Oh, Lisa!!! He's wonderful! So much hair and just as cute as can be. Congrats from the bottom of my heart.

Congratulations Lisa!!! He is so adorable. And what a proud papa your hubby is. Glad to hear that everyone is doing well.

I went diving Sat. and had my first diving shark encounter. It was about 6-7 feet long, but while I was busy getting my dive buddy's attention, the shark swam away really fast. It seemed pretty scared of me! The dives were a lot of fun otherwise. Sunday I cleaned the house and did a lot of chores. I've been loving watching the Olympics too!

Michele, I got certified to dive 3 years ago, and to date have completed 20 dives (actually not that many dives for 3 years, but it's an expensive hobby!). Most have been in the Gulf of Mexico nearby, and I've also dove a few springs. I love seeing all the marine life - it is just a totally different world down there! It's one of those things that 10 years ago I never would have imagined my overweight, out-of-shape, land-locked self doing.

Jessica, I'm glad your knees are doing better!

Robin, nice NSV!

Meg, glad your vacation was so nice. And you only gained 2 1/2 lbs, 1 1/2 lbs of which came off already. Wow. I'm always amazed by your discipline.

Summer over? Bah! It's just getting started here! Oh joy, 2 more months of unbearably hot, muggy days, $300 electric bills, and being constantly on edge b/c it's hurricane season. Why did I move to Florida? Oh yeah, it's paradise and the beach and diving. I guess it balances out.

Congratulations, Lisa. What a perfect little bundle.

Congratulations Lisa!
He is precious!!

Lisa How beautiful! and all that hair!

Can I offer a new mother advice? If anyone asks if they can help, say "why yes, thank you".

Congratulations on your, new, beautiful little boy!

Congratulations, Lisa!! He's darling--so much hair!!

LISA...I can tell....that kid has cross-country legs! .... Congratulations

ANNE...your kiddo will be just fine! ...just a little bump in the road then he will shoot up again!

...Bye everybody....going out of town for work for a couple of weeks or so....I may or may not have computer access. Be good!

Congratulations, LisaMarie! He's beautiful! You must be so happy!

We had a beautiful warm day here in northern CA. It was in the mid-80's; just perfect. I sat outside to eat my lunch and almost broke a sweat (of course, I was still in my long pants and drinking hot tea, but at least I wasn't wearing a sweater )! My jaw is also feeling better but I'll definitely be glad to get these temporary crowns off and the permanent ones put on. I've planned a lot of soft food for this week. That and lemons. I guess another branch broke off the tree because eight lemons suddenly appeared on my counter on Friday. We don't drink lemonade so I'm trying to find other ways to use them. We also been getting a nice crop of beans and cherry tomatoes out of the garden, but not so much that I can't use them all up.

I also can't believe it's nearly the end of summer. And all the kids going off to college--I feel old! How did I get to be this old? I swear, last year I was 25!

Meg: You might be interested to know that I made your Fiber One Muffins with nonfat yogurt instead of buttermilk and they came out fabulous. Super light and fluffy--they really puffed up. I used a smidge less than 3/4 cup yogurt, instead of measuring it, I just weighed out 150 grams (one cup is about 227 grams). I also increased the amount of baking powder and baking soda since the yogurt is a little thicker and heavier than milk. And I added maybe 1/4 cup more boiling water to the Fiber One cereal and then mashed it up a bit with my wooden spoon to make sure all the water was absorbed really well. I hate to buy the buttermilk because I can never use it all up before it goes bad, so this is great alternative.

Megan: Hmmm, let me get this straight. You saw a really big shark and then it swam away before anyone else could see it? Sounds like "the one that got away" to me! Just kidding--your dive sounds awesome. I love fish and going to see them in aquariums and I've even managed to snorkle a few times, so diving does sound really fun to me. But I'm a little freaked out by the idea of being so far underwater and having to breathe from an oxygen tank (breathing through a snorkle tube takes a little effort for me--my first inclination is always to panic), so I'm not sure I'll ever get up the courage to do it.

Robin: What a nice compliment from your DH!

Wardhog: Sounds like you did the best you could under difficult circumstances with your inlaws. It's great that you are back on plan now.

Michelle: Good luck on the home renovations! They are always stressful; hopefully yours will go smoothly and you'll be back in your kitchen soon.

Anne: It definitely sounds like you have some legitimate reasons to be eating more. Some things are more important than losing weight. I don't know much about breast feeding, but I know you need to eat more when you do. Maybe if your body is putting the calories towards producing milk, then it isn't putting them on your hips. Good luck at the dentist--I'm not feeling very charitable towards dentists at the moment.

Hi everyone else!

To my 100lb clubber buddy and now my maintenance buddy, LisaMarie,

Congratulations times a million!!! I am sooo very happy for you, you can't imagine. I know how long you've wanted to become pregnant for. And now look at you - and him. Wow!!! He is something special. More then worth the wait. What a beauty!!! May he have a long and joyous life. Enjoy every precious moment with him, lucky little guy that he is.

Megan - your shark encounter sounds scary! I think diving would be fun, but DH is afraid to do it. We snorkeled when we were in Australia on our honeymoon, and I about drowned trying to figure out how to use the snorkel! Maybe I should learn to do that properly before attempting diving. (It turned out I had a broken snorkel.)

Barbara - you could make lemon sorbet with them . . . I used 6 Tbsp lemon juice making dinner last night, maybe I'll post my recipe. Or if you eat a lot of fish, lemon is always good there, or in a salad dressing. I hope your jaw feels better!

Things are okay over here. Work is picking up momentum. We're finally getting some tomatoes from our garden too! So far we've gotten a few Broadripple tomatoes, a few Wapsipinicon Peach tomatoes, and one Rutgers tomato. Yum! We have a whole lot of green ones on the plants too.

I started using http://caloriecount.about.com for food logging. It's actually pretty nice, if any of you are looking for an alternative to Fitday. It takes me about a quarter of the time to enter food as it used to in Fitday, especially for custom recipes.

Oops, it's time for more work!

I use calorie count, too. I like that it gives you a letter grade for each food and then for the day. I am such a geek.

WardHog - I like that too! For the past seven days I'm at an A-. One thing I think is weird is how it tracks the actual mass of what you ate in grams. Why on earth would anyone want to know that? Yesterday the number of grams of food I ate nearly matched the calories.

I had such a bad night's sleep last night! DS is taking care of the neighbor's hamsters while they are on vacation and he went last night for the first visit and couldn't get the key to work. DH went over and tried as well. I worried about those poor creatures all night!

This morning, I had a plan all set up. First, recheck the key. Second go across the street where the brother lives to see if he has a key. If he doesn't have a key, try the neighbor's cell phone to see if it is right (it's a 2 year old number and I think she gave the phone to her daughter and got herself a new one). If the cell # works, I was going to have her Fed Ex a key to us so we'd have it by tomorrow morning.

I called DS just now. He went and tried the key and this time it worked! I lost the sleep over nothing!

I like the new fitday. I tried the calorie count one and found that I had to click so many times to add a food...I'll give it a few days to see how I like it overall, but I do like the changes to fitday.

Good morning all,

I had much more energy yesterday and had a great gym workout. I got woken up by a huge storm in the middle of the night last night, so I'm hoping my energy holds. Also I love watching the Olympics too much - it's making me tired!

Allison, did you get more sleep last night? Those poor hampsters!

Jessica, I hope your DH is happy you're getting tomatoes finally! I actually think the scuba is easier than snorkel. If you get too curious about what's below you and stick your head down too far with the snorkel, you get water in it. As long as you keep your scuba regulator in your mouth, water doesn't get in there. I've choked on the snorkel too.

Barbara, it was a big shark, I swear it! It sounds like a very nice day in CA.

I did realize that the gym has finally cleared of all the college kids who were monopolizing my cardio machines (and having a frat party in the weightlifting session). Hooray for fall! I haven't noticed an "Olympic surge" yet.

Have a great Wednesday all!