just a little bib

This was my weekend project. I cut enough fabric to make 10 of these little bibs. They went together really quick! Now if I can manage to churn out around 15 more I might end up selling them on etsy.

Check it out!

BethanyTramelPhotography is having a giveaway on her blog for her 100th post. Head on over there and register for a chance to win a very cute banner!

Monica Who?

Yes, yes. I know (*hangs head in shame*). It's been a looong time since my last post. My facebook addiction totally consumed my blogging time. FB's getting a little dull now so I'm jumping back on the blog bandwagon. I've been bitten by the creative bug thanks to some awesome craft blogs I've found, so look for some "nap-time projects" to be posted!

Where have I been?

WORK! The hospital has been super busy lately! After only my second night of call I've already been in five times for nine ultrasounds. Sunday night was by far the strangest night I've had in my career. Labor and Delivery called me in (immediately after the ER paged me) for a 25 week'er that had no prenatal care. She was having contractions and wanted an ultrasound to check everything out. Usually I'll stop at the store on the way in and get a soda or fill up my gas tank but I went on in that night. I'm glad I did! When I got up there I wheeled my machine into the triage room where my patient was supposed to be. One of the nurses yelled at me to go to the OR. "Ummm.....okay?" I got the 411 on the girl when I got in there. She was having TWINS and never, ever had seen a doctor. One of the routine tests they run on a "no prenatal care" patient is a urine tox screen. Her test was positive. I'm not sure what she had been on, but they were trying to find out how long it had been since she last used. It was in the babies best interest for her to fess up, but she said it had been at least a month. So sad. Anyway, I was in there to determine the position of the second twin, and they had her in the OR in case the second baby had to come out cesarean. I was literally held hostage up there for two hours. I did my initial scan and then the doctor wanted me to stay until the first baby came out to scan again (making sure the second one didn't turn breech). Due to respiratory, the neonatologist, two incubators, a team of nurses from the nursery, anesthesia, scrub nurses and ultrasound....I ended up with the WORST seat in the house. I tried every way possible to obscure my view of her va-jay-jay. I saw enough to do me for a lifetime. It was real-life "A Baby Story". Screaming, puking, crowning....EEW! Now giving birth can be a beautiful thing, and I usually get teary-eyed when watching a movie/television show about it. Something about not knowing her/middle of the night/empty stomach that has just warped me for life. I'm not sure how the babies are doing. They sent them to Vandy for some much needed care, but keep them in your prayers! They have a long road ahead of them!

Wanna hear something freaky weird related to the above story? Well, our church started a campaign to collect money for the Pregnancy Crisis Center here in the 'boro. You can pick up a baby bottle and fill it up with change or a check to help out babies like I saw that same night. I've been dropping in change over the past couple of days, but the experience that night just made it very "real".

untitled

No clever title for this entry.

I took Bryce yesterday for a "meeting" with the principal of the Discovery School. They haven't done this in the past, but the principal and the literacy director (I think that was her title) wanted to meet with each student one-on-one. They took him back to another room while I waited for about thirty minutes. The only comment I was given by the principal was "You have a very hard worker!". I tried to quiz Bryce about what he did back there. From what I understood, they told him a word, like "dog" and asked him to say what the first letter and the last letter of the word was. I have no idea how he did on the last letter thing. He's nailing beginning letters though. He also had to write his name, but Bryce said everything was easy. He goes in for a standardized test on Saturday!

We're also having Bryce's birthday party at the house on Sunday. I've hired a magician, so hopefully it will be fun! He's doing balloons for all the kids, and adults if they want :) I also decided to make the cake and cupcakes for the party, so wish me luck! I was pretty decent at making cakes back in the day. My high school job was at Food Lion in the big town of Smithvegas. I was the first one to turn 18 so they sent me to the deli. Can you imagine me slicing ham?!?! The best part about it was they taught me to decorate cakes. Well, it was exciting to me at the time. I could do the roses, leaves, scallops....all that stuff. I'll be sure to post some pictures when it's done! You may end up seeing a cake from Kroger's if everything flops.

Ringing in the New Year

This is how we spent New Year's Eve.
We're a *wild* couple (kidding).
I wouldn't have it any other way.

Project 365

The last week or so I have been hearing about a kit from Creating Keepsakes called Project 365. The concept is to have some sort of snippet of your life everyday for 365 days, most of that being pictures. I started thinking about this concept and decided that I am going to give it a whirl. The kit that Creating Keepsakes is putting out looks nice, but I decided that I am going to do my own thing and use up some of the stash that I have already. It is probably a good thing since the kit went on sale yesterday morning, the CK website crashed and there are lots of unhappy people that didn't get a kit. It sold out before lots of people could even get the page to load to order one. The whole thing was a mess.

Hopefully this will help me get some of my scrapping mojo back. I just don't have the time to scrapbook the way that I used to. I would spend a lot of time and effort on one page to highlight ONE picture...two if I were lucky. Plus, I never have been diligent on the journaling aspect, which is a big chunk of this project. I started with my first picture yesterday, that pretty much summed up the entire holiday for us :)This is the D-man and all his clingy-ness. Poor thing. He's got a little sniffle and this was his reaction pretty much every time daddy or mommy sat him down.

Coming soon..... *updated with slideshow*

Christmas pictures taken with my NEW CAMERA!

oh gawd! warning:TMI

Well, I've been sick. Deathly sick. I've never had a "kidney" infection before, but now I can say I have and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I've had my share of "bladder" infections, but this one spread to my kidneys. I went to the doctor on Friday after peeing some blood (TMI, I know) and I had one of the nastiest infections they had ever seen. I couldn't walk, I cried when I hit bumps on the drive over, and I was on the verge of puking from all the pain. I'm on day 4 of Cipro, Lortab and phenegran and my pus and blood infested urine seem to be back to normal! What a week for us sickies!

HaPpY bIrThDaY bRyCe!!!!

My dear son is now a 5-year old :( Boy do they grow up fast. We had a special day today, just me and my boys. We went to CEC which has become a tradition for the boys on their "actual" birthday day. Then I took him to Julia's bakery to get some cupcakes for dessert tonight. Of course he got chocolate (that's my boy!) with sprinkles. We're going to let him open his present from us tonight after dinner. Just a little family party before the big whoo-ha on the 11th. I have some pretty cute pics of him when he was a baby...maybe I should get together a Bryce photo montage ;) I'll add that to my to-do list!

mERry Christmas Eve

Hey! Notice the "ER" in my title? Yep, that's where we were yesterday. I had no choice but to take Bryce in yesterday. He woke up with a fever of 100.3 so I gave him motrin. Three hours later his fever was actually higher at 103.3, so I gave him tylenol and put in a call to the ped's office. The only appt open was at 4:45...grr... I stuck him in bed to rest and a few minutes later I hear a big "thud" and find him on his bedroom floor wailing. He tried to stand up but his legs were too weak. He was still on fire at 103.5 after all these meds AND a lukewarm bath. We headed on to the ER. He definately has an ear infection. I was beyond pissed about this yesterday too!

Here's the backstory....

We've all been fighting some upper respiratory crud for the past week or so. Drew was doing the same thing as Bryce was last Wednesday night. A fever, guarding his right ear, yadda yadda. As a mom, you know. Ear infection. We went to the walk-in appts at Dr. E's office on Thursday. Yep, ear infection. He gave him a round of antibiotics and the kiddo was back on his feet!

The next morning, Bryce and I woke up feeling like we had been hit by a truck. I drug us into one of the "minute clinics" down the street to get us a z-pack or similar antibiotics. That was a no-go. We left with antihistimanies! WTH?!? I didn't see the scripts since they faxed them to Publix for me, you know....free antibiotics and all (never miss an opportunity for FREE). When we picked them up, she said "That'll be $16." Uhh.....why? Because we DIDN'T GET ANY ANTIBIOTICS!!!! Now, I'm not a doctor, and I don't claim to be, but common sense would tell you that what's good enough for D is good enough for B. He didn't need any $8 cough syrup. Hell, I had that at home already. So what did I do? I called them. Demanded some cillin. Did I get it? Nope. "It's a viral infection. It won't do any good." Blah, blah, blah. Well, we've got the amoxicillin now!

A little bummed

I won't be able to go to the book signing that I so desperately wanted to go to :( Chris and I are taking a "One Month to Live" bible study on Wednesday nights, and the first class is the same night as the book signing. There's no way around it. I guess I'll have to catch her next time!

Vinyl Attraction

In addition to the numerous Christmas ornaments I made this year using my Cricut, I also ventured out to the "home decor" side a little. The "Imagine, Create, Play" words are in the bonus room just above the toy cabinets. I also tried my hand at tile, which is the other image. It would be really cute with a red ribbon added to the top! I cut "JOY" in red and put it on my mailbox, too. Sorry, no picture of that since it's 9 degrees outside this morning! BRRRR!!!!

Here comes Santa Claus

We had our annual Santa playdate at Stacie's house this past Saturday. It was lots of fun, as usual. Bryce came armed with a list this year so he wouldn't forget to tell Santa ANYTHING! Drew didn't like the fat guy, but I went ahead and snapped pics anyway. I have a few that my mom had made of me when I was at that age just bawling in Santa's lap! It will be cute when he's older :)

Hey all you Plum fans!

Janet Evanovich will be at Borders on West end January 7th for a signing. Her new book "Plum Spooky" is the next one to be released! I'm for SURE going! This will be my first "signing" and I'm really looking forward to meeting someone halfway famous.

Things I learned last weekend

Everyday I seem to learn more about myself. I'm changing. I'm realizing what I can and can't do...some things that I could do in the past that I can't seem to get away with anymore. I noticed a few things this weekend.

*I don't think I'm meant to consume alcohol anymore. Cranberry juice and vodka was my drink of choice Friday night. The first one was WONDERFUL. I'm blaming the second one on my headache the next morning.
I guess I've drank maybe 10 or so times since Drew has been born. I just don't have that desire. It's a sad thing, I know. I had rather have a big Diet Coke or a Starbucks Latte. I've realized that I can still have a good time without the booze.

*I CANNOT CROCHET! I've been trying since Friday. The beginnings of three scarves have hit the trash. I don't have the patience AT ALL.

*The phrase "You can do anything if you put your mind to it" does not apply to me. There was another crafting "flop" other than the crochet mishap this weekend.

*You can redecorate by "repurposing" things in your house. I moved around some decor from different rooms and it has really freshened up the place.

Some pics you haven't seen yet

I'm finally getting around to uploading Halloween pics and while I was at it I threw in a few more on the slide show.

I took the boys to the dentist on Wednesday. Yep, both of them. I just love where I take them. It's totally centered around kids and they are familiar with the fears and tears that come with a dental visit. We see Dr. Mallette at Children's Dentistry. They have XBOX's in the waiting room along with puzzles and movies. When you go back, there are tv's mounted on the ceiling showing a movie. All the cleaning tools have special names and the kids get to visit the treasure box and get a balloon character (or sword in our case) when they are done. Oh yeah, and the token character toothbrush, flosser and toothpaste.

When I took Bryce for his cleaning last time, Drew was about 7 months old. They encouraged me to bring him in next time Bryce was due. I never took Bryce in for a cleaning that early because my ped always said it could wait until they were old enough to follow directions. But anyway, they made it quick and painless. Drew is going to have some crowding issues which were obvious to the dentist and I have noticed this as well. He got flossed and had a fluoride treatment. Bryce did great. He's weird in a way that he LOVES having his teeth cleaned/flossed/brushed. He will randomly go in the bathroom during the day to floss. It's a good habit to have!

TGIM

Thank goodness it's Monday....well, almost. I know that's not commonly wished for, but after the weekend and drama that unfolded, I'm grateful that a new week is about to begin.

My middle sister's b-day was Friday. We took her out to Fulin's for dinner (which was super scrumptious). It was rainy and nasty, so the plan was to head over to our house for gifts and other festivities. I then got the phone call that changed the weekend. My youngest sister (just 16) was driving and she got into a car accident. My other sister was also in the car. They were able to walk away, luckily, but the jeep was totaled. Two other cars were hit (my sis's fault...failure to yield) and those people were alright too. Since my parents were on their boat like every freaking weekend, we were left to straighten out the mess. That's a whole entirely different blog post.

So we're sitting there while the cop is filling out the report and everyone's adrenaline is settling down. I'm trying to decide if they need to go to the hospital or not. My sister took an airbag to the face and she's beginning to feel the burn. Her head also hurts some. She decides she'll wait until our parents get home and then see if they will take her in. My other sister busted up her knee pretty bad, and almost went in that night but put it off until last night. She went into the ER and they gave her a pretty full work-up. X-ray's and CT scans. Luckily, no bones were broken. Her CT scan showed that her liver was lacerated, probably from the seat belt. There were also a few other abnormalities like swollen adrenal glands, swollen spleen and pancreas. I've never heard of that...especially in someone her age. If anyone has some insight please share. She has to go in 5-7 days for a follow-up. And just in case you were wondering, my parents went straight back to the boat yesterday morning.

ABC's and 123's

Monday night, I went to a "Prospective Parents Meeting" at Discovery School. I love the concept behind DS and I would love it if Bryce could attend there. I would say he's kindergarten-ready right now, probably due to his age (almost 5), but he also catches on to things fairly quick. I would love for him to have that extra push in kindergarten.

Now, I don't think Bryce is uber-smart or anything. He's just VERY interested in learning. He excels with numbers (can count to 150 and do some addition), reads about a handful of words, writes the alphabet and numbers, but doesn't have much creativity. He has absolutely zero interest in coloring and gets frustrated when he can't do something perfect.

I did find out on Monday night that the odds are not in his favor to get accepted though. The cafeteria was full of parents, who when asked by a show of hands if they were there for kindy testing, almost 97% of the room raised their hands. The school is also lowering the number of K classes from 4 to 3.

The testing is on January 10th, but we will not find out the results until early spring. Wish us luck!

Back in the groove

I'm feeling so much better the past couple of weeks. I actually feel like doing stuff and I've quit putting things on the back burner (like this blog). My brain has been in a fog lately! I'm finally able to focus and accomplish a few things instead of stressing about them and never getting anything done.

Drew has shot up like a little weed over the past few weeks. He's really talking quite a bit which I'm not used to since Bryce was slow to talk. Here's a little sampling of his vocabulary....

-ma ma
-da da
-bye bye, and just bye
-hi
-MINE! (with an attitude)
-nigh nigh
-ball
-pat pat
-light
-baby
-tickle tickle
-uh huh (for yes)
-uh uh (for no)
-Bry
-MiMi

It's very sweet :)

As for Bryce and his tonsils....apparently he DOES have sleep apnea (by my own determination) and I'm going to lay down with him a few more nights before his appointment next week just to make sure it wasn't a fluke thing. I'll at least feel better about it. I hate the thoughts of him having this surgery, but I guess it's better now than later on down the road.

That's all for now, I wish I had the camera card so I could upload some recent pics! I will do that soon though. I'm off now to tweek things on this blog a little and I hope to have lots of posts to follow!