Halloween and Catch Up

Alright. We haven't had a computer for about 2 months and we finally got a new one that works! Yay! So for the last couple of months...

I survived my first season coaching volleyball at Ft. Thomas. I had so much fun but it was definitely a learning experience. I learned that I have a long way to go to be a great coach. Isn't it amazing how different 8th graders are from 9th graders?!

Collin is working his brains out. He loves his job and is getting more and more confidence in his EMT skills. I am so proud of him!

Jorgan is growing like a weed! She can sit up, and roll completely over, and she got her first tooth! She is such an angel and I am having such a fun time being her mother. She was a flower for Halloween and a pretty cute one at that! We made the rounds to all the grandparents and she put on a show smiling and talking to them all. It was fun showing her off in her costume.

Goings On

Another month(ish) has flewn by and like always I am behind on the times. Poor Jorgan's world has been rocked this past week. Not only did she get put on the bottle (that whole experience has been just as traumatic for me too I think) but she got her first ear infection. The poor babe has not been feeling well, but we saw Dr. Batty and she's on antibiotics now and hopefully she'll be back to her happy self shortly.


Collin started at the San Carlos EMS yesterday as an EMT! Yeah! I am so proud of him. He had a great first shift and we managed to go a full 24 hours at home without him. Boy were we happy to see him this morning!

I started coaching again. This year I am the JV volleyball coach at Ft. Thomas. Thats right... I've crossed over to the dark side. :) Its fun and the girls are great, but it is a whole different world from Jr. High. I hope I don't botch it too bad. Its keeping me busy and Jorgan is having fun hanging out with Grandma and Olivia every day.

We had so much fun at the Pioneer Day Celebration. My Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve and family came for the festivities and it was fun to see them all. My cousin Jen had a little baby boy, Colt, about a month after Jorgan and he is so stinkin' cute! He was five weeks early so Jorgan looks like a tank compared to him but I bet he'll outgrow her before too long.



Here's Jorgan with her Great-Grandma Katy and Great-Grandpa Crockett at the football field. She loves these two people! I was worried about how she would handle the fireworks but she slept right through them. I guess it was all too exciting for her.

My dad and Evan along with Uncle Steve and cousins Zack and David sang in the program and it sounded so good! They're rock stars!


The next weekend we had a fun time with everyone in Collin's family. We had a party at the Thatcher park and took family pictures (Thanks Trey!). Here's my two favorite people... Doesn't Collin look like he's having fun?

Summer has been fun but I always like it when school starts and we have a little bit of a schedule. At least this way I remember what day it is halfway through the week!

I found this picture and it cracked me up! This is what Collin typically looks like when he gets home in the evernings. Phone in one hand, babe in the other.

Lots and Lots

Sorry I've been a blog slacker, but summer has started and so has all the pandemonium that goes with it. We have been having such a fun time with little Jorgan. She is wonderful! We blessed her on Sunday and it was so special. Collin gave her such a sweet blessing and thanks to the tons of family who came to support us. It wouldn't have been half as special without you there! We had a great lunch at Chris and Debbie's (Thanks again!) and took a few pictures...
Jorgan got to wear my blessing dress and that was so fun. Thanks mom for digging it out of boxes! And thanks Trish for teaching me how to make bows!

The Ft. Thomas Fire Dept. participated in a challenge at home depot to cut open a car with a DeWalt reciprocating saw and the got 2nd place to Safford by a fraction of a second. Good job guys! It makes me feel safe to know that our fire department is full of such capable men. Isn't Collin cute?!

A couple of days ago I decided I needed to have a "photo shoot" with Jorgan. A few of them turned out pretty good, some of them are just cute because they are of her not because of the photography. She is such a sweet heart!

First Month

Jorgan turned a month old on the 3rd. Can you believe it?! She is on the verge of smiling and has seriously found her voice. She growls and coos and is just so much fun. Collin and I are loving it. Feeling like someone is going to come and pick her up is slowly starting to fade and it is sinking in that we truly are parents and this is forever. Its a good thing she's so dang cute! Well, here's some pictures of our baby girl.

Piano Lessons

Okay, in order to help out a little bit I am going to start giving piano lessons again. If you or anyone you know would be interested in taking some lessons let me know! Adults, little kids, etc. It matters not to me. I would even be willing to go up to Pima and do them there for those of you who don't want to drive the half an hour to my house. Leave a comment if you are interested and we'll figure out the details. Thanks!

The First Two Weeks

Wow! Has time flewn by! I can't believe little Jorgan has already been here two weeks. Isn't it funny how pregnancy seems to last forever and then once you get the little dears here time doesn't seem to stop. It has been an adventure and so fun. We've only had a couple sleepless nights, she usually sleeps pretty good, and we are all adjusting well. A couple days after she was born she started turning yellow... So when we went in for her first check up they had to prick her little foot (I always kind of rolled my eyes and the moms that said they would start bawling if their little one was being hurt... but I guess I can't roll my eyes anymore because I am one) and decided that she was jaundiced enough to have to wear a bili-blanket. She got to sit in this fun thing all day for a couple of days. I secretly think my mom loved it because we couldn't really put her down the machine was so bulky so we pretty much had to spoil her and hold her all day long.

I have had so much help and feel so greatful that we live close to all of our families. My mom was a fixture at my house for the first few days and I don't know how I would have done it without her. She came and helped me give her her first bath so I wouldn't drown the poor baby. I'm sure Jorgan appreciated that one as well...Its amazing how slippery they get!

Isn't she cute! We also have been having fun getting her all dressed up! Its great to put on her little bracelets and headbands and put her in some cute outfits. Its like having a real little doll to play dress up with.

My Granma Katy also came and helped out and it was so fun to have her here. She helped me give her a bath and rocked and sang to her while I took a shower (I think I have totally taken those for granted the first 22 years of my life). Thanks alot Grandma!

It is so fun to watch her little personality start to emerge. She makes some of the funniest faces and she grunts and growls constantly. She's an impatient little bugger too. She'll make one of her faces and growl at me if I don't move fast enough when she's hungry. She gets the hiccups constantly and always gets this perturbed look on her face after each one. Hopefully I'll be able to capture some looks with the camera because they are classic!

Jorgan Kimberly Claridge

Jorgan Kimberly Claridge arrived Sunday, May 3rd, at 7:18 pm weighing 7 lbs. 3 oz. She is such a sweetheart! I was supposed to be induced that morning at about 7 but about 3:30 I thought my water broke so we headed up to the hospital. It hadn't but they admitted me anyways and started to induce me at 6:30 (They didn't even have to use pitocin!) I don't really know the timeline because when you are in those little rooms or pacing the hallways you have NO sense of time.... I finally got to 3 (it took hours) and Dr. Tran came in and really broke my water and then the party began. No sooner had he walked out of the room then the contractions started coming HARD and fast. I thought "Oh this is what its supposed to feel like" because up until then it hadn't been that bad. I was supposed to wait until I was 5 to get an epidural but because I was getting NO break almost between contractions they said I was a special case and got to get one at 4 (I don't know how anyone does this without one!). The anesthesiologist came in and I went from 4 to 7 while she was giving me the epidural which was FAST. Then the drama started... The baby's heart beat started to plummet into the 40s and my blood pressure skyrocketed. We were the only ones having a baby in there at the time so all of a sudden EVERYONE was in the delivery room with us. They paged Dr. Tran and he came in and stared at the monitor for another 45 minutes and as soon as I was almost 10 they had me start pushing. I was trying not to panic at this point because he got out the vacuum and was pulling so hard to try and get her out fast enough that he broke 3 of them. And then about the time her head was coming out her shoulder got lodged and Amy Ollerton (one of my WONDERFUL nurses) had to jump on top of me and start pushing on my stomach to get her out. Can I just say again how much I love an epidural! When she came out she had the cord wrapped around her neck and her body and she was unresponsive so they RAN her over to the table and started trying to get her to cry. My mom parked herself by the little station and once they got her to respond we told everyone what her name was and my mom turned on the water works! I'm so glad we got to surprise her with that. Anyways, she is fine now and we have a beautiful little girl who is such a blessing in our lives. Here's the token new little family picture where the dad is tired but beaming and the mom looks like she has just been hit by a truck. Can I just tell you for my own dignity that the reason I am SO puffy is because they pumped me full of 5 LITERS of fluid! I was swimming!




Collin is such a good dad and Jorgan already has him wrapped around her little finger. It just melts my heart to see how gentle he is with his little daughter.

The grandparents and a few other visitors came in that night and it was so fun to get to show her off to everyone.


We are adjusting well and she really is such a good baby. I am so grateful that everything went well and that our beautiful little girl is finally here with us!

Collin's EMT Graduation

Collin has just graduated from his EMT class. We are SO proud of him. He has worked so hard and has done so well. He was a pretty stressed person this week. That was a mean trick of me to play on him having a baby the same week as finals but it all worked out in the end. We love you babe! Good job!

P.S. And we would greatly appreciate it if you could inform your teenage daughter that her bra strap is showing. Thanks!

This was on my aunt's blog and it cracked me up! She got it from another blog but its too good not to share!

Dear Grown Woman at Walmart,

Please, I beg of you, for all that is decent in the world, stop wearing your pajama pants out in public. Enough already. I don't know at what point in your life you lost all self-respect but, please, try to get some of it back. You can start by putting a little bit of thought into what you wear out in public. How you represent yourself, that is. A pair of blue jeans and a simple white t-shirt go a long way. Not to mention a clean pair of shoes.Which brings me to my next request: Please stop wearing those over-sized, extra fluffy pink and/or cheetah print slippers out in public as well. Return them to the 14 year old girl you borrowed them from and advise her not to wear them out either. They are referred to as "bedroom slippers" for a reason.You're "relaxed" style of dress is not cute, trendy or at all endearing. No one is admiring you and saying, Gee, I wish I had the courage and self-confidence to go out in public looking like I just rolled out of bed after a hard night of drinking. Trust me.I'm not talking about when you're walking the dog, getting the mail or picking the paper up from your front lawn. Those can easily be classified as "Oops! I didn't expect to run into anyone" moments. We all have them. What I'm talking about are the trips to the grocer, the bank or, Heaven forbid, the mall. Please, show some mercy!Now go, dust off your self-respect, run a comb through your hair and put on a decent pair of pants and some real shoes. You will truly feel better about yourself and be glad you did.Thank you!

Signed,
The General Public

P.S. And we would greatly appreciate it if you could inform your teenage daughter that her bra strap is showing. Thanks!

Weekend in Pinetop

We had a chance to go up to Pinetop and hang out at a cabin with Pork and Chelle this last weekend.

It was so much fun and a much needed get-away. Thanks guys! Collin found a couple of new hobbies and I found out that I shouldn't let him within a mile of any slot machine... :)

We played darts,

Wii, and the guys soaked it up in the hot tub (I am looking forward to the day when I can get back in one of those...) and just relaxed. It was pretty cold up there. It snowed the night before we got up there and it was trying to snow again as we were pulling out of town, so we didn't get outside much. Emily did find a new friend though.

It was so fun to spend some time with Collin and just hang out together before the baby comes and our lives are turned upside down! I sure love him!