Creations From Everyday Life

Happy Leap Day!

Leap day is coming to a close...

For months and months, I have dreamed about having a  baby on this day. How cool would it be to have a birthday every 4 years?!! Granted, the child would still have a party every year... but I think it would be cooler because they could celebrate on BOTH February 28th AND March 1st! It just seemed so crazy to me that I would be that close to delivering on leap day! What are the chances??? I will be 39 weeks on Monday, and for those of you that don't know... 40 weeks is when most women deliver.

Seeing as it is 9:58pm, I'm 100% sure that I will NOT be having a leap day baby. And in all actuality... I really don't care to have the baby until at least another week! Heck! I don't even have a car seat yet! *note: I do have car seats... just not one of those fancy infant carriers. So I'm not destitute or anything. **another note for my mom: YES I have been shopping for a car seat. I've been to all the department stores in the mall, 2 walmarts, a Target and Kohl's. I actually don't know where to look next. Target DID have one on display that I would have bought, but it wasn't in stock. So... that's my luck...

Anyways, I sit here slightly freaking out because I'm having fairly regular contractions. I think I've had 5 since I started this post. I will be pretty mad if I have the darn thing on March 1st, after being soooo close to leap day! But on the plus side... March 1st IS my parent's wedding anniversary! For the most part, the contractions don't hurt too bad. But on occasion I get one that makes me wonder if I should start practicing breathing exercises. And aren't women who are 39 weeks pregnant usually THRILLED to be having regular contractions at this point in their pregnancy? Not me. I'm just praying that my water doesn't break, because Jared left to run some errands and I'm fairly sure I left my cell phone in the car. Actually now that I'm thinking about it... he probably didn't even take the car with my phone in it. Whew. Anyway...

I've tried most of the techniques to stop contractions. I drank water. I laid down. I elevated my feet. I sidetracked myself (sort of) by reading a few chapters in my book. Then I decided to strip my clothing (yes I'm sitting here in underclothing). Then I decided I had a big day, so I'm going to bed. Well I laid there for about 45 minutes. First I laid on my right side because that's where I'm most comfortable. Then I laid on my left because that's what you are supposed to do when you're pregnant. Then I decided that every time I had a contraction I would glance at the clock "just to see." I figured out that I was having them every 2 to 4 minutes, but no more than 4 minutes apart. GREAT! NOT WHAT I WANTED TO SEE! I'm not even packed to go to the hospital!

Well, now I'm packed... so I'm sure the contractions will stop! Oh wait... nope they haven't! But I still want them to. BUT I do think they are for the most part further than 4 minutes apart. Let's time a few and see...

1. 10:09pm
2. 10:10pm (holy crap)
3. 10:14pm
4. 10:16pm (...there goes that longer than 4 minutes apart theory!)
5. 10:19pm
6. 10:25pm (I went to the bathroom and wasn't looking at a clock)
7. 10:30pm (okay... getting further... that's good... right?)
8. 10:32pm (darn it! ...but it was a short dinky one, so I don't think it counts.)
9. 10:34pm
10. 10:38pm
11. 10:40pm
12. 10:45pm (that's more like it... and now I'm done because I'm bored with it).
13. 10:46pm (now why did it have to be THAT close? It snuck up on be before I had a chance to hit "save")

I'll keep typing while I time, and then add above as they go.

Do I deserve to be having contractions today? Absolutely. This is what I did today...

Got up at 7:30am and read a bit of my book while Calvin sat on my lap and watched Clifford the Big Red Dog on PBS. At 8am I made the girls get up, and fed them breakfast. Then Jocelyn got dressed, and I let her watch Dragon Tales until it was time to go out the door. Dropped her off, came back home, played in the sandbox with Katelyn, Calvin and my camera. Found and printed my old birth plan from having Calvin. Printed my hospital packing list. Found the insurance card. Took a shower. When I got out of the shower I realized that I had 10 minutes until I had to pick her up (Friday is a short day). Threw myself together and picked her up. (And when I say "threw" myself together, I mean that I put on my cutest outfit, fixed my hair and even put on make-up AND my watch)! Went to Target to look for a car seat. Instead I bought a sand truck for Calvin, an exercise ball for myself, laundry detergent, and a Diet Coke. Then we went to Jared's work because they were having a BBQ for lunch. After being there for at least an hour, we went to Walmart in search of a carseat. Instead, we bought 2 types of Pansies, some tomato plants, some romaine lettuce plants for the garden, Shasta Daisy seeds, Purple Coneflower seeds, and slow release fertilizer. After we got home, I helped the girls plant the Pansies that they picked out. Then I sent them off for a nap while I planted 18 heads of Romaine Lettuce and 3 tomato plants. Then I planted a bunch of peas. Then I cleaned up one of my flower beds and sprinkled new daisy and purple coneflower seeds over the dirt. Then I fertilized all of my flower beds and watered them. THEN I decided to come in and take a break. So I read my book for about 30 minutes until Jared got home. Then we went hiking for the rest of the evening until it was dark. Came home. Ate some KFC, and now here I am.

I took a ton of fun pictures today. With any luck, I will be back on tomorrow to post them. Otherwise... I will be back on in several days, with a different crop of pictures to post.

As for now, I'm going to get off of here and kick it on the couch with my husband. He's home now... and I think he rented a movie!

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2:30am update... Jared did NOT rent a movie, but I kicked it with him anyways. I tried to go to bed. But it's kind of hard to sleep when I'm STILL having contractions. I decided that since sleep wasn't coming, I'd get back online, time some contractions, and check out some blogs. Well, they are consistently 2 minutes apart, and I'm feeling some pressure. But for some reason I can't admit to myself that it might be real labor. Maybe that's because it's.... 2:30 friggin' AM and I would be really mad if I went through the effort to get someone here to watch my sleeping kids while I went to the hospital so that they could send me home!

Why can't everything be easy? Watch... I'll end up having this one at home...

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9:30am Update (March 1st)... No there is no baby. I just needed to update to put some of your minds at ease. And it looks like my intuition to not go to the hospital was correct. I did still continue to have regular contractions until about 4 - 4:30am, 2 minutes apart. But after they got to a certain point in strength... they just stayed there, and didn't escalate for hours. And that's how I knew it wasn't quite time to go to the hospital. In reality, I felt that I was probably a little dehydrated from all of my activities yesterday. So I made sure to drink water all throughout the night, and go to the bathroom often. And then finally I fell asleep. And if you can fall asleep... you're not really in labor too bad (unless of course you are on some good drugs)! I slept until 8am and was suddenly wide awake. I had planned on sleeping in because of the whole ordeal last night. But my internal alarm clock went off, and I'm suddenly wide awake! And now that I'm actually rested, I wouldn't mind going into labor right now. How is that for ironic!

Jared just took Calvin and Jocelyn to the barber with him. The boys are getting hair cuts, and Jocelyn wanted to tag along. Kate is drawing outside with sidewalk chalk, and I'm uploading those pictures that I promised last night. After they are finished uploading, Kate and I are going to Walmart to get some necessities that will make me feel a little better about this whole labor situation. And then when I get home I'll post those pictures! It looks like I got some good ones!!!

Just a few layouts.

I did both of these way back in November, intending to use them for the Hall of Fame contest. But I actually ended up loathing them, and didn't use them. Now, months later dragging them out... I don't loathe them as much, but I'm still glad that I didn't use them for the contest.

I also worked on a layout today that I LOVE! I used lots and lots of painting goodness. I don't want to share the full layout for "submission possibilities," but I will share this cute little hibiscus flower that I painted with the assistance of some new Bo Bunny acrylic stamps I purchased yesterday!

Random Tuesday

I noticed when titling this post, that I use this title quite often. I guess that for me, Tuesday truly is a random day. A day that I like to write down things I don't want forget.

For instance...
Sunday Calvin was being naughty (as all little boys are), and was jumping off of the arms of our couches onto his unsuspecting sisters (and on occasion me). If you heard him yell the words "set, set" you knew you better move, because the word "go" would soon follow along with a leap through the air. During one of his attempted jumps, he managed to do a back flip in mid air... landing flat on his back on the wood floor. He laid there for about 1 second before saying, "owwwwwwwwww." I sat there, giggling under my breath... waiting for the scream I was sure would follow. But he just shook it off and actually looked as though he was rating his jump on the coolness scale from 1 to 10. I'd give it an 8 buddy! You get major points for having balls. Can you say that on a blog? Well, I should be able to since I pay for this darn thing. I'm reserving a score of 10 for the time you do that and actually land on your feet. OR even better, do a back flip in the other direction and land on one of your sisters!

Calvin's Dictionary:

• Set, set, go = On your mark, get set, go!
• Four, four, four, go = One, two, three, go!
• Mack = Any truck we pass on the road. He feels the need to wave to and greet every Mack that we see... and also feels upset when we part ways with any Mack that has (or has not) been greeted.
• Ahh More = "I want more of whatever I'm pointing to right now."
• Ahh Down = "I want down." or "If I'm already down, and am reaching my arms up... I really want up."
• Dorge = "I want to watch "Curious George."
• Ka-chow = "Look at this Car's movie die cast car that I'm holding."
• Car-chow = "Look at any other car that I'm point at." (This usually occurs when watching TV or driving down the road.

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Katelyn. She has a new book. A big book. In fact... it's her "huemantic" book. She carries her huemantic book everywhere, and wants us to read it to her at night. Jared read her an excerpt last night out of the "C" section. I told her I would read her some tonight. She even took her huemantic book to bed her last night. I do plan on getting a picture of this. What is her huemantic book you wonder? Well.. it's the phone book. And I guess it's a cross between being "huge" and "gigantic," so it's simply "huemantic" according to Kate.

**Note addede later... Kate just brought me her huemantic book and asked me to read it. So I flipped it open on random, and was in the florist section. So I started reading it... and she told me, "Mommy! I want to go flower shopping!" So I promised her that we would go flower shopping next week and get some flowers for the house, and maybe for the front yard. I'm writing this down now so that I don't forget later!

Katelyn also reads the newspaper every morning. Why do we get the newspaper every morning? No I'm not expecting you to guess why we get the paper. I really want to know... WHY do we get the paper every morning!

Over a year ago, I paid $15 to the Deseret Morning News so that we would get it only on Sunday's. My motive was purely to get the comics so that we could read them while we waited for 1pm church to roll around. The experience was great for a few weeks! And then we stopped getting the paper. And I didn't really care that much, because I never read the thing... but I called anyway and told them we were getting ripped off. So we would get it again, except LATE... and what's the point of getting a newspaper if you get it AFTER you got home at 4pm from church??? Then suddenly we started getting the paper every day. For about 7 months now, we get the Deseret Morning News every single morning. It's usually there by the time I take Jocelyn to school. So on our way home from dropping Jocelyn off, Kate wanders down the driveway, gets her newspaper and brings it in. Then she proceeds to flip through every section, and looks throughly interested in the articles and advertisements.

I however am annoyed that we are still getting the paper every day. I don't even have a subscription anymore! I never renewed... so we have been getting the paper for the last month now for 100% free, and every morning I look to see if they have stopped coming. Why don't I call and tell them to stop sending me the paper you ask? I think I secretly enjoy letting Katelyn have her morning news fix, and I really enjoy the supply of paper to line the bottom of my Guinea Pig's cage with... And I really think I'm curious to see how we will actually get the paper without paying for it!

Katelyn's Dictionary:

• Huemantic Book = The phone book (...see huge or gigantic book).

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Tuesday means a doctor visit for me. Nothing exciting to report except that I'm now 2cm dilated. Which actually means... I'll maybe be 3 cm dilated next Tuesday... but I will still be pregnant until AT LEAST March 10th (which is my due date). But that's okay with me, because I still need to finish painting my hallway, and 2 rooms in my living room.

Hey, mom... when are you coming out here so that you can help! <insert snickering here>

Oh... and my blood sugar was low again, so maybe tonight I can make those cookies that I wanted to make the other night (and didn't dare)... and actually eat a few!

I also started reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, and made it through 5 chapters in the waiting room. I can now confess I'm hopelessly addicted, and will probably get nothing done for the next few days.

I'm gonna be a grandma!

Katelyn just informed me that she has a baby in her tummy!

What a suprise!

Yes she did wear that to school...

...and those are shorts by the way.

Then Katelyn decided to let her scrappy side out:

So I had to let my scrappy side out:

And then we got word that my SIL Nikki gave birth in about an hour... start to finish (it's her first too). Unfortunately I couldn't leave to go see them, but Jared went with my camera to take these:
 

It was a home birth, and my mother-in-law delivered the baby because the midwife didn't even have time to get there!

And that was our crazy day yesterday in a nutshell!

Hottie or Nottie???

I don't know why that title struck me??? I'm in one of those strange moods I guess. But HEY! I blog, so I have to be strange, right?

Speaking of strange (and the reason for my title)... I did a photo shoot with myself today. Yep, just me and my tripod and my remote. On occasion Calvin would help out by watching and saying "cheese" for me. If you can't see my hands in the photo... it's because I'm holding a remote. If you CAN see my hands... it's because I'm pressing the shutter release with my foot! Nifty, huh!

And.. I just wanted to add that I'm hopelessly addicted to shooting in black & white. I'll alternate them with the color shots for your viewing pleasure! (And also note that they aren't ALL 'belly' shots. I just HAD to goof off and be silly for some).

And DARN-IT! I loved this one, and it ended up blurry because it auto focused on my tummy and not my face! I may have to re-try it with Jared taking the picture...

How can this be comfortable?

*photo taken February 2nd, 08

The Spectator

The other day, Nikki and I wanted to use Calvin's room to take some pictures in. We had already been in there once... but then had a few more ideas and wanted to use his room again. But the problem was that he was in there to take a nap. After some investigation, I figured that he in deed was NOT taking a nap, so we took over his room while he was in it. He really enjoyed laying on his rug watching. He didn't notice at first when I turned my camera to him for a few quick shots. But in true form of a photographers/scrapbookers son, he quickly smiled. And I was shooting in black and white at the time, which is why these are colored so...

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Today I tried to check a few things off of my "to do before this baby comes" list. I only accomplished one however, which was to buy a new nursing bra. It's a 34C even and fits now... pre nursing!

Never thought I'd have jugs like that!

But it's cute! I'm even thinking about wearing it a few weeks early to break it in!

Other things to do:

• Pack a hospital bag.
• Find and print my birth plan.
• BUY A CAR SEAT!
• Pull out the boxes of baby clothes and wash the 0-3 girl and boy clothes.
• Buy a package of newborn diapers.
• Raise the level of the crib to the top setting.
• Wash the sheets in the crib!

And I'm sure there are others that I'm brain farting right now... And to my defense, I did go car seat shopping today. I just didn't find one that I liked at the mall! But I've seen some good ones at Target!

Full Term - 37 Weeks!

And... here is my belly in inches as of Saturday!

More Maternity Pictures.

My sister in law, Nikki said that I could post some of the pictures of the non-naked belly variety. She wants those to be private to her... So here are some of my favorite from the shoot:

I just took this one in front of a big window in my house, and over-exposed the outside (a lot). I think it turned out super cool!

Who needs a white backdrop? I took this one against a white wall in my bedroom and it turned out awesomely!

And here are two of my favorites... that normally show exposed belly... but I cropped them to just show her face because I think she's TOO CUTE!

Katelyn to me this morning...

"I wish I never had a mom!!! NEVER!"

Maternity Shoot Part 1

My sister-in-law and I. She looks FAB. I look like an ogre. Would you believe she is actually due 2 weeks before me??? She's so tiny!!! I had to crouch down in the first picture... but then stood up tall in the second. More pictures from HER shoot to come later.

 

Painting & Photo Shoots...

Here is what I'm doing today... except this picture wasn't taken today. It was taken January 21st when I was painting the kitchen...

I'm also going to take some maternity pictures of my sister-in-law. I'm pretty excited about it. She's going to come over here so that we can use some of my cool wall colors as backdrops (I don't have seamless paper or anything like that for backdrops). If nothing works out here, we may venture out in town. But most likely not...

It is a nice day though!

Home Improvement Pictures.

I made it a point to take some pictures around the house today.

This one I think is super duper cool. I took multiple shots with a tripod of Calvin's room so that I could "photomerge" them together in PSE. Well, when I ran the initial merge... this is what I got:

Now... yes. I could have taken some time and rotated a picture here, and resized a picture there to make it look perfect. But then I thought... WHY! It's super cool looking... like an eccentric piece of art. So I'm leaving it as is. And I don't feel bad about it because you totally get the idea of what his new room looks like! It looked like this a couple of weeks ago:

 
*(left: before floor was laid...  Right: After floor was laid)

Here are some pictures of the girls room:

The girls have little personal shelves mounted to the wall next to their beds to put their favorite books on. Katelyn has had one next to her bed for about 2 years as an experiment, and I just recently added one for Jocelyn when we re-did the room.

My room is pretty trashed right now, so you can just have a fun peek at my new wall color!

And another shot of my kitchen counter! Lots of fun stuff there!

Star Fish

Last week Katelyn came up behind me and said:

"Mom, I made you a star fish."

I looked down at her and about peed my pants laughing! Then I yelled:

WAIT.  RIGHT.  THERE.  WHILE.  I.  GET.  MY.  CAMERA!!!

Haha! Star Fish. Get it!

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Tuesday means Dr. Visit. Except not next week because my Dr. will be in Hawaii with his family. Lucky duck!

• Blood Sugar back down again - Yay!
• Only gained 1 pound (161)- Yay!
• Still 0 centimeters dilated - Yay!
• Positive for Group B Strep - Booooooo!

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Home Improvement Updates:

• Bought new laundry baskets for the girl's room, and Calvin's room from Target. Still searching for "the right" shower curtain for the bathroom.
• Calvin's room - Finished.
• Girl's room - Finished - Base boards.
• Kid's Bathroom - 2 walls left to paint + new shower curtain.
• My Bathroom - Finished minus window trim.
• My room - 3 walls painted. 4th coat needed for 4th wall.
• Hallway - not started.
• Living room - 2 walls painted, 2 walls not.
• Kitchen - Finished.
• Laundry Room - Finished.
• Flooring Finished!!

Today I think I am going to finish the girls bathroom, and do the trim in my bathroom. AND having so much left to do is the reason why I'm excited about being 0cm dilated! That, and the fact that my Dr. will be in Hawaii next week!

Snow Anyone?

Pictures courtesy of Jared's camera. I just didn't feel like dragging mine out...

But, HOLY COW! Snow in St. George! This happened on Sunday night. It was bedtime, and originally I told the girls that they could play in it in the morning. But then... remembering that we were in St. George... I changed my mind out of fear. I was afraid that it would be melted by morning, and then I'd be the worst mommy in the world! So they got to stay up late and play until they were tired of it. Then it was hot chocolate time... and finally bed time!

And look at these goof balls!

Calvin has been diggin' the camera thing lately. We have a little play camera kicking around that he's been playing with. He sticks the lens in his eye, and then walks around saying "cheese." When I went to take this picture, I said... "Calvin... Look." And he said "CHEESE!" ...so this is what he looks like mid-cheese...

And have you ever seen a whale in the snow?

Now you have

;)

Beautiful Day...

Have you ever had one of those mornings where everything seems wonderful? Despite the fact that my house is a mess from "construction," I'm in a glorious mood!

I stole the song "New Soul" in my play list from Elizabeth Kartchner because it made me happy ;)

... and I've been helping Jocelyn work on Valentines for her class. I told her a couple of days ago that we'd go to the store and buy some. She looked at me like I had feet growing where my ears should be and informed me that we needed to SCRAPBOOK the cards. What else should I have expected really. So, that evening I took her to the local scrapbook store (LSS) and let her pick stuff out for her card. When we got home we made a sample card so that we'd have something to look at as we worked, and we did some of the tedious things (like put brads through flowers). Then we put everything away. Yesterday after school we got to work! Jocelyn has done most of the work herself. I cut the cards out of cardstock and trimmed the ribbon and that's about it. She even rounded the edges with my corner rounder!

And... because I was in a super mood this morning... I had my camera out. Which is rare lately. So here are some pictures from our morning before school:

Note Woody laying on the table. Woody or Buzz or both goes everywhere with us now. Toy Story is Calvin's new obsession.

...and isn't that a pretty wall? Very festive for Valentine's day I think!

Tuesday

Today has been busy!!!

- Got up and took a shower. Jocelyn got in with me so that I could give her a quick wash before school.

- Got dressed.

- Fed the kids breakfast (and myself).

- Made sure the kids were dressed...

- Dropped Jocelyn off at school.

- Took Katelyn and Calvin to Jared's work so that he could watch them while I went to the Dr.

- Had my 35 week check-up.

• Peed in a cup (TMI I know).
• Weigh 160 pounds. Total weight gain is now 50 pounds!
• Had my finger pricked so that they could test my blood sugar.
• Doctor did the swab for Group B Strep.
• My blood sugar is too high, so I can't have sugar this week (:cry:)
• Everything measures good and baby's heart rate is good.
• 0 centimeters dilated.
• 60% Effaced.
• I go back in a week.

- Went back to pick up kids.

- Went to Bed Bath & Beyond to get new down pillows. They're kind of expensive! Spent over $60!! But we needed new ones because my head was literally touching the mattress through the pillow, not to mention the feathers everywhere! And I have a horrible kink in my neck right now because of it. Something a nice cold Coca-Cola could fix about now... but... bleh... no sugar!

- Went to Payless and got Kate and Calvin new shoes. He had his heart set on some Lightning McQueen Croc type shoes, but he needed tennis shoes and I wasn't buying both. I figured that his birthday was in a month, so maybe those could be a present!

- Went home and grabbed the stroller.

- Drove to Jocelyn's school so that I could vote in the Primary. That was the reason for the stroller. Last time I went to vote, Calvin was AWFUL to keep track of while I did my business!!! So lesson learned, I made sure he was strapped in this time!

- Let Kate and Calvin play on the playground while we waited for Jocelyn to get out of school.

- Drove home, made lunch....

- And here I am now.

Whew! And it's not even 1pm yet!

I think it's nap time!

35 Weeks

... now only 5 to go!

Helper Kate.

Tuesday Jared took the day off of work to work here on the flooring. At some point around nap time, Jared told Katelyn that he'd take a nap if she would finish the floor for him.

So she found some scraps and went to work!

She was serious too...

... and this is what our floor still looks like today. We haven't had a chance to work more on the floor, but should get some work done tomorrow night!

And I know that my friends are thinking... "what... no crack on Kate"?!

I'm just as confused as  you are!

Layout Share.

Here is a digital scrapbook page that I did a couple of weeks ago. I had some fun ideas in my head that I wanted to try!