Bean's Newborn Pictures

The day before Bean decided to make his appearance, I had contacted a photographer about coming to take pictures at the hospital after he was born. Since he had other plans, that did not happen. Then with him being in the hospital for 2 weeks, we didn't get to have the precious, sleepy newborn photos done either. So when Bean was about 8 weeks old, we had some "newborn" pictures done of him as well as the first pictures of our new family of 5. These we done in March of 2012.

With Bean being born so close after my Dad passed away, I wanted to do some pictures with a few of the his things. My Dad was a firefighter for over 30 years. He practically lived, breathed and slept firefighting. When he passes away there were only a few things I wanted: his helmet and his collection of Fire Dept badges from all over the country. The frame Bean is laying in front of is my Dad's collection of badges that he had framed. When I got it, I printed out a picture of my Dad in his dress unifrom I took after the memorial for the Charleston 9.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I just love this one because it looks like my Dad is watching over Bean while he sleeps. 

Here's one of Bean with my Dad's helmet, jacket and boots. 

I'll leave you with one of my favorites. Mine and the Hubs hands forming a heart around Bean's precious little baby feet!

 

 

 

Until next time...

 

Sorry for the catch up and flood of new posts. These are just the first of many until I can get caught up to current!

So much has happened!

Since I last blogged, so much has happened! This post was originally written in March 2012. I'm just now getting around to finishing it with everything that has been going on the last year or so. I didn't want to just leave it as a Draft though so please excuse how dated it is!

On Father's Day 2011, we found out we would be adding another little bundle of joy to our family and we couldn't have been more excited. Back in September, we found out that precious little bundle was a boy! Noodle was not to happy since she really wanted a sister and Nugget, being only 2, didn't really care either way. When I was about 33wks pregnant, I found out I had gestional diabetes and got put on a fun diet! This pregnancy was the easiest when it game to gaining weight. I didn't gain much and then being put on a diet towards the end, I only put on 11 lbs altogether. Well, at 36 weeks, I went into labor and Bean joined us at a big ole 7lbs. 11 oz for being 4 wks early. Shortly after being born, he was bumped up to a Level 2 nursery baby and put on oxygen for some fluid that got into his lungs on the way out via c-section. He was only on that for a few days and did wonderfully after coming off of it. He was eating like a champ and doing everything he was supposed to but then he started having Bradys and Apnea. Bradys, short for Bradycardia, is where the heartrate would drop below 80. With the drop in heartrate, he would also stop breathing. This meant that he would have to stay in the hospital even after I was discharged. At frist, he was having some pretty bad ones where he would turn blue around his mouth and have to be stimulated to come out of them. It was pretty scary. The severe ones stopped and he was just having minor ones that lasted mere seconds. However, these were keeping him in the hospital in the Level 2 nursery! It was so hard leaving the hospital without him and even harder, going to visit everyday knowing that I was going to have to leave without him all over again. The Bradys were the only things keeping him in the hospital! Well, after 2 weeks, his Neonatologist said his Bradys were minor enough that he could come home on a heart/apnea monitor. We were so excited to have our Bean home but at the same time, scared to death for him to come home on a monitor. He's been home for 5 wks today and the first couple of weeks, his monitor went off regularly. It wasn't too scary luckily! The last couple of weeks, its only been going off in the car and they were lasting only a second. This week, the Respiratory Therapist came and downloaded his monitor to send to the Dr and she lowered the alarm to go off if his heartrate dropped below 70 instead of 80. I am so happy to say, it hasn't gone of since then. He is now Brady and apnea free! It only took him til he was almost 7 wks old/3wks adjusted! I'm also happy to say that he hasn't taken anytime at all to catch up to being a big baby that I'm used to having! At his last appt, almost 2 wks ago, he weighed 10 lbs 15 oz! He's quickly becoming my little chunker and I love it!!

Here's a picture of our new family of 5. Sorry, I can't seem to find any of my other pictures from when Bean was born.

The Hubs started a new job a little of 6 months ago (Aug. 2011) and it's been the best thing! He's home every night at a decent hour but the best part is he only works every 3rd Saturday and never works on Sundays! That would have never, ever happened at his old job! There would be days that would pass that he wouldn't see the kids and now he puts them to bed every night. We did take a small pay cut overall but because his pay is commission only based, some months he makes way more money that he did at his other job while some months he makes way less. We've discussed this numerous time and our final decision was that it's worth it since we have so much more time together as a family and there's much less stress for him! (He's since lost that job, had several others and just recently (March 2013) has one that we think we like and will pay the bills but that's a whole other post in itself)

Right before the Hubs started his new job, we found my Dad had Stage 4 Lung cancer. We learned that it was in his lung, his hip, his spine and several other places.The day we learned of his diagnosis, we also told him that we were having another baby. He was excited, I felt as though he would not make it long enough to meet our new little one. Unfortunately, I was right. On Jan. 8 2012, we went to his house to celebrate a late Christmas with him since my sister and her family were in town from Ohio. None of us had seen my Dad since he had been diagnosed. We did not have a close relationship over the years and he wasn't one to share what he was going through. He did not want us to see how he was struggling and I didn't want to build a short, close relationship with him. Anyway, when he walked out of his bedroom when we got there, I lost it! My once strong, physically fit, handsome Firefighter Father had be turned into a week, frail, skeletal 90 year old looking man. I ran to the bathroom and sobbed. I had heard from my aunt the toll the cancer had taken on him and tried to prepare myself as to what he would look like before our visit but no amount of preparation would have been enough. We had a nice visit with him that day. Even through his battle, he managed to keep his sense of humore which is one thing I will never forget about him. Mentally, I don't believe he was all there that day but he was still cracking jokes with us. That day we joked about how in 6 weeks, I was going to lose my belly when Bean was born and that he needed to gain a belly with how skinny he had become. I am glad we got to spend that time with him but sad that often when I think of him, I see the frail, sick Dad rather than my Strong Firefighting Dad. On January 11, 2012, he lost his battle with cancer and just 2 1/2 weeks after that our precious Bean was born. We gave him my maiden name as his middle name in honor of my Dad since they never got the chance to meet here on Earth.

Well, I started this post forever ago and so much has happened even since then that it will have to be a whole other update post! I'm going to try really hard to get back into this blog because I love looking back and reading past posts!

 

Until next time...

Holiday Cards with Tiny Prints!

I can hardly believe that its that time of year again but I'm excited to start looking at Christmas cards. We just had our family pictures made about a week ago and I plan on using them on this year's card. Trying to get ahead of the game a little instead of waiting until last minute like I normally do.

Why not consider using Tiny Prints for all your Christmas Cards needs? For the last couple of years, I have used Tiny Prints for our family's Christmas cards and let me tell you, I have always been pleased! They have a great selection and they are great quality cards. The recipients of our cards from Tiny Prints have always commented on how great they are!

Well, here are a few that are in the running for us this year!

 

I love all the colors of this one and it coordinates nicely with the colors in our family pictures. I really like how Tiny Prints lets you customize your cards with the perfect pictures! This one even come in several different color options!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I love their tri-fold option, too! It's got room for a ton of pictures, which makes life easier! That way you don't have to narrow it down to just that one! It gives family members and friends the opportunity to see a whole array of your family photos!

 

 



Ok, last one! Being a family of 5 this year, this is a great card.  It has room for a family picture plus an individual shot of each one of my littles!

Tiny Prints has so many options to choose from that I always have a hard time deciding which one to pick! I'm sure you will, too!

Check back after Christmas to see which one I picked!

Also, make sure you check our their Special Offers page! Right now, you can get 25% off already reduced Holiday cards or Free Shipping!
http://www.tinyprints.com/promo/tiny-prints-coupon-codes-promotions.htm

Tiny Prints also offers birthday invitations and stationary!

Hope everyone's having a great Fall! Christmas will be here before you know it!

**This is a sponsored post, however, all opinions are my own.

Do you have your Valentine's Cards yet?

I know we don't yet, but Tiny Prints has lots of options that we can choose from! We normally go with the generic Valentine's that they sell in any drug store but Tiny Prints offers way too may cute and different options to go that route this year.
Make sure you check our their Valentines Cards as well as their Valentines Day Greeting Cards.

My son, Nugget, is almost 3 and this is his first year in preschool which means its his first years of holiday parties. That is so exciting to me! I just love making little goody bags for all the little ones in his class. I think this card called To Infinity would be the perfect one for him to pass out to his little friends. It fits him perfectly! Having his little Nugget face as a space ranger is just perfect since he's obsessed with that well known space ranger, Buzz Lightyear!

My daughter, Noodle, just turned 8 so she's an old pro at holiday school parties. She always has the hardest time deciding on what kind of Valentines to give but I think Tiny Prints has just the perfect one for her. The card, Love and Peace, is right up her alley. The girl is obsessed with anything that has peace signs. I sometimes think she was born in the wrong decade she loves them so much!

Here's another option that would be good for either of my kiddos to hand out. What kiddo doesn't love a good maze? This A-Maze-Ing Valentine offers them just that!

What I love the most about Tiny Prints and their cards is the personalization you can do! I went ahead and designed this card, Sweet and Simple using my absolute most favorite picture of my kiddos, courtesy of Kristen Pace Photography.

I think this will be the one I send out to everyone! I just love it!!!!!!

Make sure you head on over to Tiny Prints to check out their selection of Valentine's Day cards!! Once you check out their cards, head on over and Like them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/tinyprints) and follow them on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/TinyPrints).  And of course, Tiny Prints is on Pinterest, too, so make sure you go follow all their boards (http://pinterest.com/tiny_prints/)!

Tis the Season for Christmas Cards...

and this year I'll be getting our cards from Tiny Prints.  They have such great options! Holiday cards, Christmas cards, ones with photos, ones without photos, tri-fold ones and even ornament ones that can be hung on the tree! What makes them even better is the personalization that's available. Who doesn't like adding their own little touch to make them more personable!?!

As I was looking through their selection, I could tell I would have a hard time choosing which one we would use this year. I loved so many!

Here's a Tri-fold option that I love. I love the bright colors, what it says and that it offers space for 3 pictures: one of Noodle, one of Nugget and either one of Newby or one of our whole family!

Here's an Ornament option that I love too! "Happy Everything" it says so that no one is left out! And it, too, has room for more than one picture. What a great little keepsake it could be for our family members and friends' Christmas trees. I really like that

I've just noticed that I'm leaning towards maybe an aqua and red color scheme this year. I just love those two colors together.

Ok, here's one last option: The Flip Card! These are so fun and different!

Well, those are just three of the options that I love! I think I'm going to have a very hard time deciding which one! I think, first, though I ought to decide when and where we'll have our Christmas pictures done. I'll need some fantastic pictures to fill any one of these Tiny Prints fantastic options!!!

Not only does Tiny Prints do Christmas and Holiday card, they also have a wide selection of
Birth Annoucements

Birthday Invitations
,

Address Labels and much more.

Also if you are a blogger and want to receive 50 Tiny Prints Christmas cards in exchange for a review, you can go here to sign up:

http://blog.tinyprints.com/feature-tiny-prints-christmas-cards/

Keep checking back to see which option I picked.

**I was offered 50 free holiday cards in exchange for this post. The opinions, however, are my own.

Better Days are on their way!

So a few posts ago, I hoped for Better Days for our family in 2011 and they are finally on their way! Of course, we've gone through a lot to get to these better days!

The Hubs finally got a promotion at work but unfortunately, it came with dealing with a boss that was a real piece and horribly long hours that kept him from seeing the kids a lot of the time. Well, that job is now history and he has been given a better opportunity with more potential at another company. We are super excited! The hours are much more family friendly, the pay is better for less hours, as well as less responsibility and drama. I think he'll have more opportunities for advancement with this company too! The best part is he's taking over a week off to spend time with us before starting the new job! Yay for Family Time!!

Nugget is having lots of better days these days too! His face is completely clear except for the occasional and minor break out from some environmental change or food sensitivity. A few months ago, he went through allergy testing torture and we learned he had a Tree Nut allergy. It hasn't affected him too badly! He didn't eat nuts often before anyway. We just recently got a Trader Joe's in town and found him some Sunflower Seed Butter that makes a great sandwich! He loves it! The allergist also gave us a new ointment that couldn't be used on babies less than 2 yrs. old and it did the trick. Within days, his face started clearing! It's been amazing!! He looks like a different baby! Here's a very recent picture! Last time we had some professionally done at Christmas, there was lots of editing to clear up his face. Not this time!!!

And I've saved the best for last! Our Better Days are bringing baby #3 in February!! We are so excited! I'm just out of my first trimester and hoping that my second brings better days with less nausea, morning sickness and just plain miserableness! Of my three pregnancies, this has definitely been the most difficult for me! I just feel way more pregnant than I actually am and with that, can only imagine what it will be like the further along I get! The kids are getting used to the idea of another baby. Noodle's excited sporadically! She really wants this one to be a girl and I think until she knows for sure what it is, she doesn't want to show her excitement! We've discussed with her how we have no control over what this baby will be and that God will give us what he thinks our family needs! So for her, let's hope He thinks we need a girl! Nugget's just 2 1/2 and he doesn't quite understand. He loves babies but when you ask him if he wants Mommy to have one, he emphatically says, "NO!" At his age too, we've had to explain to him that he has to be more gentle with Mommy's belly since there's a baby in there! He thinks the baby is in my belly button, it's so cute! He also has been telling people  he has a baby in his belly, which we think is really, really cute! That's how we've told a few people our news!
Me: Nugget, What's in your belly?
Nugget: A baby's in my belly
Me: Who else has a baby in their belly?
Nugget: Mommy!
The older people have really gotten a kick out of that!
So this one is due Feb. 25th which means if all things go as planned (which we know rarely happens), we'll stay Together 24. My Dr. has already said we can schedule my c-section for Feb 24th so this baby with be a 24 too! It will also share a birthday with Nugget if it comes that day! What an exciting 3rd Bday Present for him!

Just a last random picture that's just cute not to share! My favorite pic from our last session with the amazing Kristen Pace! I plan on getting it as big as I can because I love it that much! Hope you love it too!

Well, Here's to Better Days for us and all of you too!

Until next time...

Chattanooga Mini Vacay!

I know that I've been MIA for a while now but life has been crazy hectic and I've been in an extreme funk!

My funk is slowly starting to die and I think it's because I know summer is a week and a half away. It does help that we just got back from a mini vacay in Chattanooga. The Hubs' cousin was getting married so we jumped at the chance to take a few extra days to do fun things with the fam. The best part was that the Hubs actually got to take a few days off and go with us!! That's a rarity these days!

So we left Friday night and got in at like 1:30 in the morning. Saturday we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, took the kids to the indoor pool for a bit then headed to Rachel's wedding. It was a great wedding even though the weather wasn't great. It took place at the General Lee Woods Inn and it was a gogeous backdrop. Congrats to Rachel and Nathan!

Sunday, we ate breakfast at the hotel then headed to Creative Discovery with the kiddos. It was a great children's museum! Nugget could have stayed at the water table forever! Noodle even had fun!
After the children's museum, we headed to the Hubs' Uncle's house! Now I have to say that I am not a mountain person AT ALL and their house was literally perched on the side of one! The road to get there was winding back and forth with a great big drop off down the passengers side of course. Needless to say, the visit with them was nice but this girl won't be going back there anytime soon.

Monday morning we got up, packed up and started our trip home. We stopped on the way in Ringold, GA which just recently was devasted by tornadoes. We were able to see lots of damage when we stopped off to eat at Cracker Barrel. It was so sad! Tornadoes scare me to pieces and to see the aftermath and how random it was firsthand, made it even more scary! I pray for all the people affected by those devasting storms and hope their lives get back to normal soon and that they don't have to experience anything like that again!

On the way home, we stopped off at the Georgia Aquarium to break up our trip a little. I have to say that the place is AMA-ZA-ZING! It definitely puts the SC Aquarium in Charleston to shame. We got to see penguins, whale sharks, sea turtles and my favorite Beluga whales!  The kids had a blast and enjoyed every minute of it but I think we may have enjoyed it more than they did!

A Whole Lotta Changing going on!!

As my last post said, we're are hoping for better days in 2011 and I think to do that a whole lotta things have got to change!

First thing that has changed is my job status! I am back to Full Time Mommy Status and I'm loving it!!! A little over a week ago, I quit my job! I have mixed emotions of the whole thing however! I loved working when I worked a lot but being that it was a PRN position, the work was far from steady! Over Christmas, I worked for a whole month and I was actually starting to enjoy it! I missed spending Christmas break with the kiddos but it was nice to have adult interaction and to be contributing to the household. However, at the same time, I HATED being away from the kiddos and I felt like I was doing everything on top of working! That did not work for me! If I was going to be working, I wanted help from the Hubs around the house! That did not happen! It was left all to me! Well, the month of steady work ended and they told me they could use me somewhere else. They asked me to look at my schedule, let them know what days I was available and then I could work those days. That is just what I did! I looked at my schedule, needed a week off to gather my thoughts, take care of errands, organize and throw Noodle's 7th Bday Party and just chill. There was no urgency indicated when they told me I could work. It was very nonchalant however it was apparently urgent. That week I needed off was disappointing to them causing a meeting with my boss. That meeting was a week and a half ago! I go in hoping they were going to offer me the full time position they wanted me to cover for but instead I got condescension. They talked to me like I was a child about how I wasn't "available" enough! I just worked everyday for a month even though my child got sent home from school twice with a fever of 102+, my son got a Staph infection in his nose, I got Strep throat from a patient, I was made to get a flu shot which later resulted in me getting sick. I gave my all and went beyond the duty of a regular PRN person I can promise you. So with their rudeness, I quit! No one treats me like a child when just a week early, I was being praised for what a good job I did and how patient I was with the children.

Second thing thats changing: Hubs has had several interviews in the last week! After some severe changes at his current job, his old position re-opened so he interviewed for it! We're hoping that since he's done the job before and the person that caused his demotion is no longer with the company, that he will be back to his old job with his old pay very soon. There are of course mixed emotions with it because what if in a few months, he's right back where he is now. How do we know the promotion will be a permanent one? I am extremely frustrated with the way they've treated him so I'm torn of how I feel. But in case that doesn't pan out, he's had two interviews with another company. The hours would be much better and the pay would have to be better because at this point, anywhere would pay better than what he currently makes. Having two interviews has to be a good sign, right? Hopefully, we'll be hearing something from them very soon! (Don't you love how I say "we" when it's really all up to my husband!)

Third thing that's changed: Noodle turned 7 which I also mention in my last post but we finally had her birthday party! Having her a birthday party is always a stressful thing because we never know when to have it! Her birthday is Christmas Eve so we can't have it on her actual Birthday. We can't have it around Christmas because everyone too busy, So we've been waiting until after the first of the year after everything has settled down but still haven't had good luck with her little friends showing up. This causes me great stress! Every parent wants their child to have the best birthday and in the child's eyes, the more friends the better! After lots of stress and work, her party ended up being lots of fun. More little girls showed up that we thought would even though there were only 3. The 3 that showed up were Noodle's best friends though so it worked out nicely. She had a Hello Kitty themed Tea Party. They decorated Princess crowns, made their own bottle cap necklaces with Hello Kitty images, decorated their own cupcakes and ate lots of yummy finger foods. I worked really hard on the decor and favors. I worked on Hello Kitty cake pops for days. Nana and I made tissue paper flowers. Nana made Olivia a special dress. We just knew it was going to be hideous with the fabric Noodle picked but it ended up being way cute!!! So here are some pictures!

Well, I think that is all for now.

Until next time...

A Hodge Podge of Holidays, Birthdays and Better Days!

Since I've been M.I.A for a few, this post is most definitely as the title describes.

As for the Holidays part...did everyone have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year? I sure hope do because I know we surely did! I was nice and more relaxing than our usual Holiday season and we enjoyed every minute of it. We've been celebrating Christmas for the last week. We did our house and my mom's side Christmas Day, we did Hubs' family yesterday and we did Christmas with my Dad today! It was nice to have them all stretched out since we normally cover them all Christmas Eve and Day!

As for the Birthdays part...we celebrated Noodle's 7th Birthday! I can hardly believe my precious little baby is 7! She has grown up so fast!For her birthday, she got her very own digital camera. She was so excited! She loves taking pictures but needed her own camera since we no longer have a reg. digital camera and there's no way she's playing with my SLR! She took it everywhere with us that night! After church on Christmas Eve, we went to the local Japanese restaurant to celebrate! She loves Japanese and sushi! She also pestered us the whole dinner about them coming to sing for her and when they got there, she refused to get up and dance. So I had to get up and dance with her! It was a good time!

Here's a picture of her when she was just a couple of days old!

How I loved her squishy little cheeks!

And here she is now at 7! She's becoming quite the little lady!

She's got a fashion sense that's all her own. She's into anything that's peace signs, hearts or rock-n-roll. I'm pretty sure she's got Beiber Fever and she love singing along loudly to Taylor Swift, Katy Perry or anything else on the radio for that matter! She's a great reader and her cursive is neater than mine! Her abilities continue to blow me away daily! She's a great big sister to Nugget and most days he calls for her more than he calls for me! Along with all those wonderful things about her, we struggle daily with talking back, being ungrateful and her just being 7! But we love her dearly!

Now lastly for the Better Days part...we're hoping 2011 is full of them! I'm pretty sure 2010 had it out for us. We weren't dealt the best hand in 2010 so we're hoping 2011's hand is full of better opportunities. We're looking forward to what is to come this year!
We're hoping for a new job with better pay for the Hubs since his current job has been the bearer of most of our hardships in 2010! I'm hoping for his new job for selfish reasons too! I want to be a full time SAHM like I've always been until this year. The working world is not for me! This is the first year that I haven't been able to spend time with Noodle over Christmas break and it had killed me. My job is only PRN and lucky for me, they've needed me the whole time she was on break! I love being at home with the kiddos way too much. They continue to amaze me every single day and I don't want to miss one moment! To go along with the hopes of being able to quit my paying job, I hope to start my own business of craftiness, maybe an Etsy store! I got a Silhouette for Christmas and can't wait to use it! I'm hoping to turn my Onesies I've been making into something better and to start making lots of other things to sell!!
I'm secretly hoping to add to our clan. Of course, this depends highly on if Hubs gets a new job. Of course baby's cost money and we have been struggling in that area for the last 6 months or so. I'm hoping that we'll get back on our feet and that baby #3 will become a possibility rather than just a dream!
I'm hoping that 2011 will be a great year health wise for my whole family but most importantly my precious baby Nugget. 2010 has been such a hard year on him with his eczema. He has a rare form for children but all that I have read says that it last between 18 months to 2 years. Well we're going on not quite 18 months and we're hoping we're near the end of this adventure! As of today, he's looking amazing! Now if you would have asked me how he was last week, my story would have been different! His body was doing amazing but his poor face was not! See, he's prone to infections and his face is the first place that gets it since it's always exposed! I hope 2011 consists of less flares, less antibiotics and more management! Today our management routine consists of Aveeno Oatmeal Baths, Aveeno Oatmeal Baby Wash, Aveeno Oatmeal Moisturizer, Hydrocortisone Valerate and Altabax ointments for his face, and Zyrtec for the itching. I know it sounds like a lot but as long as those are all and it doesn't include an antibiotic or steroid, it's a good thing!

Well, I hope 2011 bring you all great things! That's enough rambling for me for one night!

until next time...

Day 18 of the 30 Day B.C

So I totally missed days 11 thru 17 but I've been crazy busy and crazy sick. I only work when needed and it just so happens that I'm need for a whole month so I've been working. I'm not used to working everyday so I have a hard time getting everything done that I want to. On top of working, a couple of day ago I started feeling bad and it just got worse from them. Yesterday when I woke up running a fever of over 100, I figured I needed to go to the doctor. So I have Strep Throat and have practically been quarantined to my bedroom so I don't get anyone else sick. Today is the first day I've felt better all week!

So here is Day 18: My wedding!
It was almost 3 years ago that I married my best friend. We got married in my mother-in-law's church. It's a great little church and our guest practically filled the whole thing! It was still decorated for Christmas with the trees and poinsettias. I seems like yesterday but also like longer than 3 years ago. When I get back on my own computer, I'll add some of my favorite pictures.
I'm on my daughter's Christmas present, setting it up and charging it so it's all ready for her to play with Christmas morning.

Hope every has a very Merry Christmas!

until next time...

Our Christmas Card

We are very excited about our Christmas cards this year. We had a great photographer take this great picture. You'd never know that it was absolutely freezing the day we took out pictures. Living in the south, we aren't quite used to cold weather. This day it didn't get out of the 30s which is quite rare here. The wind was whipping like crazy too.

I was excited to find a card that coordinated with our picture perfectly. I just love how the whole thing turned out!

Mod Sparkles Holiday Card

Turn your holiday photos into holiday cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

The best part about all of it was that I just had to pay shipping. Shutterfly was nice enough to offer us bloggers 50 free cards if we blogged about their cards and I did just that.

I can't wait to see the finished project when it arrives!

Day Eleven of the 30 Day B.C

Day 11: A photo of me recently.

Now I'm not going to be as recent at Amanda over at My Life as a Wife, but this picture is from Monday so I'd say that is recent. Its not just of me though. Remember those family pictures I was so super excited about, well this picture is from those. It's one of the four that the lovely Kristen Pace let me preview. I have to say that I'm in love and can't wait to see the rest!

until tomorrow...

Days Nine and Ten of 30 Day B.C Together!

Well I was really slack yesterday and totally forgot about Day 9 so here it is: A picture I took!

I just took this last week. Owen only went near Santa because Olivia did and we only got this one shot after that he scooted right off her lap and started crying! At least we got the one!

 Day 10: A picture of myself 10 years ago!

Well that would be a picture of me at the age of 17 and I don't have any of those on my computer. That was before we put all our pictures on the computer, that was before everyone used Digital! So unfortunately I don't have anything for day 10!

Hoping I can do better for Day 11!

until tomorrow...

Day Eight of the 30 Day B.C

Day 8: A picture that makes me sad/mad

Who has pictures that make them sad? I know I surely don't pipe up to take pictures of sad moments but I do have one picture that makes me sad everytime I see it. It only exists for documentation purposes!

Here is my poor Nugget pre-Dr.S., the best dermatologist we've seen! He went from looking like this

to looking like this

in the matter of a week!

The first one makes me sad because he looked like even after seeing a dermatologist who's only answer was constant steroid use and after seeing an Urgent Care doctor because his eyes has swollen shut who's only answer was more steroids and a shot or Cortizone! Neither the old derm. or the urgent care doctor helped! It took a whole other doctor to help him. He sees her regularly and steroids are not the answer. He unfortunately gets many secondary infections so a combo of antibiotics, strong hydrocortizone creams and oatmeal baths make my baby better.

I'll be back very soon with lots of pictures that make me very very happy. That being pictures from our family shoot today with Kristen Pace. I must say, I've only seen a few sneak peaks and I can't wait to see the rest!

until tomorrow...

Exciting Day!!

Today is a very exciting day for several reasons;

1. The Hubbs has a job interview!!!! That is the best news we've had in a long time. We both (me mostly) have been searching like crazy for him a new job. A few months back he got a life changing demotion that came with a 50% pay cut! It killed me! It killed us! Our relationship has been tried for sure and we've been struggling! Not only in our relationship but in every other day possible. This interview needs to go well! Him getting this job will be the long awaited answer to our prayers! I'm so nervous for him! This is his first interview with this company and it's with the VP of the Company. How nerve wracking is that? This company has much better hours that he works now as they close at 5:30 Mon-Fri and at 4 on Sat. Even better is that they are closed every Sunday! His current job has him working long days (I'm talking 12-13hrs) and they close at 9 which makes him getting home normally after 10 because he very rarely opens!
Pray that this is direction Frank is supposed to be going and that his interview will go well!

2. We have family pictures today! I am so excited. I love getting our coordinating outfits together and I can hardly wait to see what the finish products will look like. It is however very cold today and our pictures are outside. I'm hoping it won't affect the outcome of our pictures too badly! We decided to go with a new photographer this time. I saw her pictures and fell in love. They were just what I wanted! She was running a special too which helped me make my decision. We don't get professional pictures done that often because of Nugget's face always been flared up so I went out on a limb even scheduling them. Luckily, he's looking pretty good today. He's been on Aveeno Oatmeal overload as we've found their products to make the biggest difference for him! He's gotten an oatmeal bath, washed in oatmeal wash and rubbed down with oatmeal lotion. Anyway, back to pictures. I'm super excited. Nana made Noodle a new skirt and I made her a new headband. I may make them both some shirts today but I'm still not sure!

Those are the two things I'm most excited about. Now on the other hand, I am not excited about this being my only day off this week. I start working tomorrow for a month and that sucks. I've gotten so used to being a stay-at-home mom that I'm dreading working. I work everyday that Noddle's on break from school and this is the first that has every happened. If Hubbs get this new job, that will all change. I'll get to quit my job and go back to staying at home full time. Anyway, I've just been working as needed but it seems that the only time I'm needed is when Noodle's out of school. That is not what I signed up for. The only good thing to come out of it is the money I will make. They pay me pretty decent per hour so the paychecks will be nice. I think we're going to take the money at take all the kids to Disney World. My sister and her son would be going with us so it'd be great fun. Disney World was one of the two things Noodle asked for for Christmas too so it should make it even better.

Anyway, hope everyone has an exciting day! I know I will!

until later...

Day Seven of 30 Day B.C

Day 7: A photo that makes you smile!

I have lots of those! It's going to be hard to chose just one!

This one makes me smile because it was one of the first in a long time where Owen's face was clear. It's the little things that make me happy. I wish he could be clear all the time!

This one makes me smile because it was our first family vacation!

Olivia in her hat alone is why this one makes me smile!

Check out Amanda over at My Life as a Wife if you want to join in on the Blog Challenge. Also the picture that makes her smile is a pretty good one!

until tomorrow...

Day Six of 30 Day B.C

Today is Day Six of the 30 Day Blog Challenge that Amanda over at My Life as a Wife is doing!

Day Six is 20 Favorite Things!

This shouldn't be too hard so here goes it:
(They are just in random order!)

1. My two wonderful kids, Noodle and Nugget. How could they not be?

2. Sweatshirts

3. Sheets right out of the dryer

4. Russell Stover's Chocolate Covered Marshmellow Santas

5. Cheesecake

6. Flip Flops

7. Any Flats

8. Red and Turquoise together

9. Kisses from the Hubbs (They are the foot popping kind!)

10. My Camera

11. Pictures of my Kids (speaking of...here are some)

 

 

 

12. Blogging

13. Crafting

14. Painting

15. Shopping

16. Just Dance esp. with Noodle

17. Mr. Pibb

18. When Hubbs Drives

19. Sushi! Yummo!

20. Christmas Eve Church Service

until tomorrow...