Friendship Day stuff at TDC this weekend!

Make sure to check out The DigiChick this weekend!

We're going to have LOTS of fun, so clear out some time to work on some layouts this coming weekend!

I've been busy with Maggie and with planning for the Friendship Weekend at TDC, but we took some time out on Thursday to find out some good news:

It's a GIRL! All is well with Baby, and Maggie is right--she's going to have a little sister! Now we just have to think about names.

In other baby-type news, my sister's baby will be born on August 18 by c-section. We're excited to welcome a new little boy to the family...how much fun will that be?! For a couple of months, the numbers will be even--two girls (Maggie and Mary Maddox) and two boys (Will and the new baby...Grady). Of course, then we'll throw things off with the new baby. :)

A little more random stuff from me...this will be the last week that I can take meds for my arthritis. The docs (OB and Rheumatologist) have had me on an NSAID (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory...prescription forms of things like Advil, Motrin, and Aleve), but from 24-32 weeks, those things can close the hole in the baby's heart where the blood goes in for now. That's an important thing, and we want to avoid risking that, so I'm off my meds on Sunday (2 weeks early just to be safe). I'm not sure what that means for me since I don't meet with the rheumatologist again until the 15th (about a week and a half). It could be an UGLY week and a half, though, so I might not be around much. I'll have to spend some time on the computer because of work (online writing tutoring), but my hands and wrists will probably not be very kind to me without any meds. We'll see, I guess. I'm hoping that the rheumy will have a plan for me (other than just doping me up on pain pills...who needs me more dopey than I already am?! lol), but it might be an ugly 8 weeks. We'll see what happens, anyway.

Ok, enough babbling from me! Off to work on another layout! Have a good night, everyone!

Grrr...blogger

I can't tell you how long I messed with that last post. I edited and edited and edited, but for some reason it won't let me center the pics or move the credits for that first layout down. Oh well--I give up.

:) Happy night again!

Black and white kick

I'm on a serious black and white kick these days. I'm not sure what has prompted this, but why fight it, right?

Here are just a couple of my latest...

Credits are Amber Clegg's Mismatched Alpha and Christine Smith's Rectangle Overlays and Freestyle Flowers kits. Font is SP Toby Unleashed. Peta's Color Pop and Lisa Neal's B&W conversion (both from iLP.com) on photo.

Credits: Sanded overlays by Christine Smith in Rectangular Overlays. Font is TK Doodle. Dave Jaseck's Duotone Dream v2 conversion on photo.Quote from Lewis Carroll.

Credits: Inked overlay from Christine Smith's Inked Overlays. Doodle from Leah Rioran's Gina's Doodles. Fonts are SBC Curly Outline and Journaling Hand. Used Peta's Color Pop action (from ILP) and Dave Jaseck's Dream Duotone Conversion on the photo. Based on mamakimberly's Leap of Faith layout (http://www.thedigichick.com/gallery/...p/photo/23026).

Credits: Overlay from Christine Smith's Inked Overlays. Doodle from Karen Hunt's Funky Doodles DIY Star (slightly recolored). Fonts are Taguettes Plus and Taguettes. Dave Jaseck's Duotone Dream conversion and Chip Springer's Paint with Light II action on photo.

Tomorrow will be a day of cleaning for me. We have friends coming over on Saturday night, and my house needs some serious attention! Thankfully, Chris is taking the day off (YAY!) and he's going to hang with Maggie while I work on the house.

Happy day, everyone!

4 am

Why oh why is Maggie trying to kill me? Her early wake-up time of 5 or 5:30 for the last month or so apparently wasn't good enough this morning. What time did she wake up, you ask? 4am. Yes, that would be 4 o'clock in the morning. 4 hours after midnight--which is the time my screwed up body FINALLY fell asleep, despite much effort on my behalf. 4 freaking am. And was she content to just chill on the couch and watch Dora or something (thank GOD for Tivo!!)? Of course not! She wanted to play and sing and dance. DH came out of the room at 6:10 and took her upstairs with him for a while while he ate breakfast, but other than that, she's been with me since 4am.

What the heck am I going to do about this?! I seem to be physically incapable of going to sleep before 11:30 or 12, and her wake up time gets earlier and earlier. and have I mentioned that she has napped maybe two times in the last 3 weeks? yeah. fun. She goes to bed at 7. We have tried for the last two night to push it back to 8 to see if that would make a difference. Obviously not. She's only 2.5...surely she needs more than 10 hours of sleep.

ugh. Somebody mentioned giving her melatonin, but I don't know if it's safe or how much or whatever. Oh and I've tried the taking her back to bed thing over and over and over. Screaming. She's just awake early. WIDE freaking awake.

off to try to salvage my morning. have a good one, folks!

Long day...

Gosh, it's been a long day. I love my child--she's exuberant, hilarious, imaginative, and energetic. Man oh man, though, when she's having a bad day or even a bad moment, it's UGLY. We had one of those today. She gets ideas in her head and wants to do things (like climb into her car seat) on her own schedule. Well, I'm sorry, but it was almost 100 degrees outside today and I'm hot and pregnant, and dang, i just want to get into the car and GO! ugh. I know how to handle it so that there isn't a battle, but she woke me up at 5:40am today (yes, 5:40!!) and I just got frustrated with her before I could run the normal plan. It was as much my fault as it was hers...she was just being a kid who wants to be independent and do things in her own time and I'm the grown-up who should know better, but anyway...

It all resulted in some time in the naughty chair, a bunch of screaming (from her), some pretty frustrating and tearful moments from me (while she was screaming in her room), and just an all-around ugly time. She eventually took a nap, which she desperately needed, and we had a better afternoon. Of course, just now we had a long drawn-out bedtime ordeal. Oh well. Tomorrow's another day, right?

Enough about that. It's icky.

Sooo...scrap stuff.

I did a little challenge at The DigiChick this week. I've got this picture of my niece Mary Maddox from Christmas last year:

It just stumped me and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Several ladies have taken my challenge on so far. Here are their layouts:

From Karlana (hawaiianbrat96):

From Julie (lovesher2boys):

From Chris (Nonnie917):

From Charlene (berekah):

From Victoria (mizamigo):

From Jen (jenflo):

Great layouts, huh? :)

I think we're all going to try to do a layout with one of Charlene's (berekah) pics, now, so check out that thread and get busy! Here's the link: http://www.thedigichick.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6626 The new pic is on the fourth page.

Enough from me for now. Have a good night! I'm going to work on a scrap and then go to bed early. Hopefully Maggie will sleep a little later tomorrow. PLEASE!!

Night, all! Don't forget to say hi!

MMM frustrations

I thought I'd do a couple of posts tonight to make Hilary happy. hehehe Now you guys had better make sure to leave me some comments!

Anyway, I've been working on my layouts for the MMM contest (Making Memories Masters). I've got 3 layouts that I'm pretty happy with, 2 more that I'm not sure about or that need "something", and one that I like but I'm not sure about because it uses a pic from the same day as one of the other layouts. I'm in a small group for constructive criticism for these, but I think most everybody else is finished up and they haven't really been around for the last week or week and a half. So now I'm feeling stuck and not sure what to do.

Here's the deal. One of the layouts has to be on the theme of Celebrate Life. I used a pic from our trip to the water fountains at Centennial Olympic Park last week because Maggie was having such a great time. The other four layouts just have to have a picture, a title, and journaling. I put together a layout that I like, but it uses a pic from that same day (same swimsuit, setting, etc.). The papers are totally different and the feel is different, but I don't know if I'd be shooting myself in the foot by submitting two layouts with photos from the same day. Any thoughts?

I'm just stumped on the other one. I like the feel of it, but it's missing something in the upper right corner. That doesn't mean much to you, I'm sure, since I can't show the layout to you.

I don't know. Maybe I should just forget about it and not enter this year. We'll see. If I do enter, though, I'd better get over my block and get moving so that I can get them printed and sent out in time.

Enough babbling from me. Leave me a note to say hi! :) Thanks for reading if you've stuck with me this far!

So a real post

Baby Stuff
All is well with the baby so far. We're at 18.5 weeks, and I'm starting to feel some real movement--not just little flutters. Though I'm definitely showing, I've lost 12 pounds. Hey--I've got it to lose. Soon enough, I'm sure, it'll all start to go the opposite direction. Anyway, we go back on the 27th for the big ultrasound. Maggie is convinced that she's going to get a baby sister. Not sure how I'm going to explain it to her if that is not the case. We'll just take it as it comes, I suppose.

Other Stuff
I cut my hair! FINALLY! lol When I went in, the girl who cuts my hair said, "Sinead, have you not had your hair cut since the last time I saw you?" (Which was about a year ago...she is in my parents' home town and I'm a freak about letting just anybody cut my hair thanks to being scalped too many times by people who had no clue about cutting curly hair.) I'd had one trim in the time between, but still...

She cut 10 inches off. Yep--1o!! I've got it in a ponytail and I'm going to send it to Locks of Love. I figured that I might as well go all the way, right? Now my hair is right at my shoulders...yeah, my hair was THAT long (wet and pulled out straight, at least). hehehe I feel more like myself now, so yay!

Maggie also got her first professional haircut. It was really more like a trim, but I wanted her to have the experience without being too freaked out about all of her hair falling to the floor. As it was, she was really freaked out that my hair was "broken" and we couldn't fix it. Poor little kiddo. She was as good as gold in that chair, though, and she kept looking at herself in the mirror and smiling. Pictures soon, I promise!

Just for Hilary

LOL, Hilary called me out on TDC for being such a bad blogger. hehehe

So here's a little challenge:

I've got a challenge for you girls. I've got this photo of my niece Mary Maddox on Christmas morning staring at the tree that my sister put in the nursery (yeah, my sister's a nut about Christmas!). Anyway, I've loved the pic from the moment I saw it even though it's not the best picture, photographically (is that even a word?!). The problem is that I'm completely stumped with how to scrap it.


















So...the challenge.

I don't know if any of you are bored or want to try your hand with it, but here's a Yousendit link to the photo:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=39A420E772982347

If anybody wants to give it a whirl, I'd love to see what you come up with. Oh, and if there are more than one of you, I might come up with something fun to give ya just for humoring me.

So what do you say? Anybody interested?


I will try to come back later and do a real blog post. :) love you guys!

Life in the Oven

Ah, when I said "oven" I bet some of you were thinking about the baby, huh? Well, I meant the oven of Alabama. Man oh man is it hot!!! (Baby is fine--more on that in a minute.) It's been over 90 for a good two weeks now and it's been probably 3 weeks since we had any rain at all. To make matters worse, the humidity is really high, too. It was hot last summer, but I was able to deal with it. Man, I've got 2.5 more months (3.5, really, since it won't cool down til October) of heat and getting bigger and bigger and more pregnant. I predict that we will be spending lots of time at the pool at the Y this summer. Yick.

So, baby is fine. I'm just past 14 weeks, so we're out of that 1st trimester, too. I've had two ultrasounds so far. The first was because I was hazy on the dating, and when I went back in for my last appointment, the date was wrong in the file so the nurse tried to hear the heartbeat with the doppler and couldn't. I kept telling her that I was only 13 weeks. They did an ultrasound again just to be safe, and all was well. Baby was waving away at us through the ultrasound. :)

Maggie is still convinced that she's going to get a baby brother and a baby sister. Maybe she watches too much Dora the Explorer (since Dora has twin siblings--a boy and girl--she thinks she's getting that, too). Anyway, she even tells people that she's getting two babies. I'm quick to set the record straight--ONE baby. :)

Off to work on a couple of layouts. I've got one for Kathy Moore that is almost finished and I need to work on one for Valerie Fowler. My hands haven't been working well lately, so I haven't been getting much done. Oh well--there's always Advil (until I hit 20 weeks, anyway!). :)

Happy day, all!

Seriously--a slacker!

Ok, I've got an excuse for this weekend, but not for the week or so that has come in between my last post and this one. :) We had friends come to visit from North Carolina, so my spare moments have been consumed so that I could make the house livable. Then this weekend things were just busy. They have a 3 year old (5 months older than Maggie) and a 14 month old, so between them and their kids and us and Maggie, we had a busy house! lol The girls all played so well together, though, and it was terrific to see them again. We MISS our NC friends!!

So not much scrapping done lately, though I did throw together an ABC book for my niece's birthday last Thursday (and then promptly forgot to bring it along to her birthday party this weekend! Wouldn't you know it?!). I did it really fast and basically added titles to photos. Simple, I know, but those little ABC picture albums that I did for Maggie with her pictures are still among her favorite books. Maybe my kid has a vanity issue, though...hmmm, something to think about.

Speaking of my niece and really her mommy (my sister), I am SO jealous! OK, so I'm excited for her but jealous for me. Her husband is a CPA and just finished up tax season. He came home the other week with an end of tax season/Mother's Day/birthday/Christmas surprise present for her--a new digi Rebel! Ooooooh, I'm so jealous! I've been eyeing digi SLRs since I started digiscrapping, but they are so out of our price range (which is zilch at the moment) that it's not worth the hope. Oh well. One day maybe. I'm going to see if I can get folks to give me $$ for birthday (in November) and Christmas and see if that's enough for one. We'll see...

Work has started back up, too. I worked my first 2 hour shift yesterday. This summer I'll be working 2 hour flex shifts on Tues and Wed (which means I can review the essays whenever it is convenient for me), and I'll work from 1-3pm on Thursdays and Fridays. I should be working right now, though, since I picked up 2 extra hours today. Ahh, the joy of work. :)

Anyway, I'm off now. Maggie is sleeping and I should try to get a few things done before settling in to work. We'll see if I do or not--the couch is beckoning and my eyes are getting heavy. lol Happy Wednesday!

I'm a slacker!

Oh man, all my bragging about not being as tired with this pregnancy is catching up to me! I'm EXHAUSTED these days. It doesn't help that I'm not sleeping well, either, and that it's already super hot (whose bright idea was it to move to Alabama where it's already 90?! Wait, I think it was mine. Oh well). We're also having friends come visit this coming weekend, so we've been busy trying to get things sorted out for their visit.

I've also been busy doing layouts. My most complete gallery is here at The DigiChick. We're getting ready to put out the next issue of De-Zine (due out in mid-June), so be sure to check that out when it is released.

My month as a Guest CT member for Gina Miller is nearly up. I've done some neat layouts for her (I think). Here they are:
What Next, Mom? with her Get Creative kit, Flowers with her Get Creative (background paper) and Cherry Blossom (from Garden Treasures 2), Smell the Flowers 2 with Watermelon Smoothie (from Garden Treasures 2), Best Friends Hug with Teal Explosion, A Walk with Grandad with Citrus Brights, Those Eyes with Delicate Petals (from Garden Treasures), and Lace Cookies with Tomato Basil (from Garden Treasures). Wow! That's a lot--I didn't realize how many I had done. :)

My latest favorite layout, though, is one I did really quick Saturday night. I had already worked on another layout (Dancing Queen) with this same kit (Symphony by Laura Alpuche at The DigiChick), but then I got the idea for "Stop" and I couldn't help myself. It was really late, but I didn't want to lose the journaling that was already in my head. Check out STOP if you get a second. I'm really really proud of it. Every time I think of the journaling, I just get teary. :)

In non-scrapping news, things are going well with the pregnancy other than the tiredness factor. Maggie is still really cute about it. She asks me just about every other day if the baby is coming soon, and she's really excited about it. I don't purposely talk about it with her because it's still really far away, but she keeps bringing it up. I think she's going to enjoy being a big sister. :)

Hmmm...it's after 5 and I haven't started dinner. I'd better get a move on since I haven't figured out yet how to make dinner cook itself. Have a good day! If you get a second, give me a shout and say hi. :)

take 2

note the beer on the table. lol

  

This is what happens when you spend too much time scrapping

DH was bored with watching me chat on the computer for the DigiChick's NSD/Mother's Day celebration, so he had some beer and turned on the music channels.

 

LOL 

So...my news

I'm pregnant! :)

Some of you may have guessed this already, but I finally got in to see the doctor today and it's official. I'm 9 weeks--the baby has a good strong heartbeat and is developing right according to plan. The due date that they gave me today is December 8, but this will be a c-section baby, so it'll probably be about 2 weeks before that (right around Miss Maggie's birthday lol).

It was a total shock for us. It took over 2 years and several miscarriages to get Maggie, so we just counted our blessings and left it up to God. I just realized last week that it had been a while and I was feeling out of whack, so I did a test and what do ya know, it popped up right away. I still can't really believe it. :)

We told DH's parents today, and we're going to tell my family tomorrow evening. If any of you know my family--mum's the word until tomorrow night! We want it to be a surprise. I'm working on a really cute little shirt for Maggie ("big sister to be" with a little bumble bee instead of the word "be"), so hopefully they'll pick up on it right away. Here's the image:

That cool alpha is Gina Miller's Funky Basic Black and the font is MA Sexy. I downloaded the bee image from the web. I printed out the image on a photo transfer paper and I'm going to iron it on to Maggie's t-shirt, so hopefully it'll look good!

Usually they come to Maggie's side of the car first, so that should be good, too, since I'm already showing a bit--boy does it happen faster with the 2nd one! The doc thought I was 10-14 weeks, but the ultrasound said otherwise. We'll see if things change as the baby grows.

Anyway, I just wanted to share. :)

Dora show and other excitement

Ok, I had a whole post written and Blogger ate it. Oh well.

So the Dora Show rocked! Maggie was over the moon and fascinated by it. She was entranced by the stage from the moment the show started until it was over and has been singing some of the songs over and over since then. "Isa turn the wheel, turn the wheel, Isa!" lol It was totally worth the drive up to Atlanta. She had such a great time!

In other news, I can't spill my secret for another while yet. I was hoping to be able to spill this week, but because of scheduling, I have to wait until next week. Oh well. Soon enough. :)

So today tell me about your favorite month. I love October. I love how crisp and clean the air feels in October, plus it's the month that Chris and I got married. :) October in the South is a pretty nice time...you should check it out! So what's your favorite month? I can't wait to hear!

Have a good Monday!

Dora Show and other excitement!

Oh my. We went to the Dora the Explorer Live show at Atlanta's Fox Theater yesterday. Maggie was ENTRANCED! For the first half of the show, her eyes didn't leave the stage once. Well, maybe once--she looked at Tony (Grandad) to get her Dora flag. lol Every now and then she'd exclaim, "There's Swiper!" or "There's Tico!" LOL I thought the show was pretty good, too, though I was admittedly staring at Maggie the whole time. Instead of spending the night, we just drove up yesterday and met Chris' parents for lunch. We went on to the show from there and then drove home afterwards. The car trip there and back was long (about 2.5-3 hrs), but Maggie was terrific. She spent about an hour on the drive up playing with the ring tones on Chris' phone. Oh, the wonder of technology!

In other news, my secret is going to have to remain under wraps for a little longer. I thought I might be able to spill this week, but scheduling means that I can't until next week. :)

So...today tell me your favorite month. Do you have one? Mine is October. I love how the air is crisp and feels so clean in October. I love that you can wear jeans and a t-shirt or shorts and a sweatshirt and be totally comfortable. October is a good football month. Plus, Chris and I were married in October (the 7th), so that's always good for making it a good month. So what's your favorite month?

Happy Monday!

Secrets and changes

Boy, don't you just love having a big huge secret? One part of you wants to scream it from the mountain top, but the other part relishes the juicy feeling of having this idea all to yourself (or mostly to yourself, at least). Mmmmm, secrets are fun. :)

So I'm fairly certain that I've figured out my weirdo feelings of late (exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, etc.). Let's just say that things will be changing, but I've got some work to do on it. It's a good thing, but I'm not quite ready to spill yet. :) Soon. Not yet, though. ;)

Anyway, I feel as if I've turned a HUGE corner. Life is good, and I plan to dive right in and splash around some. :)

So...if you are still reading, how about clicking on the comment button. Tell me the name of your favorite book or author. :) I'm looking for new authors to read!

Yoooohoooooooo

Howdy out there great big world! You know, I added one of those stat counter things just out of curiosity. I wanted to see if anyone actually ever looked at my blog. lol. So it turns out that around 20 people do, though most of them (most of you!) never post anything. Would you say hi today? :) Just say hi and tell me your current favorite digital kit. How about that? :) Fun, huh? lol

So Maggie was hanging out in her crib this morning having a blast with "Tico" and "Benny" and "Swiper"--all from Dora--and the Easter Bunny. That child has the best imagination! I went in to her and turned on the light, but she was happy enough playing with her dolls and her imaginary buddies that she wasn't ready to get out yet. She's got a big girl bed all set up in her room, and she asks to sleep on it lots, but she just doesn't sleep well or stay asleep when she's on it. Those nights tend to be Mommy's up 10 times a night kind of nights. We still try it for naps sometimes and for overnight sleep every now and then to see if she's ready yet. One of these days...

For now, though, I like that she's happy and confined in her crib for sleep--at least I don't have to worry about her messing with stuff when we're all asleep. Yesterday she thought that her drink was on the counter so she went and got one of the kitchen chairs and pushed it over to the counter to get the drink. The other day, she did the same thing and hung out on the other side of our kitchen island while I was finishing up an essay I was reviewing. It was fine until she decided to start rearranging our knife block! :O The knives have now been moved elsewhere, but really, no where is safe right now. Everything from counter level down is totally safe, but there are still some dangers counter-level and up. She's not quite old enough, either, to understand the logic of complicated explanations, and sometimes a stern "No" will make her MORE interested in whatever the thing was. Oh well--we'll solve it, I'm sure. Right now she's watching Dora (Of course!) and doing the "Come on, vamonos" dance. She was going to the store with my mom the other weekend and she said, "Come on, Gran, Let's vamos!" My mom didn't know what to think! lol

Ok, I'm off to try to tidy my house up a little. Today's my day off from the Y, so I need to get busy getting this house into some sort of order. :-)

Don't forget--say hi and tell me what your favorite digital kit is! (If you aren't a digi person and have just wandered across this blog from somewhere else, tell me something else neat! :) ) Happy Friday!!

Blahs lately

Blah blah blah, I've had the blahs lately. I've felt like I'm not doing anything well and that I'm falling short on everything. I'm sure it all goes back to a lack of sleep...hopefully I can catch up on that soon. My semester is over on May 7, so at least I won't have any essays to read and review for a couple of weeks. I can make it a month, right? :) lol So I've been a little quiet lately--not much scrapping done either. I need to do some lifts to get the juices flowing...maybe this weekend.

Oh, I've been working out! Only on the 2nd week this week (how lame!), but so far so good. Last week we did two days of aerobics and one day of pilates. This week it'll switch--two pilates days, one aerobics day. Pilates is hilarious because it doesn't look like much work but I am always SO sore afterwards! Wish me luck--maybe I'm finally going to get things going to make some changes.

Maggie had a great Easter weekend. She's such a crack up these days. She spends most of the day acting out Dora scenes. :) She woke up this morning talking about Swiper and the King and Queen. lol What a funny kid!

Ok, just a quickie post from me. I'm going to try to head to bed early tonight. :) I'm going to try to scrap some more tomorrow. :) Happy Tuesday night!

Oh man, I should be asleep...

It's 4am and here I sit, typing away on the computer

. Finished what I think is a pretty cool layout, though:

Seriously, how cute is this kiddo?!! :) I used Mindy Terasawa's Pocket Full of Posies kit and several fonts (SP Inspired, Waterfalls, Susie's Hand, if you're interested).

For some reason I felt compelled to finish it tonight instead of just going to sleep. I was tired hours and hours ago. Oh well. I'm sure Maggie will be awake in another couple of hours (2 if I'm lucky--30 minutes if I'm not). I'm heading to Pilates at 8:30am to try to start to make some changes in the way I look. That should be interesting on a few hours' sleep.

Off to bed. Just wanted to share the layout. Happy day/night, all! :)