Random Pic to Share

I am going through some pictures tonight from this time last year. Need to place an order for some scrappy assignments for this month. I can not believe how much the girls have changed in 12 months time! Anyway..
just a quick post to share one of the gems I came across....

I hope she got some new pjs shortly after this...

Progression of the Kiddo Group Pic

If you have kids, especially more than one, and you ever try to take posed pictures of them, you know it's not usually an easy task. I snapped a handful today and while they're not perfect (perfect being defined as everyone looking at the camera with smiles on their faces..which face it..probably won't happen all too often anymore ), they sure make me smile.

If Jonathan could say "help me". I'm thinking he would. It's just written all over his face.

*Oh wait* *Don't take the pic yet* *Somebody's got an itchy nose!*

Again with the "help me". Sorry little buddy. With these 2 as big sisters. It will be the story of your life.. hehe

Hair pulling 101 - Lessons in defense mechanisms for little brothers.


Look! Everybody's looking at the camera! No wait.. Jonathan's going to sleep.


"No, I'm awake Mom" But just barely!

I love these kids so much. The past couple weeks I've heard, "You've got your hands full." from a lot of people. And yes, it's true. But so is my heart. :)

Kiddo Pics

The Big Sis:

The Middle Sis:

And the Little Bro @ 1Month Old:

I really didn't mean to let two weeks go by before blogging again. I hope to get a little more consistent with blog posts. But for now here are some recent pics of the kiddos, especially for the grandparents. :)

Jonathan's First Page plus Dixie Pieces Contest!

This page sat on my desk for almost 2 weeks. I started it and then just didn't get a chance to finish it until this morning. Of course I had a little motivation called a "deadline" for Scrap Whispers.
The challenge going up today on the SW blog is all about the color blue. I've taken a few weeks off from the challenges but this was the perfect one to get back in the swing of things!


I used leftovers from my Dixie Pieces kits. I pulled just about everything I could find that was blue out of the kits and used it to make this page.
An speaking of Dixie Pieces, we are getting ready for a huge Anniversary celebration!

There will be a new challenge issued every Saturday starting on September 18th. You will have till the following Friday night to complete the challenge, post it in the gallery and link it to the forum thread. The challenges will be based on genres of music and will be fun, fun, fun! There will be no one voted off and everyone will be eligible to win prizes!

Prizes -- oh, fabulous prizes! We have some fabulous prizes for you! Let me give you a partial list of our sponsors: Maya Road, Jillibean Soup, Reminisce, Imaginisce, PK Glitz, Piggy Tales, Teresa Collins, and Scrappin Sports!

Grand Prize will be valued at over $300!
Random Prize will be valued at over $150!
Inspiration Prize will be a kit of choice from the store valued at $28!

So if you'd like to play along, make sure to head over to the forum and sign up!

Scrapbook Sussies September 2010 Reveal

I'm so glad that Lara at Scrapbook Sussies was able to get our September kits to the team early, as I was able to get these done for this month before Jonathan arrived.
The September kit is so colorful and fun. It's great for beach pics (3 out of 4 of mine are beach!) but it's also great for other stuff too!

For this first one I altered the black glitter thickers that came in the kit. I peeled the top layer of the chipboard thickers off and painted them yellow. I then added some stickles to give them back their glitter look.
We can't seem to go anywhere without at least one person asking us if the girls are twins, so this layout talks about that.


And then for the beach pages. I had pics from our trip with my parents and brother from August of 2009 AND pics from our trip this past June. So I used some from each trip.


You can check out the gallery HERE to see the other girls' work with this kit. AND if you haven't become a fan of Sussies on Facebook, be sure to do that HERE!

The Story

It's been 2 weeks and 1 day since Jonathan joined our family and it's already hard to imagine life before him.

He arrived 4 weeks early on Wednesday the 18th, with some minor breathing issues and had to be admitted to NICU. They give them a 4 hour transition period before deciding whether they need to be admitted to NICU or can go to the well baby nursery. After this amount of time had passed they decided he needed to be admitted because his respiration count was too high. (Normal is 30-60 per minute, and he was jumping around from 90-120)
Later that afternoon they took him out of the oxygen dome and he was on regular room air. Not much changed over the next couple of days. He continued to have a high respiration count but was able to stay on room air. I didn't get to hold him until the day after he was born. John snapped this picture the first time I finally got to hold him.

I was released on Saturday and the NICU Drs. were anticipating that he would need to stay just a few more days. We knew he was borderline jaundice which could possibly set us back a day or two. On Sunday morning his billirubin level was high enough that he had to go on the photo-therapy light. After being on the light about 24 hours it came down enough that we were able to bring him home on Monday afternoon. Here he is coming in the door and Abigail's first time to see him other than in pictures.
So the past week and a half we've just been getting used to the new normal around here. Actually I guess we're still a few weeks away from being back to some sort of normal. Our house is a total wreck, and while this does bother me I'm trying to be ok with it. I know I'm still recovering from the C-section and up half the night feeding and it'll all still be here for when I do get around to it! Besides I'm enjoying sitting around holding and hanging out with all 3 of my kiddos too much. (Even if the older two have decided to fight like cats and dogs lately and totally test their new boundaries.)

He's Here!

Just a quick post to share a few pictures.
Jonathan Logan arrived Wednesday the 18th at 7:51am
Weighing 6lbs 13 oz ; 19 inches long





We are home but he is still in NICU. He's ding good and should be able to come home in just a couple of days. I'll write more about his birth story later, but just wanted to post a quick update.

Scrap Whispers Blog Hop - Back to School Backpack Album

Welcome to the Scrap Whispers Blog Hop.

You should be arriving from Kelly's blog. If you're joining us from here make sure you start at the beginning so you can get the tutorial directions and you don't miss any of the fun creations and ideas for this cute backpack album.

This time around we are making this cute little mini album that would be great for back to school pictures. Or even a little album for your kids to keep their friends pictures in, they'll be taking those school pictures soon!
Here is mine:



Thanks for stopping by! You can head on over to Helen's blog to see hers as well as the rest of the SW team's.

Msc Update - Baby and Other Kiddos

Two posts in one day!! It's a record! Make sure you scroll down below this post to see my Sussie Layouts!!
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I haven't done much but share scrappy stuff on here lately and I figure I'm due a different kind of post. This has been a very quick and busy summer as we get ready for Jonathan to join us in just 7 short days.

I have not done well taking pics this time around, but here's one I snapped in the mirror last week at 34 weeks.


Currently I am:
Not sleeping the best. Just generally being uncomfortable, heartburn and leg cramps. Some nights are better than others, and I am grateful for the rest I am getting. I seem to get better sleep when I take an afternoon nap!

Feeling like the baby is about to fall out! Hopefully that's not TMI but he is sitting so low..
see what I mean? And yes I was just opening presents, not checking to make sure he hadn't fallen out on the floor! :)

Feeling a little anxious about the C-section being 4 weeks before he is due. I know that's not THAT early, but saying lots of prayers the everything will go smoothly and hoping he doesn't have to spend any time in ICU. But also knowing that even if he does this is the best decision to avoid any complications with my previous history of uterine window. Thankful that I haven't had any more pain that caused me some concern a month or so ago, and thankful for a doctor that is fully confident that all will go well.

Really looking forward to holding him in my arms and trying to remember to savor every moment because I KNOW those first few weeks will go oh so fast even as hectic and hard as they may be.

Feeling more organized than I've been in a long time. A little more on top of the housework (but never the less a long way to where I want to be!), making lots of to-do lists and getting lots of things crossed off! Planning a bit of pre-school curriculum for the girls to supplement their 1 day a week at Mother's Morning Out, and reminding myself to cut myself some slack because a newborn is about to be in this house, and a lot of this kind of stuff will have to be on the back-burner for a bit!

And speaking of the girls and Mother's Morning Out.. today was their first day of preschool. They will be going one day a week for 4 hours. They were both just a little bit excited!






So that sums up a bit in our world today! Hope everyone is having a good week!

Scrapbook Sussies *August Reveal*

It's already the 11th of the month, which means I have another scrap post for you with my Sussie Layouts.

I used my Making Memories SLICE to cut those stars, and some pink cardstock from my stash to make them stand out a bit.

For "Beach Beauty" everything is from the kit except the brown felt thickers.


There was this really fun "sun" piece of patterned paper on the WRMemories side of the kit, which made for a quick and easy page. Add a couple of embellishments and all done!

For this last page I doubled up with a challenge going on at Scrap Whispers. We are getting ready to start a new round, so if you'd like to play along head over to the Scrap Whispers blog for more details. There are a few more days to sign up and all you do is lift one page during the round.

The weekly challenge we have over there this week is to scrap a pet page. This cute little puppy belongs to my brother-in-law and Natalie really enjoyed playing with her.

So there you have it! You can see more work with the August kit in the Sussies Gallery!

Dixie Pieces Reveal - August 2010

This month's kit is now available over at Dixie Pieces! Here is what I created:

No, I haven't had the baby and already done a layout about it! :) These are some pictures from when Abigail was born that I hadn't scrapped yet. I'm very excited about holding another little bitty one in TWO weeks! I punched circles out of one of the patterned papers, cut them in half and used them to make the scalloped border.




I've had these pictures of Natalie sitting in my stash to be scrapped for a while. I need to go back into my picture files and figure out when they were taken so I can add the date to this page. I think she had just turned two.

When you head on over to Dixie Pieces to look at the other gals designs, be sure to check out the challenges this month. They are all about photography tips, tricks and techniques and I hope you will play along with us! The random winner this month will get a $15 gift certificate to the store!