Ok....I am really going to make a point to update my blog.  Bare with me.

Ok, so I have a been neglecting my blog ever so little!  I can't say it is going to get much better either.  Maybe I will get better in time.  So much is going on here that I can't keep my days together.

We are getting ready for the final  stages of predeployment.  Nathan should be gone before Thanksgiving and my house should be almost completely packed by then.

So until I can find alittle bit more time to write, which I know I really need to be writing more, I will leave you with these few pictures   These are some that I used to practice with my photo editing abilities   I hope you like them.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I havent forgotten about my blog.  I am just know finally getting back to being my old self again.  So for now I just wanted to say Hi.  My mother in law leaves me this week and I am going to have kick things up a notch.  So for now I will leave you with a picture;

We would like to announce the birth of our baby girl!  She is the newest addition to our family.

ATALEE MAE CRAIG


Date:       August 10
Weight:    7lbs 1oz
Length:    21.5 in
Location:  Savannah, Georgia
Time:       10:55 Eastern Time


I am currently working on a write up of the events that lead up to Atalee's birth and the events after her birth.  I hope to have a good story soon.  It will be a long one too!  So check back in a few days and hear my story.

My inlaws made it in fairly well.  It is a very long drive that is for sure.  There perhaps could be some news going on this week.  I will start with the doctors appointment on Wednesday.

Wednesday:
The visit went fairly fast.  I did find out that I was dilated to 1cm which really doesn't mean too much.  The doc thinks that I will not have any problem waiting till Aug 19th for the Csection.  I had been having crazy contractions that were irregular and very painful.  Not much they can do unless they have a pattern. So home I went.

Thursday:
This might be too much info for some, but it is the process we go through as pregnant women. Early Thursday morning I lost my  mucus plug.  I ended up having really bad contractions that afternoon, but once again they were not regular.  It really STUNK TOO!


Friday:
I decided to call the doc about loosing my mucus plug and they told me to go to the ER and get evaluated.  It was a waste of time because I was still a very strong 1cm.  My contractions were fairly regular, but not enough.  Even though I was doubled over in pain, it didn't really matter to that Doc.  So they sent me home.

I was pretty mad.  I don't understand why I am having to go through such pains and still have to do a Csection.  It should be one or the other.  What can I do? Nothing.  I think that hospital is crazy anyways.  It was so old too.  I hate having a baby in an old hospital! YUCK!

Friday night we went out to Uncle Bubbas sea food and had some fun with all the troubles that we had over the past few hours.  Below are some pictures of our fun.  Reilly was really enjoying the shrimp too! I got some video of him begging for more shrimp.  I am so glad he isn't a picky eater like me!

Saturday:
Now I don't believe today is ever going to end!  I slept fairly well, but woke up HOT!  I thought it was just me, but realized that our AC quit working! The rental agency will not get someone out here for a few days!  I FEEL LIKE I AM DYING I AM SOOOOO HOT!  I was well adjusted to 73 Degrees in the house, but now it is 89 and HUMID!  It is terrible.  I want to go to the hospital and have the baby just to get some cool air!  Maybe I could fake having a baby?

Anyway, I am going to try to take a shower and go to bed, hopefully that will help and I will sleep alright tonight too.

So the last few days I have been kinda laying low and taking it easy.  I am starting to draw very close to having my little girl soon.  My stomach has dropped so much in the last week.  I keep wondering if it can drop lower and lower and it some how does find a way.  For the most part I am feeling pretty good, however, I am so limited to what I can actually do.  I havent been able to bend past 45degree for sometime now.  It is even hard to put on my shorts.  You wouldnt think that it would be that hard, but when you have short legs and big belly it is kinda hard to do ANYTHING.

So no complaints on this end.  Nathan is doing well.  He has continued his busy schedule at work.  I wish he didnt have to work so much, but I suppose that is life.  We are taken care of so I better be thankful that he can work.

On a completely different note, Nathan has kicked us as a family into financial gear.  He has started reading and listening to Dave Ramsey.  It isn't going to be easy to do at first, but I know in the long run things will be so much better for us.  We decided we wanted to have a good down payment for a house when we buy one and we wanted to be prepared to get the best deal when we decide to make the decision.  When making such an important decision such as buying a house we really need to be on top of our game.  I mean, it is after all most likely a 25year commitment.  So that is one that has kept us busy.

We are down to two weeks, at most, before Atalee will be here.  I am still having mixed emotions for Reilly.  I know many children have had to adjust to having a sibling, but this will be the first for Reilly and us.  I know I am overprotective and that everything will be fine, but I just want the best for my Reilly.  We have started to tell him that his YaYa and Papa will be coming to Georgia when Atalee is born.  So hopefully, that will all go good too!

To pass the time lately I have been redesigning our church website.  I know there are another million things I could be doing, but I did it anyway.  I wanted something simple and very easy to update.  I think I could do better, but I went ahead and stopped with what I have so that I don't spend to much time on it.

I head to the doctor on Wednesday, hopefully, (which I doubt) she will say that it is "time" for Ms Atalee to be here!  The doc better hurry because she is running out of chances to get this kido out of me before I go into labor.

Well, I am going to call it a night.  I just thought I would drop a few thoughts.

Here are the following dates I wanted for Atalee to be born on  Aug 3, Aug 7, or Aug 13.....and well....the 3rd has past!  So come on Aug 7!

Picture of Reilly and his 4yr old shots:
Oh, I think Reilly did better than Nathan did.  I think Nate had more tears in his eyes than Reilly did.  He felt terrible that he couldnt protect him from the pain and that he had to be the one to make Reilly get the shots.  We did by the way let Reilly know before we left what was going to happen and why we were going to the doctor.  Reilly sure did his best not to cry or complain.  He took it like a champ and only whimpered.  The poor guy got 4 shots that day!

So Reilly has been extreamly interested in the fact he is having a little baby sister and that she is almost here!  So last night he ran into the living room and informed me that we have to go to the doctor to get "baby tummy" out and that the doctor was going to get her out of my ear!  Now were in the world did he ever hear such a tale like that !!!  Too cute!

Reilly decides he wants to be a human helicopter when he grows up so his daddy gives him a crash 101 coarse in how to land! Reilly gets a little too excited and slobbers all over everything in the process!

I have had what you can say a very stressful and testing week!   One that I will mention very briefly is that the doctors office reported false test results on one of my exams.  Lets just say it was test

results that could ruin a marriage!  We both knew that the test were a complete lie, but I had a complete nervous break down.  Anyway, I dont care to relive the last few days about the test results in the

end my name was mixed up with some other patient who doesnt even belong at that clinic any more.  BUT WOW!  The stress of the false news almost made my body start to have contractions and cramping.  I

thought I was going into labor yesterday morning.  I didnt relate the contractions or cramps to the stress until today.  Now that everything is cleared up I have been feeling much better.

So, other than the mix up I had another emotional and physical problem....BLUE HAIR!!!  Oh yes, I screwed my hair up extremely bad!  My roots were growing how and I thought I would redo my highlights.  I

usually us a highlighting cap or something, but walmart was all out so I used my clippies instead.  Boy did I come out WAY BLONDE!!!  This was last Monday.  So I figured I would wait until Friday before I do

anything else to my head to tone down the bright blonde.  So I found some hair color that was two shades darker than the bright blonde.  The only thing is....I didnt know blue could be a shade of blonde!!  I

dont know what went wrong, but I ended up with silvery blue hair last Friday!  So I was like, ok...dont panic.  I will just make my whole head darker all together and live with it.  So I waited till Sunday

morning which I didnt go to church because I was too embarrassed about my blue hair.  I stopped in Kroger once again and bought the hair color I "thought" I could live with.  Boy did I have another thing

coming!  My hair went from blue to three different shades of purple and Red!  It was terrible.   I panic!  I quickly made an appointment with a lady a JCPENNY for 3pm that afternoon!  It took 3hrs to "try" to reverse the damage that I did to myself.  My head was onfire from the bleach she was trying to use to get the purple out.  I certainly deserved the pain considering what I had done to myself.  My hair was so bad and my scalp had blistered so terribly that the lady had to do my hair in two different settings!  So by the end of Sunday, I had extremely dark hair with no hint of red or blonde or purple...PRAISE GOD!  I was scheduled to come back on Wednesday to get my highlights in to lighten my hair.  She also instructed me to NOT wash or do ANYTHING to my hair to give my scalp a chance to heal.  I spent 4hrs getting my highlights in!  That is a total of 7hrs to correct my 30minute screw up!  The lady seriously did a miracle on my hair.  My whole life my hair has always had a red tone to it and now it is just blonde and dark ash blonde!  I love it!  I couldn't have asked for a better job done!  I have a small story about my hairs affairs. Just read below.

So things are a little settled down today.  I do have a DRs appointment today.  I hope to have some progressing news to give, but I wouldnt expect much.  I think Atalee wants to stay in and I don't blame her!  It is hard being a woman!

Oh, Nathan did get to take Reilly to work yesterday.  He could tell that I was stressed and it was great of him to help out.  I needed the time alone.  Anyway, when Reilly got back he told me about how he got to sit in a blackhawk helicopter. Now how many 4yr olds can say that!


MY HAIR PROBLEM

In the beginning there was TOO BLONDE.......

 

 

 

Then there was TOO BLUE!!!!

 

 

THEN THERE WAS TOO PURPLE!!!! ( LORD HELP ME!!!!!)

I know it is hard to believe...but.....the two below look better here than they did at the salon!  There were patches of dark purple and red like a plum!

 

 

Sunday Salon Results(actually the pictures below make it look lighter than it really was):


Wednesday Results:
I am working on a better picture, but I didnt have my hair fixed, but you get the color anyway!

 

 

moral of the story....

 

LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE!!!!