Peer pressure/Inspiration

So, I think part of my lack of ability to create anything crafty is the constant state of chaos that my house is in. I'm a very Type-A person (ok, anal) so any clutter or mess really bothers me. My friend Virginia started this week long cleaning kick and I think I'm going to jump on the wagon. Maybe if I really concentrate on actually organizing/putting away I'll have enough energy left to sit and be crafty. So, here's my plan

Day 1: Laundry: Not just washed/dried but folded, on hangers and put away. I'd like to actually clean my laundry area too!

Day 2: Master Bedroom/Bathroom: Yikes. Let's just say our room has been the catch all for "quick, company is coming so hide the junk that's out so it looks like the house is clean" Hush, you know you do it too.

Day 3: Boys rooms/bathroom: I think I can do all three in one day, O's room stays pretty clean minus the trashcan full of diapers that always sneaks up on me and the bathroom should be pretty easy. Ari's room is going to be the time consumer.

Day 4: Family room/downstairs bathroom: This is the room we live in, it has Ari's toy area and my scrap area plus the TV, furniture... pretty much everything. This might take more than a day...

Day 5: Living room/Kitchen: They're connected, makes sense to do both in the same day.

I'm really going to hold myself accountable. It's been quite a while since I've actually cleaned my house though so my goals might not be realistic. Before you go thinking I'm gross and that we live in squalor know that I've been hiring cleaning help since about April. Every two weeks the house gets totally clean, just not by me! I will post before and after pictures so you can see my progress, wish me luck!

I found it!

My mojo, that is!! It's been missing for almost a year *gulp* but it finally returned this week in the form of sweet little birds and butterflies. What can I say, pregnancy absolutely sucked every last bit of craftiness right out of me, then Oscar zapped what little energy I had left. Now, at almost 4 months old, he's easing up on me a bit.

So, back to the craftiness... My good friend Karen is preggers with twins, one of each actually and since the babes are going to be sharing a nursery she wanted to do something really special for them. Actually, her nursery is the same shape as Oscar's room (she lives in my neighborhood, right up the street) so that huge wall with the vaulted ceiling has an adorable 12 foot tree painted on it. Since she's having a boy and a girl we settled on bluebirds for the little man and butterflies for the miss. I've made two butterflies and need to hit up my LSS for some blue paper for the birdies. I'll have them all done this weekend and once we get them up I'm sure she'll let me take pictures and share.

That little bit of creativity (and shopping at the Silhouette online store for designs) really sparked my mojo and I have tons of project ideas swarming in my head. I'm actually getting out my handy dandy notebook (did I just say that?? Ari is watching Blue's Clues in the other room... sheesh) to get my ideas down before I lose them. QuicKutz has some super cool word designs that kind of fold in half like a photo corner, I'm thinking some vinyl applied to the wall around a door frame would look pretty neat.

I just wanted to share, I'm so excited to finally have some ideas. It's totally a step in the right direction. I have to clean my house today, I'm hosting game night for several mommy friends here tonight and that means a clean slate to get all crafty tomorrow with no chores standing in the way. Yay!

Other than that, not much going on. Ari got two flu shots yesterday, his second seasonal booster and his first H1N1 so we're hanging close to home today to let him chill. That and the hurricane outside (Ida, she's really dumping on us) makes it a good day to stay in jammies all warm and cozy. I don't really have any pictures to share... next post I'll make sure to have some!

Little Men

I'm still trying to get Halloween costume pictures, we got downpoured on while Trick or Treating and neither boy seems to want to cooperate getting pictures taken. So, here are some autumn pictures that we took this week! Enjoy!

Upside down

That's kind of how life is right about now. Seems I just can't stay on top of things, no idea why. Do you ever feel like you're just digging your way out and about halfway through someone throws all the dirt back in and you're right back where you started? I'm not depressed or anything, just having a hard time managing life with two kids and all the jazz that comes along with them. Actually, I'm not having a hard time managing, I'm having a hard time writing about it. We're so busy all the time, blogging always gets bumped to the bottom of the list. We have preschool and playdates and mom's night out and holiday stuff and, and, and... it's all a blast and we are loving each day. I wish I had time to document it :( I haven't scrapped a single picture since I don't know when. I even went so far as to buy some new crafty supplies and there they sit in the bag on my shelf, pushed aside yet again.

Anyway, I'm really trying to make time. Anyone have any ideas how I might be able to do that? I can't even use Oscar as an excuse because he sleeps through the night 7-7 so my evenings are just as free as they were before he was here. The only thing different is the insane amount of laundry to fold and put away at the end of each day. So, any tips or tricks are greatly appreciated! Send them my way, either through comments here, email or a phone call (actually, texts are better since I rarely answer the phone anymore). Thanks!!!

Whoops

I know, I know... Let me explain: It's been absolutely CRAZY lately, things are finally getting back to some sort of normal. Oscar, shortly after my last blog post, was "diagnosed" with reflux and colic. That right there should explain but there's more. He also came down with the flu which downright sucked but he's much better. Matt and I got sick too, not the flu but we each had a sinus infection and bronchitis and that totally kicked our butts for right about two whole weeks. Oh, and to top it all off we suspected that Oscar has a dairy allergy/issue so we've been trying to get to the bottom of that. All piled up on top of normal life stuff and I was pretty bogged down.

Anyway, let's just start fresh. I can't believe that Oscar is going to be three months old tomorrow. Time is flying, he's getting so big. I am really enjoying it though, he's a pretty cool kid. He is very snuggly and cuddly which does make it hard but what can you do. They are only babies once and it doesn't last long.

We went pumpkin picking this weekend with several of our friends and had a great time. We have a lot of stuff planned for October too, I love Autumn and all that it brings. Here are some pictures of our outing.







Oscar pretty much sleeps through everything when we're out, at home he has to be in his crib in his room with the door shut. Ari can't seem to leave him alone long enough to let him sleep when he's downstairs. Just as well, it gives Ari some one on one time with me and Matt when he's home.

So, I'm finally starting to find my footing it seems. Oscar is sleeping a full twelve hours through the night, has been for several weeks now. That helps, sleep deprivation is a cruel, cruel thing. My house is all decorated for Autumn and Halloween, I have a few finishing touches to add but that will have to wait. I'm going to Hilton Head with my buddy Maria this weekend and cannot wait for the fresh sea air and girl time. Ari is staying home with Daddy, I'm not quite ready to leave O yet but that's just fine. We're going to have a blast.

I'll do better about updating, I promise ;) Sorry it took so long...

Adjusting

We've been home with Baby Oscar for just over a week now and are settling in nicely I think. It's definitely an adjustment from one to two, I don't think we realized just how set in our ways we were with Ari. We both forgot what it's like to have a newborn in the house but after a day or two we were on track.

Little Man seemed to have his days and nights a little mixed up for the first two nights home. As soon as we would settle in for the night he would start squirming and crying. I was baffled. Ari came home from the hospital sleeping through the night and went straight to his crib in his own room... Oscar had other ideas. We figured out that he likes to be swaddled super tight and strapped into his baby papasan chair to sleep. I think maybe because he was a few weeks early?? We never swaddled Ari because of his birth defect so that's new too. Oscar loves it though!

It's so fun to get to know a new little person! I am amazed at how Oscar already is his own little person. He knows what he wants and doesn't give up until you figure it out. He loves to be held, loves to snuggle and is generally a really happy baby. He sleeps a lot, of course he's still not quite two weeks old and wasn't due to be here until next week but I love that he's been so easy thus far. He really does fit perfectly into our little family.

I find myself wanting to hold and snuggle him much more than I did with Ari. I think with Ari I was afraid that I would spoil him, that he would get used to being held and that would make things harder for me. Knowing that Oscar is my last I'm soaking it up, I cuddle him for hours every day and love the one on one time. It's usually when Ari is sleeping, our little bit of downtime during the day. We've really tried to stick to our normal routine for Ari's sake, we get out pretty much every day. We've gone to the park and shopping and eaten out a couple times too. Oscar just comes along for the ride, he's so easy! It helps that I'm totally comfortable nursing in public too. I have a Bebe Au Lait cover and I use it a LOT! It's the same one I had with Ari, I'm so glad I found it! I have a Peanut Shell too and have already fallen completely in love with it. I even sold one to a lady shopping at Babies R Us!!

All in all it's been a pretty good week. Not totally perfect but I have no control over the things that aren't so hot. From now on I'm going to focus on MY family, my three guys, and let the chips fall where they may. I apologize if that sounds a little cryptic, I'd rather not get into the details.

Anyway, things are pretty good here! Oscar is the perfect addition to our family and we are all just really happy! I'll leave you with some pictures of our week!

Introducing Oscar

Our gorgeous little boy is here! Oscar Henrik Wiebke was born Tuesday July 14th at 12:48pm! He is 7lbs 11oz and 20.5 inches of absolute perfection! We are SO happy that he is here and completely healthy, he is the perfect final addition to our little family!




These pictures were taken by my uber talented friend Becca Bond, she came out to the house yesterday for a little photo shoot. I knew the pictures would be good but I had no idea they would bring tears to my eyes! Crazy hormones or not, she is amazing!

So, back to Oscar. His birth story is quite the experience and a bit of a novel, I apologize in advance if this is very long but I want to get it all down so I don't forget!

Last Friday, about two hours after Matt left for work I started feeling some pretty strong contractions. Of course I'm home alone with Ari for 4 days so I called my doctor to ask what to look for. They said I needed to go straight to the hospital since I was still preterm by their dates. I called Matt, luckily he was on his way back to Charlotte from somewhere, and took Ari to my friend Jen's house. We get to the hospital and my contractions were 3-5 minutes apart! I was surprised, I didn't know they were that close. They kept me in bed, hooked up to the monitors FOREVER, I was SO hungry and my back hurt so bad. I was 2cm when I went in and when the Dr. checked me I was progressed to 3-4cm. They had me wait 2 hours and checked me again, there was no change so they sent me home (at 4am mind you, Matt and I were exhausted). I was so upset but too tired to care.

I felt terrible all weekend. Matt's parents came on Saturday since the doctor predicted I would deliver within the next 24-48 hours. We piddled around all weekend and by Sunday I was getting really frustrated. I actually mowed the backyard just to get out of the house. Don't worry, we have a small yard and I was supervised. Monday morning I woke up and told everyone I was going out for a bit. Cabin fever was setting in and I knew if I didn't get out I was not going to be much fun to be around. While I was out shopping, by myself of course, my contractions started up again so I came home and called the Dr. They told me to come in to be checked so Matt and I headed that way at about 3pm. We got to the doctor office and the doctor was SO mean. The practice I go to has 14 doctors and of course the one I really dislike was on duty that day. Anyway, she checked me and said there was no change but sent me to the hospital anyway since my contractions were pretty strong.

We get to the hospital, get settled in and sure enough my contractions were about 3 minutes apart! I walked and walked and walked... the doctor checked me and said I was 4cm but wouldn't break my water because the baby's head was still pretty high. He was worried that the cord would come out and I would need an emergency c-section. I was so upset, the same thing happened with Ari. I got stuck at 4cm because the fluid was keeping the baby from putting pressure on my cervix to change it. I thought for sure they were going to send me home again. I didn't want to take anything for the pain, I'm really anti-narcotic and very sensitive to any medicine but at about 11pm the nurse talked me into it. She said I needed to sleep and that the Demerol would "take the edge off". Yeah, right. I totally melted down. I started crying and couldn't stop, I felt like no one was listening to me and it was making me angry. Then I started getting sick. I was SO miserable. by now it's well after midnight and I was a wreck. After talking to two of my best friends on the phone I fell asleep. At about 4am I woke up with contractions again, 2 minutes apart and I still felt like crap so they gave me phenergan to take the nausea away. I was pretty out of it until 6am when the doctor came in and broke my water. Yeah, he totally came out of nowhere and broke it! Things got pretty crazy after that. I tried to sleep again but was in some pain so I walked a bit. Around 9 I asked for my epidural...

The epidural: Big mistake. Of course I didn't know that then but you'll see... The anesthesiologist came in and set everything up, I got all situated and she began. Oh my gosh I have never felt pain like that in my life. I swear she hit a nerve because I had the most intense sharp pain to the right of my spine that was excruciating. She had to have stuck me at least 6 times and kept adding numbing medicine so I could tolerate it. On about the 5th stick she said "Dad's going"... and all the sudden Matt fell straight back to the floor hitting his head SO hard. I will never get that sound out of my head but he was completely unconcious and having trouble breathing so my nurse had to call for immediate help. Of course I'm sitting with a giant needle in my back and unable to do anything but freak out and cry. Two nurses ran in and my nurse said they needed to bring a stretcher to take him to the ER, his head was bleeding and he was really out of it. It was terrible, they wheeled him away and I just sat there bawling like a baby. My epidural was in by then so I laid down and called Matt's parents to come right away. We were both alone and I was freaking out.

While Matt was in the ER they did a CT scan, and EKG, gave him IV fluids and a tetanus shot and ran blood work. Apparently his blood pressure plummeted while he was standing and he fell. It had nothing to do with the epidural but was probably related to stress and lack of sleep from this whole ordeal. Anyway, he made it back to my room in time for things to start happening.

When he got back I was fairly comfortable but not completely. My legs were completely numb but I could still feel the contractions. They were tolerable though and I was 6cm so I hung out. About an hour later (noon) my contractions came back full force. It was like someone turned off my epidural or something. I paged my nurse to check me, I didn't want to hit the button for more medicine if I was close. By then I was 8cm so I hit it thinking I had about 2 hours left. At 12:15 I pushed it again, the first dose did nothing and I was really hurting. At 12:30 I called my nurse again and she checked me again. I was "about 9.5cm"!!! I had just a little bit of cervix left and she said I should try to push once to see what happened. With the next contraction I pushed once and she told me to stop and called the doctor! Yay!!! The doctor came in and got all set up, I had to breathe through a few contractions but was instructed not to push until the doctor was completely ready. At 12:45 he was ready and with one push his head was out! The next little push delivered the rest of his body and he was officially born at 12:48pm!

It was amazing, he came out alert but not crying (just like his big brother). They let me hold him for several minutes before they took him to the warmer to clean him up. Matt and I were so thrilled, I can't believe he came so fast! His little face was really bruised from coming out so quickly but other than that he was completely perfect! He nursed really well right from the start and is still going strong! We take him to the pediatrician monday for a weight and jaundice check, I'm curious to see how much he's put on! Oh, and it looks like he doesn't have the same hip dysplasia that Ari had! We're probably going to meet with Ari's ortho for a consult and ultrasound to make sure but his hips look perfect right now!

The entire family is doing well. Matt feels fine, I feel the best I've felt in months and Ari is thrilled to be a big brother. He loves "baby Oscar" and constantly wants to hug and kiss him. He's amazing, we are all doing much better than I expected! Anyway, now that I've completely bored everyone to death I am going to bed. Little Man is grunting around, trying to eat his fist, so that's my cue! I will post more pictures later, Becca is going to send me more when she's done editing and I can't wait. If you're still here thank you, I'll talk to you all later!

Busy Bee...

I've been working like crazy this past week... I have several new layouts, some pictures and a few cute stories to share. But, right now it's time for bed! Tomorrow is Matt's only day off in a stretch of 8 days so we're going to soak up the family time but I promise to be back by the end of the week with lots of eye candy! Enjoy your Thursday!

She did it again!

I know I totally raved about Becca and the pictures she did for us for Fathers Day but I have to do it again. She and I went out for a maternity photo shoot last week, I really wanted to document this last phase of my last pregnancy. Once again she has totally blown me away. I actually cried when I saw the images! If you would like to see I would love to share!

Becca Bond Photography

Click on Clients and the password is arilove. You'll be able to see both galleries, the Fathers Day family pictures and my maternity shoot! Please come back and leave a comment, I am so proud of these and would love to hear what you have to say! I have to say, looking at the pictures I realize just how enormous the belly is. I see it from the same perspective every day, you really don't know how other people see you. I'm so glad I did this!

I have a doctors appointment a week from tomorrow with my doctor (I go to a practice with 14 doctors and rotate through all of them throughout the pregnancy). I'm hoping my doctor will give me an idea of when Little Man will be here. Honestly, I'm hoping for a scheduled induction. I'm SO nervous that I will go into labor with Matt at work and all of our family at home... 600 miles from here. Not the ideal situation. So, cross your fingers for me and I will keep you posted!

We're having a relaxing family night at home tonight. The next two weeks are rough with Matt's work schedule so we're soaking up all the family time we can!

One Crazy Kid

Ari really cracks me up sometimes. He's been on a boot kick lately (pardon the pun). I have no idea where it came from, only that he dragged Matt upstairs the other day insisting that he wear "mommy's boots". I didn't even know that he knew I had boots, I can't remember ever wearing them in front of him. Anyway, my Wellies are a tad too big for the Lil' Guy so I've been keeping my eye open for some in his size. I hit the jackpot at Old Navy yesterday and found a pair on clearance! They're a 5 and he is just in a 6 but I thought I'd try anyway.

He LOVES them. Seriously, he can put them on himself and has been trucking all through the house today pulling his string of wooden bead shapes (and a rogue matchbox car that found it's way on to the string).




Too cute! We're hanging out at home today. It's like a million degrees outside so we've been building train tracks, "swimming" in the bathtub and playing car wash (that consists of driving matchbox cars under the train bridge aka car wash). Lots of fun! We're eating lunch now and heading upstairs for naps, yay!

See my new header?

I think it's officially my favorite family picture of all time! I have been dying to share but had to wait, we had pictures done for Fathers Day so spilling the beans would have ruined it for our dads. My awesome friend Becca (the best photographer ever) did a photo shoot with us and I am in awe at the results! If you want to see the rest (and trust me, you want to) check them out on her website.

Becca Bond Photography

Once you're there click on the "Website" square, then click on "Clients" at the bottom and the password is arilove for our gallery.

We will be buying every print and I've already re-arranged all the frames on our family photo wall to make room for several of these! Oh, and Becca and I are going out today for a one-on-one belly photo shoot before Little Man makes his appearance in the next few weeks! I really wanted to do something special to document this last phase of my last pregnancy ever and this is perfect. I'm so excited!

In other news, Matt's wonderful parents came for a visit this weekend. It was so nice having them here and Ari cannot get enough of his Grammy and PiPaw, they left this morning and he's already asking to fly on a plane to go to their house! They will be back when the baby is born so he won't have to wait too long to see them! I do have pictures to share but they're still on my camera. I'll get around to that sometime tomorrow and share them here. For now I'm off for a nap! Enjoy your day and if you go to our gallery please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Moving right along

33 weeks down, at the most 7 to go but the doctors don't think I'll last that long! Had a check up Thursday, he is definately head down and already engaging which is awesome. I have a lot of pain and pressure which means things are heading in the right direction. I have the go-ahead to stop taking all of my preterm labor meds in a week and a half, at that point he will be fully cooked and we can let nature take it's course. Wow, crazy to think he could be here in about three weeks! I can't wait...

Memories...

I wanna look like this again...

I'll be back...

I haven't forgotten the poor blog... I've been having contractions since Saturday and Ari is sick so that doesn't leave a whole 'lotta computer time. I will be back later tonight or tomorrow though, I have pictures to share!

I can officially say that I'm back in the scrapbook groove!! I did two layouts and three projects this week and I feel great! My house is a disaster but that's beside the point ;) Having Matt home most of the week gave me the ability to sit in my corner and create, he's awesome with keeping Ari occupied so I can "work".

The first layout I did was of Ari on the swing at our friend Jeannie's house on Memorial Day. She's a friend I met through my mommies website and she had that water playdate I mentioned a while ago, this picture was taken while we were there. I love it, not only is Ari on a "big boy swing" but he's on a swing period! Swings were NOT high on his list of fun things for a while, something to do with his sensory issues but he seems to really have overcome it! He even asked me to push him and loved it as long as he didn't go too high. The little skull accent matches his swim trunks in case you can't see in the picture. I fell in love with the skull swim trunks as soon as I saw them at Gymboree and think I even paid full price (I never pay full price) they were that cute, he has a matching hat too!



The last layout I did was the belly. I love the shots Matt took a few weeks ago and since I have yet to scrap a single page of this pregnancy I thought I should get started before I'm not pregnant anymore. Can you believe I only have about 6-8 weeks left! I can't wait to meet our little guy, I haven't had an ultrasound since the 20 week mark and I am going nuts wondering what he looks like. With Ari I had multiple ultrasounds due to the complications I was having so it's a big adjustment not getting to see our Peanut every week!



It's a blah day here today, seems it might be a little cooler but we'll see. I have to pick up my groceries (thank you online shopping) and am making dinner for a friend that had twins. Ari and I have a barbeque to go to this evening, after we drop dinner off for said friend with new twins. I'm looking forward to Ari burning off some energy tonight, maybe he will sleep in tomorrow!! Did I mention that he slept in until 9am the past two mornings... awesome kid!!!

Our Little Artist

OK, so that might be a stretch but he had a blast and that's all that matters! On my little trip to Michael's last week I found this sidewalk paint set and thought what the heck, if we're outside we're going to be messy anyway so why not add a little color! It's made by Crayola, the set comes with three colors, chalk, a brush and a roller and a tray to hold it all. The roller works best for little hands, the brush doesn't hold enough paint to really do much with so I used it and let Ari pile it on with the roller. He was very proud of his sidewalk and refused to let me wash it off... oh, that's the cool part, it comes right off with plain water!

We weren't outside long, it's like 90 and VERY humid... I am such a wuss but totally blame the baby belly. Normally I love the heat but I swell up the minute I step outside lately, that's definately not fun. I'm not used to being swollen, it's something I've never dealt with since Ari was a winter baby. Just about 7 weeks left though and that's if he's full term... Ari came early and I'm really, really hoping this lil' guy does the same!

Ari goes back to school tomorrow, he's very excited! Oh, did I mention? He's in Preschool Summer Camp! Tuesday was his first day, he did awesome with the exception of one total meltdown when he was told water table play time was over. Such is life, I'm sure once he realizes that Ms. Shelley is in charge he will shape up for her!

Well, I am off to my scrap corner!!! I just wanted to share these pictures, while Ari was playing I sat outside with a stack of Scrapbook Trends and have two pages of ideas waiting to be scrapped. Man it feels good to have the mojo back!

A Backyard Kind of Day

Hello! I added the pictures of my creations from yesterday to the post below this one so if you wanted some creative eye candy be sure to scroll down and check them out!

Today was GORGEOUS! Matt let me sleep in this morning which was wonderful! I haven't been sleeping well, I either get kicked in the bladder a few times, my legs go numb from the weight of the belly or I wake up starving... it was so nice to snooze as late as I wanted! I think I finally rolled my lazy bones out of bed around 10:30 when I was too hungry to stall any longer. We all took showers (Ari loves the "stand up shower" now so he actually had a lot of fun getting clean) and headed out for lunch and errands. We got the crib mattress for Little Rascal, the room is now 99% ready for him! I had custom artwork created from a wonderful lady on Etsy and it should be here any day. I'm so excited!






I found the nursery bedding and window treatments on clearance at Pottery Barn Kids several months ago. We actually had an ultrasound done around 12 weeks and the tech said she *thought* she could see outdoor plumbing but he still could turn out to be a girl. Well, I saw this most perfect bedding a couple weeks before the 18 week ultrasound and went with my gut, that he was a boy and this deal was way too good to pass up. Someone was on my side, the outdoor plumbing was confirmed and I bought the entire set for right around $100! We had to buy a new crib, Ari's had been recalled for some sort of mega safety defect and the table and shelf near the glider are new as well. Those were Ikea finds, Sharon (my awesome Mother In Law) and I painted them to match the bedding exactly! The artwork will go in the three frames above the crib and I'm making nautical flags that spell out his name to hang above the changing table.

OK, so back to our day... we went to lunch then headed to Babies'R'Us for the crib mattress and picked up a super fun water table for Ari while we were there. We promised him he could "splash" when we got home and he had a blast! We hooked up the sprinkler too, it was near 90 today and he loved every minute of it. We really hesitated with the sprinkler, his sensory issues really show themselves with water splashing but he could have cared less. We had just as much fun watching him and are so proud that he seems to be outgrowing so many of his issues. Here are a few of the pictures from today...







Even though it was pretty late in the day we still had to keep his shirt on, his sunburn was way worse than I thought. I probably should have taken him to the doctor but it's too late now. He's peeling and doesn't like to be touched still, the lotion I put on tonight really stung and he cried for a while but calmed down and is sound asleep. I think another week totally out of the sun and layers upon layers of sunblock for the rest of the summer should do the trick.

Matt heads back to work tomorrow, we're going to drop him off then head to the mall. I have a little shopping to do (it's a secret so dont' ask) and we're having dinner at a friends house tomorrow night. It should be another fun day, I really love summer!