Warning this blog has been hijacked (and turned into a photo album)

That's right Allison this blog has been hijacked by Mom. She wants to post pictures now so that our friends and family can see how big you've become. To think after all our hardwork this site joins the ranks of millions of other blogs and hosts pictures for the world to see.



Well lets start the show:









Allison went for her first swim in our tub, in a bikini no less.


And she has a few other new toys to play with also, like her walker and ring.

But no matter how great the toy she always prefers just being with the family (she gets this from mom).


Here she is with her three favorite Women and two favorite men. In no particular order of course.















We can't forget the crazy aunts!











If you hadn't noticed by now Alli has been blessed with a lot of hair. There is the famous pig tails, but these are original hairdos by ALLISON SEVERS.













And when Dad has had a long day at work, Allison always welcomes him home with a smile.












Well there she is folks, 5 months old and huge. Our 4 month doctor visit revealed Allison is in the 95% in height and 90% in weight. We are going to have one big girl. Mom told me today she is wearing 6 month onsies.

I'm now going to teach my wife how to post here and hand over Alli's Adventures. It has been a lot of fun sharing my experiances with all of you. Thanks for reading.

From posting once a month to posting once a quarter? (Remember when blogging was cool)

This will most likely be the last post to this blog. The hope was to capture the funny things that happened while going through the last couple months of labor and the first few weeks of being a dad. I feel like I did that and now that mom has printed out the other blog entries and is putting them into a scrap book I feel like I have been let off the hook for this project.

Alli is almost 4 months now, looking back I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Wait, no, let's be honest I would change a few things:
1. My biggest complaint about the whole "being a daddy" thing is the lack of sleep. I should have had both mothers come stay at the same time (one for Alli and one for Debbie) oh and they should have stayed for about 4 months instead of a week or two.
2. I would have liked to slept the night before spending 9 hours in a delivery room. Talk about a busy Easter morning. Most don't know that on Monday I had a job interview (on 3 hours sleep over 2 days) and then back to the hospital to be with Mom and Allison (another 3 hours of sleep). So yeah about 2 days of sleep before Allison decided to come would have been swell. Heads up for next time maybe.

Notice both of those things deal with sleep? Well it turns out as of tonight I have worked 4 straight 12 hour days with 2 more to go. That's only a 72 hour work week, some of you can do that standing on your head still, well as a dad now it isn't just 12 hours at work. It is 12 hours at work (plus 90 minutes of driving) and then 4 hours of family time (which is my favorite time of the day, seriously) .

Shh, I thought I just heard another dad yell, 'preach on brother, why can't my wife get that through her big ... Nope just the wind I guess. We all know no dad in his right mind would agree with me while his wife is reading along. He will wait till he is on his way to work at 5:45 AM (or on his way home if he works nights) tomorrow morning and then yell it at the top of his lungs for no one to hear.

Anyway back to Alli's adventures. What have you missed these last 3 months. Life has been crazy here! (Another divertion coming up skip if you want.) For one we moved, hopefully you have noticed that by now, especially if you are in the market for a 2 bedroom 2.5 bathroom townhome in wonderful Norwalk California, if not I guess you probably aren't wasting time reading this now. (By the way I would have made a great salesman.)
Where did we go? Beautiful Lancaster, California. Don't know where that is? Go to any weather site and first put in where you live; now put in Lancaster, CA.
Figured it out yet? We are in the desert, beautiful, traffic free, smog free, starry nighted desert land. Yeah I knew I was laying it on thick there, I didn't lie though about the traffic free part. Even though my commute takes 45 minutes to get onto Edwards AFB it is straight north for 20 miles then straight east for 30 miles. No major freeway, no traffic ...
Callaghan take me away. Sure it's been 120 degrees during the day but that is why they pay people so much to work out at the base, so you can pay your electric bill when running your A/C all day and night. Last week it was 95 degrees at 9 PM when I went to get the mail. Also, every place up her has air, if it didn't it already burned to the ground so even though I hate the heat it hasn't been that bad.

Well because I feel so many of you reading this are scratching your heads about us moving from Norwalk to Lancaster (what a step in the wrong direction you may think) let's get through the rest of this side story:
So I left Raytheon and went to work for a contractor named Sparta at Edwards doing more top secret government stuff. Really cool, hands on, playing in the guts of the most expensive planes on earth fun. I gotta say so far I love my job and I think that is why Deb and Alli tolerated the move up here. They both knew that doing that same boring Raytheon job was killing me inside. I get to work with experts, pilots, and a host of other military, civilian people that play in a huge science experiment called the BAF. (google it lazy)

Oh let's take another quick side trip. My back surgery, which went perfectly, (thanks for all the prayer and all the calls and everything). I was laid up and off work for 3 weeks, another great mini vacation. Except for the constant pain and inability to pee without help and the fact that I was all drugged up on pain killers. So like I said things have been really busy these last 3 months. Wait what was I writing about? Oh, Allison...

Well, she still eats, sleeps and poops. Who doesn't I guess? It is just funnier when she does it. The best poop story I have comes second hand from Mom:

Allison was lying on the changing table after having a major movement and everything seemed ok. Mom being the diaper changing pro knew to hold the top of the diaper up for a few seconds just in case Alli had one last push. Turns out my daughter is an over achiever, it wasn't just one last push. It was Mount St. Helens erupting, Alli felt the need to clear out everything from the bottom of her bottom up to her throat and sprayed over the top of the diaper and all over everything.
Yep she got the box of wipes and lotion at the end of the table but that wasn't all. She also set an Olympic record by shot putting onto the armoire about 2 feet away.

Ok, if you aren't grossed out and are still reading along I will finish with some cute stories and no more poop stories. By the way, Alli's daddy had held the previous distance record for more than 28 years (ewww TMI).

Alli is cooing now. That means she gets all worked up when Dad is making up some crazy song and singing it to her and she starts almost mooing or gooing or pooing along (poop again shesh). She is also drooling like a leaky faucet all over everything. Now dad knows why they make bibs for newborns. Not because they will spill solid food on themselves. Not even because they spit up milk occasionally. It is solely for the purpose of soaking up a gallon of drool a day. Seriously without a bib Alli will soak an entire outfit in a matter of hours.

She has also had her first real adventure in a pool (well mom's bathtub really but she can't tell the difference). Alli and Daddy went for a little dip last weekend to get a bit of relief from the heat. Alli splashed a bit and got a chance to play with some of the water toys mom bought her. She also got to wear her first bikini (oh la la). I know you want to see pictures here but my computer died about 2 months ago and I have no way to upload a picture yet. I have confiscated an old laptop for work just to keep up on email and bills. Don't worry before I abandon this site forever I will update once more with months worth of pictures. That will keep you all at bay long enough for me to start some other form of expression. (Is yoga fun?)

So I guess that is about all there is to tell. Dad is working hard and loving it. Mom is working hard and loving it. Alli is drooling and pooping hard and loving it (one last poop pun).

Thanks for all the support over the last year or so. You have all stood by us through some real tough times. You have prayed for us even when we weren't able to pray for ourselves and you have come to our rescue on more than one occasion (Mom, Auntie Cass, Auntie Jill, Tia Becky, Tia Melody and the rest). Being a dad has really cut into my 'sit around and do nothing but watch TV and play video game time' but I wouldn't give up Alli for anything this world has to offer. Sure I haven't seen an episode of the Simpsons this season but I have seen my little girl giggle, fart and hiccup in the same breath. Beat that Matt Groening. (I bet only one or two people made sense of that last sentence, that's ok let it go, don't worry who that guy is.)

Check back every day to see when I post pictures (just joking I will email you to let you know when I post again).

Top 10 "Welcome to Parenthood" List

A Brand New Dad's Top 10 Things No Other Parent Ever Told Us List
(I will get all of you back by the way)

10. That you could ever love another person in this world more than yourself. It baffles me (well the selfish & stubborn me anyway) that I would do absolutely anything for Alli. Even when I am too tired to wipe my own bottom I still clean her up shiny and new. Even when I am running on 30 minutes sleep I will still walk around the room making up songs about diamond cars (yes diamond cars cause I can't remember what comes after diamond ring). Also, you did tell me about this kind of love but I wasn't listening until now.

Yes my child is cross-eyed in this photo, after wearing an outfit like that can you blame her?

9. When people casually laughed and told us we would loose sleep no one ever said, "You will never sleep more than 3 hours a night again." I seem to recall suggestions like "take a nap when she naps so that get your rest too." Well if we did that I am pretty sure our house would explode from the mess. Plus when would I ever get in my quality game time.

8. You child's cries make Mom's boobs leak. Ok, I personally find this very entertaining. I could talk about boobs all day in fact, but since so many friends and family read this lets just say we have discovered a new brand of mommy torture.

7. Speaking of boobs, I think we should talk about the accidental squirting and drips all over poor Alli's face. Yeah I know, family is reading but let me tell you when you become a dad and see this for the first time try not to die laughing. Oh and always go to the pottie before mom feeds so you don't wet your pants.

6. As soon as you are comfortable and about to fall asleep Allison will be hungry, wet or hot. It doesn't matter if you get her to sleep and get comfortable in 10 minutes or an hour she is patient enough to wait for that magic moment when you foolishly convince yourself you are going to get some sleep.

5. Your child's hair is as perfect as the babies in the magazines. Are you kidding me, no amount of moose or gel could tame this beastly hairdo. And why do babies get acne, well with mom and dad's poor complexions it's no wonder. I think I was in 7th grade when I broke out like Alli did last week.


4. Fighting between mom and dad takes too much energy now so usually we just grunt at each other and then go back to changing diapers. Oh, did I mention we haven't had a disagreement about money in a month now. That's a bit odd wonder if Mom finally bought into my frugal lifestyle.

3. Diapers, sure the professionals say she will have around 8 - 10 diapers a day. Well in a perfect world that would be true. In our world we are lucky if Allison only uses one diaper per changing time.

Like the time we were at the doctors office for a weight check, we get into the room and are waiting for the doctor when we smell that all to familiar "I have a surprise for you Daddy" smell. I open the diaper and just as suspected it was loaded with tons of seedy goodness (your saying 'ewww' but you know exactly what I am talking about). We clean her and put a new diaper on her (#2) only to have her pee in it as Dad closes it. Ok we clean her again and put on another diaper (this is #3). The doctor comes in and takes off the diaper to check her only to reveal, yep, more poop. We apologies and assure the doctor we changed her 35 seconds earlier, clean her and put on a new diaper (#4). Four diapers in under 5 minutes, are you kidding me? You do the math, 4 diapers per change x 8 changes per day. Well lets just say all those gift cards are being put to good use.

2. Outings are a thing of the past. Bored? Want to go to the mall and window shop? Have a few hours to kill until dinner time? Well with a baby, tough. There is no way you are going anywhere. Fine don't believe me, bathe her, dress her, load her in her car seat. Oh, she is hungry! Pull her out of her car seat, feed her, change her. Oh, she pooped all over everything. Undress her, redress her, load her in her car seat. Congratulations it is now 9 PM and all the malls are closed for the evening.

1. Did I mention pooping yet? How in the world can so much stuff come out of something so small? I am pretty sure that the frequency a baby poops at breaks the laws of physics.
Newton's first law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Equal and opposite, yeah right, let's say for arguments sake we feed Alli 3 ounces of milk. How is it possible 30 minutes latter to have a 4 pound diaper? I tell you it just ain't right.
It does however abide by one universal law, Gravity (what goes up must come down). Yep it comes down alright. If you could hear my child in the late evening you would think she was a 40 something year old man, all the farting and groaning geez. If you could see what a mess she makes when she decides to open the flood gates you would think she was a death row inmate eating her last meal. Well you are privledged to have read this far as I am about to share with you what I can only describe as a typical Tuesday morning.

Ok sorry for that last picture, I know it is a bit sick but hey it's my beautiful little angel. I want you all to know I wouldn't trade a minute of this for anything. I love being a Dad. I love changing poop filled diapers (well ok this is a lie but I love watching Grandma do it). I especially love those precious few moments when no one is around but Alli and me and I lean in extra close to her and whisper "I love you."
If that didn't make you cry you have a heart of stone, yes Mr. Blatt I am talking to you. You should be bawling like a one month old at 12 AM Sunday morning. Wait that is now.

Well now for the thank yous, as we get farther and farther behind with thank you cards (and we would have to rob a Hallmark just to get enough of them anyway) please allow me to show my appreciation here:
First by far to the grandma's and tia's - without you I would have jumped out of the bedroom window. Seriously, I took the screen out and everything.
To our close friends who are always on call - you have saved us from our ignorance. Without your calm cool thinking we may have a few more grey hairs. Plus we are still blissfully entertaining the idea of having another child thanks to you guys.
And to all the rest of our family and friends who have prayed, sent cards, donated toys or clothes, bought things or just shared in our little miracle, THANK YOU.

Finally since it is 12:45 Sunday morning (yes Allison is awake, yes we have yet to go to sleep) let me be the first to wish a Happy Mother's Day to the best Mom I know (a bit biased but hey) my beautiful wife Deb. I always knew you were special but I can't believe what an awesome mother you have become, I praise God that he gave me someone that has the capacity to love our daughter more than I do and still put up with me to boot. I also praise him that she looks like you.
Happy Mother's Day to the rest of the moms that read my list above and could picture perfectly each moment with their own child. I know many have come before us and many will come after us (maybe I should write a book and let some parents know what they are getting into. Better yet write a text for premarital sex education. That poop filled picture should scare a few teens into abstinence.)

Keep on praying for us as this next month presents some real challenges.

The Princess Has Usurped the Throne of Power

Author Note: All spelling and grammar mistakes are due to sleep deprivation!

Do you make a list of things to do? Well here is edited list of Saturday night. The original list was eat dinner, go to bed.

Church clothes ironed for Easter service: CHECK
Set alarm so we can make Easter breakfast: CHECK
Showered and ready for bed: CHECK
Last restroom visit before going to bed: CHECK
Mom visits the restroom again 5 minutes later: HMM? CHECK
Answering mom's questions, "What's that? What wrong? What now?" : CHECK
Calling the doctor to tell her mom's water broke: CHECK
Dressing mom, grab hospital bag, load car: CHECK
Drive safely to the hospital: ARE YOU SERIOUS?
Arrive at hospital in record breaking time: OH YEAH!

Well we had an Easter to remember, why? We spent Sunday morning welcoming Allison into the world. By morning I am of course refering to the hours between 12:00 AM and 9:30 AM. Doesn't everyone start their Easter day around midnight?

That's right we had a full day of church and family planned but Allison had different plans. Lesson one, what Allison says goes. What a full days work labor turned out to be, about 8 hours, who would have guessed it was hard. Here is a chronological run down of what I can remember (did you see the author's note above):

12:35 Mom goes to the restroom for the second time and notices her water has indeed broke.
12:36 Arrive at hospital (just kidding we got there about 1:00)
1:00 - 2:00 In the triage room waiting to be admitted to delivery, watching Live at the Apollo for the first time in about 10 years.
2:00 - 5:00 AM Normal contractions about every 5 minutes, Lamaze breathing makes all the difference in the world, between contractions we are talking and having a good time.
5:00 The labor nurse checks in on us and asks if we need any drugs to make it through labor, nope none here way we are going all natural. Dad is suprised since it is known that mom's pain tollerance is zero. He smiles and thinks to himself, drugs are coming patience.
5:02 The next contraction comes, mom begins speaking in tongues (praying in English and Spanish) and orders the nurse to give the epideral. The praying was the best part of the entire delivery. Mom abbandon's Lamaze breathing and chooses an up and coming method of crying out to God for help. I have included a little exerpt of one prayer:
"Come to me Jesus, be with me Jesus. Dad pray for me, mom pray for me. Thank you Jesus,
I love you Jesus. Senor gracias por tu amor..."
The spanish was a bit hard for me to understand but trust me when I tell you Grandma and I were laughing (not outloud of course that would have been suicide).
5:10 - 5:30 Transition begins, contractions are so strong mom wants to give up, too late here comes Allison. The thought of giving up here is actually quite commical to dad, he chuckles. Appariently laughing at your wife while she is in the worst pain of her life is a great way to become a target of oppurtunity to her. In the next few contractions mom digs her nails into dads hands and even tries to pull his pants down (I can only assume she wanted to make sure this kind of thing never happened again).
5:30 Mom gets her first shot of narcotic, smiles ensue, mom tells dad how much she loves him, the speaking in tongues subsides (dad begins many silent prayers thanking the inventor of drugs).
5:35 The doctor arrives to administer the epideral, mom is held down and told not to move no matter what, mom slips into a comma or something for the next 15 minutes. She doesn't move an inch, she tells us later she had to sit perfectly still through an entire contraction.
6:00 The epideral starts working, the next contraction is noticeable easier to handle. This is the perfect time to ask mom for things but instead dad decides just to enjoy the peace. Dad applies bandages to his hands from the gashes and scratches from mom's nails.
6:05 - 7:00 Mom is aloud to regroup and rest, dad sits down for the first time in 5 hours, Grandma never leaves mom's side.
7:00 - 9:00 Mom is loving life, she is so glad the Allison is on the way, we are talking casually while mom pushes through the contractions. Mom makes great progress as we work with the best labor nurse in the world, Erin. Okay, here is where I am reminded of a conversation I had with my friend Mike (father of 3). Mike casually reminds me not to travel below mom's head, nothing down south is going to be appealing he says. Well of course I was curious and took a peak at what 10 cm dilated looked like. Dad is forever scarred by what he say and takes a holy vow of celebicy.
9:10 Doctor Leong steps into the room in the last minutes of pushing to catch Allison and earn her paycheck. It's nice to see she has taken time from her busy schedule to join us.
9:10 - 9:20 Apparently epidurals only work until mom has to push a watermelon through a whole the size of a coaster, after some screaming and reconsideration of having a second child Allison is set on mom's chest and cleaned off, dad may or may not have cried (no one knows for sure), mom stares in amazement trying to figure out how something so big fit through a hole so small. (no one told us our baby was going to be purple by the way, thanks for the heads up, I almost died).

The next 1.5 hours were magical, it was bonding time, Allison latched on the first try and went to town eating, her eyes were wide open (grayish blue right now) and she was moving all around, lifting her head, kicking her legs, and so many other awesome things. Dad finished taking his 150th picture and followed the nurse to the nursery (camera in tow) to observe Allison getting her first bath and checkup. It was fun watching her get washed off and not so fun watching her get her first shot but as I counted fingers and toes for the 10th time and looked at her nose and ears that look just like mine I was in awe. I got to see the rest of the family briefly on the way to the nursery.

Sharing in part of the miracle that is birth is inspiring, I was at a loss for words, nodding and smiling a lot I think. The rest of the day was a blur. Family coming and going, constant nurse checkups and feedings. I really lost all track of time and before we knew it we were on our way home Tuesday at 2 PM.
I could go on and on but really who wants to know what moms kankles look like or how long it took dad to change his first poop filled diaper (by the way poop doesn't really describe the tarpit that was down there). You don't want to hear about the 20 minute bathroom trips by mom or about how dad watched almost an entire movie during labor.

Well that is all I can recall now, and since I am working off a total lack of sleep I am going to stop for now. Let me leave you with a picture of the best thing to ever happen to us:

Where have you been, it seems like forever

It's about time you check back in with this Blog. It has been so long I thought I would show you what you have missed since the last time you were here.
Well first there was the completion of Allison's room:




If you had any idea how long all this took, well you would be amazed that it is finally finished. You may also be amazed to see that it turned out so well considering Dad did it. There is still the lighting question that needs to be addressed so that will be a future post I am sure (especially if Dad and his friends do it and not a professional electrician).


Then well you know:



Yeah that is right, I am a father of a beautiful baby girl named Allison. Man I love being a dad, I spend the day talking to Allison and her Mom about all the great things we are gonna do as she gets a little older.









Oh, so now your wondering what I am talking about? I told you you have been gone a long time. You never even got to see my favorite niece Symphony. Well that picture above is her at 2 weeks. Yep I was feeding her, and this is her now:



She is a crack up, I am really having fun being an Uncle, mostly because when she cries or poops I can hand her off to her mom.

I just wanted to scare you into thinking you missed something in our life. Nah, I wouldn't keep you in the dark that long. Allison is 6 weeks away and Mom and I can't wait (her more than me I think). She has been measuring on the big side of normal (I think that means fat but I am no doctor). We have started our lamaze class and the other "learning to be a good parent" classes the hospital offers.

Lamaze is 15 first time couples that are sizing up the competition. It was funny to go around the room and let the couples introduce themselves. By the time we got 3/4 of the way around it became more of a speech letting everyone know how great their baby is. I can't say I learned a whole lot that first class but I am sure as the weeks pass we will become pros.

The birth video was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, it brought tears to my eyes. Heh, had you going again I think. That video made me almost loose my dinner. It was horribly realistic to see the head crown and some lady pop a little white bloody mess out of her. I tell you what, if I see that when Mom is in labor Allison may be an only child.

We will keep you all posted, thanks for your thoughts and prayers. I want to let our family know that we love them and are praying for them through their loss.

The Super Sneaky Weekend

I wanted to share a funny story that happen a few weeks ago. Some of you have already heard it but still I think it is worth capturing for Allison's sake.

Three weeks ago, on a Tuesday I think, Babies-R-Us called me to say that Allison's bedroom furniture is in. Rather then telling my wife I decided that surprising her would be more fun. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Here is an account of that week.

First, as soon as I hung up the phone my Wife wanted to know who called. I told it was so-and-so asking about such-and-such and that seemed to satisfy her. Next my mind went to work figuring out every super sneaky detail needed to get a room full of furniture past a bed ridden pregnant woman (this should read "Mom is so bored she has to know everything everyone else is doing at all times"). Ok, well I have to get her out of the house for the day so that I can bring the furniture in. I have to make an excuse to get myself out of the house for the day so she won't call every 30 minutes asking me what I am doing. And I have to get to the Babies-R-Us, pick up the furniture, and get it upstairs. Well looks like I am going to need a team of super sneaky people to assist on this mission.

I contemplate who is sneaky enough to help me pull off this caper. It turned out all the spies in the Washington were busy with more pressing matters that weekend, I went to the next best person, my buddy Mike. Sure Mike seems like the easy going, do anything for a friend type of guy but I knew that was all an act and that Mike was a highly trained super spy sent deep undercover. He uses a great cover story of working nights at Disneyland but I know better. He is off saving the world while the rest of us sleep. I knew he would be the perfect addition to the team.

I mentioned to him the next night after Caravan that I had to pick up the furniture and try to surprise Debbie with it that Saturday. He said he was happy to help and even went so far as to find a trailer we could use. The plan continued coming together, my sister-in-law came back with us Friday night to hang out for the day. I brought her onto the team because I remember learning in spy school to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, I knew it was a crap shoot weather or not she could be trusted but at this point I had to risk the entire mission just to get my Wife out of the house for a few hours. The plan was that she take Mom shopping for a few hours while Mike and I sneak the furniture in the house.

The story was I was going to Mike's house to "work on his truck", Mike's wife backed up my story and assured my wife I would be at her house covered in grease and oil. I got to Mike's when he got home from work, we hooked up the trailer and were off to Babies-R-Us. Mike's two sons came with us cause we needed the extra muscle. My super sneaky spy team had grown to 6 people by now and when you have a team that big it is only a matter of time before someone slips up.

After arriving at Babies-R-Us on schedule and while waiting for the furniture to come we were entertained by a toddler throwing up all over himself. Then his mom stripped him right in the checkout line and dressed him in some new clothes she was going to buy him. Some poor guy with a mop came over to clean up this kids mess and the mom left red faced. Mike went to pull the truck and trailer up to the front and almost had to kill someone for getting in the way of the mission. He decided against killing them realizing pregnant people are not the nicest people in the world and their husbands would rather fight other men then fight with their pregnant wifes. Truthfully, I don't blame them.

With the furniture loaded we were on our way back to the freeway when Mike's youngest decided he had to go number 2 right now. Even though it could possibly jeopardize the entire mission it was immediately clear he couldn't wait until we got home so we pulled over at McD's and Mike and his boy made a mad dash for the restroom. Emergency avoided, we headed back toward the rendezvous point. I called my Wife's cell hoping to hear she was at the store and wouldn't be home for a few hours, only to find out she hadn't even showered yet and wasn't in the mood to go shopping. Great I thought, even super sneaky spies would have a tough time sneaking a 250 lb armoire past her. So we went back to Mike's for lunch waiting for my Wife to leave the house.

An hour or so later Mike's super sneaky wife called my wife to see what she was up to (actually to see if she was still at the house) and found out they were indeed shopping. Green light, time to git r' done. Mike and I were off, we raced over to the house and started unloading the furniture. After making a huge mess in the garage and putting all the furniture into Allison's room we thought we would indeed pull off this surprise. That was when the master plan started falling apart. The garage door opened, Mike and I freaked out as we were just starting to put the crib together. We froze, slammed the bedroom door and as quietly as possible continued screwing the crib together. 15 minutes passed and my Wife had yet to open the bedroom door and ruin our surprise, the phone rang and no one answered it, odd if she was here the phone would only have rung 2 times max.

I snuck downstairs and opened the door to the garage, there wasn't anyone there. It turned out the garage door opener in my pocket was opening and closing the garage as I was squatting down to put the crib together.

Then Mike's wife called and said Allison's Mom had stopped by to visit us. Shoot, we were still 20 minutes from being finished with all the furniture and she was 10 minutes away at Mike's house. I told her just to hang out while we picked up some truck parts and headed back to Mike's. My wife was there and looked tired, who knew shopping for a woman would actually make her tired. I told her she should go home and take a nap, she had that look in her eye like she knew I was up to something. Well you would think that as we pull up to Mike's house after going to get some parts for the truck and show up empty handed, not to mention Mike's truck is still covered in a tarp and that neither one of us had even a hint of oil or grease on us that something may be up. Remember when I said the more people that know our super sneaky secret surprise the more likely it is to be spilled? Well Mike's littlest one as my wife was leaving told her to enjoy her surprise when she got home. None of us heard him say that, he was super sneaky about it. Luckily for us my wife was too tired to make sense of his statement and just smiled and waved as she drove off.

It was about 20 minutes later that she called Mike's, she realized Allison's bedroom door was closed (ah, a rookie mistake) and when she opened it she saw all the furniture. I don't know how I could have pulled it off without the help of my super sneaky friends and family, it was a great surprise. I had so much fun and even though it took 6 hours instead of 2-3 Mike hung in there without a wink of sleep to pull it off with me.

Next time I will post pictures of the (yet to be finished) nursery. I know some of you wanted to see it this last weekend so I will do what I can to show it to you.

I'd like to introduce you to Allison

There isn't a whole lot a father can say after seeing his little girl for the first time. This was actually our second time at the ultrasound place. As you can see Allison is camera shy. She had her hand in front of her face for about ten minutes. But eventually, after I promised her a car when she turned 16 we got to see her face to face. I am so proud my little princess. We also confirmed (for the 3rd time) that indeed Allison is a little girl. I would show you the photo that proves it but no father ever wants to find naked pictures of his little girl on the internet for the world to see.



Things are changing, as we speak a lot is going on in our family. Sure it can be stressful and sure we are a bit worried but after seeing pictures like this the world seems to fade away. We are about two months away from seeing Allison again, in person and both of us can't wait. We appreciate your prayers. We know God has provided us a healthy little angel.

Allison is so picky (furniture shopping is NO fun)

This post is actually more of a praise to God then a funny story of my first unborn but I wanted to share.

My wife and I have spent the last few weeks trying to find that perfect furniture for our little princess. Well if you're already a parent hopefully you can relate, perfect furniture has two very different meaning to a Mom and a Dad. Perfect for me means affordable, sturdy, long lasting. Perfect for my wife means pretty, cute, adorable, lovely, ...

You get the idea. We really butted heads a few times when she would see her perfect baby furniture and I would only see $HUGE DEBT$. There is no way we are spending $2000 on a baby set. I almost choked to death looking at price tags on convertible cribs and dressers. What a rip-off. Well we continued looking, my wife was against the idea of the salvation army furniture (come on $10 for a crib is a great deal) and I was over all the Baby Furniture USA prices. We decided to go back to Babies R' Us to look at their simple furniture. The idea was to let Mom pick the color and style and let Dad pick the cheapest one that met Mom's minimum requirements.

Three hours later I found a crib that Mom didn't hate. It was my perfect choice ($99.90 clearance). We sprinted (Mom waddled) over to the sales lady (Dana) and told her we wanted to buy that crib and whatever other furniture matched it (since they didn't have the changing table and armoir on the floor).

I'll make this part short for times sake, Dana said everything was 1/2 off and we could go to the Cerritos Babies R' Us hand them a piece of paper containing all the information and get our furniture in a few weeks. So is that it? Did everything goes as planned? Is this my praise report? Of course not...

Again for the sake of time, Mom tried to order the furniture, managers got involved, calls were made, we were screwed. No clearance price, no furniture, no help from anyone.

If you know me you know when things like this happen I am not exactly the Best Christian to be around. Some calls were made, some things were said, and basically I went to bed pissed, vowing never to shop at Babies R' Us again. I recalled something that was said at small group that night, "If you are still worrying about it then you haven't given it to God. "

Here is where my praise starts:
I prayed to God for guidence, patience and peace. I asked that he tell me what to do in this case, I told him I am not going to spend another minute worrying about what furniture Allison will call her own. I fell asleep and was at peace.

It was the middle of yesterday, I had forgotten about the furniture completely. Things at work were busy and before I knew it, quitting time. Something told me to call Dana at Babies R' Us and ask her about the situation. My wife got me the number and when I explained to Dana all the drama that happened (in a nice calm voice) she said to hold on while she talked to her manager. (Insert little prayer here, reminding myself to trust that God has this handled)

We got the furniture, we got the clearance price and it will be here in 2 weeks. That is in time for Mom's shower. I want to tell you that I learned something, which is exactly what God had intended from the beginning, I learned that worrying about things isn't going to get me anywhere. I prayed and God answered, sure he could have said no not this furniture, not this time, but he said yes, through me all things are possible.

Praise God.

Now for you guys. I know a lot of you are stressed about something. Finances, work, home, school or whatever. If you are still worrying you haven't put your trust in God (I worry all the time about the little things). Let it go, stand back and watch the God of this universe take control. God bless you thanks for reading.

Quick note: Today we go to get the 4D ultrasound (this is huge for Mom). I'll post pictures of Allison when we get them.

Allison the great gymnast

Apparently my daughter is taking gymnastics. Over the last few weeks Mom has been dealing with a very active little girl. Allison has been practicing cartwheels, somersault and a host of other ariel feats that would make any father proud. Move over Mary-Lou.

I guess being surrounded by fluid makes it a bit easier to land a half-gainer full front tuck but really I thought all babies did was eat, sleep and poop. Of course all this energy may be because Mom eats cereal three meals a day. All those frosted flakes get Allison's motor running and the next thing you know she is practicing her floor exercise routine.

From what I hear everyone has been able to feel Allison move but Grandpa. The other night at the in-laws everyone had there hand on Mom's tummy waiting for Allison to karate kick them. Well she lived up to her "little ninja" nickname and started breaking boards with her fists (not really but she can punch and kick hard sometimes). Everyone was laughing when she would hit their hand, well everyone but Grandpa. Allison knew better than to kick the hand that will one day spoil her rotten I guess. Even when Grandpa was the only one feeling Mom's tummy, Allison would sit perfectly still and be on her best behavior.

I also get a laugh (Mom doesn't but I do) when Allison uses Mom's bladder as a trampoline. One second things seem to be normal, we are eating dinner or watching a movie then Mom jumps up (she really rolls/falls off the bed) and heads to the bathroom. I smile and look at the clock, 3.5 minutes since she was in there last, that's a new record.

Allison is quite the character, we know she loves it when Mom & Dad read to her and she loves her daily workouts in the tummy. I can't wait until she is old enough to swim and jump off the diving board, I wonder if she will remember how to do that back flip, half-tuck two-and-a-half layout. We will all have to wait and see.

Till next time have a great weekend.

A quick bit of bad news

Well we learned over the last couple of days that we will not be going away for our church retreat this weekend. It turned out not enough kids were interested. Sure we are a bit disappointed but I think this will be a blessing in disguise. We plan on doing some fun baby shower shopping this weekend. We want to find a crib and other furniture to buy so we can truly say the nursery is almost complete. If only Dad would call an electrician to fix the sockets and install a fan.

When my niece was born my father-in-law wrote her a lullaby. He set the bar way too high and now my wife has tasked me with writing a song for Allison. I believe her exact words were, "If you loved me and this baby you would already have an album recorded!" That may or may not have been the hormones but I really do want to immortalize my little girl with a song. Problem is I am not creative enough to write one. Don't tell anyone but I think I may find an existing song and change the lyrics.

Everyone we know has been asking me if I am talking to Allison yet. Well, not as much as I am supposed to apparently. My wife is trying hard to make sure I read to both of them before bed. She calls me to her every time Allison decides to practice her gymnastics so I can feel her bouncing around in there. I think I am doing a great job bonding with my little girl. When you consider I spent about 60 hours painting her room, that is bonding time.

See you next time, thanks for reading