July 14, 2008

I started!

Kristin inspired me to get craftin' again. I'm not done w/ the projects. Actually, I'm done w/ one of them....


First, she made some adorable bean bags and matching bags to put them in. I went through my stash and got the bags done, but not the beanbags. They are sewn together, but not filled yet.

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I also decided my kids need neck pillows- you should see them attempt to sleep in the car. It's sad. Well, my printer wasn't working, so Kristin told me to "wing it." Very scary concept for me, but I tried anyway. This is what they looked like before I stuffed them.
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July 08, 2008

More pictures of Vaughn

I've had a request for more pi cs of Vauhn. I had been waiting to do his photo shoot, but he's not very cooperative when it comes to that. He always picks picture time to be fussy. SO here are a few and I PROMISE I'll be crafting again soon.
As a matter of fact, I hope to make 5 I Spy books this weekend. I want to sell them at the yard sale we'll be having before too long.

Anyway- back to VaughnCopy of vaughnbaseball2 ok, it's not letting me add anymore. Apparently only SOME jpgs are valid formats.....



June 26, 2008

He's Here!

Ok, so he's been here for over a week now, but I'm just now getting it on my blog- sorry for the delay.

Vaughn Edwin was born Tuesday, June 17th at 3:00 PM. He was 8 lbs 9oz at birth (8 lbs even on his day 2 checkup) and 20 1/2" long

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Out of the 3 kids, he's got the biggest nose, but the smallest ears. He has dimples, which I'm ecstatic about!

Story of birth:
So my induction was set at 6:30 AM. We went in, they started my IV (strep b positive, so I had to have anti-biotics). I called Kristi, my doula, who I adore, and she came over. The nurse checked me and told me I was at a 2 and she was a little concerned that the baby wasn't head down. That was bizarre to me because I know he HAD been head down at one point. Anyway- the reason he was turned was because he had so much fluid that he'd just kind of float wherever. The Dr. came in and turned him- talk about ouch- and had me wear a velcro vorset thiong and stay on my right side. Then they started pitosin to see if my contractions would help push him into place. Having Kristi there helped a ton! She massaged my feet, made sure I was comfortable, explained everything the dr's said or did, and just reminded me to relax.
Well, thanks to the pitocin, Dr's turning, and prayers from LOTS of people, Vaughn did what he was supposed to and finally dropped. The Dr took that opportunity to break my water (my first time feeling it). I told him I'd see him in about an hour and to run when they paged him. The first half hour contractions got stronger, nothing I Couldn't handle w/ Kristi there doing leg presses. Then when the contractions started getting SUPER hard and right on top of each other, I endured a few, then told Kristi that they hurt so bad that I couldn't just sit, so she got out the squat bar and told me that on my next contraction to just hang on to the bar.  I could feel him as soon as contractions were next to each other, but I was told not to push yet. As soon as they got out the squat bar, I used it and he was totally there. The nurse was yelling at me to stop (yeah, how do you stop when you feel like he's hanging out of you?) Roger, Kristi, and the nurse had to force me back onto the bed (although I really don't see it as "forced" because I am pretty sure they were gentle- that part is kinda blurry). I look up and there are, I kid you not, 8 people in the room. Kristi helped me lay back and told me that he was here, so I pushed- just once. Then I could hear him cry. No greater relief of pain than hearing your baby cry. I tell you, though, feeling him come out- it was pretty dang cool. Just then the Dr. came in. First thing he said was, "I swear I ran!" He was funny. I almost sat up straight when they told me that I didn't tear and that he was 8lbs 9 oz.

The rest of my hospital stay was great. The Dr. apologized for missing the birth (they didn't call him soon enough). I"m proud of myself for going no epidural (doesn't mean I won't in the future). It was also very neat to see the Lord's hand in all of this.

The night before, I was freaking out, so I asked Roger to give me a blessing. In the blessing, he said that I'd be able to do it on my own and that I had family as a support and help. He also said that the baby would be ok- in exact words, that he would take breath. When he had said those things, I figured "on my own" meant w/out an epidural. I told my mom that as we left. Then, when they came and turned him, they said that if he didn't turn, I'd have to either come back next week or have a C Section. I called my mom in tears and she said, "it all makes sense now. He'll turn 'on his own'" Everything went better from then on out. I am so, SO blessed to have the family support that I have.

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June 08, 2008

Scrap Happy

 I got back into digi-scrapping- mostly because I realized I have a TON of pages for Xander and like none for Juliana. So these are all of Jules, but I thought I'd share!

Most of the actual layouts are from Close to My Heart idea books. I have a hard time coming up with those on my own. If you want to know where I got any of the papers or embellishments, ask which page and I'll find it for you.
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June 01, 2008

Self Shadow Portrait

Took this pic of myself today. I have 17 days left. P6010111

And just FYI, I would be expecting a few more things from me here in the next 2 weeks. I"m getting a little crafty again!

May 27, 2008

Decline in posts

Alright, as this pregnancy has neared an end, the amount of posts I've put up had gone WAY down. I do apologize for that. I am suddenly faced w/ the reality that I have 3 weeks till Delivery Day and a whole lot to do. I am nesting SO bad right now. I just hope my nesting doesn't cause early labor. For Memorial Day, DH and I took on a project that *should* have been a one day project. We decided to switch the kids rooms so the boys could have the smaller one and the baby would be closer to our bedroom ( a whole 50 yards closer, lol). Well, it's not like we could just switch. We decided to do the closet in the boys room. We'd bought the stuff for it like, last week, but didn't have a chance to do it till yesterday. Should have been a 30 min or 1 hr project. First we couldn't find the brackets for the walls or the screws we bought. We finally decided to re-buy them. Went to the store, got the stuff..... including paint, and fabric for curtains in both rooms,  a border to use instead of a chair rail in the boys room......

So we come home and the screws Roger bought were a little too long. So he struggled w/ those for.... like 2 hrs? Maybe longer. I started on the painting. We bought red paint for the bottom half of the boys room. Then we had doubts- the paint we bought was the discount paint- we put a swatch on the wall and I kid you not, it was HOT PINK. Yeah, not kosher for the boys room. But we decided to let it dry. I'm glad we did. I even had 2 friends come over to tell me whether it was pink or red. So we finished painting last night and got the shelves in the closet up. Tonight we're putting up the border and putting the dresser back in, which means tomorrow I can switch clothes out.

When am I going to do Juliana's room? you ask? I  have NOOO idea. I still need my mom to fix the curtains I screwed up for the boys room, then I'll have her make Juliana's curtains.

This week is crazy. Saturday I have plans from 8:30 AM till 9PM. The week after that (the 7th) my nephew is getting married. So I have the next Saturday (the 14th), but I'll probably be helping the kids w/ their Father's Day gifts (though I hope they'll be done during the week before). Then on Tuesday the 17th we're having the baby! So we're booked from now till forever, lol. Hopefully it'll help the time pass quickly.

May 22, 2008

I finished it!!

I finally finished the blanket for Vaughn. I'm very proud of it and can't WAIT to post pics (I'm at my parents right now, so I can't). After finishing the blanket, my hands needed SOMEthing to do. I can NOT sit w/ nothing to do. So today I started on the kids' car folders. I bought a folder for each of them the other day (intending to cover it in fabric for a game, but nixed that when I found a Superman folder and my son fell in love with it). Today i spent time printing, copying, transferring, and drawing activities to use in the folder. I found some great worksheets online (for preschoolers, google free printable preschool worksheets and you'll get a ton). I also copied some things out of coloring books. I really like those little activity books because they are half size and so you can fit 2 papers onto a cardstock. I then laminated the cardstock filled papers. Now I need to buy dry erase markers, somehow get elastic onto the folder pocket to hold the dry erase markers, trim the activities, and find some kind of clip or magnet strip to use. This probably does not make any sense at all without pictures. Here's a sketch:
Sketch

Anyway, I'm trying to decide when to give my kids the folders. We take a lot of 45 min drives and it would be nice to have them now, but on the other hand, I would kind of like to get them each one of these trays. That wouldn't happen till Christmas, so do I give them the folders now, the trays and refills for the folders at Christmas, or hang onto ALL of them till Christmas?

May 19, 2008

The wait is almost over

Ok, I'm almost done w/ the afghan for Vaughn, so I can move onto more crafts. I also have some pics of some bows to post. I had a friend show me how. I"m still not the best at them, but practice makes perfect. And actually, I found out that humanitarian aide can use some, too, so as soon as I get more barrettes I'll be able to do some for some girls in orphanages. :D

May 13, 2008

Father's Day

Ok, so I need to start thinking NOW about Father's Day. It is on June 15th- TWO DAYS BEFORE I HAVE MY BABY!!! As for a gift, we're filling his tackle box w/ fishing stuff (he's very much a beginner). However, we still want to do some craft projects. In looking at Oriental Trading, I get lots of ideas. They've got some ok ones. So far I'm liking.... a paper/foam Toolbox Card. It's cute, you open up this toolbox http://tinyurl.com/4rm2tk (let me know if the link works or not, please)
I also like the idea of the travel Mugs, but is there a way to do it w/out ordering the kits?
http://tinyurl.com/3fq9or


The HP website usually has some neat stuff, too, but they still have Mother's Day stuff up, so it's too early to find too much there.

I'm googling stuff as I type this post. I just found this: http://amazingmoms.com/htm/fathersday4.htm   
Cute, huh? Especially since Roger just started grilling this year. If I was a nice wife, I'd make him an organizer for his grilling tools. I might, still!

And look how cute this is
http://www.daniellesplace.com/HTML/mengifts.html

just a note about this, a lot you have to be a member for. I almost cried!

I am blown away by the generosity and genius and creativity of people. Here are a few more links:
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/dad/
http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/specialfeature/fathers-day-crafts-and-gifts/
http://www.kinderart.com/seasons/father3.shtml
http://www.makingfriends.com/dad.htm


Anyway, if you run across any other ideas, I'd love to see 'em/ read 'em.... whatever. :D Or pics of what you've done previous years....

May 12, 2008

Portable Art Center

Ok, so technically I don't need it till Christmas (though if I find a good one and make it before then it'll probably used as soon as it's done). So I need ideas and pictures, possibly tuts if you've got  them. So far, the best I've got is from one of the super awesome mods at Mormonchic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12703778@N02/1336300154/