thanks for all the congrats I do so love these birds, but only 3 of the 5 eggs hatched but maybe she'll be lucky on her next nesting that they'll all hatch.

Layla June is a beautiful name. Congratulations!! Sleepless nights, cracked nipples, & more love than you could ever imagine! Exciting stuff! If you have any baby questions, ask me. I'm very experienced at this point, everything from reflux to engorgement. I'm sure you must be in total awe of the love you just gave birth too. Again concratulations!

TOS- First off I was calling him because my grandmother was put in the hospital because of an emergency and I was letting him know that we would be leaving when I picked him up straight from the park to the hospital over an hour away. I never call him EVER! I feel that's his time with his daughter and I have him every other day of the week I do not need to talk to him while he is with her. I do have full right to call him in case of an emergency i.e. family emergency or if I am going into labor. I am not one of those people who would call over and over again apparently like your ex's current wife. I find that rude no matter what, I would simply leave a message and be done with it. As for parenting, I personally think that no mother has the right to deny the father of her child any knowledge in regards to his child especially health. He was there every day while they were married and for a little after the divorce until the Other Man she cheated on him with moved in with her. Then he was never aloud to see his daughter, one excuse after another until it just became an outright NO with no rhyme or reason why. He would ask her to pick up his daughter for a few hours to do something and she would say no, I would have to sit there and hear the heartache in his voice every time to why he couldn't have her. This was after we got together but according to his old roommate is was typical of her to do that, or say he could have her he would drive what was then almost an hour and a half to pick her up only to be turned down at the door. My husband has sensitive skin on his arms and with certain laundry detergent or soaps he will break out very, very badly. He brought it up thinking if it was the same thing maybe it might be just the detergent she was using. That is might also require some topical cream to ease the itching he gets when he use to break out. Come to find out it was heat rash, apparently they don't use the a/c in the house and no a/c in the car because BM smokes. And anyone who lives in Florida knows that's a big deal with the heat and humidity here. TOS my DH loves his daughter very much and tries on a daily basis to be a part of her life but BM at this point doesn't allow for it. Now I am not saying he's perfect and for a while after being denied seeing her for a year he stopped trying and would only call to talk to her on the phone, and if was in the area seeing family he would call to see if he could stop by. There was a Christmas where we dropped off presents at midnight because BM wouldn't let him see his daughter for a little just so she could open them. So yes there was a time when he didn't see her, he got tired of trying and tired of being hurt every day. Finally getting fed up we moved and hour and half away from my family just so we could be near her and to pursue a court ordered visitation she would have to work with. I am not saying this out of anger but out of sympathy but I really wish you could understand that not all fathers are bad and not all SM are out to ruin the lives of there children. I have my moments where I don't know if I can handle the stress and my anger might get the better of me, but that is in regards to his ex not his daughter. But never has his daughter seen me angry because I am never around her, his visitations with his daughter are just that time with her not with me. When she comes to our house I am sure it will be more difficult but I will work through it, I may leave for a few hours to get away. But I will be ok with it because my husband is showing me that he is a great father by being responsible for his daughter and not simply walking away and not looking back. I have no problems with the child support, I think he pays a very reasonable amount even though he differs on that opinion. I just simply remind him how expensive children are to raise and how quickly they need things.

Deep in my heart, I'm thinking that if I can keep the Better Boy purchased plant happy enough, we might get a ripe tomato earlier than ever before. Only that one tomato plant raised from seed has managed to flower before Super Bowl Sunday and might produce fruit almost as quickly as the purchased plant, but others that are equally large might bloom soon. Some of them are getting that look about them. If only the weather would settle down a little so I could start the whole routine of carrying plants out into the sunlight. I am concerned about the chickens getting the green plants, which has not been a problem in the past. This group of chickens, largely new to us last Spring, are different though---they love green plants and travel far and wide, free-ranging about 4 times farther than any other flock we've ever had, looking for greens and insects daily. I'm probably going to have to carry the flats out to the garden so I can lock out the chickens. In the past, I just put the flats on a table and the birds left them alone. I don't think that will work this year. Our weather is so crazy. I'm looking forward to the warming trend that begins in earnest tomorrow, but not looking forward to the escalating fire danger. Our soil is warmer than usual for this time of the year, and our forecast high for Monday is 77. That seems like it would be a good day to plant onions if I am at home. I hate planting in cold weather, and this year I think I won't even have to do it---at least not with the onions.