Dear Santa...

I have been a pretty good girl this year and would appreciate your consideration for these items this Christmas.

My husband and I bought our home this year and have been doing countless improvements and updates to it so we decided to save some dough for the house and just fill each other's stockings this year. That and we are buying a ride on mower (my husband's long time dream which I find a little odd but it results in the lawn being cut so who am I to judge). And to be honest, we buy what we want when we want it so with the exception to a new Mercedes convertible that I want we don't really want anything that we must have this Christmas. This Christmas is about the kids and teaching our son the true meaning of Christmas.

On that note, I did come up with a modest list for my darling Santa so that he would have some stocking stuffers ideas. Why hint and beat around the bush...here is my list and a copy of it is going to Santa's e-mail address. You can click on the pictures to go to the store where I found these items.

I'm not the most organized person but I strive to be as organized as I can be. I saw the author of this book on the Martha Stewart show and she seemed to have some good advice so hopefully I can learn something from her book. There was some mixed reviews so this would probably towards the bottom of my list but still a worthy mention.


And next are these slipper boots from Old Navy which I REALLY want. I bought myself some last year in a similar style and I loved them so much that I wore out the sole on them so I need some new ones. I think the ones I own are shorter but they these are pretty similar.


And who can have slipper boots without a cozy robe? I know I can't. In Arizona having a big cozy robe was a joke and it just wasn't needed but here in the Arctic, um, I mean North Dakota it's a must.

The Perfect Shower Cap is one of my must haves this year. When I work hard straightening out my curls I don't want a shower to mess that up. This shower cap is supposed to keep the humidity out.

Ok, so this Bible isn't out until March 2010 but it's still going on my wish list. I hardly have the time to shower these days (yes, I do shower) so this Bible is right up my alley.

Ok, so there you have...my modest wish list.

a month in review

Geesh! It's already been a month since my last post. Where did the time go? Oh, wait...it was spent caring for a newborn, making costumes, having family visit, and taking care of a sick kid. I guess time flies whether you are having fun or not.

It was so nice having our families out to visit and to have the extra hands to help out. It can be hard having them on the other side of the country, especially when our kids are little. Hopefully another grand child will be a good incentive for them to come back and visit again soon.

Speaking of the new baby. She's 6 weeks old this week. That seems so old and yet so young all at the same time. Here she is at 2 weeks.

And 1 month old.

Gosh, I love this picture.
Our family actually left on Halloween which was a bummer but we still dressed up and had fun. Well, my son and husband did anyway. Here's Super Mario & Luigi.

I love that my husband likes to dress up and go trick or treating with our son. He's really just a big kid which is great for our kids. = )

Now that Halloween is behind us I am trying to prepare for Christmas. Hey, I have to start early or I just won't get it all done in time. In fact, I am about 50% done with my Christmas shopping. My goal is to start getting up all the Christmas decor and finish my shopping early so that I can sit back and enjoy all the festivities this holiday season.

my baby story

A week ago today (9.30.09) I woke up at 5 am to call the hospital to get instructions for coming in for my induction. My previous labor was very complicated and both my son and I ended up with some medical complications which were most likely from his large size (8 lbs. 14 oz.). So this time we scheduled an induction 1 week early (39 weeks) to avoid the complications and have my doctor on hand if any problems were to arise.

The labor and delivery nurse told me to come on in at 7 am and so we all got dressed and headed to the hospital. My mom and son hung around for a little while but they ended up leaving early because my son was having a hard time seeing his mommy hooked up to all the machines. He was getting worried about me so we decided to not let him come back until it was time for baby.

I was so fortunate to have a fabulous nurse and doctors. They really make all the difference. I went in at 2-3 cm dilated and so they started the pitocin and kept upping the dose to get me contracting and dilating. Around 4 centimeters I was ready for the epidural. I held out as long as I could and originally considered going natural but that changed quickly. The pitocin induced contractions weren't like the ones I had with my son when I went into labor on my own. The pitocin ones were awful.

After the epidural I took a nap and watched some tv with my husband. Our goal was to get the baby delivered that evening to avoid any complications and I was dilating a cm/hr so that would put me delivering around 8pm or so. The epidural worked so well that we decided it was safe to let my son come back and see us. When my mom and son got back my husband decided to run across the street and get something to eat. I was 6 cm dilated so we were certain he wouldn't miss anything if he hurried.

About 10 minutes later I started feeling a lot of pressure and noticed that the baby's heartbeat was dropping so I called the nurse who came in and assured me that it was all normal. So I rested and just a few minutes later the doctors came in to check me. It turns out all I needed was to have my husband leave because I was 9 cm dilated and about ready to start pushing. I was in complete shock that it happened so quickly. They came in a set up for the delivery and my mom called my husband who was in the elevator heading back up to my room. Less than 20 minutes later I was pushing. And about 20 minutes after that my daughter was born. My husband says I did five cycles of 3 pushes. At 5:29pm I delivered a 7 lb. 4 oz. and 20 in. long healthy baby girl.

We stayed the night and both baby and I were healthy and on our way to recovery so we went home the next day. We had the option to stay the night again but really just wanted to get home to our son. Our daughter has brought so much joy to our family and we are so blessed. I thank God every day (even at 3 am when I can hardly stay awake) for this precious miracle he has blessed us with.

decorating for fall

The leaves are starting to fall and turn beautiful shades of orange, red, and yellow. The weather is finally starting to cool off (don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the warm weather), and it's starting to feel like fall.

I am less than two weeks away from baby day and so I have made a point to start getting up my fall/ Halloween decorations while I still can. My husband and son will add the rest of the Halloween once we get into October but I put up a few things just to set the mood (and because I wanted them a certain way). This is our first fall in our new home and so I am still trying to buy decorations for this home and figure out where I can put what we already have. I know that trying to get this all done with a new baby seems a little crazy but I LOVE decorating for the holidays!

Please forgive bad photos. I have my baby/hospital bags packed and refuse to take the camera out in case I forget to put it back so these photos were taken with my cell phone.

Of course, there is much more to get done but here is my modest start. I am hoping to pick up some more of those fall berry vines from Michael's this week. They are so fabulous and addicting!

And no, I don't have a horse. I just haven't managed to print out the photo for that frame yet.

dreaming

Lately I find myself daydreaming about the baby. What she will look like, what characteristics she will get from me or her dad. I am really hoping she gets my hair and his persistence. Her big brother got my husband's hair.

And it only got worse as he got older. His hair was his trade mark. I worked so hard to get it to lay down. I eventually just embraced the crazy hair.

Luckily, a boy can get away with a buzz cut and that is the style my son wears now that he is a little boy.

I also wonder if she will look like my son. He really didn't look like himself at all on his first photos (the hospital photo above). I suppose he is still a bit squishy in that photo and the birth was pretty hard on both of us.

I know one thing I pray for is an easy delivery this time. It has to be easier than my first. It took him 24 hours, an infection, fever, decelerations of his heart, and a whole lot of stress and trouble to come into this world. The poor boy stopped breathing afterwards from all the stress. Luckily, he is a fighter and didn't let all that get in his way.

But as you can see, he wasn't happy about it...at all. I swear he cried for the first 4 months of his life. I probably cried along with him many of those days.

Nothing can prepare you for the roller coaster ride of becoming a new parent. As soon as you think you have figured out one thing they grow up more and you have to figure it all out again. And of course, no two children are the same, especially a boy and a girl. I think the hardest part so far for me is having to watch my heart walk around outside my body and it just gets worse the older and more independant they get. I will do my best to remember this at 3 am when my daughter is screaming for milk.

Oh, and I miss the crazy hair now.

m.i.a.

It's been too long since my last post. I realized this today when my husband made a comment about me not posting any new blogs lately. I have just been so busy with my 5 year old starting school and getting ready for baby.

My son is officially a kindergartner and loves it. The first couple of days were hard on me but I am starting to enjoy the quiet time around the house where I can get stuff done. We are down to around 4-5 weeks until my due date and I still have a mound of baby clothes to wash, hospital bags to pack, the car seat needs to be installed, and I have a baby shower next week.

Oh, and we bought a new van. We had a Honda Odyssey that was coming out of warranty and starting to give us trouble so we decided instead of spending the extra $$ to get our van ready for winter we would just trade it in early and save ourselves the trouble later. We absolutely LOVE having a minivan and couldn't imagine anything else while our kids are still so young so we went with the Toyota Sienna and so far really love it. My son named the van Dave. The van looks like a Dave to me.

So as you can imagine, I will most likely be missing more often in the coming weeks. I have a lot to get done before the baby comes and lots of nesting to do!

the nursery

As you might remember, my lovely crib bedding set I bought many months ago was back ordered with no date set for shipment. I went on a search for another set I loved and found the perfect one. It's very different from the first set but so cute and girly. I got it on sale at Land of Nod. Here is a picture of it from their website.

The problem with buying things on sale is that the coordinating pieces are usually sold out and that was the case here. Luckily, I'm crafty and will make do. I am still waiting on another shipment from them with the rest of my items so I will wait to show you the bedding in my nursery until I get all the pieces in but I will share with you last night's $5 craft that I made to match the baby's decor.

I blurred out her name for obvious security reasons. I don't think any of you are psychos but when it comes to my kids I like to be on the safe side.

I bought the 8x10 canvas at Michael's (on sale this week) and some acrylic paint to match (also on sale) and made these two canvas pieces to accent her bedding.

The secret to the polka dots was using those little round garage sale stickers.



They peeled right off with a toothpick afterwards. And for the stripes I just used regular painter's tape (cause we have enough of it around here). One thing I did learn is that you want to pull it off shortly after painting it or it will pull off paint around it.

I have many crafts in the process as I prepare the baby's room for her arrival and I hope to get them all done soon so I can share them with you.