Template 57, New Kits, New Pages, and P365

Lots of scrapping and Project 365 stuff to post today! But first, a brief update. The transition from 1 child to 2 is going pretty well, for the most part. We've all had our days/moments, but overall, it's going well. Emma has had a few jealousy issues (saying "I want Mommy" or insisting that she wants to nurse too), but she absolutely adores the baby. She always wants to hold him and see him and she recently discovered that he'll suck on her finger if she sticks it in his mouth - which has since become one of her favorite things to do with him. But she'll also poke him in the eye or the ear. Not to be mean, but to point them out and such. Of course, she gets mad when we tell her not to... Bedtime and naptime have been problematic, but they've been issues for awhile anyway. We're working on it.

But overall, things are good. Taking care of a newborn the 2nd time around is so much easier! Feeding him, changing him, bathing him, etc are all easy to me now. I gave both kids a bath yesterday and he was in the tub for about 30 seconds; that's all it took for me to clean him up. Honestly, I'm having more issues with my 2 year old than my newborn. But really, it hasn't been too bad. I'm learning to balance their needs. Meeting my own, however...well, we're getting there. Maybe.

I DO need to find a way to get some one-on-one time with Emma, though. I don't know how that's going to happen when Hyrum wants to eat 24/7. We'll figure it out, somehow.

Now onto the scrapping! I got my first Project 365 LO done! I used geniaBeana's new Hazy Shade of Winter kit, available only at Elemental Scraps. It's sold in pieces (elements, papers, alpha, glitters, and glossy styles). Here's the preview of the full ensemble (image linked to elements in the shop):



And here's what I did with it:



geniaBeana just released another new kit today that I am absolutely in LOVE with! It's called Love Sweet Love and it is SWEET. Here's a preview (image linked):



Isn't it gorgeous? Don't forget the glitters, glossy styles, and flair set, too! I've made 3 things with it already! First, I scrapped a regular LO (and the photo cluster is now my signature on BAM):



Then I made a thank you card for all the wonderful couples who've brought us dinners since we had the baby:



And finally, I made a new desktop:



As for Project 365, I've been taking tons of pics. Taking pics everyday with a sweet little newborn and an adorable 2 year old is easy. My problem, however, is choosing the pic for the day! I have to even it out between the kids, too; can't have a week with tons of pics of one kid and none of the other. And of course, the days I get great shots of one, I get great shots of the other...or a great shot of both together. Narrowing it down is tough! But hey, that's a good thing because now I'll have more pics of my adorable kids:)

Anyway, here are this week's pics so far (just need one today and week 2 will be complete):

January 8

This is when Emma first discovered that Hyrum will suck on her finger. We had our first (and only, so far) hitting-the-baby incident shortly after this. John was concerned that her finger was too far in his mouth and made her take it out. So of course, like any 2 year old, she took her frustration out by hitting the nearest object...which just happened to be her brother. Yeah, she definitely got a time out for that one...

January 9

One of Emma's favorite things to say lately is "I hold him." Then she lays down and wants us to put Hyrum on her:) The laying down thing was all her idea, but I'm all for it; less chance of him falling and getting hurt this way!

January 10

Emma (and John) watching a church video and drinking orange juice. Val (geniaBeana) sent us the adorable dress she's wearing:D

January 11

Both kids lounging on Emma's bed in the morning. Notice where Emma's putting her finger? She does this multiple times a day. But it calms Hyrum down when he's crying:) She even got him to fall asleep in 30 seconds this way.

January 12

Know what this is? No? It's a "peepee teepee." Or rather, a homemade one. I'm certainly not going to buy what I can make for free with fabric scraps. I made 3 of them in hopes to avoid getting peed on during diaper changes. Unfortunately, Hyrum wiggles too much for them to stay in place. Oh well, it was worth a shot. We've been using a washcloth instead. Any tips to avoid getting sprayed on by the "automatic sprinkler" are more than welcome!

January 13

Just an adorable shot of Hyrum in Daddy's arms:D My sister bought him this sleeper - too bad he won't be able to wear it long! He's already pushing at the feet:(

Now all I need is today's pic and the week will be complete! And then time to scrap it! I'm hoping to get a family pic in sometime soon; hopefully today. I desperately need to go grocery shopping, so I'll actually get dressed and put make up on and such, so it'll be a good opportunity to get a pic taken of all of us. When I don't go somewhere, 99% of the time I'm in PJs all day with no make up and messy hair. Not exactly how I want to be photographed;)

Which brings us to today's template. Template 57 is my LO for week 1. It's a 12x12" template in PSD format. Here's the preview:



You can download it here.

Enjoy! Feel free to leave comments:) I love hearing from you:) Now to sneak in a quick shower before my kids wake up...hmm...hope I can succeed!

Baby Hyrum is here!!

Hyrum John was born on January 4th (his due date) at 5:18 AM. He weighed in at 9 lbs 12 oz and is 21" long. What a big boy! No WONDER I was so uncomfortable towards the end! And I'm only 4'11" - he didn't exactly have much space in there;) We were NOT expecting him to be that big - especially since his sister was 6 lbs 11 oz and I'd only gained 17 lbs as of my 39 week appointment. And now I have 2 due date babies! How crazy is that? Really, what are the odds? Less than 5% of babies are born on their due dates...and now I've given birth to 2 due date babies.

(Warning: may be TMI for some; full unedited birth story ahead)

On Sunday the 3rd, I was feeling pretty grouchy and emotional about still being pregnant. I finally made myself go to bed around 10 AM. Yes, I know, bad me. Blame it on being huge and uncomfortable. It's kind of hard to fall asleep with a big baby in there. Anyway, I woke up again around 1:30 or so and started having regular 5 minute apart contractions around 2. After a couple of hours of this, we decided to get ready to go. Of course, it took much longer than we expected to get all the last minute things packed up for us and for Emma. We took her over to Nathan and Jessica's, then headed out to the hospital. By the time I finally got checked in to Labor and Delivery, it was about 6 PM.

When we got there, I was about 4-5 cm dilated and almost completely effaced. My water bag's membrane was really thin, so my OB (who happened to be on-call that night, much to my satisfaction) asked if I wanted it broken. I said sure - that way they HAD to keep me LOL! It was certainly an odd sensation. It was like peeing a LOT at once and having no muscular control over it whatsoever. Anyway. I'm sure you all wanted to know that. Then I waddled from the exam room to my labor and delivery room. I got an IV and had to wait for the anesthesiologist for my epidural. Once I got my epidural, life was great:) Though at one point, we tried to let me sit up and use the computer, and my blood pressure dropped, I felt dizzy and nauseous, and then threw up. So no compy use for me while in labor:( I read a bit and tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep. It's hard to fall asleep when the blood pressure cuff is set to go off every 15 minutes.

Anyway. I kept having contractions, but they weren't as regular or close as they wanted them to be. And I was stuck at a 5 for a long time. So they put me on a little pitocin. But baby Hyrum didn't like that; his heart rate dropped during pitocin contractions. So they had to shut it off and put me on oxygen for awhile. We went through that cycle a few times during my labor. When the nurse used a catheter on me, dilation picked up again and I went to a 6 almost instantly. It still took a long time for me to dilate all the way, though. Part of that is because he's just SO big and his head was literally RIGHT there, which apparently can actually slow down dilation.

When it was finally time to push, they thought he was posterior. Which means longer, more difficult pushing. Yay. We're not sure if he actually was or not, now; he's just so big that either he SEEMED to be posterior or he turned at the last minute. Either way, pushing out a 9 lbs 12 oz baby is NOT easy! I pushed for about an hour. He's so big that my OB had to keep pulling to get his chest out - usually babies just slide out once the head is through. Thankfully, nothing got broken in the process, as can sometimes happen with bigger babies. I only got a 2nd degree tear this time, too - definitely better than the 4th degree I had with Emma!

Because of his size, they had to test his sugar levels periodically to make sure he could regulate it on his own. They wanted 4 good tests in a row. He aced the first, but was a little low on the second - meaning we had to start over. And they made him take a little bit of formula to get it back up:( As much as I hate formula, I'd rather that than have him stuck in the NICU hooked up to monitors and IVs. But he passed all the other tests beautifully and no more nasty formula for us! Like his sister, Hyrum did NOT like the formula:) Yeah, I'm proud of my kids; they know what's good for them. (Sorry, very anti-formula mom here.)

Hyrum's 2nd day was the first day of winter semester for John. He planned on coming back to the hospital shortly after he was done with classes for the day, but he got a flat tire on the way to school! We have NO idea how it happened, but there was a 2" gash on the side of the tire. Dude, what is up with us and car problems when we have a new baby? Though I'd MUCH rather deal with a flat tire than, oh, a totalled car. Rolling the car 8 days postpartum is NOT a good idea, just so you know. I definitely don't want to repeat THAT experience. Though in a twisted way, that actually helped us out this time. See, when we rolled our 05 Corolla, we had studded snow tires on it. We had the original tires in our apartment. So when we got an 06 Corolla - which is the exact same body style - we kept the tires for future use. We had to replace one once before, and were able to use one of THOSE tires to replace the gashed tire this week. All in all, it only cost us about $11 to fix.

But of course, that kept John away from us most of the day:( Hyrum and I spent the day nursing and sleeping curled up together. As annoyed as I was about John not being there (which of course wasn't his fault), it was nice to have some one-on-one bonding time with my new baby. And let me tell you, this kid can eat! He ate constantly that day! But it made my milk come in faster - it was in by the end of the day.

As I expected, Emma absolutely ADORES her little brother. She always wants to help with him. Or rather, she wants to take care of him all by herself! She keeps saying, "I hold him" or "I want baby" or "no I do it." She's even said "my baby." LOL, the funniest is when she gets mad at me for feeding him because SHE wants to do it! Um, sorry Em, but 2 year olds can't lactate;) She threw the biggest fit over it, though. That was NOT so funny. But she was really tired at the time. I'm trying to explain to her that only Mommy can feed him because only Mommy makes the special milk he needs. But yeah, she always wants to hold him and cuddle him and kiss him and point out all his little body parts. It's adorable:D

Anyway, now for what I know you REALLY want - pictures!! These are my Project 365 pictures for the rest of the week. I'll post more pictures later, but for now, this is what you get:

January 3

When we realized we wouldn't be having him till the next day, therefore not allowing us to have any newborn pics until then, we decided to take a picture of the contractions log (thanks to Kimi for the idea:)).

January 4

John and newborn baby Hyrum! John is on the phone with his mom, telling her all about little Hyrum's arrival.

January 5

John helping Emma hold Hyrum for the first time. Doesn't she look SO proud to be a big sister?

January 6

Little Hyrum getting ready to go home. I took TONS of adorable pics of him like this:) Doesn't he have the cutest, chubbiest kissable cheeks ever? <3

January 7

Emma and Hyrum:) Can you tell she adores him?

And that's it for now! Both kids are sleeping - I should take advantage of that fact and get some sleep myself. I hope to get more pics and my first Project 365 week LO posted tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Project 365 - Off to a Good Start

Yes, I'm still pregnant. Hopefully that will change very soon. Due date is Monday...I'm trying to distract myself and am having mixed success.

This is a quick post, though. I just want to show off my first 2 Project 365 photos. And that's it. So, here we go:

January 1:

This was clearly taken shortly after midnight. Yay for sparkling cider. I was still an emotional basket case at the time, though.

January 2:

Ok, so technically John took the one for the 2nd. But I thought I should have some belly pics right before I pop and since I actually got dressed and made up, I figured I might as well. Ugh, ignore my flabbiness. Yuck. I can't wait till my face stops being puffy and fat like this. I took some other pics, too, so I DID take something, but this is the one I want to use;) I don't care if it's cheating - I'm doing it anyway;) And having Emma hugging my belly is just too cute. She gives her brother hugs and kisses everyday<3

Now to distract myself some more with my recipe project. I got some supplies for it at Walmart (remind me NOT to go to Walmart the Saturday night before a semester starts...crazy madhouse!!), so now I at least have a notebook and sheet protectors to work with:)

Hopefully today's photo will be of a cute little newborn baby!! Hear that, son? It's time to come out!

New Blog LO and Chili Recipe

In case you're wondering, yes, I'm still pregnant. Monday is my due date. Hopefully he'll come out soon! Wouldn't it be hilarious if I had a 2nd due date baby? I wonder what the statistics for that are?

Anyway, I planned on waiting till his arrival to post my new blog LO, but...I'm impatient. I didn't want to have a Christmas LO anymore. So I plopped in some pics that will be replaced once he's here (at least, the ultrasound and family pics - Emma's pic will likely stay the same:)). I used geniaBeana's portion of the GDS January collab, Shimmer. Here's a preview:





Isn't it pretty? Of course, you can only get it (and the rest of the collab) if you spend $10 in the GDS store this month. Unless, of course, you have special CT privileges;) She has a couple of other kits up her sleeve that are just GORGEOUS as well:) I can't wait to show them off.

So, to keep myself occupied while waiting for baby, I've started on a really fun project. I got the idea sometime before Christmas, but of course life was too busy with Christmas and getting ready for baby to do much about it. Well, now that my house is all cleaned up after Christmas and everything is ready for the baby, I can work on it. It's gonna be awesome.

You're probably wondering what it is now, huh? Well, over the years, I've collected lots of recipes. Some I got from packages of Cool Whip or cream cheese etc, others I found online and printed, some I cut out of magazines, and some I received as recipe cards. I had all these recipes thrown into a file folder with minimal organization. The problem with this, however, is that it makes it harder to find recipes when I want them. Or I forget I have them altogether. Soooo...I'm making myself a recipe collection book. I'm going to get a binder and organize my recipes by type. It'll be a sort of scrapbook. It will incorporate some digiscrap kits, so it will be a somewhat hybrid project. I went through and categorized my recipes tonight.

I also need to type up and print some of the recipes I created. This will be useful to my family in the future. The only problem for others is that I season to taste, so I never measure spices in my own recipes! And just for fun, I thought I'd share some of my recipes with you:) Several months ago, I made my super-yummy chili to share with a friend who just had a baby. Her husband asked for the recipe...and I'm ashamed to say I never got around to typing it up for him. Until now. And I'm going to share it with you, too:)

Homemade Chili
1 lb ground beef
2 T oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2-4 cans stewed tomatoes
2-4 cans kidney beans, drained (red and light red)
1-2 cans corn, drained
chili powder
oregano
cumin
garlic
salt
black pepper
shredded cheddar (medium or sharp)
sour cream

Brown ground beef. In a large stockpot, sauté onion and pepper in oil. Stir in tomatoes, kidney beans, and corn. Add spices; season to taste. Spices listed in order of prevalence (i.e., more chili powder than cumin). Cook for at least 15 minutes. Stir in cheese and sour cream until they melt. Adjust seasonings as desired.

LOL, when I write it all out, it sounds so incredibly simple. But in reality, it takes awhile to make. I don't really know how long to say it needs to cook. I just picked a time. I'm constantly adjusting the seasonings as I go. That's what takes the longest; getting the flavor JUST right. In my opinion, this is the BEST chili ever. I almost put that as it's official name, but...that sounds kind of conceited and unprofessional, so I'm going to be lame and just call it homemade chili. Yeah, I'm boring like that. And of course, you can always pair it with cornbread or rolls or French bread...whatever you'd like!

Speaking of food, John and I used my new food processor for the first time last night and oh my gosh, we are in LOVE! We will NEVER chop or slice veggies the old fashioned way again!! SO awesome! This will totally speed up meal-making:D I'm excited to play with it more and more. Why oh why did I not get one sooner?! I guess part of it is that we didn't have one growing up so I didn't know just how cool they were. Also, I didn't know how reasonably priced they could be. Or at least, this one was - but we got it at the after Christmas sale. I have no idea what the original price for it was, but we got it for $24:)

Anyway, I'm going to go work on my recipe project for awhile:) Enjoy!

A New Year...

...and my house is clean, the pack and play is set up, hospital bags are packed, babysitter lined up for Emma...but no baby:( *sigh* I have to admit I'm disappointed. I had a REALLY strong feeling he'd come on New Year's Eve...but he didn't. I cried when the ball dropped. I was a total basket case. No 2009 baby for me - which means we don't get the additional tax credit we so desperately need. I have no idea how we'll pay off John's dental bills now. But mainly, I just don't want to be pregnant anymore. I'm sore, I'm huge, I'm uncomfortable, I'm grouchy...I'm SO ready to evict this kid. I want to meet him and hold him and cuddle him. *sigh* But he can't stay in there forever! He has to come out sometime! The sooner the better, I say. John thinks it will happen today. I hope he's right, but I'm not going to allow myself to get my hopes up too high. I don't need another meltdown. He'll come when he's ready. I just hope he decides to come by his due date (Monday). I know I'll break down again if I go overdue. I'm trying to distract myself with projects in the meantime.

I'm trying not to stress about finances. First, there's now the fact that we won't be getting as much of a tax return as I'd hoped since SOMEONE decided he wants to come in 2010. But there's also the fact that we're still waiting on winter semester's financial aid and student loan money to come in. Um, we kind of need that to pay rent for January...which is, um, due TODAY. Thankfully, we have till the 6th before a late fee will be assessed, but I've ALWAYS made a point of paying it on time, so paying it late kills me. LOL, there's also the added incentive of being entered into a gift card drawing for paying on time;) I just hope we can get the money in time. I refuse to pay a late fee since I'm still waiting on maintenance requests from at least a couple months ago...plus, they promised me babysitting money from like 2 months ago and have yet to pay me...*ahem* anyway. Feeling a bit bitter about it at the moment. I want the broken things fixed and I want my babysitting money from watching their hellion child dang it!

Aaaanyway. No new pages or scrapping stuff at the moment, though there are some awesome kits being released today. I made a new blog LO, but I want to wait till I have a newborn to show off. Hopefully soon...

A new year is a great time to make new goals, or to continue working towards ongoing ones with new vigor. Making and striving towards goals makes us better people. So without further adieu, here are my goals/resolutions for 2010:

1. Have a baby. This one has GOT to happen! He can't stay in there forever! *pokes belly* time to come out!

2. Lose weight caused by said baby. But my focus isn't going to be so much on shedding pounds or sizes. I'm going to TRY to focus on being healthy in general. I want to eat healthy, well-balanced meals and exercise regularly. I'm not going to go health-food or exercise crazy, though. That's impractical and unmanageable for me. I'm still going to eat chocolate and my primary type of exercise will simply be going out on walks (ideally everyday, once I've recovered from birth sufficiently). I want to be healthier overall but still indulge in junk food occasionally. The trick will be controlling portions. I need less of the junk and more of the nutritious.

3. Nurse for the whole year. This one should be easy:) I had some scary supply issues with Emma, but I pulled through them victoriously. I'm proud to say I never gave her formula:D I plan to do the same with this little guy:) Now that I know more about nursing, I hope to avoid the supply problems I had with Emma (she slept through the night super early and my supply plummeted). If I start to have problems, I'll be more aware and know how to fix them sooner:)

4. Be a better wife, mother, and person in general. This, of course, is a life-long ongoing goal. I can only hope to say I'm making progress. Probably haven't been making much lately with being hugely pregnant and hormonal, though! Learning to take care of 2 kids will prove interesting I'm sure. John recently discovered that he'll be doing a lot of group work this semester, so he'll be gone a LOT:( It'll be really hard I'm sure, but I know I'll be stronger and better for it.

5. Be better at home management. Cooking, cleaning, organizing, filing, financial management, etc. But most importantly, this means to make and keep my home a sanctuary. This, too, is a life-long ongoing goal.

6. Continue to develop spiritually. This is the key to making 4 and 5 possible. There are many areas in this department that I need to improve upon. But, like 4 and 5, this is an ongoing life-long quest.

7. Project 365. Yep, I'm going to try it! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Project 365 is where you take a photo a day - EVERY day - for the whole year (of course, you can always take more than one;)). The idea is to document your life and to improve your photography skills. And for digiscrappers, the norm is to turn around and scrap the photos by week. I'm excited:) It should be lots of fun! I already took a New Year's photo. But if I give birth today, that'll obviously trump the photo I've taken;)

I know there are more I could add, but I think this is a nice list for now:) That, and I need to get some sleep SOMEtime;) Happy New Year!!