Oh, Snap!

Happy Monday!

I sit here listening to a screaming baby as I type this. Praying it will take my mind off the crying.  Little M has started rolling, which means we can no longer swaddle him when he sleeps (for fear of him rolling onto his tummy and not being able to roll back). So today starts the transition. This seems nearly impossible as he constantly puts his hands in his mouth (which wakes/frustrates him) so I have no idea how he will ever stop doing that long enough to fall sleep. Any advice would be much appreciated.  This breaks my heart, but I know it is necessary.  We went through it a bit with G, but he made the transition fairly easily and is a great sleeper now. This kid, not so much.

This is actually an older project.  For Christmas I got my husband and myself a photography class. It's called "Getting Off Auto", which I so desperately need to learn how to do.  I printed out the voucher and slipped it into this envelope. The stamps are from Studio Calico, they came in one of my monthly kits.

PS- He fell asleep! :o) Now I can finish watching the season finale of Downton Abbey!

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When All Else Fails

Use washi tape!

Hey friends! Man has my mojo been hiding lately.  I've also been a busy bee working on some fun new things for my Etsy shop. I've been building a stash for the past few months, and have recently been working on photographing and packaging them all up.  Hopefully I'll be able to share it all some point this week.

I know a few asked for a video tutorial for THIS card and I will be doing that this week as well. My camera was m.i.a since Christmas. Turns out it was at my cousin's house. Guess I forgot it there...oops! Just glad to have it back so I can start filming again.  I'll also be starting a weekly video series which I am super excited about :o)

Anyway, I have a ton of washi tape sitting around and have been trying to use it more.  It really is a great way to add something fun to a card.  So here's one for you today.  The stamp is from Studio Calico and the sentiment was just hand written.  Super easy!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! Promise to be blogging more this week!

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My Hopes for the New Year

Happy Tuesday! Back to the usual routine for us. Sad the holidays are over, but now I have Spring to look forward to.

So let's talk New Year's. I don't do resolutions, never really have. Not that I think they're a bad idea, I just know they don't work for me. But, I do like to have some hopes for the year.  This time I decided to write them down, and keep them somewhere I would see them daily. So I made a hope jar.

Since I do like to get personal with you every now and then I thought I'd share a few of my hopes. I have about 20 in the jar, but I'll save you some time and just list a few :o)

I Hope To...

1. Finally run a half marathon (I got pregnant the last 2 times I was training)
2. Spend more time with friends
3. Get better with budgeting
4. Join a design team (a girl can dream!)
5. Take G on some new adventures ( big or small)
6. Worry less ( I have terrible anxiety)
7. Soak up all the little moments of daily life
8. Scrapbook! (These thousands of pictures, stories, and keepsakes need homes!)

And here is the jar. I used my new(to me) Hero Arts butterfly stamp, and colored it with Copics. I chose some really bright bold colors so it would catch my eye. To make it shine I dusted it with some Perfect Pearls. I die cut the light gray tag, and stamped the envelope pattern. Finally I die cut the word "hope" and the tab, and sewed them onto the tag.  Tied it onto the jar with some ribbon and ta-da! I have it sitting on my dresser so I can see it everyday.

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So, what are your hopes for this year?

Supplies Used

InLinkz.com

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Quick Card

Hi All!

Thank you so much for all your kind comments and tweets about the birth of little M.  So happy I could share it with you all. Everything is going well over here.  Obviously it is a period of adjustment, but we are surviving and getting into a nice little rhythm.  We are all a little more sleepy these days, but that is to be expected :o)

I wanted to share a quick card with you.  This is one I actually made yesterday. It is super simple, and I did it in steps.  I spent 5 minutes here and there working on different pieces, and then sat down and put it all together.  It took me all day, but it was nice to steal a few minutes in my craft room every now and then.

I'm also going to enter it into the current Lawnscapings Challenge.

Hope you are all doing well!

InLinkz.com

7

Hello World!

All day Sunday I kept telling my family how I felt weird. Of course nooobody wanted to listen to me.

4:15am Monday I woke up feeling like I had to go to the bathroom, so I did and climbed back into bed.  A few minutes later I felt a little crampy. Not surprising since I had been having Braxton-Hicks frequently the last few weeks.  However, the feeling  kept coming, and was different than Braxton-Hicks, these actually hurt a little.  I woke the husband up apologetically, "Mike...I'm really sorry to wake you up, but I might be going into labor. But if I'm not please don't be mad!" (I have this horrible problem where I hate bothering people).   He pretty much flew out of bed.

So we finished packing the last few things, showered, ate.  The contractions were getting a little worse so I had the on call doctor paged.  I had no idea when I was supposed to head into the hospital and I felt really stupid.  This is my second child, but G was a week late and I had a scheduled induction so I really didn't know what the proper procedure was for going into labor on my own.  Doctor told me to head in when the pain was almost intolerable. Well that doesn't really help me a whole lot so I just decided we should probably head in because G came really fast and I was nervous this baby would too.  My in-laws showed up.  I snuck in and kissed G goodbye (and cried a lot), and we headed out.

The rest went something like this:
- Checked into maternity triage around 6:15am
-Started getting irritated with how slow the triage people were, mostly because I could feel myself progressing quickly, and when I first showed up I was already 4-5cm dilated.
-Panicking I wouldn't get an epidural in time
- After what seemed like forever and me politely telling my husband to be quiet during contractions we moved up to labor and delivery and I got my much awaited epidural at 8:30am
-Ahh, relief
-Water breaks a little after 9 (Regis and Kelly had just started)
- I do 4 pushes and at 9:31am my new little man is born

So little Baby M was born Monday at 9:31am weighing in at a whopping 9lbs15oz, and 22.5 inches long.  Yes, really that big. Yes, I really delivered him. I had a feeling he would be big, only because G was pretty large at 8lbs13oz.  Seriously didn't think he'd be almost 10 pounds! In fact my family joked a lot that I would have a 10 pound baby.  I'm only 5'3" and pretty smalll, so the fact that I produce such monster babies is a little funny.  I pretty sure if we have a 3rd child it will be 15 pounds and just fall out on it's own.

So here is a picture of our newest little addition

31

Sunday Funday

No card today folks, just a little sharing.

39+ weeks in all my glory

 

I did some shopping this week. You know, a little treat for myself.  I had ordered a pair of TOMS like a month ago. Sadly they were too small, so I had to exchange them.  I was so happy when my new pairt arrived this week!  I know people either love them or hate them, so if you hate them please don't comment. I wore them tonight for the first time and they were sooo comfortable. The are very much my style, relaxed.

 Last year we got a TON of snow and I did not have boots so I resorted to wearing old sneakers. I also didn't have boots for G, so this year I was super proactive and picked up snow boots for both of us. (Of course this year we won't get any snow, just because I bought boots). Found these babies at Target. I also got a few loose fitting shirts and sweaters for post-maternity wear. (Although I recall living in yoga pants and t-shirts for like the first month after G).

Tonight we are having our usual Sunday family dinner.  Hard to believe next time it will be +1. Hope you all had a great weekend!  Ours was spent running a few last minute errands and enjoying time together as a family.  Our last baby free weekend.

While I won't be doing a whole lot of crafting for the next month I am super excited for the things I have lined up to share with you.  A giveaway, guest bloggers, collaboration week, DIY projects, videos! and cards I made ahead of time.  I hope you'll stick with me on this journey :o)

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Monochromatic Birthday

Hey everyone!

Man, I know it's Tuesday but I am still pooped from this weekend.  The birthday party on Saturday was a success! So nice to be able to share it with friends and family. G was all smiles and didn't want it to end.  Sunday was busy because we had a cousin's 1st birthday party that was 2 hours away. Needless to say we did lots of driving and were exhausted by the time we got home.

Monday was spent trapped in our house - literally.  We are having a new roof put on, and they started taking off the old one and had totally blocked both the front and back door with the old shingles and stuff.  Perhaps if I was not pregnant and not carrying a 2 year old I would have just climbed over the piles.  However, falling or dropping G into a pile of rusty nails and shingles didn't seem like the best idea so we did lots of arts and crafts and enjoyed new toys.

Last week was also my mom's birthday, and this is the card I made for her. I know, I know, you're sick of the butterfly. I had stamped a bunch and colored them in a while ago when I was practicing my Copic skills so you'll just have to deal with it! At first I thought I could enter it in over at CAS-ual Fridays, until I saw you need to have brown in there too...oh well! I also used one of my favorite Hero Arts background stamps. Inside is stamped "Birthday".

Had my weekly doctors appointment today and all is well. Terrifying Hard to believe I've only got about 3 1/2 weeks to go. Hope you're week is going well! I'm praying mine starts moving a little faster...I'm ready for the weekend.

Supplies Used

InLinkz.com

2

2 Years

Hard to believe that you are two years old today.  It really feels like I just met you, and yet my connection to you is so much deeper than any I've ever known.

Words could never describe how much I love you, and I can only hope that you know.

You are such an amazing little person. You are so much like your father. You love to run around like a crazy man. You love all things boy: trains, dinosaurs, dirt, cars, sports.  You're funny and goofy and laugh all the time.

You are also a lot like me.  You love to read and draw and paint and color.  You can be serious and very inquisitive, and you like things done a particular way.  You also love Disney movies and animals :o)

You are the perfect combination of us both. The perfect representation of our love for each other and for you.

Daddy and I joke that your little brother better be ready, because he has a lot to live up to, but it's kind of true :o)

Happiest Birthday Little Man. I hope you get everything you wish for and more.

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