Mommyhood Monday!!!

My Birthstory:

When I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't believe it. I took 5 tests and still didn't believe it.

My best friend/sister in law was the one that convinced me to take a test. I wasn't even late yet. She had a feeling and wanted me to take the test before we went to a halloween party that weekend.

She is the only reason that I took the tests, I always say that she knew I was pregnant before I did!!

After 5 tests, I decided that I would make a doctor's appointment just to be sure...lol.

I was....and I was only 4 weeks pregnant, I had only went off the pill 4 weeks before that, so go figure!!

I loved being pregnant and loved feeling him kick and move. I didn't get sick, which made it easier to love pregnancy...lol.

Fast forward 9 months....I wanted to have an all natural birth, no pain meds or anything, I wanted to experience it all but the doctor thought that Luke was going to be in the 8 pound range. He also thought that I would have problems delivering a baby of that size, so he advised me to have a c-section. 

He gave me the option but I didn't want to go through hours of labor and still end up with a c-section or worse, have something happen to Luke.

I was nervous about the whole thing. So was Tim. 

The morning of, we had to be at the hospital at 5 am for preparations.

It was the first time I had ever been in the hospital...I hadn't even been in the e.r. before that. They got me all ready and my parents and best friend/sister in law came in. After they put the monitor around my belly, we noticed that I was having really mild contractions...so I always say that I was going to have him that day anyway. 

My back was hurting pretty bad...o.k. really bad, that hospital bed was the most uncomfortable bed I have ever been on. If every hospital bed is that bad, I know why women have epidurals. And, if I had to stay in that bed while in labor, I would have been begging for an epidural ten minutes after arriving...lol.

So, they wheeled me to the operating room a little before eight. As they were wheeling me out, my brother and his wife were coming in. They made Tim stay out in the hallway while they put the spinal in.

They made me slouch forward and push out my back. They kept saying I needed to roll more forward and I told them that it was kinda hard to roll forward with a big belly in the way! Everyone was really nice and I really liked the anesthesiologist. Once the spinal was in they let Tim come in, who was ready to pass out in the hallway waiting, not knowing what was going on.

When he walked in, the anesthesiologist told Tim not to worry and pointed to a syringe that he had taped to the monitor, he told Tim that if I felt anything at all, he would give me that syringe and I wouldn't feel a thing. I wasn't so scared in the room though. I felt excited, I didn't mind that they were cutting into my stomach and taking out a baby...lol.

It wasn't long and they were pulling this baby out of my belly. I couldn't believe that THAT was what was in my belly for those 9 months. He was crying and the nurse was bringing him around to show us what he looked like. As soon as he heard mine and Tim's voice, he quit crying, opened his eyes and looked around for us. On June 30th, 2008 at 8:36 am, Luke was brought into this world at 7 pounds 14 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. I felt a feeling of love, happiness and contentment that I have never felt before in my life. That was THE happiest day of my life. Everything was right in my world. I would love to replay that day over and over again. I hope that that is what heaven is like....that day over and over again. I didn't mind the pain of recovery or the struggle with breastfeeding....it was all worth it to have that little baby boy as my own son.

So, nothing too exciting about it, but, it is my own special story. I could go on and on about the next few weeks of being a first time mommy, but I will save that for another mommyhood monday!! 

Me waiting to have my baby Luke!

Right after birth...not to happy about being taken from his warm home!!

 All cleaned up and warm again!! He had red hair like mine when he was born, but as you can see from his recent pictures....it's blonde now!!!

 Mommy's little Jeff fan!!

Friday Favorites!!

TGIF!!! 

Hope you had a great week!!! We're heading for a 3 day weekend here....ahhhh some relaxing!!!

I found several very cool projects this week!!

First, since it has been so hot out, I wanted to feature THIS DIY Water Table from

 

 How great is that??? Luke would love this...I filled a bucket up with the water the other day for him to play in.....he dumped as soon as I turned my back~! 

Check out THIS  Ice Cream Cone Charm from Mini Eats 

which was guest posted over at Someday Crafts

 

 This is just too cute!!! Check out the Mini Eats blog, she has all kinds of mini food charms!! And check out Someday Crafts...you'll find plenty of inspiration there!!

 

I'm loving THIS Broom Broom Boy's Beanie by Bugalugs Handmade!!

This is so unique!! I know how to crochet, but I've never crocheted in rounds before...I'll have to give it a try!! This is just too cute to pass up!!

Last but not least, we have THESE  photo jars from 

 

 

 

I'm loving all these photo jars!! She uses these for storage!!

Beautiful and useful!!! 

My mom has some mason jars that I need to pick up...some for photo's and some to color!! Can't wait for that!!

I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend!!

I'm hoping to get Luke a baby pool today so he can go swimming!!

And, I'm planning on going yard saleing in the morning...hope I find some good deals!!! Luke will have to be my yard sale buddy, but I don't think he minds!!!

Changes are Coming!!!

Change is a good thing....right??

There are going to be some changes to my blog...good changes, I think.

I'm going to add a couple things to my schedule and I wanted to run them by you guys to see what you thought. 

First off, I want to start blogging more about weight loss and healthy eating, something to go along with my mommyhood monday post from this week.

I would like to post a starting weight and every week, post my current weight, hopefully a loss, and talk about healthy recipes, working out, etc, etc. 

I thought I would do this every thursday. This will give me some accountability and maybe, as long as I have some weight loss, I may inspire someone else. I am finding it hard to find the motivation to stick with it, and with any luck, this will do the trick.

Secondly, I was wanting to start dabbling in the review and giveaway market a little bit. I don't want this blog to turn into a review/giveaway blog alone, but I would like to get my feet wet, and have a little fun around here. I thought that, as long as I have companies interested, I would do review and/or giveaway tuesday. How does that sound? I already have 3 companies lined up, 2 for reviews and 1 for review and giveaway!! 

I will only do reviews and giveaways on the things that I think would be interesting, not only to myself and my family, but to  you guys too.

If I do a giveaway, I think I will let it run for two weeks and just have them start and end on tuesdays. 

Here are the companies that I have lined up so far:

EA Active Sports More Workouts (review)

Palbums (review)

Easy Lunch Box Systems (review and giveaway)

I also have the boy store lined up but they are backed up till October...so that will be awhile.

I will continue to post my crafts also, just on the weekends.

So, basically my schedule will be:

Monday: Mommyhood Monday

Tuesday: Review/Giveaway Tuesday

Wednesday: Wordless Wednesday

Thursday: Losing It Thursday (unless I can think of a better title..lol)

Friday: Friday Favorites

Saturday and Sunday: Open/Crafts and things

So, what do you guys think? Sound good to you? Any requests, any comments, let me know what your thinking. 

On a side note, while we are talking about changes, I wanted to tell you guys that my husband and I have separated. I debated on weather or not to blog about this, and I don't want to do a whole post on it or anything, but this blog is about my life, our lives, and this is a big part of our lives so that is what is going on with me. I know there have been a few days that I haven't been on here, and that is why, being a single mommy takes up alot of time....lol. Luke and I are doing well, and Tim and I are friends, who knows where this will take us, all I know is where we are now, if that makes sense.

So, please let me know what you think of my new schedule!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week, the weekend is just around the corner!!

Wordless Wednesday!!

Head over to Miller Racing Family to link up your Wordless Wednesday!!

Planting our flower garden!!

My nieces, Kyla and Shannon, helped along with Luke!

Luke liked throwing the flowers in the holes!

Balloon Wreath!!

Do you guys remember the balloon wreath I posted about awhile ago on my Friday Favorites?

Well, I finally made one!!!

It was pretty simple to make!!

You can go HERE to How Does She to see the tutorial that I followed!!

In the tutorial she says to use 144 balloons, but I have to tell you I used almost 250!! But, it only cost me about $18 to make this wreath, so I really don't think that's bad, considering how dang cute it is!!

 

I think I may add a little sign to it that says "Happy Birthday Luke" and keep that on it through June, but I'm leaving this thing up for a looong while....cause it makes me happy when I see it!!! Loving it!!

 This would be fun to make a different one for each holiday too!

A red and green one for Christmas...an orange and black one for Halloween....red white and blue for Independence Day....you get the point.

While your at How Does She, make sure to have a look around. They have a really great site with some really cool projects!!

I'm linking this up to:

Mommyhood Monday!!

My son won't eat. I'm convinced that he can live on Yoohoo alone. 

I really want for us to start eating healthy nutritious meals, but how do i do that when he won't even eat an Uncrustable?

This is no lie...when you give him an uncrustable he will sit and poke holes in it. And when the first side in covered in holes he will flip it over and poke holes in that side too. But he will not take a bite.

I am on the lookout for healthy toddler friendly recipes. Any one have any suggestions...recipes..books...websites?

I also need healthy ideas for lunches to send to daycare. He is just as picky there too so I'm willing to try anything.

I really want us to be healthy and it's far time that I get this weight off too.

I'm going to start walking every night, along with using my hand weights (unless I win that Kettleworx giveaway that I showed you...lol)

and using my Wii Fit Plus. I'm also going to start drinking more water.

I would love to cut back on our processed foods, but I'm not sure where to begin with that. Especially when Luke is as picky as he is.

I hope that this will be the beginning of the road to health and losing weight.

I'm tired of being over weight. I'm tired of wearing clothes just because they cover my body. I want to wear clothes because they make me look good.

I know this sounds like a commercial, but I don't want to worry about fitting in the roller coaster ride seat either.

I am just plain sick of it, and it's high time that I do something about it.

You will be hearing more about my weight loss in the future here too.

I am going to post my weight loss here...and hopefully use it as motivation and accountability for myself. Weight Watchers has helped me in the past, but I just can't afford it right now. Stepping on that scale in front of someone was great accountability for me....so I guess this blog will be my scale...and you guys can be my witnesses.

If anyone is interested, I can post any books, recipes or websites that I come across that I think that have some good recipes and/or advice too.

KettleWorx Giveaway @ Kindred Spirit Mommy!!

I wanted to share this giveaway with you guys. 

I have been wanting to tone up my arms and have been using hand weights and just coming up with exercises on my own, but when I saw this giveaway and checked out the KettleWorx website...I really think this would work a lot better.

You could win this prize pack with your choice of 5 lb or 10 lb weights!!

 

Looks like a really awesome prize pack!!! 

You can go HERE  to Kindred Spirit Mommy to enter to win...and if you win..instead of me...can I come over and work out with you? LOL!!

Friday Favorites!!!

Happy Friday!!

It is raining here and it has rained all week except for yesterday, which was beautiful!! Hope you all had a great week!!

I have several things to show you this week so lets jump right in.

First, check out THIS Scrabble Tile Magnet Frame from Nap Time Journal!!

 This is really cute...and you know I have a lot more scrabble tiles to use, so this would be great!!!


Next are THESE  Balloon Flip Flops from

These are awesome and I can't believe how many balloon crafts I have came across. My nieces would love these!!!

Next up is THIS Kids Footprint Art from Little Blue Prints!!

 

You know I love anything with little footprints on it!!!! Love this!!!

And last but not least is THIS Truck Art from Delia creates 

 This would look great in Luke's room and when I'm ready to redo his bedroom, I'm going to do it in cars and trucks!!! She uses gel medium for this too, I really need to get me some of that and try it out!! It does some amazing things!!!

So, hope you guys enjoyed today's favorites and I hope you have a great weekend. I'm planting flowers on Sunday...my nieces will be there to help...and Luke is going to help too. Hoping to get some good pictures taken of it!!!

 

Slow Cooker Loaded Baked Potatoes Recipe!!!

Luke bought me this great little cookbook for Mother's Day (my mom took him out and let him buy me a couple gifts for mother's day, the other gift was a necklace of a mom holding a baby...how sweet is that....Thanks mom!!)
Anyway, the book is Gooseberry Patch "Our Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes"
This book has a lot of great recipes in it and they all seem pretty easy!!!
The first one I made was the Loaded Baked Potatoes!! 
I watch my nieces on Sunday's and they helped me with it. 
They peeled all the potatoes and washed them for me!!
I wish I would have taken a picture of it.
It is really good and it's enough to feed a crowd!!


Loaded Baked Potatoes


5 lbs. of potatoes, peeled, cubed and boiled
2 cups of sour cream
1/2 cup of butter, melted
4 1/4 oz. of bacon bits
4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper


Mix potatoes and butter together. 
Add sour cream, cheese, bacon bits and salt and pepper.
Add to slow cooker and cook on high for 1 hour or low for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes!


This is soooo good, you won't regret it!!!

Wooden Calendar to Photo Board!!

I entered to win something like this in a giveaway and I didn't win but I really wanted something like this. After drooling looking and looking at them I figured that I could make something like it. 

This wooden calendar was my grandma's and I never used it. Its one of those that has the little wooden squares with the dates on them that you switch out every month. Well, I never used it so I decided it would be perfect to make my photo board!!

This is the before picture. I had already removed the month holder and two of the ledges/dividers. 

Next I spray painted it white. You could still see some of the pink showing through but that didn't matter because I covered it up later.

I used Paint Shop Pro to create my wording and printed it out on card stock. 

I mod podged it to the house.

I used sand paper to sand off the unwanted card stock which gives it a finished look.

I used scrabble tiles to put Luke's name on and add in the "all boy" I bought the scrabble game at goodwill awhile ago to make a charm bracelet but never got around to it, but I think they work perfect for this!!

I used double sided tape to stick on the photo strip which was a freebie from Wink that I got a couple months ago. I didn't know what to do with it but it works really well here because it covers up where the pink paint was showing through.

I printed out pictures of my son and slid them into the ledges. They are not glued on so I can switch them out whenever I want!!

And there you have it....my very own photo board!!! Keep your eyes peeled at Goodwill and garage sales to see if you can find one of these to make your own. Or if your good with wood working I'm sure you can make this totally from scratch...which would be awesome!!!

Anyone have any ideas for what I can do with the little wooden date markers?? I saved them but not sure what I could do with them??

I'm linking this up to:

Mommyhood Monday!!

Happy Monday guys!!

Luke is feeling better. He didn't cough at all last night so we should be on the way to recovery. He was in a bright and chipper mood this morning also...so that is always a plus.

After Luke being sick last week it brought up a couple of things that bother me.

1. I think all employers should give their employees sick leave. I do not get sick leave and I knew this when I took this job..but..I took this job to get my foot in the door before the economy took a nose dive and I didn't have any children yet so I didn't realize the importance of sick leave at that time. 

My biggest problem with not getting sick leave is: you have to choose between earning your paycheck or staying home and being a parent. I know if I take a day off that I won't get paid, I don't get paid-the bills don't get paid.

I'm sure I'm not the only parent who has to make that decision. Parents who don't get sick leave send their children to school and/or daycare when they are sick and probably shouldn't be there. Which, spreads the illness to other children. And, when the parents get sick, they end up going into work when they should take home, spreading the illness even more.

This goes for people who do not have children too.

I don't like being forced to choose between paying bills and staying home with my sick child. It's not fair. I would love to get on full time at my current place of employment but with the economy the way it is...it's hard to tell when that will happen.

2. Why do doctors always make you come in for one visit to tell you there is nothing wrong with your child so that a week later you will have to bring that child back to get medicine because there IS something wrong and it's not going away on it's own? Our doctor does this to us all the time. I take Luke in with his cough. He writes a prescription for a cough syrup. Here is the conversation:

Me: You don't think he needs an antibiotic?

Doctor: No, he should be fine.

Me: Well, he has had this before and it never gets any better on it's own. I don't want to have to miss work again (another problem with #1 subject) to bring him back, so if he doesn't get better can I call in and have you call him in something?

Doctor: Yes, call in and I'll call something in but I don't work on Friday's so call Thursday morning (this was Tuesday evening)

Me: Ok

So, basically, what was suppose to change in one day?? Really?? Needless to say I called in on Thursday because he was worse. Waste of my time, if you ask me. They always do that too. They want me to bring him back in for another appointment. I totally understand that they don't want to prescribe antibiotics when they aren't needed. But, I'm bringing him to you because I feel he needs something. And, just because he isn't hacking his lungs up right here in your office doesn't mean he didn't do it in the car on the way over here. Hey, I'm the mommy, I know my child, listen to me for heaven's sake!!!

3. I hate our CVS!! I drop off said prescription and am told that I can pick it up in a half hour. I go to the store and get some groceries, run through the drive thru of McDonalds and then go back to pick up the medicine. I wait in line for 15 minutes. By the time I get up to the window, it has been an hour and fifteen minutes. The cashier informs me that it's not ready and will be at least another ten minutes. Crap. So I have to go home because I already have dinner in the car and then drag my sick child out again later to pick up the darn medicine. They do this to me all the time. If you tell me it's going to be ready at a certain time, have it ready. I understand that sometimes things can happen, but not every time I have a prescription filled. It is not fun for me to have to drag my son out needlessly after working all day, taking him to the doctor and going to the grocery store. 

So, feel free to comment on these things and let me know what you think and if you deal with this also. And thanks for letting me vent...I needed that.

My First Giveaway!!! $50 Chili's Gift Card!!

Yaahooo!!! My very first giveaway!!!

This is basically a "my loss is your gain" giveaway.

Basically, I won this gift card on another blog. I entered to win it because I thought that there was a Chili's close by so that I would be able to use it.

Well low and behold when the card came in the mail, I went and searched for the closest one.....it's a good hour and a half away from us. Ugghh, and I was totally looking forward to eating this good food!! So, my loss is your gain!!!

I figure I might as well give it away to someone who will be able to use it!!

This giveaway is for a $50 Chili's giftcard!!!

This would make a great excuse for a date night!!!

You can click HERE  to see where the closest one is to you...so that you don't make the same mistake that I did!!! And you can check out their menu and drool over the meal that your going to have!

So, how do you enter to win this bad boy, you ask??

First....just leave me a comment. That's it. Let me know what you would do with the card...tell me something cute or funny about your kids...whatever...just leave a comment!!

Want some extra entries????

1 entry....become a follower (if you are already give yourself an extra entry)

2 entries.....see my new button?? Post it on your blog and leave me a link!!!

3 entries.....blog about this giveaway and leave me a link!!

Be sure to leave your email in your comments so that I will have a way to contact you when you win!!!

This giveaway is starting on May 15, 2010 and will end on June 1, 2010 at 10pm. 

I will use random.org to pick a winner and will notify them by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to email or another winner will be chosen.