A Pterodactyl?

Nothing is worse then sitting quietly feeding your child, when you hear from afar the wings of what you thought didn't exist anymore.....the mighty wings of a pterodactyl flapping in the air. Imagine the fear? OH MY GOSH! Me or my child?? My first instinct is to run for cover, but no, stop Melanie, what about Daniel? You are his protector, save your child.

Well let me tell you I was beyond startled to hear the flapping of wings in my house....WTFrick? I seriously panicked. Besides running for cover, I grabbed the phone to call Lonnie. I don't know what I expected him to do from 20 miles away, but I asked him to come home at lunch to capture this creature. There were some tears, I know this might sound stupid to some of you. But note, I have stated all the way along, I HATE BUGS-I HATE INSECTS.

I closed Daniel in the safety of his bedroom, and I went out to protect my house and my family. I could hear the wings flapping, I just couldn't locate where the sound was coming from. UNTIL I got divebombed.....and I am not ashamed to admit it.....I screamed and ducked down, and the words that exploded from my mouth, I cannot share here. Our little butterfly which was small in the box, had escaped and grown, oh so very LARGE!

Laugh if you must, but it is NOT funny when you are the one with the bug fear experiencing it. This will be the LAST time we will perform a butterfly/pterodactyl experiment in my house! We left the house within minutes (we really had to go to therapy, but I would have left anyways!) Lonnie came home (AFTER WORK) and caught it and it is now back in the box.
Our family and house are once again safe.

and we have........a BUTTERFLY!!

I was almost ready to give up hope that our cocoon was going to become a beautiful butterfly.
I had just told Lonnie that I thought maybe it got too cold in the house or it just wasn't strong enough to make it.

We woke the next morning and Lonnie said that it looked a little different so maybe take some pictures. I mustered up enough courage to open the box and take a couple shots, but they mistakenly got deleted so you can't see those!!

But hours later on the same day we came home from therapy and voila', we have a butterfly!!!

If you want to see them really close and personal, double click the photo and it should open up larger........and you can really see the detail......like the beady eyes, and the fuzziness of the yucky head. UUUUUGH.........I am such a good mom....a brave mom.......I AM A GOOD MOM FOR LETTING THIS BUG STAY IN MY HOME!!

It's Easter......

and there is snow outside ........ and that sucks!

I remember when I was growing up that it was always nice outside. A little chilly maybe, but nothing but a lightweight sweater would be needed. Crap now we have to get out the parkas, scarf, hat and mittens! I am soooo tired of winter.

Anyways.......Hope everyone has a good Easter (if you do indeed celebrate it!)

If not.....I wish you a good day then! ;)

and please ignore the photo of the Easter Bunny!

Update on the butterfly experiment: We are still in cocoon status, hanging from the box top. No movement yet, and even though I am grossed out by the thought of it, I can't wait to see if come out of the cocoon. I am waiting anxiously with camera in hand hoping to caught the birth of it on video. I feel kind of like an expectant mother waiting to give birth! LOL...... It should be any day now.....they say ("they" being the Internet) that it is in this stage for 7-10 days. Today is 7 days.....

Is It Considered A Butterfly Yet??!

Can't even put words to describe the grossness of our butterfly journey.

Amazing and yet so gross.......

If you are a bug person.....you'll like the photo.

So We left Saturday for the Dance Marathon and came home to find.....no more caterpillar, but this thing....the cocoon. Don't ask me what all the bumpys are that are on the cocoon. I have no clue. It is suppose to be in this stage for up to 10 days.....we'll see if we can document the actual "hatching" of the butterfly, now that might be kind of cool!

Eeeeew! THAT..is...so...SICK!

Alrighty then.....let it be known right now, from here on out, until the end of time, till God takes me from this earth........BUGS ARE NOT MY THING!! I am a girly girl, true blue! I have recruited Lonnie into taking the photos of the "beautiful butterfly" transition.(my a$$!)
It takes everything in me to let this sealed cup stay in the house. I walk in the room where it's stationed and I shiver. So, for those of you who also are totally sickened by bugs.....don't look at the photos that follow. Now, Daniel on the other hand, likes this "thing" and when we tell him to say bye bye so that I can immediately seal the cap again, he cries. He likes to see it wiggle and move around. Whereas, I am trying not to do the "heebie-jeebie" dance and fling it across the room! (For those of you who don't know exactly what the "heebie-jeebie" dance is.....we'll try to document it at a later date, its very amusing!)

So, I am sad to say that one of our caterpillars did not survive. Perhaps the huge thing that remains living in there ate him. I am not sure.


Below: Day Four (Tuesday)

Day Six: (Thursday). We didn't get a photo on Wednesday because I forgot to remind Lonnie to do it (either that or American Idol was on, and in our world......nothing interrupts American Idol!) Please Note: The bigger one is lining itself up to eat the other dead one!

Day Seven: (Friday). We have had it for exact 7 days and NO we did not zoom in on it with the camera to make it look bigger! The first of these photos I took with Lonnie holding the cup. He felt the picture wasn't focused enough to actually see the gross fuzziness and the teeth on Mr. Caterpillar, so I steadied myself and held the cup while he took the photo. This is when we should have documented the "heebie-jeebie" dance in action, but I hate my photo being taken let alone while dancing around trying to wipe the grossness off my hands. I am still trying to erase the mental distress that I actually was mere inches from this bug, and it wasn't locked in the cup.

But I have to admit, you can really see how much it has grown in the second photo. That is one big frickin' wormy thing! So, for those of you who are actually looking at the photos, kudos to Lonnie for the fine photography!

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!!!!

There will be no photo on Day 8, as we will be going to the U of M Dance Marathon kick off on Saturday. Our dance team (Team CC) along with many other college kids will be dancing for 30 hours straight to raise monies for the Beaumont Pediatric Therapy in which Daniel visits almost daily for his therapy. Daniel is the poster child for Team CC, and is going to keep the kids on our team motivated! Plus its a weekend away in a hotel with a pool......and how much fun it that?!?!

Oh Flutterby.......where are you?!!

ok so I promised to show you the progression of the caterpillar to the butterfly. (Hopefully they will make it!) One is looking a little sickly so I am not sure if we'll have one or two to release. The first picture is the box which will house the flutterby when he is born.

Below: Here is what the caterpillars look like on Day One. The stuff that looks like sand is actually their food, and they will stay in this little cup until they start their cocoons.

Below: Here is Day Two (Have I told you before I HATE bugs of all kinds?!)

Below: Day Three-- You can tell one is thriving....the other one might just be dead, we're not sure. See how quickly the other one is growing? and we're only on day three

So that is what we have so far on our Flutterby exhibit at Daniel's House of Butterflies.

When I was pregnant with Daniel and we found out I was having a boy, I was worried. Heck my mother was worried for me! She even said "You don't handle boys well". What she meant by this is in general I don't like dirt, I don't like dirty grubby little boys who talk back, who like bugs who eat dirt and boogers. Remember up until this time I had 4 little girls.....I don't do "boys"! LOL, my my how times have changed. Now mind you I don't particularly LIKE bugs, but for Daniel, I will tolerate the bugs, I will tolerate the boogery noses, the dirty hands, the farting and laughing and the burping and the rating of the burp!

Welcome to the world of Daniel!