Joshua Warren Scoville Diggins: Just the facts

Carrie and I started our adventure as parents of a newborn and a two year old a few days ago. Needless to say, we're adjusting and busy. Carrie will do a full post when we start to catch up on sleep, but until then here are the one sentence answers to common questions and the all important pictures.

Q: Give us the basics.
A: His name is Joshua Warren Scoville Diggins, born 12/24/09 at 12:19 in the morning. 21 inches long, 8 lbs exactly.

Q: Describe his birth in one word.
A: Quick! Labor started at 5 pm that night at our house and he was out shortly after midnight. We arrived at the hospital at 10:45 pm so, this one was super quick. Before we went, Carrie's Mom told us a few stories about women giving birth in the car, she even tossed us a blanket on our way out the door ,"Just in case". None of this was comforting.

Q:How's Mom doing?
A: Like nothing even happened. No drugs, No inducing, super fast recovery. My wife does a lot of amazing things, but this one takes the cake.

Q: How's big sister doing?
A: Again, like nothing even happened. She's not jealous, she treats Josh just like she treats every other child, she completely ignores them and goes about her own business like they don't exist. We've gone out of our way to introduce her to Josh, but as of now she just doesn't care, and that's just fine.

Q: How's the little guy? What's he like?
A: The first completely mellow member of our family. Very healthy, cries in spots, but mostly a very content child. When he's awake he has to be held, that means hanging out with him at all hours of the night. Hold him and you won't have any problems, sit him in the bassenet/bouncer and you will have problems. Other then that I am marveling at our good fortune with this one, and he's a Handsome Devil too!

Q: Any Scholarship offers yet?
A: A few, but we're holding out for BYU and Penn State and then it's going to be a tough call.

Our Christmas Eve Baby!

Dad hanging out with the kids on Christmas Day

Josh is working on his first tan.

Carrie later on after giving birth. Yup, not even 24 hours later. My wife is the Rocky of Childbirth, she can take absolutely anything and just keep going. ( Ivan Drago Voice) She is like piece of Iron.

Our peaceful, mellow child.

Time is Up!

Well, after months and months of waiting, we have finally reached the due date! And you though I meant we had the baby - sorry, no. Actually, with all of our false alarms this time around, we are both more than shocked to be just a home chilling right now. I had our presents bought & wrapped weeks ago, hospital bags in car, Cami's bags labeled with each item that was in them etc., but to no avail. Over the weekend, we had some pre-labor symptoms that had all of my sisters thinking we'd be done by Sunday for sure, and us to for that matter. I think we are almost to the point of just letting loose here, not constantly picking up & doing wash so their won't be a stitch of laundry, etc. Maybe if the house gets a little messy, then that will be the time to go into labor - who knows? So while we try to keep busy here, just though I'd let you know - I am officially 40 weeks! And Merry Christmas! (As for actual news, we have another doctors appt. tomorrow, where I am sure I'll have to set an induction date, so I'll post that when it happens.)

I'm in labor...just kidding!

Well, I just wanted to let anyone who might be wondering know....I'm still pregnant! Not that this is a big deal, and not that we won't have the baby in the next two weeks, but clearly yesterday was not the big day. In honor of this, I will post a picture of me still pregnant. This photo isn't the best quality, but I realize I haven't documented this pregnancy as well (guess I had other things to keep me busy...active 2 year old) so there isn't much to chose from in the last week. Alas, this was the same outfit I was wearing yesterday on our trip to the hospital. Chris was kind enough to say that it was just a dry run - now we know we can get there, as well as my parents out to watch Cami, before I have the baby, right? I guess I should have paid better attention the wise warning from my older sister about the severity of pain and closeness of contractions during her false labor. Truly though, you can probably tell I am still confused by the whole thing, but after a day of contractions, we are no closer to seeing little Josh yet. So, oh well...back to square one on the labor front! And Merry Christmas everyone!

Mega Post - and the return of Chris's Thoughts.

We're back to posting once a month and I think that's pretty darn good! So in honor of our newfound consistency I give you a mega blog post complete with pictures and updates on everyone. We call this picture "Presents Overload" I used to think that if your birthday was in November of December you got jipped on on presents because of the holidays. This is not the case. Cami turned two on the 15th and she was quickly overwhelmed with presents at her birthday party.

Here's Cami and Carrie blowing out the candles on her birthday cake. I'd like to mention that the cake was made entirely by Dad...what a great Dad!

One of Cami's presents was a Little Einstiens sticker book. The book has about 700 stickers, 350 of which she immediately ripped out and pasted all over the house. The first to go were all the music notes. If you want to know what watching this is like just stare at this picture for the next two hours while repeating to yourself ," Music Notes!!! More Music Notes!!" In a toddler voice.

It was sudden and unexpected...but Carrie has been shrunk..

Clifford for Halloween. Thank you Grandma for getting her to stand still and put on her hood.

Cami update: As we mentioned above the Ciabatta Princess ( Carrie's nickname not mine) has turned two. I like to think that when you're two you are making decisions that you stick with the rest of your life. If this is true than Cami has decided to own a large red dog and become an Olympic swimmer.

I'm not sure that there is another little girl that asks for "Play in Water" and "Take a Bath" more than Cami. For her birthday activity we took her to Lawrence to play in their indoor kids pool. Even though we had to wait by the poolside for a half hour while they cleared some kids breakfast from earlier out of the pool, it was worth the wait because she was as happy as could be once she got in. ( And we stayed away from that part of the pool...Carrie always germ conscious, had to be told several times things like , "I think there's plenty of chlorine" and "I'm sure it was all over there, we're good")

The Clifford obsession continues. For those not familiar Cami watches PBS's Clifford every day. It's part of her morning routine, wake up, have some milk & cereal, and watch Clifford. I thought this was somewhat unhealthy until she started repeating the things the kids on the show were saying. Things like , "Thank you", "I'm so sorry" " Excuse me" and " I love you Clifford...the Big Red Dog" Between having a good Mom and watching Clifford we're raising quite the polite little girl, I'm very proud of her.

Carrie update: 36 weeks pregnant....exactly one month to go from today.....I don't like to often share the things I pray about with others but I pray almost everyday for this boy to come early. This needs to end. Their are great things about pregnancy, and baby is doing fantastic, which reminds me......

Mini update: Josh - 36 weeks along and the Diggins boy is healthy and going strong. We've had our baby name for a while now but for those who don't know or haven't asked our son's name will be Joshua Warren Scoville Diggins. Such a long name for such a small guy, but we'll just call him Josh for short, most of the free world will know him as Josh Diggins and nobody will suspect just a mouthful of a name lerks beneath. Josh keeps himself busy sleeping during the day and rolling around in Mommy's tummy at night. Normal baby things....and I'm sure he's dreaming of football right now, probably getting the basic of the spread offense down so he's nice and prepared for the game against Utah in 2032.

Back to the Carrie update: Anyway Carrie has been doing very well this pregnancy, but there are a few things going on right now that might kill her husband. #1 We're nesting on steroid...the whole house is clean, top to bottom. I've repainted four pieces of furniture and counting, our basement which was once all just storage is now a large room suitable for supervised toddler play. We have plans to paint two more rooms that I know of. Josh's room is set up and decorated, we have everything ready for him and a hospital bag ready to go a month away, I've changed out all the lights in the house and replaced them with the spiral kind because that's all anyone sells anymore. I keep thinking the projects will end and eventually we will be prepared, but I'm starting to see that end will never come. It's just a dream until the baby comes...please come soon baby. #2 Gestational diabetes. I'm not even sure Carrie is Diabetic during pregnancy. This time and with Cami we had it, and both times Carrie's sugars were fantastic almost everyday regardless of what she eats...I think the doctors just do this to her to make some additional money selling overpriced diabetic supplies and to torture her in the last two months of pregnancy just to see how she reacts. I think maybe she signed up for some sort of study where they see how far they can push pregnant ladies before they crack. Either way, meal time is alternately depressing and infuriating when you can't have sweets and your pregnant....or your trying to feed the pregnant lady.

On the positive side Carrie is still absolutely beautiful. Also she's been able to do some good graphic design work for her company and She's continued the project of digital scrapbooking the past five years of our life. It's looking great and the printed scrapbook so far is Cami's favorite book. We'll have to post those pages sometime....just not today.

Chris update/thoughts: Last week I was shocked to learn I need glasses. Just for reading.working/driving for long peroids of time. No you may not see the pictures. Events wise I pretty much keep to the work/home/church routine. So here are my recent thoughts:

I recently made a bet that will result in me running 13 miles in St. George at the end of march if I lose. I've never wanted to lose a bet as much as I want to lose this one. Sorry for the lack of detail, most people won't care and I'm not getting into the details with everyone. I just want to say that I want everyone who is reading this that knows Joe Dredge to ask him ,"What is it going to take to get Chris Diggins to run 13 miles?" Just do it...you'll be happy if you do.

I'm not a passive watcher of football, regardless if I am by myself or with others I usually find myself cheering or chanting along. Anyway, one of the positive side effects of this is that Cami has learned a great variety of cheers. My favorite is right now she does the Seven Nation Army - OOOO-o-o-o-o-OOOOO Chant. It's awsome. We get that rolling when Penn State is on Defense and things are going well. Very proud papa.

Speaking of football, somewhat boring season. This season is a lot like one of those years where nothing really bad or really fantastic happens. You're just happily living life and you're a little dissappointed that when it comes time to write the Christmas card there is not much to write that you think someone else would find very interesting. Still, you dodn't recall it being a bad year. Just contently uneventful. This college football season for Penn State was contently uneventful. They won the games they were suppost to win and lost to the teams that were better than them. They scheduled 10-2 and got 10-2. BYU pretty much the same with a few more ups and downs. The Oklahoma game is the best thing I can remember them doing...and then I watch the Florida State game, it it evens out. Solid achievement year after year, nothing to complain about, but nothing to write home about either.

Now for all the women still reading after the football paragraph, a word about So You Think you Can Dance and Twilight. Carrie and I started watching SYTYCD over the summer and we're hooked. I never thought one of these dance shows would do it for me, but this one is filling the American Idol void quite nicely. I'm pulling for Ryan and Ashley. They should both make the top 10 and I like Ryan because he dances like a man. If I had to call a winner right now I think it's Kathryn or Jakob. Haven't seen Twilight yet but hope to do so over the holiday. No Team Jacob or Team Edward here, if it's possible to be on team Volteri then I am on that team and I'm excited for seeing them come out in the movie. What most guys don't know is inside that soap opera/chick flik there is a superhero movie just begging to get out. I hope they get there due.

That's all for now. Until next month....

Picture Pages

Usually I'm not one to rake a bunch of leaves. It think it's better for the lawn to let them sit....or it's just much MUCH easier for me. Either way I came home this afternoon and found a bunch of leaves in my backyard and a bored two year old. So Naturally...... We raked them up and had a little bit of fun....

Posed for some pictures.....

Threw the leaves around.....

And generally had a good time.

Eventually Cami convinced me to join in the fun....

And then she watched as I finished cleaning up. Very exciting afternoon for Cami.

Also, last week we took a trip to Nauvoo for Katie's wedding. It was almost five years ago that Carrie and I were married there. It was a little less cold this time around, but last time we were a little less busy.

Here's Cami trying to get Mom to hurry up outside the temple.

She did stop running around long enough to take a picture.

This one pretty much sums up the conditions after the wedding. A little windy, wet, and cold.

Here's Cami in the Nauvoo Family life center. It was less windy inside, so she was much more happy.

Riding the pine next to a buggy.

Mommy snagged her for a picture. If you noticed a pattern , you're right, it is very difficult to get Cami to stop and take a picture. For every good one we get there are at least 7 or 8 we can't use.

In the blacksmith shop.

With her Cousins Lexi and Ashlyn.

In front of the Blacksmith's fire with the Coopers. Cami was much more interested in the fire than in the picture I'm afraid. However, after a solid week of picture taking Cami now says ," Smiles!" Every time we take out the camera. I'm glad she's got that down, now if she would only sit still....

It's a BOY!

Well, yesterday we found out that our December baby will be a little boy. Chris is now randomly shouting "Boy!" around the house, or chanting a little "B-O-Y" song. They said everything looked good, and the baby currently weights 10 oz. I'll post a picture later, but just wanted to spread the news, for those who haven't encountered my incredibly excited husband via Internet or real life yet!

Almost Half Way

So I still have another week and a half till I'm actually 20 weeks, but it is so close that I'm getting very excited! Mingo (that is what Chris calls the baby in utero - actually so do I now too & Cami - she says "Mingo Baby" - it will be easier to consider actual names when we find out the gender) has been very evident for a while now, so I thought I'd post the belly picture too. I actually started feeling the baby move about a month ago too, so I've felt pretty pregnant the last month (though of course that part is great). On the very much upside, I have felt SO much better lately, with only the occasional nausea. My house is finally acceptably clean & I only have to take a nap every few days. We will find out if it's a boy or girl at 20 weeks too, unless Chris can convince the doctor at our appointment in 5 days to let us get the ultrasound a few days early.

As for the rest of us, we have just been enjoying a fun Kansas summer. Over the Fourth of July we went to several museums & enjoyed good family time swimming. Cami really loves the water, but constantly wants in and out if there's no zero depth entry ("out, out" quickly followed by a short run & "backee in water"). It's hard to imagine her getting any more active, but she is very fun. She is talking a lot now & actually speaking in full sentences some of the time. She also recently said all of her ABC's, loves to count (she's up to twelve, which is always followed by "sixteem" - too cute to correct), and knows almost all of her shapes. More than anything though, she adores Clifford the Big Red Dog, and is constantly hounding us to read the same two Clifford books we have to her, or to watch the TV show, which she is only allowed in the morning (or if one of us is really tired - let's be real :)). We are still a long way off from the birth of the baby, but as Cami is pretty much running the show these days, I think it will be quite the shocker for her. Oh, I am also in the process of converting her room from baby to toddler, mostly an excuse for new decor, so I will take pics when that is complete. Here is a swinging picture though, from our family photo shoot a little while back, & something else that Cami loves - such a cheeser.