Made in Canada, Living in the U.S.

Soooo Behind!

2011-09-09T12:47:00.000-08:00

I know that I am so far behind on my blog, and I apologize. My parents' visit and then me getting sick with mastitis and a nasty cold right after they left, has gotten me so far behind. I will try to catch up soon. Promise!

5 Months Old!

2011-06-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

There's a little 5-month-old baby in the house! And she's the sweetest, cutest, chubbiest, little 5-month-old baby EVER! She's downright EDIBLE! I could kiss that sweet little face a thousand times a day (and probably do!) and still want to kiss her some more.

The little "mouse" (my nickname for her, since she squeaks when she "talks") was very sick earlier this month. She caught a bad cold/flu/virus, and we ended up in the Emergency Room with her because she was in respiratory distress. It took 4 days of breathing treatments of albuterol to stop the wheezing. She was sick for a total of 10 days. Poor little thing.

When we were at the doctor's office, she was weighed and is now weighing 17 lbs, and she's 26 inches tall. I'm very proud of how chubby she is, since that's all 100% Mama's milk! We haven't started her on food yet, because she's still very happy with just breast milk. I think we'll try rice cereal when she's 6 months.

Kaelyn still hasn't rolled over. She gets sooooo close, but just can't get all the way over because she hasn't figured out what to do with the arm that's behind her. She does love to be on her tummy though, and can scoot forward pretty good. She's constantly scootching off her blanket and on to the carpet.

The teething monster has started its residency in our house. Poor Kaelyn has been having fussy times, tons of drool, chin rash and diaper rash. Hopefully those pesky teeth don't take too long to come in!

Despite the fact that she's teething, she's still a sleeping champion! We get an average of 10 hours at night, and most nights it's closer to 12 hours. Her nap schedule seems to be getting back to normal as well (it got thrown off when she was sick and she was not resting well for her naps). Yesterday she had her normal 4-hour nap!

We've been having alot of fun with our little lady. She's so much fun these days. She's laughing so easily now, playing games, and loves to "talk" to us. Listening to her babble is one of the highlights of my day. She's making consonant sounds like "mamama", "dadadada", and "babababa". I like to pretend she is calling for me when she says, "Mama". And Kendra's been trying to get her to say "Kendra". Hehehe.

Time sure is flying by with this little baby in the house, and I wish that somehow we could slow it down just a little! I really can't believe that she's nearly half a year old already!

Saying Good-bye to the "Dee-Dee"

2011-05-27T09:40:00.001-08:00

Well my darling boy, it's been a 3 year love affair with your pacifier, but it was becoming unhealthy (your overbite is out of control!) so we had to step in and end it. It really breaks my heart that we had to force you off your "dee-dee", but it had to be done. I kept waiting for you to just one day give it up, like so many other kids do, but you never did. Then we were waiting for your "dee-dee" to fall it apart, and it just never did.

So yesterday, while you were busy playing, I took your "dee-dee" and cut the very tip of it off, just enough so that there was a tiny slit at the end. When it was nap time, you put it in your mouth, sucked for a second, pulled it out, looked at it, put it back in, pulled it out, examined it more closely and said, "My dee-dee's broken!!!!" I explained to you that your "dee-dee" broke because you were too old to have a "dee-dee" and that it needed to go bye-bye now.

You tried to throw it away and just couldn't bring yourself to do it, so you took it to bed with you, and you eventually fell asleep. Bedtime was another story...... I think you cried until well after 10:30 pm. And then you were up screaming again at 8 am.

I tried talking to you, explaining that big boys don't have "dee-dees" and that you can't go hunting or fishing with Daddy if you have a "dee-dee". You still didn't want to put it in the garbage, so then I said that if you put it in the garbage, Mama would buy you a nice new toy. You looked up and said "a scooter?!!" and I said that we would look at scooters and see. So you ran to your room, grabbed your "dee-dee" and promptly threw it in the trash! As soon as you were done putting it in the trash, you wanted to go shopping, but I said we needed to wait for Daddy to come home, and you have asked 4 times already if Daddy is home yet (it's only 9:30 am!).

I'm pretty sure that nap time and bed time are still going to be hard, but I'm hoping the worst is behind us. I really am sorry that we had to force this change on you, honey, but it had to be done. You're not a baby anymore, and we didn't want your "dee-dee" to ruin your teeth.

Once all this "dee-dee" business is behind us, you'll have made some big strides this year! No more bottle, you're potty trained, and now no more "dee-dee". Look at what a big boy you've become!! You've also started calling Kendra by her name. You still slip up and call her "Dashwa" every once in a while, but mostly she's "Kendwa". Even more proof that you're growing up. It makes me proud and sad at the same time.

So don't hold it against me baby boy, that we had to take your "dee-dee" away from you. Trust me, we only did it because we love you and want what's best for you.

Love, Mama

xxxooo

Blog to Book

2011-05-25T19:11:00.000-08:00

WOW! What a lot of work goes into turning a blog into a book! I know this because that has been my project this week. Blurb allows 160 pages for a book printed on premium paper. Any bigger than that and it's printed on standard paper, which would be ok if it weren't for all my pictures that I've posted over the years. So with some squishing and deleting of some posts, I was able to fit up to the end of 2008 into a 160 page book! (Gee whiz I write alot!) Now all that's left is going over it, and editing typos and taking out any unneccessary "bloggy" talk. I can't wait to see my writing in book form though!

This way we'll also have some pictures of Kingston since someone (namely me!) accidentally deleted all our back-up picture files, and so we lost ALL our pictures from the end of 2007 to November 2010! (I know, I could puke if I sit and think about that too long!!)

Ok, crying baby is not settling down (this is odd for her, she's super fussy this evening) so I should go. I'll be back again soon with some more pictures of the kiddos.

Bye-bye Kindergarten!

2011-05-23T10:31:00.001-08:00

Our big girl Kendra is all done with her first year of school! It's hard to believe that she's already old enough to be done with Kindergarten and getting ready to move on to 1st Grade!

Kendra did so well in Kindergarten! We're very proud of all that she learned and how mature she has become. She passed with flying colors!

She also received 2 awards during the last quarter. The first was "The Kindest Friend Award" and her teacher added this note to the award: "Thank you for being so kind to all those around you! The school is a better place because of how you treat others!" (There was a 4th quarter awards ceremony that we all attended, but I won't post pictures here, due to the fact that other children are in the pictures, and I want to respect other people's privacy.) The second award that Kendra got on her last day of school was the "The Pep Award". "Thank you for always sharing your happy mood with us!" I'm very proud of her for these awards, since they show what a wonderful person she is around others. We must be doing something right.....

Kendra's tooth loss count is still at two, although one of the top ones is very loose. If she would just wiggle it more, it would come out soon, but she doesn't like to wiggle her teeth. She had an accident at school on the last Friday, and fell on her mouth in the gymnasium. She pushed the other front tooth back, bruised up her gums and tore that piece of skin that connects the lip to the gum, so there was blood everywhere and all over her. It has healed up well, although the one tooth is turning gray, but I'm sure that it will come out soon, since the one next to it is already loose.

Now that school is out, we're looking forward to a summer of fun! It will be so nice to have all three of my babies home, even if Kendra and Kingston tend to fight alot! (Hopefully that will settle down as we reestablish a new routine and they get used to spending time together again!)

And there's your update on Kendra!

New Posts

2011-05-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

I've done a few updates here on the blog in the last few days, so if you don't want to miss a thing, here are some links you can click on to get caught up.

To see Kingston's 3 year post, click *here*.

To see Kaelyn's 2 month picture, click *here*, to see her 3 month picture, click *here*, and to see her 4 month post and picture, click *here*.

You might also notice that I updated our pictures in the side bar. Enjoy!

Coming soon: an update on Kendra!

Kaelyn at 4 months

2011-05-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

My darling baby is 4 months old now, and is she ever a darling! She is the most amazing baby ever. I was telling her the other day that she should hold classes on "How To Be a Baby" so she could train other babies on how its supposed to be done. (hehehehe) Trust me, all you moms would love to have her teach your babies a thing or two. *smile*

Kaelyn is still an amazing sleeper, giving me anywhere from a 6-hour to a 10-hour stretch at night, and then she usually goes back to sleep for a few hours. She also has a 3-4 hour nap every day. Some days she mixes it up and has two 2-hour naps. Depends on how her morning went and how the day is going.

She finally seems to not mind her carseat so much, and is actually becoming a good shopper. She also does great in her stroller, so taking her places isn't as much of a hassle as it used to be.

Little Miss is now wearing 6-12 month and 12 month clothing. She has officially outgrown all her 3-6 month clothing and her 6 month clothes are getting so snug that I can hardly snap them closed! I don't have an official weight for her, but according to the "step on the scale, weigh yourself and then pick up the baby and weigh yourself again and figure out the difference" method, she's somewhere in the vicinity of 16.5 lbs!! She's a rolly polly little babe, and I love every single one of those rolls!!!

All in all, if she's fed to bursting (still exclusively breastfed) she's as happy as can be. When she starts to get fussy, it usually just means she wants a snuggle, so I'll sit and rock her, or snuggle her in close and she pops her little thumb in her mouth, and everything is right in her (and my!) world again.

My Little Man is THREE!

2011-05-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Kingston,

Last month, on April 10th, you turned 3! I can hardly believe that my little man is three-years-old!

To celebrate your birthday, we had a party with all the three-year olds from church. It was a hunter themed party (since you're all about hunting and camo and you call yourself a "hunter-man"). You had an aweome "hunting" cake that our friend made (I'll try to post pictures later) and you got some great gifts.

You've grown and matured so much in the last year. You no longer have a bottle at night, you're almost weened from your "deedee" (aka pacifier) and only have it for naps and bedtime. We started working on potty training a month before your birthday, and I can proudly say that you are finally daytime potty-trained! (It was pretty touch and go there for a bit, and you had quite a few accidents along the way, but we stuck to it, and both made it out alive!)

You're also a big brother now! Kaelyn is one lucky little girl to have you as her big brother. I'm sure that you will be the best big brother ever! I love watching how you react to her. You both just tolerate each other. She looks at you so suspiciously every time you're in her vicinity, and you look at her like she's some strange creature. My favorite big-brother/little-sister moment was one time when she was just learning to smile, she was sitting in my lap and you were standing in front of her, and she was wiggling around like a little puppy-dog, smiling at you like a fool, and you just looked at her with such an unimpressed look on your face and said "Kae-yn, you're weird" and then you walked away. I seriously laughed out loud!

Being a little brother is job that you take very seriously. You are in true essence, every part, a little brother. Torturing Kendra seems to be on the top of your "to-do-list". You really know how to push her buttons and make her cry. The things you come up with to say to her are so funny (to us, anyway, to Kendra; not so much) and make us wonder where on earth you come up with these things! It's a boy thing, that's for sure! You're such a tease! While it's funny on one hand, it's also frustrating at the same time. We get very tired of hearing Kendra screaming at you.....

That said, your sense of humor has me laughing all day long. I love to text Daddy during the day with the things that you've said. You're just too funny not to share some of the things you come up with! I love seeing that sense of humour develop. Even as a little baby, I could just see that sparkle in your eyes, and I knew that you'd grow up to have an awesome personality!

Although you're funny, and at times very sweet, you are also a 3-year-old. Life with you is not without it's frustrations, but we love you all the same. I just have to keep reminding myself that it's "just a stage" and "this too shall pass".

Another milestone you hit this past year is that you LOST YOUR FIRST TOOTH!! You actually lost your first tooth before Kendra did! (For the record: Kingston lost his first tooth on February 22, 2011 and Kendra lost her first tooth on February 24, 2011.) Daddy left for work late that morning, and you were out in the garage with him after Kendra's bus left for school and when you came in you were talking to me and when you smiled I saw that one of your teeth was missing and a new baby one was peeking through!! I was shocked! We never did find the tooth, and I don't even know when you lost it, but it was probably some time in the night, since you still had it when you went to bed! I didn't even notice that it was loose either! And the new one that's coming in is a second baby tooth, which I'm thankful for, because I was worried that you would look very odd with an adult-sized tooth in your not-yet-three-year-old mouth!*

Well middle-man (as Daddy likes to call you), I need to go and get your sleeping baby sister up, but first let me say that I love you so so so so so much, and I thank God for you every day. Our lives just wouldn't be the same without our precious, spunky, naughty, loving, Kingston!

Happy 3 years! And here's to many more!

All my love,

Mama xoxo

*post with missing teeth pictures coming soon!

Playing "Catch-up"

2011-05-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Summer break has started, and I know that I am sooooo far behind on my blog and updates on the family. And so I will attempt to get somewhat caught up on posts before I get swept away in summer and all it's busy-ness.

First up (and only just over a month overdue) is Kingston's 3-year-old post.

Look for lots of new pictures and posts in the coming days.

3 Month Picture

2011-05-14T16:50:00.000-08:00

Getting this in under the wire, just in time for her to turn 4 months!

(I can't believe she's going to be 4 months old next week!!!)

2 Month Picture

2011-05-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

At long last!

Here is Kaelyn's 2 month picture!

2 Months Old!

2011-03-31T09:11:00.003-08:00

Kaelyn was 2 months old on the 19th. I know I'm a bit behind with this post, but hey, at least I'm getting it posted before she is 3 months!

I haven't gotten her in for her 2 month well-check yet, so I don't know how much she weighs, but if I had to guess I would say she's getting pretty close to 15 lbs. (And yes, she's exclusively breast-fed.)

Kaelyn is sleeping through the night, and has been doing at least 7-hour stretches for about a month now, with the exception of one night last week when she woke after 4 hours and then again after 3. She's even had one night where she did a 10-hour stretch (at which point I had to wake her to eat) and 4 nights (last night included) when she slept for a 9-hour stretch! She also has one long nap (between 2 and 3 hours) in the afternoon and a few catnaps here and there for the rest of the day. She's amazing, and yes, I do know how lucky I am!

She's a very content baby. As long as she can see people, she's happy to sit in her chair for pretty long amounts of time, which allows Mama to do some sewing, crocheting and meal-making. She does love to be held too and rocked in the rocking chair, so she gets more than her fair share of snuggles.

Kendra and Kingston are starting to get alot of attention from Kaelyn. She loves to watch them run around and play, and it totally makes her day when they stop to say hi to her.

She loves talking to us, and will sit in your lap and just coo and smile away. It's adorable and completely heart-melting! She definitely has everyone in this family wrapped around her little finger!

****for some reason I can't get her 2 month picture to show. I'll check into it later when I have time. Right now I have to run.

1 Month Old!

2011-02-28T13:41:00.002-09:00

On February 19, Kaelyn turned one month old!

Wow! That month flew by!!

The little lady is doing great. She's such a cutie pie!

She sleeps like a champ, giving me a nice 5-6 hour stretch and then another 2-3 hour stretch after that. She also has one nice long nap during the day and then catnaps off and on for the rest of the day. (Being cute is exhausting work!)

At her appointment on the 25th (5 weeks old) she weighed 11 lbs 12 oz! That's a 2 lb gain since her appointment at 1 week old!

Even though she's still as cute as can be, Kaelyn has unfortunately had some skin issues on her sweet little face. Her rash has it's good days and it's bad days, but seems to finally be clearing up. Keeping her cool seems to help the most. (Hard to believe that a baby in Alaska could be too warm, eh?) But she's a warm little thing, and sweats so easily, so I've been having to skip undershirts, socks, and hats in order to help keep her from over-heating and causing her rash to spread.

But now that she's a month old, life seems to be settling into a sort of routine. She does like to be held alot, so that very much limits how much time I have to do things, but for now I'm not stressing about it, and just enjoying holding my sweet baby girl. The dishes and laundry will always be there, but my baby will only be small for a short time!

6 Years Old!

2011-02-02T12:04:00.000-09:00

My Dearest Kendra,

You're six now! SIX!

I can hardly believe it! You've grown up so much in the past few months. School has been good for you. You're learning so well and doing so good with your letters and numbers. You've made me very proud.

I love being able to say that I'm your Mama. You're beautiful and such a nice little girl, who remembers to use her manners (most of the time) and you never fail to charm the people you meet. There's nothing nicer than seeing your inner beauty shining through, cause we all know that outer beauty isn't everything.

Ten days before you turned six, you became a big sister for the second time, and what a wonderful big sister you are! You love that little baby like nothing else, and you even seem to be getting along better with Kingston as well. I watched the two of you play last night, and you were just so cute together. I can just imagine what life will be like when the three of you are older, how great it will be for you all to have each other. I pray that you three will only get closer and closer through the years.

For your birthday, Mama brought a snack to school on Friday. You loved that and all the attention you got. You also got to show off your baby sister to your little friends. Your classmates sang "Happy Birthday" to you, and you were in your glory.

The next day (your actual birthday) we had Zachary and Ethan and their Mom and Dad over for a very small party. Danaysia and her mom were supposed to come as well, but her mom had to work, so they just stopped in really quick to give you your gift. Bucky made you a pretty birthday cake and once again you were in your glory when we all sang "Happy Birthday" to you.

Now that you're six you feel very important and grown up, and I think you're finally ready to start taking on a few chores around the house. Once Bucky has gone home, we'll work on figuring out what you can do to help out, and I'm sure you'll love it (for now).

But turning six didn't stop you from wanting to grow up! Just this morning, when I was doing your hair for school, you said to me, "Mama, after 6 is 7, so next I get to turn 7!!!" And yes, you do get to turn 7 next, and it will be here before you know it, unfortunately. Time really does fly too fast, because it seems like just yesterday you were my tiny newborn, and now you're my big six-year-old!

Enjoy being 6, sweetheart! You'll never be 6 again.......

Love Always,

Mama xxoo

A few more details

2011-02-01T11:43:00.000-09:00

Some of you have asked a few questions, and so I thought I'd answer them in a post.

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Kaelyn weighed 9 lbs 5 oz and was 20.5 inches long. She was nearly 2 lbs bigger than my other two were at birth! At her one week appointment she was already 9 lbs 12.5 oz!

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Yes, I was as calm as I sounded. The pain was unreal, so I was in lots of pain, but I was not panicking at all. I didn't really have time to panic, but I don't know if I would have, even if I'd had the time. I really believe that God gives you the strength you need to make it through whatever situation you're in, and He was faithful to provide what I needed. I really don't feel like it was me that was amazing and strong through this whole thing, it was Him, and He brought us through safely. ***Thank you, Lord.***

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The fact that she was born in her sack was amazing. She came out so clean, with only a tiny bit of blood on her forehead. I've never had such a clean baby! I was kissing her head right away, that's how clean she was.

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And as to when we are coming home for a visit? Hopefully in the summer. It will be so nice to see everyone again and it'll be fun showing off our little Kaelyn.

Kaelyn's Birth Story

2011-01-28T16:02:00.004-09:00

Here is the story of how our darling Kaelyn decided to join our family:

***Warning: Being as this is a BIRTH story, there will be alot of intimate details. Please do not read this if you are not comfortable knowing those details.***

On January 18th I'd had yet another round of labor that just didn't progress. Over 8 hours of having contractions every 4 minutes, and then all of a sudden, it just stopped. Up until that point, I had been ok with being overdue. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't thrilled that I was overdue, but I was ok with it. But now I was just DONE.

I called my midwife and told her that I was ready to induce and so she gave me instructions on her "pretty much guaranteed" method of induction for me to do the following day.

So, at 6 am on January 19 (10 days past my due date), I was up and making a big breakfast. I finished eating at 6:50 am (had to choke it down, since I'm not much of a breakfast person, especially that early in the morning!), waited 30 minutes and then downed the castor oil, which, let me tell you, did NOT want to stay down! I then walked brisk laps around the living room for 30 minutes, per my midwife's induction regimen.

The next thing I was supposed to do was lay down for a nap, but Kingston was still here and my Mom was really sick (same nasty cold we all had been fighting) so I just puttered around, cleaned the kitchen, fed Kingston, and then packed him up to go with a friend who was going to watch him for the day.

My bowels started to do the "castor oil thing" at around 9 am, and I had a few contractions here and there, but nothing major. So once Kingston left at around 11 am, I went and laid down for a nap.

I was awoken at 11:40 am with a KILLER contraction. I laid in bed and gripped the sheets, trying my best to remember to breathe. After it was over I just laid there, wondering if it was a fluke, or maybe I'd imagined it, but 5 minutes later, I was hit with another, even stronger contraction. This time it hurt so bad that I just couldn't lay still, so I got up went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. While I was brushing my teeth I had another contraction, and this time I figured that I'd better call the midwife.

Before calling my midwife I used the bathroom (castor oil was still doing its thing!) and I noticed blood when I wiped. The contractions were strange, as they felt like they were mostly in the bottom of my uterus, like they were trying to open my cervix, and so I tried to see if I could feel anything. Well, when I reached up there I felt something round and hard, but not being a midwife or doctor, I wasn't sure exactly what I was feeling. I've felt my babies' heads before, but they felt different. (I think that's mostly due to the fact that both times I've given birth in the past the sack of waters had been ruptured, and this time my membranes were still intact and Kaelyn was still in her sack.) I thought that maybe I might be feeling my cervix bulging or something, but I was kind of in denial that it could be her head already.

By now it's nearly noon, and I came out to the kitchen to get a drink of water and call my midwife, and as I was talking to her on the phone, I was being hit with such strong contractions that it was hard for me to stand up, and I was starting to shake (this should have been an indicator to me that I was ready to have the baby, because I always get the shakes right before the baby comes out, but again, I was in denial). I told her everything I was feeling and what was going on, and she said that possibly the castor oil was bringing on false labor (I guess sometimes false labor can be quite severe) so she told me to get in the bath with warm water and see if that would help.

So I headed back to the bathroom (gotta LOVE castor oil!) and now the contractions were sooooo strong, that I knew this was actually "IT", and I called Curtis to tell him it was "time". (This was about 12:15 pm.) After I got off the phone with him, the pain was so bad that I knew I couldn't handle it on my own anymore, so I called out for my Mom who was napping downstairs. I had to call a few times, and finally shouted for her, and she came a-running! When she got upstairs she asked what was going on, and I said "It's happening." I told her what the midwife said to do, and she cleaned the tub quickly and filled it for me.

At some point here the pain got so intense that I had to vomit, so my Mom had to run and find a pail for me to vomit in, as I was still in need of the toilet. This was about when the contractions were coming one on top of the other, with no reprieve, each worse than the one before and me still shaking like a leaf. I wanted to crawl away from my body and the pain. It was so unreal and so out-of-this-world, and the one thought I had was "I can't do this! I can't take hours of this pain" (still in denial here, sure that there was NO WAY my baby was already on her way out.)

I got ready to get into the tub, and once again felt the need for the toilet, so I sat down and started to push, but then the pressure was so unreal that I felt down there, and Kaelyn's head wasn't even a finger depth in. So I said to Mom, "I can feel her head!" And Mom wanted me to come lay down so that she could see, so we went to my room (which is right off the bathroom) and she was going to lay the plastic on the bed, and I said, "NO, not the bed! Put it on the floor." So Mom layed out the plastic on the floor and I was saying "I'm pushing!!" and she was saying "Don't push!!!" But I couldn't stop it. It was as though my body had been taken over by a force greater than me, and it was pushing that baby out on it's own, whether I participated or not!

Mom picked up my phone to call my midwife to find out what to do, and while she was trying to figure out how to work my phone, I half kneeled, half squatted, and pushed my baby out, all in one huge, ginormous push! My hands were there the entire time, so she never touched the ground, and when Mom looked up from the phone, there I was on the floor, with the baby in my hands! Kaelyn was born in her sack, so all the amniotic fluid came gushing out after her, and I instinctively wiped my hand across her face to clear the membrane so that she could breathe. She also had the cord around her neck, so I had to slip that over her head as well. I started rubbing her back so that she would breathe, and she started crying almost instantly. Mom quickly grabbed some towels to cover her in, and then some to cover me in and I just sat there, on the floor, in the doorway between my bedroom and bathroom, and waited for everyone to arrive.

It took a few minutes to gather our minds and then I realized that I'd better call Curt and let him know! So I called him and said, "She's here!" And he said, "No way!!", but I think the baby crying so close to the phone kinda convinced him, so he hurried on home, and got here about 10 minutes after she'd been born. My midwives arrived about 30 minutes after he did.

When they got here they helped me to deliver my placenta and then Curtis cut the cord. They cleaned me up as best they could, laid out some pads on the bed and got me and Kaelyn into bed. I had a small tear, so they stitched me up right there in bed, allowed me to rest for a bit and then they took the baby to weigh her and examine her (all 9 lbs 5 oz, 20.5 inches of her!), but did it all right there on the bed so that I could watch the whole time, and then they gave her back to me.

We had a hard time determining her time of birth, since neither Mom nor myself were looking at the clock when it happened, and we couldn't figure out how my call log works on my new phone, so we went off of my midwife's call log, since Kaelyn was born during Mom's call to her, and decided that it was around 12:31 pm. So that means that my little lady came after only about 50 minutes of labor! And let me tell you, that was the most intense 50 minutes of my entire life!

Kendra came home from school and was very surprised to see her baby sister! She said to me later, "I didn't know we were getting the baby today, Mama." A friend of ours went to get Kingston from the friends who had been watching him all day, and when he got home he came in to see the baby, but wasn't that impressed. I guess boys just don't think babies are that great.

It was so amazing having her here at home, even if it wasn't exactly the way I had imagined it would be. I would have liked my midwives to have been here, but even though they weren't it was still amazing just being able to stay home, in my own bed, with my children at home, my hubby beside me, and not have a nurse coming in every couple hours to take our vitals!

And there you have it, the story of how our little Kaelyn rushed into the world!

Now I need to go. The little cutie is starting to wake up and that means she needs to eat.

She's FINALLY here!!!!

2011-01-20T13:06:00.000-09:00

Our darling baby girl was born yesterday, January 19, at 12:31 pm! She weighed in at a whopping 9lbs 5oz, and is 20.5 inches long!!!!

She's perfect and we're so in love!!!

I'll try to be back soon with pictures and to share her birth story with you, but for now I'm just enjoying holding my little Kaelyn Ann.

10 Days.....

2011-01-19T08:33:00.000-09:00

.....overdue. Lotsa fun.

Hopefully this little gal will be here soon.

Here's my last belly picture, taken on my 29th birthday, at 40 weeks and 4 days.

The Baby Watch Continues

2011-01-11T09:56:00.000-09:00

40 weeks and 2 days pregnant.

40 weeks and 2 days pregnant.......

Doesn't sound too appealing, does it??

Well, it's not! Waiting is killer! Wish I knew when she'd finally decide to come! That way I could plan my days accordingly. I'd know if I have time to start any new projects or if I can make any plans for my birthday (you may remember that last year I had to spend my birthday all alone, and this year not only is Curt home, but my Mom is also here). But I don't want to plan too far in advance, cause you just never know...... It could be any day now, OR it could NOT happen until some time next week!

Curtis and I did manage to get in one last date. One of our favorite restaurants has a birthday club, and they give you a gift certificate for a free meal during the month of your birthday (up to $30), and since we're both January babies, we both had a coupon to use! We were going to wait until after the baby came, and go at the end of the month, but since she isn't here yet, and I'm tired of waiting around, we went last night. At least this way we didn't have a crying a newborn to deal with while we were enjoying our meal.

In other news: our dryer stopped working last week, so we've been unable to do any laundry. We were kinda worried about how that would work if the baby came and we weren't able to do laundry, but seeing as the repair man is coming today, I guess we don't have to worry about that anymore. We will have to get working on the mountain of laundry that has accumulated over the last week though! Fingers crossed that it's a simple problem to fix and that we can have laundry again!

And now I should go. Need to figure out something to keep my mind off the waiting. If only sleep were an option...... But, you all know how sleep goes at the end. You're lucky if you get a few hours at a time, what with all the aches and pains and the baby trying to kick your ribs in, sleep is nearly impossible. Nature's way of preparing you for the sleepless nights with a newborn, I suppose....

I'll try to get a belly picture taken again at some point this week. Although I don't think it's grown at all, but it will still be nice to have as a record.

Have a great week and please send some wishes for a quick, and easy delivery, SOON! Thanks!

Baby Room Reveal!

2011-01-09T15:16:00.000-09:00

Remember this post? Well, last night we finally finished the bird mobile! My wonderful hubby worked hard to get the branches hung just right, and then I got the little birdies all glued on.

So, Baby Girl's space is FINALLY finished, and I could finally take pictures to share with you! (Most of the furniture was done before the baby was on her way, and I did it for me. I just chose to do all her stuff to match my stuff and I love how it's come together!)

The view of our room from the doorway.

Here's how the bird mobile looks now that it's all put together.

Her cradle (Target.com) with the bedding set that I bought on Etsy. (Click here to find the seller.) (Mom and I made the fleece sheet that's on the mattress pad.)

I got this mirror at a yard sale for $5, painted it and made it amazing! I also got that lamp at a yard sale and painted it to match my room and bought the lampshade at Target.

This dresser is a craigslist find.  Again, I painted it and made it amazing. The knobs with the sail boats came with it (I painted them and roughed them up) and I found the crystal knobs on eBay.

Aren't these the cutest boots you've ever seen??? Can't wait to see K3 wearing them! (Those cute candle holders were made by Jess Fabulous Designs.) And that white wire bird on the dresser is from Fred Meyers, of all places!

I made these plaques just for the little lady and I plan to do up some cute, shabby chic necklaces to hang from them. Again, the knobs are eBay finds.

My friend Faith found me this cute little side table at the second-hand store for $2, and again, I painted it and made it amazing. (The candle holder on top of it was a $5 yard sale find, and the knob? You guessed it! eBay!!)

Another craigslist find. This dresser was sooooo ugly when I bought it, and especially the knobs, but with some TLC and a face-lift (by moi) it is such an awesome piece!

A blanket that I made for the baby. I'd found blankets just like this one on Etsy, and I wanted one for baby, but didn't want to spend $40, so I made it myself! (The fuzzy underside is what I posed the birds on for the pictures in this post.)

And there you have it! The baby's "room" is finally revealed and you got to see some of my DIY (do-it-yourself) projects!

I've had so much fun learning how to sew and making things for the baby. I've even made a few skirts and dresses for Kendra!

And buying old furniture and making it amazing??? Well, it's amazing! I've done pieces for almost every room in the house now, and once I'm no longer hugely pregnant, I hope to be back on the hunt for more awesome furniture to make "my own". Who needs Pottery Barn when you have an imagination and Lowe's near by???

Today is my due date, so hopefully soon I'll be back here posting pictures of a gorgeous baby girl, and you can finally all learn her name! It's beautiful, I know you're all going to love it. (And if not, too bad! We love it, and I guess that's all that matters.)

So stay tuned.  I'll try to post about her birth as soon as I can.

39 Week Appointment

2011-01-06T17:43:00.000-09:00

Just a quick update:

Today I had my 39 week midwife appointment. My weight was down by 2lbs from last week, so total weight gain is now at 6lbs. (YAY me!!!!)

Uterus is measuring 38 cm. My blood pressure was good (for me), urine was clear, and Baby's heart rate was 162 bpm.

She did an internal and my cervix is hard but thin, 1.5 cm dilated, and Baby is in -1 station. She was able to strip my membranes, so fingers crossed that helps to get things going.

We made a new appointment for next Thursday (my birthday) but I'm REALLY hoping I don't have to go to that one! I want my little lady here to help me celebrate my birthday.

Still Pregnant.....

2011-01-04T09:46:00.000-09:00

I'm 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant today.

Kendra would have been born yesterday, and Kingston would have been born today. So, really, she could be here ANY day.

Tomorrow is my Mom's birthday, and she's really hoping that the baby will wait for tomorrow. At this point though, I wouldn't care if she came today. I just want her OUT already! I wanna meet this little lady!!!!

I've had two episodes of false labor so far. The latest one was on New Years Eve. Friends were over visiting in the afternoon, and Kingston was showing off, jumping on the couch next to me, and he pounced on me, landing with all his weight at the top of my uterus (which hurt like CRAZY) and I started cramping right away. The cramping turned to contractions, and I decided to go have a nap to see if they would stop. The contractions didn't stop, and regulated to every 4 minutes and needless to say, I didn't fall asleep. Then they started coming every 3 minutes. Once the kids were in bed for the night, Curtis and I went for a nice long walk, and they continued to come every 2-3 minutes, getting quite intense. When we were back in the house, they started to ease off in intensity, so we decided to go to bed at midnight to hopefully get some rest. I didn't get any sleep, as the contractions kept coming, and finally at 4:30 am I got up and walked in the house a bit, but was so tired and just wanted to sleep, so my Mom convinced me to go back to bed at 6 am, and at 7 am I was finally able to sleep. The contractions started to dwindle off at this point and I was only having them every 10 minutes or so. I was so disappointed. I was sure that it was the real thing, and we were going to be having a New Years baby, but I guess she had other plans.....

But, I just don't know. Next time I'm not going to believe it's actually happening. I'll be second guessing myself until I see that head popping out! And it's not like I don't know what labor is, for goodness' sake, I've been through this twice before. Seems like the little lady likes to play games!

My last midwife appointment went well. She came to the house for this visit, just so she'd know where we live and how to get here, for when the big event is actually happening. My uterus was measuring a week behind (maybe she'll be small???), blood pressure was good, urine was clear, and Baby's heart rate was 145 bpm (the slowest I've ever heard her heart).

If I haven't had the baby by Thursday, I'll be having another appointment then. I'm really, really hoping I don't have to go to that appointment, cause I want my baby in my arms already!

Christmas and New Year were good. Both were just very laid back and relaxed. The kids got spoiled and it was so fun having Bucky here to share Christmas with them. Kendra's finally at the age where she's really into the whole thing, and Kingston is even starting to get a clue about what Christmas is all about. They are both at such fun stages in life, so the holidays were fun.

Kendra's back in school as of yesterday, and life is getting back into a routine. We had a good time during our break (even if we were all sick, including Bucky) but Kendra was ready to get back to school and Kingston was ready to have his time back to himself as well.

And now I should go. Hopefully next time I post it will be with news of "K3's" arrival!

Happy New Year!!!

It's Almost Christmas! - and Baby Bump Update!

2010-12-21T13:26:00.001-09:00

Normally at this time of year I am running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, but this year I've been forced to lay low and take it easy. This is due to the fact that not only am I now 37 weeks pregnant, but I've also been sick with a horrible nasty cold for the past week and a half. Curt has also been sick and the kids seem to be coming down with it as well. 'Tis the season, I suppose.....

I did manage to get the tree up and the presents wrapped and a few other decorations up, and one batch of cookies made, before sickness struck. I'm so very thankful that my Mom is coming in to town tomorrow! It will be nice to have her help with getting some baking done and the house cleaned.

Kendra's Christmas break started on Friday the 17th, and she will be off until January 3rd. It sure is nice to have some time off from the early mornings!

Kendra also finished with figure skating for the year. She worked hard and was able to pass and will be moving on to the next level in the New Year. We'll get her in to the next available session after Baby Sister gets here.

Kingston is still being his normal silly self. He says and does the funniest stuff and never fails to make us laugh at least a hundred times a day. He's getting so big and so tall. He's almost fully into 3T clothing and weighs 34 lbs now. (He was stuck at 27 lbs for the longest time, but in the past two months has really started putting on some weight.)

Curt is still working in town. Aside from having a cold, he's also doing great.

Mama and Baby Girl are doing good as well. I had my 37 week prenatal appointment yesterday, and we're measuring right on target, Baby's heart rate was 160 bpm, my blood pressure was good, and my weight gain is now at 5lbs.

My next prenatal appointment will be next Monday and it will be a home visit so my midwife can come here at least once before the birth, and we can go over how things will go down during labor and delivery here at home. Now that I've reached 37 weeks, it's completely safe to have the baby here at home at any time. As far as I'm concerned, she can come any time after my mom gets here tomorrow afternoon!

And now here are my latest belly pictures, taken on Sunday, December 19.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Make sure you stay tuned over the next couple weeks for baby news!

34 Weeks

2010-12-03T09:28:00.000-09:00

Here are my latest belly pics, taken on Sunday at 34 weeks.

As of my midwife appointment yesterday, I have now gained a total of 3 lbs. I'm very happy with how well I'm doing with my weight gain! It's going to make it so much easier to get back into shape once Baby is here. Since this is my last baby, I'd really like to get back to my pre-baby body (or close to it) within the next year. *Fingers crossed*

Baby's heart rate yesterday was 156 bpm. She's head down (has been that way for ages) and her feet are almost always pointing to my right side. I can actually play with her little feet some times, cause she sticks them out so far over my right hip bone that you can see the little lump that is her foot. (yah, it's cute, but MAN does it HURT!)

I've been having quite a few contractions lately, and will be taking it easy over the next few weeks. We need this little gal to stay put until at least 37 weeks so that we can safely deliver her here at home. Prefferably she will wait until after the 22nd to make her arrival. (My Mom gets here on the 22nd.) After that, she is free to come at any time!

Other than the contractions, things are going well. My uterus is measuring right where it should and my blood pressure was the best it's been for my entire pregnancy! A very healthy Mama and a very healthy baby girl!

And with Christmas just around the corner, all is right in our world!

33 Weeks

2010-11-24T12:52:00.000-09:00

On Sunday, Baby Girl and I hit 33 weeks.

Some new things have taken place in the last couple weeks..... For one, I can no longer wear my wedding ring. That happened at 32 weeks, which, for me, is a record! I've never made it that far into a pregnancy still wearing my wedding ring. Thankfully, my birthstone ring that I usually wear on my right ring-finger still fits my left ring-finger, so I still feel like a married woman when I venture out of the house.

Also, in other swelling news, my feet have started to swell. This just started this week, so again, another record breaker. So far the swelling isn't too bad, but it sure is uncomfortable. I really forgot how much swollen feet hurt! I've been drinking lots of water the last few days, hoping to combat it, but I feel like all I'm doing is adding water to my feet!

Oh the joys......

I was supposed to have a midwife appointment at 32 weeks, but that got cancelled because they were at a birth. We rescheduled for this past Monday, but Anchorage got hit with a nasty ice storm, so again we had to reschedule. My next midwife appointment will be next week (34 weeks). So much for going every two weeks!

But, as far as I can tell, Baby Girl is doing great in there. Always moving, and she's been head down for awhile now, so that's not a worry at all. My weight gain is also doing great. I've just now broken even with my pre-pregnancy weight, so all together, I've "gained" 8 lbs, even though I initially lost 8 lbs over the first couple months (so I really haven't gained anything!). Here's hoping I can keep it in check over the next month..... It's going to be hard with all the Christmas goodies being out, but thankfully, I really don't have much energy for baking, so it's not like I'll have tons of goodies here at home to gorge on.

I'll hopefully get some new belly pictures taken on Sunday when I turn 34 weeks, and I'll post them when I find a spare minute.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Introducing......

2010-11-12T10:47:00.002-09:00

Melissa Wollman Photography

Along with all the other "million" things I have going on, I decided to finally take the plunge and start a photography business!

I'm very excited about this new business, and looking forward to doing more with it! I recently posted an ad on craigslist, looking for clients, and the response from that ad has been amazing! All my weekends for the month of November are booked, and I'm starting to book a few weekday shoots as well!

If you have a minute and would like to stop by my facebook page, here's the link. *Click here*. Go ahead and click the "like" button on my page and you'll be kept up to date on all my new pictures.

What THEY'VE been up to....

2010-11-08T14:13:00.000-09:00

My last few posts have been all about me, my recent projects, and my pregnancy, so I figured you've probably all been wondering what the rest of my little family has been up to.....

Kendra was sick for a couple weeks in October. She ended up having pneumonia, was treated with a round of antibiotic (her first EVER antibiotic!) and she was right as rain within a few days of taking meds. She did end up missing 2 weeks of school though, so that was too bad, but she doesn't seem to be affected at all by her absence and is still very much enjoying school.

We had our first parent/teacher conference at the end of October, and Kendra is doing great! She's excelling at school and she's been learning (and retaining) so much! We're very, very proud of our big girl! I was very happy to hear that she gets along well with the other kids in her class. I had been a tad bit concerned about this and wondered how she was doing, since she's so bossy here at home, but she got the highest mark (an 'S') in her report card for "gets along in a positive manner with peers". Now we just need to work on how she gets along with her little brother......

Kendra is also back in figure skating lessons and doing well. She didn't pass her level this last time, but I'm hopeful that she will master the needed skills to pass on to the next level at the end of this session. Her teacher for this session is AWESOME, so she seems to be improving more quickly. (Amazing the difference a teacher can make!)

Kingston is doing wonderful as well. He's such a good little boy for Mama during the days. He really is an angel child when it's just me and him. Things drastically change when Kendra gets in the door after school, but we're working on that..... They both just need to learn to share and get along.

He's still my AMAZING sleeper. He sleeps nearly 12 hours at night and then has a 2-3 hour nap every day. This is great for me, since I seem to run out of steam every day and need a nap as well.

The little man is really quite the talker now, and you can almost hold a conversation with him. He says the cutest and funniest things sometimes! He really is a real joy to be around, and I'm so thankful for my little boy!

Curtis is home now and will hopefully be home for the rest of the winter! It's been so nice having him working here in town. We've been able to have a few lunch dates (with Kingston along, of course) and it's so wonderful having him come home at the end of the work day. The kids missed having their rough-and-tumble Daddy to play with, and I missed having my man here!

And there you have it! Now that you're all up-to-date on the fam, I'm going to head to my bed for a bit of a nap before Kendra gets home!

A Sneak Peek

2010-11-06T17:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a small peek at one of the projects that has kept me very busy and hunched over my sewing machine for hours.

To see what the finished product will look like, visit this page.

I wasn't really planning on making a bird mobile for the baby, but I was searching for bird templates online (for a different project) and came across that pattern, and said to myself, "I can so do that!" And so I did! I'm very happy with how all my little birdies turned out, and can't wait to get them on branches and hung in the baby's corner of my room.

Other project reveals coming soon, and then the final reveal will come once I've got her "corner" all set up.

30 Weeks - The Countdown is ON!

2010-11-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm 30 weeks, the countdown has officially begun! Less than 10 weeks and our baby girl will be here!

I would be getting more excited if I didn't already know that these next 10 weeks will be the slowest 10 weeks of my entire pregnancy.

With Kendra, my whole pregnancy seemed to take forever. I'm sure that was partially due to the fact that we'd been trying to get pregnant for over a year, so by the time she was FINALLY on her way, I was just ready to have her here already! But, those last 2 months really were the slowest.

With Kingston, the pregnancy seemed to pass alot faster than Kendra's did, but still, those last two months just dragged. Even with the stress of having to move a week before he was due, things didn't really speed up.

This pregnancy really has flown by. I mean, like warp speed. Seems like just the other day I found out she was on the way, then I blinked and we were finding out she was a girl, and I blinked again, and here we are at 30 weeks! (I gotta stop blinking!!!) But, I'm still pretty sure that the next 2 months are going to last forever.......

Which, actually, probably isn't a bad thing. I have so many things I want to do before she gets here, that I will probably be welcoming any time I have left! I currently have 7 projects on the go (and yes, most of them are for the baby), and am dreaming up about 4 others. But, I've made myself promise myself not to start another one until these ones are done! I'll have to keep you guessing about what I'm up to for now, but worry not, I will be doing a "big reveal" soon. Suffice it to say, I've impressed myself with my creativity and ingenuity, and also my money-saving-ness by doing all of these projects myself!

In other pregnancy related news: I had a bit of a shock last week when I went to the birthing center to have a prenatal massage, and the place was virtually empty! All of the furniture had been removed, the pictures taken off the walls, and a stranger greeted me saying that she was the midwife and did I have an appointment?

Yah, I started to inwardly freak out. At first when I pulled up, I was second-guessing myself on whether I'd gone to the right place or not. But surely my pregnancy-brain couldn't be that bad, could it? I couldn't have driven to the wrong place. I've been going there at least once a month for the last 7 months. So, after doing a triple-take on my surroundings, I tentatively got out of the car and went in.

Longer story short: the midwifes I've been seeing left the birthing center due to the fact that they didn't want to sign the contract the birthing center was offering them. From what I can gather, they've been in negotiations for awhile, and it finally came to "sign our contract or go somewhere else". So, they are now going to be using clinic space at a health clinic (same place my chiropractor is at, actually) and will continue on with their birth-at-home moms, but the ladies who were planning birthing center births are going to have to either find a new midwife or go with the one the birthing center has hired.

I'm really very grateful that I didn't have to switch care providers this late in my pregnancy, and that my midwifes can still deliver me here at home! But I did have a couple of days there when everything was up in the air, and I had no clue what was going to be happening with my prenatal care and my baby's birth. NOT a fun thing to have to worry about when you're 30 weeks pregnant!

Anywho, I should go and get my little man some lunch so that he and I can have a nap. After a busy weekend with no naps for Mama, I am way past exhausted!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T10:46:00.001-08:00

Hello Third Trimester!

2010-10-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday saw the beginning of my 28th week! This pregnancy is FLYING by!

Baby Girl is doing great. Growing like a weed and kicking like a donkey! She sure likes to make her presence known!

At my last prenatal appointment (27 weeks) her heart rate was 156 bpm and my uterus was measuring 29 cm. I got some blood work done to check my hemoglobin and glucose levels. Seeing as I haven't heard back from the midwife yet, I'm assuming that both were good.

While Baby Girl is doing well, Mama could be doing better. I'm having more and more pain in my pelvis, and then on the weekend I threw out my back and have some pinched nerve pain. Ugh! Not fun. I tried to get in to see the chiropractor today, but she doesn't see patients on Mondays, so I have to wait for tomorrow. I really hope that I can get some relief, cause this pain is killing me! I know for sure that I can't handle another 12 weeks like this.....

But, even through the pain, I'm enjoying being pregnant with my last child. Feeling her move (even if she's keeping me awake at night) is a feeling I'll never get tired of. I love knowing that there's a little person inside me who, for now, is all mine. My own little secret. Soon I'll have to share her with the world, and other people will be holding her, but for now, she's all mine, and I'm loving it.

She's A Big Girl Now!!

2010-08-29T22:11:00.001-08:00

My little lady started school last Tuesday. She's going to Kindergarten full time, and is LOVING it!

She didn't have a hard time saying good-bye the first day (in fact, she told me, "You can leave now, Mama" when we were supposed to be waiting for her teacher to read us a story before the parents left), and has been excited for every day since!

For her first day, my plan was to take her to school and pick her up, and then she would be riding the bus the rest of the week. The drop-off part of that plan worked great. Daddy came to see his big girl start school. (Kingston stayed home with Bucky and Grampa.) The teacher read us all a story called "The Kissing Hand", which made this preggo Mama cry like a baby (evil woman, that teacher), then we helped our little ones paint their hands and make a hand-print on a piece of paper so that they would always remember their Kissing Hand.

Curtis left before me so he could go to work and, after parent orientation, I spent the day with Mom, Dad, and Kingston, doing some sight-seeing around town. We also met up with our pastor for a yummy sushi lunch. We headed back home to put Kingston down for his nap and then Mom and I went to pick up Kendra from school.

We went to the front of the school where we were supposed to be meeting her, and we waited and waited. I finally saw her teacher walking with a few children, but Kendra wasn't one of them!! So I went and asked her where Kendra was, and she looked at me like she didn't know what I was talking about, so I told her, "little girl, green shirt, jean skirt, pink and green bow in her hair?" and she said, "does she have a bus tag?", to which I replied, "no". So by now, I'm kinda starting to panic. I was frantically scanning all the little heads and faces, looking around trying to pick her out of the crowd of kids, thinking to myself, "only my child could be the one kid of the whole school to get lost on the first day!" So just for fun, I scan the little heads on the bus, and I see her pink and green ribbon through the window! Her teacher got on the bus and made her get off, and Kendra was so heart-broken that she didn't get to ride the bus. She was crying huge crocodile tears and said, "but Mama, she called us the bus group!!!!" Took a few minutes to calm her down and many reassurances that she would be part of the bus group from tomorrow on out. (That's my Little Miss Independent for you!)

Day 2 of Kindergarten dawned bright and sunny and Lil Miss was so excited for school that she ate her breakfast with her jacket and backpack on! Grampa walked with us to the bus, and she was so excited waiting for that bus that she couldn't stand still.

She lined right up and got on the bus just like she'd been doing it every day of her life!

She did humour with me one quick glance and a wave before heading back to take her seat, and then she was off to school.

Yep, I'm sad to admit it, but, she's a big girl now!

And just as excited for school tomorrow morning as she has been every morning since it started. (Wonder how long that will last????)

Havin' A Great Time!

2010-08-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

Just popping in to say that we're having a great time with Bucky and Grampa! We've packed so much in to this week, that I'm having a hard time believing that it's only Saturday!

I'll be back in the next few days with some amazing pictures from the Prince William Sound glacier cruise we went on. I've never seen so much amazing beauty in my whole entire life!

We're Having A.....

2010-08-17T14:17:00.000-08:00

BABY GIRL!!!!!

She's perfect and beautiful, and Mama and Kendra are as happy as can be!!!

Only problem is, now I want to HOLD her! But, I'll be patient while she bakes for another few months....

Now here she is:

Sweet little profile in 4-D color.

Turning her back on us. Little cutie was pretending to be shy.

Profile in black and white.

Her "girl bits". He checked from two different angles, to be sure, and yep, she's a GIRL!!!

Her sweet little feet! Can't wait to kiss them!

Summer Happenings - Part 3

2010-08-15T23:33:00.001-08:00

Just let me say real quick, that Curtis got home last night (or this morning, rather) at midnight! So nice to see him and get some snuggles with my Hunny! He also got the feel the baby move!! The little stinker started going NUTS the second his hand was on my belly. For me, he/she stops moving as soon as I put my hand there, and I have to wait forever to get a tiny nudge, but for Daddy, he/she was just showing off! Little stinker! Oh, and the kids were super excited to see their Daddy this morning as well.

And now, back to the original purpose of this post....

Part Three: Valdez

As you know, my darling hubby has been working out of town for the past few months, in Valdez, AK. It's been hard on us, having him gone so much, but it's been good for us too, because we really need the extra money, seeing as we have a birth coming up that we are 100% responsible for.

Two weeks ago, Curt flew me up there for the weekend (July 30 - August 1), so we could have some alone time. (Something we haven't had since before Kingston was born!) It was wonderful! And even though it was cloudy and rainy, we still saw some lovely sights!

We spent alot of time at the hatchery, watching the salmon coming in to spawn, there were thousands and thousands. We also drove around looking at some pretty waterfalls, saw a glacier lake with chunks of broken-off glaciers in it, and on my last day there, we saw a Mama Brown Bear with her three cubs, teaching them to fish in the creek. That was really fun to watch!!

Here are some pictures from the weekend. I got so many great shots that it was hard to decide which ones to share.

Valdez, AK

And now, off to bed I go. Gotta be ready to go pick up my Mom and Dad in the morning!!!

Eventful Days Ahead!

2010-08-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

I know I've been posting alot in the last few days, but I'm just trying to get caught up! We have some pretty eventful days coming up in the next few weeks, so I don't want to get too far behind.

Tonight, Curt is coming home!!!!! He's been gone for nearly 6 weeks! That's a looooooooong time. I think this is the longest he's been away from home. We sure have missed him. The kids will be DELIGHTED to see him in the morning. They've been missing Daddy so much. Mama was lucky and got to go see Daddy two weeks ago, but it still will be nice to have him home!

On Monday (August 16), my Mom and Dad are flying up for a visit!! I can't wait to see them!! They're looking forward to getting here and the kids are as well. It's been a while since they've seen Bucky (she was here in January), and even longer since they've seen Grampa. Later that day we are going to be attending a BBQ at Kendra's new school and will get to tour the facility. It's brand-new and this term is their first term in the new building. It'll be fun to see Kendra's new school, inside and out.

Then, on Tuesday, we're having our ultrasound that will tell us if we're having a boy or a girl, and we'll get to see our Teeny Tiny One dance around for us on the big screen!! I'm so excited about this as well!!! (I have so many things to be excited for in the next few days, that I don't know which one I'm more excited about!) I'll be sure to do a quick post later in the day to let you all know what Baby is, and will try to post a picture or two (if I can figure out how to work the scanner).

Wednesday we're going on a glacier cruise in the Prince William Sound, and Thursday we have a meeting with Kendra's teacher, Mrs. R. (Phew! Mama is gonna need to sleep for 3 days straight after that week!!)

The following week sees Kendra's first day of school, so that will also be another momentous and post-worthy occasion! Gonna try to fit in a big-girl/Kindergarten photo shoot before then as well, and for sure get pictures on the big day. We also have to say "good-bye" to Grampa that week. Thankfully, Bucky is going to be staying a bit longer, but it will be hard to see Grampa go!

So there's a run-down of our eventful days ahead. Stay tuned for posts about all of those, and also the rest of my catch-up posts from this summer's happenings! If you missed the first two posts, you can check them out by clicking here and here.

Summer Happenings - Part 2

2010-08-13T21:42:00.004-08:00

Part Two: Kenai Fishing Trip

The weekend after Danae left, (July 23-25) the kids and I packed up and drove to Kenai for our church's annual fishing trip. Most of the people that went stayed in tents and campers, but seeing as I was going "husband-less", I got us a room at a local Bed & Breakfast. (No WAY was I camping alone, being pregnant, with two kids!!)

Kenai, AK

(top left: Red salmon filets, ready to be grilled, top right: fishermen on the Kenai river, bottom left: a Mama moose and her twins on the side of the road, bottom right: more fishermen on the Kenai)

We had a great time of fellowship, but the rain and cold were the PITS! Brrrr! When I left Anchorage on Friday afternoon, it was nice and sunny, so all I packed were a few light sweaters for us to wear in the evenings. Well, when I got there, I very quickly realized we would need more than just sweaters to make it through! For Friday evening we just doubled up on sweaters, and the next morning, before heading back to the camp, I went to Wal-Mart and got socks for me and the kids (forgot those too!), and a warm hoody for myself. There were no jackets to be found in the ENTIRE store (shocker!!) so we had to continue to double up on sweaters. Thankfully the kids' sweaters were somewhat warm, but the one I had brought for myself was not warm at all, and doubled up, it was just perfect. (Oh, and I also bought myself a cheap pair of sneakers, since the only shoes I'd brought for myself were flip flops!)

I didn't go fishing, since for one, I don't really know HOW to fish (haven't done it since I was a kid, and never for anything as big as a salmon) and two, we're not "residents" yet, so we're not allowed to dip-net (that's a "resident only" perk, and you have to have lived in Alaska for at least a year to be considered a resident).

Let me explain dip-netting real quick: Dip-netting is when you take this big huge net (seriously, you could sit in some of them, that's how big they are) and you either stand on a boat or stand in the water, and hold the net in the water until a fish swims into it, and then you pull it out. You can get TONS of fish this way. And the limit per family is insane! I think the head of house-hold gets like 35-40 and each member after that is 20-something. NUTS!

So when the church goes down there to do this every year, they make sure that they get enough fish for everyone to get as much as they want. It's alot of work (for those involved in the fishing) but it's so worth it!!! Faith's hubby, Joe, got me 10 Reds, and those were enough to fill both of my fridge freezers! Thankfully, I didn't have to do any of the nasty fish cleaning or filleting! The pastor took pity on me and filleted all my fish for me! I'm sure I would have butchered the poor fish if they'd tried to teach me to do it (as someone was suggesting!! *shiver*).

After all the fishing was done on Saturday, everyone met up at the park for a fish BBQ. Yummmmmmy!!! Was that fish ever good!!! The assistant pastor did up the fish, and does that man know how to grill some salmon! Mmmm!

On Sunday morning we all met up back at the park for a short service. It was kind of fun having church in the park! We mostly just sang a few songs (I got called on to sing again, but this time I had to do it a capella) and the pastor read a scripture and said a few words, prayed for traveling mercies for all of us, as we were going to be venturing home soon.

So, aside from the rain and cold, it was a great trip. I'm looking forward to next year, and praying that we'll have lots and lots of sunshine and WARMTH!

p.s. Remember to vote on my poll in the sidebar, if you haven't already. Just 3 more days and we'll know what Baby Wollman #3 will be, but it's fun to see the guesses as well!

Just for fun.....

2010-08-13T11:07:00.001-08:00

I've posted a poll in my sidebar (to the right) allowing you to GUESS what Baby Wollman #3 will be!

You have until 2pm on Tuesday the 17th to enter your guess. By then, we should know what Baby is and be able to post the NEWS so you can see if you were right or wrong.

I really have no clue, one way or the other, what this baby will be. I kind of hope it's a girl, cause I want to make all kinds of cute flowery hats and headbands for her, but a baby boy will be so much fun too (just not as fun to dress....) !

To help you decide, here are my two most recent belly pics:

Now, go guess away!!!

Summer Happenings - Part 1

2010-08-12T22:34:00.003-08:00

(I'm way behind on posts and pictures from this summer, so I've decided to tackle it in parts.)

Part One: Danae Comes to Visit!

On Thursday, July 15, at 10:30 pm, Danae flew in to Anchorage. I had taken my kids out to my friend Faith's house earlier that day. This way I didn't have to keep the kids up late to go pick up Danae at the airport, and we could just leave the next morning for a two-day/one-night getaway, just us "girls", without having to drop the kids off anywhere.

We headed off on Friday morning for Homer, AK. It was a gorgeous drive! We thankfully had some sunshine, so Danae was able to see alot of amazing sights.

We got in to Homer some time after 4pm, checked in at our Bed & Breakfast, and then we headed out to explore "The Spit" and enjoy the gorgeous sunshine. We had a great dinner out, walked around, browsed in some shops, checked out the marina, and drank our coffees while watching the waves crash on the beach. It was a perfect evening! We finally headed back to the B&B around 10pm. (Let me add that the sun was still high in the sky.)

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast, packed up our stuff and headed back down to "The Homer Spit" to do a bit more shopping. Before we left, we got some coffee and the most delicious cinnamon buns and sat and enjoyed those in the glorious sunshine.

Homer, AK

We made our way home, picked up the kids, went out for sushi, and went to bed at a decent hour so we could be rested for church the next day.

Sunday was pretty much spent at church. I sang a song during the evening service, and Danae helped with the music for that by playing the organ.

On Monday I got some girls to watch the kids so that Danae and I could go and do some shopping and sight seeing around town.

Tuesday was Danae's last day here, so we took her up to Flat Top to see the city from above and take some pictures with the kiddos. After that we went to the zoo, and she got to see lots of "cold weather" animals that you don't normally see in the zoo's down in the Lower 48 and Canada.

Anchorage, AK

To see her off that night, I had a bunch of the girls from church that are around our age over for a "girl's night out". We mostly just ate and talked, but it was fun!
Danae's flight home wasn't until 2am, but one of my friends came back and picked her up at midnight, so that I wouldn't have to drag the kids out of bed to go to the airport. (Thanks, Aleece!!!!)

We were sad to see her go, but so very happy that Danae could come up for a visit!

Hope you had fun, Danae!!! Come again soon!

18 Weeks!

2010-08-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

I had my 3rd prenatal appointment with the midwife today. Everything was great. Baby is doing well, and growing lots.

At my last appointment, at 14 weeks, my uterus was measuring 12cm, and today, it was measuring 19cm! (It's only "supposed" to grow by one cm per week.) So, no wonder I'm looking and feeling bigger! And it's also no wonder that I've been having quite a bit of round ligament pain (the ligaments that hold up the uterus). Baby's home is growing bigger to accommodate a bigger baby!

Blood pressure was good as well, and I haven't gained any weight, so I'm still 8 lbs lighter than I was on Mother's Day.

Baby's heart-rate was 152 bpm. I was able to record it and send it to Daddy again, so he could hear Baby too.

He/she has been moving around quite a bit, and today I was even able to feel a very light kick on my hand! Most of the time, when I put my hand on my belly, Baby settles right down, but today I guess Baby decided not to be so shy with Mama!

All in all, Mama and Baby are doing great. I've been going to the chiropractor to help get all my hip and pelvic pain sorted, and that's been helping. Hopefully it keeps up and I can rid of this pesky pain once and for all!

Next Tuesday at 11am, we are getting our ultrasound that will tell us if we're having a boy or a girl! I'm so excited! I really have no idea or inkling of what we're having. No feeling one way or another. Each night I have dreams of the baby, and some nights it's a girl, other nights it's a boy. I know I'd kind of like it to be a girl, so that Kendra can have a sister, but it would also be nice to have a little boy (even if boy clothes aren't nearly as cute!).

So, stay tuned next week to see what Baby is going to be!

It's SUMMERtime!!!

2010-08-07T01:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it's summertime here on my blog, anyway! You wouldn't know it if you'd stepped out my front door today, though.

You know the heat-wave that the rest of the US and Canada are having??? Yah, well, they stole all the heat that we were supposed to have over our entire summer and are using it, well, rather wastefully. I mean really people, instead of having temperatures so high that people are dying, just give some of it back to us poor, pale, frozen, people up here in Alaska!!

High's today in Anchorage were in the mid 50's (around 15C). Does that sound like SUMMER weather??? We've also had about 4 days of sunshine in the past 5 weeks, and they have been so spread out, so that we're lucky if we see the sun for one full day a week..... I feel like I'm living in the Pacific Northwest again, what with all this rain and gloom.....

So, in an attempt to make it at least seem like summer, I've given my blog a new look! I used Tracie Stroud's kit, "Pocketful of Sunshine" for this makeover. Isn't it so cute and summery?? I also updated the sidebar pictures, seeing as most of them had SNOW in them!

Who knows, maybe I'm the reason that we aren't getting summer weather??? Maybe now that I've de-winterized my blog, we'll acutally get some SUNSHINE and WARMTH??

Not Sure I'm Ready.....

2010-08-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

....for my "baby" girl to go to school!

I can hardly believe that Kendra is old enough to start school already!! Where did the last 5 and a half years go??

Today was registration day at her school, so I dropped the kids off with a babysitter, and went and registered her for Kindergarten.

There's a family picnic on the 16th, and then we have a meeting with the teacher scheduled for the 19th. First day of school for Kindergarteners is the 24th.

Just 20 more days!!!

Just 20 more days.......

I know it will all be exciting and new for Kendra, but for me, it's kind of bittersweet. My baby girl will be starting her own life. She'll be branching out from us, becoming her own person.

It's wonderful!

And, it's scary.....

Can you believe that I went to my car after registering her at the school, and sat there and cried like a baby? Maybe it's pregnancy hormones making it worse, or maybe it's the mother in me just having a hard time letting go, but this is way harder then I thought it would be.

I'm sure once we're past the first week of school it'll be easier. Seeing how happy she is, and how she's growing and learning, will help my feel better about the fact that she's out there in the great, big, scary world, without her Mama there to watch over her and keep her safe.

But she'll have her guardian Angel watching over her, and I can rest in the fact that the God who sees every sparrow that falls, has His eyes on my baby too. That's such a wonderful assurance to have!

So now, we're about to embark upon a great new adventure, and our lives will forever revolve around a school schedule.... Or so it will seem. But it will be great, and she'll love it (for now anyway! In a few years I'm sure she'll be complaining about having to go to school, and I'll have to drag her out of bed and force her out the door!) and I really am excited to see the things she'll be doing and hear about the things she'll be learning.

But, I'm still not sure that I'm ready......

14 Weeks

2010-07-14T13:47:00.001-08:00

Yep, you read that right, 14 weeks already! I'm already past my first trimester and into the second. Wow! This pregnancy is flying by!

And I have to say, that it's been a very good pregnancy thus far. Sure, I had a few weeks of feeling yucky and puking every day, but that only lasted a few weeks, and since then, I've been great. I did have a few days about a week ago, where anything I ate made me feel gross, but I still didn't have to "be sick". I'm counting my lucky stars, let me tell you! My last pregnancy was a VERY different story.

I've also, thankfully, only had a few bouts of heartburn so far, so there again, I'm counting my lucky stars. By this point in my last pregnancy I was already on prescription meds for the heartburn.

I'm currently 8 lbs lighter than I was the day I got my positive pregnancy test! I'll take that any day over a weight gain. Seeing as I'm already heavy, the less I gain, the better. But don't worry, I'm not starving myself. I have been eating, just trying to make smart choices and not have too much junk food or too many sweets. (That's really hard to do, by the way! Those of you that have been pregnant know how hard it is to ignore those cravings for sweet and salty!)

I had my second prenatal visit with the midwife today and got to hear Baby's heartbeat! Such a sweet sound! Since Daddy couldn't be there (he's out of town again) I recorded it on my phone and sent it to him so he still got to hear that galloping little heartbeat. (Baby's heartbeat was 160 bpm today.)

My lab work came back great. Last pregnancy, my lab work showed that I was not immune to Rubella, so once Kingston was born, I had to be immunized again, even though I'd just had a booster two years before that for my immigration. So, this blood work showed that I am now SUPER immune to Rubella! hehehehe! My hemoglobin levels are also very high, so no risk of anemia here! (They say the more pregnancies you've had, the greater your risk for anemia.) Must be the fact that I've been taking a prenatal supplement daily since before I became pregnant with Kendra.

Now is a good time for me to also note that I've been feeling the baby move for a few weeks now. At first it was just the odd flutter here and there, and only when I was laying in bed, but now I can feel him/her moving when I'm sitting down as well. It's so cute to feel those little pops and know that my little sweetie is in there, doing great and growing strong.

And that's my 14 week update! I should be back again in a couple weeks with a family post. My best friend is coming up from BC for a visit this week, so I'll be pretty busy visiting with her, and then next weekend the kids and I are going Kenai for the church's annual fishing trip. Hopefully when we get home from that I'll have time to post and hopefully have some fun pictures to share as well.

10 Weeks

2010-06-19T20:39:00.000-08:00

Since I'll be 11 weeks tomorrow, I figured I should do my 10 week post.

I had my first prenatal appointment with the midwife on Wednesday. She calculated my due date to be January 9, 2011. Babycenter had calculated January 11, 2011. Doesn't really matter either way, as we'll know for sure when we have our ultrasound. But, for now, I'll go with January 9, since that's what the midwife is going to go by.

My uterus is measuring right on target, so that's a good sign that there's only one babe in there. Blood pressure was good, and all other vitals were great. She even went as far as to say that I'm completely normal! (Been trying to tell that to Curt for years now. I keep insisting that I'm the normal one, it's the rest of the world that's weird!)

We didn't get to hear the little one's heart beat. He/she was hiding. (Little stinker! I was really hoping to hear that heart beat!) Hopefully I'll get to hear it next time.

My next appointment is at 14 weeks, and I'll try to update then. I should also have a new belly picture in the next couple weeks as well.

The Fright of My Life!

2010-06-11T16:38:00.002-08:00

Here is the story of how Kingston almost drowned last weekend:

*~*~*~*~*~*

Last weekend (06/04/10 - 06/06/10) my friend Faith, her son Zachary, my two children, and myself went on a road trip to Fairbanks, AK. She left her younger son with her mother, and had been tempted to do the same with Zachary, but her hubby convinced her to bring him along, and thank the Lord that she did!

We traveled for 6 hours, and had finally made it to our friend's house. This friend lives at the lake, her backyard is pretty much a beach. Well, the kids played in the front yard for a bit and then they moved to the backyard where they soon discovered the WATER! And if you have kids, then you know how kids are attracted to water! I yelled for them to stay out of the water, and Kendra listened, just kinda playing at the edge. But Kingston ended up walking in about knee deep (on him) and so I ran in to get his swim trunks so his jeans wouldn't get too soaked.

He came out of the water long enough to change his bottoms, and then he was back to the water. He seemed to just be playing at the edge. Well, his jeans were covered in sand, so Faith suggested that we rinse them off and let them dry in the sun. So she went to turn the hose on and I went to get it unattached from the sprinkler. Our backs were turned for a just a few seconds when Zachary came to me saying "Kingston, Kingston". I figured he was just tattling, so I said, "Yah Zach, it's ok, just go play." And he said, "No, Kingston, Kingston". So I turned to look.......

All I saw was his little blonde head, submerged under water.

Needless to say, I took off running, screaming at the top of my lungs, "KINGSTON!!!!! KINGSTON!!!!" I kicked off my shoes mid-run, and ran into the water, fully clothed. About one foot into the lake it just DROPPED off, and all of a sudden I was in chest deep water (I'm nearly 6 feet tall)!

I grabbed my baby, who was already starting to go belly down, and got out of that lake pronto!

I set him down so that I could put his hands over his head to help any water that was in his lungs come out, and then picked him up to hold him while he cried.

I wanted to cry as well, but some girls from across the street had come over to say hi and to meet me, and I didn't want to seem like blubbering fool to them.

That was easily, by far, the most frightening moment of my life. I've also never run that fast in my life either!

Later that night I was laying in bed, finally getting a chance to cry, and thinking about what could have happened.

What if Zachary hadn't been there??

Would I have seen Kingston in time? (The other children didn't even seem to notice that he'd gone in too deep.)

What would I do without my dear, sweet, baby boy to brighten my days??

And then I prayed.

"Thank you Lord for watching over my baby boy, and for making us bring Zachary along. You always know what we need, and supply our needs before we even ask!"

Also needless to say, neither of my kids went anywhere near that lake the remainder of our trip!

I'm Sad.....

2010-06-11T09:46:00.000-08:00

...... that there are people out there who have nothing better to do with their time than to surf blogs and leave negative/opinionated feedback on the posts of people they don't even know.

I think alot of times people forget themselves. Just because you're not actually vocalizing and saying something, and you're typing it with your fingers, if you wouldn't say it with your mouth, then don't type it. And, if you would say some of the things with your mouth that you do type out, you really need to stop and evaluate the type of person you are.

Maybe some people weren't taught common decency as children. Maybe their mother's never told them that if they couldn't say something nice, then not to say anything at all? I don't know, but my mom sure did. She taught us to be decent humans to our fellow human beings.

I love having my blog. I know I don't always keep up with it the way that I should, but I love having it all the same. I love having an easy and convenient way to record the happenings of my life, and of my family's life. Once the baby comes, I plan to sit down and finally get most of this blog put into a book. It'll be an amazing book! I'll have recorded in that book all three of my pregnancies, life with my babies, our amazing adventures, and our everyday mundane-ness that makes us human.

Having said that I love my blog, I have to say, that I don't write it for my readers. Sure, there are posts that are just fluff, and I've written for readers, but for the most part, this blog is written for me, my husband, and our kids. I love that I do have readers (don't get me wrong) and I've made some great friends through the "blogging world".

But the rule still applies: Do unto other as you would have them do unto you. I don't go around to other people's blogs, using anonymous usernames such as "Common Sense" and leave know-it-all negative feedback. If they have a post that I don't agree with, I just don't comment. Or, I'll find something in that post that I do agree with and comment on that. I try to be uplifting to people when I post comments on their blogs. I try to give encouragement and let them know that they're not that only ones maybe going through what they're going through, or tell them I'll pray for them, or say how cute they or their kids look. It's their life that they are writing about. Who am I to criticize it??

There's a very famous blogger out there, whose name I won't mention, who has thousands and thousands of readers. She mostly just blogs about her family and what they're going through, health problems that her son has had, troubles she's had in her marriage, etc. I used to follow her and I tried keeping up with her, but she just posts so much that I started to get way behind. I did enjoy reading her posts though. She's a very funny, honest woman. BUT, you would not believe the feedback she gets on her blog! She has some very, very, very nasty readers who are nothing but down-right mean. Some of the things people would say to her would honestly make me cry if that were my blog and my life that they were commenting on. I will not let that happen here.

I've been getting some less than positive feedback lately, and it all seems to be based on my pregnancy posts. I can't even begin to tell you how sad this makes me. This is supposed to be a happy time in my life, a time to celebrate, a time to enjoy. I want to enjoy it fully. This will be my last baby. I want to post about everything, so that I can remember it all. My body is doing amazing things right now. I'm making a baby!!!!!! Even as I sit here and type away, that small little miracle inside me is growing, changing, starting to become the person that God intended him/her to be! Isn't that astounding???? I mean, just think about it! This is how we all started...... (Like I said in my last post, pregnancy amazes me!)

But I want to enjoy this pregnancy, and my plans for a home birth, without having to hear know-it-all or rude comments from people who don't even know me, and hide behind stupid handles. (Use your real name if you want to leave rude comments on people's blogs. Don't hide behind your computer!) So, if it continues to happen, I will start moderating comments. And if it still continues to happen, I will make my blog private, so that only those who are invited can actually view it. I really don't want to have to do either of those things, but I refuse to have people drag me down to their level of misery. Because really, they must be miserable people if all they can do is go around and try to make others miserable with them.

To all of you supportive readers: Thank you! You're amazing and your comments make me smile! I hope that I can be as much of a blessing to you as you are to me!

And so I leave you with this: Not every single thought that pops into your head needs to be typed out or vocalized. Most of us learn this when we're about 5 years old (I'm teaching this to my daughter right now). Remember to think before you speak. Think about how your words will affect the person to whom you are speaking. The Bible speaks of the tongue, saying that it is "unruly evil, full of deadly poison". The same can be said for our fingers in this technological day. Let's try to make the words that we say reflect the kind of things that God would want us saying to each other. We're supposed to build each other up, not tear one another down.

Me at (almost) 8 weeks pregnant

2010-06-10T10:10:00.001-08:00

I got Curtis to take these pictures for me on Sunday, May 31.

This is me, looking VERY pregnant at 7 weeks 5 days:

And before you ask, no, I don't know if we're having twins. My first appointment with the midwife is next Wednesday, and I'm really hoping and praying for just ONE heartbeat!

Oh, and as of yesterday, I'm now 7 lbs lighter than I was on Mother's Day! You'd never be able to tell by looking at my waist line though.....

I'll try to get pictures taken at least once a month, so that I can keep track of the changes. I like looking back at my belly pics with the other two, it's a great keepsake. Pregnancy amazes me!

Better Late Than Never!

2010-06-09T16:13:00.000-08:00

As promised (over and over again, I know) here are some pictures of my gorgeous children!

I did this little mini photo-shoot of them on Easter Sunday, just 6 days before Kingston turned TWO, so the ones of him are also doubling as his 2 year pictures. (Genius, I know.....)

Belly pics coming soon!

8 Weeks

2010-06-01T22:43:00.000-08:00

Today I'm 8 weeks pregnant with our third little stinker! While I may only be two months pregnant, I look about 4 or 5 months pregnant. But I don't mind, I love looking pregnant! (I got Curt to take belly pics the other day, and will post once I get them uploaded.)

It's been 2 days since the last time I vomited!! This is a nice reprieve, but I'm not really hopeful that it will last too long. I've still been nauseous, and not very much is sitting nicely in my stomach, but at least I've gotten a break from the puking.

Although my belly is expanding at an alarming rate, I've still managed to lose 5 lbs since the day I found out this baby was on the way! I'll take any loss that I get, as I'm sure I'll be gaining it back in a few months time.

I met with a few midwifes from a birthing center here in town, and they were all great. I was thinking about having a birthing center birth this time, but when I toured the facility, the rooms were very much like a bedroom (regular bed, dresser, etc) with a really nice tub being the only difference to home. But, really not worth the extra $2000, so I have decided to have a home birth. I can still have a water birth if I want. They have tubs they rent out and bring to your home if you want a water birth.

I'm excited and nervous to have the baby here. The only thing that really makes me nervous is the thought of having to do it without the epidural....... But, I know I can do it. I have to! I don't have medical insurance and I was denied the state aid because I haven't been in the USA for at least 5 years. (Really stupid rule! Don't even get me started on it!) So, this birth is going to have to be paid for with cash, and there is no way in a million years that we can afford a hospital birth!

I have my first prenatal visit with the midwife in 2 weeks, and am really looking forward to hearing Baby's heartbeat! I'll be back after that appointment with an update.

In My Absence.....

2010-05-15T21:25:00.002-08:00

alot has happened! I feel like I've gotten so far behind on here, and most days I just don't have the energy to go back and try to remember everything that's happened in my absence from my blog.

But, here I am, and I will try to fill you in on what we've been up to the last month or so.....

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kendra is still doing great with her Figure Skating lessons. She's really come a long way from the little girl who could hardly keep her feet under her on the ice! She has two more lessons and then she'll be done for the summer. It will be nice to take a break, but I'm sure she'll be happy to start up again in the fall. Hopefully she passes this level and goes on to the next. She's already in Level 2, and we're so proud that she moved up so easily, but I can't wait to see all the fun stuff she'll learn at the next level.

~*~*~*~*~*~

On April 10, our little man turned 2!!! I can hardly believe that my baby boy is 2 already! He sure has grown up alot in the past few months. He's talking more and more, and he really has the cutest little voice ever! For about two weeks now Kingston's been asking to go potty. The first few times I put him on the toilet, he didn't do anything, but now every time we put him on he goes pee-pee. He's even done a "number two" on the toilet as well! I don't think it will be too long and our little one will be out of diapers! (Just in time too! Mama's "all-day-sickness" is starting up already and I don't think I can handle those poopy diapers for much longer!)

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We are finally past the snowy season!!! The last of the snow melted sometime in mid-April. The grass is getting greener and greener (is "greener even a word? or is it "more green"?) every day and the trees are starting to get their leaves. I've even seen a few flowers blooming here and there and people are starting to hang up flower baskets! It's funny that we're just getting spring now and most of the world has already moved on to summer!

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The days are getting longer and longer! Today our sunrise was at 5:13 am and sunset is going to be at 10:44 pm. That's 17+ hours of daylight folks! And we still have quite a ways to go until Summer Solstice on June 21st! Time to break out the blackout blinds.....

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I'm not sure how much time I'll have for blogging in the next few months, but I will try to keep up a bit better. It's just that I'm going to be a single mother for most of the summer, and it's not always easy finding the energy to blog when you've got to do it all, especially when you're in your first trimester of pregnancy! Curtis is getting ready to leave next week to work on a job in Valdez, Alaska. It's about a 7 hour drive from here and he'll be there from about the 20th of this month until the 10th of August. We're hoping to be able to get him home for a few weekends, and the kids and I will try to make it out there a few times too. At least when it's just him, he can fly home. It's cheap enough for one person to fly, but not so much for three!

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I think that about catches us up on the big things. (Oh, and incase you missed our really big news in my last post, please click *here* to read it!) I'll try to be back soon with some pictures. I've taken some really great pictures of the kids in the past few months, and I'd love to share them. I just have to do that from the desktop downstairs because my laptop is being a retard lately, and takes forever to do anything, and mostly just ends up freezing up on me. (Try to hear the seething frustration in that sentence!) But I shall try my best to get some pics up asap!

Until then........

......and Baby makes FIVE!!!

2010-05-09T21:59:00.002-08:00

I know that I'm wayyyyy behind on posts and I do have alot to post about, but I wanted to stop in and share our latest and most exciting news!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~I'M PREGNANT!!!!!~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I was 6 days late this month, and although I was 10 days late last month, I decided to test today because, after all, it's Mother's Day. I was halfway expecting it to be negative, since I haven't really been feeling pregnant (aside from some slight nausea and heartburn), and last month I totally was feeling pregnant, and took about 5 tests, all with the result of "NOT PREGNANT". So, I was very pleasantly surprised when, not 5 seconds after peeing on that stick, the word "PREGNANT" showed up in the little window!

So according to Baby Center's due date calculator, we should be expecting our third little bundle of joy on, or around, January 11, 2011! (That will make FOUR of us in our tiny little family that have a January birthday! And, 6 of us born in January on my side of the family!)

And now that I've shared that exciting news, I'm going to spend the rest of my lovely Mother's Day relaxing with my hubby and our delicious lattes that he made us.

Whatcha Think??

2010-03-18T13:18:00.001-08:00

I've been working hard since last night to get myself a new blog makeover up and running.....

It's harder than it looks, trust me, especially for an amatuer like me!

When we get a "real" spring, I'll go with something a bit more "springy", but for now, I thought this was really cute. I used a digital scrapbooking kit from Scrap Orchard, by designer Irene Alexeeva called, Easter Quirk and the checkered background is from another of her kits called, Weird Wonderland. (I love that whole collection, but only bought the papers.)

There are a few things that I still want to change, but for now, I'm happy with how this makeover has turned out.

Hopefully some day soon I can get the kids all set up for a new photo shoot and get some new pictures for the sidebar. I also need to arrange some family pictures one of these days! It would be nice to have a family picture to put in the header!

Ok, off to make lunch for my starving kids, and then I'll be back at work on my new look!

An Alaskan Sunset

2010-03-11T11:11:00.001-09:00

When my Mom was here for a visit back in January, we were out shopping one day, and when we were heading back to the car, we noticed that the sun was going down.

The sun sets over the ocean here, and I've only seen it go down once, and that was my second day here. We had gone for a drive along the Seward Hwy, and I hadn't brought my camera, since we were supposedly just headed out for groceries. That day was also the last day that it had been clear over the water. (There's usually a fog bank hanging over the water, trapped my the mountains on either side of the inlet.)

I had taken Mom for a drive down the Seward Hwy the day before, but as usual, we didn't really get to see anything since the ever present fog was there......

Well, when we stepped out of that shop, I noticed that the sky over towards the water looked clear, so I said, "Let's go chase that sunset!"

I'm so thankful that we did! I got some AMAZING shots of the sun sinking into the water. I also got some amazing shots of the mountains once the sun had gone down, but I'll save those for another post, since that would just be way too many pictures for one post!

(The pictures in this post were also taken that same day.)

(We stopped at several different spots along the highway, so some shots will look a bit different than the ones preceding.)

I'm super proud of this next shot, because I finally managed to get a sun flare on my lense!

What's Been Keeping Me Busy

2010-03-10T11:21:00.000-09:00

One of my readers asked the other day for some pictures of my latest hats. And as I'm always happy to oblige, here are some pictures of what's been keeping me busy lately.

Isn't this little guy just adorable???

Photograph courtesy of Kaptured by Kristen

Here are some new color combinations I put together for a customer:

And here are a couple pictures of Kendra modeling the hat that I made her to match the outfit I bought her for her birthday.

Doesn't my girl look so pretty in yellow??

And so there you have it, the reason I've been so busy and the reason I haven't been that great at keeping up with my blog and the blogs that I read.

Now that I've uploaded all these pictures, I should get back to making more hats!

I hope to be back soon with some "catch up" posts.

All the best,

Iditarod 2010

2010-03-07T00:21:00.004-09:00

I've read books (although fictional) about it. I've seen movies based on it. I've always been awed by it. And today, I got to be part of it!

Today we went to the "Iditarod Dog Sled Race Ceremonial Start".

Well, we kinda skipped the "start" and went straight to the "finish line".

The race really doesn't start today, it starts tomorrow. Today was just for show. So we were at the end of the start, if that makes sense.

And it was amazing! (Even if it was FREEZING!!!)

I took over 200 pictures, almost all of them from bended knee.

Here are few snippets of what the official site of the Iditarod has to say about this great race:

And I quote:

"You can’t compare it to any other competitive event in the world! A race over 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer. She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska.

From Anchorage, in South Central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days."

To read more about the race, visit this link, it's very informative.*

The kids loved watching the dogs. Well, at least Kendra did. Kingston was being a bit fussy. He did shout out, "Oof, oof!" every time a team came into sight though.

Kendra said on the way to the car that she would love to get a bunch of little dogs to pull her around on a sled! Hehehehe!

Yah...... For some reason, I just don't see our landlord going along with that.......

All in all, it was a wonderful day, and I loved every second of it!

Even if it meant that we were out there, running around in the snow, while the rest of the world is enjoying shirt sleeves and flower blossoms...........

*all the pictures posted in this blog post were taken by me.

She's 5, Going on 13

2010-03-05T23:38:00.001-09:00

This post is only over a month late, but here goes:

My Dear Kendra,

Five years sure have gone fast! I was looking at your baby pictures the other day, and remembering how small you were. And now look at you! You're getting so big. You're so tall and so gorgeous. You really have come a long way since that night when I got to see you for the first time.

Now that you're 5, life will start to get pretty busy for you. We're looking forward to starting Kindergarten in the fall. Mama has been trying to work with you and get you ready for school. You just don't seem too keen on learning boring things like your numbers and your ABC's. I'm hoping that soon you'll start to pick it up. I'd hate for you to be the only kid in Kindergarten to not know the basics. But, I'm sure that when you're ready, you'll pick it right up.

You've been asking Mama almost daily for a baby sister or baby brother. So Mama told you that if you want her to have another baby, then you need to start helping out with Kingston a bit more. Most times, all I have to do is say, "Kendra, do you want Mama to have a new baby??" and you straighten right up.

You're learning to become a real drama queen and learning to use your words to express your feelings! You've got some lip already, girlie! Trust me, we don't let you get away with it. It may seem mean now, but you'll thank me for it some day. I can't imagine what you'd be like in 8 years if we just allowed you to run your mouth off at this young age!

And so, my dear, sweet, baby girl, here's to another wonderful year with you in our lives. Let's enjoy it, ok?

I love you, my "Kenna Bo-Benna"! xoxoxox

Love, Mama

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Here's a song that my Mom used to sing to me, and that her Dad used to sing to her. It's called "Daddy's Little Girl", but my Mom changed it up a bit for me, and I sing it for Kendra. She calls it, "Kendra's Song".

"You're the end of the rainbow
You're my pot of gold
You're Mommy's little girl
To have and to hold

A precious gem is what you are
You're my bright and shining star

You're the Spirit of Christmas
You're the star on the tree
You're the Easter bunny
To your Daddy and me.

You're sugar, you're spice
You're everything nice

And you're Mommy's little girl"

Who Doesn't Love Jewelery???

2010-03-05T10:19:00.000-09:00

A fellow blogger, and dear friend, Mimi, is having a super awesome giveaway at her blog today!!! You must go check it out and enter, especially if you love jewelery, or even have a loved one who does. If not for yourself, wouldn't something from this shop make a great gift????

So, please, head over to Mimi's blog and enter to win.

Or........

Don't, and give me a better chance of winning! Hehehehehe!

It's Still Winter in Alaska

2010-02-26T18:11:00.000-09:00

I know, big surprise, eh? But I have to say that, even though I knew better, I was hoping winter was coming to an end. Supposedly this happens every February. We get a nice big thaw, the snow almost dissappears, gets your hopes all up that winter is finally over, and then BAM! it starts snowing again and we're in for 8 more weeks of winter......

But, at least with a fresh layer of snow, things are beautiful and bright again, instead of that nasty brownish slush that we've been living with for the last two weeks. (Always gotta find that silver lining, right?)

Although it's still winter, the days are getting longer and longer, rather quickly. We just passed ten hours of daylight and if it keeps up at the rate it's going, we'll have 11 hours of daylight in about ten days. (We seem to be gaining about 6 minutes a day.) We've come a long way from the 5 hours that we had on December 21!

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On other notes:

I've still been insanely busy with hat orders. It's good, I'm not complaining, but it just doesn't give me alot of time for blogging.

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I joined the gym again and am trying to get into some kind of routine with that. Can't wait till that's established and I get into the swing of it. I really want to get in shape for summer, when we'll hopefully be doing lots of hiking and going on Alaskan Adventures.

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Kendra started figure skating lessons yesterday. She did pretty good for her first time on skates. They basically were teaching them how to fall and then get back up, since that's about all they did. I think she fell about every three steps! (hehehehehehehe) Kids are so resillient though. I'm sure I would be limping for days if I fell that many times, but she doesn't seem to be affected at all.

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Kingston is getting so grown up and learning to talk so well. He learns new words every day. I can hardly believe that my baby boy will be 23 months soon! Almost time to start thinking about that party....... He's still a very well behaved little boy. Sure, he has his moments (don't we all!) but on the whole, he's wonderful. He still sleeps like a champ. 12 hours at night and at least 2 hours, if not 3, at nap time. (I know, I'm VERY lucky!)

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And now I should go. I started this post this morning, and we're about ready for our dinner guests to arrive.

'Til next time!

I Haven't Forgotten You!

2010-02-03T11:57:00.000-09:00

Dear Blog,

Fear not my dear friend, I haven't forgotten you! I know it may seem like I have, but really, I haven't.

Believe me when I say, dear faithful Blog, that I feel very guilty for neglecting you the way that I have these past few months. It hasn't been intentional. I've simply been busy with life and all it's many demands.

Christmas was great, as was New Year's. Once the New Year rolled around, I started working in earnest on my hats. My little company has really taken off, and my fingers have been so very busy with a crochet hook and yarn, that I just haven't had time for my keyboard the way I used to.

Being a single Mom most weeks, has also added to my lack of time. Curtis has been working out of town during the week, and we only see him on weekends. He started this just before Christmas, and has just finally gotten a week to be at home now!

I also found out just a few days after my birthday that my Mom was coming to Alaska for a two week visit! She came in on the 19th of January and left yesterday, the 2nd of February. We had a wonderful visit, saw lots of neat sights and did lots of fun things. I took lots of pictures, and plan to share them with you soon.

So, worry not, dear Blog, I will be back soon. But for now, please know that you are not forgotten. You are missed dearly, and one day, I will have time to spend with you again.

All my love,

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-24T17:33:00.000-09:00

May it be blessed!

And the winner is.......

2009-12-19T21:07:00.000-09:00

..... Sarah Bergen, for her suggestion of "Baby Lou Who".

Congrats, Sarah!! Send me an email (you can just Facebook me if you like) with your mailing address and what colors you would like. (You can have it made in the colors it's pictured in, or in grey and white.)

I had never even thought of the Whos, until Sarah left that comment, and then that's all I could see, was a little Who baby, laying in a cradle, wearing a hat just like that!

I did like so many of the other suggestions like "Tunnel of Love", "Hatfel", and "Baby Suess", but I just kept coming back to "Baby Lou Who".

Thank you all so much for playing along! This was fun!

G'night!

'Tis the Season.....

2009-12-18T13:15:00.000-09:00

....to get chubby, falalalala-lala-lala!

Hehehehe! Mmmm! Gotta love some Christmas baking!

Also, thank heavens for New Years and New Year's resolutions!

Anyway, back on track......

I'm taking a break from baking, and thought I'd take a few minutes to update my blog on everything us Wollmans have been up to this last week or so.

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Last week my darling husband got me a wonderful early Christmas present! I am now the proud owner of the new Blackberry Bold! I love it! It's just so cool to be able to check my email, browse the web, and update my facebook, all from my phone! Isn't technology grand???

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Life in Alaska has been great so far. People ask me all the time how we're adjusting and how we're doing. We're adjusting well and we're doing just fine. If the truth be told, I haven't shed a single tear out of loneliness or homesickness since moving here.

Yes, I have my moments of missing everyone, but that's normal. I just try my best not to dwell on it. And when I do feel that way, I call up my family and friends. Just hearing their voices on the phone is remedy enough. I also love the fact that there is such a thing as Facebook! It's such a great way to keep tabs on everyone!

Once again, isn't technology grand???

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We're almost ready for Christmas here. The tree is up, the baking is getting done as I type, the (feather) garland is up, we've sent out our Christmas card, and we're receiving Christmas cards in the mail almost daily. The only thing left to do is the shopping! So far all we've bought the kids are pjs! But, I'm not worried of stressed out about it. I try my best not to stress about Christmas. What's the fun in stressing??? Hardly seems to be in keeping with "the holiday spirit". I'm actually kind of toying around with the idea of going shopping on Christmas Eve! I've done it in years past (when I was a teenager) and I loved it! Everyone is so jovial and full of Christmas cheer, it's just so fun!

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Our plans for Christmas are to stay home and relax. I'm going to be making a turkey dinner here at home, and it's just going to be a "chill" day with our little family of four. I've heard that the local zoo has free admission on Chirstmas Day, so we may go there and check it out.

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Tonight I'm hosting a cookie exchange with the ladies from the church. Our pastor's wife had called to invite me, and I offered to have it here, since she always has to host at her house. So it'll be a nice break for her, and a great chance for me to have all the ladies over.

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If you haven't yet, please go to this post and give me an idea for a name for my new hat. I'm loving some of the ideas I've gotten already, but would love to hear more! The contest ends tomorrow evening.

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And now, I should go. I need to mediate a fight between the girl and boy, and finish my baking!

I hope you all have a wonderful, and Merry Christmas!

My New Hat (and a contest!)

2009-12-16T14:32:00.000-09:00

Contest is now closed.... I will announce the winner later tonight. Thank you all for your participation!

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Original Post:

I recently created a hat that is all my own! Meaning, I didn't use a pattern, I created a pattern myself!

I've seen hats like it, and have wanted to find a pattern, but never could. So I finally decided that I would try to be creative and come up with a pattern myself!

All of my other hats are made from patterns that I purchased, and then modified and added to in order for them to suit my style. (I also had to make numerous adjustments to have them actually fit the sizes they were supposed to be.)

I've never had a problem coming up with a name for my hats in the past. But, this time, I must have used up all my creativeness on the hat itself, cause I couldn't, for the life of me, come up with a name!

That's when I had the brilliant idea to have a contest!

Yes, a contest.....

The Rules:

One name suggestion per person.

Anyone can enter. Blog about it, tweet about, post it on your facebook, if you wish.

You must enter your name suggestion here in the comments section of this post. These will be the only comments to be considered. (Please don't post annonymously. I need to see the name of the person entering the contest.)

The Prize:

Whoever submits the hat name I like the most will win the hat. The winner can choose to have the hat either made in the pink and grey that is pictured here (for a girl), or I can make it in white and grey (for a more unisex look.)

This hat is meant mostly for a photo prop/heirloom hat and will fit most babies aged newborn - 10 weeks.

You may either keep the hat for yourself or gift it to a friend or family member. You may NOT sell the hat.

This contest will only be open until 5pm (Pacific Time) on Saturday, December 19th, so all comments must be entered by then. I will ship the hat to the winner after Christmas.

And now, here are a few pictures of my new hat!!!

So, good luck as you think creative thoughts! I'm looking for something cute, catchy and that "fits" the hat.

Happy commenting!

Sleeping in Seattle

2009-12-06T21:16:00.000-09:00

I ♥ Faces - Week 48 - "Sweet Dreams"

My little man, sleeping in the stroller, when we went away to Seattle for our anniversary last October. This is also one of the first pictures ever taken on my new (not so new now and has taken almost 3000 pictures since!) DSLR camera.

Head on over to "I ♥ Faces" to see more sleeping beauties!

Randomness.....

2009-12-05T18:53:00.000-09:00

Random Thought #1:

Being a single mom really sucks! Not only is there never a break from the kids, but the kids act out so bad when Daddy isn't home.

Bedtime is the worst time of the day. It's amazing how much smoother the bedtime routine goes when there's another adult in the house!

I fear I'm turning into Mom-zilla. I think I've yelled more this week and used middle names more often then ever before.

Why am I a single mom this week? 'Cause Curt has been working out of town since Monday afternoon. He is coming home late tonight, will be home for tomorrow, and then will most likely be heading out of town again on Monday.

*sigh*

Next week is gonna be another lllllooooonnnngggg week.....

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Random Thought #2:

Almost 20-month-olds are T-R-O-U-B-L-E! Kingston is into everything all at once. Terrible two's, here we come!

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Random Thought #3:

We're "officially" moved in now! I just finally unpacked the last two boxes today. One of them has been sitting around on our bedroom floor for almost 2 months, and it was just full of little random things, and the other has been sitting on the living room floor, filled with framed pictures of the kids.

I hung said pictures on the walls, so now the house finally looks "lived in"!

*sigh*

It's a good feeling!

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Random Thought #4:

"It's the most wonderful time of the year"......

I started decorating for Christmas this week. I have the mantle all decked out with white feather boas and white lights (looks GORGEOUS!) and have brought out all my Christmas-y Starbucks mugs. Next weekend we'll be getting a Christmas tree and then it will really look like Christmas around here!

(Keep an eye out for a Christmas look here on my blog as well next week!)

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Random Thought #5:

I made my first home-made pizza crust last night and it was G-O-O-O-O-O-D! So good in fact, that I'm making another one for a late supper tonight (we had a late lunch)!

Speaking of food, check out my last post for a recipe for a home-made version of Olive Garden's "Zuppa Toscana". It's easy to make and SUPER delicious!

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And that's all my randomness for tonight! Have a super weekend everyone!

Zuppa Toscana

2009-12-05T12:38:00.000-09:00

serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS

1 lb mild Italian sausage
1 1/2 tsp crushed red peppers (or cayenne)
1 large diced white onion
4 pieces of bacon, cut up
4 cloves garlic
80 oz chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb cut up Russet potatoes, peeled (about 3 large)
1/4 bunch of kale

Remove the skins from the Italian sausage and sautee in pan, breaking it up into small pieces. Add crushed red peppers or cayenne pepper. Drain excess fat. Set aside.

In the same pan, sautee bacon. Add onions and pressed garlic once bacon has cooked a little. (If you don't cook the bacon a bit, it will float in the soup.) Sautee all together for about 15 minutes or until onions are soft.

Pour chicken broth in to a large soup pot. Add bacon, onions, and garlic, and cut up potatoes. Bring to boil.

Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.

Add heavy cream and sausage. Heat through.

Add kale pieces just before serving.

Buon Appetito!

I Heart Faces - Week 47 - "Tooshies"

2009-11-30T14:33:00.000-09:00

It's been quite a while since I participated in this fun photo challenge, but when I saw this week's theme, I knew I had the perfect picture!

I took this picture last week when we went for a walk to the lake. It was Kingston's first time out in the snow this year, and he had so much fun shuffling along in his little snowsuit.

Here's a shot of his cute little "Tooshie" while he's trying to stand up after having fallen down in the snow.

"I ♥ Faces is a photography blog sharing faces around the world" Click here to see this week's entries.

My girl....

2009-11-26T13:59:00.000-09:00

She's so pretty and those beautiful blue eyes are enough to melt anyone's heart!

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-25T11:25:00.000-09:00

As always, American Thanksgiving catches me by surprise. Being born and raised in Canada, and having lived there for the first 23 years of my life, I'm so used to Thanksgiving being in October. Now I get two Thanksgivings. But, since the Canadian one is first, I always get caught off-guard when the American one rolls around.

Anyway.....

Tomorrow is American Thanksgiving, so I would like to wish all of my American readers a "Happy Thanksgiving"! I hope you have a wonderful day with family, friends, and good food!

We are invited to our pastor's house for Thanksgiving, which will be lots of fun! Our kids love their kids and we always have fun visiting with Flint and Hannah. They are quickly becoming our "family away from family".

So here's to Thankful thoughts, Turkey comas, and overstuffed bellies!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

In this house.....

2009-11-20T12:10:00.000-09:00

.... we LOVE spaghetti!!! And the tiniest one among us loves it the most! That little boy can eat an adult sized portion of the stuff!

As you can see, he has alot of fun while eating his spaghetti! In fact, he has so much fun, that we have to strip him down to just his diaper, otherwise there would be tomato stains all over his clothes!

Of course, on the nights that we have spaghetti, he heads straight to the tub as soon as he's done eating, whether or not it's "bath night"!

And as you can see, he has just as much fun getting the spaghetti cleaned off of him as he had applying it!

Yep, in this house we love spaghetti.........

........ and spaghetti covered babies!

An Exciting Day.....

2009-11-19T21:59:00.000-09:00

....for Chugamugs Baby Wear!

Today I got my first order of yarn from Cascade Yarns!

A wonderful customer of mine wants to start selling my hats in the gift shop at her spa, and we worked out an agreement where she would purchase my first order of yarn for me (helping me get a wholesale account set up with Cascade Yarns), and I would pay her back in hats. After that is out of the way, she'll have a standing order of about 30 hats per month at her store.

I'm very excited to start on this business venture, and get Chugamugs Baby Wear really up and running!

I ordered 21 different colors, and let me tell you, they are gorgeous! A few of them I haven't seen in person yet, as the store in Bellingham didn't have them in stock. Just listen to the names of some of these colors: Bubble Yummy, Watermelon Rind, Boysenberry, Candy Violet, Orchid, Blue Reef, Seattle Blue, Bubble Gum, Pomegranite, just to name a few. Don't they sound delicious and exotic??? I honestly can't wait to dig into them and start putting together some new color combos.

I guess this may seem like small news to some of you, but to me, it's pretty big. I haven't really done anything besides raise my kids for the last 5 years, and I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with "just" being a stay-at-home-mom, but it feels good to be doing "something" again! So, please, bear with me as I share my good news with you as it comes......

White Winter

2009-11-12T12:53:00.000-09:00

In case you haven't noticed, my blog has a new look! I designed it using a digital scrapbooking kit by Baers Garten called "White Winter".

The inspiration for my blog makeover came from the view I see out my window these days. It is for sure a "White Winter" over here!!!

We got our first "measurable" (there were a few days when a few flakes fell, but none of it "stuck") snowfall on Sunday, November 8th. This is the second latest "measurable" snowfall Anchorage has ever had. Their latest "measurable" snowfall was in 2002, when it didn't snow until November 13th.

Some of you will remember last year how excited I was when it snowed right before Christmas. I love snow, so I have no problem thinking about having to "endure" snow for the next 4-5 months. After all, I lived in Saskatchewan for the first 11 years of my life, so I have an idea of what I'm "in for".

On Monday, Kendra wanted to go outside to play in the snow, so I stuffed her feet into boots that are too small, and her hands into gloves that don't stay closed over her fingers, and out we went. She had a blast, and promptly had to lay down to make a snow angel!

(Don't worry, we are going this weekend to get boots, gloves, and snow gear for the whole family. She won't have to stuff her feet into boots that are too small for much longer.)

For those of you that have asked, it hasn't been too cold yet. One night it got down to -12 C (around 12 F, for you Americans) but mostly it's been around -4 C (around 28 F), which really isn't that bad.

And again, for those of you that asked, here are a few pictures of the house:

I plan to do a video tour of the inside once all my pictures are hung and I've done some decorating. That might take a few weeks, so you'll have to be happy with a view of the outside for now. :)

And last, but not least, here is what I see from my bedroom window every day:

(That second picture is of a raven sitting on the fence. Those birds are HUGE! They make the crows back home look like chickadees!)

Now, I should go and feed my children and get the little one down for his nap.

Welcome to Alaska!

2009-11-11T13:02:00.000-09:00

My first glimpses of Alaska were from the air, when we were getting ready to make our descent.

I was in complete and total awe, and even Kendra and Kingston were saying, "Oh wow!"

(Breath-taking, eh?)

We didn't get to do much sight-seeing the first few days that we were here, since Curt was working, I had no car, and I was also super busy unpacking the house. We did go for a drive the second night we were here, but I was under the impression that we were going out for groceries, so I didn't bring the camera along. I sure wish that I had, because it was a beautiful drive. It's probably a good thing that I didn't though, because we would have been having to stop every few seconds for me to get out and take pictures!

On our first Sunday here we went to church and then stayed for a potluck after the service. It was great to meet everyone at our new church, and have a chance for some fellowship. I had brought my camera along in hopes that we could get out and do some more sight-seeing before going home, and that's exactly what we did!

We went to a park up a hill not too far from the church. From up there you can look down on Anchorage. Such an amazing view, and the camera doesn't even do it justice! Here are a few for you to enjoy though:

(In the picture below, if you look closely, you can see some white mountains on the horizon. One of those is Mt. McKinley, the tallest peak in North America.)

Then, of course, we had to take some pictures of us and the kids with all this gorgeous scenery!

And so, yes, I'm enjoying living in Alaska. The little I've seen so far has been gorgeous, and I really can't wait until we have more time to do more sight-seeing and exploring!

I Promise....

2009-11-10T14:25:00.000-09:00

....to try to come back with a post in the next few days. I also promise to try to be a better blogger. I've just been very busy making hats and taking care of my family that I just haven't had much time for the blog.

Sorry.

I will try to be better.

We are doing well though, and life is starting to take on a new "normal". I've been dealing with a lot lately, and life has thrown some real curve-balls my way, but through God's Grace, I'm taking life a day at a time.

So.... hope to "see you soon"!

We're "Home"!

2009-10-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

The kids and I arrived safely in Anchorage at 7:05 pm (local time) last night.

The whole "flying with two kids" thing was pretty stressful. Kingston cried the entire pre-flight and take-off. The flight was delayed an hour, and we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes. So, it was a rough start to the flight, and the flight itself wasn't much better!

Kendra did great, I'll give her that. I rented one of their "DigEplayers" and she watched cartoons the whole flight. Kingston on the other hand, had ants in his pants and didn't sit still for 3 consecutive seconds! Add to that the fact that we were on a FULL flight, so the older gentleman that sat next to us had to stay there. I feel really sorry for him. Bet he has something to complain about to his family and friends!

Halfway through our 3.5 hour flight, Kendra decided that she had to go pee. Let me just say this: I HATE AIRPLANE BATHROOMS!!! I mean really, can they make them much smaller?? And then Kingston needed a diaper change as well, so there we were in line, in an airplane aisle (you all know how much room there is in those as well!), Kingston on my hip, huge diaper bag on the floor in front of me, and Kendra doing the "pee-pee dance" in front. After waiting for 5 other people to go the bathroom and then somehow trying to find a way to let them by us without sticking my butt in the faces of the people seated in their seats, Kendra got to go to the bathroom! After she went potty, I realized that they only have one bathroom with a change table, and that it was "occupied". So, we wait, and we wait, and we wait some more, and then we wait some more. Finally I knock on the door. Then we wait some more. After about 5 minutes of waiting, with Kendra bouncing up and down (cause she can never just stand still) and Kingston crying so loud, saying, "bum, bum, bum", the door opens and this woman (who was busy doing her make-up) wonders why we knocked. Hello, there's only one bathroom with a change table in it, and you're using it to apply your make-up! Grrr.....

The rest of the flight was pretty much the same as the first half. Kendra watched more cartoons and Kingston moved around like a druggie on crack.

Then the seatbelt sign went on for the descent. I had no choice but to hold Kingston still in my lap once again, and he, once again, screamed his head off for the half hour descent. Lovely......

But, even after all of that, it was so worth it to walk off the plane and see Curtis there waiting for us!!! Kendra was thrilled to see daddy, and promptly asked him, "Where is my lovely bouquet??" We laughed pretty hard at that!

It was great to see my house for the first time, and I worked really hard to try to get the kids rooms set up so they could go to bed, and then I unpacked a few things in the kitchen, set up our room a bit, had a shower and CRASHED in our bed! It felt sooooo good to sleep in my own bed once again!

There really is "no place like home"! Even if it's a new home that needs lots of work setting up, has boxes everywhere you look, and could use a good vacuumming......

Some Pics and a Shameless Plug

2009-10-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

Since I know you've all missed seeing pictures of the kids here on my blog these last few weeks, here they are!

And this is also a great chance to let you know that Chugamugs Baby Wear is back in full swing. Well, almost full swing. Once I'm in Alaska and have my house unpacked, then I'll really be back full time.

I do have room for 12 more hat orders for Christmas though, especially if they're ordered before Wednesday. That way I can pick up the yarn before I head to the airport. I have no idea how long it will take for the yarn to reach Alaska once it's ordered, and I can't buy it up there. So my best bet for Christmas orders is to get them squared away now.

So, if you're thinking that a hat is the perfect idea for a Christmas gift for a little someone in your life, please visit my Etsy shop or send me an email.

And aren't my kids just the cutest things ever???

He’s THERE!!!!

2009-10-11T20:01:00.001-08:00

My darling sweetheart made it to Anchorage today! He actually drove through the night and got there at 4am! Crazy man!!! But, I’m so glad that he got there safe and sound.
A whole bunch of people from the church came and helped him unload the truck in the afternoon, and they got it done in no time! So, everything is in the house, just waiting for me to get there and set it up the way I like. Now I’m really anxious to get there!!! It will be so wonderful to have our own space again.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had fun staying with my Mom, and my friend before Mom’s, but there’s nothing like your own place, and your own things. Especially nothing like your own bed!!! *sigh* I really can’t wait to sleep in my bed again……
Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that Curtis made it there, and to thank you for your prayers for his journey. He really did have a good trip and he said that the roads were really good, for the most part.
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To all you fellow Canadians, Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!
We’re going to be having Thanksgiving here at Mom and Dad’s with my brother and his family, and this will most likely be my last Canadian Thanksgiving in Canada for a long time….
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Tomorrow is our 7th wedding anniversary, so Happy Anniversary Babe! Here’s to another 7 wonderful years!
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Just 3 more sleeps before we’re “home”……

Just to make you feel warm....

2009-10-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Curtis got to his sister's house in Fort St. John, British Columbia, late Wednesday night. When he got up the next morning, he was greeted by this sight:

Now doesn't that make you feel like it's pretty warm where ever you're at???

So, anyway, Curt stayed for the day at his sister's, waiting for the weather to clear, and is safely on his way again today. He said that the weather forecast for the rest of his route looks clear through the weekend, so he's hopeful to make it to Anchorage by Sunday.

Thank you for your prayers! They're working!

He's On His Way!!!

2009-10-07T15:41:00.001-08:00

Curtis was FINALLY able to leave this morning for Alaska with the moving truck, our car in tow behind it! I won't bore you to tears with the details, but we ran into a few snags with the payment for the moving truck, and it took WAY longer than expected for it to all work out.

Orignally, I was supposed to fly out today, but we didn't book our tickets while the seat sale was on, and now I have to wait till next Wednesday, the 14th, to fly out with the kids. This means I will miss being with Curt on our wedding anniversary, which makes me really sad, but will give me a bit more time to spend with family and friends.

I am still spending the nights at my friend's house, as her parents are still out of town. They get home tomorrow, however, and then Kingston and I will be joining Kendra here at Mom and Dad's for night times as well as our days. It will be a tight fit, but we'll make do. I'm sure it will make us appreciate having our own rooms once we're finally settled in to our new house.

I really haven't been up to much the last few weeks. Just stressing about getting Curt on the road and worrying about the fact that all our earthly belongings were sitting in a U-Haul truck at the U-Haul yard for 3 days, praying that God would watch over it! (How awful would that have been if someone would have broken in to the truck or even stolen the truck???)

We have gotten together with a few groups of friends here and there, and have had a hard time saying good bye. There have been quite a few tears getting choked back on my part, and a few that have even managed to spill over. (I HATE good byes!) I'm so thankful for all the wonderful friends that I've made here over the last 16 years. God has truly blessed my life with some of the best people on earth! Leaving them will be hard, but I look forward to the new blessings that I'll meet along this new road we're now on.

If you can remember to, would you please say a few prayers for Curt as he drives north. The roads this time of year can be kinda dangerous, and I worry about the fact that he's all by himself out there. I know the Lord will look out for him, but it can't hurt to have a few extra people praying as well! Thanks!

Moving Day is almost here!!

2009-09-24T21:46:00.000-08:00

Hello there dear ones! ;)

I'm sitting here at my girlfriend's house, checking on my friends in "bloggy world" while she does her homework, and I figured I'd give you all an update on the move!

From today until October 7th, the kids and I will be staying in Canada. That way we're out of the house and I can go back there and pack up absolutely everything in it. I'll be staying here with my best friend while her parents are out of town (they come home on October 8th). They offered me and Kingston their bedroom, which was so super nice of them. Kendra is staying at my mom and dad's while I'm here. She could have stayed here as well, but her room would have been pretty far away from me, and I didn't want her to wake in the night and me not hear her. Having her sleep with me was also not an option since Curt will be staying here a few nights as well, and there isn't enough room in the bed for the 3 of us. My mom and dad are only a couple of blocks away from here, so Kendra is still really close.

For tonight Curtis is still in the States, and he might stay tomorrow night as well. It all depends on how much we get done tomorrow.....

I'll be leaving both kids with Mom tomorrow and going down to the house to pack like a mad woman. I hope to get most of it done. Whatever I don't get done tomorrow, I'll finish on Saturday.....

Curtis is getting the moving truck on Monday morning and will be loading the truck that day. I'll clean the house as it's being emptied, so that we can be fully done with it that day. If he can get the truck completely loaded on Monday, he'll leave on Tuesday to drive the U-Haul (with our car on a trailer) up to Anchorage, Alaska!

The kids and I are staying behind for a bit to give him time to get there, get a few things set up, and also give us a bit more time to say "good bye" to our life here.

It sure will be a nice to have time to relax before getting into the unpacking of all those boxes I've been packing! I've never had a break like this in the middle of a move! It'll be like a little mini-vacation. :)

So, once Tuesday has come and gone, I will be in vacation mode and have some time to breath again! That will also give me time to get things set up over in my Etsy shop, so that I can start taking orders again once I'm settled in AK.

And now, I hear the bed calling me. Take care my dear friends! I'm sure I'll be back in a few days with another update on the move!

We have a house!

2009-09-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

Curtis was able to finally make it to Anchorage today and sign the lease on the house that I found for us! YAY! That's one less stress on my plate!

About the house:

It's a 4 bedroom (2 upstairs and 2 downstairs) duplex with 2 bathrooms, 2 car heated garage, and a partially fenced, shared backyard. It's very close to shopping, and few nice parks, a lake, and there are 2 preschools within walking distance. The house is new (only 3 years old) and looks great. Nice sized kitchen, with an open floor concept for the kitchen, dining and living room areas. Oh, and there's also a gas fireplace! Now I can sit by the fire and crochet on the long cold Alaskan winter evenings!

The rent is reasonable (for Anchorage) and they're asking the same amount for a 4 bedroom house as most 3 bedroom places in the area! We were willing to downgrade to a 3 bedroom if we had to, but I'm happy that we didn't have to, and also didn't have to spend extra each month for that extra bedroom. That fourth bedroom will for sure come in handy when our friends and family come out to visit us! Now we'll only have to charge them $40/night instead of $100! (Just kidding! We won't charge them rent when they come to stay! I'll just make them clean for me instead! hehehehe)

Sorry about my post yesterday. I was just feeling a tad bit overwhelmed. My outlook is a lot better today. I still have alot on my mind and my heart, but I just have to learn to trust God to handle it all.

So tired....

2009-09-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

Is it really only the 11th? Seriously?? How can one month dddrrraaaggggg so slowly?? With the amount of stuff that I've been doing and the amount of stress I've been enduring, it feels like it should already be at least the 20th!

Moving is alwasy a hassle, no matter where you're moving, but there are so many more issues you come up against when you're moving out of state. Those of you that have already had a move like that know what I'm talking about. It's like moving to another country......

Anyway, added to the stress of moving is a really awful and stressful situation surrounding my life and the lives of many of my friends that I'm not at liberty to talk about here. I feel completely burdened about it. It's weighing me down more than I can even express. I worry for the souls of the people involved, and pray that God will be with those that have to deal directly with the situation.

I'm bone tired..... Tired of having to deal with my kids by myself, day in and day out. Not that I'm not used to having to deal with them during the days, it's just that with no Daddy here to help out in the evenings, I'm just completely worn out by the time they go to bed. They're also missing Daddy, and so they are acting out more than usual..... Which just fills me with so much joy. (Read the sarcasm there.)

I'm tired of having to figure out all the technicalities of this move, as well as trying to get everything in the house ready for the move, all by myself. Seriously, I'm tapped out.

Sleep has been eluding me lately. I find that the only way I can actually sleep is if I stay up till at least 2 am, so that by then I am so tired that I just crash when my head hits the pillow. If I go to bed any earlier, I lay awake thinking of all the things that need to be done, all the things that need to be said, and wrongs that need to be righted.

Curtis will hopefully be home on Sunday or Monday, so I should be seeing a light at the end of some of my tunnels soon.....

Oh well, soon this move will be behind us and be just a memory..... I honestly can't wait for that day!

A Quick Update

2009-09-05T15:23:00.000-08:00

Curtis has been in Alaska since last Wednesday (August 26) and working very hard and lots of long hours. He wasn't supposed to leave until the day after Labor Day, but things changed and he got a call on Wednesday morning telling him he was needed and he was on a plane that evening!

Needless to say, we didn't get anything done in the way of organizing or packing while he was here. We figured that we would have at least another week to get things done! Oh well, that just means there's more work for me to do!

He's hoping to come home at the end of next week, and we don't know for sure what the plan will be from there..... He might stay and drive a truck up to Alaska with all our things at the end of the month, or he might go back and then come back to move us, or we might still hire a moving company to move our stuff for us. In any of those scenarios, the kids and I are still flying up there the first week of October.

Curtis still hasn't made it to Anchorage to look at houses, but I think that I may have found the perfect one! The wife of the pastor whose church we plan to attend is going to go look at the house for me tomorrow, and I'm getting an application sent to me via email to fill out. So let's just hope and pray and cross our fingers that the landlord likes us well enough to pick us over all the other people who are interested in the house! If it's meant to be it'll be, right?

I've also been very busy with hat orders! Since coming home, I've been working on orders for 17 hats! I've finished 7 and have 10 left to complete. So my fingers have been very busy lately, and my eyes feel like they're about to fall out of my head from the eye strain of crocheting late at night! Last night was the first night that I've made it to bed before 1 am. There just aren't enough hours in the day to do all that needs to be done.

The kids are doing well. Kendra had been at my Mom and Dad's for about 5 days, spending some quality time with them so that I could go through all the toys and decide what to keep, what to sell, and what to throw out. I was also able to get some other things done that would have been hard to do with her here in the way.

Kingston is still taking super long naps, so that allows me some time to get things done that are hard to do when you have a toddler at your feet. He's talking more and more every day and doing funny things all day long to make me laugh. He really is a cute little stinker! Hard to believe that in just a few days he'll be 17 months old! Time sure flies!

And now I should go. Today has been a long day, but I still have much to do. I really can't wait till this move is over......

Saskatchewan 2009

2009-09-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip back to Saskatchewan last month. I took over 640 pictures in less than two weeks! I've tried my hardest to narrow it down to the favorites of my favorites to share with you. (Those of you that are facebook friends can see the rest of my favorites there.)

The kids playing at the park during one of our stops along the way:

At Emma Lake, where my family has had a cabin since my grandma was young:

I spent many, many, happy summer days here when I was a little one!

The Cabin:

The day of the party at Uncle Randy and Aunty Shannon's farm:

The party was a GREAT success! Grandma was completely surprised by the party and even more surprised that my Dad and Mom were there!

The kids had a blast at the farm. Kingston got to run around eating rocks, and Kendra was running from one thing to the next, and she got to feed some horses, which about sent her over the moon!

The gorgeous birthday cake:

My Grandma and 4 of her 6 children:

Left to right: David, Shannon, Grandma, Brenda, Dad

A day at the Little Red River park:

Royal Tyrell Museum, Drumheller:

Drumheller is soooo cool! I loved it as a kid, and I loved it just as much this time around! Sure brings out the kid in you to be around dinosaur bones!

Well, folks, there you have it! Some photographic evidence, and a brief rundown of our holiday. I'm sorry that I didn't give many details, it's just that I am so extremely busy, and blogger hasn't been treating me well. It's taken me almost 3 days to get this post finished because pictures weren't loading, the server was crawling, and I just don't have the time to sit here and wait for things to load!

We did have a wonderful time away, and it was sooo good to see our family again. I thoroughly enjoyed showing off my kids and my husband, and everyone loved them, just like I knew they would!

To those of you family members that read my blog; it was truly wonderful to see you! Let's not wait another decade between visits, ok? I think I hear Alaska calling you all to come visit in the next few years.....

We're Home!

2009-08-21T12:50:00.000-08:00

It feels so great to be home after such a long trip! We got in late last night, and today are trying to get things put away and organized.

Once I get all my pictures uploaded on to the computer and edited, I will be back with a "vacation" post, highlighting all the great parts of our trip. (We had such a wonderful time with my family!)

I see from my reading list that I am so far behind on most of the blogs that I read. There is simply no hope of catching up, so I will just have to start keeping up as of Monday. I hope that I didn't miss anything vitally important, and if I did, please let me know! Alot can happen in two weeks, that's for sure!

See you soon!

We made it safe and sound!

2009-08-12T06:55:00.000-08:00

After two days on the road, we made it safe and sound to Saskatchewan! The kids did great and hardly put up a fuss at all!

We left home at 5:19 am on Saturday morning and arrived in Calgary, Alberta at 7:30 pm. We stayed in a Super 8, and had an ok night, although Kingston woke at least 5 times though, so both he and mommmy were pretty tired the next day.

After having breakfast with my Aunt Debbie, we hit the road again at shortly after 9 am. Curt drove for the first 3 hours and then I took over and drove for the next 5, and that got us in to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan around 6:20 pm.

Kingston did great in the car and only cried about 20 minutes all together in the two days. He liked to just sit and eat, talk to us, and sometimes he'd watch his little tv screen. When he wasn't doing any of those things, he was sleeping.

Kendra pretty much watched movies the whole time! Every now and again we'd make her take a break so she could play or color. We were getting concerned that her eyes were going to fall out! ;)

But, that dvd player with the two monitors was a LIFE SAVER! I sure wish we'd had something like that when I was a kid and we went on those long road trips! Sure would have helped with my parent's sanity levels as well I'm sure, since we wouldn't have been asking "are we there yet????" a million and a half times! And I'm also sure we would have fought alot less as well.

And now I must go and eat some breakfast. We're off to the lake with my Grandma again today! Being on holiday is sooo fun! :)

I won something!!!

2009-08-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

This post is only a month late, but you know how the saying goes, right? (Better late than never....? Yah, that one.)

Well.... Way back in June, the lovely Heather was hosting a "200th Post Giveaway". (You really should go to that post and read the comments! There were some pretty funny entries!)

Well, even though I didn't have a funny pirate joke to share, I was still randomly selected as one of the "runner-up" winners! YAY!

At the begininning of July I received these lovely things in the mail:

Bath and Body Works gentle foaming anti-bacterial soap in Coconut Lime Verbana "flavor", two Stretch Island Fruit Co. fruit leathers, some Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea, and a lovely card with a beautiful picture of the capitol building in Olympia, which I'm sure Heather took.

Thank you so much Heather! It was so fun to win something from one of my favorite blog writers! :) Give the drooly Pod a kiss for me!

Sticky Genius

2009-08-04T13:53:00.000-08:00

Allow me to introduce to you my friend Erinn, the Sticky Genius!

We've been friends for a long time (since we were both just a couple months pregnant with our first born children), and though we've never met in person, she feels as close or even closer than some of my IRL (in real life) friends!

Erinn is extremely crafty and very gifted, and a while back she started her own business of making bags. She now has expanded her horizons to not only making different styles of bags, but she also makes t-shirts, dresses, hats, hair clips, and even stuffed animals!!! She even came up with a nifty invention called the "cart cozy"!

A few months ago I finally ordered a messenger bag from her, and I absolutely love it! The quality is out of this world, the way that only hand-made items can be, and it's the perfect bag for transitioning from a diaper bag, back to a purse.

See? Isn't that super cute?! I LOVE it!

Please take a few minutes to go check out her site. She even has a facebook fan page that you can check out as well. If you're looking for a baby shower gift, or a birthday gift, or even a back-to-school gift, I'm sure you'll find something there that will be just "the thing"!

If you go to her sites and like what you see, make sure to give her some "love", ok?

Big News and Big Changes

2009-08-02T21:23:00.000-08:00

I finally get to announce something that I've been dying to share for the past few weeks!

If you know me at all, then you know that my life is pretty much an open book, and when I have news to share, it about KILLS me to keep it a secret!

(No, I'm not pregnant!)

You all know that Curtis just spent the last three and a half weeks working in Alaska. Well.... the company he was working for, offered him a job, and he's going to take it!

So.......

That means we're moving to Alaska! And soon!

Curtis got home last night (a few days earlier than planned) and we leave on Saturday to head off to Saskatchewan for a week. We'll be gone till the 20th (give or take a few days, what with the traveling there and back and the week spent there) and from the looks of it, he'll be heading back up to Alaska to start working at the beginning of September.

The plan for now is that he'll go up there, and on his days off, look for a house to us to move into. The kids and I will stay behind and get the house ready to move. I won't be doing any of the actual packing and moving, but I will have to go through everything and decide what to keep, what to sell, and what to donate. We'll most likely be hiring a moving company to do the heavy stuff. (Thank GOODNESS!)

So, life as we know it is going to change in some very big ways. I'm sad about some aspects of it (like leaving my family and friends) but excited about the adventures that are ahead of us!

At least we'll be moving to the largest city in Alaska, and from the looks of it, there is pretty good shopping there, so I should be able to cope ok. ;) I can foresee the need for some serious "retail therapy" during my first year there!

Now that you know my news, don't be surprised if I become a ghost around here. I'll be busy spending as much time as possible with my family and friends and any spare time will be spent organizing and sorting, and raising my kids all alone for a month!

We're still praying for God's continued guidance in this move. He knows the road that is before us, and we're trusting Him to lead us. As much as this news will make some of you sad, please remember to pray that God will be with us. It's going to be hard for us as well.....

Remember Me???

2009-07-29T09:03:00.000-08:00

Life is still very crazy and hectic around here..... Curtis is still in Alaska, and will hopefully be coming home on the 4th or 5th of August. By the time he gets home he'll have been gone for almost a whole month!

So that means that I've been a single Mom this whole time, and have not had time to do things that I would normally get to do if Daddy were home to spell me off. It's hard getting used to NOT having that extra set of hands when it comes to things like bath night, and bedtimes, or even just having him distract the kids while I make dinner.

By the time the kids are in bed, I am just shattered! All I want to do is veg, or stagger in to bed. No energy for blogging or picture editing these days. I don't even have the energy to try to keep up with all my favorite blogs! How sad is that??

And life isn't going to get any less crazy around here in the next month either..... Curt gets home on the 4th or 5th and then we leave for Saskatchewan on the 8th. Instead of flying, we've decided to DRIVE!!! 2000 miles in a car (we'll most likely rent a van or a full-size car) with two young children is going to be interesting.... Thanks heavens for portable DVD players, eh? (Any tips that you might have for making this long road trip a little more easy on the kids/parents, please feel free to share! We've never been on a long road trip with the kids yet, so I'm wondering what all I should bring/do for them.)

So our plan is to leave bright and early on Saturday (like 5 am!) and drive all the way to Calgary that first day, spend the night, and then get up early once again and head the rest of the way to Prince Albert the next day. That would get us there late Sunday evening. Then we'll stay until the following Monday, and most likely take a few more days coming home so that we can stop and see a few sights along the way.

We also have some major changes coming up for us in the very near future that I can't discuss on here quite yet, but I would appreciate your prayers for God's leadership in all our decisions. He knows what tomorrow holds, and we just have to trust that He'll lead us down the path we're meant to go.

So.... Now you know what I've been up to and where I've been hiding! Besides melting in this incredible heat wave (yesterday it reached 100* F in some areas here, and that is VERY uncommon for the Pacific Northwest! Oh, and we don't have AC either....), I've just been busy with life and kids.

Before I sign off, I should also tell you about the sale I'm having at Chugamugs Baby Wear! I'm having a Pre-Season Sale, and if you order a Dapper Dude or Dapper Dudette Hat (the one with the brim) before midnight on July 31st (this Friday) you'll receive free shipping and 10% off your entire purchase!

And now, I must go and feed my children! Take care and hopefully you're all managing to stay cool and are enjoying your summers!

An Update on "Chugs"

2009-07-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

(Day 3 of having a fever of 102*. He was just miserable and just wanting to be held all day long! His feet didn't touch the floor for 4 days!)

I'm sorry that I've taken so long to update everyone on how Kingston is doing. Things have been INSANELY busy around here!

Thursday night, while I was at the dr's office with Kingston waiting to get his blood drawn, Curtis called my cell phone to tell me that he had gotten a call from a contractor friend who is building a government building (a school dormitory) in ALASKA! They have fallen behind schedule, and he's needing a speedy plumber to come and help, so would Curt please come and lend a hand?? The pay will be great, and it should only take a week, week and a half tops..... Oh, but you'll have to leave TOMORROW!

I told Curt that I really couldn't talk about it right then, cause my brain just didn't want to process what he was talking about, and that I'd call him on the way home. (I was just a wee bit preoccupied with trying to calm my baby down while the doctors, nurses, and lab techs tormented the poor little guy!)

So, I called him on the way home, and he explained all the details to me, and that his boss had given him permission to go since work was going to be slow this coming week anyway, and he most likely wouldn't have much if any work to do at all. His flights would be paid for, and he'd have free accommodations while he was there, and he'd be making more than double his normal wage, plus overtime since he'd be putting in ten hour days for at least 7 days or more. He'd already looked at flights and would most likely take the 6 pm flight out of Bellingham the following day (Friday).

Being the good wife that I am, I told him to go for it! (Plus, I love it when we have a bit of extra money coming in! Who doesn't??) I knew it would be stressful to be left alone with the kids and with Kingston being so sick, but Curt really sounded like he wanted to do this, so who am I to say no?

Like I mentioned in my last post, that night Kingston spiked another fever, and I called the peds office and they made a note of it in his chart so that the dr who had treated him that day could see it when she came in the next morning.

(On the way to the July 4th Parade. Day 4 of being sick and fevered!)

Well, I got a call from her at 8 am on Friday morning, telling me that she did NOT like the fact that he'd spiked a fever again, and that she was "very worried" about him, and I should bring him in that day. She wouldn't be able to see him, but another dr, who is our "regular" dr's associate, could see him. The receptionist called me back within a few minutes to see if we could bring him in at 10. Just then, Curt checked his email, and his contractor friend had sent him an email telling him he'd booked him the 12 pm flight out of Bellingham!

So, there was a mad scramble for me to hop in the shower, get dressed, try desperately to get my babysitter on the phone so that we had someone to watch Kendra, and also try to finish getting Curt packed. We had no clue how he'd get to the airport, as I didn't know how long we'd be at the dr's office. Blah, blah, blah.... I'll spare you the details and just say that it all worked out fine in the end. All except that Kingston and I didn't get to see Curt again before he left, since we were still at the dr's office. :(

Anyway, I got to the dr's office with Kingston, and they talked to me about his blood work from the night before. Now, I'm no Mckmamma, and am really bad with all the medical mumbo jumbo, but she said something about one thing that they looked at specifically was (I think, but don't quote me) his platelet count. Normal range is anywhere below 0.8 and his were 4! So they were quite elevated and when you have an elevated platelet count, that means that you have inflammation somewhere in your body.

They did a very thorough physical exam, looking for any sore joints, or anything swollen on his body. (He of course was FREAKING OUT THE ENTIRE TIME!!!!) She listened to his lungs (as best she could with him HOWLING) and said that although they sounded clear, and he hasn't had any coughing at all, she still wanted to do a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. (Every now and again they come across a "silent" case of pneumonia.)

(He's been doing this alot lately!)

So, we headed across the hall to the imaging lab, and waited our turn to get in and get tortured some more. Let me tell you people, that about broke my heart, and I almost started crying. They had to sit him in the middle of this little table on wheels that had a hole in it, with a tiny little bicycle seat in it, and the put these tubes around him to hold his hands up over his head. He was screaming and turning purple and looking at me like, "Mommy!!!! Why are you letting them do this to me????" He's so strong and so wirey, that he almost got himself out of it in his desperation to get back in my arms! So they made me put on an iron bib and come stand behind the machine so that I could hold his hands up at the top of the tube, and that way he could see my face. I was able to suck it up and be strong for him, and didn't actually cry, but the tears where right there, just waiting to spill over.

After that, we went back to the dr's office, and waited while she checked the x-rays. She told us that the x-ray looked good and there was nothing wrong with his lungs, so that was a relief. But, they still had no clue what the issue could be, so we had to wait some more while the dr we were seeing that day and the one we had seen the day before talked about what we should do next.

They decided that we should re-do his blood work, just to see how that platelet count was doing, and that we should also start him on a broad spectrum antibiotic. A viral infection shouldn't last that long, and it was most likely something bacterial, and they figured that since it couldn't do him any harm, why not try it and have a shot at it making him feel better?

So, once again we headed downstairs for even more torture, and got some more blood drawn from my precious angel. He freaked out even more, cause this time, he knew what was coming! I did better this time though, and actually managed to NOT break out in a flop sweat!

Back upstairs the nurse gave him his antibiotic shot (once again, I'm not Mckmamma and can not remember for life of me the name of the drug or the amount they gave him) and we had to wait around for 20 minutes to make sure that he didn't have an adverse reactions to it. We also had to book another appt to come back in the following day to see the on-call dr and make sure that he was doing alright in the morning light. (All together we were at the peds office for just under 3 hours!)

(Man alive!!! This post is getting super long!!! Sorry! I'll try to wrap it up as quickly as possible!)

Kingston was looking alot better in the morning, only now he had some green boogers and his breathing was a bit labored, he was also running a low grade fever. The dr examined him (and again he HOWLED his protest) and said that since he seemed to be feeling a bit better, they were going to assume that the antibiotic from the day before seemed to have helped, even though his platelet count was even higher than last time. He conferred with the dr we had seen the day before, and they both thought that maybe the green snot is a sign that he has had a "silent" sinus infection, and that we should treat with a round of oral antibiotics and see how it goes. The next thing they were going to look for would be a bone infection, since that doesn't show up in any blood work, but he really doesn't seem to be in pain anywhere, and if a person has a bone infection, they are usually in lots of pain.

(So sad.... and yet still so cute!)

So for now, it's a "wait and see" game. Today he seems even more improved, even though he's still fussy, and still wanting to be held alot, and laying around on the floor alot. He at least is playing with toys here and there, and walking around, and even smiling now and again!

I'm really praying that this is it, and that we don't have to go back to the dr again any time soon! Thanks for all your prayers and support, they mean alot!

Please Pray!

2009-07-09T19:59:00.000-08:00

For those of you that aren't Facebook friends, and even for those of you that are, please pray for Kingston.

He's been sick since last Wednesday, and for a few days there, we thought he was getting better, but today he started getting super fussy again, and was crying for hours like he was being tortured and in tremendous amounts of pain. I broke down and called the peds office this afternoon, and they got him in for an appt at 5pm.

The on-call doctor was very concerned that he has been so sick, with no other "real" symptoms except a bit of a runny nose, and fever that lasted for 4 days. Like she said, at his age, a child really shouldn't be sick that long unless there was a reason.

He hasn't hardly been eating or drinking, and as a result isn't pooping or peeing very much. He hasn't wanted to play much at all, and is absolutely miserable unless he's being held, and even then sometimes all he does is cry. He's been very lethargic, and sleeping alot (even for HIM!) and that has me super concerned. Those of you that know him, you know that this little guy is ALWAYS on the move, never sits still and is so full of life! He's usually the sunshine in this house, making us all smile, but for the last week we've hardly seen him smile at all, and he's hardly been his normal bubbly self for more than a few minutes here and there. Breaks my heart!!!!

So, since she was so concerned, the dr ordered some bloodwork and a urine draw. Both were NO FUN AT ALL! Poor baby! They had to catherize him to get some pee out, and even then had a hard time getting enough. He's a wirey little fella, and it took two nurses, and myself to hold him down for that one! The blood draw was equally dramatic, if not more so, cause this Momma is afraid of needles in veins, and as hard as I tried to be calm for him, I could tell that he was feeling my own nervousness, and that just made it worse. By the time they were done taking (10 ml) blood, both he and I were covered in sweat from head to toe!

They called me about an hour ago to let me know that his preliminary bloodwork came back all clear. So that was wonderful news! But we're still waiting for the blood and urine cultures, which will be ready in the morning. The told me that the dr we saw today would check in with us tomorrow, and to keep an eye on him, and if he got worse to call.

Well, just a few minutes ago when I was getting him ready for bed, he felt really warm, so I took his temp and he's spiked a fever AGAIN! He hasn't had a fever since Monday, and we were counting that as a good sign when I had talked to the dr. So, I called the peds after-hours clinic, and the nurse talked to the dr, and they said for tonight to just give him tylenol, and keep a close eye on him. They noted it in his chart so that the dr we saw today would know that the fever is back when she checks in tomorrow.

So, I know it's not the most serious thing that could be happening, and lots of people go through much worse with their children, and I should count my blessings that there really isn't anything "serious" wrong with him, but I still can't stand that he's sick! It's breaking my heart to see him like this! All I can ask is that you please say a small prayer for my precious baby boy that it's just a mere virus and that there's nothing to really be concerned about, and that he'll be back to his normal "sunshiney" self soon!

Thank you so much! I love you guys!

Someone Got Ahold of the Scissors....

2009-07-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

That "someone" is none other than Miss Kendra Elise.

(She sure is my daughter! My Mom loves to tell the story about the day that I cut my bangs off as well!!!)

Yes, my darling little girl got ahold of the scissors one morning last month, and cut off a few chunks of her hair in the front and a good chunk off the back!

Needless to say, this Mommy was pretty sad! Kendra has had very thin hair her whole life, and it was just finally starting to get long enough that I could start to do some fun stuff with it!

I was going to just leave it and let it grow out, but I didn't want it growing out all scraggly, so I took her in to my hairdresser to have it "fixed".

The "before" pics, don't really show the extent of the damage. There are a few chunks underneath the longer "forward" hair that were cut almost down to the scalp, so pinning it back wasn't really an option, since that part just stood straight up from her head!

Here she is before the hairdresser appointment:

That front piece that looks like bangs used to be as long as the rest of her hair! So took of quite a bit!

Here she is at the hairdresser:

And here she is back at home:

Well, I'll miss doing her hair in double french braids and curling it for Sundays, but hopefully it will all grow out nice and evenly and who knows, maybe it'll come in thicker now?

Sadly, as much as she looks like me, she didn't get my "thick hair" gene. I'm afraid she got her hair from her Daddy's side of the family.... :(

But, I'll keep holding on to the hope that one day she'll have long, thick, beautiful hair like me! :)

Father's Day '09

2009-07-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

This year I spoiled Curt for Father's Day! And he completely deserved it after the great Mother's Day he gave me!

First off, he's been dying for years now to get this fully-automated espresso machine that they sell at Starbucks. But it's always been way too expensive to justify, when we have so many other things we need. Well..... the week before Father's Day, Starbucks put it on sale for $499! This machine is normally $1199!!!! So, we had some extra money, and he very strongly hinted that he wanted to get it while it was so cheap and while we had a little extra money. He was actually going to just go and pick it up, but I got mad at him and told him that he shouldn't do stuff like that the week before Father's Day! Totally not fair!

Well, they were flying off the shelves at all the local Starbucks' (or should I say "Starbuckses"? No, that looks wrong.), so I ran and picked one up, and me being me, I just couldn't wait to give it to him, so I gave it to him that night! LOL! (Now you all know why I don't do my Christmas shopping until the night before sometimes! It's pure torture for me to keep a gift once I've bought it!)

Then I started feeling guilty that he wouldn't have anything to "open" or enjoy for Father's Day, so on the Friday before Father's Day, I booked two tickets to a Mariners game in Seattle for the following night, and also arranged to have our wonderful babysitter come and watch the kids, so it could just be the two of us!!! He was totally excited (if Curt ever gets excited! Those of you that know him know what I mean!), cause the last time we'd been to a game was with Kendra, when I was preggo with Kingston.

Ticketmaster did a great job for me and picked us out some AMAZING seats! We were just off the first base line, about 20 rows from the front! That's the closest I've ever been to the action, and I loved every second of it! I yelled alot, cause I figured that if I'm that close, they had a small chance of hearing me, instead of if I were a small fly in the rafters, like we usually are! :) GOOOOOO ICHIRO!!!!!!!WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!

It was a great game, and Seattle actually won, so that made it even better! I love going to a game when the home team wins! Makes it that much more exciting for us local fans! :)

So, here are a few pics from our fun night! It was wonderful to be just the "two of us" and have so much fun together, doing something we loved to do in our "pre-kid" days!

Welcome to Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners!

Some of the team stretching on the field pre-game.

The classic "cheesy ballgame self-portrait" (and your first glimpse of my new glasses!)

I personally hate this picture, cause it just looks awkward, and I look hideous, but it shows how close our seats were to all the action, so I'll allow it.

Yet another cheesy self-portrait, but this time I'm sporting a new ball cap!

Oh look!!! We both got new hats! :)

Well, since that took forever and an age to upload those pics (what is up with that???? Anyone else out there having trouble with blogger being really slow at uploading your pics?) I'm going to call it a night!

Here's to more posts from me in the near future! I know you're all going through "Melissa withdrawals"! ;)

So far behind.....

2009-07-06T21:47:00.000-08:00

I am so far behind on my blog and on everyone else's blogs that I don't even know where to start! I guess it's just summer time, eh? Too busy having fun to be bothered to write about it! LOL!

I've also been busy making hats and taking care of my sick baby, so that's kept my hands somewhat tied up.

Yes, Kingston has been sick the last week. It started as a high fever that hung around for a few days, and then he's just been grumpy, wanting to be held all the time and not wanting to eat or drink or play or smile or anything. Poor baby! Today he seems to be getting a bit better, but I'll be keeping my eye on him. I think if he's still super fussy by Wednesday, then we'll be heading back to the dr to get those ears double checked.

Anyway, I hope you all have been enjoying summer. We are trying to enjoy it over here, and when I finally sort through all my pictures and find some time, I'll have lots to blog about!

Take care!

I Heart Faces Week 24: "Let's Hear it for the Boys!"

2009-06-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

In honor of Father's Day this past Sunday, iHeartFaces is having an "all boys" theme, where only the boys are allowed in the pictures entered this week!

How fun!!!!

Here is one of my favorite pictures of my favorite two boys, taken in April. (This was the day we went up to Mt. Baker and Silver Lake.)

Head on over there to see more amazing pictures of some very handsome boys! :)

I'm Still Alive!

2009-06-15T21:28:00.001-08:00

Hello dear readers!

Fear not, I am still alive and well (well, maybe not quite well, but still alive at least!).

I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus, and just haven't been motivated to blog. I've also been very bad about visiting all my favorite blogs and leaving you all comments! I promise that I'll try to catch up soon and be a better blogger.

Just not today though..... Today I am not feeling so hot. I have a nasty head cold that is really dragging me down.

Once I am feeling well, I promise to do a proper post. I have lots to tell you all, as some of you Facebook friends already know!

For now though, I must say good night, and get to bed. My poor little, burning, red eyes can't handle staying open any more, even if my hair is still wet......

Have a wonderful week and we'll talk soon!

iHeartFaces - Week 21 - Happy Birthday

2009-05-31T16:31:00.000-08:00

Last week I did not enter the weekly challenge at iHeartFaces because I didn't get a chance to go out and get a great silhouette picture.

But this week I already have the perfect picture for their "Happy Birthday" theme!

Here is Kingston on his first birthday (on April 10, 2009). I absolutely ADORE this picture of him! He was in love with those balloons! Just look at his sweet little face and the wonder in his eyes! I could honestly climb into my computer and eat that picture, cause he's just the cutest baby in the world!! (Yes, I'm am just a little biased, I suppose.)

Make sure you head on over to iHeartFaces to check out the other entries for this week. There are bound to be some pretty cute ones!

Good luck to all who enter!

My New Look

2009-05-31T15:54:00.000-08:00

Well, actually, it's my blog's new look, not mine. I'm just the same old me that I was yesterday! But that can't be said for my blog!!!!

What do you think?

I actually really don't care what you think, cause I like it! (And I'm the one that matters, right?)

Just kidding, I do care what you think, just not enough to change it if you don't like it! LOL!

I had alot of fun working on this one, and it wasn't as hard as my last blog makeover. There were still some frustrating aspects, but I seemed to have worked them out. I'm sure after my next makeover, I'll be a semi-pro at this whole thing!

Most of what I've done is just self-taught, so I'm sure that any of the pros out there would laugh if they watched me work, taking 100 steps for something that probably takes them 4. Wouldn't it be great if there was a class you could take on learning how to do makeovers for blogger??? I'd sign up for that in a flash!

I won't say who, but I've had a fellow blogger ask me to do a makeover for her blog, and I agreed to do it! She's just waiting for life to slow down a bit (read: school being over) and then she's going to pick out a kit and I'm going to design her makeover!

I'm super excited to do it, as it means more practice for me. I'm just still not sure what to charge.... So, that's why I've decided to make a poll and ask you ladies (and guys, if there are any of you out there reading this) what you think.

I do ask that you only vote if you are a blog owner. Your opinion doesn't really count if you don't have a blog, since you wouldn't know how nice it is to have a spiffy looking blog. Thanks!

Please be honest when you're answering the poll. I won't know who answered what. It's completely annonymous.

Oh, and you might want to keep in mind that my makeover took me about 10 hours, from start to finish. I'm sure I'll get faster the more I do (I'm silently thinking about offering to do this on a regular basis) but I also knew what I was looking for, so I didn't have to change too many things. I'm sure it won't be the same when I'm working for someone else.

Thanks for your time and happy voting!

Don't mind the mess!

2009-05-30T09:48:00.000-08:00

If you happen to stop by today, please don't mind the mess! (That applies to both my home and my blog today! LOL!)

I'm working on my blog makeover, so if you happen to stop in and there are some funky things going on, well, you'll know why! I usually like to do this kind of thing at night, when people are most likely not stopping in, but right now the house is quiet and I am DYING to get started! I know I won't be able to finish it all in one sitting, so that's why I'm giving you the warning.

Why is my house so quiet right now?

Well, that's because Daddy and Kendra went to the dump together (exciting, I know, but hey, she LOVES going anywhere with Daddy, even if it's the stinky old dump) and Kingston is still sleeping. Yes, still sleeping!

Let me give you a little background on why he's still sleeping......

Yesterday morning, I went in to get him when he woke up and he was covered in red spots! And I mean COVERED, people! He looked like a red and white giraffe! Some are raised (which I think are sand flea bites from the beach the day before), but others are flat against the skin, and not neccessarily round, more like roundish splotches.

Of course, me being me, and also being a MOM, I called the peds office within 5 seconds of seeing all those spots! They asked the usual questions. (Has he had a fever? Is he having trouble breathing? Are you using any new soaps, introduced any new foods, etc?) The answer to all was those was "No....". So, they're thinking that maybe it's an airborne allergy, since it cropped up over night, and he hadn't been eating anything or doing anything other than sleeping when all his spots showed up. Maybe some new pollen that was released during the night or something.

I was given instructions to give him 3 ml of Benadryl every 6 hours, and to watch his breathing and if he started to have a hard time breathing to bring him in or if he started spiking a fever to bring him in, otherwise "he should be just fine".

(Like a baby that looks like a human giraffe is "just fine'!)

I wasn't able to leave to go get him some Benadryl until my Mom, my Aunt, and myself went out to dinner. I knew that we really needed some by then because Kingston's skin was even worse than before, and the spots had spread from his limbs to his trunk and face. NOT COOL!

He never peeped through the whole night, so I didn't get a chance to give him the Benadryl till he woke up this morning at 6:30 for his bottle. (This is way early for him, so I knew he wasn't feeling too great.) He was still breathing fine and no fever, but I gave him a dose of Benadryl because he had even more spots than he did when I put him to bed last night!

So, that was 6:30 and the little stinker is still sleeping now and it's 11 am. I have no plans of waking him. I'll just let him sleep it off. I also have no plans on him taking a nap today either, since he's already getting so much sleep. I just hope that the Benadryl helped a bit and that the spots are starting to dissappear. He looks awful! I took some pics and will post them later for you all to see that I'm not just being dramatic.

Okay......... What was supposed to just be a quick "don't mind the mess" message has now turned into a novel! I really should stop now!

Have a wonderful Saturday, my dear friends!

And, like I said, don't mind the mess while you're here!