Apple Blossom Studio

Playing Catch-up

2010-08-04T13:52:00.003-05:00

So, a lot has been going on, but my blog was broken, and then I lost my camera. I found my camera, now we'll see if the blog is fixed. :) This is Hannah when she was opening Birthday presents from Joanne's family, her favorite was the socks, of course, while I am quite partial to the "Miss Marvelous" onesie. :)

And then visiting out friends Ruth and Halleigh...Hannah very much enjoyed Halleigh's play kitchen, I'm thinking we'll have to make one for her for Christmas.

Hannah's first time swimming was in the kiddie pool at Jenny's house.

Her first time swimming in Papa's pond, she likes her little floaty boat. :)

Hannah helping Daddy with the fireworks!

Her new thing is frowning...but she only frowns with her eyes...it's pretty cute. When I found the camera this morning I told her to smile for the picture, and she gave me a good frown. :)

And smiling Hannah! :)

Long time no blog.

2010-04-22T13:37:00.002-05:00

It seems that blogging once again has eluded me....and probably will again for a while...since we're packing up and moving to Kansas.

WHAT??!

I know. Jason was offered a job with Geoprobe, and moving to Kansas is something we have been discussing for a while. It seems that the time is right, and we have the opportunity, so we're taking it!

I am so happy and so sad at the same time. I hate missing out on things like Magen's baby showers (most recently), and would love to be near my family and friends...but that also means we'll be leaving Jason's side of the family, and the wonderful friends that we've made here. Things will probably be really tight until our house up here is sold, but just as God has provided this opportunity, we trust that He knows what He's doing.

So, without further ado, my cute baby:

8 months already.

2010-02-25T17:23:00.002-06:00

I don't have many pictures lately...Hannah tries to walk and smashes her head into things...she's always got bumps and bruises. :)
I can't believe how much she's changed!
newborn:

2 months:

7.5 months:

Still busy, imagine that!

2010-01-28T18:47:00.006-06:00

Still don't have much extra time, but here's the Cutie! Maybe I'll have a video for you later of Hannah and her favorite toy....the CD player in her room. :)

Recent Cuteness:

2010-01-11T17:27:00.003-06:00

We've been a busy bunch lately....hope to catch up soon!

We're on Vacation! :)

2009-12-15T11:09:00.001-06:00

All orders placed from December 15th through December 27th will not be shipped until December 28th.

Spruce up your gift tags!

2009-12-10T11:27:00.002-06:00

Just working on wrapping Christmas gifts today! :)

25 weeks:

2009-12-09T18:00:00.002-06:00

We've had a full December so far! It has finally started to get cold in Wisconsin....so Hannah's been wearing her "warmy-warms" when we go out. Miss Banana also tried bananas this week....her own, not mooching from mama's banana, she loves them, of course! Now that she has teeth I have to be careful when sharing my apple or banana with her that she doesn't bite little pieces off! Saturday we went to the Elkhorn Christmas parade, Hannah's Grandpa John was driving the float with Grandma Carol's barbershop group on it, and as we were walking down to the parade, we stopped to take some pictures at the santa and elf cut-outs. :) And silly Hannah with a washcloth on her head in the "jumpy-jump." She loves that thing lately...I'm struggling with what all to pack for our trip to Kansas...I know I want to bring the bumbo, cause she sits in there to eat, but I kinda also wanna bring the jumpy-jump, cause it's her favorite thing latley, but I have to leave room for things like luggage, gifts, and the pack'n'play. What to do, what to do!?

24 weeks:

2009-11-30T12:18:00.004-06:00

carrots:

24 weeks:

cloth diapers:

cozy corner:

dancing with Marissa:

We had a fun Thanksgiving week. :) Hannah tried carrots this week and likes them a lot! Another new thing this week, cloth diapers! Since Hannah started sleeping in the crib, we've been having problems with leaky diapers...mostly because she rolls over onto her tummy, and the front half of the diaper just isn't absorbent enough...we tried doubling up on disposables, which was better, we wouldn't wake up with a soaked bed, but we still had leaks and wet jammies. So we tried a couple different cloth varieties, the Flip and the Econobum, and the Flips were awesome, with no leaks all through the night...the Econobums are ok during the day, but we still had leaks at night, so the Flip will be our nighttime diaper of choice.

Hannah also has something else new: a cold. :( She woke up with a fever the other night, so we've been doing the tylenol to keep that down, and now that her temperature is under control she has a terribly stuffy nose...and she HATES the booger-sucky thing. :(

Also new: Hannah's second tooth came through on Friday!

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, Thursday we went to Jason's dad's, and Hannah had fun with her cousins, and then Saturday we went to Terrie's for Christmas cookie baking with Jason's mom and siblings...Timmy was very excited to be the BIG cousin to Hannah, and Daddy read them a book back in the "cozy corner" in Timmy's bedroom, so cute!

I still haven't taken pictures of scrapbook pages...but we canceled Hannah's therapy for tomorrow, since she's been running a temp, so we'll see if maybe I have a few minutes to do that. Have a great week! We are excited about starting some Christmas decorating!

23 weeks:

2009-11-23T16:23:00.003-06:00

5 months:

23 weeks:

First tooth:

Peas:

Hannah and Mama:

Floor before:

Floor after:

So much going on!
Hannah got her first tooth just after turning 5 months old. Last Monday we tried peas...and that face says it all: she kept gagging. So mama went and bought a bag of frozen peas and made her own baby food, much cheaper and tastier, Hannah now loves peas...tonight we do carrots. :)
This weekend we did the new kitchen floor...mostly Jason, but I helped a little and supervised. :) I showed you a close-up of before, cause just like everything in this house...it wasn't nearly as frightful from far away. I am LOVING the new floor, so happy with it! Jason wants to get more of the same flooring and continue it into the dining room, I think it will look nice.
Anyway...we have to go finish straining the carrots, have a good week!

A scrapbook page?

2009-11-20T13:43:00.002-06:00

Apparently I didn't empty my camera of Hannah's 5 month photos yet(and it's in her room where she is napping), so I'll share a scrapbook layout! :) There is actually more where this came from, I am happy to tell you! I have about 7 or 8! Maybe this weekend I'll get a chance to take pictures of them....but, as evidenced by the above picture, I haven't found a great place to take photos of scrapbook layouts yet.
We had a busy week....finishing painting the kitchen, eating peas, and doing some Christmas shopping. Life is good.

21 weeks

2009-11-10T19:56:00.002-06:00

Hannah and I seem to be keeping busy these days, and she's turning into such a big girl...sleeping in her crib and stuff. She's talking like crazy lately, making as many different sounds as possible. She kissed another boy...Sam, he's 2 years old, guess she's moving on to the older men. :)

Hannah's stocking only took me a week to finish...as opposed to my last sewing project, the strawberry costume, which took probably a month...probably cause she naps in her crib now. :) I am enjoying the increased productivity around here for sure.
And here is my little Sweetie pausing her double-foot-chewing long enough to make some noise:

Halloween (20 weeks!)

2009-11-03T14:24:00.002-06:00

Hannah napping with her butt in the air.

Hannah hanging out with Dad in the morning.

The strawberry suit.

Halloween with the cousins.

New bib and rattle.

Hannah and Marissa.

We had a pretty good week, Wednesday we dressed up with our Bradley buddies and went for a walk in the corn maze...which was too muddy, so we walked elsewhere. Friday we had lunch with Daddy and his co-workers and Cat and CJ, and Hannah kissed CJ, it was pretty cute! :) He's the first baby other than herself in the mirror that Hannah has kissed.
Thursday night Hannah started sleeping in the crib, Friday night she slept 8 hours straight in the crib, and Mama woke up at 4am in a panic and soaking wet...cause even at night I'm used to nursing at least every 4 hours.
Saturday was Halloween and Hannah turned 20 weeks. Jason had gotten me a massage gift certificate for Mothers's Day that needed to be used, so I had my massage that morning, it was the first time I had left Hannah. Dad did so good with Hannah....fed her some cereal, played with her, got her dressed and put her in her crib for her morning nap when she started getting cranky! :) After that we went to Jason's Dad's house for Halloween and spent some time with the cousins. Grandma and Grandpa gave Hannah a treat bag with bibs and a red rattle phone in it. :)
Today we went back to the physical therapist who said that Hannah looks a lot better, gave us a couple more exercises, and we'll go back in 4 weeks just to make sure everything looks good. :)
Hannah is also getting a lot better at eating. :) It's fun.

Eating! (19 weeks)

2009-10-26T10:08:00.002-05:00

Usually she will do ok with the spoon for a while, and then gets impatient, and just wants to drink the cereal out of the bowl, he he. :) We're working on going longer with the spoon though:

(no crawling yet) :)

4 months!

2009-10-19T15:48:00.002-05:00

17 weeks:

4 months:

18 weeks:

unfinished halloween costume:

Not much going on around here....still waiting for Hannah to crawl. (Maybe I'll have a video next week.)

At her 4 month appointment she was 24 inches long, and 12 pounds 2 ounces. :) She has a head tilt, and I started stretching her neck like the Dr. showed me after her appointment and I think it's gotten a little better already. We had physical therapy for it today, but I don't expect to have to go to the physical therapist too many times. We really like Hannah's new Dr. too, she was very supportive of breastfeeding and didn't give me any trouble about Hannah being small. :)

We're going to try to start Hannah on rice cereal sometime this week, she's pretty much obsessed lately with anything I'm eating, so we think she's definitely ready. :) I was going to wait until 5 months if we could, but I'm ok with starting earlier.

I've been working on Hannah's strawberry suit, and finally finished doing the seeds last night. It is totally cute, and she really likes wearing it. I think we'll wear it Wednesday when we go walking with our Bradley buddies. :)

Sweet 16

2009-10-05T16:47:00.002-05:00

My little Sweetie Pie is 16 weeks old! Its gotten cold this week, so Hannah is sporting leg warmers and the hat Jillian made for her quite often!

Sunday we had our Bradley class reunion, my goodness were those babies cute! We had a great time and Hannah did better than I had anticipated. :) She's not happy right now, though, so I must go. (this baby has a case of the Mondays!)

15 weeks

2009-09-29T08:29:00.003-05:00

Hannah is 15 weeks old now, and we got a bumbo on craigslist...cause she really just doesn't sit up well on her own. She likes it, but since she's so small still she does this thing where she slides one leg out and one in so that she can either get to her toes...or chew on the side of the chair. he he he

And this is Super Hannah in her Jamy-cape. :)

She is still hating her crib....I think we just need to wait longer. Sunday we put her in the kick n play, and she thought that was really fun.

Heh, she also likes to sit here in the office and mess up Daddy's post-it notes. :)

14 weeks

2009-09-24T21:38:00.003-05:00

Hannah is getting so big! :) I can't wait for her next Dr. appointment so I can know how much she's grown. We finally picked a new Doctor for her, and I'm feeling pretty good about it...even though I haven't met her. Heh. I think Hannah is starting to do better on car rides...maybe by Christmas those issues will all be resolved. She is still pooping several times every day, and it seems to have helped her tummy a lot.
The next thing we want to work on is getting her to sleep in her crib, so far she just hates it. We tried to put her in there the other night and she was just so mad at us....we can try again in another week. It's crazy...no matter how tired or asleep she is, if I set her down in the crib, she wakes up and screams.
But we don't have to dwell on that, here is a video of my cutie. :)

3 Months!

2009-09-14T18:12:00.003-05:00

Hannah is 3 whole months old, can you believe it?! Time flies...especially when you have a little cutie who is changing so much every day. Her favorite thing lately is Daddy...she loves it when he gets home from work to hold her and carry her around.... I think she gets a little tired of being with mom all day. I didn't take many pictures this week, but I have a couple cute videos for you....one where she rolled over and one where she's telling mama a story. :)

She's turning into a pooper (12 weeks)

2009-09-07T15:19:00.003-05:00

So...Hannah has always had an odd pooping schedule....usually going a week between poops ever since she was born....this week she started pooping EVERY day...and several times a day...yesterday we made it up to four poops in one day! It's pretty crazy. It seems that now that she's pooping a lot more she doesn't have all the gas she had before....and hopefully the tummy aches will stop too, she seems to be turning into a happier baby...hopefully it is an upward trend. :) BUT...she seems to be hating car rides more and more. :( She SCREAMS the entire time she's in that car seat.
The pictures of her up there are one where she is wearing the same outfit as in one of her 5 week pictures, but she is much BIGGER! :) And the other is while she is doing a little dance in her bouncy chair. :)
Also...she is sleeping without me right now....usually this only lasts 10-15 minutes, we're trying to do better, though. Hannah also rolled from her tummy to her right side twice the other day...before she had only rolled to her left side. I don't think we have too much else going on, so here's a video where she had JUST rolled over and I'm trying to get her to do it again! :)

10 and 11 weeks:

2009-08-30T20:54:00.003-05:00

Things are pretty much more of the same around here. That first picture of Hannah was at 10 weeks, she's showing off how big she is. Then we have a nice smile while she's in the swing and watching Bob the Builder. :) Then the pants-head-thing....we did this cause Joanne used to put Hayley's pants on her head when changibg her diaper. :) Do you do that with Ada, Joanne?

Hopefully next week we'll have a good video to share. :) Tomorrow I hope to get a new phone....mine has stopped ringing or telling me that I've missed calls...lovely, huh? It's been doing that for more than a week, but I just figured it out today...so realy, I've not been ignoring anyone, it's my phone's fault.

We're getting worse at this!

2009-08-20T16:47:00.002-05:00

That's my cutie 9 week old...even though we're now almost at ten weeks. We've been pretty busy around here....last week Thursday Hannah had her two-month birthday! She rolled over for the first time that day. I thought it was probably a fluke...but she did it again Friday! So, of course, I get the camera so that I can get it on video, and she stops doing it. :(

Monday we went to the Dr. for her two month shots and all that stuff. She weighed in at a whopping 10lb 1oz, and she was 22 3/4 inches long. After having her shots she was pretty sleepy with a little bit of a temp the rest of the day, but otherwise fine.

Wednesday we decided to go ahead and try walking with our Bradley class buddies, it was a lot of fun. Hannah cried for probably 40 minutes before falling asleep, and mommy got burnt to a crisp, but it was really nice to see people and their new babies!

Without further ado, here is Hannah *not* rolling over! :)

8 weeks

2009-08-11T20:40:00.002-05:00

Sorry we're late, we had a busy weekend. Hannah's cousinMarissa had her 3rd birthday party on Saturday, so we were gone ALL day for that...a lot of time in the car, Hannah slept the way there and cried the way back! She ate after we got there and was really good while everyone held her during the opening of gifts....and then pretty much wanted to eat for two hours straight. Sunday evening we went over to the pastor's house for desserts and to visit with people, and other than crying for the first 5 minutes, Hannah slept the WHOLE time, which was awesome. :)

Hannah in the bouncy chair:

Hannah with her cousin Timmy:

Hannah with her cousin Marissa:

Hannah WAS dancing....but by the time Daddy came to take a video she stopped:

7 weeks

2009-08-02T18:45:00.003-05:00

There's my little Sweetie-Pie this week. :) She's definitely developing a little personality! This week we walked some more...one day we even walked all the way to the post office and back, more than 3 miles, and Hannah slept in the stroller the whole time!
We also used a giftcard that Hannah got to pick out a playgym this week. She spends most of the time laying there looking around, but once she figures out that flailing her arms makes things jingle, she's entertained. :) She's not too interested in grabbing things yet, but she likes to reach for things.

6 weeks

2009-07-25T23:37:00.004-05:00

We went in for our weight check on Wednesday, and Hannah was 8lbs 12oz, 8 ounces in 8 days, the Dr. was very happy! Hannah also grew out of her first outfit this week, she's got such a long body! She also has one thing that she was too long for already when she was born....so while most of her newborn clothes are getting a lot of wear, some things are only worn 2 or 3 times.

We went for our first walk with the stroller on Friday. We have a nice park about a mile away, so we walked down there....Hannah made it all the way there in the stroller, but when we started walking around the park she wanted to be held....so I walked home carrying a baby and pushing the stroller.

Hannah started smiling at 4 weeks, but only every now and then...this past week she's been super-smiley!

I also got to scrapbook today while Jason worked on his website. (You can see my scrappy mess in the background of the second video.) I haven't quite finished my page, but I'll be sure to share when I do. Then we also worked on the new Apple Blossom Studio site design, and I am SO excited about it!

5 weeks

2009-07-19T21:44:00.002-05:00

5 weeks already, I can't believe how time flies!! It is so odd to go from pregnancy where time goes slower than ever to having a newborn where time goes way way too fast. Hannah's one month appointent went pretty well. She is up to 8lb 4oz, 22.5 in. The Dr. still thinks she's not gaining enough...sent us to the ENT to have her tongue tie clipped, and I think she's feeding more efficiently now, we'll go in for another weight check sometime this week. Our Dr. makes such a big deal about wanting her to gain on ounce a day, but the book that he gave me says 1/2oz-1oz a day, so I really think she's doing just fine.

On Friday we had a "welcome baby" party...I am telling you, we got SO much clothing, I think we're set for a while...Hannah's closet is SO packed...and that's just with the new stuff...we have boxes and boxes of hand-me-downs. I have discovered that style-wise my favorite brand of baby clothing is the Jumping Beans stuff...and I'm not sure where to even buy it! I just love all the embroidery and aplique on it...so adorable!

This is my home-made Moby Wrap AKA "the only way I ever get things done." We wore it to the grocery store this week, and Hannah didn't make a peep the whole time, usually she's wailing by the time we finish, it was great. We also use it do do the dishes and laundry and such...maybe tomorrow we'll even mow the lawn.

Since I'm not scrapbooking yet I just want to blog about a few things that I want to remember. While Hannah is eating Jason likes to put the nursing pad on her head like a yarmukle and call her "Jewish Baby." He he he. When she has the hiccups he calls her "hiccuppotamus." :)

4 weeks

2009-07-12T21:40:00.002-05:00

Four weeks already!
Time is flying around here...and Hannah just gets cuter and cuter. We have her one month appointment on Tuesday, which I am nervous about, cause she's still skinny, and probably has not gained enough weight, and the Dr. will probably want us to supplement with formula again. It's crazy how different brands of baby clothing fit so differently...right now we mainly wear Carter's stuff(and plain old onesies), cause it seems to be made for long skinny babies, where other brands seem to fit chubby babies.

Hannah has been practicing her crawling, she just has a big baby head! I think we need to practice the push-ups for some arm strength, and we'll be good to go.

Hannah's cousins Timmy and Marissa brought her these little purple sunglasses when they visited, she seems to think they're pretty ok...all I know is that she is way too cute in them.

3 weeks

2009-07-04T22:13:00.004-05:00

We've had a pretty good 3-week birthday. We got to stay in bed until 11 this morning, Hannah had a big poop, and she got a bath today! She still doesn't like the actual bath part, but likes getting her hair washed. Her favorite things are bright colors and ceiling fans. She doesn't seem to mind wearing mittens on her little hands...but usually one of them falls off, so we joke about her only wearing one as a Michael Jackson tribute. I've clipped her fingernails twice...but even when they're short, they're still sharp, and she scratches her little face, so I try to keep the mittens on her.

We're getting better at going out...this week we went to the Dr, the post office, the grocery store, Target, out to lunch with Daddy, Joann's Fabrics, and she does pretty well. Before I had a baby I always thought I would feel awkward about nursing in public....it's really not that big of a deal, I'm finding out...if the baby is hungry...you feed her, and that's that.

At the Dr. this week Hannah was up to 7lbs 12oz...not quite her birthweight yet, but at least it's headed in the right direction, and her bilirubin is still down, so we'll see the Dr. again for her one month checkup.

She's a pretty good sleeper at night, usually sleeping for 3-4 hour stretches, so I'm not TOO exhausted most of the time, but I also end up taking at least one nap during the day. Speaking of...it's probably time to head in that direction!

The new stamps have been added.

2009-07-03T17:37:00.003-05:00

Jason got the day off work (after meeting with a client this morning) and so I promptly put him to work for me. :) The new mini-sets are up in the shop now, happy purchasing!

2 weeks:

2009-06-28T16:41:00.005-05:00

It's been a crazy couple of weeks...and Daddy goes back to work at the office tomorrow, we will be lonely ladies. It seems that we have been keeping busy with doctors and hospitals and visitors and eating and sleeping...with not much spare time. Hannah had some jaundice, so we spent a night at the children's hospital in the hot box, and she's been off and on the biliblanket...but now is finally OFF! We had some issues because Hannah just doesn't seem to poop much, but the gastro doctor said she's just fine and that breastfed babies sometimes go several days without pooping.

I think the hardest thing we've had to deal with is that while we were in the hospital with jaundice, Hannah was only bottle-fed...she had my pumped breastmilk plus we supplemented with formula, and when we were finally done, she had a hard time going back to breastfeeding. It took a day or two to get back into the swing of things, but I was really scared at first that the Dr. had ruined my baby and that she might only want a bottle after that.

Overall, having a newborn is much more time-consuming than I had imagined...I only get to shower about every other day...and I don't do much laundry or any dishes...basically we just sleep and eat, it's kinda nuts.

She's so funny to me...I could watch her all day long...if I didn't need sleep, she's just so darn cute I can't help but to just stare at her for hours on end. :) So far I like being a mommy...other than feeling like I have no time to accomplish anything! It's just hard not to worry what your house looks like when you have people visiting all the time!

And this is what she looks like...

2009-06-15T19:12:00.002-05:00

Our little sweetie...isn't she precious?!

A birth Story for your reading pleasure....

2009-06-13T17:48:00.003-05:00

Most of the pictures I have of me with Hannah are of us nursing for the whole first hour while I was being stitched up...so you get the Daddy instead, he did so good!

Craziness...
So...I took the castor oil at about 3:30 yesterday...and it definitely went to work on my insides...but I fully expected to need a few more doses over the weekend. We went to bed at around 11:30, which is late for us...but hey, it was a Friday night, and we're crazy party animals! I woke up around midnight with more cramping....I thought it was just the oil doing its thing, and spent about half an hour on the toilet....and felt awful...spent the next half hour in the shower. The shower helped a lot..for a while...so I did a little bit of blog and message board reading until I felt awful again, and spent more time on the toilet...followed by another shower, by this time I was in a lot of pain. Partway through the shower I kinda started thinking, "you know, this is REALLY painful...what if I'm actually having contractions??!"

After my shower, about 3am I got back online...REALLY starting to feel the contractions at this point, and went to one of those contraction timer websites. I was pretty sure that I was in labor now, and the contractions seemed to be 2-3 minutes apart and lasting about a minute each. The pain started to get to the pint where I has to get on my knees and sway my hips back and forth...so at 3:30 I woke Jason up saying "I think we need to go to the hospital!" I just didn't think I would be able to take the car ride if I waited any longer.

We packed things up and got to the hospital at about 4AM. They checked my cervix right away and I was 8cm dialated. I labored another hour waiting for the Dr. to arrive...it was REALLY painful, but since I wanted SO badly to have a natural birth instead of Monday's induction, I just kept telling myself, "This is what I wanted, I get to do it the way that I wanted!" and any thought of pain meds stayed far from my mind. I just felt so blessed that I was getting to do it the way that I wanted to. :)

At 5AM the Dr. arrived, and she checked me again, I was at 10cm. She broke by water and I got to start pushing. The pushing part was really intense for me...for whatever reason I just couldn't wrap my head around the idea that I was pushing a human being out of my body, it felt really crazy. At 5:38 that baby came out! She was so so beautiful...she wasn't cheesy at all...just all slippery and bloody and beautiful! I was just so so excited she was here!! I got to hold her for a while, and when the cord stopped pulsing, they clamped it and Jason got to cut it.

The worst part was that since everything did go SO fast, my body didn't have proper time to adjust and all my woman parts were torn apart. I has to lay there being sewed back together for an entire hour. :( BUT Hannah was awesome and latched right on and nursed the whole time. :)

Jason was SO good through all of this! As a guy that can't even handle an episode of CSI, I was totally impressed by his ability to watch oll of this gross bloody stuff! He can probably tell you all the yucky details that I missed.

We'll have a baby by Monday.

2009-06-12T21:07:00.002-05:00

I wish I could be more excited about it, but I was really hoping to avoid induction. I'm REALLY excited about having our baby...but mourning the loss of the birth experience I really wanted.

Last night I was awake for several hours just thinking of all the things I could say to my Dr. to talk my way out of an induction. I didn't really think I would even have to use them TODAY, usually I just have to do my NST on Fridays, and see the Dr. on Tuesdays.

The NST went well...but the Dr. wanted to check my cervix after it was done. So, I'm now 4cm dialated, 80% effaced...so I've made a little progress since last being checked. Then she started talking induction. :( She had told me last time we talked about induction that we could wait until week 41...this time she said she told me that cause she really didn't think we would have to worry about going past my due date. :( That was actually the part I was most upset about...I wish she hadn't led me on like that.

Basically, she said I could refuse the induction, but she really did think it was for the best, and she was quite insistent about it. She said because of all the extra fluid, and becuase they don't know WHY I have so much, she thinks it's safer to induce...that basically nothing would be hurt by a 40 week induction, but she felt there were significant risks in going longer.

Even though I don't think that an induction is best for baby because of the domino effect of interventions...I don't want to refuse something that might be best for my baby becuase of my stubborn pride. Sigh.

So, I guess that's why my appointment was BEFORE lunch today, instead of after like the rest of them had been(so that I could have lunch with my Sweetie afterward)...I was really upset, but went to my Sweetie's work and we went out for lunch and discussed everything. He said he would take off work early and call Coral, our Bradley instructor, for some advice.

On my way home I picked up a bottle of castor oil...I had decided weeks ago that if I needed to dodge an induction, I would drink the oil...ugh. (BTW...it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!)

So, this weekend will be spent taking the castor oil and staying close to the bathroom, and hopefully jumpstarting some labor!

That was a little long...sorry!

39 Weeks

2009-06-09T21:35:00.004-05:00

So much to share this week! This is me at 39 weeks...still feeling good! (although I wouldn't mind if this baby would show up!) Today was my original due date before going to the Dr. and having the ultrasound done at 8 weeks.

We had an ultrasound this morning to check Hannah's growth, she's doing good...all of her measurements are right on, and they think she's about 8pounds 8ounces right now. Had my regular weekly appointment in the afternoon...my Dr. wasn't there, she was delivering, so I saw one of the other Drs...who seemed to want to talk me into an induction the whole time, so I kinda ignored him and told him Dr. Douglas already said I could go to 41 weeks, and that was that.

This is the artwork that I picked for the nursery, I think they're wonderful! Check out Rebecca's stuff at print*pattern*paper...I want to get the alphabet poster next, I think it would look great in Hannah's nursery!

I got the wall cards in German, just to be a little different...and I would love for Hannah to be interested in learning German and interested in knowing about Austria.

And the new stamps came in today! Yay! After grocery shopping, dishes, laundry, and all that good stuff I got to work packaging up the new stamps to send off to the design team girls...and if Hannah decides to stay put a while longer, maybe we'll get the new stamps added to the store this weekend! :)

Something very cool:

2009-06-07T19:36:00.004-05:00

I feel like all I blog about these days is pregnancy and the nursery. Well, today I have something different to share, something very cool:

I came acctoss this Etsy shop today, and fell in love with the beautiful rings and bracelets...at really reasonable prices!! (that bracelet up there is my vary favorite!) and I was even more impressed when I read the shop description:

WELCOME TO MY STORE Based out of Phoebus, Virginia, 2nd generation silver jewelry maker, Carl really knows how to use a fork and spoon. Not just in the utilitarian way, but he can take a piece of flatware and turn it into a piece of jewelry fit for any time of day. Pendants, rings and bracelets have been very much a part of Carl's life since the early 70's when his father had a spoon ring store. The sales from this jewelry is used to fund his short -term mission trip each year (GO) and help support missioniaries around the world (SEND). Romans 10:15 "And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Mission Statement *The calling of GO OR SEND JEWELRY is to provide resources for the advancement of the Gospel. *GO OR SEND JEWELRY provides funding to missionaries to ensure they can complete their calling. * GO OR SEND JEWELRY is Jewelry with a local and Global mission.

I love that the proceeds are used to fund the Gospel mission, so cool.

38 weeks:

2009-06-02T20:25:00.003-05:00

Here I am at 38 weeks...not the greatest picture, oh well. At my appointment today the Dr. said that since I'm "favorable" (heh) she could go ahead and induce on my due date. I told her I would rather wait, but she's only giving me until 41 weeks, but really thinks I'll go before then anyway...we'll see. Otherwise all is well in baby land!

Friday night I finished my final baby room sewing project, the crib skirt....I'm pretty happy with it.

And Saturday we put up the new tiny ceiling fan in the nursery, it's pretty cute.

So, I'm officially READY for Hannah to arrive! ...as ready as I'm going to be anyway. What would be really nice is a place to scrapbook, because I'm pretty sure that by the time we get the office fixed and set-up, I'll be way too behind on Hannah's scrapbook to ever properly catch up. I'll just have to remember that I don't need to scrapbook EVERY single photo that I ever take of her, and that there's nothing wrong with simple. (If I even remember how to scarpbook by then!)

New nursery banner and NEW STAMPS! :)

2009-05-29T19:55:00.003-05:00

I worked on one of my sewing projects today...this adorable banner with some more Heather Bailey fabric. I was looking at banners on Etsy the other night and found some really cute ones...but then I thought..."those would be super simple to make!" so I made one with the HB fabric I wanted to use for something in the nursery anyway.

And I got the samples of my new stamps today!! :) These are the ones that were supposed to be out by the end of last year...5 or 6 MONTHS ago...and then Big Mac died. I don't back stuff up properly. :( Jason recovered the hard drive in January or February and got me my files, but we were a little busy in Jan/Feb with the house search, so now that things have calmed down, we have new stamps!!! (before things get extremely busy with the new baby.) So, keep your eyes out for them to be added to the store sometime in a few weeks.

Hannah's room so far:

2009-05-27T12:12:00.002-05:00

I've been waiting for so long to do the nursery...I got to work on it some on Monday, so here it is so far...I still have a few sewing projects, and I have to decide on the artwork for the walls...and I have to re-upholster the cair, but it will do for now:

Since the room has linoleum floors, pretty much the easiest thing to do was buy a 6x9 area carpet that covers most of the floor...we can decide on a more permanent flooring choice later. :)

The crib looks pretty bare right now...I hope to make the crib skirt this week...but I don't really want bumpers for now...we'll see if she starts moving around and getting limbs stuck between slats, but as I understand, when babies are little bumpers are pretty much just a SIDS risk.

Because my feet are swolen...

2009-05-22T12:26:00.002-05:00

I'm taking a little break in the recliner to eat lunch and share a sewing project before going for my NST.

One of the ladies Jason works with handed us down a bunch of baby clothes and other things, one of those things being a bouncy chair....and since Tweety and Sylvester are not exacly my style, a make-over was definitely in order.
I spent less than $5 on this Heather Bailey fabric, and everything else I already had in my sewing stash (extra fabric for the backing, the batting, the thread)...or I used from the old cover (the clippies.)

I think it turned out pretty well, now all I need is a baby to put in it! :)

36 weeks

2009-05-19T20:30:00.003-05:00

Today was a little crazy!

I had an appointment to meet my new regular Dr. this morning, and she was wonderful, I'm really glad I'm switching...my old Dr. was kind of odd and would look at the floor the whole time she talked to you, and I would always go home not quite sure what the woman was saying.

Then I had lunch with my Sweetie before going to my 36 week OB appointment. I do my NSTs twice a week...and the nurse always calls Hannah her over-achiever, cause she always does exactly what she's supposed to...not so today. Hannah moved around and practiced her dancing ALL morning, and then after having lunch and emptying my bladder she settled in for a little nap....and didn't want to do anything! Usually we're on the monitor for 20-25 minutes TOPS and I get to go home. Since Hannah wouldn't cooperate the Dr. had to do an ultrasound to make sure she was practicing her breathing and to watch her move around a few times. She aslo did my GBS swab...and since I had my pants off anyway, she checked to see how things were progressing...for the last time before my due date. She was surprised to find that I was 3cm dialated and 80% effaced, and said that even though it didn't mean I would go right away...she would be around all weekend except Saturday morning when she was getting her hair cut. :) We'll see...I still think Hannah should hold out for at least Sunday when she will officially be full-term. (but I AM getting a little anxious for her to be here...even though I feel like there's still so much to get done!)

Since this all took so much longer than it was supposed to, I was late for my hair appointment, I called on my way over there, and they were wonderful enough to reschedule me for an hour later. One of the wonderful ladies Jason works with got me a gift certificate for a shampoo, cut, and style, I was so grateful...as it's been almost a YEAR since it was last cut. The girl who cut it was named Jenna, and she cuts hair a lot like Jenny does, so it was nice.

When I got out of there I found that my car had a flat tire. :( It's the first time I've ever had one. I called Jason and left him a message saying that I had a flat tire and would try to change it...he called me back a couple of minutes later and said that he would get there as soon as he could and NOT to change it. (I didn't really want to anyway, all I could picture was me trying to change a flat tire and my water breaking or something wonderful like that!) He he he. Well, turns out a nice man that lived right there saw me stranded with a flat and helped me out, and it's a good thing he did...cause my silly wheel was STUCK on there...he had to pound it off with a sledge hammer it was so stuck. So he changed the whole thing for me...I didn't have any cash on me, but I made sure to write down his name and address to send him a thank-you. By this time Jason had just made it to Kenosha and met me at Culvers for some food before we drove back to Oak Creek to drop my car off at our favorite Meineke and then he drove me home. Quite the day, huh?

So my picture up there is taken in Hannah's room, I put the first coat of paint on her walls yesterday, and will do the second tomorrow, I'm so excited, I am very happy with the color...when I just saw it on the paint chip I was afraid it would be too light, but I think it's perfect!

That's all for now, I think. Heh...my brain is a little fried, I didn't get a nap today!

Church Baby Shower.

2009-05-18T12:43:00.002-05:00

I forgot to take my 36 week picture yesterday with all the excitement of the baby shower. I'll take one on Tuesday after my Dr. appointment and HAIRCUT! :)

The shower was a lot of fun...lots of talking to people...and meeting people I didn't even know...the church we go to is not huge...but it's pretty big, and we usually sit in the same general area every week, so we don't know all that many people. Hannah has so many things now...I need to get to work on her room so that we have a place to put it all!

I also updated our house blog with part one of our kitchen re-do, if you want to see what we've been up to around here. :)

35 Weeks

2009-05-13T23:38:00.003-05:00

I don't really like this picture(taken on mother's day)...but that's ok, I expect the pictures to get less flattering until I have a REALLY cute baby to show you. At my 34 week appointment I was having much pain, turned out to be a yeast infection...the Dr. checked me and said I was dialated 1cm and 50% effaced...and at my 35 week appointment she said that any time Hannah wants to come is fine with her...although I would prefer her to wait a while longer! (I have started to have a few random contractions, so that's fun.)

I'm doing non-stress tests twice a week now because of the extra fluid...and Hannah always does really well...and she's getting so much stronger lately! She goes crazy when I play the little hand-help electronic yahtzee game...can't figure out if she loves it or hates it. :) There's so much to get done before she's here...but...overall, I'm pretty ready....I think about 37 weeks would be ok with me, but so would 40.

34 weeks

2009-05-04T08:50:00.003-05:00

Here is 34 weeks....at my appointment I had not gained any more weight! :) Jason is convinced this is not a good thing, but I don't mind it.

After announcing to him yesterday that I thought I had lost my mucus plug (if you don't know what that is, you probably don't want to!)....he dug through a box of papers until he found our birthing class info to make sure that I wasn't going into labor. he he he He decided that since I had lost my plug, was starting to lose weight, and was nesting, labor could start at any minute.

I told him that I would get a new plug, that I was not LOSING weight...merely not gaining, and that I was not nesting because I felt like it, but nesting because we are moving!!

Heh....but then decided that I should go buy our carseat just in case she does decide to come early, heh. Since I've been planning on her coming late, when faced with a possibility of an early baby I get a little nervous!

Happy Anniversary Rachel and Jono! :)

2009-05-03T21:54:00.003-05:00

:) May year #2 be even better than the first!

I found a couple bottles of your wedding bubbles while packing up to move and decided to keep them for a couple more weeks so that we could blow them on your first anniversary. :) We love you lots and lots!

I'm totally going to...

2009-04-29T17:04:00.003-05:00

do this in Hannah's room when she has a sibling to share it with.....since her closet is pretty deep, and kids' clothes don't really need a whole closet, we can just add an armoire for their clothes, and build a bed "into" the wall, I'm excited. Also...I like run-on sentences.

Fun Canopy....

2009-04-22T03:02:00.005-05:00

I kinda want to make one of these for Miss Banana's room....to go around her crib...since I'm obviously not going to spend the remainder of my nursery budget on buying one! I'm just afraid with how small Hannah's room is that it might be a tad overpowering...the room is about 8ftx9ft.

32 week photo

2009-04-19T22:06:00.003-05:00

Aparently blogger only has problems with me posting house photos over here...hmmm. Here I am (or we are, I should say) at 32 weeks. I think the growing is slowing a little...what do you think....do I look much bigger than a few weeks ago?

You can see the pictures and the tour...

2009-04-17T19:31:00.003-05:00

here.

Since this blog is hosted *not* by blogger...it gives me troubles often, and since I've been trying a couple of days to post the house pictures I decided to make a new blog for all the house stuff. So you can go over there to see our little storefront house and its various improvement projects. :)

I see how it is......

2009-04-16T16:05:00.003-05:00

blogger hates me.

maybe next time.

Will blogger even let me post?

2009-04-16T15:43:00.001-05:00

I just got all my before pictures ready to post...and now blogger won't even upload them...we'll see if they let me post this at all.

pictures:

2009-04-02T20:47:00.002-05:00

(after blogger wouldn't let me upload my pictures...it wouldn't let me upload my post either!)

So, here is me today at aprox. 30 weeks...and Hannah!! She's trying to hide her cute face behind her arm. BTW...I am looking SO round! Crazy, huh...what will I look like in another 10 weeks!!!??

I finished the living room today, it looks pretty great, I'll have to show pictures soon, for sure. I also have all the before pictures...maybe Saturday!

Update:

2009-04-02T12:15:00.006-05:00

Blogger is being a pain in the patootie and won't let me upload any pictures. :(
I'll post them later when Blogger decides to be more accomodating.

We had the ultrasound this morning and Hannah is still a Hannah, and still doing great, she weighs about 3 pounds 6 ounces which the Dr. said is just right. He said that my amniotic fluid levels are a little elevated, but most of the time they don't even have a reason for that, and that it is not a problem at all.

House stuff is going slower than I expected....Tuesday I was over there...I started in the kitchen, but the kitchen has a high ceiling and I couldn't reach everything to wash the walls even on my step stool, so I went to the living room instead. I washed the walls in there, pulled all the nails and patched all the holes. Next I went to Hannah's room...and this is where it gets interresting. I started by taking downt he globe to the light fixture, which had always looked a little scary since we first saw the house...well, the reason it emmited such an ominous glow is cause it was FULL of water...I don't know how it didn't start a fire or something!

So I go to the kitchen to dump the water out and hear some dripping...it's raining and we've got a little bit of a leak between the kitchen and the laundry room....so I decide to check the basement out, to see how it's doing with all the rain....but all I notice is a sewage smell....coming from the clogged floor drain down there, lovely. At this point I am just so discouraged that I go home and shower...and cry. Heh.

When Jason came home and asked about my day and I burst into tears...he...of course...was wonderful and optimistic and wanted to fix everything. :) We went and bought a ladder and some roofing cement to patch the leaks and headed to the house. Hannah's room is not actively leaking...the water was probably from a big snow melt or something...her room is right by the chimney...so that's probably where we got some water infiltration...so Jason turned off power to her room...the bucket I had placed under the other leak was dry...so I guess it's not too major...and we're still waiting for a plumber to HOPEFULLY get that drain all cleaned out so that we can use water without a lovely sewage smell. :)

Fun times. So..Hannah's room will have to wait. Sweetie will tear down the ceilings (yes...plural...heh) in there and see what's going on up there, and THEN I can start on the nursery.

But yesterday I put the first coat of paint on the living room, it is bright and yellow, and I can't wait for the rest of the house to be as lovely. Today I plan to do the second coat of yellow and wash the walls in our bedroom....and hopefully paint the bedroom tomorrow. :) Painting is fun...but it's kind of a slow process I'm finding out.

Anyway, that's all for now!

Yesterday was closing day:

2009-03-31T11:30:00.002-05:00

and this is our apartment right now-- a mess of boxes, some packed, some empty....but not enough room to put more packed boxes, paint chips, unwatched stuff from netflix (who knows when we'll have time!), and somebody's ticket for an illegal u-turn.

My day so far: Packing up cleaning supplies and a few tools, went to walmart for a step stool, bucket, dish soap, and hand soap...went to home depot for a bathroom faucet, went to menards for new locks.
My afternoon: Washing down all walls, cabinets, and anything else I can find, removing nails from walls, patching holes.
If I get that all done today, I figure I can go buy paint and get started on that tomorrow! :) Thursday morning is our ultrasound...then probably more painting...maybe more Friday..I've never painted before, so I'm not sure how long to expect it to take. Saturday I will probably be Jason's helper fixing small things, putting up smoke and CO detectors and such...Sunday I think is when our "first move" is going on...which is basically all of Jason's tools and workshop stuff from his Mom's basement + hand-me-down refridgerator, stove, dryer, dishwasher....and hopefully maybe get some of the boxes out of the apartment so that we actually have room to pack more. But if I can get ALL the painting done before we move anything in I'll be a happy camper.

Who can resist baby clothes?!

2009-03-23T15:54:00.002-05:00

I was doing pretty well at not buying too many baby clothes until a few weeks ago...they're just too cute. This weekend Old Navy was having a baby clothes sale....everything was $5. The girl stuff was pretty picked-over by the time we went, but they had SO much cute boy stuff...you would not even believe...anyway, I was still able to find a couple of things. :) The green outfit was one that I saw online that I wanted...but I don't like to pay shipping...and that little sweater...oh my goodness...I would not have payed the $19.50 it originally costed, but for $5, how could I pass it up??! It's my favorite color, and so super sweet.

I failed the one hour glucose test I took last Wednesday.... :( I had to do the three hour test which made me feel SO sick, and my poor vein was sore when it was all finished, but the nurse called today and said I passed, so it's all good! Our ultrasound is scheduled for April 2nd, so hopefully I'll have more news after that.

I went to the Dr. this morning....

2009-03-18T14:28:00.002-05:00

I had my glucose test, it really wasn't as awful as I thought it would be. I drank the sugary-sweet flat orange soda and went up for my 28 week appointment. Hannah's heartbeat is good, but when the Dr. measured my belly it was still measuring way too big...which I knew it would be...I found out in our class on Monday night that the line that goes up the middle of my belly actually shows how big my uterus it...and mine goes almost all the way up to the tip-top of my belly. So she's sending us to have a "growth check" ultrasound to make sure Hannah isn't HUGE, I'm guessing I just have extra amniotic fluid in there....but I don't mind seeing the babe again. :)

Oh...yeah...and I've gained my 20 pounds back. Heh.

Also...I ordered the fabric for the curtains in Hannah's room, and my Sweetie picked me up some paint chips the other night...I'm thinking of a blue-ish color in-between the two lightest colors on the chip for the walls. Since we close on the house on March 30th, and my birthday is the next weekend, I told Jason that all I want for my birthday is PAINT! (every room in the house is painted white) I can't wait to get started!

The problem with buying a cheap house...

2009-03-11T10:54:00.002-05:00

The problem is all the money I want to spend to make it exactly what I want!

I am in love with this kitchen, but I'm not sure I want to know how much it would cost to have my kitchen cabinets shipped from the UK. :(

We sign papers today to have our closing date moved up to March 30th! :) Which means the 5.25% interest rate that we locked in on Saturday will actually be in effect when the deal is done. :) I am telling you, now is the time to buy, I'm getting so excited about April and fixing up our house, and May and LIVING in our house!

5 years, 25 weeks, and a house:

2009-03-04T08:38:00.002-06:00

Things are getting pretty crazy around here! Monday we celebrated the 5 year anniversary of the day we were matched up on eHarmony. :) We didn't do much to celebrate...he he he, signed more house papers, got pizza, and watched Chuck and Heroes. It was our last Monday before we start our birthing classes. Hey, we even took a picture! Most pictures these days are of my giant Hannah belly....like the next one.

This picture was taken actually the day AFTER I turned 25 weeks, but it's close enough. I look down toward my feet, and all I see anymore is a giant round belly and I wonder how it can get any bigger...but I see the profile pictures and it doesn't look that huge yet...such a funny thing...I can't even imagine what I'll look like at the end. My appetite has leveled off in the past week, though, so I'm hoping the weight gain will also. (at least for now)

AND...we had our home inspection last night! Here is a picture of our ugly little storefront house. :) It needs a lot of work, as you can see by the hanging gutter above the door! But it's about half a block from coffee shops and book stores and other fun things, and has definite potential. Right now the closing date is set for April 23rd....which we are really hoping to be able to move up, cause I'm sure I'll be HUGE by then....and I definitely want to do some serious cleaning and painting before moving in! But for now, I have A LOT of packing to do!

What is this...an update??!

2009-02-23T09:50:00.001-06:00

I got a phonecall from my Monday boss this morning saying that I didn't need to work today, so I promptly made a list of all I hoped to accomplish today, and blogging happened to be on that list. :) Also to do today: laundry, dishes, post office, pick up dry cleaning, go to gym, call my mom (it's her birthday!), hem some maternity pants, have lunch with my Sweetie, and last, but certainly not least, meet with our realtor to write up an offer on a house!

I am now 24 weeks along in the pregnancy, hooray! The most recent picture I have is 22 weeks, I'll have to have my Sweetie take my 24 week picture tonight. After the 22 week picture is one at about 10 weeks wearing that same shirt, before I had a giant belly! :) My next appointment with the Dr. is on Wednesday, and I think I've probably gained about 5 pounds in the past 4 weeks...not looking forward to that! I think about 3 of those pounds were all in one week, though, and I'm convinced little Hannah had a BIG growth spurt, we'll see!

Other than all of the fun getting huge, and other pregnancy stuff, life has been really busy! It seems that every spare minute has been spent looking for a house. We found one that we really loved, but it was already under contract a few days later when we wanted to make an offer. It's really hard, after finding a house that we love, to settle on something we think is OK. We haven't found anything we LOVE since then, but...we're kinda...tired of looking.

We're convinced that God has just the right house for us, and we think that maybe the house we are making an offer on tonight is the right one. It's not our dream house, and it needs quite a bit of work, but we both see a lot of potential. It's pretty old and has some problems, so a lot will depend on the inspection, but we love the neighborhood, and the price is definitely right, so we're hopeful!

That's what's going on around here. :) Sorry it's been so long.....it will probably be a while before the next update as well, but I'll try to do better!

The Ultrasound:

2009-01-23T11:22:00.002-06:00

I was SO excited the night before our ultrasound that I has a REALLY hard time sleeping! It was really fun...the ultrasound is at the hospital where we will be delivering, not the one I see my Dr. at, so that was a new experience. At first Hannah was really stubborn and just laying on her belly and wouldn't turn over for the tech to take all her measurements, eventually she did turn over and we got the rest of the pictures that they needed. I drank some juice beforehand so that she would be sure to move around a lot...she is a little wiggler! It was really fun to watch her movements on screen and feel them at the same time...the BIG movements, like when she would stretch her legs out all the way. :)
Her heartrate was 158, she weighs about 11 ounces, and all of her measuremnts are right on track with her due date. It was fun to see what she looks like with the 3D shots...but she'll probably change A LOT in the next 20 (or so) weeks!

It's a GIRL!

2009-01-21T15:01:00.002-06:00

:) We're so excited!!

...just one little problem....until this past weekend when I started having girl dreams, I thought I was having a boy! All my nursery ideas were for a boy, and while I think a space/robot theme would be fine for a girl, he he he, I'm afraid other people would see it and be like, "Oh, you must have thought you were having a boy!"

So now my quest is to figure out my perfect girly...but not TOO girly...nursery!
Here are two nurseries that inspire me....

I'm thinking of doing like a yellow/aqua combo...maybe using some of these Heather Bailey fabrics, and making the bedding and curtains myself.

We have a bunch of pictures of Hannah, hopefully Sweetie can get those digitized for me soon and I'll get them posted later this week! :) :)

Someone DID scrapbook today!

2009-01-16T15:34:00.002-06:00

And it was me!
It was a little too late in the afternoon to take a good picture, but oh well...here is my page of our first ultrasound photo/first prenatal appoinment. It all seems so long ago now...but I suppose it's been almost 11 weeks already! We're getting ready for our BIG ultrasound now, so very exciting.

At Christmas I had felt baby moving a couple of times...but not much since then, but last night that baby was sure excited about something...I felt like I had a little bag of popcorn going crazy in there! I get so excited when I can feel the little one moving...I can't wait until I feel the movements ALL the time, I think that will be really reassuring. ...I worry a lot about little Kit!

17 weeks

2009-01-12T14:03:00.002-06:00

This picture was taken last weekend when I was 17 weeks along, I feel like my belly is getting pretty huge, even though baby is only the size of a bell pepper! We were supposed to be having our ultrasound today, but it's been rescheduled for Wednesday the 21st. :) More waiting. I feel like pregnancy is just A LOT of waiting...waiting to not feel like crap, waiting for appointments, ultrasounds, waiting to finally get to hold the baby!
Holding Jenny's Addison at Christmas was really nice, she is the sweetest little thing, it makes me really anxious for our little one to get here, even though it's still 5 months away! And now looking at pictures of our new birthday niece (Ada was born on Jason's birthday!) makes me really impatient again.
I feel like any day now I'll get back to scrapbooking...my goal is to do a page on Friday. :) We'll see! We've finally gotten things cleaned up around here after getting back from our Kansas Christmas trip...now I just need the motivation to take down the Christmas decorations...mostly just the tree, we didn't do much other decorating this year.

14 Week Appointment:

2008-12-12T14:19:00.004-06:00

We had our 14 week appointment this morning...met one of the other doctors, she was nice, and pretty much just listened to the heartbeat. I was really excited about hearing the heartbeat, it was a very nice sound! Jason named the baby "Kit" after hearing the heartbeat cause it totally sounded like Kit from Knight Rider. :)
Next, they're gonna call me to schedule an ultrasound for around 18 weeks and I'll see my reg. Dr. again after that.

I found this crib for a nice price on Craigslist the other day...now all I need is a nursery to get it all set up in! We're thinking about looking at houses in the spring when our lease is up, cause we definitely need more room than this one bedroom apartment. I think that's all for now! :)

Rejoining Blogland:

2008-12-10T09:24:00.002-06:00

Wow...so...yeah...that was a little bit longer of a break than I had planned.

I had only planned on being sick until I was 12 weeks pregnant (this is when everyone said I would start feeling better) but it lasted a little longer! I haven't taken a picture of my belly since it started getting REALLY big...ok, it's not REALLY big yet....but it is definitely sticking out...so, here is a picture of my tree and all of the gifts that I have wrapped...it will not look so bounteous after I get a little package sent out to California!

I will try to get a good picture of my belly later this week. I have a feeling the 20 pounds I lost during the first trimester are going to come back quickly seeing as how yesterday was my first day feeling mostly better and I ate three whole meals, AND snacked in-between, AND ate A TON at Jason's company Christmas party last night. I might have to get back to the gym with a vengeance next week!

2008-11-03T17:53:00.002-06:00

:) We went to the Dr. today and got an ultrasound...baby is measuring 8 weeks 1 day. This makes our due date June 14th. They also took all of my blood...8 vials, it was crazy!

The best part was seeing the baby's heart beating on the ultrasound, how cool is that??!

My 8 Week Belly

2008-10-28T16:18:00.005-05:00

That's my belly today at 8 weeks. I'm not really showing yet...baby is only about the size of a kidney bean right now...that's just the pooch I already have to start out with. :) We have our first Dr. appointment on Monday, so less than a week to go, yay! I'm struggling quite a bit with morning sickness...only not only in the mornings, all day pretty much, it just seems to be worse in the mornings...most of the time...last night was yucky as well.

I really just haven't felt like scrapbooking while feeling all icky....so instead of trying to keep up with the scrapbook, I'm just trying to keep up with taking pictures and writing in a journal, and that way I can catch up on the scrapbook when I'm feeling better.

That's all for now. :)

Tagged

2008-10-24T09:10:00.003-05:00

Since I have the energy to to approximately nothing blogworthy as of late....why not a little random information?

Rachel tagged me....and here are the rules....

1. Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

Now...7 things you probably do not care to know about me...

1. The first time I spent the night at Rachel's house, she told me that her cat could turn the lights off in her bedroom, I believed her.

2. Rachel and I used to do pretty much NOTHING all the time...I would go to Topeka to visit her almost every other weekend and we would sit around or lay around indecisively MOST of the time.

3. Once we went to Hobby Lobby and bought a treasure box and spent the weekend going to garage sales and other places looking for piratey things to fill it with.

4. We were going to watch Spice World once...but couldn't bring ourselves to do it. (Mostly because Rachel was scared that someone someday might ask her if she had ever seen it.)

5. When I would spend the night with Rachel we would put in a movie to fall asleep to...Rachel's collection consisted of motly Mel Gibson movies, and when I chose "What Women Want" we argued FOREVER about if I had seen it or not, Rachel was sure that I had...but I still think I hadn't.

6. Rachel and I went to see "Win a Date With Tad Hamilton" pretty much cause we had nothing better to do...still to this day, it is one of my very favorite movies, Rachel makes fun of it.

7. Another thing we would do to pass time....Rachel would "fix my hair" and it always looked so "wonderful" she insisted I wear it that way....for...an indefinite length of time...and I would do it.

:) He he he he, good times.

Now...I will tag.....

Jenny
Joanne
Jillian
Charin

...and that's not 7...but it's everyone I can think of right now that hasn't been tagged already.

Weekend With Friends

2008-10-21T22:03:00.003-05:00

:) Magen and Micah drove up to visit for the weekend...and I have to tell you, I don't even remember the last time I laughed so much! We went to a couple of places downtown, ate at Kopps, (everyone else) played some nintendo, went to the Mars Cheese Castle, made some Cheddar Ale Soup (non-alcoholic for the pregnant lady, of course!), watched movies, played games. It was fun. Jason and I are usually lame-o homeboddies, so it was a very excitement-filled weekend for us. It's nice to have wonderful friends who drive all the way to Wisconsin just to visit for a couple of days. We always try to stop by their house on our way to Salina, but it never seems like enough time, so I was very thankful for their visit. :) Thanks, Guys!

Body Building of the Baby Variety:

2008-10-17T14:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the whole...me being a terrible blogger thing. As it turns out, pregnancy is kicking my butt...and all I have energy for is sitting around reading about the crazy things happening in my body. I don't even have this baby yet and I'm already a week behind on the scrapbook...here is last Wednesday's page....

Missing: My Mojo

2008-10-10T08:12:00.002-05:00

I had yesterday off...and I accomplished nothing. I sat in front of the computer and read a book all day....but at least Anne-Marie and Elise are making pretty things!

Stamptoberfest

2008-10-08T19:06:00.003-05:00

If you missed out on WCD but would like a chance to win some stamps, we're hosing a challenge at 2peas for Stamptoberfest!

Embroidery Challenge

The challenge is to make a card, layout, or other project, using both a stamped image and some hand embroidery. Just upoad your item to the 2peas gallery and link it to the challenge! (I haven't actually made anything for this yet...but I have tomorrow off and I'm hopeful!)

WCD Winner

2008-10-07T08:19:00.002-05:00

The winner of our border stamps from WCD is Tina! Tina, please email me with your address, and I'll send your stamps out asap, also, SNR should be contacting you soon about your free month's subscription! :)

And I just loved all of the cards so much that I want to offer everyone who participated a little prize, so if you would like a couple of Apple Blossom Studio stamps, email me with your address, and I'll send you a little something!

World Card Making Day

2008-10-04T06:30:00.001-05:00

Come join the festivities at Scrapbook News + Review. Apple Blossom Studio is sponsoring a challenge.

I love fun decorative edges, I think they give a finished look to any project. Our challenge to you is simply to make a Holiday card with a decorative edge. So get out your deco-edge scissors, die-cut papers, or think of another fun way to make a decorative edge, we will be choosing the maker of one card to win a set of Apple Blossom Studio border stamps!

All you have to do is post your card in the SNR galery, and link it up in the comments of this blog post. We're giving away a set of border stamps, a month's subscription to SNR, and maybe a few other prizes as well!

Here are a couple of example cards I made:

Friday Favorites

2008-10-03T08:20:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is World Cardmaking Day. We have some fun lined up for that, but today for Friday Favorites I just wanted to share with you a few of my favorite card-makers! The eye-candy on their blogs is definitely worth a look!

Roree Rumph

Katie

Jennifer McGuire

Lea Lawson

And of course our very own Kadee Morrison.
Here is another card she made, using the "Inksy Daisies" stamp on her background cardstock.

The Air Bed Fort

2008-10-01T09:26:00.003-05:00

Last weekend I was suffering from a compromised immune system....I wasn't ALL THE WAY sick...but coughing a little and congested. Since all my real jobs consist of taking care of people, it's really inconvenient for me to get sick....so I took it easy all weekend, taking plenty of breaks to just lay on the couch and watch HGTV. ...and since I wasn't feeling well, my dear sweet hubby does pretty much whatever I want. :)

Saturday night I was feeling pretty blah, so even though Jason doesn't really like watching movies/tv shows more than once, he was willing to watch the entire first disk of season one of Smallville with me. We got out the air mattress, and gathered every pillow in the apartment and set up our Air Bed Fort. ...and since I also scrapbooked over the weekend, our bed is covered in papers and stickers and embellishments...so we've been camping out ever since! But...I have today off work and my plans include cleaning up all my scrapbooking stuff and making the bed, so, I'm afraid, the campout is over.

Loop-de-Loo

2008-09-30T15:48:00.006-05:00

Our Loop-de-Loo stamp has been added to the shop!

And I wanted to say a special thank-you to Anne Gaal who sent me this sweet card using the stamp. I always love seeing our stamps in action!

Weekend Scraps

2008-09-29T08:48:00.003-05:00

For some reason I feel like I actually have 100 things to blog about...so I decided to start with the scrapping that actually happened this weekend! :) Friday I got the September Label Tulip kit, and since I had the weekend off work, I put it to good use.

Jenny, since you didn't email me the Wonder Pets pictures, I just stole them right off your blog, you put really HUGE pictures on your blog! (I stole what you wrote for the journaling too!) And this photo of Nathan and Alex in front of the plane was too cute not to scrap.

...and the one of Jeremy and Hayley...the picture was left over from the camping page I did last week, sitting there all lonely on my desk, and since this kit was nature/outdoor themed, it got scrapped too. :)

More DT Layouts

2008-09-25T15:31:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple more DT layouts...
This super cute one is by Maria using the "Swirly Girly" stamp.

Anne made this layout (which, of course, blogger decided to turn on its side!) using the "Simply Sweet Scallops" "Candy Striper" and "Roller Coaster" stamps.

Camping

2008-09-24T11:42:00.002-05:00

We don't go camping, but Joanne's pictures always make it look like so much fun. How cute are these ones of Jeremy and Hayley??!

Cards by Kadee

2008-09-22T22:30:00.003-05:00

Kadee just made several new cards with Apple Blossom Studio stamps. I think I might need to make a few this week, I feel inspired!

A Couple of Layouts

2008-09-19T14:17:00.002-05:00

I am loving everything that the design team girls are creating lately, today I just wanted to share a couple more layouts.

This fun layout is by Anne-Marie and features our Swirly Girly stamp. All the bright colors and fun patterns make it so fun to look at.

And we have a layout by Beth using our Wet Paint and Joyous Journaling stamps. We all know that I couldn't make a visually appealing masculine layout if my life depended on it, which is why I love this one so much!

And an update on my grandma: I got to talk to her a little yesterday! :) My mother is down in Texas all week staying with her at the hospital, and I called to talk to my mom a while and got to talk to my grandma for a minute too. They were able to do surgery on her face on Tuesday, and want to start with some rehabilitation soon, she even stood for five seconds with assistance the other day. :) Things are looking hopeful!

Broadway Paper

2008-09-17T08:39:00.002-05:00

I complain about living in Wisconsin. As a Kansas girl, it is just too cold here for me. If it wasn't for crazy long and snowy winters, Oak Creek would be a great place to live. It's wonderful and quiet, but close enough to Milwaukee that we can take a little afternoon trip downtown and go to Broadway Paper and Rubin's Furniture.

Sunday afternoon we went to Broadway Paper and they had some truly wonderful calendars.

This one by Snow & Graham is wonderful because their designs are carried to the back of the cards, so that you can frame them after the month is over, I would probably just put them all together and make a minibook of monthly baby pictures, though, since I have a niece coming in December, and another niece or nephew coming in January! :)

This was my favorite calendar, though. It is by Night Owl Paper Goods, and all made of woods and is just beautiful!
I was inspired by the wood calendar to make a little minibook with wood veneer covers. I'm still not entirely sure what I'll be doing with it, but it is super cute, easy to make, and the inside is filled with all my favorite blue and green scrap papers. I used chalk ink to stamp on the wood veneer, other inks seemed to soak in more and weren't as vibrant.

Myth Busted.

2008-09-15T22:23:00.002-05:00

Tonight we watched the episode of Mythbusters where Adam tells the secret of how to rip a phonebook in half....and this is what my livingroom now looks like.

...also...it's not as easy as he makes it look.

Wonderful News!

2008-09-14T20:39:00.002-05:00

My dad called me tonight after he had gotten home from taking my mom down to Texas. Grandma is doing SO much better than two weeks ago. He said that yesterday she even sat up for two hours and sat up to eat her supper, and she was very talkative. :) He said that her infection has gone down a lot and that hopefully they will be able to do the surgery on her face soon.

Thanks, everyone, for your continued prayers!

I've Heard Your Inner Monologues!

2008-09-13T18:44:00.002-05:00

I know you guys have been thinking to yourselves, "Gee, I sure wish there were a way to effortlessly proclaim my love for Apple Blossom Studio stamps to the world!"

I'm here to tell you that those wishes have been granted! We have a new page of downloads available! :) I whipped up a couple of pretty wallpapers. (I keep switching between orange and purple, not able to decide my favorite!) I made them in 5 different sizes so that 90% of our visitors are covered, and if you have a screen resolution I didn't make, just email me, and I'll make sure you get some wallpaper too! :) We also have a little blinkie you can put in your blog sidebar or message board signatures. Have fun!

Friday Favorites

2008-09-12T09:29:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you, but I could surf my whole day away on Etsy. Today I just want to share a few of my favorite shops....
A couple of weeks ago I came accross Vital, they have wonderful t-shirts, and I want pretty much one of each! But I bought the bike for me, and the seagull camera one for my Sweetie.

I also love this t-shirt by Brilliant Embers.

For beautiful jewelry I am in love with The Ardent Sparrow.

And Ther2dewi Designs makes me want to wear earings every day!

Yee-Haw has THE coolest letterpress stuff, so many different things, there's something for everyone.

Dingbat Press has these adorable recipe cards! (and much more!)

Annie Design makes cute crochet flowers, I think I need some for my scrapbooks.

And would you check out these amazing scarves by Fray!

High Street Market has a bunch of pretty vintage stuff.

as does Bella Days.

Scraps

2008-09-10T14:32:00.002-05:00

When we got married, Jason made a slideshow of pictures of us growing up and then pictures of the two of us together, and he cleaned up a bunch of my kid pictures, which I think I am just about finished scrapbooking. One of these days I am going to go album shopping so that I have a place to put all my 12x12s...8.5x11 layouts were so easy cause I could put them in regular old three ring binders.
Jenny emailed me pictures of Alex the other day. :) When I was organizing my layouts a couple of weeks ago I found that I have WAY more of Hayley than Alex...Joanne is really good about sending pictures. :)

And to update you about my grandma: When my uncle John went to see her yesterday she had woken up and remembered things and was very talkative. She still has an infection in her lungs, and they won't operate on her face until it has cleared up, and if the infection spreads it could cause problems, but I am very encouraged that she is so with-it. My dad is going to drive my mom down there this weekend, and she's going to stay the week there, but he has to be back for work and stuff. Sigh, I'm feeling a lot better knowing that she seems to be doing better. Thanks for your prayers!

I vow to do something creative today.

2008-09-10T08:10:00.000-05:00

....just putting it out there so that I actually follow through.

I blame caffeine.

2008-09-09T03:03:00.002-05:00

I think that I must be as affected by caffeine as the poor spider who made the bottom web. ....why else would I be so completely tired and worn-out and yet not able to sleep a wink? I really think it does terrible things to me, perhaps I should start a journal of all my symptoms each time I consume a caffeinated beverage, cause I am seriously nutty tonight.

Please pray for my Grandma:

2008-09-05T08:51:00.002-05:00

Last Friday morning my mom called me witht he news that my grandma, Gloria Martin, down in Texas, was in the hospital. During the night someone or someones broke into her home and attacked her and brutally beat her and took her car and her purse. She was able somehow at 4:50 in the morning to call 911 even though she couldn't see and many of her fingers had been broken. She had to be flown to the hospital, where she is still in intensive care. She's had surgeries on her hands and the wounds on her scalp, but they have to wait for an infection to clear up before they can operate on her face. She is on a ventilator, and her face is majorly swolen, but she seems to try to respond when family members are talking to her.

I can't even imagine what kind of person or people could do something so terrible and senseless, and I've been having a hard time dealing with how God could let something like this happen. I've always been a strong believer (through others' trials) that God is ALWAYS in control and that everything has a reason...but this, I can't help but feel, is purely evil.

Proverbs 3:5- Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

Jeremiah 29:11- "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

Even though I don't understand it, I'm trying to trust, and not to let satan get his thoughts into my head, because God is good, ALL THE TIME.

So...I still have things from LAST Friday's to-do list that need to be done....when I'm at work or with other people I do better at focusing on other things but when I'm all alone I'm constantly thinking and worrying about my mom and her brother, and pretty much all of my energy and creativity is gone. Please pray for my grandma, for my mom, and especially for my uncle John and his family, they live down in Texas near my Grandma, and need extra strength to deal with everything. Thanks a bunch.

Inspiring Design

2008-09-02T17:48:00.003-05:00

Jason and I look at websites a lot, and sometimes I find myself creatively inspired by a website design. I've had that bit of cityscape felt on my bulletin board for a couple of months, and loved it, but I just wasn't sure how to use it. When I saw the Rue Cler Bakery Website I fell in love and had to use it to make a scrapbook page. Of course my scrapbook layout didn't end up looking much like the website, but that's fine, it gave me an idea. :)

Challenge Blogs

2008-09-01T16:08:00.003-05:00

Something that is very helpful to me in scrapbooking is challenge blogs, there are about half a million of them out there (exaggeration), so they're a constant source of inspiration.

This is a layout by Anne-Marie for the challenge this week at Got Sketch?

And this layout by Elise is for this week's challenge at Scrapjacked.

Anne-Marie and Elise both used stamps from the new border collection, which are now added to the store!

The new gallery is also up, and I'm work on adding everything the DT girls have made so far. :) So much excitement!

My New China Cabinet

2008-08-31T17:38:00.004-05:00

I got my new china cabinet. :) It's been a busy weekend, I hope to have some time tomorrow to get back to blogging, have a great Labor Day!

My Yesterday and Kadee's Creativity

2008-08-28T08:16:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I didn't get EVERYTHING done yesterday...but I think I did alright...
marathon training...check
garbage out...check
grocery shopping...check
four loads of laundry...check
dishes...check
reading lots of bloggity goodness...check
scrapbook layout...check
work on new gallery...check
Chef Ruth custom stamp...check
TTV...check
work on new gallery...check (hope to have this up by Monday!)
being terribly sore due to running too much on my first day...check
make the bed...check
post office...check

anything I'm forgetting...ah yes...
make plans to go get my china cabinet Saturday...CHECK! :)

I didn't get my minibook done...and I haven't had any decent light to take pictures of my scrapbook layout, so instead, you get so see what Kadee has been up to! :)

Hyperspeed

2008-08-27T09:23:00.002-05:00

I love my days off work becuse I get so much done....by the end of today (hopefully) I will have a clean apartment, some marathon training under my belt (heh), and at least 5 of 20 current projects finished. Sounds good, huh?

Wait, did she say marathon? Yes, that's right, Saturday night while watching the Olympics, I decided that I want to run a marathon. I am not a runner, I actually hate running, but those guys can run 26 miles in under 2 hours and 10 minutes, that means their average, OVER 26 MILES is less than 5 minutes per mile!! Does that seem nutty to anyone else??! Anyway, I found it inspiring, so at least for a couple of weeks I will entertain the notion that I could someday run a marathon! :)

Other than that the things I hope to accomplish today are: a wonderful little mini-book, a scrapbook layout inpired by a really great website, working on my TTV skills, working on designs for a stamp for a friend's catering business, and uploading the DT projects into the NEW gallery. :)

Beth's Art Journal Cover

2008-08-25T20:24:00.002-05:00

Beth sent me a photo of the cover of her new art journal, which is too stinkin cute, I love the deer, and OF COURSE...the scallops, I hardly make anything without them. :) She used the Hannah Banana stamp as part of her design, I think this turned out great, what a fun thing to do with the cover of an old book!

My Sisters

2008-08-22T17:03:00.002-05:00

I didn't know if I would have time to make a layout for the last event, BUT...inspiration hit. This is my entry for the text event in Elise's olympics. It was pretty much inspired by the wordle.

More Paper Olympics

2008-08-22T14:26:00.002-05:00

This is my entry for the paint event in Elise's olympics. I used acrylic paint on bubble wrap to make my background. He he he...and just a funny picture of us as kids, I have to laugh whenever I see this picture because I have NO CLUE what we're watching, but it must be good...I don't even remember the last time when I was that into something I was watching, these days I always have 101 different things on my mind! Oh to be a kid again!

Happy Anniverary, Jenny and Nathan!

2008-08-21T08:50:00.002-05:00

:) I can always remember Jenny and Nathan's Anniversary because it's two days before Jason and my "kissing anniversary." He he he, I had told Jason that I wasn't going to kiss him until we got married, but...that didn't happen! :) He drove down to Kansas for our "third date"...he stayed for like...a week. He got there about 6 in the morning on the 21st, he had driven all night. He pretty much went to bed as soon as he got there, cause that's the day Jenny was getting married! :) He was my date to the wedding, and I think we spent the next day in Topeka, went to church at SWTBC, went to the Wasso's house, went to Gage Park and the Gatekeeper and bought comic books.

Monday night we went out to "the farm" took the paddle boat out to the trampoline in the middle od Dad's pond and we layed out there and talked and watched the thunder in the distance. I remember, we talked about what superpowers we would have if we were superheroes. :) I wanted to kiss him so bad, heh, and I did. It was nice. :) Saturday will be four years since our first kiss, but we celebrated last weekend, since I have to work this weekend, and we actually took pictures! (it's been so long since we've taken pictured of the two of us...mostly cause my hair was getting bad for a while, but I finally got it cut about a month ago, and then my skin just wasn't doing very good...but after my cyst popped magically my face started clearing up, and voila, we have pictures! :)

Masculine Card

2008-08-20T10:33:00.003-05:00

Kadee made another card, this time a masculine birthday card. Making a masculine ANYTHING is always difficult for me, most of the time it just turns out ....ugly. (or I give up on the masculine part!) I think she did such a great job of making a good-looking masculine card, I'll definitely have to keep this inspiration in mind the next time I have to make a birthday card for a guy.