Update...

Okay. So I couldn't post last night because I was getting a little drowsy from the Benadryl. THANK GOODNESS! Monday night I woke up at 2am with hives again. So last night's sleep was much needed!

I called the dr yesterday morning and got in. The allergy spcecialist had cc'd to me the same letter I received. So they were up to speed on that whole thing. Needles to say they weren't too happy with the specialist. They didn't understnd why he didn't test me like they said and felt bad for sending me for no reason. (The specialist said that my hives were unexplained, possible due to stress, and he didn't test me at all.) So...there I was one week later with the same thing. This time they were worse, though. They were darker and on my back, too. Also, my feet and hands were so swollen and they itched ALL NIGHT LONG. To say I slept for two hours would be a stretch. The dr said the reason they take things like this so seriously is because they had a patient with the same symptoms and he almost died one night. It ended up he was allergic to the red dye in the Tylenol. THAT was scary! He took a bunch of blood, gave me a bunch of meds, and sent me home. The meds worked like a charm! I didn't even have to have a shot! That was great since I still have the bruise from the last one! So here I am. Hopefully he will call soon. I am so curious to know if they figured it all out! That would be so great!

Drama drama drama! Always something! Eric DID finally get our toilet back. Hopefully that fixed it. So sick of drama with the house. Obviously I got NO scrapping done yesterday. ARG! So much to do! Maybe I'll get something done today!

I woke up today to snow on the ground! The roofs, sidewalks, and road is covered, but the ground isn't. That's a-okay with me! Ready for spring!
Well I'm going to go feed little man some breakfast! We'll chat again tonight! LOL Hopefully I'll have a layout or two to post!
LUV APRIL

They're baaaaaack.....

My goodness. My gosh. I woke up last night at about 2am covered with hives. Again. My benadryl is kickin' in so I'll have to update in the morning!
Have a lovely night!
LUV APRIL

If it's not the sink, it's the...

If it's not the sink, it's the fridge. If it's not the fridge, it's the toilet. My toilet is sitting on it's side in it's little room right now. I had a post that said my house is jinxed....I am gathering a ton of evidence, let me tell you! My toilet has a leak and they are trying to figure out where it's coming from. Hey, at least the woodwork isn't fixed yet! LOL Just as long as they get it fixed before the wood guy comes! So we have to go all the way to the other end of the house to use the other toilet. Fun. Jinxed I tell ya!
My sister's fashion show was today. It's this yearly thing they do at her high school to raise money for the leukemia patients. She was a planner and she also got to model. It was fun. So sad, though, to see the little girls with no hair up there. They got to dress up in pretty dresses and model them. It was so great to see all their parents so proud video taping and taking pics! They looked beautiful!
We went to TGI Friday's afterwards. We haven't eaten there in a long time. We tried the Green Bean sticks and the fried Macaroni and Cheese. SO yummy! Brodey ate so many green bean sticks! He loved those things!
My parents got to come and play for a little while before the fashion show! They couldn't believe how quickly Brodey is progressing with his walking! He looks so cute!
I didn't get any layouts done today. I almost did, but not quite. I'm sure I will be able to finish it tomorrow. I think it's going to turn out pretty cute. The layout I posted above is from the Last Scrapper Standing Contest at www.just4keeps.com. I posted the link to it before, but I thought I'd go ahead and put it up tonight. LOVE this layout and love those pics! I came back into the office after doing laundry, and this is what I came back to! A little message on Brodey's foot! LOL His daddy is crazy! I can't wait to post my Design Team Layouts for February for Just 4 Keeps! I really love them, but I can't until the newsletter goes out! So not until the 1st!
Okay. That's about all that happened today. Pretty uneventful.
I'm off to bed now. Have a good night!
LUV APRIL

Vacation is over...

Well, MIL went back home. Vacation is over! It was great fun, though! haha! I just love it when she comes! She swears nothing can stop her from coming back Friday. I said BE MY GUEST!!!

We had so much fun last night! We have never gone bowling and we went! Fun! It was me, Eric, Brodric(Eric's brother), Tara(Brodric's girlfriend), Mike(Eric's other brother), and RJ showed up eventually. Eric works with RJ. He is the office managar and his brother is the other dentist Eric works with. Tara kicked all our butts! LOL What is so funny is she could care less. She just walks up and drops the ball! Drives Eric nuts because he honestly stinks at bowling. I love it because he is good at everything else! I came in second, then Brodric, Mike, and Eric. Eric was DEAD last and it was hilarious! He is such a sore loser! LOL After that we ate at Texas Roadhouse and it was just a fun night! So great to get out and do something! Can't wait to go again!

I finally finished the birthday tin for my grandma!! SO glad! I have had the supplies to do it for a long time, and the challenge at www.scrapbookchalet.com pushed me to finish it! The challenge was to do an altered item. I posted the pic above. If you click on it, it enlarges it and you can see it better. It was pretty difficult to get the paper just right. Decoupage medium is a lifesaver on projects like that. It makes the paper very pliable and easier to get around the hardware. I love how it turned out. It looks way better in real life, of course! Can't wait to give it to her! I think she is going to love it!

Isn't it amazing what a few days makes? Brodey is just a mobile little toddler now! It is SO sad to me. He is growing up! It is nice, though because he plays better now and doesn't seem to get as frustrated that he can't get where he wants to go. It is the cutest when he picks something up and carries it! So funny!

Eric's been bugging me to get Brodey's hair cut. I'm like NO WAY!!!! That is just too much for me! That would be way too sad! He says it's getting too long in spots. I'm like it looks cute, leave it alone! I love his little curls! Plus, I always dress him boyishly! You would have to be dumb to think he's a girl!
I am going to try to get several layouts done tomorrow! Wish me luck! Now that the tin is out of the way, I can start on other things!

Okay, I'm going to bed now. I usually stay up when it's this early, but not tonight. Brodey had a very, very rough night's sleep last night. He was up from 2am to 5am. I mean UP. Like trying to stand up in bed and everything. I was losing my mind. Eric took Benedryl and was no help. Finally at 5 he went to sleep. That was no fun at all. So I need my beauty sleep tonight!
I'm off to bed!
Goodnight!
LUV APRIL

Vacation Baby!

For most people, when their mother-in-law comes to stay it's hell. For me, it's a vacation baby! MIL came yesterday and stayed the night! SO HAPPY!!!! I was able to clean house and get a layout done last night! I posted it above. I used a photo of Eric from our wedding and I did it for the February Kit at www.onepageatatime.com! Their kit is awesome! I still have two other layouts in the works, but I'm so glad I finished that one!
Also, I got my February Kit in the mail yesterday for www.addictedscrappers.com! It is totally beautiful! It is so romantic and unlike all the other kits for February! I can't wait to play with it!
I am also working on an altered lunch tin. I promised my grandmother that I would make it for her. I got a list of everyone's birthdays in our family and made recipe card-like cards and put everyone's birthdays on it. I'm not finished, but when I am I will post it. The challenge this week for the Survivor Challenge at www.scrapbookchalet.com is to make an altered item. I thought this would be a good push for me to finish it.
Brodey is finally walking! He looks so cute, too! He doesn't "take off" of anything, but he walks for about two yards and then gives up and crawls. Also, he does this new monkey crawl over the tile. It is SO funny looking! He looks just like a baby monkey!
My brother-in-law and his girlfriend, Tara, came up today! We are going to go bowling in a little bit. Fun stuff! It's nice to get out and do something!
Well, I better go. They are yelling for me!
Have a good night!
LUV APRIL

Week one is done!

Week one is done! I finally finished my re-do layout for the Last Scrapper Standing at www.just4keeps.com!!! I am so glad! I seriously thought I wouldn't finish in time! After the screw up first layout (which I really liked) I couldn't find my FUN mojo! If you don't know, I didn't read the rules carefully and I used the word "fun" in the title for the first layout I did. The first layout is posted in the post "Oops." This contest is for a $100 gift certificate to Just 4 Keeps! I want it SO bad! So everyone wish me luck! I can't post my layout yet, but if you go HERE! My layout is obviously the one with Brodey in it! I'm happy with how it turned out but I just hope it's fun enough. I really hope I get at least one vote! That would be embarassing if I didn't! Oh well!
That's about all I got done today. It took until 2:30 to get THAT done. Brodey was better today, though. I think he is finally feeling better from his shots. He always does that with shots. Thank goodness Ally pretty much cleaned the house tonight! I am hoping and praying my MIL, Rene, gets to come tomorrow. I will get SO MUCH done if she does. I have so many layouts to catch up on it's ridiculous! I am used to getting at least 2 per day done, but with life being crazy lately it just hasn't happened! It will get back to normal soon!
My Arbonne order finally came today! Gosh I needed my night cream SO bad! My skin gets so dry this time of year. A humidifier doesn't even help! Poor Brodey is going to be the same way, I can already tell. That's okay. His baby oil was in with that order too!
The layout I posted above is an older one. I did it probably three months ago. I hate the photo of me, but I love the photo. Does that even make sense??
Okay I am going to attempt to put Brodey in his bed so I can scrap a little! It's already 11pm, so we'll see.
Goodnight!
LUV APRIL

Human Pacifier

Today I was Brodey's human pacifier. I'm not sure if he doesn't feel good or he is working his separation anxiety, but all he wanted to do was nurse. He slept for at least 8 hours today. No joke. Needless to say, today wasn't very productive. What's new? It really stresses me. Maybe the allergy specialist hit the nail on the head. Maybe the hives ARE from stress...wouldn't be surprised.
I did, however, get two layouts completed last night! SO happy about that! The sucky part is I can't post them yet! They are for the Design Team at www.just4keeps.com and I can't post them until the February Newsletter is sent out. I really liked how they turned out so I can't wait to share!
I started two layouts for www.onepageatatime.com February Kit, but they are not complete. That is my goal for tomorrow! They are going to be super cute!
Tonight I am going to finish my layout for the Last Scrapper Standing Challenge at www.just4keeps.com! I posted the goof up one and now I have to do another. The deadline is tomorrow so I'm cutting it pretty close!
Oh I totally made it to the next round of the Survivor Challenge at www.scrapbookchalet.com! This week's challenge is to make a project. This will take a while! Wish me luck!
I also found out today that the book my layouts will be in about doodling will be sold at Hobby Lobby and possible Barnes and Noble! Oh and a few other craft stores, but I can't remember which ones! That's pretty exciting!
I took the photo of Brodey I posted above yesterday! Isn't he the cutest!?!?! His shirt is so cute! It says "I enjoy ice cream, insightful cartoons, and long walks in the park." So funny! He's my little ham!
Well not much else to report! I'm off to create another "fun" layout. Send your fun mojo my way! Haha!
Goodnight!
LUV APRIL

P.S.

I totally forgot! Two of my layouts will be included in a new book about doodling! It's called "Doodling for Papercrafters" and it will be coming out in May/June 2007! So excited! ALSO...Trisha, a fellow J4K'er at www.just4keeps.com, will have a project in the book as well! SO exciting that the both of us will be in there! SO COOL!
Oh and if you live in or around the Edmond area, Just 4 Keeps will be having their 40% off sale this Saturday! 40% off of everything!!! Don't think I won't be there! Well I'm there all the time...soooo...
Okay off to scrap now! I just had to share!!!!
Goodnight...again!
LUV APRIL

What a day...

Good golly! What a day! I don't even know where to begin!
I had the appoitment today at 1:30 for the allergy specialist so he could hopefully figure out why I randomly get covered in hives. SO off I go perfectly on time to the office. I get there with one minute to spare and they tell me I came to the wrong office. WHAT!?! This is the address they gave me and it was the wrong one! So I head to the office 20 minutes away and I go ahead and call them to let them know I will be late. The lady cannot get my name right...Manley...Massey...MASSAD I SCREAM!!! Well she doesn't see me on her list. I'm like look lady, "the appointment was made last minute and I have no idea who works there so I could not possibly make up a name like Dr. Bozalis." She finally gets things together and I tell her I need directions. Well "she doesn't come that way to work so she doesn't really know." OH MY GOSH! "And the building is funny looking and you will turn into a driveway...but it's not really a driveway." I am about to kill someone! I tell her okay just let them know I'll be late.
I call my mom and ask her to please get online and give me directions. Wouldn't you know that this is the time for the internet not to work!?!
At the same time I look up to see traffic at a dead stop. A truck decided to run into the barricades. No I'm not kidding.
So I finally figure out where this place is and get in. The main receptionist is not a nice lady. I tell her "I had an appointment with Dr. Bozalis at 1:30." She looks at the clock and says "WELL they always want patients to be here early. So I don't know..." I am about to lose it. I say "Well I've already spoken to the office today and they are expecting me." She says "WELL, just a minute." She gets on the phone and I could hear what was said. They tell her it isn't a problem and the office gave me the wrong address. So then she is like "WELL did you fill out the questionaire?" I'm like "No I told you this was last minute. I was only refered here yesterday." Then of course all my information is wrong because I haven't even been there since Eric was in dental school. So THAT made her mad. FINALLY I was finished with her.
I head upstairs where they are MUCH nicer and proceed to wait in the waiting room for one hour. Yes one hour with Brodey. It wasn't fun.
Finally Dr. Bozalis called me into his office and to sum it up, they have no idea what is wrong with me. They do not know what causes the "severe unexplained hives" and I am to take notes every time I have an "episode" and every time my feet and hands swell and itch. Wow. All that to find out I have to take notes. He says it could be cause by stress, but they weren't sure. I said "well if it was stress I would be covered right now. Because today has been one of those days!" I DID find out that I am most likely not allergic to pecans or cashews, after all. I said great! I will have my mom bake me a pecan pie this weekend to celebrate! haha!
So...I didn't even get home until almost 5pm. I got nothing done today. No clean house. No laundry. No layouts. I am SO SO SO behind! I feel like I will never ever catch up! Poor me, right? Haha! I guess it could be worse! But gosh I hate that feeling that you have so much to do and you will never get caught up!
I DID finish one layout. It's the one posted above. It was for the Survivor Challenge at www.scrapbookchalet.com. The only reason I finished it is because Brodey was asleep on the Boppy and I just had to print out the journaling! LOL At least I finished it in time to load it!
I HAVE to get my layout done for the Last Scrapper Standing challenge at www.just4keeps.com! That is my goal for tonight!!! Wish me luck!
Okay I'm off to find something to eat for dinner. Eric went to see Dr. J's father in the hospital so he ditched me for dinner! Sounds like Lucky Charms are calling my name! After all...they're magically delicious! Hahahaha!!!
Goodnight!
LUV APRIL

Hives aren't just for the bees...

Okay. So I developed a little rash yesterday. This wasn't the first time, so I wasn't too alarmed. It was mainly on my abdomen and chest. They went away around bedtime so no biggie. Well I woke up this morning and my gosh they were everywhere and about the size of dinner plates. So I go to an internal medicine specialist and they tell me they are referring me to an allergy specialist immediatly. I have severe hives and the next time this happens it could be deadly. (I thought this was a tad over dramatic but whatever) I get a shot in the butt, had a mild reaction to it, and came home. The shot had some type of benadryl stuff in it so I was a little drowsy. I get to go and be poked repeatedly in the back tomorrow. Fun times. I guess it is a good thing. Hopefully I'll find out what's wrong with me. Wouldn't it be awful if it's the new carpet?!?!? AH!

So as you can imagine, nothing was accomplished today. No layouts. No clean house. Brodey is still feeling his shots. All he wanted to do today was sleep and nurse. That equals no time for me. I have so much to do and I feel like it's just building up. Eric was helpful and watched him when he got home, but that time was taken up too! I had to help Ally make up and print out some ads for the Fashion Show program. Geez will it ever end? Tomorrow my appointment is at 1:30. I'm not even going to jinx myself and say I'm going to get anything done. Obviously that doesn't work!

The layout I posted above is a few months old. I still love it. That photo of Brodey always makes me smile when I see it! Love that boy!

Okay I'm going to attempt to put Brodey in his bed and DO something. Wish me luck!!!!!
Goodnight!
LUV APRIL

Oops

Oops. That is what you get when you don't read the directions thoroughly. An oops and a layout you love? Haha! I am participating in the Last Scrapper Standing Challenge at www.just4keeps.com. The first challenge was to make a layout that is "fun." Well I did that and I used fun in the title. The layout is posted above. Well after I am almost finished, something clicks in my mind and I do back and read the directions. It says make a layout that is fun, but do not use fun in the title. WELL! April gets an F in following directions today! Haha! Oh well. I love the layout and I guess I'll just do another one tomorrow!
I am so totally behind it isn't even funny. Every spare second I get I try to get the house back in order. It still looks like we just moved in. Do you ever clean and just move mess to another part of the house and it just keeps on moving? I'm doing that now. I need to just get a trash bag and say hasta lavista, baby. (did I even spell that right??) I'm going nuts! I usually complete at least 2 layouts per day and I am lucky to do one every other day. I just keep telling myself that everything will get back in order. Eventually.
We had visitors today!! My parents came to bring my sister, Ally, back! She starts back to school tomorrow for the first time in a week. I always hated returning to school after a break. So hard to get up!
My goal for tomorrow is three layouts. HA! Do you think that will happen? We will see! I need to do my Design Team layouts for www.onepageatatime.com and I need to do another layout for Just 4 Keeps AND the layout for this week's Survivor Challenge at www.scrapbookchalet.com. Not much right? Hahahaha!
Hopefully Brodey will feel better tomorrow. He has really been feeling his shots this time. He always gets a fever after getting his shots. So it would be nice for him, and me, if he feels better tomorrow!
Okay I'm going to bed now. Maybe Brodey will sleep better tonight!!
Goodnight!
LUV APRIL

MIL is MIA

Well my mother-in-law didn't get to come today. Boohoooo! The weather is supposed to be bad and her hubby said no way! Since the weather has been crazy, she hasn't been able to come and stay like she normally does! It really sucks. When she comes it is my mini vacation! She takes Brodey and I get to do whatever I want for 24 hours. She stays the night and this hasn't happened in two weeks.
I did, however, get to go ahead and shop the 40% off sale at www.just4keeps.com. It's my local scrap store. I had planned to crop, but that didn't happen. Hubby had an emergency patient and didn't get home until 9:30. Argg! So I just went and shopped. I DID get a layout done tonight! It was for my Saturday Scraplift Challenge at www.just4keeps.com! This week the challenge was to scraplift a color combo! I scraplifted Jaime's layout from the website and did a layout with pink and black. That's the layout I posted above. The photo IS from July, but so what! We have Valentine colors on! Hehe!
I can't wait to receive my February Kit from www.addictedscrappers.com! From the sneak peeks, it looks pretty awesome!
I HAVE to steal some scrap time for myself this weekend! I have to get my DT layouts finished for www.onepageatatime.com. I NEED to scrap!
My carpet is finally complete!!! I am beyond happy! It looks beautiful, but the house looks like we just moved in! Luckily my mom is coming to help when she brings Ally back. That thought will relieve some guilt when I choose to scrap over cleaning the house!
Well that's about all I have to say! Nothing TOO exciting! I get to sleep later tomorrow! That's pretty exciting to me! I guess I'll go get started! LOL
Goodnight!
LUV APRIL

I love my blog!

I love my blog. It's like my own little diary. LOL BUT I'm way better at keeping this updated than I ever was with a diary. I think it's because after a while I get sick of writing and I'm a pretty fast typer. Who knows!
I am trying to hard to think of photos to use for this week's Survivor Challenge at www.scrapbookchalet.com. We are supposed to scrap a layout about our town. Well my town's kind of totally covered by ice. I was thinking of taking photos of the ice and scrapping that....but is that boring? I can't go anywhere until tomorrow. Eric is actually going to leave me the Hummer so I can finally proof Brodey's pics at Taylor Made. So maybe I'll try to take some pics then. Wish me luck from falling and busting my you know what! LOL
The layout I posted the other day, "12 Weeks", is going to be featured on the scrap blog called "Multi-Photot Scrapbook Gallery" the link is http://scrapbooklayouts.blogspot.com/. I can't seem to figure out how to link on my blog. I have read and re-read the directions and Miss Fix-it can't seem to fix it. Anyway, it's a pretty cool gallery if you want to check it out! I'm more of a single photo layout kinda gal, but we can always take something from every layout!
We have carpet in our bedroom now! The house is actually starting to look normal. Well....that's if you ignore the missing base boards and holes in the bottom of my cabinets! Hahaha!
I did the layout above about two months ago. I love it. I used Photoshop to combine the photos for this ultra simple page. Love it!
I better go. I updated early tonight. We are going to go eat at Zen Asian Dining. Awesome!!! I have to come back and bust my booty to move everything out of the remaining bedrooms. Fun! Carpet guys will be here SUPER early tomorrow! They are going to try to get done early to beat the new winter storm coming. Fingers are still crossed my MIL gets to come tomorrow!!!!
Goodnight!!
LUV APRIL

Houston. We have carpet.

I can't believe it. We actually have carpet AND padding in the living room, office, and my master closet!!! I am so happy. I love how it turned out! It looks so great with the furniture! They will be back tomorrow to do my bedroom and Friday they will finish the other bedrooms, bathroom, and hallway. SO happy!
The wood guys haven't even started. I have a feeling that will be a long process! Geez!
I am convinced that the roads are worse today then they were yesterday!
My wonderful in-laws came up today! It was great! They brought Brodey's birthday gifts and we went to eat. It was nice to get out of the house! My fingers are crossed my mother-in-law, Rene, will get to come back and stay Friday night. We are supposed to get another winter storm, so that might not happen. But I can still hope...right!?!?! I am going to a crop at www.just4keeps.com and I get to shop the pre-inventory sale! 40% off of everything in the store! I think on Saturday everyone else gets to shop with the discount! If you live in Oklahoma and can make it to Edmond, it will be worth it! They are the most complete store I know of in the state!
We got a sneak peek at the February Kit for www.addictedscrappers.com! It looks like it's going to be awesome!
I got some great news today! I was asked to be a Guest Designer for www.serendipityscrapbooks.com! So excited about that!
I finished one of my Featured Design Team Member projects for www.onepageatatime.com! I posted it above! Isn't it SO cute!?!?! It's a door hanger I made with the February Kit and it says "Please Do Not Disturb!" Too cute!!
I didn't get to view Brodey's photos today at Taylor Made. Eric decided to take the Hummer to work and leave me with the BMW. Like I'm really going to get THAT out in this crap! So I had to call and reschedule. I can't wait to see them! They are going to be so great!!!
Well nothing else exciting...hahaha! I guess I'll go to bed since the carpet guys will be here early.
Goodnight!
LUV APRIL

Ice, Ice Baby!

So the sleet here has turned into one huge sheet of ice! There is about 4 inches of ice/sleet from my front yard...probably around the entire neighborhood! The poor UPS man delivered Brodey's Valentine's day shirts today and he slid right back down to his truck!
I had to take Brodey to the doctor this morning for his 12 month exam. On the way, the car beside me spun over into oncoming traffic. That was scary. Very lucky for him that the cars were far enough away that they stopped..well skidded slowly to a stop. Then on my way back, in the very same spot, two cars crashed into each other and were up onto the curb. The curb was level with the road. In the parking lot the speed bumps were non-existent. That's how deep the ice/sleet is! I'm so sick of it!
The carpet peeps come tomorrow morning bright and early! I hope they make it here without having an accident. I told the guy at the carpet place that my carpet wasn't that important. Don't get me wrong..I really, really want it, but not bad enough for someone to get hurt!
Poor Brodey had to get four shots today and he had to get his finger pricked for a blood test. It was so sweet. He was babying his finger and I said "Let mommy kiss it and make it better" and he put his finger up to my lips! SO SWEET!!!!!
I got my February Kit today from www.onepageatatime.com today!!! YES it's as awesome as the photo I posted last night!!! I made a door hanger that is TO DIE FOR!!! I'll take a photo of it and post it tomorrow!
The post above is the layout from the Survivor challenge at www.scrapbookchalet.com! The scan cut off the top and right side...couldn't fix it. Sorry! The challenge is so fun! Wish me luck to win! The winner wins a Cricut!!!
Okay I'm going to bed. Early rise tomorrow!! Hopefully.
Goodnight!
LUV APRIL

HOLY COW

Oh my goodness! I just checked in over at www.onepageatatime.com and the February kit is up!!!! IT IS AWESOME!!!! I'm the Featured Desin Team Member over there this month and I cannot wait to get my hands on it!!!! I posted a pic above, but head to the website to see it better and to check out the add-on! WOW!!! What an awesome site!

Sorry had to share.....so much for being able to go to sleep! LOL

LUV APRIL

Good results...

Have you ever created half of a project and the other half didn't work out? Well I did today!!!
On Brodey's birthday, I took random photos all day. Photos of him eating breakfast, watching the Backyardigans, taking a nap, and so on. My intent was to make a mini album with a key ring and store it in this litte band-aid tin from www.addictedscrappers.com January Kit. It's the cutest little thing! It's made by Provocraft and I thought I had a fantastic use for it.
So this morning I edit all the photos, 18 to be exact, and I print them all out. I type little descriptions of them all and I print that out. I adhered the photos to the back of the description and put eyelets through the top to make the book. I get all this done with Brodey. No it wasn't easy. After all this work I go to fit it into the tin and IT DIDN'T FIT!! Can you believe that? All that effort and the darn thing didn't fit!
Now I am a problem solver. Some people aren't, but I am. So I go around the house and look in my scrap stash and finally I found a solution! I cut two pieces to heavy chipboard and adhered patterned paper to them. I put eyelets into them and I made a mini album! It is so cute!!!! I posted the pic at the top. I only shared a few photos, but it turned out super cute! Even Eric was impressed! It's tiny. Only about 2.5x3.5 inches, but I really think Brodey will love it when he is old enough to! So the little book ended up with good results!!
The only regret is I wish I had laminated the pages before setting them with eyelets! That would have protected them from finerprints.....HEY! Don't they make a spray that protects??? Uh I'll have to check that out!!!
So the last few days have been so boring. I didn't have anything to post. Tomorrow I will post my layout from the Survivor Challenge at www.scrapbookchalet.com. It is going to be so fun! There are some amazing entries so I'll doubt I'll win, but it's fun anyway!
Like I said, no news. It's boring here. Maybe we can finally get out of the house tomorrow! My parents and grandparents just go power back at their house. Luckily we have generators, but that stinks! Hopefully it will get warm and the ice will go away!
Okay, it's still pretty early for this night owl. I guess I'll go try to scrap something! LOL
LUV APRIL

Iced in...

We are iced in. It's kind of nice, really. I didn't do much of anything today! I did my Saturday Scraplift Challenge at www.just4keeps.com and played with Brodey! Eric was home so that gave me some time to do laundry and take a shower without Brodey screaming! LOL It was a pretty nice day!

It hasn't sleeted since about 2pm today. Another storm is supposed to come through tomorrow. I hope we don't lose power! Eric bought a generator and my dad hooked it up. So if we do lose it, we can turn on the generator and run most everything!

The layout I posted above is from my challenge. The challenge was about scraplifting an idea. I lifted Daphne from www.just4keeps.com. Her layout was about her pet and I thought that would be fun! I scrapped a photo from 2002 of my puppy dogs, Gigi and Gunner!

Okay I'm off to watch a movie with Eric!! YEAH!!!

Goodnight!!!

LUV APRIL

Happy 1st Birthday Brodey!!!!

WOW!!! That's all I can say! WOW!!! Time truly, truly flies. It seems like I just had my little man and he turned 1 today!

The snow/sleet/freezing rain started at about 10am this morning. Good thing he's not old enough to get what today is. We were stuck at home. We will be stuck here probably until Monday or Tuesday. That means no party for Brodey yet! All of our family live in Holdenville and that's about 100 miles from here. We will have to party next weekend!

He did get to open a couple of gifts, though! My cousin, Kerry, sent him a cute little toy! He likes to whack stuff with a hammer, so you whacked the buttons and little men pop up! He loves it, of course! We got him a little toy that shoots little balls in the air and they go back down and around. It's so much fun! It's my favorite toy so far! Haha!

The carpet people didn't get to come. That means it will probably be until Tuesday before we get it in. Bummer. But I guess the only good point is we won't track melted ice onto the new carpet! I have to find the good in the bad...

I keep stopping to think about what I was doing exactly one year ago. He came early and we were SO not prepared for his arrival! The house was a disaster. My baby shower had been five days before and we just came home and dumped everything in the middle of the floor in his room.

My back started hurting the morning of the 12th at about 6am. I had been put on bed rest for about 2 weeks before due to high blood pressure. I thought I had just slept wrong until the pain started moving towards my butt. That's when I knew something was up. I woke Eric up and we called the doctor's office and they said it's okay to time them and call them back when they started to get about 3 mintues apart. (We live about 5 miles from the hospital via the turnpike) I said cool and went to take a shower. Eric freaked out! He was like why are you taking a shower!?!?! You need to pack your stuff and we need to go to the hospital! I was like whoa! Let's just do what Dr. Tallerico said and I'll be fine! Well I get out of the shower and I am walking from the bedroom to the bathroom and GUSH! My water breaks! I was so mad! I was like OH MY GOSH I JUST took a shower!!! So I hop back into the shower and rinse off again! Eric is freaking out calling the doctor and they tell me to go straight to the hospital!

We load all up and Eric is driving like a crazy man! I'm like hey calm down! He says "this is the only time I can drive like this and get away with it!" I didn't argue.

We get to the hospital and they check me in and they put me in a temporary room. They tested me and said that yes, it was my water that broke. That's when they moved me to a nice big regular room!

We then called everyone to let them know and of course they all leave to come right away! They hooked me up to all the monitors and after about 2 hours they tell me that Brodey isn't doing to well and they are going to call my doctor. I'm like okay....the nurse comes back in and says okay we are going to schedule you for a c-section for 4:30. I'm like WHAT!?!?!?! I said "oh my gosh you can't do that I didn't read that section in the book!!" She thought that was really funny.

It was at this point that everything started going wrong. They had to insert my catheter before my spinal instead of after. The nurse blew a vein in my wrist and MAN does that hurt when the automatic cuff takes your blood pressure every five minutes! When the guy did my spinal, he couldn't get it to take and they had to try four times. I had to sit there and tell him where the shooting pain went. That hurt. Then when the c-section was underway, they got Brodey out to find out the cord was around his neck. The poor little man only weighed 4.5 lb!

The neonatal people came right away! They checked him out and said he looked better than most 8lb babies! He didn't even have to go to the neonatal nursury!

Then when they were stitching me up the spinal wore off. It was terrible! I was grabbing the poles to hold onto because it hurt so badly. He drugged me and made it better! LOL

We stayed in the hospital for five days. Brodey was so tiny we had to feed him with a little tube taped to our pinkie finger. He was too small to nurse so I had to pump. He also had Yellow Jaundice and had to under the lights for a little while. It was memorable!

It's so sad to think a year has already gone by since then. It's so amazing how you totally forget the terrible things you had to go through to get them here! I guess if we didn't forget no one would have a second child! Haha!

The photo I posted was taken today! It is terrible of me and I don't care! He would not wear the crown I got him! This is the best pic I have of him wearing it!

Well my little man is awake and I have to go get him!

Goodnight!

LUV APE

The weatherman knows all...

My gosh! If the weatherman said jump most people would ask how high! Word on the news is there is going to be a huge winter storm rollin' in tonight. "The worst winter storm to hit in years" blah blah blah. People believe, let me tell you!

I had to go to Crest today to get Brodey's cake and balloons for photos. If you do not live here, Crest is a huge grocery store that has just about every grocery imaginable, including a bakery and flower shop. So I get there and notice that the parking lot is full. I don't mean no close spots, I mean FULL to the road. Their parking lot is huge. I'm like what in the world? It's noon on a Thursday! So I finally find a space and get in and it looks like the day before Thanksgiving times 100! There are at least 6 people in line at each register and their carts are LOADED! I'm like you've got to be kidding me! If the weatherman even mentions the word ICE, people lose their minds! I go to check out with my two items, and there is no way I'm getting out of there in less than 30 minutes. So...I head to the customer service counter and put my sweet face on. They checked me out in less than five minutes! SCORE!

Then, I head to the car with my six balloons and attempt to get them into the car. Oklahoma wind can be pretty fierce. Today it was blowing at about 30mph. Try to get six balloons in a car! Just try! It took me forever! I was seriously laughing because it was impossible!

I finally made it to Taylor Made in one piece!! On time too! Brodey looked so handsome for photos! He wore two sweaters I found at Gymboree! We took some of him on a bench with some bears Eric got me years ago. We took some with him reading a book. My favorites were some we took of him holding on to my leg and smiling at the camera! They are SO SO cute!

After all that we got to bring out the cake and balloons! I truly thought he would dig in and not stop until we took him away! Totally not the case! He acted like he wanted to tear into so we put him down with it, he smacked his hand into it, and then looked at us like "okay who's going to clean off my hand?" He did not want to touch it! Finally Randy, the photographer, got down and ate a little and tried to get Brodey to eat some off of his fingers. He finally licked a little off, but that was all of that! So not what I thought would happen! It was funny, though!

The photos turned out fabulous, but I'm so glad it's over! I get stressed about stuff like that! I wait until the last minute and then I stress that everything's going to turn out right! Phew!

The carpet lady finally came today!!! I knew what carpet I wanted immediatly! I'm pretty decisive when it comes to stuff like that. They are going to be here at 8am tomorrow to try to get some of it in before the "winter storm." I am thrilled! It really sucks walking around on carpet with no padding!

I get so sad when I think about tomorrow! I still can't believe Brodey will be one! One year ago today I had some contractions in the morning. I had no idea he would be coming the next day! He was early! My due date was the 28th and he was born on the 12th! SO SAD!!!

Hopefully I will get some time to scrap soon! Dealing with the house and Brodey's birthday have taken my "me" time away! I need some bad!!!

The photo I posted above is of Brodey with his Uncle Mike! They love each other!!! I'm lucky to have such awesome in-laws!!!

Okay I better go to bed! The carpet men will be here bright and early!

Goodnight!

LUV APE