Recent Layouts

So I said that I was going to share some layouts last night...life (and Maggie) interfered, so I didn't get them up last night. Here they are now, though! Click on the photo to go to the image in The DigiChick where you can see the credits (and leave me some comments--lol!). :)



"Flirt"





"I'll Miss You"





"Sparkle and Shine, Baby"





"You at 3 1/2"





"4th of July Lost and Found"





"{Jump!}"





"Just Like to Smile"


I've done some other layouts lately, but those are some of my favorites. :) Thanks for looking!

pics of me and my girls--yay!

I'm not even going to comment about how slack I've been about blogging. Er...I guess I just did, didn't I? Anyway, enough of that...

I was super duper lucky to spend an afternoon getting my picture taken with my two favorite girls in the world--Maggie and Katie. My sister Fiona has a good friend who is starting a photography business. Her name is Lindsey Lingenfelter and she's super talented. You should check out her photography blog Linden Tree Photography here.

Here are a couple of my favorite images from that day:

Since I'm the one who's usually behind the camera, it was a real treat to spend some time on the other side of things. Lindsey is so sweet to work with, too, and she was so good with my girls. Thanks so much, Lindsey! You rock!


I put together a little blinkie for Lindsey, so check it out over in my sidebar. If anybody in the Atlanta area (or Georgia and Alabama), I would totally recommend setting up an appointment with Lindsey!

I'll be back in a minute with a few of the most recent layouts I've done. :) I've got to make up for not posting for a long time, right? :)

My Photography class

I've been working on my photography more and more lately, and I was lucky enough to be able to take a class with an incredibly talented local photographer--DeLeigh Kelly of Fairy Tales Fotography. Chris took Friday off so that he could be with the girls while took part in this class, so it was my "Mommy" time, too. (YAY for that!) DeLeigh took us through lots of the basic information about camera settings (aperature, shutter speed, ISO) and how to make them all work together for the best pictures with natural lighting. It was a lot of information to take in, but I already feel like I've learned so much! I need to practice practice practice now! :)

Since I need to practice, I figured I'd pull out some of Maggie's tutus and see if I could get some good pics of the girls. Here are some of the best:

This was shot at an ISO of 400 with a shutter speed of 1/50 and an aperture of 4.5.

This was shot at an ISO of 1600 with a shutter speed of 1/40 and an aperture of 4.5.

This was shot at an ISO of 400 with a shutter speed of 1/50 and an aperture of 4.2.

There are definitely things that I could do to improve, but I'm fairly happy with my first images using my manual settings. :) What do you think?

Wow, long time no chatty...

I won't even make any excuses. I'm a bad blogger. lol

Now that that's done with, let's see what I've been up to. First of all, we're moving north...not that far north--just up to the Huntsville/Madison area. Still, Chris says that it's like a whole different world up there and that it's much more like Raleigh was. YAY! :) We close on the new house on Thursday and we're moving up on July 5th. Our Montgomery house is on the market (has been for a little over a week now), so we're hoping that it sells quickly. We've had a couple of showings and one potential buyer who was choosing between our house and a different one (they chose the other one), so hopefully it will all go smoothly. We'll see...

Other news...Maggie's on her second round of swimming lessons. This is the second week of her second set of lessons and she's made SO much progress. She started off being a little nervous about the water, though she'd put her face in okay. Today we took the girls to the pool for the afternoon and she actually was able to swim about 4 feet (no swimmie wings or float belt or helping hands!!) with her face under the water the whole time! Go Maggie!!

Katie is trying SO hard to crawl. She's getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth like crazy. Sometimes she just rocks and then flops right back on the floor. Other times she rocks herself backwards. About a quarter of the time, though, she actually lurches forwards! :) She's so funny. She'll get there soon, I'm sure. She's so dang happy all the time, even right now when she's cutting more teeth. I felt the third one (one of her top canines) poking through today, and the other canine should be through in the next couple of days.

Let's see, what else? Oh, Chris has been working up in Huntsville for a month now and living out of a suitcase in the Holiday Inn there. He's also been to Taiwan, which was a cool experience for him. He came home this weekend and the girls (and me) were so so happy to see him. He pretty much spent the whole weekend with the girls so I'm sure he's exhausted, but it was really good for them. Tonight before bed, Maggie even asked him to read a story to her, which is out of the norm--that's been my job for the last 10 months or so. We enjoyed having Daddy back here for a couple of days. :)

I've been busy, too, but I'm going to tie up this post and be back in a second with a new post about what I've been doing. :) Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far!

DUDE! Here I am!

It's been pointed out to me that I'm a blogger slacker. LOL Like you're surprised... Here I am with an update. The kiddos are growing bigger every day. We had their well check visit yesterday (Kate 6 months and Maggie 3 yrs...even though Maggie's 3.5 already. Like I said, I'm a slacker!). Maggie is up to 41 inches and 38 pounds. That's off the chart for height (like she has been) and about 80% for weight. Not bad. Turns out that the nose ouchie from a few weeks ago probably wasn't a broken nose after all, so yay about that, too.

Miss Kate is up to 19 pounds 12.5 oz already and 27.5 inches. That puts her firmly in the 95% for both weight and height...right where Maggie was at this age. Munchkin has two teeth already (bottom center) and is working on her top two front teeth, too. She's got all the parts of crawling but just can't put it together yet. One of these days.

Let's see...other news. We're moving! We're moving to the Huntsville/Madison area. Chris is already up there working (actually, he's in Taiwan right now for the rest of the week). We went up there the first two weekends to look for houses and he came home the 3rd weekend. He was traveling last weekend, but he'll be back here this weekend. I'm sure he'll be exhausted, but I've been here with the girls for 2 weeks by myself, so he's going to be pulling some definite Daddy duty when he gets back. I contacted a realtor today about putting this house on the market, and I've been spending every spare minute working on getting stray things packed up, getting this house decluttered, and trying to get it ready to sell. I'm exhausted. Whew!

With all of that, not many time for pictures of late. Even less time for scrapping! I did take a few pictures of Katie the other day, so let me share those quickly.

My happy girl:


I love this cheesy grin:


"Talking", as usual (she's going to be chatty like her sister, I think):


And just being a cutie:


ok. I'm off to try to get some stuff done. Hope you all have a great day!!

Boy I'm a slacker! (and Gatlinburg pics)

I'm such a slacker (as some of you have kindly pointed out. lol!!). I won't even promise I'll do better (but I'll try).

Some of you may have seen these pics on TDC, but I thought I'd share here, too. These are some of my favorite pics from the long weekend trip we just took to Gatlinburg, TN and the Great Smokie Mountains. We had a blast!

We went to a little kiddie amusement park:

Probably the best times that we had were by (and in!) the little stream beside our cabin, though. Maggie could have spent all day every day there!

and finally, on Sunday (Mother's Day), Maggie came to me with these little daisies and said, "To you, Love Me. I love you, Mommy!" What better Mother's Day present could a girl get? :)

And lest you think that we left Miss Katie at home, never fear! :) She was with us but was napping when I took all of the stream pics. I'll try to upload some recent pics of her tomorrow.

Some funny Maggie stories

Miss Maggie has been in rare form lately. Apparently she cracks her teachers up, too, which is good. Today when I picked her up from Mom's Day Out, there were 3 stories...

1. They went for a ride in a buggy/stroller for 10 kind of thing. One of the teachers steered them into the curb and Maggie's response was "Oh, s**t!" (I was mortified when the teacher told me, but she was laughing and said it wasn't even close to the worst thing they've heard out of a kid's mouth.) The teacher said that they were trying not to act like it was a big deal (so that she and the other kids wouldn't repeat it nonstop) but that they were laughing so hard that they could barely walk.

2. Apparently she and her friend Nathan have moved on to the next level. They were on the playground today and she kissed him! (He apparently kissed her back.) I asked her why she did this, and her response was "because I love him and he loves me!" They're three!! Am I in trouble or what?!

3. She was also telling her teacher that she and Daddy are planning a trip to the beach (news to him!). She said that there would be "No sharks, no whales, no fish, and NO issues!"

This kid is too funny. She has such a funny way of saying things and looking at stuff.

back to life. I ought to go to bed!

Some pics...

Maggie being cute.

Maggie kissing Kate...

Miss Katie, who is already 4 months old. Can you believe it?!

Ok--I'm really off to bed now! Those of you who are digiscrappers, be sure to check out The DigiChick this weekend. There's a rockin' birthday celebration there, plus a great sale!

a tag and funny list

Saw this on Charlene's blog and thought I'd go for it...

Aprons- Y/N? Nope. I'm a pretty neat cook, though!
Baking- Favorite thing to bake? I love to bake Irish Brown Bread for my dad because it always makes him happy. :)
Clothesline- Y/N? Not since I last visited my family in Ireland. My Granny's dryer really didn't dry, so we'd hang the clothes out on the clothesline and then bring them in in the evenings and drape them on the radiators.
Donuts- Ever made them? No, but always wanted to.
Everyday- One homemaking thing you do everyday? Laundry. Lots of laundry.
Freezer- Do you have a separate deep freezer? No, but we have a second refrigerator (in the garage). We have more in the freezer there than we do in that fridge.
Garbage Disposal- Y/N? Yes, but I rarely use it.
Handbook- Y/N? I'm always game for a handbook. Might not use it, but I like to have them around!
Ironing- Love it or hate it? Hate it!
Junk Drawer- Where is it? Which one? lol There's one in the Kitchen that's filled with coupons, etc. There's also one in my dresser where I stick stuff that I need to hold on to but that don't really have a "place."
Kitchen- Design and decorating? I dream of the day when I can create the kitchen of my dreams. For now I have to be content with a fresh coat of paint and cute cushions on the window seat (thanks to my mom!).
Love- What is your favorite part of homemaking? hmmm...I like it when my house is clean. I don't enjoy doing the cleaning (and don't do it often enough), but I love the feeling I have when it's clean and tidy.
Mop- Y/N? Yes. Real mopping, too, not just using the Wet Swiffer.
Nylons- Wash them by hand or in the washer? Nylons? lol IF I wear tights/hose, I wash them in the washer. I'm much more likely to wear knee-his, though (also washed in the washer).
Oven- Do you use the window or open it to check? Open it, baby!
Pizza- What do you put on yours? Pepperoni!
Quiet- What do you do during the day when you get a quiet moment? Quiet moments? What are they? Oh yeah...they're the hours when the rest of the family is asleep! lol Usually I do a little digiscrapping!
Recipe card box- Y/N? Not a box but several books (4x6 photo albums filled with recipe cards)
Style of house- ranch with an open floor plan
Tablecloths and napkins- Y/N? only for holiday dinners
Under the kitchen sink- Nada. Ok, maybe some Tupperware that overflowed from the next cabinet.
Vacuum- How many times a week? 1-2, though it should be more often!
Wash- How many loads do you do a week? Who knows! I probably do 1 or 2 loads a day.
X’s-Do you keep a list and cross items off when they are complete? Well, I usually have a list, but I either lose the list or forget to cross items off. LOL!
Yard-who does the work? Chris does. (Unless I get really impatient and frustrated!)
ZZZ’s- Not nearly enough!

If you read all of this, consider yourself tagged! Leave me a comment so that I'll know to go check your blog!

80 degrees in February!

One of the (few!) perks of living in Montgomery, AL, is that it's not unusual to have pretty weather in the late winter/early spring. Yesterday it was 80. Yep, 80 degrees! We celebrated with a trip to the park with Maggie's best buddy Delaney:

Maggie was having too much fun swinging to actually look at me. lol

And enjoying the hangey bars. And here's cutie patootie Delaney wearing her cool Strawberry Shortcake glasses:

Have a great day!

A new outfit!!

My little old blog has got a new outfit!! What do you think? Much thanks to the lovely Valerie Fowler for allowing me to use stuff from just about every kit she has! (lol, not really...I used "Hannah Banana", "Totally Modish Alpha", "Huggermugger: Chalky Symbols", and "Brushed Clean Alphas") I also use Fee Jardine's "Flutterbies" alpha.

I'll try to be better about updating things. I'm a slacker...I know!

Random life stuff...
Things are good in our house. Maggie is sleeping (YAY!) for about 12 hours total in a night. Sure, I give her Melatonin before bed (in agreement with her pediatrician), and yeah, she still wakes up in the middle of the night, but the big deal is that she's sleeping 12 hours total instead of 8 or 9. It makes a HUGE difference in her personality and behavior, let me tell you!

Speaking of behavior, boy are we in the middle of the testing-limits-threes. I don't know why people complain about the twos so much. Three has been MUCH more difficult from a temperment point of view. She was already such an independent little mite, but not she's determined to do everything herself. Let's just say that we have some issues. LOL I try to pick my battles carefully but also to provide her limits. Hopefully we'll get past this stuff soon so that I get a break from it until Kate hits the same stage.

Speaking of Kate...what a little cutie! She's such a sweet girlie. She has, so far, been a better sleeper than Miss Maggie, but who knows if that's a function of the fact that Mommy just doesn't have the time to devote to getting her to sleep (thanks to her big sister) or a function of just being a different sleeper or what, but who cares! lol She has definitely developed the ability to sleep amid plenty of noise, which is definitely thanks to having a big sister who isn't quiet. She is really starting to perk up and pay attention to things around her. Just the other day she had a long "conversation" of coos and giggles with the ceiling fan. hehehe She totally adores Maggie, too. Maggie comes up to give her hugs and kisses and Kate just smiles and smiles at her. It's really sweet. I can't wait to see them as they continue to grow up. Whooo hooo! It's fun!

So life is good. We've all got the sickies...Maggie is recovering from strep and a cold, and the rest of us have a cold, including little Katie. That's ok. A little coughing never slowed us down.

For all of you who are still hanging in there, thanks! I'll be better about keeping up here! Until next time!!

ok, maybe a couple of quick layout shares...

Here are a couple of the layouts I've done lately:

Kate and her big chubby cheeks. Click here for credits.
Maggie's sweet smile. Click here for credits.
Maggie and Delaney on the tire swing at the park. Click here for credits.
Maggie playing at the park. Click here for credits.
One of my latest favorites of Maggie. Click here for credits.

Long time no type!!

boy oh boy my poor little blog has been long neglected! I guess that's what happens when a new baby comes to town! lol

Life is good. Kate is the sweetest little baby and Maggie is still so good with her. Kate is starting to really perk up and take notice of people, and she's always got a big smile for her big sister. Maggie is more than happy to hop right into Kate's face and give her a big smile back and sing a funny little song.

We've been busy lately. Just this last weekend, we went to the circus with Nana and Grandad. We were 8 rows back--8!!! Can you believe it?! I had my new camera, and I was able to get some decent shots...

Here's Maggie with Nana while we were waiting for the MARTA train to take us to the circus. It was COLD COLD COLD!

And here's Maggie on the edge of the ring before the show started.

The opening parade bit. (Ignore the head of the guy who was in front of us.)
Maggie wearing the clown hat Nana bought for her.
Super cool acrobatic guys. They rocked themselves back and forth on this swing thing and then launched themselves up at these guys hanging from the ceiling.
Way cool tigers. Maggie wanted to go down to the edge of the ring to see "the kitties." lol
Dancing elephants showing off the human tricks.
This would be the hip hop elephants.
See the cool elephant? Awesome!
Gotta have the shot of the elephants doing the pyramid of sorts.
The Globe of Death...There were, at one point, 6 guys on mopeds riding around this metal cage. Freaky!
The parade at the end. We had a blast. Maggie has been talking about the elephants ever since. Shockingly enough, Kate slept through half of the circus. How she could sleep through all that noise, i don't know, but she does have practice with a noisy big sister! lol

With that, I'm off to bed. I should come and post some of the layouts I've done lately. Ah...maybe tomorrow! Thanks for looking!

Exciting stuff at The DigiChick!!

Hurry hurry hurry and get over to The DigiChick Boutique! Actually...you have the whole month of November, but WHY would you wait?!!?

Check out Holly Jolly, the free gift with purchase from the DigiChick Designers!

From the kit description: The DigiChick Designers have created this beautiful, limited edition kit as a thank you for your continued support. The fun patterns and bright colors are sure to get you in the holiday spirit a little early! Holly Jolly is full of gorgeous, unique elements to accent the beautifully designed papers. This kit is a must-have in your holiday collection.

Holly Jolly is a free gift with your purchase of $10 or more and will only be available until December 1st. At that time the kit will be locked away forever, so get it while you can. Add this kit to your cart along with your other items so that your total equals $20 or more. At check out, enter coupon code JOLLYNOV to receive the kit free.

And, to top it off, there's a really cute Add-On pack, too! Check out the November Layout Contest (details to be posted in the TDC forums soon!!) to learn how you can earn an exclusive Holly Jolly Add-On Pack!

Why is it

Why is it that tonight--the first night of DH's week long trip out of town (again!)--Maggie decides to do the up and down night time routine? She's been going down so good. It's barely taken 10 minutes to get her to go to sleep once we finish her stories. Tonight? Oh, tonight, she's been in and out for over an hour now. ugh! I'm ready for a break! Plus I've got an hour and a half left to work before I can start to chill out.

Why is it that I decided to eat ravioli and tomato sauce, washed down by Orangina (fizzy carbonated orange juice, basically) on the same night that I'm already suffering from a massive case of heartburn. Oh, and on the same night that I forgot to go buy more Pepsid Complete and have only 2 Tums (useless though they are) left. Seriously. At one point I was intelligent. lol

Why is it that O'Neill the smelly cat would quite happily spend his entire life outside EXCEPT to come inside to poop and stink up the joint. Seriously! What's that all about? lol

Why is it that Meg the sneaky cat waits until I've almost got Maggie calmed down and asleep to dash into her room and under her bed--creating yet another round of hullabaloo to guarantee that Maggie will be wide awake again.

Why is it that I'm so convinced that this baby is going to come early? Seriously...I'm only 32 and a half weeks. Why am I feeling that she'll be here in another 2 or 3 weeks instead of another 5 or 6 weeks?

Why is it that I'm using "seriously" in every other sentence? Don't I know more words? lol I swear that I do--I know lots of words. They just don't seem to be entering my feeble brain at the moment.

Ok...Princess Jumping Beans has been quiet for 10 minutes now. Maybe she's finally asleep, which means that maybe I can start on my work so that maybe I can get done at a reasonable time. Maybe her little sister will NOT poke my bladder every 30 minutes tonight so that I have to get up at that interval to pee. Boy, I was at least 36 weeks last time before I was thoroughly fed up. Can I really be this fed up at 32 and a half weeks? What if they're wrong with the date and I'm really another 3 or 4 weeks further along?

lol...sorry about all the madness. I'm feeling a bit scattered. hehehe What else is new, right? lol

The time is getting close...

Here I sit at 32 and a half weeks, though I'm telling you that I've had this weird weird feeling, especially the last couple of days, that this baby is NOT going to wait until 38 weeks to be born. I've been having contractions off and on--who knows if they're real contractions or not, though. They could just be Braxton-Hicks. I never had anything like that with Maggie, so who knows. I'm fairly sure that this baby dropped this weekend, too. Suddenly my belly feels really heavy and full--again something that I never felt with Maggie, who never dropped.

We had no clue about the dates when we found out we were pregnant, so my due date is based on one of those early ultrasounds. At my appointment last week, though, the doc said I was measuring a month ahead. Hmmm... So yeah, the time is getting close--maybe closer than I know! lol

Chris heads out to Chicago today for a week again. Should be an interesting week with Maggie. Hopefully it'll be nice and boring!

I'll try to pop in later and blab some more. I'm having a hard time focusing right now. lol Have a great day!!

Tagged again!

See...this is what happens when I start blogging...I get tagged! lol

Shawna Taylor tagged me, so here I go. :)

These are the rules to play blogtag:
List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets.
Tag 5 friends and list them.

Those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Don't forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog! Here are my weird things:

1. It freaks me out to think of an unborn baby (especially mine) by her name yet...Seems like it is tempting fate to come and mess with me. I'm superstitious, I know.
2. Similarly, red and white flowers alone freak the crap out of me. Red and white flowers (without any other colors mixed in or greenery or whatever) mean death, so I get a little jumpy and nervous around Valentine's when it seems like red and white flowers are everywhere. hmmm...seems like I'm telling you that I'm superstitious. I blame it on my mom. ;)
3. I get all giggly over stupid things. Double entendres crack me up--there's nothing better than hearing someone say something completely innocently and just thinking to myself about what was just said. hehehe
4. I'm way too emotional these days. I know that I'm pregnant and hormonal, but jeez! I seriously feel like I'm a little crazy, too. It's one thing to get weepy about dropping off a crying kid at school, but when AT&T commercials bring on the tears...come on! lol I'm missing my goofy giggly self. Maybe I need more sleep. hehehe
5. and I don't sleep. Not enough anyway. My arthritis comes with insomnia, and late pregnancy has made it worse. Did I mention that my preschooler isn't exactly a fan of sleeping, either? She's not--though she's been much better about it lately and is getting into a more normal schedules. Oh well...I can sleep when I'm dead, right?

So who am I going to tag...How about:

1. Angela Spangler
   
2. Michelle Adams
   
3. Valerie Fowler
   
4. Mari Koegelenberg
   
5. Fee Jardine

***************

So I mentioned that sleep is getting better for Maggie, right? She's been doing so good about sleeping in her bed all night. Her wake up time is somewhere between 5:45 and 6:10--still early, but MUCH better than 4am. MUCH. Personally, I think 7:30 or 8 would be the perfect wake up time for her, but she doesn't seem to have gotten that memo. Oh well.

Now we have the school battle. I don't get it. She enjoys her time there (it's really Mother's Day Out, but who's counting). She loves her teachers. She has fun. Yet every school morning, she's in tears and screaming when I drop her off. I know she's just trying to get me to do what she wants, but at least the tears don't stop as soon as I go around the corner--then I'd really feel like she was manipulating me. No, it takes her 5-10 minutes (according to the teachers) to get acclimated to being in a new place and get interested in doing something other than crying. Now she's started asking every morning, "Is this a school day? I don't want to go to school!!!" On the way to school, it's "I don't want to go this way!" I'm just worn out from the battles and I can't get my head around the best way to get her through this. So far, I try to stay calm and just keep following through without faltering or giving in. Still, though, I have cried my little eyes out several times as I'm leaving the parking lot alone. Have I mentioned that I'm hormonal and overly emotional these days? lol I don't remember being this emotional when I was PG with Maggie. Maybe it all goes back to the lack of sleep. I'm sure it does. lol

enough from me. Can't wait to see what those I've tagged come up with!

I've been tagged!

Okie dokie, Christine Smith tagged me, so here goes:

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal/blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

LOL--I read Christine's post about the music she listens to, and my choices are amazingly similar. Since Maggie is in the car with me most of the time I'm in the car, whatever I'm listening to tends to be what she's listening to...

1. anything from Cinderella--Maggie's versions, though. She sings "Sing Sweet Nightingale" as "Swing, Swing, Mom's in jail." Hey...it's kind of alternative, right? lol
2. anything from the Backyardigans. Lately she's been on a "High Tea" ("tea tea tea, we'll have the perfect cup of tea so lift your pinkies pip pip cheerio!") and "Viking Adventure," which also features Tasha as a mermaid ("cause I'm not only beautiful, I'm EXTRA EXTRA tough!")
3. Breathe...ok, how sad. I don't even know who sings it. It's that "breathe, just breathe" song that's on the radio right now.
4. Shake your body--is that by Shakira and somebody?
5-7. dude...I stink at this. Seriously. Whatever else I listen to is on an alternative/pop station. Gone are the days when I could list song after song that I played and replayed.

I love music but just haven't had much free time to listen lately. When Maggie isn't in the car (because I have dropped her off at school), I often just listen to the blessed silence. Lately Maggie has been on a "WHY" kick--meaning that I get 20 minutes worth of "whys"...why did you say, "Come on, dude, to that car, Mommy?" Because blah blah blah, "But why did he do that?" I don't know blah blah blah "Why was that not a good choice?" because it's not nice to blah blah blah "but why..." You get the picture. I swear, the only time the kid isn't talking is when she's sleeping, and I think she talks in her sleep half the time, too! Funny, when she wasn't as verbal as some of her friends at 18 months, I was really worried. Oh, I wonder what I was thinking now. lol Not really--she cracks me up with her observations and questions and comments. SOmetimes the silence is nice, though.

So who shall I tag...

1. Darla
2. Angela Spangler
3. Val
4. Rachel S (isaac&iansmomma)
5. Kimberlee (scrapandsass)
6. Hilary G
7. Charlene (berekah)

I've got 4D ultrasound pics!!

It's been a while, huh? I'm a slacker, aren't I? We've been busy. :)

Maggie started school last week--Mother's Day Out, but it's kinda like school. She had a good first two days and then a weepy third day. This week, she cried every morning when I dropped her off, but she had a great time once she was there. And, believe it or not, she has NAPPED at school every day this week!! Yes, the girl who hasn't napped in 2+ months at home has napped at school. Can't believe it! Her teachers are awesome and so sweet. I'm sure she'll be fine once she gets through this initial adjustment period. :)

My fall work schedule started up again, too, so I've been trying to get my new schedule all balanced out. I work two hours during the week days, so on the days that Maggie goes to school, I'm trying to get it done when she's at school so that I can spend time with her in the mornings and afternoons once she gets home. Then I work Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights for two hours. I'm not crazy about the night hours--I barely get to talk to Chris once Maggie goes to sleep and I'm not getting much down time these days. I'll get it all worked out, though. :)

And on to the ultrasound info...we had a 4D ultrasound today. Boy, we have a pretty girl growing in there! (Hope that doesn't sound like my head is too big! lol but she's cute!!) Everything looks good. She's measuring about a week and a half ahead (I'm 28 weeks tomorrow), but that's about where Maggie was at this stage. I figure we'll have another 9 lb baby (2 weeks early!). :) Thank God for c-sections! lol So she's got cute chubby cheeks and full and pretty lips. At one point she even had her hand underneath her chin like she was posing for a picture or something. Boy, how lucky would I be if I got a baby who could already pose! lol

Here are two of the pics:

So we're smitten. :) Maggie is so excited about the baby. Hopefully her opinion won't change when the real baby is here. I have a feeling we'll be in for some issues about sharing Mommy, but we'll see.

enough from me. Have a good night!

Exciting things at The DigiChick!!

Check out these two flyers! There are some exciting things going on at The DigiChick!

Check here for more information about The DigiChick CT call.

And look at this one!

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Great news and not so great news

I have some great news first...my new nephew is here!! My sister was scheduled to have a c-section this coming Friday, but apparently Grady (his name--isn't it cute!) wanted an earlier birthday. Her water broke at 4am on Monday morning and they did the c-section at 11am. Here's a pic of super cute Grady:

Ok, so the picture is sideways...work with me for a minute. My hands aren't cooperating and I thought it was best to just get the pic up. lol

Baby and Mom are doing well and the whole family is thrilled to have another boy around. Poor Will (my brother's son) was getting outnumbered fast. For a few months, the numbers will be even. Of course, then our 2nd little girl will be born and the girls will have the lead again. As it should be, right? lol

now...not so great news.

I went to the rheumatologist today to see what the plan is. Basically, he told me to start taking 10 mg of Prednisone in the morning and then 1 Extra Strength Tylenol every few hours. What that amounts to is that I'm not going to have much of anything to help me through the next 2 or so months. Tylenol is useless for me--it's no different than swallowing a Tic Tac--and 1 every few hours. uh, yeah, ok. Prednisone. Oh, Prednisone and I have a history, which is what sent me off the deep end today. Prednisone was the first thing they gave me when they finally realized (years ago) that I had arthritis. Because of Prednisone (not Prednisone alone, mind you--I know that I have a lot of responsibility there), I began the upward climb that led me to the weight that I am now. Not great. I had been feeling fairly good about myself--I've lost 13 lbs since getting pregnant...not because I'm trying but just because my body is freaky. I knew that it would reverse itself at some point (hello, I'm growing a person), but I was hoping that I'd at least be heading in the right direction after the baby comes. Enter Prednisone. I could easily gain 30-50 lbs in the few months that are left of my pregnancy, and watching what I eat while on Prednisone doesn't seem to make a bit of a difference. Not so thrilling. Yeah, I cried for at least 2 hrs of the 2.5 hr drive home from the doctor today. lovely.

Here's the honest to God truth (thank God for blogs...where else can I pour my heart out without feeling selfish or whiney or needy of attention? For all I know, nobody even reads my blog!)... Even though we had the ultrasound last month and I've been feeling the baby move lots, I've been worried sick. At around 24 weeks, NSAIDS (like the prescription Motrin I've been on and other anti-inflammatories) can close the hole in the baby's heart where blood goes in and out. Eventually, that hole will close on its own--when it's supposed to. That's not now. Even though both my rheumy and ob have told me that I'll be ok to take the prescription Motrin until 24 weeks (this coming Friday), I have been terrified that I'm doing something that will hurt my baby. All because I'm being selfish because I don't want to live in pain. Let me be clear--the Motrin definitely isn't taking away all of the pain...my left hand is barely functional. But it (the Motrin) lets me function, at least for now. So now I'm feeling like I've been selfish and horrible to risk something happening to my baby. Add to it now that I don't want to take Prednisone because I don't want to get any fatter than I already am and you've got a migrane and 2+ hours of crying in the making. I'm sure that some of this is being fueled by pregnancy hormones, the fact that I haven't slept much in the last month, the fact that Maggie has been difficult (to put it nicely) for the last month or so, and the fact that with my new nephew I'm much more aware of this little person growing inside me...it feels more real somehow. The reality is, though, that this has been building and coming and I'm just not sure what to do with it.

I know. What I have to do with it is accept it for what it is--yet another challenge...another way for me to reach for help where I can find it...and to prove that I am stronger than this. Look at all I've already beaten. Hell, it's not cancer--it's just pain. And potentially only 8-12 weeks of pain. Once the baby is here I can make different decisions about my medical care. All of those are logical things, though. Right now, there's an elephant in the room and it's making me want to just curl up in a ball and cry and sleep for a few hours.

Maybe I'll go do that. Maggie will be up early (as she always is lol), and I want to be myself for her. She's too important and too special for me to spend too much time wallowing in myself.

Thanks if you've read this far. Don't feel the need to do or say anything. I just had to get it out. Chris worries and nobody else really knows what to do or say if I ever share this stuff, so there it sits in my head. There's not enough room in there for it right now, though, so I'm glad that it's out, at least temporarily.

Have a good night. Hug your little ones. Be thankful for the blessings that you have been given--even though I'm struggling at the moment, my life is VERY VERY blessed. I'd be a fool not to recognize the bazillion blessings that I've been given. Perhaps the biggest one is the knowledge that I have someone bigger and better than me to help me through this--once I get over myself and get past the pity party. Tomorrow. It'll be a better day, right? Right. Most definitely. Good night.