeding the young ones, come on down, we will throw another bean in the pot. A nice shawl covers up lots of activities. In some ways easier than messing with bottles and who would feed a baby cow’s milk? Formula sounds real scientific. Mother is much more organic. Less chemicals too.

I too talk to the raspberries sometimes, but they don’t talk back. Leastways, they haven’t yet. Now a blackberry, that is another story. Watch out for chiggers and you can get stuck real good if you get into the blackberry bushes.

But they make real good jelly. Come get ya some.

We are in the dark about one thing, what is gob smacked?

Your friend

Bill Heck

I’d like to wish you, Heidi, & Thingy a Happy Easter.

Just think, next year you’ll get to play the part of the Easter Bunny. Of course, Thingy will be a bit young to get the most from Easter celebrations but some bright, shiny, eggs (plastic, of course) should definitly get lots of smiles. You & Heidi have so many wonderful things to look forward to.

Florence

As we found out last year aboard the Carnival lines, all of the aspects of cruising are, far and away, the best value for the dollar. As a high school teacher in Wisconsin, we have now officially changed the “Senior Trip” (typically to New York or Washington DC) to the “Senior Cruise.” For far less than the total cost of previous senior trips …to destinations like NYC & DC… which they will no doubt visit during their lifetimes anyway, we can go whitewater rafting in Costa Rica and visit the Panama Canal …destinations of a lifetime!! Plus, because of the security and controls in place on a cruise line, we have no worries about underage drinking, ‘losing’ students who have run off in dangerous metropolitan areas, or lack of “stuff” to do on an hourly basis… AND they have unlimited, 24/7 food to eat AT NO EXTRA COST!! The total cost per student, including transportation, lodging, meals and extras, was over $200 LESS than previous year’s trips to New York City alone (including a Broadway play). Another plus …the time spent in planning the cruise was about 25% of the time spent on previous senior Trips”. The new “Senior Trip” is, in many ways, a chaperone’s dream come true!!

i hope you are having a good time being home

take care of your wife and the thingy
didn’t
sincerely Bobby

First of all, we are so glad to hear that Chris is doing better. Please let him know that we are all praying for a quick and complete recovery.

It is understandable that this Blog will be “part cruising and part personal analysis”. Your personality is part of our cruising experience….so it only stands to reason that what makes you…you…would be shared as well.

DJ is thrilled that Butch did indeed send us Funship Freddie’s schedule. So we know where NOT to be on the Glory on any given day!!

We were sad to hear that Butch will not be our CD for that cruise. He said he was headed for the Liberty (lucky Liberty). Any ideas on who the CD on the Glory on May 16th will be??? Just curious…..

Enjoy this time with Heidi….

Linda (Mom of your friend ~ currently watching the weather~ DJ)

Great blog, as usual. I can picture in my mind the scene at the hand-over ceremony, and the discomfort it might have caused to those who weren’t “in the know” before everything became apparent!

As to breast feeding in public, I think this is a choice that has to be made by each mother. My wife never breast fed (also a choice to be made by each mother), but I’ve never had a problem with those who do. I would suggest that a blanket or some other “cover-up” be kept handy so as to keep things discreet. I think this also reduces the discomfort that Host Mach alluded to!

My only other suggestion: Don’t let it get to the point that we saw in a local shopping mall several years ago. We were waiting in a lengthy line for the kids to see Santa Claus during the holiday season. A child (at LEAST age 3, by his looks), who had been playing with other friends a few feet away, walks up to his mother and starts tugging on her shirt. Without missing a beat in her conversation, she sits down on a ledge and lifts her shirt (no cover-up or anything was used); her son latched on for a good 5 minutes of breast feeding! Needless to say, that’s one visit with Santa that I won’t soon forget!

Finally (and in response to an earlier comment above), I think your references to your soon-to-be-born child as “Thingy” suit your personality quite well. It is quite apparent to me as a long-time reader that your use of “Thingy” conveys all the love and compassion that you feel for your unborn child. I wish you nothing but the best as your adventure in parenthood continues. (Although Thingy hasn’t been born yet, you can see that the adventure has already begun!)

Best to you, Heidi and Thingy.

Rick H.