Topics

2311

General Discussion / Great news as I remember the hay day

« on: March 01, 2023, 12:21:30 AM »

Snowpack continues to grow in California, Colorado River Basin

Deep snowpack has continued to accumulate and expand in California, the Great Basin and the Colorado River Basin, federal meteorologists reported Thursday. Following a series of severe storms that drenched the region earlier this winter, moderate systems with less moisture have yielded smaller but persistent gains, according to an update from the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS). Total “snow water equivalent” — the amount of water stored in snowpack — at a subset of monitoring stations in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona has reached the highest or second highest levels to date, NIDIS reported. Such accumulation is now 150 percent above the mid-February average at many of these stations, according to the agency.

2312

General Discussion / I was above the clouds at Tam but due to CA's crazy weather, it's covered in

« on: March 01, 2023, 12:13:10 AM »

..snow now. Below are the photos I took when I was above the clouds at Mt. Tam:









And now it's covered in snow:

2313

General Discussion / Cris Collinsworth was a good wide out but could never really trust his

« on: March 01, 2023, 12:00:24 AM »

...judgment due to this though... :

Never Forget When Cris Collinsworth Once Said He Was Into 14-Year-Old Girls Because He Could Trick Them

The 80’s were a wild time, and all the evidence you need of that is this clip of Cris Collinsowrth during his playing days.

The famed NBC Sunday Night Football commentator appeared during an interview while he played for the Cincinnati Bengals in a bizarre segment about being a sought after NFL bachelor and noted that the girls are into him because of the money, and that he preferred girls age 14-18 because it was “easy to trick them” because after maturing they realize there are better candidates than him.

Keep in mind, this was broadcasted on national television and nobody batted an eye.

"I like girls who aren't too bright because you can trick them a little bit"....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC8Elk1LRjs

2314

General Discussion / Time for cattle drumstick again & yes should come from between the 6th and 12th

« on: February 27, 2023, 11:54:22 PM »

ribs of the cow :

2315

General Discussion / Pretty sure Dok_Champa will say hell no to Barstow, CA's own Eddie's World's

« on: February 27, 2023, 11:43:35 PM »

..python jerky...

It's a bit pricey due to low supply...

2316

The Single & Dating Scenes / Isn't cushioning just another way of saying cheating?

« on: February 27, 2023, 11:09:54 PM »

2317

General Discussion / So one of my old home towns, Stockton will be destroyed huh?

« on: February 27, 2023, 11:03:54 PM »

California’s Next Flood Could Destroy One of Its Most Diverse Cities. Will Lawmakers Try to Save It?


In early 1862, a storm of biblical proportions struck California, dropping more than 120 inches of rain and snow on the state over two months. The entire state flooded, but nowhere was the deluge worse than in the Central Valley, a gash of fertile land that runs down the middle of the state between two mountain ranges. In the spring, as melting snow mixed with torrential rain, the valley transformed into “a perfect sea,” as one observer put it, vanishing beneath 30 feet of water that poured from the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. People rowed through town streets on canoes. A quarter of all the cows in the state drowned. It took months for the water to drain out.

More than 150 years later, climate scientists say the state is due for a repeat of that massive storm. A growing body of research has found that global warming is increasing the likelihood of a monster storm that could inundate the Central Valley once again, causing what one study from UCLA and the National Atmospheric Center called “historically unprecedented surface runoff” in the region. Not only would this runoff destroy thousands of homes, it would also ravage a region that serves as the nation’s foremost agricultural breadbasket. The study found that global warming has already increased the likelihood of such a storm by 234 percent.

In the crosshairs of that storm is the Stockton metropolitan area, which sits at the mouth of the San Joaquin River. Stockton and its neighboring suburbs are home to almost 800,000 people, and they rank among the most diverse places in the country — as well as some of the most economically distressed places in California. Thanks to decades of disinvestment, the city’s only flood protection comes from decades-old, leak-prone levees. If a major rain event caused enough runoff to surge down the mountains and northward along the San Joaquin, it could burst through those levees, inundating the city and flooding tens of thousands of homes. One federal study found that much of Stockton would vanish beneath 10 to 12 feet of water, and floods in the lowest-lying areas could be twice as deep. The result would be a humanitarian disaster just as costly and as deadly as Hurricane Katrina.

The “atmospheric river” rainstorms that rolled into California from the Pacific Ocean this month have underscored the Golden State’s vulnerability to floods, but experts insist that the destruction of Stockton isn’t inevitable. As is the case in flood-prone communities across the country, local officials know how to manage water on the San Joaquin River, but they’ve struggled to obtain funding for Stockton and other disadvantaged cities along the waterway. Even as California lawmakers have plowed money into drought response in recent years, they’ve left flood measures by the wayside, and the federal government has also been slow to fund major improvements.

“Areas like Stockton that don’t have political clout … often get bypassed terms of consideration for funding,” said Mike Machado, a former California state senator who has long advocated for better flood management in the Central Valley. “Even if any funding is available, Stockton is usually at the bottom of the list.”

Even as Stockton’s infrastructure decays, the city’s flood risk is only increasing thanks to climate change, which will cause more severe rains in the San Joaquin Valley and further stress the city’s levees. The city has grown at a rapid pace over the past two decades, but state and local officials have been more focused on protecting local agricultural irrigators from drought than on protecting the city’s residents from flooding. When the next big storm hits, it is Stockton’s communities of color, which make up more than 80 percent of the city’s population, that will see the worst of the damage.

“We are at the bottom of the bowl,” said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, the executive director of Restore the Delta, a Stockton-based environmental nonprofit. “We’re the drain. And they don’t value us.”

The Central Valley’s flood protection system has never been equal. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, farmers and ranchers constructed a hodgepodge of levees along rivers like the San Joaquin, piling sand only high enough so that water would flood someone else’s land rather than their own. The levees were owned and maintained by local districts, rather than any centralized governing body, so wealthier areas ended up with stronger defenses.

As the region’s flood protection system expanded, the San Joaquin region fell behind. To protect the state capital of Sacramento in the 1920s, the federal Army Corps of Engineers built a diversion system called the Yolo Bypass that funnels water away from the city, but Stockton never saw any similar investment. Local authorities couldn’t raise as much money to bolster levees as their counterparts around Sacramento, and money from the state and the federal government never filled the gap.

This is in part because lawmakers have overlooked Stockton’s vulnerable populations, according to Jane Dolan, president of the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, a state agency that oversees flood management. But Dolan says the disparity also exists because leaders along the San Joaquin River have long tended to focus more on securing water for agricultural irrigation than on managing the rivers, which has made it hard to secure momentum for big flood improvements.

“They don’t have that consensus about managing floodwaters and allowing space for the river,” she told Grist. “Politicians from city councils to Congress are all focused on water supply.”

Not only does the San Joaquin have the shoddiest flood protection infrastructure, but it also faces the greatest degree of risk from climate-fueled storms. Both the UCLA study and a separate study by Dolan’s organization found that warmer climates will increase runoff in the San Joaquin watershed by more than they will in the Sacramento watershed — in large part because higher temperatures will cause what used to be snow to fall as rain instead. Furthermore, Stockton faces flood risk from all sides: Not only does the San Joaquin River flood during rain events, but the Calaveras River on the city’s north side does as well. Water from the Pacific Ocean could even flood the city from the west during high tides as it pushes across a long flat expanse known as the Delta.

“The San Joaquin Valley is the most vulnerable to intense floods, because the climate science is clear that there will be less snow there, and more rain,” said Dolan. The river’s levee system was designed for a long snowmelt, not an all-at-once deluge, she added, which means that bigger atmospheric river storms are all but certain to overwhelm it.

Despite this risk, Stockton has expanded rapidly over the past few decades. Not only has the city grown into a hub for the valley’s all-important agricultural industry, its relatively cheap land and proximity to the populous San Francisco Bay Area has made it a boom site for new warehouses and packing facilities owned by companies like Amazon. During the last housing boom, developers built subdivision after subdivision along the San Joaquin River to house new arrivals, relying on the decades-old levees to protect them.

As it has grown, Stockton has become one of the most diverse cities in the country, with substantial Mexican, Filipino, Chinese, Cambodian, and African American communities. Many of these have poverty rates that are much higher than the state average, and they also face severe environmental justice risks: The neighborhoods of southwest Stockton are surrounded by freeways, factories, and port infrastructure, making them among the most exposed in the state to soot and diesel pollution.

“Because of redlining and historical discrimination, we have a lot of people of color, and people are at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, right behind these levees,” said Barrigan-Parrilla.

Mary Gómez is a 50-year resident of the Conway Houses, a low-income housing development on the south side of Stockton. The development sits just feet from the Walker Slough, a small waterway that drains off the San Joaquin River. Gómez, 70, told Grist that she worries about flooding from the river frequently and feels the area doesn’t get enough attention from city officials.

“It’s because they think we’re ghetto,” she said. “We are worried, because what if it floods [upstream] and we don’t hear about it, and they don’t tell us? Who’s gonna come and help us, or get us out? There’s so many of us that don’t have cars, that have kids.”

Gómez said she also worries about whether the neighborhood’s elderly and disabled could get out in time. The last time it came close to flooding, she said, her neighbors told her that she should protect her house with sandbags.

For decades, local officials have tried to secure state and federal money for flood protection projects, but progress has been slow as the risk has only increased. Way back in 1995, when the federal government was weighing whether to deem the levees in north and central Stockton inadequate, the area’s flood control authority had to self-finance levee improvements through tax assessments on local property owners — a costly proposition in a relatively low-income area with a meager tax base.

“We have a severely disadvantaged community,” said Chris Elias, director of the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency, the authority that manages the region’s levees. “We cannot impose too much burden on them — they’ve borne too much burden already. So we explore those other funding avenues. But just like everything else, we are competing with a whole bunch of other priorities that the state has.”

The state has passed a number of bond measures over the years to fund flood improvements, but local officials say Stockton hasn’t received a fair share of that money. For every five dollars spent in Sacramento, Elias said, Stockton has seen only one dollar of spending. He said that’s in part because the state money went to projects that were already “shovel-ready,” and Stockton-area officials lacked the resources to design projects and apply for grants.

Federal help has also been hard to come by. In 2010 the Army Corps of Engineers finally decreed that many of Stockton’s levees were inadequate and that much of the city was vulnerable to massive flooding. The agency spent the next seven years studying the problem, but in the end it proposed only a partial solution. While the Corps agreed to pursue a $1.3 billion suite of levee repair projects in north and central Stockton, it punted on a proposal to bolster the levees in south Stockton and two nearby suburbs — the parts of the area that faced the greatest economic hardship and the greatest exposure to flooding on the San Joaquin. The agency’s argument was that repairing levees in those areas would encourage new development, thus increasing the risk. It has since agreed to revisit that decision, but in the meantime tens of thousands residents in the area are still just as vulnerable to flooding as they were a decade ago.

In response to questions from Grist, a spokesperson from the Corps’s Sacramento district said that the agency had been constrained by an executive order that limits federal investment in flood-prone areas.

“Deferring decisions regarding the area to the south of Stockton … allowed [the Corps] and its state and local partners to prevent further delays in gaining congressional authorization to protect Stockton from catastrophic flooding,” said the spokesperson. He added that the agency plans to “reexamine federal interest in the [area] and identify potential flood risk management and ecosystem restoration opportunities.… However, the outcomes of that study are not yet determined.”

Another problem is that levees alone aren’t sufficient as a flood management strategy. No matter how high you build a levee, a future flood can always overtop it, and the consequences when a levee breaks are often worse than they would have been if the levee hadn’t been there in the first place, as was demonstrated in New Orleans after Katrina. Many local officials believe that, instead of just building more levees, the state should give flood waters another place to go by creating natural floodplains out of conserved land. That’s what the state did near Sacramento with the Yolo Bypass.

“You can build a levee stronger and better, but it’s still vulnerable to breaking,” said John Cain, director of conservation at River Partners, a nonprofit that advocates for such floodplain restoration projects. “If you want to have more resiliency in the system, you literally need more room.”

Cain’s organization has put this approach to the test about 20 miles upstream on the San Joaquin by purchasing unused land and converting it into a natural floodplain. During big rain events, water flowing downstream on the river can spill onto the reserved land instead of flowing toward Stockton, taking pressure off the city’s levees. Officials in Stockton have been trying to replicate this strategy closer to the city by creating a wide flood bypass called Paradise Cut on reserved farmland. The project would reduce the depth of potential flooding in the Stockton area by as much as two feet, but the Army Corps rejected that project back in 2018 as well, questioning whether it would pass a cost-benefit analysis.

Meanwhile, state funding for flood management has all but dried up even as lawmakers plow billions into drought relief, leaving Stockton dependent on the slow-moving Army Corps of Engineers for project money. Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget for the coming year proposes to spend just $135 million on flood management, less than a third of what Dolan’s organization says the state should be spending every year. The proposed budget also seeks to claw back $40 million that was allocated in last year’s budget for floodplain restoration along the San Joaquin River.

Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Machado, the former state senator, hopes this month’s storms will bring some attention to flood risk in the state, but he’s not sure the attention will translate into new spending.

“After a flood, the holes get plugged, the sun comes out, and they forget,” he told Grist. “All of a sudden you’re in a drought period, or an extended period with no imminent threat of a flood, and it becomes a backburner issue.”

2318

General Discussion / Bad as performing circumcision on baby boys, totally unnecessary & so primitive

« on: February 27, 2023, 10:58:53 PM »

After their genitals were cut, some women search for healing

CAIRO (AP) — She remembers it all: How female relatives held her down when she was 11, legs spread and genitals exposed. The fear that stiffened her body. The stranger in black holding the scissors. And the pain.

Like so many others, the 34-year-old Egyptian woman has lived with the psychological and physical repercussions of that day, when she was subjected to a practice many activists call “mutilation.”

For N.S., who asked to be identified only by her initials to discuss the sensitive topic, the trauma continuing into adulthood was accompanied by a desire to reclaim control over her health and body.

“I had a feeling of being incomplete and that I will never feel happy because of this,” she said. “It’s a horrible feeling.”

A global target aims to eradicate the deeply entrenched practice by 2030, and protect the next generations of girls, though campaigners acknowledge the difficulties in achieving that. The United Nations has designated an International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM, observed every Feb. 6.

Meanwhile, some women living with the consequences have embarked on deeply personal journeys to heal. They search for answers, sometimes scouring the Internet, amid treatment gaps in many countries, or shame and possible related sexual complications.

Prevalent in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, cutting has been performed in communities of different cultures and faiths. It can be viewed as a rite of passage or linked to beliefs about chastity or femininity and cleanliness, and be fueled from generation-to-generation by social pressure.

“It’s an entrenched social norm and really deeply rooted in cultural beliefs and sometimes in religious beliefs,” said Nafissatou Diop, an official with the United Nations Population Fund. “So to be able to make any change, people need to be convinced that this is not threatening their culture.”

It’s estimated that at least 200 million women and girls are living with the aftermath of the practice, which can include partial or total removal of their external female genitalia and can cause excessive bleeding and even death. Long term, it can lead to urinary tract infections, menstrual problems, pain, decreased sexual satisfaction and childbirth complications, as well as depression, low self-esteem and post-traumatic stress disorder.

2319

General Discussion / Tech is changing meds, take this prescription for example

« on: February 27, 2023, 10:55:20 PM »

This Pill Vibrates Your Colon to Combat Constipation


Sometimes you just need good vibrations to get things moving.

A first-of-its-kind capsule that vibrates after it’s swallowed to stimulate the gastrointestin al tract and treat constipation is now approved for doctors to prescribe. The capsule, called Vibrant, is about the size of a regular pill.

Is this treatment actually worth looking into for the 16 percent of Americans who live with persistent constipation?

Amir Masoud, MD, a St. Vincent’s Medical Center gastroenterolo gist who is also co-medical director of Hartford HealthCare's Neurogastroent erology & Motility Center, shares his perspective.

What's the science behind it?

Vibrant is a single pill that you take around bedtime daily. Slowly, it travels through the stomach and small intestine before finally reaching the colon several hours later. The vibrations from the pill stimulate specialized nerve cells in the gut. These help trigger peristalsis - the muscle contractions that move food through the gut.

“This is a very intelligent piece of technology,” says Dr. Masoud. “It taps into something that we’ve known for over a hundred years, which is that the best way to stimulate the intestine is mechanically.”

How exactly does it work?

Before use, each pill is activated in a little pod that turns it on. After you swallow the pill, it's active for about two hours, goes quiet for around six hours, and then activates again for another two hours. Eventually, the pill exits the body along with a bowel movement.

“The idea is that those two periods of vibration can stimulate the GI tract and lead to an effective bowel movement,” Dr. Masoud says. “Because each capsule has its own self-limited activity, it is something you would need to take every day.”

Currently, insurance does not cover Vibrant, but the company is offering a coupon to cap out-of-pocket costs at $69 per month.

What qualifies as constipation?

Constipation is when someone has fewer than three bowel movements in a week and it deviates from their norm.

Between 10% and 20% of Americans live with persistent constipation that doesn’t have a clear cause, according to a recent survey. They tend to have hard and dry stools that may cause pain and bloating.

2320

Marriage & Family Life / These MN parents are really dedicated and committed to their offsprings

« on: February 27, 2023, 10:49:38 PM »

A bald eagle refused to move and got buried under snow — with only its head poking out — to protect its eggs during a storm, video shows

A bald eagle in Minnesota was spotted partially buried under a mound of snow, with only its head poking out, as it remained in its nest and waited out a storm in order to keep its eggs warm.

The eagle was captured on the EagleCam managed by Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources, which is currently livestreaming the nest 24/7 as the pair of birds incubate their eggs. The eagles welcomed their first egg of the season on February 15, followed by another on February 18, according to the DNR.

The male and female have been taking turns incubating the eggs, while the male also provides food and never strays too far from the nest, keeping a lookout for potential threats or predators.

2321

General Discussion / This Princess Di is making good money on the same platform as Yasmi

« on: February 27, 2023, 10:46:22 PM »

A 47-year-old OnlyFans model makes $16,000 a month and fans tell her she looks like Princess Diana all the time

Lauren Spencer is a 47-year-old OnlyFans model and in the top 0.5% of earners on the platform.
She said her popularity on the site could be boiled down to her being a Princess Diana look-alike.
She makes around $16,000 a month and gets requests to role-play as Diana.

2322

General Discussion / Rio's old school, its machines have levers, Carnival closed but Phở Đà Nẵng

« on: February 27, 2023, 01:10:49 AM »

...is open:

2323

General Discussion / There's a reason why cheap Chinese buffet will only do snow crab legs

« on: February 27, 2023, 12:45:27 AM »

2324

Debate Central / Wonder if she would react the same if the Italian restaurant owners are Italians

« on: February 27, 2023, 12:13:15 AM »

Customer goes on racist rant at Amy's Pizzeria, verbally attacking employees in now viral video

A Hatboro pizza shop gained attention after a viral TikTok video made its rounds Friday, showing a customer on a racist tirade directed at one of its workers.

In the video, an employee or owner of Amy’s Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant is shown standing at the register Thursday night, as a customer, who has not been identified, demands a refund during the profanity-laced verbal attack.

“What’s wrong with that is you’re not American dude. I will look you the (expletive) up and get you the (expletive) out of our town. (Expletive) you. Give me my money back. I’m not giving my money to some illegal immigrant,” the customer said.

A customer went on a racist rant at Amy's Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant, in Hatboro, on Thursday, February 24, 2023.
The video, filmed by another employee, lasts nearly five minutes, ending just as a police officer walks into the store.

"This lady walked into our pizza shop (owned by Hispanics) and heard Spanish coming from our TV and started discriminating us. Not all Spanish speakers are Mexican and it was bold of her to assume so," the pizzeria said on their TikTok post showing the video.

"Discrimination should NOT happen to anyone, no matter who they are nor what their background is. America is a country built by immigrants. I'm so sorry if you have ever experienced something like this."

Hatboro Police Department issued a statement on the Borough of Hatboro Facebook page Friday, saying they responded to a report of a disturbance at Amy’s Pizzeria, where they were able to de-escalate the dispute.

A customer went on a racist rant at Amy's Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant, in Hatboro, on Thursday, February 24, 2023.
Police said they are reviewing video of the incident and the investigation is ongoing. No names have been released.

The statement also included a warning to those who have seen the video.

“It has also come to the attention of the police department that the video of the incident is circulating on social media and some people have falsely identified the woman depicted in the video. We strongly suggest people cease and desist the attachment of false or mistaken names and identities to this video as the identity of the individual(s) involved are know (sic) to police,” it read.

2325

Marriage & Family Life / As long as they get along, not a bad set up since the donor is the father

« on: February 27, 2023, 12:08:34 AM »

My ex-husband is the sperm donor for my girlfriend, and we all live together in the same house. Here's how we make it work.

When my husband and I split, we decided to keep living together so we could coparent.

I started exploring my sexuality and met my girlfriend, who moved into the house with us.

Now my ex is the sperm donor for my girlfriend's baby.

People often wonder how I ended up living with my ex-husband, our two kids, and my pregnant girlfriend — all under one roof. Honestly, the answer is pretty simple: Life is just more manageable this way.

Christopher never moved out when we separated almost three years ago, and he even stayed when my girlfriend, Maddy, moved in. He's now the sperm donor for Maddy's baby, and we're all figuring out the right dynamics that feel authentic to us.

After 6 years of marriage with Christopher and 2 kids later, I realized I was gay
Like most marriages after kids, we struggled and constantly adjusted our lives to new nap schedules, dirty diapers, and bedtime routines. We worked together well, but there was just one part of our relationship that always fell flat: intimacy.

In 2020, I realized I wanted to date women and explore my sexuality, so Christopher and I decided to romantically separate. We are technically still married. But when we split, it felt like we were labeling what we were already practicing: two best friends loving and raising our children under one roof. Traditionally, when couples split, you sign the divorce papers, you split assets, you divide weekends, and someone moves out. That just didn't feel right for us.

Raising our kids together wasn't our problem; we rarely fought. Our home life was happy, and most importantly, our kids were happy. We each had our roles in the house, which were divided equally. So it was easy to decide to keep living together, especially because we could both be present in our kids' lives daily.

Thankfully, our house is big enough that Christopher moved into his own room, and we now have a split floor plan. For months, we took turns waking up with the kids, sharing the chores, and alternating when we'd go out on dates. Now that the pressure of our relationship — and being intimate — was off the table, we could be friends.

In those first couple of months after splitting, we spoke more openly about our feelings than we did over our whole marriage. There were good days and bad, but we had to keep our goal in mind. We wanted to get through this so we could do the thing no one thought we could do — and we did.

Then I met and fell madly in love with Maddy
I met Maddy on a dating app called Her. When I came across her profile, I was attracted to her androgynous look and quickly swiped right. We were inseparable after our first date. After two weeks of dinners and dates, I didn't want to spend any more time away from my kids, so we decided as a family it was time for her to meet everyone.

I'll never forget the first time Christopher and Maddy met. Moments before she arrived, Christopher said to me, "I'm so nervous. I hope she likes me." Funnily enough, Maddy said the same thing to me right before meeting him. They both sat on the couch talking like they were old friends, and my son, who is usually slow to warm up to new people, was all over her. It just felt right.

From that moment on, I fantasized about the day we would all live together, and six months later, it happened.

The great thing about having 3 adults in the house is that you have more hands, more eyes, and more ears to help with the kids and chores
When we all sit down for dinner together, it feels like a village — the one people always talk about, the one they say it takes to raise kids.

The three of us divide and tackle each day. We rely heavily on our joint Google calendar to keep everything in check. You could best describe us as a wrestling tag team. We tap out when we are feeling parental burnout and tap back in when we see our teammates struggling. At the end of the day, we all have the same goal in mind: survive until bedtime.

Outside our coparenting roles, we are genuinely friends. We work out together and even grab dinner or lunch — depending on the babysitter's availability. We know how important it is to see each other as individuals outside the home.

Maddy and I then asked Christopher to be the sperm donor for Maddy's baby
He said yes. We say "donor" because of the process, but Christopher will be the father of the baby.

Having Christopher as the donor for my girlfriend's baby just felt like the most logical choice. We all plan on being in each other's lives forever anyway, so we might as well continue what's already working for us: coparenting as a family.

Christopher is very supportive of my pregnant girlfriend. He steps up and manages the kid chaos alone on the weekends so we can put Maddy's needs first. He treats her with the same love, respect, and compassion he shows me, the mother of his children.

We are a team, and that team is about to grow. Maddy is due in May.

I'm so proud of where we are and how far we've come, and it's helped us all to have a little more freedom and balance in life.