8 years ago today

Do you ever think of the what if's? I do. Today is Leap Day and eight years ago while sitting in Sacrament at church I noticed something pretty weird going on. My stomach kept getting really hard with a slight pain about every ten minutes. I mentioned it to Brian and we decided to just go home and drop me off to lay down and he would return to church. However on the way out of the chapel, a lady stopped me to ask me how I was doing. It had been just two weeks since my dad had died and she was worried about me and my emotional state. I told her about the pain and said I was going to go home and rest. I can't remember exactly since this was 8 years ago, but she probably even touched my belly to assess the situation. She then told me that I should go to the hospital now and that I was having regular contractions. I remember being in complete shock, the baby was not due until May 7th. I was on anti-depressants to stop this from happening. So I honestly don't remember if we grabbed anything from home. I had not packed a bag for the hospital yet. So off we go and I am put into to triage. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to 3 cm. The first dose of medicine I got was tributaline. I know it was more than one does (as I hate getting shots!!!) and it was not doing the trick. I remember being really excited about the labor, but then at the same time in horror because I knew the baby would be so small and not really ready to be born yet. They finally decided that the trib was not going to work and I was given magnesium sulfate. OMGoodness I would not wish this on my worst enemy. I received it late on Sunday evening and my color was normal, less than twelve hours later I looked gray and ghostly. It was AWEFUL. I had been moved to another room for recovery and I stayed there until Wednesday. I know our home teachers came and administer a blessing for me. It was not a fun few days. What I am most grateful is that Teagan stayed put for another nine weeks, and even then being full term he was 6lbs 6 oz. He also had some issues breathing from the get go as well. I am so glad today is not his birthday and that he came a little later then that first scare. I was on bed rest until I was 36 weeks along. Anyone who has ever been on bed rest knows it's horrible to just lie around all day. I did make a few more return trips before May 5th, but thankfully the trib worked and I didn't have another battle with the magnesium sulfate. I know that the power of the blessing along with the help of meds, I was able to keep our precious little bundle in my tummy for a few more weeks, until he was ready to come into the world.

All About the Assets

It's all about the assets!!! And by that I mean, my um well you know bum! :) A few weeks ago I was invited to a boutique from my friend from church and I came across some jeans that I sore I would NEVER wear, and found love. There are decked in bling and I loved em! However, I am a little person, okay not really but close! I bet I am just over five feet tall, and I never find jeans or any pants for that matter that fit me. I am constantly walking on the bottoms and they rip and tear at the hem because of this. Then I cut off the remaining ends and have a sheered pant bottom. Really attractive! So these new pants I wanted to have altered, I mean I spent $50 (OUCH!) so I got a number of a gal who would do it for $12. Pretty reasonable I thought so I gave her a call and there was no answer, so I left a message. The lady never called me back, don't you HATE that!!! So while on pinterest I found a pin where you can hem your own pants and keep the original seam. I was all over that, and today I was FINALLY brave enough to try it out on my new pants. Why didn't I practice on another pair first? Because all the other thread was that famous denim orangy/yellowish (<--yes both words in the sewing world) color. My thread in my new pants was a blueish white and since I had white and the new stitch would not show I went for it on my new pair of pants. I am pretty pleased with the results.

Here is the blog where the pin came from.

Here are the before pictures, courteous of Teagan.

Back look.

The bottom, LOT'S of extra fabric.

Front view of the pants, bet you couldn't tell huh?

After I hemmed the jeans. Still lots of fabric, but so much better!!!

Full view.

Thanks Teagan for helping me with the photos. Glad I was able to hem these jeans up!

Distractions

Have them ALL the time. I <3 pinterest and it's one for my distractions this week. However, Brian did say if I keep making awesome meals like I did on Tuesday and Wednesday night, I can be on pinterest ALL day!!! So I am wanting to finish some things and thought I would write them down so I am obligated to FINISH!!!

1. Candy's sash- Hello the wedding is in a few weeks. I feel the pressure as this is what she is wearing with her wedding dress, I hope I can rise to the challenge!!! I have started but in a funk so lets get moving!!!

2. I need to get some items off to my cousin who has had a little girl. UGH she is already a few months old!!!! Time S...L...O...W down!!! I need to make a head band with some flowers!

3. I want to make a Minni Mouse headband for Ashlyn for when we go to FL.

4. I need to hem my new jeans, but first I need to practice on some other jeans so I get comfortable on hemming. I don't want to mess up on a $50 pair of jeans!

5. Laundry...ugh that's any everyday fight that I am LOSING!

6. Homework...man why did I ever go back to school, hating this task every single flippen day.

7. Find a special picture of dad for Candy. She wants one to add to her bouquet.

8. I am sure I am forgetting something else...seriously it's like my brain has gone MUSH lately, I can't remember anything!

***Here is to hoping I finish a few items on this list today.***

Valentine Sunday Best

So I posted about my dress and items I made for the kids to wear and today was the day, I MADE THEM WEAR IT ALL!!! I thought they looked pretty cute, but Rayle HATED it all. He didn't want to wear the tie or the suspenders, because he said the kids would make fun of him. He took his coat and wore that over his shirt and after primary was over I had the suspenders. What can you do? I still thought they looked great, and I worked hard on it all. Ashlyn didn't really want to wear the dress, but once I got it on her she was fine. I want to take them to a park soon and get some more pictures too. Hopefully it will happen. Our front yard is not ideal for a wonderful backdrop. Hope everyone has a great 14th!!!

First Crack at the Lace Braid

Now with being a mom of two boys before Miss Ashlyn came along I have not really done lots of hair styles. I can Mohawk and spike a hair like no other! But I am rusty on my braiding skills. Ashlyn's hair is getting longer very day so now I can break out my braiding skills and practice on our little girl! Also with the internet there are TONS of ideas for fabulous styles. With Valentine's day around the corner, how about a lace braid that mimics a heart! <3!!!

Valentine Fashions

On Sunday while at church I noticed a little girl with a little sack dress on that was Valentine print. I thought to myself, self you have some cute print, why not make one up for Ashlyn! So I searched and found a tutorial on how to make up the dress. It was pretty easy and I loved how the dress turned out! Go here for the dress. After I was done, I realized why heck my boys need to look extra sweet for their Valentine's so I wanted to make ties for them with the fabric print too. I knew that one of my fav blogs had done a post about them. I did some searching and found a easy pessy bow tie tutorial. Now Rayle has been wanting a bow tie for awhile, and so it's was prefect. I was going to make just one for Rayle, and attempt a normal tie for Teagan, but when they got home from school Teagan decided he wanted one too. Okay that's cool, and DANG I can't wait for Sunday for them to wear their get-ups. I am pretty pleased with myself! This week I have done Ashlyn's sweatshirt, and now the dress and ties. AND IT'S ONLY TUESDAY!!!!! What more lays ahead of me???? Not sure if the boys will wear their ties to school, but if they want to, I will let them on the 14th!

Ashlyn's dress.

I got this ribbon today before I had just white but I wanted it to POP a little!

Tying a bow tie is HARD!!!!! I watched like 5 different You-tube videos on how to do it.

Here is the bow tie not tied.

Pull-ups

Ashlyn is not really interested in potty training, and I really have not pushed the issue. On Saturday I was at CVS getting some diapers for her and I saw that the Huggies Pull-ups were 75% off!!! The price was $4.82, but I knew I had coupons at home. Today I went back and bought three packs. I had three $2 coupons and one $2 CVS coupon for Huggies. So I spent out of pocket $7.77, I saved $80.36 today!!! Also I use a green tag on my reusable shopping bags, it cost me $0.99 and every fourth use I get $1 extra care buck. I am on 122 green bag uses so I have gotten back $30 in extra care bucks!!! Totally worth that dollar investment! And now to wait for Ashlyn to want to potty train, I am ready with my pull-ups!

Sist-a-sauras

Last month a blog that I read had this wonderful idea here for a sweatshirt. Thinking my boys were a little old for the idea I thought of making one for Ashlyn. I found a cute hooded sweatshirt at Target on clearance and knew it would perfect. I made mine a little different; I made the scales grow larger as they go down the back, also I used more than one color for the scales. I am pretty pleased, but sadly Ashlyn is not interested! :( My boys both want one, of course in different color scheme though!

Got Ashlyn to finally be willing to pose with the sweatshirt on.