The Polar Express

Sunday we took the kids to the Train Museum in Wilmington, to hear the Polar Express. We have been taking Owen since they started doing it 4 or 5 years ago. Owen has always been very into trains, and love the museum. It seems in the past few years in seems Chris or Wyatt has been sick, so this is the first time in a few years we all were able to go.  The boys sat very quiet for the story, until the end when Wyatt had heard enough and kept quietly asking can I get up? He was good though, he sat there until they were done and then he was excited to be able to see all the trains in the displays. I think he is more Train obsessed than Owen ever was. After the story they have Santa come out to give the first gift of Christmas, the bell. Then all the kids get a turn seeing him. Owen is always very excited, and sadly I know the time is coming when he will not be into it. He patiently waited his turn and told Santa what he wanted. He is always my challenge during Christmas. Every year we do letters to Santa and write a few things he wants. However at the last minute he changes his list, usually when he see's Santa. This year they wrote letters in school, his list was a remote control car, an automatic pencil (lead pencil) and pencil sharpener. Which is funny since you do not need a pencil sharpener for a lead pencil, but that is Owen. Then he did his list at home: It had a RC crane, a matchbox set and a nerf gun. This was after much coaching from his list that were things that are not even made. His response to this is Santa is magic ( yes he is ) and he can make any toy I can dream of (umm no, I don't think so). Now for his list when he saw Santa, he asked for his entire family to be together (so sweet, but so not going to happen), and now the big one a RC Robot, that can fly to outer space!

When I asked Wyatt if he wanted to sit and tell Santa what he wanted he said "nope", I tried to get him to a few more times, before my DH told me to let it go. Once you have children you have to learn to let things go, so again no Santa picture with Wyatt. I won't lie I was disappointed, I have been talking Santa up all month, and I really thought he would.

My boys are in the black and green jackets



Wyatt after getting his treat bag!



5 weeks in...

Where has the time went? I feel like I spent November in a haze and now December is flying by. I am so glad I started shopping early or I would be totally freaked out right now! We are finally getting into a groove as a family of 5! Not that we have any real schedule yet with Lainey, but we are starting to venture out with everyone. The boys still adore their sister, when she is in her bouncy seat, they both are on each side of her. Then I get to hear "Lainey's looking at me" (owen) "No, she's looking at me" (Wyatt), then it becomes more heated! It was funny the first few times, but now not so much! She is finally starting to sleep better at night. I spent many a nights sitting up holding her just so I could sleep. So many things you forget as your kids grow up. During the day, she we are lucky to get a 30 min. nap at anytime. Looking forward to when she figures out to sleep a little longer. She loves car rides, but once you stop moving she starts to cry. She is growing like a weed, seems like overnight! I swore when I had a little girl I was not going to dress her up, but now I see I was so wrong! The clothes for little girls are so cute! Hopefully in the next few days I will post our adventure to see Santa at the Train museum.

Welcome Lainey Reese

Our new litttle one....

Lainey Reese

Born 11/3/10 @ 5:15 a.m.

Weight 8lbs 5 oz, Length 20"

I am so in love with this little girl, she is absolutely gorgeous! Although I know I am bias! We checked into NHRMC around 7 pm. November 2, 2010 for a scheduled induction. Once they placed the cervidil in at 10:00 we were told they would remove it in 12 hours. So we settled in for what we thought would be a long night, and next day. They went ahead and gave me some ambien so I could try to rest and that was that. I was not totally there in and out of sleep but I knew I was getting strong contractions. I kept getting up and moving around and watching the monitor. Apparently the nurses were not watching them though, sometime around 3 or so the nurse came in and said wow you are getting contractions pretty close, do I need to check you. I told her I thought that would be a good idea, and when she checked I was already 5 cm. dilated. She told me I should have called, I thought to myself I thought that is why I had all these things hooked up to me! Plus I don't think I was actually totally coherent due to the ambien (LOL)! They asked about pain meds and I told her to go ahead and order the epidural, so it took awhile to get the IV started with fluid, the next time they check me I was already 9 cm, too late to have any drugs. It was so fast, but once I start progressing that is how it goes. Chris and the nurse almost had to deliver Wyatt, since the Dr. didn't thing I was ready and was no where to be found. They all kept telling me to just wait and not push! Ha-ha! She walked in just in time to deliver him!  With both boys I had the epidural, I had intended on laboring natural with Owen, but they were afraid since he was so big that they would need to do a emergency c-section. They recommended doing the epidural so I would be able to be awake during the procedure. Luckily I was able to have him without the c-section, but it was difficult since he was 9 lbs, 3 oz. With Wyatt I chose the epidural again. Not an option with baby girl! I remember Chris looking at me like, are you going to be okay. It was painful, but with just two pushes I delivered my beautiful baby girl. The Dr. and nurses told me I now had bragging rights, as I  was in control and so quiet. Later I heard Chris tell everyone he talked to on the phone, I was superwoman, and he had no idea how I was able to do it. I love that he thinks that, but the reward at the end makes everything possible!

They layed her on my chest, but her color was off, and wasn't getting any better. They took her to check her and gave her some oxygen, which started working, but they wanted to take her to the nursery to check her better. I hated not being able to bond with her, but need to make sure she everything was okay. Chris went with her and a little while later came to tell me she had a lot of amniotic fluid in her lungs and was now doing great, they were going to watch her for a few hours before bring her to us. It was strange moving to the new room minus a baby. About 3 1/2 hours later she was brought to our room and right away she started nursing, so I was relieved that being apart did not cause any problems. What a miracle a baby is, it is truly an amazing thing. I am sure my blog will be mostly baby updates for awhile as these three are sure to keep me very busy! But it is totally worth it, I love my little ones!

This is the only picture we have right after delivery, since she was not getting enough oxygen, they had to take her right away to the nursery.

Proud Pappa, and very proud big brother, Owen has this grin everytime he sees her.

My MIL bringing Owen and Wyatt to meet Lainey for the first time.

One of Wyatt's first questions is "can we bring her home", we will see how long that last!

Daddy with his boys!

Just a quick update...

After 20 plus pictures I finally was able to get them to both at least look at me LOL!  Over the weekend we took them out to get pumpkins and found some good ones to carve this weekend. We are looking forward to my MIL coming Sat. to help with the boys while I am in the hospital having baby girl! We have a busy weekend planned, we are going to go on a trick-or-treat hayride Sat. with some friends. Then on Sunday, we are going to try "Trunk or Treating" at a friends church.  It seems that since Halloween has fallen on a Sunday, most places around us have decided to celebrate it on Saturday. I think this is crazy, but I still wanted to do something on the actual Halloween day with the boys.

I am also scheduled to be induced on Tuesday evening, November 2nd., I will be happy to not have to take my insulin shots and monitor everything I eat! I have a list a mile long of food I can't wait to eat again. Especially baked stuff, but who am I kidding that I will have time to bake or cook! Owen is so excited to meet his new baby sister, but poor Wyatt has no idea what is coming soon! Soon I will get back into the swing of things and hopefully post some crafty stuff, just so much stuff to do now and just not enough time or energy to get it done! Hope everyone is having a great week, will post pict. of the new addition when we get home!

Loving these colors

I had forgotten how intense the distressed inks colors can be, and I love this barn door red. My other favorite is the shabby shutter, such a pretty green! The insides of the flowers are highlighted with spica clear pens, it was hard to capture that with the camera.

I was so surprised today to find out I won a prize package from PTI for their monthly countdown. I love their products and have yet to have a month go by that I haven't "needed" something from them! So I am so excited to have won something from them! Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!  Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas wishes

This is my first Christmas card of the year, can't say that I actually expect to make our cards this year with the new baby and all though! I made this for the Hero arts challenge this month. I haven't been feeling very creative lately, it seems my mojo just isn't there. Yesterday I went into my office and just started playing with my distressed inks and made a few cards. I have been busy trying to organize my house, move the boys rooms into one, and getting the baby room ready. We are counting down to 3 weeks to go, and I still have so much I want to do. I have also been doing quite a bit of Christmas shopping, knowing that I won't be able to do much of that for a little while. Think the UPS man has been here a little too much with the stuff we ordered for the boys, baby and Christmas!

Witch pumpkin

I love this set from Flourishes, all the images have a vintage look to them! The weather here has been wonderful, after all that rain we had it is a welcome relief! The boys have enjoyed swamp logging with all of the water around, I have had to drag them in for dinners! My DH has been so busy, since we lost at least a week due to all the rain. But busy is good as it means we have work! Owen (my oldest) had off most of last week so he got to go to my ultrasound appt. with Wyatt and I. They were both so good while I was being scanned. We were explaining to the boys what they were looking at, and Wyatt sat there and then asked me, "where did you get Owen from" we laughed so hard, it was so funny. His big thing now is asking where everything comes from, I told him he was a gift from God, not that he understood that, but it was adorable. Baby girl is doing well, she is estimated at 6lbs, 8oz at 34 weeks. Glad I didn't get any newborn clothes! I get checked again tomorrow, and hopefully if all goes well I will get induced around Nov. 2nd.  We just moved Wyatt into Owen's room in their new bunk beds, and I can't believe how well its going. Wyatt absolutely LOVES his big boy bed, he asked to go take a nap now even before we say it's bedtime. I can hear the two of them talking after we tuck them in and it is so sweet, I love it!  Wyatt is also sleeping in till 8 or 8:30 which is amazing since he has always been my early riser. I am enjoying the extra sleep since baby girl keeps me up a few hours a night right now practicing her karate or whatever she is doing in there!

Week 3 of Hero Arts Flickr Pairing

I was hoping to get some natural light to take a photo of my card, but mother nature has a different idea. Yesterday we got 11" of rain and in the next few days we are expected to get that again! We so needed rain, just not all at once! This is the last week of my pairing with Sarah M (Sarahjane4kids) from flickr. This challenge has been so much fun, I have really enjoyed it! Check out her awesome work here

I stamped the floral image with versamark then added two shades of orange distress inks and embossed the image. I used PP to frame the image in a scallop design then attached to a piece of green cardstock stamped with a butterfly image. The orange background was embossed with the scor-pal to outline the green piece. Thank you for stopping by and for any comments they are so appreciated!

Scary pumpkin

I love pumpkins, I love to color them, bake with it and decorate them around the house. It is still sooo hot here, I am ready for the days when it's cool outside and the mosquitos die off! Even though I can't enjoy any of the yummy pumpkin treats I usually make I am hoping I have some energy to make some once they baby gets here. At least I know I won't have to endure a diabetic Thanksgiving or Christmas this time! On another note, have you ever felt like things just can't go right? My DH and I are having a time with everything breaking down and not going right. I so want to get rid of this bad karma, I feel so bad all he is trying to do is work and we just can't seem to get ahead. I am hoping the change of seasons brings on some good luck for us!

Hero Arts Flickr Pairing Week 2

This is the second card for the pairing up challenge with Sarahjane4kids (Sarah M.). This week we chose the set  A kiss from the sun. I stamped the cloud background in blue and die cut it with a nesti label, then I stamped each element on a separate piece of paper. They were all colored with copics then cut out and attached to the cloud background. The Birdhouse was attached with a bit of button twine from PTI. I colored the sun again with a gold spica pen then added some diamond glaze for dimension. The sentiment is stamped on Bo-Bunny dot paper, that I seem to hoard and not use. So I have started bringing it out for my projects

My second card is also paper pieced, I used Basic Grey Wisteria for the PP. I then ran it thru with a embossed dot background to give it some texture. The sentiment is from PTI: baby button bits. Butterflies are a MS punch.

Make sure to hop onto Sarah's blog here to see her beautiful creation. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Fall pumpkin

   The Pumpkin stamp is from Artful Legacy, they use to have a store below Myrtle Beach, but that closed a few years ago. I saw the other day that they have moved more inland in SC and are opening another store. The owners are very nice, I took my copic certification class with them, I hope they do well. It is sad that all of our stores are closed around here, the closest store is Archviers in Raleigh, but it is not the same as being able to drive to town to see the new latest and greatest. Anyway, I stamped the pumpkin and colored with copics, the fall words is a background stamp from stamp zia, I chose a line of words to use and cut them out to attach to the card. Thanks for stopping by!

Waiting for Fall

Well, here in Eastern NC, we have yet to get a break in weather, it is dry and HOT! In spite of this, I am starting to work on my fall cards. This is for the challenge at Hero Arts, and I love this Thanksgiving set. The Pumpkin is so cute, I also used a new background that I just love! The sentiment is an older Hero art stamp, and the pumpkins were colored with copics YR15, 17 & 18.

I spent some time today working on getting all my fall and holiday stamps in one place or at least the woodblock ones. I think I will use them more if they are in one area. One day I will have my office all organized, but right now I have bits and pieces orderly. It also doesn't help that I have two boys that love to play in there and make a pretty good mess when they are done. Today Wyatt & I got some baby shopping done, getting some girly things that I was lacking. I ordered the boys bunk bed which should be here in about a week. I also got Wyatt the cutest bedset for his new big boy bed! I always dread the transition from crib to bed, I don't like my babies growing up, but I am excited for him to see his new stuff! So things are finally starting to feel a little bit more under control. Thanks for stopping by, have a great Saturday!

Sunflowers and ladybugs

 

While blog hopping I found this sunflower stamp set by flourishes and had to have it. Flourishes has so many beautiful floral stamps, I love their style! I stamped the image and colored with copics, added diamond glaze to the ladybugs and stamped one of their beautiful sayings. 

I had another ultrasound today, and it seems will be doing this every week to check her stats since I am now on insulin. Today she scored 8 out of 8 so everything is great, the tech. also scanned me with the 4D, and printed a picture. It was so amazing she is so beautiful, and busy- her hand was on half of her face, but I got a pretty good picture of most of her face. So cool! Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day!

Hero Arts Flickr- Pairing up week 1

Today I am pairing up with another Hero Arts Flickr member: Sarahjane4kids (Sarah M). We decided to choose a few stamp sets and for the next few weeks we will share cards made with them. Here is the link to her blog: http://sarahsjustvisiting.blogspot.com/ make sure stop by.

The first stamp set we chose was the clear set Real Flowers, I stamped the leaf from the set in Hero Arts chalk ink, and then overstamped the script in Distressed ink antique linen. They were die cut with the deckled spellbinder dies. I then attached them to a background cuttlebug design that was distressed with antique linen as well. The sentiment was stamped in the same green as the leaves, the twine and button are from PTI.

Thank you for stopping by, next week we will have another card to show! Have a great Tuesday!

Finally able to blog again!

This is my card for the PDCC # 46, I love the color splash challenges, this one was for black and white and a slash of gold, copper or pink. All stamps are hero arts except the  verse it is from Flourishes. The butterfly was colored with copic spica gold.

Sorry I have been MIA lately, I have had some health issues that have totally knocked me down! A few weeks ago I started getting dizzy, disoriented and throwing up. After many different doctors, a week later they determined I was experiencing a vestibular migraine, it was constant for almost two weeks. Thank God for some wonderful friends who drove my son home everyday from school and helped get me to the Doctor, since I was unable to drive! I have never felt more helpless and I really thought I would never get balance or order to my world! There was nothing the Dr.'s could give me since I am pregnant, so I had to just wait for it to pass. In the meantime my gestational diabetes was getting out of control, probably due to being so sick, but now I am on insulin 2x's a day. Not what I wanted to happen, but I also don't want this baby girl growing any bigger than she already is! I am finally feeling better and so happy to be able to function during the day!

Make sure to stop by tomorrow evening, I am pairing up with another flick hero arts member once a week for a few weeks. It should be lots of fun!  Thanks for stopping by!

Best wishes

The card I have today is a simple embossed flower image in white and matted on a cuttlebug embossed background. The butterfly and sentiment are also embossed in white. Queen Ann's Lace was my Grandmothers favorite, they grew in abundance down at the summer house they had.

Today I had another ultrasound, everything is progressing well except she is very big. Both my boys were large 9.3lbs for my first and then induced 1 week early and 8.8lbs for the next. I can't quite remember being check so often with Wyatt so I don't know how his growth compares to hers. They estimate her at 4.2 lbs and in the 97% at 29w, 2 days. When I got home I looked up weights and the average is 2.54lbs at that gestation.  I really thought I was further along than that, but I guess they know better than I.  I am not sure if it had to do with her telling me how big she is or what but I experienced a pretty good dizzy spell today. I started sweating and felt horrible, once I sat up and rested for a few minutes I started feeling better. The Dr. felt sure they would still induce at 39 weeks, I just hope that I can get her out, I really don't want to have a c-section. Today after picking Owen up from school I showed him her pictures, and he was so funny asking about how big she was when God put her in my belly. Then he asked again how she was going to come out, I try not to go into to much detail.  I don't want him educating his class on where babies come from!  Tomorrow is Friday, looking forward the weekend!

Back to school and butterflies

Just playing with some of my favorite copics, the BG10-BG15, will have to get refills for these as I seem to use them a lot! I also used the bo-bunny dot paper that I love to buy, but find hard to use!

Today is Owen's first day of 2nd Grade, Wyatt and I took him to school this morning. Owen was so excited to go to school today, I wish everyday was like that! He could not wait to show Wyatt his classroom and all the neat pets they have. Poor Wyatt he wanted to stay with

his brother. Now all he keeps asking me is "Where Owen go?"  I can not believe how fast time has gone, Owen looks to big, and I feel like it was just yesterday I brought my sweet first born home from the hospital.

Just a note...

I used the Memory Box queen anne's lace stamp, with a script background. They are stamped in Chocolate brown and a tan ink.  The Butterfly is from Hero Arts.

Only one more day of summer vacation, we had open house tonight to meet Owen's new teacher. I can hardly believe he is already going into 2nd grade. His teacher seems very nice, and he knows quite a few of the other students. The best thing was all the pets she had in her class, Owen loves animal so he is very excited to help care for them. I am not looking forward to getting back into the school routine,  and I know Wyatt is going to miss his brother terribly.

Shabby Tea Room Challenge

I decided to try the Shabby Tea room challenge this week, after spending some time shopping for little girl clothes Friday I was totally inspired. I used the Year of Flowers stamp set from PTI, and Pattern paper from Memory box. The Rose is stamped overtop of script writing and then colored with copics. It was so hot outside that my lense steamed up when I tried to get a picture. I am ready for Fall!

Spring bird on Friday

This card is made with memory box stamps, I found them while in Charlotte at Stamper's Alley . It is a great store, great inventory and they keep up with the new trends. I miss our local stores, being able to see the new stuff in person, and all the new ideas.

The boys left yesterday, even though they were gone most of the day I really didn't get a chance to do much. I spent 3-4 hours at the endocrinologist, meeting with the dietitian, educator, getting blood work and then seeing the P.A. and Dr. It really wasn't that bad, actually they did me a favor by working me in so I don't have to go back for 8 weeks unless I can't keep my sugars under control. It was so nice to get some direction this time, last time I had it with my first pregnancy I was told I could find the diet on the Internet and they had someone call me on the phone to explain how to check my sugars .It did not end up being a very good experience, so I truly appreciate all the info and help I will have access to now. Today I have to run to town and do some errands and then think I will go browse the mall. I really haven't bought much for the baby, so may start looking for some stuff. Then tonight I plan on renting the Last Song and curling up into bed to watch. Hope everyone has a great Friday!

Sunshine bookmark

This is a bookmark for the Hero Arts Challenge, I started by stamping the swirl background in Antique linen, then stamping all the images in black. I colored the images with Copics and then added distressed ink in Antique Linen again all over the bookmark.I used diamond glaze on the inside flower and spica glitter pen on the bee wings.  All stamps except for the saying (PTI) are from Hero Arts.

PDCC # 42

I really enjoy the color challenges from the Play Date Cafe I love the colors they put together and yesterday had time to make a card. I used my new Poppy script stamp from Memory box and stamped it in dark brown on tan cardstock. The sentiment is also from Memory box.

It has been a busy last week or so, I failed my 3 hour glucose test and am now waiting for the refferal to the next Dr. to get all the stuff to start checking my sugars again. I only have about 10 weeks left, so it won't be that bad. Then Debbie and I went to Charlotte for the CK Convention, you can see her post and some pictures of  trip there. We had so much fun, but I was exhausted when we returned. This week is Iweb's last full week off of school, my DH is taking both boys too the mountains this weekend for the last summer trip. I am going to stay home, I have tons of things to work on I just hope I can accomplish something while they are gone! I always have good intentions but end up just spinning my wheels so to speak. I have to find a suitable bunk bed for the boys, haven't found one locally so I am not looking online. I am nervous about makinng such a large purchase online, but I need one with storage under the bed and nothing locally fits what I need. They both just have too much stuff!  Hope everyone has a great day!

Bookmark and some chick picts.

                                                                                                               

For PTI release last month they had bookmark dies and a cute booklovers stamp set. I love to read, the problem is I read too fast, and seem to run out of authors I like. When Owen was little we were at the library at least once a week, it was wonderful! Fast forward to having two kids, and the second hating the library, when we do go it's a quick dash to grab something interesting before he has a melt down. When Owen and I have a chance we try to leave Wyatt with my DH so we can leisurely look for books, but not often enough.

I went out this afternoon and tried to snap a few photo's of our chick army, they are so quick and hardly ever sit still. Many are hiding under the hens, but I think I got most of them in these. I love the assortment of colors we have, they are Bantam Cochins we have red, buff, white, grey, and blue. 

These are the first batch of five that hatch, they are already fully feathered, and very curious. The grey rooster has become their pal and they hang out most of the day together. I have 3 roosters and 2 hens out of these.

Chicks anyone?????????

This is another card using the unity set, I didn't like the color of it until Debbie suggesting distressing the green background paper. It made all the difference, that is why it is so fun to craft with a friend. Someone can look at something totally different and give some wonderful feedback!

I am so excited to be going to Charlotte on Friday with Debbie, if I can ever make it through this week. What was suppose to be a laid back easy week has turned into utter pain! I am so ready for some R&R! Friday cannot get here soon enough! On another note we spent the weekend with some friends on the waterway and had a blast. Before we left I had 5 new baby chicks that had hatched, when we returned I knew I was in trouble. There were so many chicks that I couldn't count them all! I estimate around 20 new babies, one of our hens must have had a nest somewhere and has brought her family to live back in the house! My DH just shook his head, I think I am going to post a sign at the feed store to try to get find homes for most of them. We just want to wait for them to get a little bigger. It is quite a sight in the house right now with all those little puff-balls running around!

Tomorrow I have to take the 3 hour glucose test as I failed the first one. I had gestational diabetes with my first, but not my second, I so hope I pass this one! Wish me luck!

Larkspurs and the Aquarium

This card uses the new Year of Flowers Set from PTI: Larkspurs. I first stamped a script stamp then the image 3 times then I cut a oval out of the center to allow for a sentiment to be placed there. I colored all images with copics, stamped the sentiment (PTI), and a few butterflies and then attached to the back of the floral panel.

Yesterday I took the boys to the aquarium, it was my birthday and I wanted to do something fun with them. Owen went last year for a school trip, but it was so crazy with all the kids, he didn't get much of a chance to explore. It is a very nice aquarium, but for me growing up in MD, I thought all aquariums were like the Baltimore Aquarium. The first time I went I wanted to know where the rest of it was. I have since adjusted my expectations and do enjoy the experience. Owen's favorite parts were the snakes and the touch pool, I had to drag him away from the lady running it. Wyatt loved the poison dart frogs and the spiney lobster, he thought the lobster was chasing him and would squeal and run only to go back and tell it "No get me".  We all had a great time!

I love this photo, his crazy hair and that smile!

Watch out there is an Alligator behind you boys

PDCC #40

Stamps: Hero Arts, PTI
Butterfly colored with copics

This is my entry for the PDCC, I was hoping to have time to make a few more cards but time has gotten away from me. I like the color splash challenges, highlighting a color creates such a bold card.

Today I am taking the boys to the Fort Fischer Aquarium, I can't believe it's August and summer vacation ends on the 24th. We have quite a few things going on before school starts. We are visiting friends at a beach house in Topsail this weekend, next week my in-laws are coming into town. They are taking Owen and his cousin camping at KOA for vacation. He is so excited, can't wait to swim, and ride his bike and sleep in the bunk beds in the cabin! Then Chris is taking both boys to the mountains the weekend before school starts, this will be Daddy's first trip with both boys without me. It was all his idea so I sure hope it goes well. I am looking forward to a few days to myself. Not sure when that will happen again for awhile so I plan on enjoying it!