Happy Halloween

Today is the 2nd day that it's just been me and Natalie at home. We are doing good.. now if I could just get her to sleep some today. She loves to fight sleep.. she'll almost be out and then she'll just start screaming to wake herself back up. Right now she's alseep on my lap and I dare not move because she'll wake back up! :)



Hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!

3Weeks Old

Doesn't she look cute in green? This outfit is a size newborn, but even some of the newborn clothes we have for her are too big. I'm sure though, that it's only a matter of days before we'll be wondering how she ever fit into the really small stuff.

She's a little bit small for the swing, but making a headrest out of one of her blankets helps some. She did like it and it put her right to sleep.

Testing Video

Looks like the video is working. If you have trouble viewing it, let me know in the comments. This was the first time I've added video to the blog.

I still can not get over how fast the days go by. It is really hard to believe that Natalie is almost 3 weeks old. John goes back to work tomorrow and we are really gonna miss him! He is the best dad and has been such a great help. The good thing about his schedule and working 12 hour shifts is that it means there are still 4 days of every week he will be home. Natalie loves her daddy and so do I! :)

She's growing so fast!

Couple of pics..

Friday we went back to the dr. for her 2week check up. She's doing good and was almost back up to her birth weight. She's 6lbs 3oz up from 5lbs 9oz a week ago.



Daddy's Little Angel

Bouncy Chairs

Tomorrow it will have been 2 weeks since Natalie came into our lives. It has been a very busy two weeks. Who would have thought it takes so much energy to feed, change, and generally keep an eye on a newborn. For all of you that have kids, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It is a very hard job, but even so, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Every day gets easier as we adjust to our new routine. And every minute is precious time we are enjoying with our little girl.

These two pictures are of her first times in her bouncy/vibrating chair. This is quickly becoming her place to sleep during the day. She'll usually eat, burp, and then go to sleep in her chair so that Mom and Dad can eat too. We ended up having to get her a premiee pacifier.. as you can see even the premiee one almost covers half her face! We go tomorrow for her 2 week checkup and will find out if she's back up to her birth weight.

Just look at that face!

We're slowly but surely getting the hang of this parenting thing. Just had to share this picture that we captured this morning.

Here She is!

Arriving October 6th at 7:21am.. 6lbs 5oz

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

Things I've Learned

In the past 24 hours, a few things I've learned..

1. Making plans to do something (like update the site) when raising a newborn can go right out the window.

2. An undiapered baby can spew poop three feet.

3. Looking into your childs eyes and having them look straight back at you as if they know exactly who your are is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

There are such joys in very simple things..
Still trying to find time to put up pictures, but these days sleep has got to come before that so, here's a sneak peek.

Quick Update

What a whirlwind of a week! Baby and family are doing good..I plan to update with lots of pictures today, check back this evening. I'ts 6:20 am, Natalie just had a good meal and diaper change and is good to go for about 2 hours :)
More later..

The time has arrived.

18 hours and 40 minutes. That's how long until Natalie Marie joins us. I went to the doctor today and after my exam he wanted to do an ultrasound to determine the baby's weight. She appears to be 7lbs and a few ounces. I have a small frame, so there was concern about the baby making it's way through the birth canal. After some discussion the doctor and I decided to schedule a C-section. So tomorrow at 7am it is.

I have to say I was very overwhelmed with everything that happened in a span of 20 - 30 minutes. I went from not knowing anything about when she'd be born to knowing the exact time. John is working today, so he wasn't at the appointment with me. The doctor told me to discuss it with John and if we needed to cancel or I wanted to think about it over the weekend, just to give him a call. Of course John wanted whatever is best for me and the baby, so everything's a go. It's been an emotional morning in ways that I can't really put into words. Now that I've had some time to let it all soak in I'm a lot more at ease. Bags are packed, the house has had a dusting and vacuum, and some last minute laundry is in the dryer. I'll give you three guesses on how I plan to spend the rest of the afternoon to relax........

If you guessed something other than scrapbooking, you need to visit my blog more often! :o) So I most likely won't be posting for a few days, but as soon as we get home and get settled I'll be sure to post LOTS of pictures!

What a Weekend!

Yes, it's Tuesday night and I'm just now posting about the past weekend... these past 3 or 4 days have just flown by, which is perfectly fine with me. It means I'm that much closer to having this baby....

We had a really busy but fun weekend. Friday night we went out to Daniel and Telah's. The guys played their video game while Telah and I scrapped the night away. There's a couple of pics of us from that night on Telah's blog. I didn't get a whole lot done, but the few layouts I did, I put a lot of time into. I have to give credit to the design team at Chatterbox for the "Butterflies" layout. Aside from using different paper, I copied it almost exactly. Thank goodness so many gals who are blessed with creativity, share their ideas with those of us that need the help :o) The other half of the layout I did on my own. Yea for me!

Then there is the page from my nephew's birthday. It's so hard to believe he is already nine years old! We cropped until about 2am before finally calling it a night.



Saturday evening we went to a surprise retirement dinner for Marilyn. She's a good friend of John's dad. Lots of family and friends and good food! This other picture is of John's twin brother Alan and his friend Kelli. (Alan you should have known this was going on the blog.. I told you to smile.. hehe)

Baby Kiera

John's cousin Kristopher and his wife Sarah were also expecting a baby girl about a week before us. We only get to see this side of the family around Christmas time, so I was pleasantly surprised to get some pictures via email today of their new arrival. Kiera Rei was born September 22nd, weighing 6lbs 3oz. Proud grandparents are Karl and Kathy and proud Great-Grandma Wolfe. Congratulations you guys! Say a prayer for us that Natalie will be joining us soon.. and we hope to see you in a few months.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

Driving home from work today the sun was shining, the temperature was pleasant but as I'm looking toward the direction I'm driving it looks like I'm going to be driving right into a storm. I got rained on a little bit but it was one of those passing showers that also produced the most beautiful rainbow.
I got so excited because I had my camera with me so I started looking for a place I could pull off the side of the road and take some pictures. On my route home, in 5 o'clock rush hour traffic, it just didn't happen. So while I did capture the moment, despite the U-HAUL truck and the power lines, the pictures don't do it justice. It was one of the brightest rainbows I've ever seen. It wasn't far away either because as I'm driving down the road I can see where it ends in a field out to my right. I tried to get a picture of that too but again, in busy traffic, taking a picture out the car window wasn't the easiest task. And while I didn't see a pot of gold, it was a most amazing sight.

I've been in "nesting" mode this evening. As soon as I got home I cleaned both bathrooms including wiping down the baseboards and attempting to get the dust out of the nooks and crannies in the floor corners. The wood letters I ordered for the nursery came in, so I put those up. I got them from this lady. You can get them in a bunch of different fonts and colors and they come with the ribbon on them. The whole name was around twenty dollars which I thought was great.

I couldn't be any more ready for the baby to get here. I've heard people say the last month is hard but the reasons sited are usually just because you're so big and miserable. I don't have that problem so much as just running out of patience. That's what I needed to find at the end of that rainbow, because mine is running short. I even walked laps around my house tonight hoping that might hurry things along. The funny part is I was doing these laps around the inside of my house. Our dog came into the living room and just stood there looking at me as I was walking around through the kitchen, foyer, and living room in a big circle. He had that tilted head, funny look on his face like, "what is going on?". I took one more picture of me and my big 'ole belly. I'm hoping this is the last one I get a chance to take. 12 days and counting... Edited at 9:20pm: I am cracking up at the expression on my face in this picture. And for some reason it looks like I have a big gap in between my front teeth. Just wanted to add that I haven't lost any teeth! LOL

Miscellaneous Tuesday

So today is week 38. Only 14 more days until my estimated due date. I've had a really good pregnancy and I'm not just totally miserable, but I'm just so ready for her to be here. Today at the doctor's office I find out I'm all of "maybe" a centimeter dialated. No change from last week. I know I should just take it easy and enjoy these last few days before the hard work and sleep deprivation come sweeping into my life. So what better thing to do than.... you guessed it, Scrapbook!

Tonight I started the first couple pages of the baby book. I really love the unltrasound page! I'd like to add a little more embellishment to the other one. Maybe some rub-ons. When are those doodle genies supposed to hit the shelves? That would work so well for decorating the page a little more!

Blessings in Trial

This entry is going to very hard to write, but I’m going to try my best to get through it because it’s something I want to share.

A year ago this week was one of the most trying times of my life. For myself, my close family and friends and especially my husband. You see, John and I had been having trouble getting pregnant. I’d had some minor surgery and my Doctor had administered a medicine for endometriosis. The thing about this medicine is that I had a SEVERE reaction to it, a psychotic reaction to be exact. To put it in the simplest terms, I lost my sound mind. John describes some of the way I was acting to be like RAINMAN. Repeating things over and over again. Not making much sense. I had a very schizophrenic personality. Ok one minute, screaming the next. It was a very scary time and the thing was we didn’t know how long it would last. The medicine wasn’t a simple pill I could stop taking. It was an injection I had been given that would be in my system for about 45 days. After doing some research on the internet and reading stories of others that had had similar reactions, there was a slight possibility that I would never be the same again.

While a lot of it I don’t remember, there are certain things I do. I can recall being so paranoid. I remember having the most irrational of thoughts. I even remember lying in bed having conversations with God and the Devil. It amazes me now to look back on some of what I remember and think that it made sense to me at the time.


After my 1st really bad episode, which required a 911 call, and an ambulance trip to the E.R., I had been given Ambien to try to help me sleep at night. It wasn’t very successful and I can remember talking completely out of my head and being held by my husband as he tried to help me go to sleep. I remember him turning on a CD we have that plays the sound of the Ocean. At the time I didn’t know what was going on, or why he was doing what he was doing. I remember looking at our ceiling fan, which was on; and in the dark with only the light of the CD player and our alarm clock, I thought those rotating arms were God’s angels. I know John had to be so terrified because I was expressing these thoughts and it had to be a terrible thing to deal with because I was not mentally there. He told me to lay still and listen to our song. Our song? The sound of the Ocean is our song? You see, we didn’t have an official “song” but we spent the days after our marriage at the Ocean. Our Honeymoon was spent in Gulf Shores and the waves crashing against the shore was the sound we heard when we went to sleep at night and woke up in the morning. It was a song that reminded him of how much we loved each other and why we married each other. A song of a peaceful time, a joyful time, a time when nothing else mattered except the love we had for each other.


So I share this why? Because we should always count our blessings. Even when things are at their worst, remember to look at the big picture and know that our life here is very brief. To remember that ALL things work together for good for them that love the Lord. Be thankful for your husband or your wife who loves you, even though the two of you may be going through a hard time. Remember why you married each other in the first place. Be thankful for your extended family and your kids, and all the material blessings we have that most people in this world don’t. And whether you do or do not have a spouse, or family or kids, don’t ever forget that you do have a friend that will always be there for you if you want him to be. God gave us the gift of his Son so that we don’t ever, ever have to be alone. And IN HIM there are immeasurable blessings.



Count it ALL joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because we know that the testing of our faith produces endurance. Having endured, that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

Side Note: Pictures in this post were taken Oct 2, 2005; Our 6th Anniversary; which was about 3 weeks into the 6 week ordeal with the medication. I was on 3 other medications to help me through that time. When the medicine had time to run it’s course, I was able to come off of the other medicines also, and I thank God that it didn’t have a permanent effect on my mind and personality.

Expanding My Horizons

I've only been scrapbooking for about two years. My level of creativity is very limited. I used to use sample layouts from Creative Memories Idea Books the majority of the time. Even when I'd do a layout completely on my own I kept it very simple. I've tried to get the creative juices flowing over the last month or so by reading everything I could find about scrapbooking and looking for and browsing through LOTS of layouts online. I went today to a local scrapbooking store and got some ofthese. Heidi Swapp products are new to me, but they are quickly becoming a favorite.

So tonight I really branched out. I used my flower embelishment and ribbon. These are both new things for me, so even though this page is very simple, I'm really proud of it. It took me 2 hours to put it together, which is entirely too long, but practice makes perfect!

Celebrating Seven Years

John and I's 7th Anniversary is not until October 2nd, but with an expected due date of October 10th and the chance that little Natalie could make her appearance any day now, we decided to celebrate a little early. We'd tossed around a few ideas about what we wanted to do and decided to make it simple but different.

We had heard great things from Daniel and Telah about a little Italian Restuarant called Sernicola's in Cowan, TN (just a tad over an hour drive from where we live). So we decided to go on a mini-road trip and check it out. I must insert here that about 20 minutes up the road I realized I had forgotten my camera. Of course this was a great travesty to me since Scrapbooking is my favorite pastime and now that I've started blogging I don't even have pictures to share.

The drive up through the peaceful hills of Tennessee eventually brought us to Downtown Cowan. I swiped this picture off the internet. Google is a wonderful thing. It's outdated but Sernicola's is located in the white building on the far left. Cowan is a very small little community and there's not much more to Downtown than what you see here. The standard small town railroad tracks and gas station would be just to the left of this picture.

I've never been to Italy but they tell me the dining room is reminiscent of an outdoor café amidst a street in Italy. It was a very cute little place with awesome food. I had Fettecine Alfredo with Grilled Chicken and John had a Flat Iron Steak with a Blue Cheese crust. We also had some baked tomatoes that were covered in mozerella and seasonings. The BEST Alfredo sauce I've ever had.

On the way back home we enjoyed the most beautiful sunset AND had to come to a complete stop in the middle of the highway because two deer had decided to stand in the middle of the road. Not a busy highway thankgoodness, so it wasn't a problem, except that I didn't have my camera!! I could have fed the deer a carrot we were so close! Oh well, the mini trip was fun. The food was great and I couldn't have asked for better company. I love you John. Thank you for being the Christian man that you are. I look forward to many more years together.

Weeknight Relaxation

Some couples may spend a nice weeknight relaxing in their respective chairs watching TV, but a typical evening for us is quiet time in the living room on our respective computers. John loves playing World of Warcraft online with Daniel, his partner in crime. The picture is a little out dated. He has since upgraded from the cardtable to a computer desk. I was glad to get that desk moved into the living room for two reasons. One- the cardtable was really an eyesore, not exactly the most attractive home accent, and Two - I now have my table back for scrapbooking. While he's gaming I'm usually curled up on the couch with my laptop surfing the web. Lately my laptop time has been spent updating my site, reading various blogs and searching for all things scrapbook.

I had my weekly doctor's appointment today and can you believe they actually had a scrapbooking magazine in the waiting room. I was jotting down websites as fast as I could in my handy dandy notebook I carry around in my purse. So I've had plenty of sites to visit tonight. Looks like we may need to add a scrapbooking line item into our recently updated budget..

Scrap Anyone?

I've really wanted to get completely caught up with my scrapbook pages because I have this feeling it will be hard to find some free time to crop for a least a few weeks after Natalie arrives. That possibly might should say a few months, but I'm trying to think positive here. I'm going to be at home all day, what else I'm I gonna do right?

One of my projects is going to be an ABC book. Each page will have a letter of the alphabet with a corresponding picture. A is for Adorable, B is for Bath time, etc. I found these letters at Michaels . They are chipboard and will add some dimension to the page. They're available from this company, and they have several different styles. They carry them in a plain gray also, and I'm sure there's some way to decorate them, I just haven't figured out how. If you have any suggestions, let me know. I'm a "see it and then do it" type. My mind just isn't very creative on its own.

Now I just need to get started. I was pleasantly surprised to see that some of the gals are getting together this Friday night to scrap. I hope to take advantage of this time and get some things done!

This is really happening..

I thought I was completely prepared to have this baby. Not only just the basic stuff we needed to have done, like the completed nursery, all our initial supplies, etc, but mentally and emotionally as well. I mean, I've been feeling her move around in there since about week 14-15. I know I'm going to have a baby. But it's strange how the reality of things doesn't necessarily hit even with all the previously mentioned aspects of being pregnant.

This morning about 3:30am, I got up to use the bathroom (for about the 3rd time), but this time I never made it back to sleep. I was having contractions and they were coming anywhere from 3-9 minutes apart. They weren't bad, they were bearable, but after an hour and a half of that, I started getting concerned. Could this be it? I wasn't expecting it to not be obvious if I was in true labor. So about 5:30 I went ahead and got up, took a shower and made sure I had everything ready and packed to go to the hospital. Moving around helped the contractions and I went from 6:00 to 6:45 without one. I've had 3 or 4 in the last hour - hour and a half and they haven't been near as bad as the ones from early this morning.

It's approaching 8:00, so I'm about to give my Dr's office a call. While I don't think I'm in true labor this could very well be the prelude to what may be just around the corner. Needless to say, I'm taking it easy today. It's been branded in my head how important it is to rest at this point. I'm really going to have a baby. I thought I realized that by now.