Champs

In the spirit of continued Victories this post is about the Humble Area First Baptist Church (HAFBC) Men's Softball team.

I recently signed up for the Church's men's softball team for the summer season. It was probably not the best time of year to join the team as almost every day this summer there has been a heat advisory and ozone watches.

Our league is not super competitive and everyone on the team is at a minimum athletic. I made it to every game but one. In our second or third week I was called away to the hospital after Lisa's Chick-fil-a episode and missed half that game and the second game. The trick was on Lisa though since I smelled of death after running around in 100+ degree weather and not showering.

We did not win the regular season as we split games with another team and they had the tiebreaker, but we did get the regular season run title and won the playoffs. For the record we were 2-1 against the regular season champs with the playoffs included.

Here is the team after we upset the top seed.


Here is the boy with the trophy. The trophy is "toddler-sized"


For the record, HAFBC hasn't won the championship in 8 years and I am 1 for 1. Fitting

Prepping for Nolan

We are on baby watch these days. Lisa is full term and we are just waiting for Nolan to make his arrival. Lisa has been nesting and I have been doing the minimum amount of work required of me to help her nest.

Also in preparation we took a Breast Feeding class and took BC to the hospital for a new sibling class.

Here are some pics from the sibling class.


The following are Colin learning to change a diaper.



As you can see Lisa had to do most of the work. I guess Colin learned from me that if you pretend you don't know how to do something, you don't have to do it.

Colin puts in the finishing touches.

This is Colin practicing holding the baby while still watching TV (a skill that I have mastered)





I thought this advertisement was fitting for Lisa to stand in front of (No, not the food sign on the left). We were at the mall trying to walk out the baby. On the elevator ride to the first floor, Lisa had a pretty good contraction that made her double over. It pretty much freaked out everyone on the elevator.

Elevator rides with Pregnant Lisa always make me think of that one Saved by the Bell episode where they get stuck in the elevator after an earthquake and the pregnant girl goes into labor. Hmmm, that gives me an idea on how to get Lisa to go into labor. I just need her to get stuck in an elevator . . .

Pending Guest Post

I am publishing this post as a place holder for a Guest Post. Mimi Robinson just got back from a Cruise and she is going to write a guest post on it for the follower(s).

Waffle House

Lisa and I are fans of Waffle House. I like the fact that we can feel comfortable at Vic and Anthony's or a Waffle House. Now my wallet might enjoy Waffle House more than Vic and Anthony's, but my credit card company doesn't.

Now for our loyal followers (you know who you are) you probably recall that we had a creepy encounter at a Waffle House in the past (Trip to Austin - Post). That one creepy encounter didn't stop us from going to Waffle House again. We went just the other day and the boy had a great time this time.



The boy really liked that the waitress gave him a hat.



He was a little concerned when he realized the cook no longer had anything on his head to prevent his hair from falling in the food. I reminded him that we had already eaten, so it no longer mattered to us.

New Audiophile

The boy really likes headphones and music. We are going to have to get him a pair soon.

Astros Game

After running the Astros 5k last month, I got two free tickets to an Astros game. So Lisa, the boy, and I went to Minute Maid Park to catch the 'Stros take on the bad guys.

Here are some pictures from the souvenir store at Minute Maid.






The boy liked the 'Stros hat and the monkey's that were hugging him.

Nothing really exciting happened during the game. It was actually quite boring. I just wanted to share some pics.

Barking

Barking, Barking and more Barking. Our dogs have a tendency to bark too much. Tyson and Fenton are not fans of the Chihuahuas behind our house and they are not too friendly with Lyndsay's newest dog(s). They make it known that they are the masters of their yard (and Fall Creek in general) via their vicious barks. I am not home during the days, so I don't notice it as much, but they bark enough to wake the kid during nap times and probably annoy the neighbors.

Don't get em wrong, we have great dogs. They play nice with the boy, they are potty trained, don't destroy things and in all regards are great dogs. Their only vice is barking. So we decided it was time to try to stop them from barking. Short of removing their voice (or bark?) boxes, we tried some commercially available remedies.

Last year we borrowed a neighbor's shock bark collar and put it on Fenton. After fiddling with it to finally get it to work, Fenton barked, freaked out, peed all over the place and started wimpering. The wimpering triggered another shock and the cycle continued. We quickly got the collar off of him and gave that idea up.

Recently we got spray bark collars. These collars spray citronella in the dogs face when they bark. These things really work. Tyson doesn't bark at all with the collar and Fenton only occasionally barks with it.

The new collars are not perfect fixes. For one, the dogs know when they have them on and when they are turned on. So unlike other fixes, this isn't something that can be phased out over time, and we need to replace the citronella and batteries periodically. It is a small price to pay to limit the dogs barking. Luckily unlike the shock collar, the citronella is more annoying to them than painful, so if they really need to bark they can (like at an intruder).

The other problem is that sometimes they miss fire from load noises other than barking. I have come up to Tyson to give him some love and it goes off, or the kid can set it off while playing with them. Luckily it is just citronella and not a shock.

The other day, Lisa and I were taking a nap with the boys in the bed. A little background, Lisa is about 8 months pregnant now and has a tendency to snore. As Tyson snuggled up to her for the nap, her snoring/labored breathing set off the spray collar spraying Tyson and her in the face. It was hilarious. Needless to say, the collars now come off before they get in bed.