Thursday, January 31, 2008

Quick Fire Update

We've had so many calls and emails from people concerned about us, I cannot thank you all enough for your kind words! We are fine, the damage to our house didn't look nearly as bad in the daylight. Our insurance adjuster will be here today to to a survey and send out a professional inspector. There is some water damage, my main concern is mold/mildew down the road so we want to get it taken care of as soon as possible.

The neighbors are doing very well despite the circumstances, they are in good spirits and trying to maintain a positive outlook. We have had hundreds of phone calls and emails from people willing to donate anything and everything, it's been great. I was very, very happy to hear that the family is going to rebuild here as long as they can change the floorplan of the house (which really shouldn't be a problem considering everything will need to be demolished).

Things are going to be crazy busy around here. I am the only one on our street that doesn't work outside the home so I have volunteered to be a point of contact, our house is donation central and the boys will be getting of the school bus here every afternoon. The parents both work full time, transportation was a huge issue and I am glad I can be here for them!

I know several people have been asking if we know the cause of the fire and if we have pictures as well. Out of respect for the family we are not publishing any photos or releasing any information related to the fire. We were required to take pictures by our insurance company but they are going to stay private. Thank you for understanding, we are really trying to put ourselves in their shoes and I don't know that I would want pictures floating around everywhere of such a tragic event.

Again, thank you so much for your concern. We are working on setting up a donation account at a local bank, I will publish the information as it becomes available. In the meantime, if anyone is interested in helping this family please contact me via email at morganj99@yahoo.com for detailed information.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

A Tragic Night

I don't even know where to start. I was hunkered down on the sofa tonight feeling ick (a migraine I now know) waiting for One Tree Hill when the doorbell starts ringing off the hook and then someone started pounding, hard. Matt and I jump up and run over thinking it's a neighbor, ready to freak if Ari wakes up. It's a fire man, yelling at us to get out now. I mean really yelling, saying get out now, the house is on fire. I seriously thought it was a joke until I saw his shirt, then the flames.

I ran upstairs and snatched Ari out of his crib, I could see the yellow and orange at his window, I was terrified. Matt was trying to find Mika but the fire guy was screaming at us to get out, we didn't have time to get her. She was hiding under the bed and it's a big bed, he couldn't reach her. We ran across the street, the neighbors house next door had flames shooting out the front window, the whole front porch was burning. Thankfully the wind was blowing away from our house keeping most of the flames away, the fire guys were spraying our house first. I couldn't figure out why they weren't putting out their house but then I realized there wasn't much hope.

It took forever for the fire trucks to get here, at least 10-15 minutes. We were all huddled in the yard crying, watching their house disappear. They had two dogs, we could hear them but the flames were so huge, we couldn't get them out. I still feel nauseous thinking about it. The only thing left of their house is the garage, everything else is a pile of wood and ash. Apparently there were two other fires in our town, there weren't any trucks to get here. It was horrible, waiting for our house to catch fire, watching theirs melt before our eyes.

The family was out to dinner when the fire started, we still don't know where or how. By the looks of it I think it started in or near the kitchen, we'll know more tomorrow. The fire marshall will be back tomorrow to inspect our house and asses our damage, we'll find out more.

I am completely in shock, I just stopped shaking. I'm really pretty numb now, I just keep thinking if I'd gotten up to check at what the explosions were, I mean I looked out the window but it was the other side of their house that burned more. I thought kids were playing with fireworks outside, they do it all the time. Then I thought maybe it was car doors slamming, I feel so helpless.

The other neighbors on our street and I are getting together tomorrow to start organizing a donation drive. Matt and I are going shopping tomorrow for some fire safes, we're making an emergency and evacuation plan. We had no time to grab anyhting, it was the scariest moment of my life. We have the chance to change that, we've been given a wakeup call, I'm not wasting it.

It's raining now, the wind has died down and the last of eight fire trucks just pulled away, four hours later. I'm going to try to sleep, try being the operative word. Sit down with your family, make a plan. You can never be too prepared...

Sunday, January 27, 2008

My Little Man




I had SO much fun today! The pictures above are of our walk this evening. Michelle and Ella came over to play today. Michelle and I scrapped and the babies, er, toddlers played. After they left it was still pretty nice so we ventured down the street. This is the first time Ari has really walked on his own, we usually push him in the stroller or the wagon. He was so distracted by the big kids playing football in the cul-de-sac, thus the pictures of him staring off in the distance. I really like them though, it shows his true personality... such the little observer! He was actually pretty cranky today, he still has a stuffed up nose and by boycotting his morning nap his whole day was thrown off. He went to bed at 6:20 tonight, I could NOT keep him up any longer. He was so tired, about every two steps he completely crashed to the floor and burst into tears. He finally walked to his crib, put out his arms and said, "UP"! I took that to mean he was done for the day and sure enough he went down without a peep!

Anyway, Michelle and Ella were here all day. We had SO much fun, I really needed a day like this. So much so that we decided to do it again tomorrow! She even left all her stuff here so we can pick up right where we left off. Ella was too cute today, she wanted to play with Ari SO bad, every time he wasn't in the play cage she cried until he came back. It was adorable! They had to leave so Ella could visit with her grandparents but we have mega scrap plans tomorrow. I did one and a half layouts today, pretty good considering how sssllloooowww of a scrapper I am. Here's the one I finished today:

And here's one that I did yesterday. It's hanging on our garage door (the one in the house, not the one the car uses), compared to the layout I did today I think it's pretty boring. I may have to spice it up a little tomorrow:

I'm working on another one right now, I ran out of letters so I need to make a pit stop at Hobby Lobby before I can be truly finished. It seems my mojo found it's way back, I'm soaking it all up! Not to shabby of a day, especially considering I stayed up until... uhh... 4 am! I got completely sucked into the book I'm reading, it's SOOO good. I'll post a full review when I'm finished (probably tomorrow)! I'm headed back to my scrap table, gotta take advantage of this scrap energy before it's gone! Night all ;)

Friday, January 25, 2008

Not as Bleh!

Today is a better day. I did go to the mall yesterday evening and browse Barnes & Noble, it felt good to get out by myself. I figured out what's bothering me, now I just have to figure out how to deal with it! Matt left early this morning, around 4 I think, I was SO asleep! Ari woke up with a horrible stuffy nose and a bit of a cough so we're hanging out at home today hoping he doesn't get too sick. We were supposed to go to Chuck E. Cheese's with Michelle and Ella but I'd hate for Ari to get Ella sick. We'll go early next week for sure. I've been on the computer all day wrapping up some design work, I'm going to grab a bite and veg on the sofa for a while (Ari's napping!). Here's a vidoe of his new dance grooves, this kid's got style! Hehe...

Thursday, January 24, 2008

bleh...

I'm having one of those days. You know, the one where you feel icky and sad and don't really know why. Nothing has gone wrong, the day actually started out great. Matt leaves super early tomorrow morning, I don't feel like we had any quality time this week, but that's my fault. I'm in a total creative slump, I have all these great new things and no idea how to use them. I'm feeling conflicted about the rekindling (is that a word?) of a friendship and it's totally dragging me down. I think I'm going to go to Barnes & Noble, have a coffee and sit in a corner to ponder my thoughts. I'll be back later...

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Whew, I'm in trouble...


This came in the mail today, It's so absolutely gorgeous, shimmery and fun, I can't wait to dig in! I even found this cute little dish in my kitchen that has tiny hearts cut out (you can't see because they're buried under all the fun goodies), it looks so pretty sitting on my table. OK, so it's sitting on the floor right now because I have to clear a spot on my table for it, but I can see it in my head and it looks good!

There's really not much to report, Ari mashed his face yesterday, his little tooth went right through his lip! It's his first major boo since, well, ever. I need to go to Babies'R'Us and get him a BooBoo Bunny, it's a little terry cloth bunny with an ice pack inside. We tried the whole cold washcloth but he refused to touch it and didn't want it anywhere near his face. Luckily his bleeding stopped quick and his tooth isn't loose. Sure made my heart race though and Matt played with him close for the rest of the night! We're so protective...

Today was Gymboree and brunch with Michelle and Ella. Michelle's mom, Connie, came too! It was great fun, sorry I forgot the camera again... it's too early in the morning to remember all that stuff. Anyway, I'm off to scrap... I have all these ideas and so little time... later dudes!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Some Scrappy Goodies!

I know it's been a while since I've posted any of my creations... sorry about that! I had good reason though; 1. I can't show you my design team stuff until it's loaded at Crop Addict and 2. The other big thing I've been working on was for a gift so I couldn't show you that either. Good news though, the February Gallery is up at Crop Addict and Ella's birthday was today so I can show you her project too! Here we go...



Everything from this point on was made with supplies from the Crop Addict February Kit! There are tons of things still left even, these kits are incredible! I'll give more details when the kits go up for sale, be sure to head over there because they sell out super quick!








Thursday, January 17, 2008

Quick Update...

Sorry guys, this post is going to be a short one. I just wanted to give everyone the stats from Ari's appt. today. He is perfectly healthy (we sorta already knew that) and ahead of most of the standard developmental milestones, yay! He is 29.75 inches long and weighs 23 pounds. He seems to be maintaining the 50th percentile for height and weight which is pretty perfect.

He woke up this morning with two new teeth and two more right behind them. He also got 4 shots today and a finger prick to test his hemoglobin! Needless to say he's not been a very happy camper... he's woken up screaming twice already, I'm thinking it's going to be a long weekend. Ari has a history of allergic and negative reactions to some of his vaccinations, we're trying to narrow down the trouble makers but it's hard sometimes. We know for sure he's allergic to Pertussis, he spiked a 104 degree fever and cried inconsolably for hours. There seems to be another one that doesn't sit well with him we just haven't put our finger on it yet. I may be missing in action this weekend, I didn't want anyone to worry. We are all totally fine, I just plan on showering my little guy with lots of love and attention this weekend. Hopefully I'll have time to post but if not I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Storms a comin'...

I am seriously cracking up!!! The weather people have been on all day warning us about this HUGE winter storm that's coming right for us. Seriously, it's 11 pm and we haven't seen a single snowflake yet but schools are already delayed and closing... can you believe it?! I grew up in Ohio, this "storm" wouldn't have even made the news up there! Supposedly road crews are on call all night for the possible one inch of snow that's predicted. I've not laughed this hard in a few days, at least all of this is good for something!

Today was a pretty typical Wednesday around here. We went to Gymboree this morning, class was super fun as always. There were a lot of toddlers there, I think everyone is finally back from their holiday travels. After class we were walking to the car so we could meet Michelle and Ella over at Eddie's Place for brunch and as Matt is opening the door I look up and see a familiar face! My old roomate from my days as a Flight Attendant, Trevor, is standing in front of our car with his wife and little girl! Trevor was hired as a Pilot the same time as me and we were in training together for two months, then we both ended up based in Akron (along with several other classmates) so we shared a crash pad for two years! He and his wife moved to Charlotte and we've been in the same Gymboree class for months. I didn't even recognize Deanna, you really don't expect people you knew from another state to be in the same baby class as you! It sure is a small world. We're going to get together for dinner soon, their daughter is only about 6 weeks older than Ari!

We were supposed to have Ari's one year check-up today but my car tire has had a slow leak for the past week or so, today the leak was not so slow anymore. Matt took it in for new tires and we moved the appt. to tomorrow! I'll be sure to give you all the fun details of shots, measurments, etc. as soon as we get home. I've been scrapping like mad with the Crop Addict February kit, the gallery will be open on Saturday! Stay tuned to my blog for some sneek peeks later this week, this kit is gorgeous and you won't want to miss it!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A little more about me

I saw this on Theresa's blog and thought I'd put it here, more for myself and reflection of my life but I thought some of you may like to hear about the past year of my life. If you get bored feel free to skip to the end, there's a cute video of Ari being his usual mischevious self.

1.What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? Bought our first house!
2. What are your New Years Resolutions? I don't make resolutions...
3. Did anyone close to you give birth in 2007? I wasn't close to her at the time but my great new friend Michelle had Ella on Jan. 19, 2007
4. Did anyone close to you die. My cat, Kira
5. What countries did you visit? Er, sadly none. It's hard to travel to another country with a newborn!
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? More time with my brother (he's in Korea until May 2008)
7. What date(s) in 2007 will remain etched in your memory and why? Dates don't really etch in my memory, probably the only actual date I'll remember is June 29, the day we closed on our house. Oh, and Oct. 10 was the day of my car accident.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Although Ari was technically born in 2006 I consider becoming a mother my greatest achievement.
9. What was your biggest failure? I don't think I failed in any way.
10. Did you suffer any illness or injury? Injury to my back from the car accident I was in. No major illness thank goodness!
11. What was the best thing someone bought you? Technically Matt bought us a house (he's the one that brings home the bacon after all!)
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Matt's for being an amazing father, Dick and Sharon's for being fantastic parents and grandparents, my dad's for always being there no matter what I need and last but not least Brian for being the best Uncle Ari has!!
13. Whose behavior appalled and depressed you? Appalled, but not depressed (never again) and the continued poor behavior of Kathie and her family.
14. Where did most of your money go? The new house by far...
15. What did you get really, really excited about? The house and making the Crop Addict Design Team!!
16. What song(s) reminds you of 2007? Bubbly by Colbie Calliat and any childrens songs that become perpetually stuck in my head from Gymboree...
17. Compared to last year are you...
a.) Happier or Sadder? Happier, much!
b.) Thinner or Fatter? Thinner (I had a baby, duh)
c.) Richer or Poorer? About the same...
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Taken more time for myself
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Second guessed the decisions and choices I've made, no matter how much I analyze I always realize I made the right choice!
20. How did you spend Christmas? Ari and I had lunch at Michelle's since Matt was working, we had our family Christmas the next morning. It was perfect!
21. Did you fall in love? I fall in love with my husband and son every day!
22. How many one night stands did you have? Are you serious, I'm happily married!
23. What was your favorite TV program? One Tree Hill, ER, Criminal Minds
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't this time last year? Hate is a strong word; hating someone takes just as much energy and effort as loving someone. There is no one worth hating. There are certain people that will not be a part of my life anymore, I honestly don't feel anything towards them.
25. What was the best book you read? Harry Potter #7
26. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you? I spent the day with Matt and Ari, I turned 25 (WooHoo, I can rent a car now!!)
27. What was your best musical discovery? Hmm, I don't know...
28. What did you want and get? I wanted a house to raise our son in and we got it!
29. What was your favorite film of the year? There were good films this year??
30. What did you want and not get? Nothing that I can think of.
31. What one thing would've made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Having Matt home more often.
32. How would you describe your fashion concept for 2007? If I make it out of my jammies I'm doing very well!
33. What kept you sane? Scrapbooking
34. Which celebrity or public figure did you admire most? I don't admire celebrities.
35. What political issue stirred you most? I'd rather not say, too many people judge you based on the wrong things, politics included.
36. Who do you miss? Brian (my brother) and the Remley family (I wish we lived closer)
37. Who was the best new person you met? Michelle and Ella!!!
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned. Trust your instincts, don't be too trusting of others, stand up for what you believe in, do not let people take advantage of your kindness and generosity, no one is worth crying over (if they were worth it you wouldn't be crying in the first place)
39. Quote a song line that defines your year. Er, I can't think of any...

Last but by far not least, if you are still here after all of that you totally deserve to see this hilarious video of Ari. He is such a little "destructor"!! He took the top of his Chicco toy table (it comes off), flipped it upside down, pushed it across the room to the sofa and, well, you'll see...



I tell you, we cannot turn our backs for a minute. Just when you think the house is baby-proof the baby proves you wrong! Have a great night!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Quick Update

We had a better day today (aside from the fact that I woke up with a nasty head cold)! Ari slept 13 hours last night waking at 8 this morning. We had waffles and yogurt for breakfast at 8:30 and at 9 he had his sippy cup of whole milk which he drank nearly the entire thing (about 7 ounces I think). I put him down for a nap at 9:30 and he went right to sleep until 11:30. We got up and came downstairs to play until lunch at 12:30. He had an entire jar of sweet potatos, some animal graham crackers and a few cheese crackers (first time, I had to trick him but it worked). After lunch we played until about 1:15 and he took another nap until 3. When he woke up from his nap he had another cup of milk which he drank all of them we took a quick trip to Target to pick up the things we didn't get yesterday. We came home and played until 5 and then Ari had dinner. He ate an entire jar of strawberries & bananas, a bag of fig newton minis and some graham crackers. He drank water from an open cup only spilling a tiny bit on his shirt! He had a little more milk too. We're playing now since Matt's due home any minute then it's bath and bed by 7 pm. I think we may give him a bottle before bed, I'm still undecided... I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, and he only threw food at me once, a big improvement over the last few days. We'll see how he does tomorrow but hopefully he realizes the throwing is bad!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

I forgot to mention this earlier... a good friend of mine is in dire need of some help. It seems her sock monkey is without a name, such a tragedy! The poor guy (the sock, not Rachel) is sorta depressed because people keep calling him "hey, sock" and is requesting that he be given a name immediately! If you can help Rachel would greatly appreciate it, she thanks you in advance! Just go HERE to offer your opinion!

Thanks ;)

101 Posts and a little shop therapy

Wow, can you believe this is my 101st post! Congratulations me!! Anyway, it's been a long day, I'm ready to dive into my new scrap stash and forget about my worries. Ari slept until 8 this morning, we've been having food battles all day but I'm over it. He'll eat when he's hungry, all I can do is have healthy food available to him when he's ready. We met Michelle and Ella at Target (OK, the Starbucks in Target) to run a few errands, we stopped at AC Moore since they had 40% off their "entire" stock of scrapbook embellishements. OK, for those of you that aren't well versed in scrappers terminology~ embellishements are all the extra little things that you put on the pages to give it oomph and style such as brads, eyelets (mini grommets for the guys out there), ribbon, alphabet letters, flowers, stickers and so on. Now that we're clear on that... someone needs to tell AC Moore that that's what embellishements are, and when you advertise that your ENTIRE stock of embellies are on sale you need to include more than one little part of one aisle of stuff. It was a little disappointing but I guess it's better since I didn't spend as much money.

While we were there Ari decided to start throwing everything in his reach. He even hit another lady that was shopping with his puff container! I was mortified, he was such a bad kid today. We're going to have to put a stop to that behavior pretty quickly, I just wish everyone around you didn't look at you like your an unfit mother for telling your child "No". Can't a girl catch a break around here?

After shopping we had lunch at Panera, SO YUM! I haven't been to Panera in quite a while, it was nice. Michelle and I had a chance to sit down and talk, it was really nice. She's the best friend, I love her! Ella was really good today, jabbering away in her stroller and eating peanut butter and jelly for the first time. It was so cute, she kept making funny faces, so adorable!

We came home, Ari refused to nap and wouldn't eat much of his dinner either. I think starting tomorrow we're going to eliminate his bottle during the day. I've been wanting to wean him off since he's one and drinking whole milk, this is the perfect opportunity. Hopefully it'll get him eating more "food" instead of filling up on formula. Sharon told me months ago I needed to do it, I was afraid he wouldn't be getting the nutrients he needed but the only way to find out is to try.

Anyway, that's enough rambling... After Ari went to bed I was actually extremely productive. I watched three movies back to back, The Waitress starring Keri Russell; it was alright, I'd heard it was awesome and I think my hopes were a little too high, it wasn't as great as I was expecting. Then it was I'm Reed Fish starring Alexis Bledel (from Gilmore Girls, my favorite show evah) which was really good. I didn't have any expectations since I'd never even heard of it but it was really good, well written and the soundtrack was amazing. Last but not least, Carolina Moon with Claire Forlani and Oliver Hudson (total hottie, by the way) and it was AMAZING! SO much better than I thought, I picked it because the cast was pretty good and I'm going to watch it again tonight. While I watched I got TONS of scrapping done, most of which I cannot share yet. Stay tuned though, sneek peeks are coming later this week. Here's my January calendar, I finished it last night as well.




Well, I'm off to put Ari to bed, he's starting to fall over while standing and walking so I better put lay him down before he hurts himself. Later gators...

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Laws of Nature

Every great day has to be followed by one that's totally horrible, right? At least that's how it seems in my house... Ari's been a total pain all day, whining about everything! I know he's only one but enough is enough, he's throwing full blown tantrums dropping to the floor flailing about (because I wouldn't let him play with our phone, last time he called my brother at 4 in the morning his time) screaming at the top of his lungs. He only ate half his breakfast, no lunch and he threw his dinner all over me and the wall. Nice. Granted, I think he may be feeling a little yuck (he had a pretty bad diaper today) but is it necessary to throw food halfway across a room just because you don't want it? So, all he's had today is half a yogurt, his bottles and some puffs. I tried to feed him peaches for dinner which are his favorite just so he would have something in his little belly; as soon as I pulled the spoon out of his mouth he proceeded to stick his entire fist in his mouth, scoop all the peaches out and throw them at my face. It's only 6 pm... I have another hour of this.

I think I'm going to go to the Starbucks drive through, maybe he'll fall asleep in the car and I can give my ears and nerves a break. Wish me luck.

****Update*****

It's now midnight, Ari wouldn't eat any dinner other than puffs, he did take his bottle though. I gave him a bath and he went to bed at 7 (his usual time). He woke up about 20 minutes ago, crying. I checked on him, he's still crying. This is the 5th night in a row he's woken at midnight... I think, I've sort of lost count. I'm ready to pull my hair out, I feel like such a horrible mother sometimes. Do I give him a bottle? I'm getting real sick of having him wake throughout the night, he's a year old! I can't blame it on teething because it's been going on way too long. HELP!!! He's pretty much just protesting now, not really crying but just sort of yelling and shaking his crib (he's really good at that, he knows how to mash it into the wall so we come running to make sure he's not tipped over). I think he may be near the end of this little fit, from now on I'm not even going to go in his room in the first place, it only seems to make things worse. Sheesh, does anyone want a job as a nanny?? We have a spare room...

I'm sure you're all pretty sick of hearing about it, but I need to get it out and Matt's not here. Two more days...

Thursday, January 10, 2008

An Awesome Day!

Today was one of those days, perfect even though we had to wake up to an alarm clock (not something I'm used to anymore). Gymboree was at 10 so we had to set the alarm to avoid a repeat of last week. It was smooth though and we made it to class a little early! Ari had a blast, that boy is all over the place as soon as we walk through the door! I feel like a baby wrangler for an hour but it's great. He literally runs and climbs and crawls until he falls over from pure exhaustion. He's usually on the verge of a meltdown by the end of class, but that's not a bad thing because he takes awesome naps in the afternoon! He was a perfect angel today for Matt and went to bed like a champ at 7 tonight!

After class we went to brunch with Michelle & Ella, which I'm thinking may happen more often since Eddie's Place is within walking distance from Gym and we're always starving halfway through class. See, we wake up early enough to make sure our children (and us) are wearing clean clothes but not early enough to eat before we leave... hehe! Don't worry, the baby is always fed before class, it's the parents that don't always get their chance!

After brunch I rode with Michelle to her house where we immediately put Ella down for a nap and hit the scrappin' table! It was awesome, I didn't really accomplish all that much but that's alright. It was nice to have a day without anyone to worry about but me. When Ella woke up from her nap we went to AC Moore (the craft store) and HOLY COW was I in heaven! I'm totally driving 40 minutes tomorrow to go back and get the stuff I wish I'd gotten today! That's what I get for trying to be good, now it's only going to cost me that much more gas money... so worth it though becuase there are a few things I really do need.

I wish I had pictures to share but, alas, the camera battery is dead yet again. I really need to get some rechargeables, maybe tomorrow. Oh, that and the stuff I worked on today can't really be shown to the general public just yet! Hang in there, it's totally worth your wait.

Here's to an awesome day, one perfect in every way... and a repeat tomorrow!! Goodnight ;)

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

A better day

Ari was better today! I appreciate the comments that were left, thank you. I too thought he may be sleeping too much throughout the day so Matt and I tried to cut his naps down. Um, not such a good idea... he was miserably cranky for a week and it was getting to the point where he refused to eat dinner. We gave him his third nap back, he's now eating dinner every night and sleeping 12-13 hours at night. I think he's just one of those freak babies that needs a huge amount of sleep to function. *not that my child is a freak, it's just a saying* We are pretty flexible with his naps (obviously, or I'd never be able to leave the house), he can function with two, any less than that though and we end up with yesterday's fiasco.

So, that being said, we are STILL trying to get the pediatrician crap worked out, I'm going in person tomorrow to make his appt. so that's good! We have Gymboree in the morning, brunch with Michelle and Ella after then I'm going with Michelle to do some scrapping at her house. I've still got some DT stuff to put the finishing touches on as well as some other fun projects. It's been a long day, I'm going up to the bath to read my new 601 scrappy book! Here's some scrappy eye candy to hold you over until I return... *the favorite things is an altered book to hold clippings from my favorite scrap mags, takes up WAY less space on my shelves than a stack of old magazines* Good Night everyone ;)




Oh, and of course a cute picture of Ari... it wouldn't be an acceptable blog post without his adorable face in here somewhere!! He and Matt were playing "Baby Godzilla" saving teddy from the crashing blocks, the crashing was a little much though and Ari started to cry... looks like we'll have to wait a few more months for the blocks!

Monday, January 7, 2008

Where to begin...

This post is either going to be really long or really short. As I type Ari is upstairs screaming his pretty lil' head off... he won't sleep, won't eat, won't let us hold him, doesn't want to be in his crib, I think you get the gist of it. He's been up ALL day, not one single nap. That's right, the child that normally naps for a total of six hours a day has had none. The day started out alright, he woke up at 8, pretty normal. We had breakfast then a bath and then it was naptime. He tossed, turned, climbed every which way for an hour until I had to get him to go to the doctor.

His checkup went extremely well, they did an X-ray that came back perfectly normal and manually manipulated his hips which was also perfect. Great news, they seem to be healing perfectly! Our next check will be in a year unless for some extremely small chance that he develops some sort of problem before then (a very small percentage of kids do have further issues, very small!). Needless to say he was awake the whole time, ride home included.

We get home, feed him lunch and attempt another nap. He tossed, turned and climbed every which way for another hour until we finally couldn't stand to hear the crying any longer. We took a walk in the new wagon! The weather was near 80 and sunny today, a perfect day to be outside. He had a blast, riding around the block then playing with his flintstones car in the yard for a while too. We were hoping that he'd play enough to be worn out for a nap. No such luck.

As Matt was attempting a third nap I hear a knock at the door. It's my friend Brandy who's just moved a few houses down the street from us! She has 5 kids, ages 10, 4, 3 and 4 week old twins. I haven't seen the babies yet, it's been so cold and I had no idea she lived three houses away, so cool! The babies are adorable, a boy and girl, such little peanuts! She was out enjoying the weather as well and since Ari was refusing to sleep we went for another walk. She came back to the house and we chatted for a while until it was time to start Ari's bedtime routine.

Whew, that brings me to now. He's still crying, I don't know what else to do. He can't be hungry, he ate dinner and has had more than enough formula... I'm giving him 20 more minutes then we're calling the doctor. I hate to be one of the moms that calls the doctor for every little thing but this is really not normal for him. He's a good sleeper, and he's never not let me hold him. He was pushing away from me with both arms and legs, my ribs are sore from trying not to splat him on the floor. If anyone has any helpful advice within the next 20 minutes let me know.

Here are a few pictures from our walk today, I'm going to go check on him one last time...




Sunday, January 6, 2008

Girl Day Out!!

I don't know what the deal was with feeling yucky. It may have something to do with the fact that it's FREEZING here and Ari's not been sleeping too well which means I don't sleep well either. Matt's had a few days off though and been a huge sweetheart letting me sleep 'til noon today! Oh, and I got the whole day to myself to do as I pleased. I chose to go shopping, surprise surprise! I did very well though only buying candles at Pier1 (75% off, heck yeah), some river rock to go with the candles and some clearance books at Barnes & Noble! I also got 601 Great Scrapbook Ideas from Memory Makers... so many of my scrappy friends are published in it, I had to have it! I love it so far, I plan to dive all the way in during a bubble bath tomorrow.

I've been inspired by Virginia to go through all my scrappy mags, pull out the pages that inspire me the most then get rid of them. She pointed out that they don't really do us any good if all they do is sit on a shelf. I completely agree and when I'm done with them they are getting passed along to Michelle! What a way to be a little green, huh!

Needless to say, with all the shopping and purging of magazines there hasn't really been a ton of time left to scrap. My inspiration is not lacking at all though and I'm sure I'll get a TON done this weekend. I did manage to hang curtains in our bedroom, it's been so freakin' cold I thought they'd help keep us a little cozier. I hung them quickly to see how they would look, I still need to finish the bottom part and iron them before they can go up for good. Probably tomorrow.

Luckily Matt doesn't have to go to work until 7 pm tomorrow and he's home by 8 am Monday morning! He'll be able to go to Ari's orthopedic surgeon appt. with us Monday. Now that Ari is mobile Dr. Casey wants to ultrasound his hips to make sure the tissue is still healing properly and not deteriorating in any way. I'm incredibly optimistic that he's still 100% and that this will just be one more appt. behind us. His one year check up still needs to be scheduled, we've switched ped's and I need to fill out some paperwork before they'll schedule him. We attempted to do this yesterday but got miserably lost and gave up because we were hungry. We ate lunch at McAlister's then just came home. I'll try again Monday or Tuesday, this time actually taking the directions with me...

I have many a scrap projects up my sleeve, stay tuned! Oh, and if you want to be part of a totally awesome Share The Love RAK at Crop Addict, go HERE to participate. The details are explained in the thread, everyone is extremely generous so you won't want to miss out!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Blech.

The blog is still under construction, I just don't have the energy or willpower to work on it anymore. I'll finish tomorrow, Matt's home so he can watch Ari!

I wanted to post some of my recent projects, I'm finally back in the saddle and it feels great! I've also done some design team work with Crop Addict's February kit... it's gorgeous! You won't want to miss it, you can sign up for a subscription early to be guaranteed a kit since they sell out super fast every month. I'll post the sneak peeks later this week but for now, here are the other things I can show you. Enjoy!!



This is a calendar of sorts to help me keep track of my 180 layout goal I've set for myself this year. I used a Hambly transparency of grid lines, there are 12 rows of 15 boxes so I can track my progress monthly! I've got 6 done already, not bad for 3 days!!



This is for the weekly challenge at Crop Addict to scrap an inanimate object. I chose my camera since it plays such a strong role in my life. You should head over and check it out, Debbie gives the coolest prizes to the winners, totally worth your time and effort!

That's all for now, more tomorrow I'm sure. My soaker tub is full of hot bubbly water and it's calling my name... ciao Bella's!

**Under Construction**

I'm going to be working on my blog template throughout the day. I'm feeling slightly under the weather and Ari is on a nap strike so it may take me a while. I'm adding links to the blogs I visit most often as well as links to those of you that continually visit here, if you don't see your name yet please don't be offended. If you would or would not like your name to appear here please leave me a comment and I can adjust properly.

You have no idea how much all the comments you leave mean to me, it's truly thrilling to wake up each morning and read the love you've all left for me. I appreciate it greatly, please don't stop!

Thanks everyone, I'll be back later with a brand new blog template and some other things I've been working on the past few days!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

I'm not lazy...

I have been SO busy the past couple days! You can tell as soon as you walk in the front door that housework has not been on my list of priorities! I still have decoraions from Ari's party up... sheesh! I haven't touched the Christmas decor, it's still in full swing. We dug out a bunch of Ari's baby "stuff" while Brad and Em were here for Ethan and I thought, "hey, why not just pull out all of it, organize it and store it for good." Yeah, not as easy-peasy as I was planning! We have four of the giant 66-quart plastic bins full of clothes and one full of toys! This is all for a one year old! Actually, it's nine months worth because he still fits in his 9-12 month stuff! Crazy I tell ya, and no one believes me that he doesn't need a thing. I think my major summer project is going to be a closet system for his room, there is so much wasted space in there it's not funny. We do have lots of room to store the toys he got for Christmas and his birthday now though, so it's really nice not to be tripping over so many of them.

I've actually gotten some serious scrap time the past two days as well. Ari's teething which means he goes to bed between 6:30 and 7 each night, WooHoo!!! That's some serious mommy time for sure. Matt is enjoying his evenings of freedom as well now that I'm not completely riding him to get the house ready for company! Here's some of the stuff I've created the past two days...


This one is for last month's Scrapdragons challenge to scrap your guilty pleasure. I have so many but I really wanted to scrap the photo of my Starbucks! It really is cheap therapy, I tell Matt all the time, "I need Starbucks then I'll feel better ;)"


This one is using supplies from the Crop Addict December kit. This kit is SO awesome, the colors were perfect for the Christmas beach photos of our trip to my dads!

So, I woke up this morning to Matt nudging my shoulder and pointing at the clock... today is Wednesday which means Gymboree at 10:05. To be there in time we have to be pulling out of the driveway at 9:30... yeah, when I finally pulled my eyelids apart and looked at the clock it was 9:18!! That's right, Ari decided to snooze the morning away the one time we needed him to be up at his normal time. He's our natural alarm clock rarely sleeping past 8 or 8:30. Needless to say we were a little late. We still made it though, Matt sat in the back seat and fed Ari his breakfast in the car.

After class we had brunch at Eddie's place then ran a few errands. Ari was wiped out when we got home, too tired to nap so we let him watch some Baby Einstein. Look how intently he was watching, don't you just love that face!


He insisted on sitting at his new "big boy" table. Dick and Sharon got it for him for his birthday, it's the cutest thing! Never mind the bite marks already on the edge (oh I was so mad when I saw that today).

Ok, I'm almost done... I have to leave you with our fabulous dinner tonight. Brad and Emily left us with some Omaha steaks as a host/hostess gift so Matt fired up the grill tonight!

We had the steak with a yummy garlic gorgonzola cream sauce, steamed broccoli with sea salt and toasted pine nut cous cous.

Oh, and the wine!

To top it all off we ate in the family room on the floor! Yeah, I know... but it's been a long day and if you eat on the floor you don't have to have any manners! Hehe, goodnight!