The Scuba Squad

Note To Self....

2009-03-05T13:02:00.001-06:00

Do NOT wear a dress on a windy day UNLESS giving your co-workers a show was on your list of things to do.

Do you hear something??

2009-02-27T15:01:00.004-06:00

I added music to my blog!!! :) All the songs listed are by the blue grass country band, Nickel Creek. Some of you might have heard of them, they had a couple chart toppers back in the day and they were at the top of my list when Scuba and I first started dating. A lot of their music reminds me of that first year we dated, I listened to them constantly! They bring back many good memories for me.
I'm not sure what made me think of them today but I was looking through their songs and I noticed that they have a song titled, "Sweet Afton!" How perfect is that!! I have to admit though, it's not my favorite song. The song is actually an old poem written by Robert Burns. Afton is a River and the poem uses words like "thy" and "ye." It would be so much cooler if Afton was a person but the song does have a great melody so I added it just for fun.
I know what your thinking.....so Rach likes country music. Yes, I do. I also like many other types of music. My goal for my play list is to post the music that I like that you probably won't here on the radio every day. Anyway, enjoy!!

**Oh, the last song is Nickel Creek's version of a famous Brittney Spears song....it's kinda cool.

So Close

2009-02-24T09:33:00.003-06:00

Afton is officially 8 months old which is around the time that most babies start showing an interest in crawling and some even are already crawling. So far Afton has not had any interest what-so-ever in crawling. We will set her up on her hands and knee's and immediately she falls flat on her tummy. Yesterday however when Scuba picked her up from daycare her sitter told him that when she put Afton on her knee's she actually stayed there!! She even tried crawling but fell flat on her face :( There is a boy 2 weeks older than Afton that is crawling and everyday when I drop off Afton I tell her to watch Cole and take notes.

It's only a matter of time :)

Scratching my head

2009-02-12T16:13:00.003-06:00

One of the University's I work with has a course that requires the text, "Fiske Guide to Getting Into the Right College" by Fiske. The text provides information on each step of the college admissions process, including selecting a college, writing application essays, handling college interviews, and financial aid.

Is this odd to anyone else?? :)

Albuquerque Trip

2009-02-11T13:44:00.004-06:00

Afton and I went to Albuquerque, New Mexico this past weekend to visit my extended family. I don't have all the pictures yet from our trip but when I do I will post them. In the mean time I wanted to share one of my favorite pics from the weekend.

I just love how Afton is resting on my cousin Timmy, too cute. Oh and I promised my uncle I would post our group pic.....aren't we a fun looking bunch :)

Sleep Walking

2009-02-04T13:16:00.003-06:00

This is a pretty cool video. I'm not sure about the song being that I watched the video at work where my computer does not have speakers but I just think the video alone is very creative and must have taken a LONG time to complete.

Oh and sorry about the commercial in the beginning.....nothing is ever free :)

It's Etsy Time.

2009-02-03T15:44:00.003-06:00

Have I mentioned my love for Etsy? I need a million dollars so I can buy more stuff. There are some REALLY crafty and creative people out there and today I purchased a Valentines gift for Afton from one of those crafty Etsy people.

Well, I realize that it doesn't take much to create a tag blanket but it was a bargain and I love the heart fabric (hence the Valentines gift).
If you have ever seen Afton study the tags on her stuffed animals you know that she will LOVE this! I can't wait to give it to her :)

New Baby

2009-02-02T12:54:00.002-06:00

I realize that I haven't been blogging as often as I use to nor as often as some would like. The thing is, lately I've had a terrible case of writers block which I attribute to the fact that recently we've been pretty boring. Plus I've been having difficulties with my camera and uploading my pictures. I do have one thing in particular I would like to share but it will be so much better with the pictures so you'll just have to wait until I get that figured out :)

In the mean time........have you seen the VW Routan commercials? The commercials star Booke Sheilds and in them she claims that people are having babies just so they can own this minivan, "Everyday in our country, more and more people are having babies simply for....the love of German engineering." She also claims that a few have gone so far as to, "Even reverse vasectomies." Silly, right? Well that's their spiel and along with these commercials Volkswagen has created the RoutanBabymaker300 website as part of their marketing campaign.

The website allows you to create a "Routan Baby" by uploading a picture of yourself along with a picture of your spouse or a complete stranger or whomever you choose :) I used a picture of myself and Scuba and behold......our new baby boy!

My what lovely nose he has :)

The website even allows you to upload pictures from the internet. This afternoon I think I will create a baby for Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul just because I love American Idol THAT much :)

It's Official

2009-01-20T14:06:00.004-06:00

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."- Obama

Two Kids

2009-01-08T14:02:00.006-06:00

Not surprisingly Afton was an angel during both our flights to and from Arizona. She didn't seem to have any discomfort in her ears and when she wasn't sleeping or eating we managed to keep her entertained.

I am still amazed that Afton can be entertained just by watching and looking at her surroundings. Every once in a while I would stand her on my lap and raise her high enough so she could look over my head at all the passengers behind us. Something about all those strangers kept her interest until mommy's arms got tired :)

Someone else who managed to keep himself entertained was Scuba. We flew out of the St. Louis airport however on both flights we had to make a stop in Kansas City. On the way back from Kansas City heading to St. Louis the pilot announced that we were getting ready to fly over Columbia......you would have thought Micheal Jordan was flapping his arms and flying right outside Scuba's window. Scuba had his faced pressed against the window and every couple of seconds he would turn around and announce to Afton and I that he could see some one's house.....all the way from 50,000 feet in the air. I guess he must really have because when we got home he told about 5 different people he saw their house from the plane!

I don't ever worry about Afton getting bored with a big kid like Scuba for a daddy :)

Time to eat!

2009-01-06T16:08:00.003-06:00

Of all the things that I worry about with Afton the one thing that I never give a second thought to is whether or not Afton is getting enough to eat. All I have to do is take one look at my chunky monkey's little legs and I know that she is definitely well nourished!! She is the cutest chub-a-lub I've ever seen!!

Afton just recently started eating solid food. For a while we added rice cereal to her diet but now we are on to the good stuff or not so good stuff. At first Afton wasn't so sure what to think of the change in menu, maybe because we started with green beans. Now that we have introduced things like sweet potatoes and peaches she is in hog heaven!! I've read that it's recommended that babies eat two and a half jars of baby food a day and Afton has no problem filling her quota!

Soon she will be eating table food!! I can't hardly believe it, where has the time gone?!?

Ba Humbug!

2008-12-17T15:32:00.004-06:00

Last weekend Scuba and I took Afton to see Santa. We decided to take Afton to visit Santa at Bass Pro instead of the mall 1) because Scuba can't stand how busy the mall is this time of year and 2) we were in there a couple weeks ago and thought their "Santa's Workshop" looked really neat.

If you haven't taken your kids to see Santa yet.....don't go to Bass Pro. Yes, the line was very short but when we received our picture it was really blurry. Because the picture was so blurry I didn't really study it. I noticed that Santa had a watch on and that Afton's dress was hiked up a little on one side but for the most part I just couldn't get over the blurriness.

I still had the picture in my purse from the weekend and today I took it out to show a co-worker. I took a quick glance at it before I handed it to her and noticed something I totally missed before......Afton was flipping off the camera!!! She has this frown on her face and her middle finger is out stretched!!

I also took a picture with my camera but wasn't able to catch the moment quite as well as Bass Pro ;)

Afton and I will be taking a trip to the mall this weekend :)

Christmas Meme

2008-12-10T09:56:00.003-06:00

This Christmas Meme is from EE's blog....I thought it was cute!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? If I'm the one wrapping....gift bags. If my mom is doing the wrapping then wrapping paper. She does a good job of making them all pretty and fancy!

2. Real tree or Artificial? We have an artificial tree and growing up we also always had an artificial tree. However I recently read Ang's blog and she made some pretty good arguments for why we should have a real tree. Plus I think it would be so fun to go as a family and cut our tree down ourselves!

3. When do you put up the tree? Generally on Thanksgiving weekend however this year we had company in town on Thanksgiving that doesn't celebrate Christmas so we put it up late.

4. When do you take the tree down? Not too long after the New Year.

5. Do you like eggnog? I honestly can say that I have never tried it. I've been curious but I read the label once and notice how many calories it contains.....I think I'll be fine with out it :)

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I remember being really excited about getting a pink and purple ten speed bike one year.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My in-laws!

8. Easiest person to buy for? Right now....Afton. My sister is pretty easy to buy for too....I just buy her things that I would want :)

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I do, Scuba got me the Willow Tree nativity scene....I LOVE Willow Tree Angels!!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I never thought about email Christmas cards. I however prefer mail, I just loving opening them.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't really think of one, I did get lotion that smelled like an oatmeal cookie one year and my dogs wouldn't leave me alone.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Not usually till the last minute. We have every intention of starting early but it just doesn't happen.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? This year will be my first time!! My office has a white elephant gift exchange and our gift must be a re gifted item.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Anything with sugar in it.

16. Lights on the tree? many, many, many

17. Favorite Christmas song? "Mary, did you know?" or "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? I like to travel. As a kid I always looked forward to the years when we would go visit my grandparents. We are going to AZ this year to visit my parents but Scuba would like Afton to be home next year.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? I can't!!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? When I was younger we would spend Christmas Eve with my dad's side of the family. We had a tradition where my Grandma would make a traditional Mexican dinner and after we would open gifts from that side of the family and my parents. The next day Santa would come and we would open his gifts in the morning and then go over the my mom's side of the family and spend the day with them and open gifts from them. I loved this tradition because it allowed us to spend time with all our family without feeling like we need to rush because we had to leave and go to the next place.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? How crowed the mall is :(

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I don't really have one.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Green bean casserole...yummy

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I want Afton to have the best first Christmas EVER...............oh and for Scuba to get me a new pair of boots :)

New Christmas Tradition

2008-12-09T13:46:00.003-06:00

I just bought Afton the CD, "John Denver and The Muppet's: A Christmas Together."
Instead of getting her an ornament every year (like my parents did for my sister and I) I wanted to do something different. All the sudden it just popped in my head....Christmas Music!! Everyone loves Christmas music! This way she will have something not only for herself but something she can share with her family when she gets older. Plus I LOVE the idea of getting her Christmas music of her favorite band when she is a teenager....can you imagine what she will think when she gets older and looks back at all those albums!! I'm so pumped! I can't wait to buy next years....maybe, "The Chipmunks," it's one of my favorites :)

Merry Christmas.....Love, Afton

2008-12-04T11:51:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T15:15:00.002-06:00

Afton's first Thanksgiving was an exciting one! She wasn't quite feeling her best, she was on the tail end of a fever but she is a trooper and made the most of the day!!

To start we headed to the Regan/Barnes family Thanksgiving where we met up with Scuba's dad and his side of the family. Afton was able to meet Sadie for the first time. Sadie is a 7 week old baby girl who I'm not sure has any blood relation but will be attending day care with Afton starting in Jan. so I imagine they will become good friends.

Next stop was Grandma's house (Scuba's mom). Afton didn't get to eat turkey like the rest of us but she was sure ready for dinner.....

Afton and Scuba must have stuffed themselves because they hung out in this chair for a little while...

Finally, Afton just couldn't take anymore excitement and decided it was time for a nap.

Scuba Griswold

2008-11-24T16:31:00.004-06:00

I feel like this year the Christmas spirit has started earlier than usual- has anyone else noticed that?? We went into a store in the mall a couple weeks ago and they were already playing Christmas music. The radio station here in town that plays continuous Christmas music from Thanksgiving to Christmas has also started early!! Isn't it like an unoffical rule that Christmas mania can not start until AFTER Thanksgiving? I guess not because half of our block has their Christmas lights up and I have also seen several trees!!

Scuba has followed suit and this past weekend hug some of our outdoor lights. Most men grumble and grip at having to put them up each year but not Scuba. He gets EXCITED!! His goal is the be Clark Griswold and have the most fabulous or not so fabulous house on the block. May be not this year but some day I imagine our house looking like one of these....

Poor Afton, she won't be teased or anything!

5 Months

2008-11-21T13:01:00.004-06:00

Dear Afton,

Yesterday you turned 5 months old. 5 months!! You're practically a grown-up! You can sit up right, roll over and I can even hold you on my hip with one arm! No more floppy head, you are BIG GIRL!!

Even though I officially didn't get to see you roll over for the first time I want to thank you for not letting anyone else see you roll over for the first time either. Remember you must save all your firsts for Mommy and Daddy :) One morning I went up stairs to get you, you were talking and carrying on and when I looked in your crib you were flipped. There have been many nights when you have woke up and you make this half hearted cry. You're not really asleep but yet not awake either. I will turn on the monitor and watch you try and get in a more comfortable position, you are trying so hard to roll over. It will be like 4 am and here I am staring at the monitor cheering you on, "You can do it, just kick that leg over." Since that first night you have have done so several times. I've heard that rolling over can freak some babies out but not you, nothing fazes you!

We have been told over and over how amazed people are that you are so good. I'm not really sure what we did to deserve you but other than being hungry or tired you hardly ever cry. Just this morning someone in my office asked how things were going, I told her everything was great and she replied by saying, "I know it's difficult in the beginning but it gets much better." What she doesn't realize is that you are my perfect little girl and the only way things could get any better were if you could wipe your own butt.

This month I have spent a lot of time wondering what you will be like as you get older. What likes and dis-likes you will have. The more you develop the more curious I am. Last Sunday we went to watch Daddy play basketball. We have been to several sporting events- baseball, soccer and even golf but if your reaction to watching Daddy's game is any indication of what's to come we better go out a buy a hoop pronto. You sat on my lap as we watched Daddy run up an down the court and the whole time you were talking, kicking your legs and flapping those arms!! You had a ball!!

Your sleeping habits seem to be something that Mommy is constantly trying to figure out. We have been slowing trying to wean you off your middle of the night feeding. Mommy has been setting her alarm for 1:30 am for the past week. Mommy thinks that you are use to getting up and eating even though you're not hungry, you use it as a way to put yourself back to sleep. Mommy wakes you up so that you no longer associate waking up with eating. This last week your feedings were shortened every night by 2 minutes and tonight will be the first night that you will not get up in the middle of the night to eat at all. Mommy is a little nervous!! You don't seem to have a problem going back to sleep as long as it is before 4am. Lately however you have been waking up a 5am and you seem to want to get up for the day.....NO THANK YOU!! I'm going to break you of that if it kills me :)

This month was also your first Halloween. Mommy found you a tutu and you were the cutest ballerina ever! We didn't go trick or treating but instead to a Halloween party where Mommy and Daddy also had to dress up. Daddy was himself, Scuba Steve and Mommy was Richard Simmons (If you don't know who that is ask your Nana).

Happy 5 month birthday Afton. You are Mommy's big girl and always will be!

Love, Mommy

What goes in must come out!!

2008-11-17T11:23:00.005-06:00

When Afton and I went to see her Dr. for her 4 month check up he gave me the okay to start introducing her to Rice Cereal. In the beginning I'm not so sure that she actually ate as much as she wore but recently she has gotten the hang of opening her mouth for the spoon and swallowing most of it. She however is a typical baby and ends up with a ton of it on her face, in her hair and all over her hands. :)

I have to wonder though if all babies are like Afton, generally I'm not even half way done feeding her before she starts doing this:

Most of the time nothing comes out but it's definitely not because of her lack of effort. :)

Big Girl Toys

2008-10-17T13:32:00.004-05:00

Scuba picked up Afton one day from day care and found her jumping away in one of these.......

She looked like she was having such a good time that we had to get one for our home. She loves the door jumper. Scuba said that first night he put her in it Cali would run back and forth past Afton and she just laughed and laughed.

This got me thinking.....if she is big enough for a door jumper, what other toys is she big enough for? I pulled out a couple things I thought she would enjoy and I'm just amazed that my little girl can sit up right, stand in the bouncer and she is even starting to reach for her toys!!

She is just too much fun!!

Baby Blues

2008-10-15T09:05:00.005-05:00

Mommy, Daddy and Baby makes three...

2008-10-03T15:49:00.003-05:00

This picture of Afton was taken when she was not quite two weeks old. I have is saved on my computer at work and I found myself staring at it today wishing that I could turn back time and do it all over again. I know that she still IS a baby but I already feel like she's grown so much. Scuba and I have always said that we would like to have two kids but after having Afton I wouldn't mind 4, 5 or 6!!! Okay maybe not 6 but you get my point and to be perfectly honest with you I wouldn't freak out one bit if one came a lot sooner rather than later :)

Morning Drive

2008-10-02T15:17:00.004-05:00

This morning I listened to my favorite morning show (Kidd Kraddick -106.1) as I was driving to work. Today instead of their funny antics they held their annual radio-a-thon for their Kidd's Kids organization. Kidd's Kids gathers families together going through the enormous struggle of having a child with special needs and treats them to a fantasy-filled vacation. Their annual radio-a-thon is aired to help raise money for this trip. As I listened this morning they spoke to a women who had been on a previous Kidd's Kids trip. She spoke about how much the trip meant to her son and of his special needs. Her son was born a normal healthy child however at 10 weeks of age she dropped him off at day care and when she returned he was not the same. He had been shaken and as a result is now mentally and physically ill.

Hearing her story I immediately thought back to when Afton was first born. Scuba had decided to mow the yard and my mom and I took Afton out back to "watch." Our neighbor saw us out with Afton and came by to see her. We proceeded to make small take and he reminisced about when his children were younger. I'm not sure if he was trying to comfort me because he knew how challenging a new baby can be but he said something that I will never forget and something that to this day I don't understand. He said that he understood how someone could get so worked up and stressed out that they would shake a baby! At the time I didn't say much in response maybe because I felt like I hadn't been put in that situation yet but now I feel that I have battled my way through several long spouts of fussiness from Afton and not once did I ever think that about shaking her!!

The women on the radio went on to say that her biggest fear is that she will die before her son does. Most parents pray that they will go first but for this women she is her sons whole world, he relies on her for everything and the thought that she might not be there for him is worse than the thought of him passing first! To make matters worse the person who shook her baby was never prosecuted because it took them so long to diagnose her son and by the time they did the statute of limitations had passed. She however went on to pass a law in her state (TX) that increased the statute of limitations for shaken babies.

I would really like for my neighbor to hear her story because I'm sure that he might not be so quick to sympathize with the shaker once he realizes the results. I am however proud of that women for taking the action that she did. I know that if I was in her shoes I would not be making laws I would be breaking them!!!

New Tricks

2008-09-26T15:31:00.003-05:00

The other night after Afton had her bath and I had finished feeding her, I had her sitting on my legs while I burped her. If I sit her up while I burp her she become more awake as apposed to her all curled up against my chest. Scuba noticed so he came over and started talking to her and making the funny high pitch noises that she makes. While he was doing this he made a quick movement with his arms and Afton started laughing. Usually she just smiles at things but this actually made her laugh. He kept making noises and waving his arms over and over again and she just kept laughing and laughing......it was the best thing I have ever seen!!!

The only problem is that I was so excited that when I went to drop her off at day care the next day I told her sitter and she started shaking her head saying yes because apparently Afton has already done this for her!!

3 Months

2008-09-22T14:58:00.005-05:00

Dear Afton,

Saturday you turned 3 months old. I know, I know, this is late. You might want to get use to that though because your Dad and I are ALWAYS late. We were even late to the hospital the day I was scheduled to be induced with you…..not that it really mattered since it took you 18hrs to arrive :)

This month you have shown us much more of your personality. In fact just yesterday all three of us were sitting on the couch and you were on my lap, you turned your little head and looked at your Dad who was watching TV and let out this loud squawking noise. You were like, SQUAWK- look at me I’m over here! You and your Dad carried on a conversation- about what I’m not sure but you definitely were enjoying it. It's so fun to watch you grow and learn new things. You and I started our own conversation and as I was sitting there I couldn’t help but think that these were the things that I miss everyday while I’m at work.......and yes, I cried. You might want to get use to that too.

I know that you are in good hands when you go to daycare during the week but there are just some things that I can’t help but worry about. A couple weeks ago we went to the mall and we ran into Rita (your sitter). She started talking to you and asking if you knew who she was and Daddy said, “Afton you know Rita, she’s your other Mommy.” My biggest fear is that you are going to think that Rita is your Mommy because of all the time you spend with her and I just want you to know that if I could I would be at home with you.

Remember that pooping issue we had last month. I think that problem has been solved! During that same mall trip you started to get a little fussy so I took you out of the stroller and carried you instead. As we were walking through the mall I notice several people staring at us and I assumed that it was because you are just so darn cute. We went into a store and I stopped to look at something and I noticed a funky smell. I looked down and your bottom half was COVERED in poop. We ran to the bathroom were I stripped you down, not only were you covered in poop but while I was trying to clean you, you PEED! PLUS I ran out of wipes and while doing all this some lady was hovering over my shoulder asking me whether or not you were a boy or a girl when clearly it was obvious because you were laying there NAKED. It was a mess!

I know it's only a matter of time until you find that thumb of yours. You are constantly putting your hands in your mouth. You're not satisfied with the back of your hand or one or two knuckles, no, no, no....you try so hard to fit your ENTIRE fist into your mouth and sometimes I think you might just actually do it. You still usually have your hands fisted but every once in a while a finger gets free and the look on your face is hilarious. You can't seem to figure out what the tiny skinny thing is in your mouth.- sorry I'm to blame for the long fingers you have.

Because you like your hands in your mouth so much we have continued to swaddle you at night when you sleep. We stopped for about a week and you went from waking up once or twice at night to waking up every couple of hours....that was a rough week! You don't quite have full control over those arms of yours and because you have to have those hands in your mouth you would bonk yourself in the head or face and wake up!! You still try however to get those hands in your mouth. Since your so snugly wrapped all you can do is wiggle like a little worm in your bed, sometimes you wiggle yourself completely around so you are facing the opposite direction!

Afton, words can not express my love for you. You are my heart and soul! Your Daddy and I tried for quite a while to have a baby and knowing what I know now everything that we went through was definitely all worth it!

I love you!
Mommy

Yoga?

2008-09-18T14:46:00.005-05:00

I've been thinking lately that I would like to try a yoga class. Actually I've always been intrigued with yoga but being an cardio junky I never thought I would enjoy it. Since Afton's birth my perspective on exercise and my body has totally changed and I feel like now might be the right time for me to give this a try. What do you think? Has anyone taken yoga before?

Aunt Julie & Uncle Joshua

2008-09-17T15:05:00.003-05:00

Afton met her Aunt Julie (Scuba's sister) and Uncle Joshua for the first time this past weekend.

Unfortunatly they do not live close by even though we wish they did. Luckily though they will be back for Thanksgiving!!

Ike was here.

2008-09-15T15:51:00.004-05:00

This is my gym. For those of you who don't live here or aren't familiar with the building the main part of the gym is located in the building on the right where it says Wilson's fitness. Parking for the gym is located underneath the gym. You would have to go down around the tree's in the picture above to get to the parking lot. The green building in the back is the MAC, it's where I play indoor soccer. In this building is also a pool and FIT (a women's only gym). Yesterday I decided since the rain had rained out my out door soccer game that I would go to the gym. As I approached the bottom of the hill where the gym is located I noticed several cars parked along the side of the road. The parking lot has flooded in the past so I simply thought that was the case. However as I go closer I quickly realized that yes the parking lot was flooded but NOTHING like in the past.

The man in the picture is standing at the entrance of the main gym (second floor). The water apparently rose just barely below the second floor. The tree and the garage door on the MAC are good indicators as too how high the water actually rose and I've heard that the MAC is completely ruined, soccer field and all :( Unfortunately this really isn't a big surprise. There is a creek that runs right next to the MAC and flooding has always been an issue in this area. I believe the gym was built with the parking garage located under the gym because of this but I don't understand why this wasn't taken into consideration when the MAC was built especially since the MAC is a part of Wilson's? I guess I won't be playing any indoor soccer any time soon.

One of our news stations has a good story with additional pictures on just how bad the flooding was due to the Ike.

Clearing things up.

2008-09-15T10:54:00.002-05:00

I first want to thank everyone SO, SO, SO much for the emails, phone calls and even hugs that I received due to my last post. I know that I have a lot of friends and family that love me and are concerned about me and I also realize that I can be somewhat of a closed book and hard to read so things that I write on my blog can be taken differently than how I intended them to.

If you're totally lost let me fill you in...........

Since my last post I have received emails from friends and family expressing their concern because they read what I wrote in my post, "Taking Deep Breathes." I also have had people come up to me and give me a hug because they thought I needed one after reading that same post and even my own parents expressed their concern when I called them this last weekend. My dad told me he thought I have postpartum depression and my mom said (while she was crying), "But Rachelle you said someone please help me on your blog."

Ironically enough I wrote that post on Thursday afternoon and when I got home from work that same day Scuba and I had a long talk about why I have been so cranky lately. Scuba brought up that conversation with out having read my blog yet nor had I mentioned it.
You see I have this thing where I keep everything to myself (well not everything but most things- 99%). If something is bothering me I don't talk about it, I just wait till it's forgotten about or till it's pried out of me. Well, Scuba managed to pry out the fact that the lack of sleep has been taking it's toll on me. I really want to be a good mom and it's hard to admit that sometimes I just can't do it all and what I need most is just simply a nap. I know that Scuba and about 30 other people would be so glad to watch her while I got some sleep but again it's just hard to ask.

So no, I don't have postpartum depression and yes, everything is fine. In fact on Saturday after I fed Afton at about 6am, Scuba got up with her and let me go back to bed! Afton and Scuba are the best things that have ever happened to me. I know that if I just tell Scuba what's wrong he will help in any way he can!

Taking deep breathes!

2008-09-11T12:49:00.006-05:00

I'm not really sure how Scuba has been putting up with me!?! Since Afton was born I have found that not only am I cranky all the time but I am extremely anal about the way things are done. I find myself (for the sake of my marriage) biting my tongue ALL the time. I'm pretty sure that if I said something every time I thought, "oh no, I wouldn't do it that way" Scuba and I would be divorced. I don't know what's wrong with me but all the sudden everything has to be done MY way. I truly believe that I have taken 10 years off my life these past three months because of this. Someone PLEASE help me, I desperately need a chill pill!!!

Sniffle, Cough, Achoooooooo

2008-09-09T14:34:00.006-05:00

Today the high here is 70 degree's. 70 degrees can you believe that!! Believe it or not I'm actually not freezing to death and kind of enjoying the cooler weather. However with cooler weather comes sniffles and colds and that's exactly what Afton has. She's had this cold now for about a week and can't seem to shake it. I took her to the Dr. because one morning it sounded like she was getting worse. But after he checked her over he determined that it was nothing to be concerned with but he did tell me that she could have it for a while. The good news is she doesn't seem to mind it. She's stuffed up and the drainage from her nose makes her cough every now and then but other than that she's just fine. The bad news is she passed her cold onto me and I'm worried that we will just keep passing the cold back and forth to each other. Since I'm still nursing I'm limited to what I'm able to take and I also can't seem to stay away from her cute chubby checks so we just might have this cold for the rest of our lives!

Cali-Cal

2008-09-05T13:39:00.003-05:00

A lot of people want to know how Cali has adjusted to Afton. Considering all things Cali has done really well. In the beginning you could tell that she was really upset that the attention was not all on her but I think she is now back to her old self. I know it has to be hard on her and I feel sorry for her. I just keep thinking that in a couple years Cali will be happy that Afton is around........... especially around dinner time!

She will be missed.

2008-09-03T15:28:00.005-05:00

This is Afton's Great Gram and Scuba's Gram. Last night she passed away, she was 93. I could sit hear and tell you about all of her great qualities, how she will be missed by many and how we are all upset by her passing but I would like to instead think of Gram as being in heaven finally reuinted with her husband, her true love who passed on so many years before her and when I think of that I am happy for her.

Snug as a bug!

2008-09-02T15:47:00.004-05:00

Every time I take Afton to the Dr. he always asks if she has an "exercise period." This would be a consistent time of day that she seems to be fussy for no reason at all. She really didn't start to develop an exercise period until recently. She seems to start getting fussy in the evening right around the time when we are making dinner or eating. I love holding Afton but sometime I need to have my hands free which is why I need to thank my friend Household Executive so much.

This sling has to be one of the greatest inventions EVER! Once I stick Afton in it and get her all snuggled up next to me she generally calms right down. She loves the fact that she is cozied up next to me and she loves feeling the motion of me walking around. I think also she likes the fact that her scenery changes and she gets to see more as apposed to her swing or bouncy seat where she get bored easily. This sling has made my evening a lot more enjoyable and more productive......thanks Household Executive!!

Not a Good Sign!

2008-08-28T15:30:00.003-05:00

I pull up to the drive through window at Taco Bell to pay.......

Taco Bell Lady: "Oh you had your baby!"

Me (thinking): Holy crap did I eat here THAT MUCH when I was pregnant!

**You have to check out the CUTEST picture ever at Tigerhawk's blog

Afton had a rough day :(

2008-08-27T10:37:00.003-05:00

My poor little baby had to go to the Dr. yesterday for her two month check up and while we were there they gave her THREE shots for her vaccines. I thought for a brief second that she was going to be the toughest baby ever and not cry but she had a delayed reaction and once she figured out that what was going on hurt boy did she scream! That was the first time that I have ever seen her cry from pain and needless to say once the nurse left the room Afton wasn't the only one crying:) Afton did get to leave with three very pretty sparkly band-aids (not that they made her feel better or anything) but Scuba said that one of the other little girls at the sitters had three band-aids on too when he went to pick up Afton because she wanted to be just like her (minus the shots of course).
This morning Afton seems to be feeling much better. However mornings are her best time of day so we'll see how the rest of her day goes!

HELP!!

2008-08-22T12:13:00.002-05:00

I've asked my friend Brandy to take pictures of Afton and also a couple of us three as a family. I figure Afton will be naked in most of her baby pictures and I might even put her in a dress for a couple but I can not figure out what we should wear in our family pictures??? Scuba likes the idea of us all wearing the same color but I'm having a hard time deciding what color that should be. My gut says that we should all wear white but I'm afraid all white will wash Afton out because of her fair skin. So I thought maybe if we all wear jeans (including Afton) and white shirts........what do you think? Or should we wear another color?? HELPPPPPPPPP!!

Two Months

2008-08-20T20:44:00.005-05:00

Dear Afton,

Today you turn two months old. You’re getting to be such a big girl and it makes me sad that I can’t spend every second with you just to watch you grow. This month Mommy had to return to work and it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Daddy came with me to take you to day care that first day and had he not have been there I would have more than likely put you back in the car and returned home. There are days when the sitter tells Daddy when he comes to pick you up that you’ve had a fussy day or didn’t want to eat and I can’t help but think that maybe your day would have been better if you were with me, I know mine would be.

This month you’ve started to smile and coo. I’m afraid to say it but I think you’re a morning person which you must have inherited from one of your Grandparents cause Lord knows you didn’t get that from your father or me. The mornings seem to be the time of day when we can get the most smiles from you and if I weren’t so tired I would get up early just to get an extra one in. You humor me though and even when you make me get up in the middle of the night you throw in a smile for me while you’re eating and it makes being up at 2am a lot more enjoyable.

Even though we’ve had many 2am feedings you seem to be well on your way to sleeping through the night on a regular basis. You typically get up twice a night to eat and generally go right back to sleep. A couple times this month you’ve slept 5 or 6 consecutive hours and even slept the whole night last weekend! Last night we moved you upstairs to your own room. I have been thinking about doing so for a while but never followed through with it. You’re room is all the way upstairs and I just hate the idea of you being so far from us. Of course you did fine and you probably got a better nights sleep because you didn’t have to listen to mommy snoring or hear Cali’s collar clank every time she moved.

I'm not sure you realize that your poop has been a hot topic between your Daddy and I. Sometimes you sit and turn red and grunt but nothing comes out. We just worry that you're uncomfortable because you sure are gassy and girlfriend your farts STINK!!

Regardless of how smelly you sometimes might be there are so many people that love you. We have never seen our talked to your grandparents as much as we have since you've been born. Everyone wants to see you and know how you are doing. But no one loves you more than your daddy and I. It breaks my heart to see your daddy's face when he tries so hard to calm you and comfort you but to no avail. Out of desperation he gives you to me and you calm right down. He wants nothing more than to comfort you but you sometimes just wont let him. How about you work on that huh?

Occationally I find myself day dreaming about what you'll be like when you're older and even what you'll look like. Every day Daddy and I search for parts of ourselves in you and so far you have my ears, hands and feet. You curl your toes under the way your Daddy does and just the other day I noticed that you have your Daddy's eyes. Who knows what we might find this next month but I'm definately looking forward to it.

I love you,

Mommy

Weekend Fun!

2008-08-19T14:29:00.003-05:00

This last weekend we traveled to Iowa! Scuba played in a golf tournament fundraiser and Afton and I tagged along the last 9 holes for fun :) I'm not sure if golf is going to be Afton's sport (sorry grandpa S.) she was a little fussy but she LOVED the golf cart rides! Once that thing started moving and bouncing around she was happy!

Yes, Afton is in this picture- she's blocked by my hand because I was trying to keep her pacifier in her mouth. I kept telling her the golf is a quite sport but she didn't always listen ;)

She eventually got tired and took a nap for the last couple of holes.

After golf we headed back to Grandma Ellen's house (Tiger Hawks MIL) for a birthday BBQ and Afton decided to wear her party dress!

Afton was so worn out from all the excitement from the day she did something she has never done before.......SHE SLEPT THE WHOLE NIGHT 9pm-6am!! Of course that hasn't happened again since then but it was nice for one night at least ;)

SUPER STAR!!!

2008-08-15T10:59:00.002-05:00

I'm kinda copying you Ang but the world just has to know.........Erin won Nationals yesterday for her age division in slalom skiing- Super Star indeed!

It's happening already!

2008-08-14T12:11:00.006-05:00

Scuba and I keep hearing from friends and family how much Afton is changing. Scuba's family sees Afton about once a week and they always comment on how much she has grown from the last week. It's hard for Scuba and I to tell since we see her every day but lately we are noticing that she is starting to grow out of some of her clothes and we can even tell that her hair is getting a little longer.

On one hand I get excited when I think about all the things we will do and see as she gets older, I can't wait to watch her first soccer/basketball game. But on the other hand I want her to stay my little baby!

This is Afton the day we brought her home from the hospital.

This is Afton about a week ago......there's already a big difference huh!

See she's even sad she's growing up :(

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-13T13:38:00.003-05:00

Look at her face..... I love it!! Ooohhhh!

An Olympic Life

2008-08-11T15:18:00.007-05:00

The girls above are just some of the members of the 2008 Olympic soccer team........once upon a time I played on the same team as #10, Aly Wagner. We played together for quite awhile till my family moved away from CA. That team that I left in CA turned out to be the best team in the nation 3 years in row. To my knowledge no other girls team has won nationals all three years.

I have often wondered what my life would have been like had we not of moved and I continued playing on that team. But then I look as these two and I'm so glad we did.

Google is an evil, evil tool!

2008-08-08T14:39:00.005-05:00

Afton hasn't pooped in several days. She's gone a day or so in the past but never has she gone this long. It's funny the stuff you worry about when you have a baby. I've never thought about poop as much as I have in the past couple of days.

Anyway this morning I called her Dr.'s office and was told that she is probably plugged up because of the formula I've been giving her. She gets one or two feedings a day of formula so I can pump and save the milk for daycare or a day when she's not with me. The nurse said it wasn't anything to be concerned with until she goes a whole week with out pooping or has hard stools- neither of which have happened yet. She did tell me though to put 1 tsp of Dark Karo syrup (Corn Syrup) in her bottle when I feed her formula and that should "relieve" her.

When I got off the phone with the nurse I was happy to hear that there was a simple solution to her discomfort and that there wasn't a serious problem. I however decided even though this recomendation came from the Dr's office to Google Karo Syrup............UGH!!! What did I find? THIS!!

Bath Time

2008-08-07T12:56:00.007-05:00

Afton LOVES the bath! It's become apart of our nightly routine and it's also one of my favorite part's of the day.

Yummy in the Tummy

2008-08-06T14:51:00.002-05:00

Did you know that at Jimmy Johns you can order an UNWHICH? An unwhich contains the same ingredients as the normal sandwich that you would order except instead of bread they wrap it in LETTUCE. I had no idea they had such a thing until a friend recently told me about it. Since I officially started my "lose the baby weight diet," I have been looking for any way to cut calories. I am not really into the low carb./ no carb. diets but I really did like the sandwich this way. It was filling but it didn't stuff me the way the normal sandwiches do. I think I will be ordering my sandwiches or should I say unwhiches this way from now on :)

I'm back!!

2008-08-05T10:39:00.003-05:00

I know I have been slacking big time since Afton arrived, it seemed like every time I went to update my blog something would come up and I would have to tend to Afton. I would come back several hours later to what I had written and I just couldn't remember what or why I was writing so I just deleted them :(

I have received many requests to get back in the swing of things and I am hoping that since I am back to work I will be able to. I do most of my blogging on slow days :) Today however is not one of those days, I'm playing catch up for having been gone for 6 weeks. I however just HAD to let you know that last night after I had already been up twice in the middle of the night to feed Afton..........THE SMOKE ALARMS WENT OFF AGAIN!!!

So much for our theory that the paint fums were what caused them to go off the first time. If I wasn't so busy and TIRED I would be stewing over what in the world is causing them to go off.....in the middle of the night!

Oh well, who needs sleep :)

Pictures of Afton!

2008-07-10T17:35:00.002-05:00

Here are some pictures that I promised. Tomorrow she will be just 3 weeks old and I when I look at these pictures I can already see a difference in her. I look at other babies that are older and I can't imagine her being that big but she is already well on her way. It reminds me to enjoy every minute with her!

She's here!!!

2008-06-30T20:58:00.002-05:00

Afton Taylor Regan was born Friday 6/20/08 at 5:23 am. She was 8lbs 4oz and 20 inches long. We are all doing very well and are so blessed to have her in our lives. Sorry to keep every one hanging but as you can imagine I'm still getting use to my new role as "Mom." I already have so many pictures that I want to share and will do so shortly so be sure to check back soon. For now I will leave you with one of my favorite pictures so far of my girl at bath time!

MAYBE THURSDAY!!

2008-06-18T19:11:00.004-05:00

I have some news...........

Tuesday I went to my weekly Dr. appointment only to find out that while my cervix is thinning, I am not dilating and am still only at 1cm :( I also found out that my Dr. will be out of town this weekend!! Aside from the fact that he came highly recommended I chose him because he has delivered something like 95% of his patients- rarely is he gone! He recommended inducing and I gladly agreed since I am ready to get this show on the road :)

So my news is that tomorrow Scuba and I are to check into labor and delivery at 10am where I will be induced. I was warned that it could be a LONG day and there is even possibility that she won't be born on Thursday........but I am wishing for the best and hoping that she is since Thursday is my dad's birthday. How cool would it be for Afton to share her birthday with her Grandpa Studly (some day I'll share how he got that name)!

False Alarm

2008-06-11T14:36:00.003-05:00

Nothing ever really happens like it does in the movies, huh? Have you ever thought about the way they portray women going into labor? Usually the woman all the sudden doubles over in pain and then exclaims that it's time to go to the hospital and that the baby is coming- all because of that ONE single pain she felt.

The more I think about this I wonder, other than the women who's water breaks does anyone really RUSH off to the hospital? I have had my suitcase packed for weeks now, but what really was the point? Granted I haven't actually been though this process yet but don't most women spend quite a bit of time at home in pain before they go to the hospital? Some of my friends have told me that they took showers, packed their bags and even put on make up......there was no rushing!

Even though I know that there will more than likely be no rushing around when my time comes, it's still something that's in the back of my head. I wonder too if maybe it's in Scuba's head as well-

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night a rolled over. Most people roll over in their sleep but because it's so hard to do it actually wakes me up :) While I was doing so I got the biggest cramp in my calf muscle. It was so bad that I was literally crying out in pain. When Scuba heard me he shot up an immediately wanted to know what was wrong. I have NEVER in my life seen him wake so fast, usually it takes him a little bit to focus on what's going on. I couldn't help but think if maybe Scuba was thinking that it was time to go to the hospital by the way he shot up? Next time I will try not to make such a big deal out of a leg cramp......but it really hurt :)

Wishful Thinking

2008-06-09T15:46:00.003-05:00

I can't really remember what was going on here in this picture. It was taken last Sept. before my father-in-law's wedding. My sister-in-law and her husband are the couple in the photo with us and they are currently in town for the next couple of days.

I was looking at this picture today and I couldn't help but think that this is what all our reactions would be if I were to have the baby while they are in town. I look excited, Scuba looks in disbelief, Julie is shocked and well Joshua he's just his laid back self!

Who's ready for a baby!?!

Winter Coat in June!

2008-06-05T16:26:00.005-05:00

Have you ever noticed how similar Dooce's dog looks to Cali? I think that was the initial reason I started to read her blog. She post's daily pictures of Chuck and I was totally amazed how similar he looked to Cali, especially since Cali is a mix and it would be highly unlikely for Chuck to be her relative since he lives all the way in UT!!

Anyway, she posted THIS picture of Chuck and when I saw it all I thought was. "Oh my goodness, they are related!" I say this because Cali's shedding is the ONE and ONLY thing that I really don't like about her. I'm not even kidding you I can dust and vacuum and swiffer and mop and literally five minutes later I will see hair in the places I just cleaned. I keep picturing Afton playing on our living room floor covered in dog hair and this totally grosses me out!!

A couple days later Dooce posted THIS picture explaining how after she posted the first picture she received TONS of emails stating that she needed the FURMINATOR. The Furminator is basically as special dog brush designed to get all the undercoat hair that is shedding. She also said that her dog hair problem is pretty much GONE!!

When I read this I was extremely excited and told Scuba, "We HAVE to get the furminator." Little did I know though that it's kind of expensive for a dog brush!! Scuba and I talk about it all the time but we have never actually purchased it.

When I was at Walmart the other day, I was in the dog aisle and the FurBUSTER caught my eye. It looked identical to the furminator and is designed to do the exact same thing but the best part about it is that it's cheaper!

Of course I purchased it and Scuba tried it out last night for the first time. Scuba maybe spent about 3 minutes brushing Cali with it and it got 10x's more hair than he would have had he of used a regular bush.

I just cleaned the house and we are going to continue to use the Furbuster......I can't wait to see if we see a significant decrease or not in dog hair on our furniture! Keep your fingers crossed!

Birthday Wish

2008-06-03T15:48:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is my birthday........Happy Birthday to me! Usually I get really excited for my birthday and I practically count down the days. This year, however, there are so many other important dates (Scuba turning 30, Afton's due date, my dad turning 60, my mom's b-day and Father's day) that I really haven't given much thought to my birthday. I mean my June's are typically packed but not every year do we have have such monumental b-day's plus a baby being born!!

Scuba has been on me recently asking me, "What do you want for your birthday?" To me, this takes out all the fun but normally I would say something like, clothes, clothes, clothes, clothes, shoes, clothes clothes and more clothes. Since buying clothes would be pointless since I will be growing out of them shortly and my feet are so swollen I am unable to try on shoe's to find the correct size, I can't really fall back on my old reliable requests. Scuba threw out some suggestions such as sunglasses (nice ones)- something that I have wanted for several YEARS now and I even thought about a new purse but I just can't see spending money on these items when I could buy something for the baby.

Suddenly it hit me......I know exactly what I want- three things. 1) I want a day at the pool 2) with Scuba and 3) nice warm weather. Being pregnant, the pool is absolutely heaven. It takes away all that extra weight and allows me to be MUCH more comfortable. I haven't been very much this year for one reason or another but it always seems like when we do plan on going and have a spare afternoon the weather turns crappy. My last request is that my day at the pool be with Scuba. I went to the pool last weekend and yes I had a good time but Scuba being there would have made it so much better. We've been so busy recently that it's just nice to do something relaxing and fun together.

So Scuba there you go. I know it's a tall order considering we work Mon-Fri and there is a baseball tourn. every weekend from now until the baby is born but that's what I want :) Doesn't that sound like a nice birthday request?

Priorities

2008-05-29T15:54:00.004-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I found myself walking down the hall to use the restroom, AGAIN. In my office the restrooms are located directly across from the employee break room. In the break room they have your typical needs- a microwave, fridge, snack and soda machines, oh and in ours a big screen TV. This TV might be one of the original big screens, it's not flat or fancy, just big. I am absolutely positive that it was still working in the morning and even later that day at lunch however I noticed yesterday on my last trip to the restroom that they were installing a HUGE flat screen. When I say HUGE, I mean bigger than anything that would fit in my home. I guess what MBS is trying to tell me is that I need to be asking for a raise because they apparently have extra money to spend on un-important things, like a huge TV at WORK!!!

I want her!!!

2008-05-29T15:12:00.003-05:00

I find myself every so often visiting the Happy Tails website. I know I have written about them before, they are the animal rescue organization where we adopted Cali from. They post on their web site most of the dogs and cats that they have available for adoption and I can't help dream about adopting another one of these precious dogs- for instance Moxie (pictured). Both Scuba and I know that we will some day adopt another dog. We love Cali so much and would like to give that love to another animal but also think that Cali would really enjoy it as well. Had we of known how well Cali is with other dogs and how much she enjoys being with them we would have adopted one of her brothers and sisters too. Now obviously isn't the right time for us to add ANOTHER addition to our family but some day we will.......I mean just look at that face, how could you not love her?

Did you say baby?

2008-05-27T15:25:00.004-05:00

I know that I have been slacking on my blogging lately :( I'm having a really hard time concentrating on anything other than when is this baby's going to be born. I still have 3 weeks left but I am already so anxious and ready to get this show on the road :) I have to be honest though every week seems to be flying by and I know she will be here before I know it but I am also in that complaining faze- I didn't really think anyone wanted to hear me complain day after day so I've been steering clear of the blog lately :)

It's kind of funny because I truly thought that I would be late for the longest time. All three of my pregnancies I have gone into the Dr that first visit and given them my dates and they would calculate that I should be so many weeks along but then when we would get to the ultrasound I was never as far along as my dates said I was......this pregnancy was no different, if fact I think it was a couple weeks off. Then I started listening to other people (especially my MOM) and I starting thinking about the possibility of her coming early. Now that I'm not comfortable at all anymore that idea sounds really good and some how I convinced myself that she would definitely be early.

Today however I think I was jolted back to reality a little. I had a Dr.'s appointment and for the most part it was the routine exam I have been accustomed to except today was the first day that he checked to see if I was dilated. Guess what.....I am a big fat 0! I do realize that things can quickly change but I'm making it a goal of mine to relax a little bit more and stop stressing over things that I can't control.

Maybe now I can get back to blogging :)

I Remember...

2008-05-20T11:38:00.004-05:00

Isn't it funny how different things can trigger memories. For me, even the weather jogs my memory and I love closing my eyes and thinking of those things.......

I got in my car yesterday evening to leave work for the day. Yesterday was a typical Spring day however the weather is starting to increase in temperature (not that I'm complaining). When I got in my car it was hot and I can't really describe the smell (maybe it was funk) but it reminded me of getting in my car after a run on the trail. I know I've gotten in my car many times when it's hot but yesterday all I could think of is how I feel after I finish those runs- sitting there all hot and sweaty waiting for the air conditioner to cool down, out of breathe, Cali sitting in the back seat even more out of breathe than I am because she usually poops out the last mile.

Chilly spring mornings make me thing way back to when my family and I lived in California. We had a convertible Volkswagen bug. I remember driving to school in the bug with the top down sitting in the back seating.....freezing to death :) The back was WAY worse than the front and in the mornings whoever was in the back would crouch down to avoid the wind. I'm sure by the end of the day it was a beautiful day for the top to be down but I will never forget sitting back there with the wind blowing my hair every which direction.

I'm sure I have memory for the winter and fall but right now I'm really HOT and it's hard to imagine those months. The change is seasons is something that I appreciate about Missouri, although I do wish some seasons were shorter than others :)

Macho, Macho Man!!

2008-05-16T15:26:00.002-05:00

Scuba is not going to like me when he sees this. He was looking at the picture's on our camera recently and specifically said that he wouldn't mind if I didn't post this picture on my blog....oops!
I can't help it though, I really like this picture and this is my form of pay back for him leaving me all alone this weekend. How dare he leave his 35 week pregnant wife to go on a bachelor party at the lake :)
Isn't he cute though. If you were to tell me when I was in high school that I would love a man who wears waders and no shirt I would have told you that you were crazy.... but it's true, I do:)

Hopefully Becoming Baby Wise??

2008-05-14T14:24:00.004-05:00

My friend, Household Executive, gave me the book, "On Becoming Baby Wise" a couple of months ago. The book is written to give parents the tools that "successfully and naturally help infants synchronize their feeding, waketime and nighttime sleep cycles." It is suppose to be the cure for "sleepless nights and fussy babies." She along with several other of my friends say that this book was such a life saver.

Even though she gave me the book several months ago, honestly I have not yet completed it but am getting close. It's taken me quite a while to get through it not because I don't have the time or am not interested in the topic but to be honest the book scares me a little. I have in my head this happy little dream that we will have this perfect baby that will never cry but when I read this book I quickly realize that's not going to happen. I know, I know of course the baby will cry I'm not saying that, I just don't like to think of the possibility that she might start crying and I wont know why or what to do.

I think sometimes I think too much and over analyze things. I just wish she would come so I can stop worrying and what happens, happens.......but first I need to finish the book so I can read it again just to be on the safe side:)

One Proud Papa!

2008-05-09T13:48:00.004-05:00

Scuba just called and asked me if he could stop by work so I could see the "new addition to our family." As I look down to verify that Afton is still in my belly I remember that today Scuba gets to pick up his new truck!

I can guarantee you he will be treating this new truck like a member of our family. He's already given me special rules for it :)

Pregnant Feet

2008-05-07T12:19:00.002-05:00

In case you've never seen a pregnant woman's feet here you go :) I have NEVER thought that my feet were cute, in fact I think they are one of the ugliest things and Scuba would agree because when I comment on my feet he says, "Feet aren't suppose to be pretty." Poor Scuba he just can't lie to me, can he :) Usually though you can see all the veins that run through out my feet and my toes look like really long skeleton fingers but now I have cankles and my toes look like little smokey's. Mmmm, yummy- who's hungry:) The flip flops that I am wearing are usually really loose and yesterday when I put them on for the first time since last summer I had to WORK to get them on, the straps are practically cutting off my circulation :(

Don't worry though apparently this is all just water retention and in my pregnancy class that I take at the hospital we had a postpartum nurse come speak to us and tell us about all the fun stuff we will experience after the baby is born. She told us about night sweats and how our body will expel all the fluid it's been retaining. She said that more than likely we would wake up in the middle of the night totally drenched!

I guess I'll stop complaining about my little smokey toes now :)

No More Mosquito Nest

2008-05-06T17:05:00.005-05:00

Look at our poor yard. Because of all the rain we've gotten this year and because we have a hill that slopes towards our house, we have a slight drain issue. Well I guess I should say it's a slight issue in some places and more of a mini lake in other places. Scuba and our neighbors (who also have the same problem) got together and put in a "french drain." Our yard looks a little rough for the time being but I think it's actually working!

See that pipe, it has holes in the top so the water can get in and take it away! We covered the rock and pipe back up with dirt so the grass can grow back. I'm learning all sorts of stuff out here in the country :)

Weekend Finale

2008-05-02T12:11:00.004-05:00

It's Friday and I am still blogging about last weekend..... :)

Recently Scuba has been spending his weekends putting in extra hours in at work. He is trying to build up some hours for when the baby is born. Scuba and I aren't very good about going to church every Sunday like we should and I think mostly that's due to the fact that we haven't found the right church for us and with Scuba working on the weekends recently we haven't had an opportunity to go a visit other churches.

Since my parents were in town and Scuba would not be working we decided to take the opportunity to try a church that we have been considering for quite some time, The Crossing. In some ways it is very similar to another church here in town (one that most if not all of our friends attend) but there were also some considerable differences that we both were looking for. I wont go into specifics but I know that Scuba and I will be visiting The Crossing again and who knows maybe it will become the Church we were looking for.

After church we headed for lunch at Panera.......can you believe they don't have Panera's in Phoenix. I keep telling my mom she should open one and hire a bunch of people to run it for her, sort of like a retirement investment :)

Once we had our Panera fix we headed home to tackle the baby room......I was really looking forward to this!! We spent the afternoon going through all our gifts, washing baby clothes, putting things away and Scuba even assembled everything that need to be.

I felt a lot better once this was all completed. For a while there I felt like we were way behind and was nervous Afton would arrive and we wouldn't even have her crib put together (not that she will be sleeping in it for a while). Now I find myself going upstairs and just looking around at everything. I can't believe that all this stuff is for her and that she will be here soon!!

A Scuba Shower- Weekend Part II

2008-05-01T10:47:00.007-05:00

Our wonderful family and friends, the Daugherty's, threw the Scuba's a baby shower on Saturday!!! It was more baby and less Scuba but Cindy created the above center piece and I think it's the cutest thing that I have ever seen!!

The shower was held outside, poolside, and Saturday turned out to be the perfect day. It's been either cold or rainy or both recently but we couldn't have asked for a better day.

Scuba and I can't thank everyone enough for all the kind gifts we received and for the Daugherty's hosting the party. We truly realize that we are blessed with the BEST friends and family EVER!

We not only had great weather, great company, great food and lots of gifts but we also got to have a little fun and play "guess how big Rach is?" The game was for the men only and was really funny to watch them guess. Some took it seriously and were doing math, others were really sweet and guessed way too small and then there were those who just didn't have a clue :)

We definitely had a GREAT day and had tons of fun!! Thanks again to EVERYONE!!

Our weekend- Part I

2008-04-29T10:54:00.002-05:00

Phew- what a weekend!!

This weekend my parents and sister came to town (they live in Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ). I was really excited for their visit- since they live so far away we don't get to see them but several times a year. The last visit was when we went to AZ to spend Christmas and boy does that seem like forever ago!

Since they live so far away I feel like sometimes my parents feel a little left out of the planning of special events. I remember trying to include them in as much as possible when I was planning our wedding. My mom came to town and we spent a weekend looking at receptions sites, dress shopping and even going over catering menu's. I think I either called or emailed my mom everyday while I was planning the wedding just to get her advice on things (I would have called my dad but lets be honest, boys don't really care about flowers and bridesmaid dresses).

With the baby coming things are a little different- we aren't planning an event rather the arrival of our very first child. Including them is a little harder but we have managed to find ways.

Since I found out that I am not able to work from home, my mom has noticed that the biggest concern for me is finding day care. Its only a concern because we are on a budget and if we weren't I would have known long ago where I would send her. My mom suggested that we go look at daycares while she is here so that's how we spent our Friday afternoon. Unfortunately I only had one set up for her to see but it was by far the best one and I'm glad she was there.

I haven't mentioned much about our experience with daycares because I just didn't feel like people wanted to hear me complain so much. When I originally started my search everyone said that the best way to find reliable childcare was by word of mouth so I sent out an email to my friends but I really didn't have any luck. Most stay at home so they didn't have any suggestions and the ones that I did receive were for The Academy and Green Meadows. Both of these are centers and like I said earlier we are on a budget and a) these aren't in our budget and b) if I'm going to send Afton to a center I already knew which one it was going to be.

By far in-home care is less expensive than centers but it's hard to find (unless you know someone) a in-home day care that you can trust. I have talked to SEVERAL in-home day cares and it surprises me that other people actually let these people watch their children! Then there are those where my gut just told me that this person wasn't what I was looking for. We went to visit one women who said all the things we wanted to hear but the was the spoke made me think that she could be mean and maybe even have a short temper.......not someone I want to leave Afton with.

So on Friday I took my mom to visit End of the Rainbow. This is the center that I was referring to earlier. I have always know that if Afton was going to go to a center that she would go here. Nikki is a friend of mine who I play soccer with. A couple years ago she took over End of the Rainbow and I have heard a lot about all the improvements she has made to the facility however I had never seen it in person.

It was by far more impressive than what she had mentioned. Some of my favorite features were the locked doors- only parents and faculty with access cards can gain entrance. Video monitoring in all the rooms, filtered air, the staff all seemed very friendly and all the children seemed to be enjoying themselves- we went into every room and there was not one crying kid, I was amazed. I also liked how they will adapt to the schedule that I create for Afton, I don't have to go off of theirs but by far though my favorite part was when she told us about the "transition" week were I can bring Afton in for an hour or two each day the week before she's to start full time so that she can get use to the noise and the lights and basically the whole environment. I think this is suppose to also be helpful for moms so they don't freak out on the first day :)

We haven't made a 100% definite decision but we are definitely leaning that way. I'm glad my mom was there to see where Afton will more than likely be spending a lot of her time:)

It's Monday Already :(

2008-04-28T15:17:00.005-05:00

I am so excited to post about our weekend and share pictures however I am completely worn out and don't have the energy to do so! Monday's are usually hard but today I had to go take a nap in my car at lunch because I am completed exhausted and can't keep my eyes open! This weekend and the baby have sucked out all my energy today! I promise to go to bed early and tomorrow I will share with you the fun we had over the weekend.

How Old Are We?

2008-04-24T15:20:00.008-05:00

I was going through my camera and found some pictures that I had forgotten about.

Last September Scuba and I went to Sedona with TigerHawk and her family. Thanks to her sister-in-law we spent 4 days of fun in the sun! We had a really good time and spent most of the trip improving our golf skills.

Most of the pictures from the trip were ones like these:

And then there were a few of us all dressed up like this one:

But by far my favorite picture from the whole trip is this one:

No, that's not Scuba although I'm sure if he would have thought of it he would have done the same :) I know what your thinking and no we did not have too much to drink that night either.....I don't know why but I still think this picture is funny.

Oh my goodness...

2008-04-23T16:34:00.003-05:00

I just started to have this strange feeling lately that the baby is going to be early. I've always thought that she would be late just because with all our pregnancies our dates were always off but for some reason lately that feeling has changed. Nothing physically has happened that would make me change my mind, I don't feel different and I still couldn't tell you what a contraction feels like but yet I am all of the sudden overwhelmed and convinced she'll be here soon.

I am a habitual Googler. I look up everything on Google. My last three searches have been- "nursing bra's", "preemies" and "pregnancy- what to pack for the hospital." Can you tell what's on my mind :)

I'm only 32 weeks she need to stay put at LEAST until 37 weeks! I have a Dr's appointment next Wednesday- if I can just take my mind off of it till then!

Spring Sunday = Soccer

2008-04-21T13:50:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I spend a good portion of the day outside helping Scuba mow the yard. And when I say help I really mean watch :) It was such a pretty day out and I didn't want to be indoors. I had already worked out so I decided that I would eat lunch and spend some time outside relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather.

While I was out there I found myself thinking about all sorts of things- like what needed to be cleaned before my parents and sister come to visit :) One of the thoughts however that popped into my head was that it was Sunday and on Sunday's in the spring I usually play soccer.

In case I haven't told you enough yet, I really miss playing soccer. I miss it so much that in August when I drive by the MU practice fields on my way to work I find myself wishing that even though I know those girls are in pre-season (the worst and hardest part of the season) I would give anything to be out there with them too.

These are pictures of my sister, she loves soccer just as much as I do. My sister and I are 4 years apart. We've never played soccer together- when she started high school I had just graduated and even though she went to Indiana State who was in the same conference as Missouri State we missed each other again.

Too bad, I think I could have taken her.......look how scrawny she is :)

My OTHER Girl.

2008-04-18T09:10:00.007-05:00

With the arrival of Afton soon Scuba and I are well aware that we are going to have to practice patience more than ever before. It's kind of become our family word. When one of us forgets to have patience all the other one has to say is "Patience" and usually it either makes us laugh or calms us down right away.

Cali, is the QUEEN of patience.........

What is she looking at? The neighbors house. Cali has a friend that lives next door (a little Yorkie) and Cali will sit patiently outside for HOURS waiting for her friend Louie to come out and play.

Sometimes she makes me feel so sorry for her because she is just sitting all by herself. When it's cold out I can see her shivering but even when I call her in she doesn't budge, she just sits there and looks at me.

When she gets tired of sitting she'll lay down. But like I said, Cali is the queen of patience and she has waited for Louie many times even after dark.

Some people feel that their pets are simply pets. I don't understand how you can live with an animal that has such personality, loyalty and love and not feel that it's a part of your family.

I had a dream last weekend that I watched Cali get run over by a car. In my dream she died and I remember waking up completely out of breathe because I was crying so hard. I looked down to see her at the end of our bed but I still felt SO sad.

It might sound silly to some but I worry about how she is going to adjust to the baby. In our house she is the princess and yes we do spoil her. She's not going to like the fact that soon we won't be able to give her that same attention.

Brutally Honest.

2008-04-17T13:03:00.004-05:00

I always thought that once I became pregnant my out look on my body would be different. Yes, I would be getting bigger but I thought I could just easily tell myself that it's because I'm pregnant and I wouldn't have any of those feelings I had before.

NOT TRUE- today I feel like my legs are HUGE. I'm so frustrated with this because I have tried really hard not to just let myself go but today is one of those days when I just don't like what I see and I can't do anything about it.

Logically I know it's not as bad as I make it out to be but something in my brain says otherwise when I look in the mirror. This scares me because I find myself being so concerned with how long it's going to take me to recover. Someone told me once that it took 9 months to gain the weight that I have, it will take 9 months to take it off..........NOT IF I CAN HELP IT. I am also concerned with postpartum depression- after my second miscarriage I had a little bit of depression and I found myself focusing on my weight. I remember crying in the bathroom at work because I thought that I looked huge when in reality I don't think that I had even gained a pound.

I have promised myself that I won't ever say anything bad about myself in front of Afton- all she will know is that mommy goes to the gym because it's healthy not because she doesn't like the ways she looks in the mirror.

Not So Prepared...

2008-04-16T11:29:00.005-05:00

This weekend Scuba and I had our "Prepared Childbirth" class (better known as Lamaze) at the hospital. The class was on Saturday and was pretty much an all day event. It's designed to inform parents of the labor and delivery process, discuss pain management, postpartum and the baby.

I was really excited to go and really wanted to learn something! Of all the things that might be of concern to me when it comes to having the baby it is not labor and delivery or fear of the pain but rather the unknown. I get a feeling when speaking with my friends who have already had babies that there is a BUNCH of stuff they are leaving out. Yes, I know it's going to hurt but surely there is other stuff that is alarming about having a baby. I think some things might be embarrassing or people just don't want to scare me but that's what I want to know about!

I definitely got what I asked for! For me the most alarming topic was what to expect during recovery. By far the ONE thing that hit me hardest was when they showed us the pads that they have women wear after delivery (this would be the healing part that nobody told me about). HOLY MOLY!!! I am not even kidding you this pad is definitely TWICE as big as a newborns diaper!!! I realized that there was probably going to be some bleeding- I mean a baby just came out of out you. I however had NO IDEA that it would be THAT MUCH!!! You would think that based on the size of that pad that women would need extra blood pumped into them. I guess I just didn't realize that both mom and the baby wear a diaper when they leave the hospital!! People, this is the stuff I need to know about!!!

Not all of the class was gloom and doom :) One of my favorite parts was when the teacher had one of the males wear a "sympathy belly." Basically it was an empty back pack that she had the guy wear it on his tummy instead of his back. She then asked the class how much weight does the average women gain and what represents that weight. As we called out things such as the baby, fluids, fat, etc.. she would put bags of rice in the backpack until it weighed roughly 30lbs. This was suppose to hopefully make the guy have sympathy for the amount of weight that his spouse was carrying around (no Scuba didn't volunteer). The teacher asked him to try and tie his shoe and it was funny to watch him try and bend down to reach his foot. Defiantly entertaining for the women, Scuba I don't think got much out of it though.

We also were able to tour Labor and Delivery and Postpartum. Both Scuba and I have seen Postpartum several times visiting friends who have just had babies however we had never seen Labor and Delivery. I didn't realize that the delivery rooms were so similar to the postpartum rooms. I THOUGHT a delivery room would be similar to an operating room not in a room with a TV!

I know that I got a lot our of the class but I guess it's pretty obvious that I am still pretty clueless! :)

Pictures!!!

2008-04-14T16:36:00.004-05:00

I know I promised pictures but we had a busy weekend (I'll write more about that later) so I'm just now getting to it.

These are some of the clothes that my sister-in-law Julie wore when she was little..........

I'm not so sure about this out-fit :)

These are the jean shorts that are the brand "Hillbilly" :)

This is that sweet little pink dress I mentioned. It's hard to see but it has a cute little duck embroidered on the bottom of it.

Also, in the basket were a couple of things that Scuba wore.......can't you just picture him in this. I bet he was CUTE!

Not Just Any Hand-Me-Down's

2008-04-11T10:20:00.005-05:00

Scuba came home last weekend from his mom's house with a basket of baby clothes. I was really excited too see the basket because I will occationally buy something and have found several good items but I haven't really spent much time tackeling the issue as a whole.

As soon as I started going through the basket I quickly realized that the clothes in the basket were not just any clothes however Scuba was on the phone so I wasn't able to ask him about them. I went through them one by one. Some made me laugh ( the jean shorts that were the brand "Hillbilly") and some were just down right adorable (cute pink dress).

Later Scuba informed me that the clothes were JULIE'S (and some were Scuba's too). I had already figured this out but when I stopped to think about it, it made me laugh. Julie is Scuba's older sister and by older I mean by 8 years! The clothes in my hands were clothes from the EARLY 70's! Oh my how times have changed.......especially the styles!!

There are one or two pieces that I will put Afton in- I think it's kind of cool to think that she will wear something of her aunts. As for the other pieces, well at least Scuba and I have some GREAT keep sakes!!

My mom told me the other day that she sent me a package- something that she thought I might like to have. I have a feeling she is sending some of my old clothes! It's really funny for me to think back upon all the clothes my mom use to put my sister and I in. We are such an athletic family and most of the time you can find us in soccer shorts however when my sister and I were little my mom would dress us up in dresses, tights, hair bows, hats, gloves.....you couldn't get any more girly-girl than we were, especially for church on holiday's! To be honest though, I can't wait to do that to Afton :)

**I'll post pictures later of the 70's clothes :)

Wordless Wednesday

2008-04-09T16:44:00.001-05:00

Look into my eyes........

Epic Championship?

2008-04-08T08:51:00.003-05:00

Well we all know what Scuba and I did last night. Believe it or not I actually FORGOT (gasp) that it was even on. After I got home from the gym Scuba had dinner ready and we sat and ate dinner like any other night. After everything was cleared and cleaned Scuba said, "I'm going to shower before the game starts." THE GAME- how could I forget!!!

Normally I would never EVER write anything that has to do with the Jay Hawks because we all know that they are the scum of the earth. I watched recently the special they had on Roy Williams and how most Kansas fans are still completely bitter over his leaving. Apparently whenever North Carolina looses they announce it at their games and their fans all cheer because they hate Roy so much.....how lame!!! Seriously people- GET OVER IT! It's not like they don't have an equally good coach!

Not surprisingly I wanted North Carolina to win when they played Kansas but I was devastatingly disappointed. Last night I thought it would be the same that my hatred for Kansas would run so deep in me that I would instinctively cheer for Memphis. I have a confession- I found myself at the end of the game when they were down WANTING Kansas to come back and win! I know, I know how could I. In my defense it did make the game MUCH more interesting and I like to think that I was simply supporting the Big-12 ;) Never fear though as the time ticked down and it was clear that Kansas would win and their fans started chanting ROCK CHALK JAY HAWK and doing that stupid wave that they do at the end of the game, I came to my senses and was a little disgusted.

I've seen headlines this morning such as, "Epic Championship" and "Miracle NCAA Title Comeback." Epic? Miracle? As a MIZZOU Tiger fan I like to think they just made a lucky shot!

I Think I'm Hormonal Today!

2008-04-07T15:22:00.003-05:00

Scuba and I are in the process of finding daycare for Afton. This is yet another one of those decisions I wish would be in a manual that your baby would hand you once it was delivered. Sort of like- here you go Mommy, here's how to take care of me and here's what's going to be best for me. Wouldn't that be cool! :)

I really don't like doing this, in fact I hate it and feel a bit overwhelmed. I would just like to be sure that I'm doing to right thing and I don't know how to be sure in someone that I don't know.

I also wish that Scuba would be as concerned about this as I am or about finding a pediatrician or about the fact that SHE WILL BE HERE IN 10 SHORT WEEKS!!!! At least maybe he could pretend just so I can feel a little better :)

Picking a Name

2008-04-03T12:42:00.011-05:00

My mom told me not to long ago that if I was a boy they were going to name me RODNEY!!! Can you imagine? I'm sure I would have been a total NERD!!!

Scuba and I originally liked the name, Ryan (I have a thing for boy names for girls) but decided upon Afton instead. So how did we come up with Afton? This is how..........

That would be my little sister and what you probably can't see is that her diploma says, Regan Afton.

When I was little I use to think that she had the WEIRDEST name ever and couldn't figure how my parents went from Rachelle (Rachel) Ashly to Regan (like the president) Afton. As I got older I met more Regan's and that didn't seem so weird anymore but for a LONG, LONG time I just couldn't rap my brain around the uniqueness of the name Afton. I still to this day have never met another Afton. Occasionally someone will tell me that they knew one once but still it seems to be a very unique name.

For whatever reason it seems like overnight my opinion of Afton changed and one of my favorite parts about the name is that it IS unique. It's also pretty cool to see how proud my sister is that we are using her middle name for our baby (she did however try to convince us to name Cali our dog, Afton- I guess she is just easy to please). Maybe some day she will name her baby Ashly, but I wouldn't be hurt if she didn't- sorry mom but there's just not enough pizazz to it :)

The funny and sort of ironic thing about the name Afton is that I remember my mom telling us that she got Afton from an old soap she use to watch- Dynasty or Dallas. Does that mean that not very many people liked the name? Oh well- to bad for them, I do!

Don't Worry, I Cried Too.....

2008-04-02T16:11:00.005-05:00

I have been getting some really good emails recently. My friend TigerHawk sent me the following:

A picture began circulating in November. It should be 'The Picture of the Year,' or perhaps, 'Picture of the Decade.' It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the US paper which published it, you probably Would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.

The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta . She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable Surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical! Center in Nashville , he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr.Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger.
Dr.Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.' The text explaining the picture begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week- old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'

Little Samuel's mother said they 'wept for days' when they saw the picture. She said, 'The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person.' Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome...incredible....and hey, pass it on. The world needs to see this one!

Don't Be Jealous :)

2008-04-01T12:12:00.002-05:00

LOOK WHAT SCUBA MADE ME...............

I LOVE it, this is the best part of the room so far, it's just so pretty and perfect! I have to give Scuba some major credit because I seriously doubted him. When I first told him I wanted a cornice for the room he had no idea what one was. I couldn't even imagine that it would have turned out as well as it did. Now I'm thinking he needs to make more for the rest of the house:)

Can I Change My Mind? :)

2008-03-31T16:52:00.004-05:00

A friend sent me this in an e-mail. I thought it was too funny not to share :)

True preparation for parenthood at any age....

Lesson 1
Go to the supermarket.
Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
Go home.
Pick up the paper.
Read it for the last time.
Watch all your favorite TV one last time, as well.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents. Berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners and overall behavior.
Enjoy it. It will be the last time in your life that you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
To discover how the nights will feel...
1. Walk around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly.
2. At 10PM, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3 AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer. Walk around, asking, 'What is that smell? Do you smell that?'
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. buy a live octopus and a small bag made of loose mesh
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
1.Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a pot of paint, turn it into an alligator.
2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only scotch tape and a piece of foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle.
3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower

Lesson 7
Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. And don't think you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the tape or CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There. Perfect

Lesson 8
Get ready to go out.
1. Wait outside the bathroom for a half an hour.
2. Go out the front door.
3. Come in again
4. Go out
5. come back in
6. go back out again.
7. Walk down the front walk.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk back down it again.
10. Walk very slowly down the road for five minutes, stopping, inspecting minutely, and asking at least 6 questions about each cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
11. Retrace your steps.
12. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand, until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
13. Give up and go back into the house.
You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Lesson 9
Go back to the local supermarket. Take with you the nearest thing you can find to a preschool child (a full grown goat is excellent) If you intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat.
1. buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight.
2. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.
3. Lift goat into cart; out of cart; into cart. Beg goat to stay in cart. Bribe goat with cheerios.
Until you can accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 10
1. Make a small hole in the side of a melon and hollow it out.
2. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
3. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
4. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
5. Tip half of the remainder into your lap. The other half just throw up into the air.
You are now ready to feed a 9-16 month old baby

Lesson 11
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Dora the Explorer, Barney, and Disney. Watch nothing else on TV for five years.

Lesson 12
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy') An occasional crescendo to the volume of a supersonic jet is required. Play this recording in your car everywhere you go for the next five years

Lesson 13
Put on your finest work attire. Pick a day in which you have an important meeting.
1. Take a cup of cream, put in 1 cup of lemon juice, and stir.
2. Dump half of the mixture on your shirt, and saturate a towel with the other half.
3. Attempt to wipe off your shirt with the towel.
4. Do NOT change. You have no time.
5. Go directly to work.

Lesson 14
Go for a drive! But first...
1. Find one large tomcat and six pitbulls.
2. Borrow a child safety seat and put it in the back seat of your car.
3. Put the pitbulls in the front seat of your car.
4. While holding something fragile, strap the cat into the child seat.
5. Run some errands, removing and replacing the cat at each stop.
You are now ready to run errands with a toddler

Ouch!

2008-03-31T13:47:00.004-05:00

I'm sure it was bound to happen and yesterday it finally did.........I fell! I'm a little frustrated at myself because I think my fall was something that I totally could have prevented.

Yesterday I went to the gym and went to the Body Step class. From the very beginning of class I could tell that I was a little bit more sluggish than usual. I kept finding myself having trouble picking up my feet and catching them on the edge of the bench, I just wasn't concentrating and was being lazy. I however made it through almost the entire class when all the sudden I caught my foot again on the bench rolled my ankle and down I went!

It felt like I went down in slow motion. I remember thinking oh crap I just rolled my ankle- that's going to hurt. Then I remember being a little off balance but thinking that I could catch myself and then the realization that I wasn't going to be able to. I luckily fell backwards and landed on my butt but was able to put my hands down which softened the blow. I really wasn't concerned at all. My butt didn't even hurt from the fall and I didn't think that the baby was effected at all, really it didn't cross my mind.

The worst part about the fall was that as soon as I fell the instructor (Sarah) stopped teaching, she literally stopped the whole class to see if I was okay. She left the from of the room and came over to where I was sprawled out on the floor and was really concerned. I let her know I was okay and tried to laugh it off but I could feel my eyes welling up with tears.

Almost everyday some one says to me that they can't believe that I am still working out and doing what I am doing. They want to know when the baby is due and if my Dr. said it was okay to continue to work out at the intensity level that I do and is it safe, etc... I know that it is perfectly okay and safe for myself and the baby but I don't want to give anyone a reason to say- see that's why you shouldn't be doing this.

I was also embarrassed because Sarah stopped the class. People fall every now and then and as far as I know a class has NEVER been stopped before. Everyone around me started to comment on how clumsy they were and Sarah took advantage of the situation to give everyone a refresher is Body Step safety- all because my big butt hit the floor.

Mostly though I think I became so emotional because of Sarah's reaction. She was so concerned, not only for me but she was really concerned with the well being of the baby. I didn't have that reaction- I just got up and said okay everything is fine. It made me wonder if maybe I should have been more concerned and all the sudden I felt really guilty. I didn't cry or anything (I know surprising huh?- considering that I cry at EVERYTHING) I just assumed that it would be one of the many moments in my life when I questioned my parenting skills :)

I told Scuba and he didn't seemed concerned about it......actually now that I think about it I wonder if he heard me at all :) In my heart I knew that I didn't need to go be checked out or call my Dr. but I got on-line to see what advise the internet had for me to ease my mind and most said not to worry especially if you feel the baby move as normal. I have so from now on I am just going remember to PICK UP MY FEET the next time I go to Body Step.

Giraffe Princess Diva...

2008-03-28T10:55:00.008-05:00

I had some free time this morning and decided to go on-line and look to see if the GAP had any cute maternity dresses on sale. While I was there I decided to look at their babyGap department. I found the cutest outfit EVER...........

As soon as I saw this I emailed it to my mom and some friends but as I continued looking I found this......

And what if she has a boyfriend, he could wear this.....

Oh my goodness, I just can't get over this giraffe print. It's too cute!!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly....

2008-03-26T15:05:00.004-05:00

The Good-
Our computer is fixed!! YIPEEEE!!!!! We sent it off to HP thinking that we were going to have to spend like $500 for the "mother board" to be repaired. We sent it off last week and got it back yesterday. Apparently the mother board did need to be repaired, actually replaced BUT HP says that our computer is still under warranty (which Scuba and I thought expired several months ago) and it was totally FREE!!! What a nice surprise!!

The Bad-
I got an email today that Spring soccer is starting next month and I CAN'T PLAY :( For those of you that don't know, soccer is my most favorite thing in the whole world. Luckily I will only be missing this spring season and will be back and ready to play in the fall. Plus I think by having a baby I now qualify to play in the OHL (old hags league) at the MAC. I think originally the OHL league was for women over the age of 35 however the MAC SUCKS big time at spreading the word about their women's indoor leagues (just between you and me I think I could do a MUCH better job of organizing their adult soccer leagues but that's beside the point) and there is never enough teams to play. One of my friends (who isn't yet 35 or close to being 35) had a baby last summer and said she had been playing in that league this winter so watch OHL here I come!!

The Ugly-
It's official, my office will NOT let me work from home. I had recently (actually almost a month ago) submitted a proposal to my boss requesting that I be allowed to work from home 3 days a week. I requested this because of the outrageous cost of day care and because we can't afford for me to simply quit my job (nor do I think that I would like being a SAHM). My boss informed me today that he could not allow it because of the "snowball effect" that would occur not only within our division but with in the rest of the company. Honestly I don't think he even gave it any thought nor presented it to our CEO to see what he had to say. I think he is just lazy and doesn't want to deal with it. I'm totally not surprised, I called Scuba this morning when I found out and he said, "at least your taking it well" and I am because in my heart I new they would never say yes- It just would have been nice if they would.
In my bible study last night we were talking about when God says no to our prayers. My friend Jordan says that God sometimes says no to our prayers because he has something better planned for us. I like to think that's why my proposal was shot down.

Baby's Room

2008-03-25T11:13:00.010-05:00

Look what I found this weekend!!! Curtains for the baby's room. I am so proud of myself because I love the fact that they go with the bedding but are not an exact match. I think they are so pretty.

I also got a little creative too. I bought letters from Hobby Lobby that spell out "Afton" to hang in the baby's room. They were originally white and I painted them a brownish green color. When I was finished I thought they looked a little plain so I headed back to Hobby Lobby and this is what I came up with............

It's a little hard to tell by the picture but I simply added green, yellow and pink gems stones to give it some pizazz. Every girls room needs some pizazz, right! Oh yeah and Scuba is making me a cornice to hang above the window in the room also. I can't wait it's going to be the best looking room in our house!

I know I am going a bit crazy with the baby's room, Cali definitely thinks so :)

Belly Updates

2008-03-25T10:46:00.010-05:00

My family (mom, dad and sister) all live in AZ. Since we do not get to see each other as often as we would like my mom requested that I post some recent pictures of myself. Scuba took these last night so they are as recent as it gets. These pictures make me realize a) that I need a tan and b) that I look funky after the gym.

Here you go mom, these are just for you..........

**********************CAUTION*************************

The following picture could cause blindness, scroll down at your own risk!!!

**********************CAUTION**************************

HE- HE :)

Week 27

2008-03-20T15:19:00.003-05:00

Since I became pregnant my favorite website has to be BabyCenter. One of the things that I love about this website is that I can see week by week how the baby is growing and how things that I experience might also be changing. Yesterday I started my 27th week, here is what BabyCenter has listed for the 27th week................

Your pregnancy: 27 weeks

How your baby's growing:
This week your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with assistance — if he were to be born prematurely. Chalk up any rhythmic movement you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and isn't bothersome to him, so enjoy the tickle. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. Wonder what he's thinking?

How your life's changing:
Your body is gearing up for the final lap, so you may start noticing some new symptoms. Along with an aching back, for example, you may find that your leg muscles cramp up now and then. They're carrying extra weight, after all. They may also be aggravated by sluggish circulation and compressed nerves caused by your growing uterus. (As your uterus expands, it puts pressure on the blood vessels that return blood from your legs to your heart and on the nerves leading from your trunk to your legs.) Unfortunately, the cramps are likely to get worse as your pregnancy progresses. Leg cramps are more common at night but can also happen during the day. When a cramp strikes, stretching the calf muscle (by straightening your leg and then gently flexing your toes back toward your shins) should give you some relief. Walking for a few minutes or massaging your calf sometimes helps, too.

Pretty neat huh? Can't you just picture a little 2 pound baby sucking on her fingers? I love knowing how she is developing and trying to image how big she is......I already know she is a strong kicker like her mom:) I also like the "How your life is changing" section too. It helps me feel better when I see that something that I am experiencing (like how my arches seem to cramp up everyday) is totally normal.

I can't believe how fast 10 months goes! Next Wednesday I will start my THIRD TRIMESTER...............unbelievable!

Some Easter Fun ;)

2008-03-19T14:12:00.007-05:00

Wrong Month for Computer Woes!

2008-03-18T15:21:00.002-05:00

The Scuba's home computer has totally CRASHED!!! One morning (the morning of the fire alarms) Scuba was up early and decided to check his email before he left for work. He turned on the computer and walked away waiting for it to boot up. As he walked away he heard it power on and make all the usual noises it does when it starts up however when he went back the screen was blank. He thought is might be hibernating but no matter what button he pushed it would not start up. We've tried absolutely everything but have ultimately been total that more than likely there is a malfunction with the mother board and it will need to be sent in for some costly repair :(

Isn't it amazing how much we rely on our computers now....it's kind of scary! I can always get my computer fix at work however Scuba is going through MAJOR withdrawals. He's frustrated because he can't check his email and he can't get on-line to check our bank records and is worried the check book isn't balanced to the penny like he usually has it (I know he's sick) but you will never ever, ever, ever guess why Scuba is so distraught over our computer. Go on take a guess.......is it because he had important information saved on our computer? NO! Maybe there were some pictures he loaded and doesn't have them saved to another source or printed? NO!

I have two words for you........MARCH MADNESS!!! That's right you heard me correctly! This is Scuba's FAVORITE time of the year. Basketball 24-7! Now you might be asking why does Scuba need the computer to watch basketball? He doesn't nor does anyone else but Scuba will watch as many games as he can at once on TV (believe me it's always more than one) and then uses the computer to keep himself updated on what's happening in the other games that he can't watch. It doesn't matter what game it is because is Scuba's mind every game is important and when things are that important there is no use waiting around for Sports Center to come on.....he has to know NOW!!

Poor Scuba, I guess he will just have to do things the old fashion way this year :)

The Blaze

2008-03-14T14:34:00.003-05:00

Scuba and I are off to St. Louis this weekend! Scuba helps TigerHawks husband (JK) coach their son's competitive baseball team (The Blaze) and this weekend they have their first tournament of the season. I'm not sure Scuba realized what he was getting into because JK is a little obsessed with the team :) however Scuba actually loves it and enjoys coaching and spending time with the boys. It's suppose to rain tomorrow so hopefully they will get to play......wish us luck!

Emeril I'm Not!

2008-03-13T13:20:00.004-05:00

If I were to write down the things that I am good at I definitely would not put cooking as one of them. Sure I can follow a recipe and have it turn out well, but who can't......it's as simple as following directions. I would love to be that person who knows what spices go well with what foods and can simply pull items out of the pantry and make a fabulous meal. Since I don't yet have this knowledge I like to look for new recipes to make every now and then.

I recently discovered The Pioneer Women Cooks blog and love some of the recipes that she has listed. I did however notice that she has a similar cooking style to Paula Deen- she uses butter like it's going out of style. There is no such thing a Pam in her pantry all her dishes are coated with REAL butter and most of her recipes call for it too.

Maybe it's the fact that I am pregnant, normally I would steer clear of some of the artery clogging recipes that she lists but I can not wait to try and make her Apple Dumplings recipe. Oh my goodness it looks SOOOOOOO yummy and easy too!

I haven't had time to look at all the recipes she's posted but I'm hoping she will have more of a selection that will be suitable for my needs. I see so many recipes that I think look amazing but when I go through them and count all the things that I would have to omit for Scuba to eat it there really is nothing left. She claims that her husband and kids are just a picky so we will see :)

What are your favorite recipes? Do you have a favorite chef or cook that you love?

I Have a Confession!

2008-03-11T09:17:00.006-05:00

When Scuba and I first found out that I was pregnant Scuba mentioned that we needed to look into getting a new vehicle for me. Scuba wanted something a little more reliable and something bigger (along the lines of an SUV). I was happy to hear this but quickly pointed out that his small little truck wouldn't be able to fit a car seat in his tiny extended cab and truly he was the one who needed a new vehicle.

We are so fortunate because as it has turned out Scuba's work has decided to get him a brand new truck. To Scuba this is not just any truck it is actually the truck of his dreams.

With only one car payment Scuba and I decided that this would make it even more of a realistic goal for us to buy a new car for me. We have been looking all over and even have a few in mind that might work for us.

I have always heard that having a baby is expensive, but I never fully grasped that concept until now. I feel like the only fears that I have about this baby have to do with money, even though I know it will all work out- I am a closet worry wart!

Scuba came to me last night and said that we should hold off on buying a new car for me. Since my car will be completely paid off in May and Scuba's truck will be paid for by work that will free up a lot of money to put towards the baby (and towards gas if it's going to be $4.00/gallon this summer). As soon as he said it I knew in my heart that he was right and it was the best decision for us.

I know Scuba has worked very hard and has earned it but yet I find myself a little jealous over his excitement of his new truck :( I don't understand this because a lot of my friends have new fancy cars and I don't really care. When Scuba and I were looking I actually suggested more practical vehicles instead of the popular ones (Mercury & Buick surprisingly have some pretty cute SUV's out right now- no they are not grandma and grandpa cars, but yes mine did have a Buick, several in fact).

I know it's not right to be jealous but I also know that it's pretty much impossible not be at some point in your life. I do really try hard to do what's right, but I guess if I'm going to break one of the ten commandments it's better to covet something that essentially is mine......right?

Am I Glowing Yet?

2008-03-10T14:25:00.007-05:00

Stupid @#!% Smoke Alarms!

2008-03-06T09:30:00.005-06:00

Scuba and I had a rough night last night!!

Everything was fine until around 3am when our smoke alarm decided to go off. It was strange, it didn't continually go off like it would if it truly detected smoke, it beeped a couple times and then stopped. This scared me to death! My mind started racing trying to figure out why it would be going off.

Scuba on the other hand just rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. He was unable to do so however because not even 5 minutes later it went off again. It was the same thing, a couple beeps and then nothing. I am now even more concerned so Scuba decided to get up and take a look around the house. He found nothing out of the ordinary and was determined to get some sleep so he went in the garage and flipped the breaker to the alarms thinking this would keep them from beeping again. This kind of scared me but I figured if we were to have a fire Cali (who hears everything and barks at it) would hear the crackling of the fire and bark at it waking us up and we would simply climb out the window- problem solved!

So back to bed we went and I know it took Scuba a while to get back to sleep but for me my mind just would not stop racing. I think I spend a half an hour praying that God would protect us and finally I decided that I needed to think of something else. I could feel Afton kicking so I decided to talk to her (in my head of course) and tell her what features I wished she would get from myself or Scuba. I find myself constantly wondering what she will look like, so if Afton can hear my thoughts she now knows that I really want her to have Scuba's toes because mine are hideous.

Just as I am relaxed and feel myself starting to get heavy eyed (it's around 4:15) the stupid smoke alarm goes off again!! Apparently now they make the alarms much safer than they did before because even though the breaker was off the alarms were running on their back up batteries.....lucky us! Also, another little feature that I learned about last night is that they are all wired together so that if one goes off, they all go off. This was frustrating to me because it was clearly an alarm outside of our bedroom that was going off first, you could barely hear an alarm beeping three times- beep beep beep and then the alarm in our bed room would beep three times- BEEP BEEP BEEP only it was insanely loud.

Since Scuba wasn't getting up to do anything and it had been an hour in between the last time the alarms went off I tried to convince myself that one of them must have a low battery and therefore they were going to go off every hour to let us know that was the case. I know, that's kind of a crazy thought, but it was better than thinking there was someone that was trying to hurt us and that God was making the alarms go off in order to warn us or that maybe there was some toxic deadly gas that was leaking and was causing then to go off!

So again I watched the clock for almost another hour waiting for 5:15 to arrive to verify my low battery theory. I remember seeing 5am but I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know Scuba's alarm clock was going off and it was 5:50 (remember Scuba sets his alarm for an hour before we have to get up). Scuba hit snooze and I started to wonder why the smoke alarm didn't go back off at 5:15 but I decided that I wanted to get more sleep so I didn't let my brain go there. I had barely closed my eye's and the next thing I know that smoke alarm is going off again only this time it's not a quick little couple beeps, it's like beep beep beep, beep beep beep, beep beep beep, beep beep beep, beep beep beep, beep beep beep, beep beep beep, beep beep beep and so on and so on. The only funny thing about this whole incident is that this time when it went off Scuba thought the smoke alarm was his alarm clock and was hitting it to make it stop. I had to tell him that was the wrong alarm:) It did finally stop beeping but only to go off again 5 min later!

Scuba was pissed got up and went up stairs and took down the two smoke detectors because we think one of them was the reason they all were going off. He laid back down only to have to get up 15 minutes later in order to get ready and be at work on time. Needless to say we didn't end up getting much sleep and experienced one heck of a frustrating night!

Today the mission is to figure out what the heck is wrong and how to fix it and tonight we go to bed EARLY!!!

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2008-03-05T10:09:00.004-06:00

I told you Cali loves to snuggle! Apparently she is a good pillow too :) She was asleep too but when I got up to get the camera she of course wanted to know what was going on, Scuba on the other hand had no idea I even took the picture. Aren't they so cute!!

Rise and Shine

2008-03-04T14:56:00.008-06:00

Afton is kicking up a storm right now, I think she is going to be like her dad and be more of night owl instead of a morning person. I tend to feel her more often during the late afternoon and night more than any other times.

I hope however she isn't too much like her dad.......I was blown away when I was first introduced to Scuba's alarm clock. I am the type of person that sets the alarm and as soon as it goes off I get up. Scuba on the other hand sets it for an HOUR before he has to get up because he hits snooze so many times. Oh and it's has to be BLASTING so that he can hear it other wise he will sleep right through it and sometime he still does. There have been several occasions when Scuba has asked me to help him wake up in the morning because there is something that he needs to be up for. I however will no longer do this for him because no matter what I do he never get's up.

I'm not saying that I don't enjoying sleeping. I have since gotten use to the alarm clock going off every morning for an hour and I can even fall back asleep in between snooze buttons pretty easily now. In fact, I recently told Scuba that I hoped Afton enjoyed sleeping as much as we do....... just maybe not on school days :)

Let There Be Stripes!

2008-03-03T12:39:00.015-06:00

After much debate Scuba and I decided that it would be okay if I helped paint. We made sure to keep all the windows open upstairs and I even wore a not-so-cute little mask which I'm sure didn't do much but it made us feel better :)

The room before we stared was a brownish khaki color (like the rest of our house).

The room quickly took on a different look once we started taping. The weekend before Scuba had figured the dimensions of each stripe and we marked the walls where we would need to tape however it took us roughly two hours Saturday to get all the tape exactly where we wanted it.

Since I had decided to incorporate the brown as one of our colors we didn't have to mess with a base coat. We decided to start with the white/cream stripes assuming it would be easier to paint pink over white instead of vice versa. Surprisingly all we needed was two coats and we finished all the white on Saturday.

Sunday was the exciting day but would be a little bit more challenging. We ended up not taping the ceiling, Scuba was confident in his painting abilities and decided it was not needed. Since the white was the same color as the ceiling and the trim it wasn't really an issue until we started painting the pink.

Once everything was painted it was time to remove the remaining tape. With only a few touch ups we were finally done. I am completely amazed how it turned out. I can't believe that it turned out so well and I am even more proud that we did it ourselves. Scuba did however do most if not all of the difficult work so he deserves most of the credit.

We bought a pillow from the bedding set that we pick out......it's a total match huh?

Now that the walls are all painted I can't wait to start decorating :)

Crappy Delivery!

2008-02-29T15:21:00.003-06:00

I read the below article on Yahoo News:

Pregnant woman uses train toilet, baby slips out

AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - A newborn baby girl survived an ignoble birth after slipping down the toilet bowl of a moving Indian train onto the tracks when a pregnant woman unexpectedly gave birth while relieving herself on Tuesday.

"My delivery was so sudden," said the Bhuri Kalbi, the mother of the infant, born two months prematurely. "I did not even realize that my child had slipped from the hole in the toilet."

Kalbi, a 33-year-old woman from a village in Rajasthan, fainted on the toilet seat after the birth for a few minutes before waking up and alerting her family.

"They stopped the train and ran on the tracks to find the baby," she said, speaking from her hospital bed in the western city of Ahmedabad.

Railway staff at a nearby station were alerted and soon found the newborn girl lying uninjured on pebbles by the track. She is now in intensive care because of her premature birth, doctors said.

Most toilets on Indian trains are filthy chutes emptying directly onto the tracks.

There are so many things about this article that I just don't understand and I am 100% amazed that this can actually happen! There is however one thing that I just can't help but think after reading this.......this lady needs to see a Dr. ASAP if she is having bowel movements that feel like a baby is being born!! What the heck do they eat in India?

I know I'm a Nerd

2008-02-29T13:46:00.006-06:00

When I first started my blog I decided to google, "The Scuba Squad" to see what would come up. I ended up stumbling upon a website that sells Scuba Squad T-shirts!! They have every style and every color you can think of. They have maternity shirts,bags, mugs, hats and even THONGS! This was pretty funny to me, who knew there was a clientele for Scuba Squad gear. Of all their products this however is my FAVORITE....... I think it would be SOOOOOOOO cute if the "Scuba's" all got a shirt and had a family picture taken, don't you? I would make Scuba do it even if he refused if they sold dog shirts so Cali could be in the picture too, but they don't :(