Boo :(

Boo on me. Had a follow-up ultrasound today for my subchorionic hemorrhages in my uterus, I'm almost 15 weeks. I knew the news was coming but it still sucks to hear. The hemorrhages are larger which = bad news (they usually are gone by 18 weeks, not getting bigger). But the baby is still on track which = good news. I could tell they were still there because of the horrible cramps I get when I do too much, like do the dishes. Yup, the dishes are now too much to handle doing, so nothing is getting done in my house. The poor hubby already gets up at 3:30am and gets home at 5:30pm so no getting cleaning done there. So when you come to my disaster of a house....sorry upfront, it will be better in about 7-8 months. Another ultrasound in 3-4 weeks to hope they magically shrink because they start getting to be bad news after 22 weeks (meaning they can cause pre-term labour bad news).

Christmas was fun this year as always! Kiddies favorite present this year came from my parents. A sweet kiddie sized table. They both request to have snack time there everyday! Fun! Sterling learned our traditional Finnish Joulupukki song for Christmas Eve this year. We told him he wouldn't get his present unless he sang so he was diligent in learning. Although Joulupukki himself scared the living day lights out of him! Here are a couple sweet Photos!

Mi familia

Feeling extra lucky and sentimental tonight so here goes. My children are nuts. They scream they cry they yell and boss me around. They keep my house in a constant state of chaos. I hardly sit, sleep, or think anymore. I can barely use my brain. It's like the moment after you slip or trip, but before you hit the ground. Panic. Regret. Embarrassment. I feel all of these things as I work to support my family and deal with life's little troubles. Everyday I eat a full helping of overwork, served with a side of underpay and chased with a fresh glass of indifference.

Then I walk through my front door.

Immediately I am greeted with a loud shrill shriek of excitement from my daughter Emery, followed by a loud "papa's home!!" : my son Sterling. They both rush to the door with their arms open for hugs and snuggles. My day is made. I waited all day, 18 hours for this moment. The smiles along with a bit of crazy radiates from my baby girl. Sterling flexes his mental muscles ( not to mention his physical ones) everyday. Always learning and teaching me something new.

So without making this too sappy:

I am head over heels in love with this family.

Ok that was probably too sappy. Oh well. It is true though. I work so I can live and I live for only 3.45 reasons. Well, them and anything peanut buttercup flavored.

Trust me on this one. If you have a family and are frustrated with work or school or your crazy schedule, take the time to slow it down an just look at what you have. My outlook on life has changed completely. Don't get me wrong I have my grumpy days. Sometimes I don't want to be around myself. But, to me all of it is 100% worth it.

My family makes life worth living. They complete me, had me at hello... They can be my hero...baby. Ok no more cliches.

Alauna, Sterling, Emery and tiny one. Papa is here and he loves you forever. Thank you for loving me back.

-T

Yummy for me

I had a rare hour burst of energy today in which I put to good use. I made......homemade peanut butter cups! They are A-Maz-Ing. Yup so good. Although in an odd turn of pregnant events I can't seem to stomach anything sweet so I pretty much just ate one bite and Trevor will have to take care of the additional 2 dozen. Which seems to be happening lately. I make treats and he eats all the treats. Pretty tough life my hubby has.

A Taste of Christmas

We have started making some new holiday traditions starting with this tasty one on Sunday night. Granted now that I'm pregnant I hate anything sweet but Sterling had tons of fun and we gave a bunch away. Yay for Christmas! Love me some family time.

Stress, stress and more stress!

This post is TMI much, sorry!

Was Ikea Wednesday night and as we started home at 8pm I all of a sudden just started bleeding down there. Oh yea, pregnant and bleeding. Also, let's throw in some horrible cramping. What you always want to happen.

Stop at Rockyview Hospital since it is closest to us while out and go into ER. They check me into the empty ER and then I just sit freaking out for 3 hours before anyone comes and talks to me.

Then a Doctor comes in and gives me a 10 second ultrasound to make sure baby is alive and well....yup but they can't say anything else. I sit another hour while they schedule a ultrasound on Thursday.

Go to ultrasound Thursday and come back to ER to hear results. Wait over an hour and the old man doctor comes in and says "It is what it is, follow up with your doctor in a few days" and gives me my ultrasound paper and leaves. Wow, what is that supposed to even mean?

So now it's Thursday afternoon and I am freaking out even more because what does that even mean? And my ultrasound paper says confusing and scary sounding things like uterus hemorrhaging and cysts and blood pockets. Get my follow up for Monday.

Monday go to my doctor and he says "Why did he even tell you to follow up in a few days?". Basically, I come to find out that the placenta tore from the wall while my uterus was growing and bleed out quite a bit. Not enough to hurt the baby but enough to have left huge pockets of blood in my uterus. I also have a cyst on one of my ovaries. The uterus had reattached and was fine now. The rundown, I have a slightly higher chance of miscarriage so from 1-5% and I can't lift anything more than 10 pounds or do strenuous stuff like clean or exercise. I also have to get ultrasounds every two weeks to make sure the blood is dissapating from my uterus. Unfortunately for me I have two kids both over the 10 pound mark and one being disabled...yea....pretty much impossible to not carry stuff over 10 pounds. Secondly, I HATE HATE HATE sitting for any amount of time. Yeah, gonna drive myself insane! Oh wait, I already am. Lastly, since the blood is foreign in the uterus I keep getting really bad debilitating period like cramps frequently. Which both freak me out (even though I know they are normal with blood in the uterus) and really freaking painful combined with the horrible morning sickness.

Can't complain, baby is healthy and well and only I have to suffer. And that is pretty much the only time I have ever had bad experiences with waiting and horrible doctor bedside manner. Trust me, I have been to more appointments in the last 3.5 years than most people can ever even imagine I'd possible.

So now I'm tired and bored and need some entertainment ideas. Oh, but I did find something I suck at doing for once. I am awful at crocheting. I just suck. Granted I only tried for an hour but I usually pick things up in just a few minutes. Gone are my dreams of cute baby hats, flowers and shoes I crocheted.

Vegetable of Lights

Last night we went to the Airdrie Festival of Lights or as Sterling dubbed it 'Vegetable of Lights'. Most of us had fun. Emy pretty much sat there grumpily because she was bundled so tight against the cold. Sterling was soooooo upset when we had to leave because Mama and Papa could no longer feel their toes. Sorry for crappy iPhone photos. Forgot my camera, must be pregnancy brain....yea, that's it!

Ohhhhh

I want this.... Now how to get $200 to buy it before it goes off sale :(

Surprise!

So we have some news. Not sure yet if it is good news or not so much. We're pregnant. We recently decided that we were not going to have anymore children and I started on birth control. Surprise, you don't always get what you want. 11.5 weeks along making the little critter due June 24, 2012.

Since this baby is due when Emy is 19 months they will only let me have another c-section. Boo for me, I hate those things and they make me useless (meaning couch bound for 6 weeks because I can't walk with the horrible pain). Which is pretty much the worse thing that can happen when you have a disabled child that can't get into their own highchair and do a lot of things on their own.

I'm not at that 'wahoo' stage as my friend called it and am worried it isn't going to happen until this baby is born. In fact I am pretty sure it isn't going to happen because I am too stressed about it to get there.

Don't get me wrong, I would be devastated if I lost this child but for now I am sulking in my 'crap, I have to go through that baby stage again when I thought I was done sorta thing'.

Just keeping it real for my own journal purposes.

Procrastination Much!

I finally finished my Christmas stockings! It only took three years! I bought all the stuff for them three Christmases ago when Sterling was just 4 months old and this year I finally did them, whoa! I still need to figure out how to put the first letter of our names on each one but I will probably procrastinate that task another 3 years, lol.

Please excuse the crap photos, they were taken with my iPhone out of not wanting to upload photos from my nice camera.

Happy Day!

Happy Day late American Turkey Day to all my American friends!  I will admit that I use this day as an excuse to have another turkey dinner here in Canada.  Yum yum!  Who doesn't love a huge turkey dinner with all the fixings?  I am not a meat person, it seriously makes me ill to think about most meats and having to eat them...but turkey?  That is my jam.

I am a day late with this as I was super busy yesterday.  I.E. Emy had her one year immunizations yesterday and then I had a super long doctors appointment.  I was out of the house at 7am and I didn't get home to start my American Turkey Day preparations until after noon.

First, Emy wasn't too stoked about her immunization.  She got 4 pokes including the flu shot.  Which I told Sterling that we weren't getting poked when he saw the immunization clinic because he was freaking out.  Which, apparently I lied because they asked if we all wanted our flu shots, to which I agreed.  We were already there, they were free and it was hassle free.  He pretty much yelled at me all day long after that and told me that I was a liar.  What can I say?  Sometimes, parents lie unintentionally.  Emy was clingy and cranky all day long and had to carry her while making most of dinner...yikes!

Got home and spent the rest of the day preparing because Trevor invited 8 people from his work, ouch!  Well, it was super yummy and I actually had a super good time even thought I hate, no I actually HATE (cap locks seems more appropriate) group gatherings (I am so shy that it makes these things physically painful).  They make me super uncomfortable and I hate all the attention and compliments I get when they are at my own house.  Yea, talk about number one on my least favourite things to do list.  At least my new oven and myself got more acquainted and we are in love!

We did a whole feast, turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, homemade rolls, jello and limeade slush.  Lets not forgot homemade pumpkin pie with chocolate drizzle and whipped cream and homemade cookies with ice cream.  I think I might actually look forward to next years day (well, maybe I will look forward to it).

 

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

We celebrated Emery's 1st Birthday this last Friday!  How does that happen?  They really do grow up so fast and I can't believe it has been a whole year since I gave birth to that little girl.  Oh how I love her!  Her official Birthday was November 15 but my Mom was flying down for the weekend so we postponed her party so she could come to it.  I quickly whipped up this little number in her party colours (pink and green):  

And yes, that pink square used to be my address but it seems kind of creepy to leave it up on the net for the whole world to see.

I made these sweet pom pom tissue balls from here.  They are super easy peasy to do and they really added a lot of festivity to her little party.

 I also made this little banner by finding some spare scrapbook paper and printing letters onto them.  Love it!  Think I might keep it for years to come even though it only took 30 minutes and some spare goods at home.

 I  made little cupcakes for the little girl and a smash cake all for her little self.

 Ooooooh smash cake, all for me?

 But her fear of so many people at once ruined her fun.  She was so focused on all the other people around her and looking at her that she just couldn't eat her cake.  She did manage to make a mess but only a couple bites made it to her mouth.  Anyone that knows Emery, knows that is abnormal.  She is a eater and always wants to be munching on something.  I don't know if I have ever expressed the depth of shyness that this little girl possesses.  She hides her head and refuses to look at anyone that is trying to talk to her.  She sits and clings in my lap for hours so no one else will touch or look at her.  I do feel sorry for this little girl because she takes after me and being shy is no fun!

 I just had to share this photo of her in her new church dress!  Love love love it, so cute and got it on a steal for $4.

Love my baby girl and can't wait to share another year with her.  She seriously brightens my life with the amount of smiles that she gives me on a daily basis.  

 

Happy Birthday to me!

I woke up at 4am today with the best Birthday present ever: the flu! The horrible throwing up every 10 minutes flu. Yay to me!

On a positive note my awesome hubby bought me a sweet triple convection oven in stainless steel. I love her so much. I used her Sunday for her maiden ovening to bake myself a birthday cake. Which sadly, sits uneaten in my fridge because I am much to sick to even contemplate it :(

On awesome news, my baby girl turns one tomorrow! How fast they grow. Love that little girl. Hopefully I will feel much better for her Birthday than I did for mine.

Don't you love the sweet sick person pic?

Halloween Part 2 - a week late

Sterling carved his pumpkin last weekend the day before Halloween.  He decided that he wanted a pirate  pumpkin.  Which resulted in me, taking out all the inside and carving it myself because he didn't want to do either.

 He did decide that he wanted to paint his pumpkin like Mama painted hers.  So I thought that was pretty cute.  He was super intense and was not even answering my questions or looking at me while at work.

 This was his pirate pumpkin masterpiece.  Love it!

 Got the kiddies dressed up and ready for Halloween.  It was a little bit chilly, of course it was the coldest day of the week.  Naturally, this is what Emy thought of her costume for the first 10 minutes.  SHe just laid there and cried and cried and then cried some more.

 Love the behind shot.

 FYI- Trick or treating in a wheel chair = suckiness beyond belief.  Yup, not so much fun.  I really can't imagine Sterling wanting to go when he gets a little bit bigger.  It was a lot of work for such little reward.  He usually will absolutely NOT let me touch his wheel chair when we are out.  Even if he is dead tired and has wheeled for hours.  But after 2 houses he asked me if I would push him the rest of the way.

We had some fun and of course we all gorged ourselves on candy.

The kitchen revamp part 1 of about 50

I super hate our kitchen.  I hate the dated oak, I hate our pink laminate, I hate the gold and oak handle for  all the cabinet pulls, I hate the appliances, the sink, the island, yup I hate it all.  And this kitchen is only 10 years old!  So I am taking on a cheapo diy kitchen reno over the next little while to make me fall in love with my kitchen.  I bought pretty much all my supplies with my Rona dollars, so yay, this is a free to me project.  Even it is wasn't, it would only cost $100 to redo a whole kitchen of laminate counters like this.

This is what I started with (Actually, not quite).  This desk was ridiculously low and you could not fit your knees under the computer desk.  Seriously uncomfortable for working on the computer.  There was also  some really ugly square white tiles, which you will see when I finish the rest of the counters.  I didn't take photos because I was so busy being angry and in pain from taking all the ugly tiles down that I just wanted to finish it before Trevor got home from work.  So yup, this is after I demoed the tiles and move the desk up 6 inches.  

 I sanded down the laminate and primed it with Sherwin Williams adhesion primer.  That primer sticks to anything.

I then rolled on Sherwin Williams true black (Tricon) and dusted with Martha Stewarts fairy dust in onyx.  That is what all the uneven texture is in the photo below.

 THen took my trust sea sponges and metallic paint in Sterling and Gun metal and layered  some super light sponges all over.

Lastly, I took Envirotex lite and poured it all over the counter space to create this glossy and durable finish.  Also, it really helps give it a more granite look.  First, of all....these photos do NOT do it justice.  You really have to see it to see how nice it really came out.  Secondly, I love love love it!  More than any other laminate that I have seen on the market.  And lastly, as for durability, awesome.  The person that I took inspiration from has had this for 2 years and it still looks rocking!  And if you can't polish out any scratches that you might get from a stray knife you can just pour a think quick top coat again and it looks like new.

This whole 8 square foot desk took me about 45 minutes of labour in total.  Not bad, in order to get rid of ugly pink laminate...Seriously, who picks pink laminate only 10 years ago?

 Close-up but I didn't capture it at all.  It has some sparkly to it and the pattern underneath is more subtle than the photo makes it look. :(

Keep in mind, that I am refinishing the cabinets in white and replacing the hardware on all the doors.  I am also retiling the whole backsplash in some super sexy subway tiles.  Yum!  Can't wait to finish the rest of my counters and start on the hard part of the kitchen.  Yuck, tiling!

Read more: http://www.mylivesignature.com/mls_wizard2_1.php?sid=54488-124-26C845D8BA3663D6DD448FD9D55CD509#ixzz0jrXB8CX7

The Halloween Post

In usual me fashion (I'm a cheap gangster that never spends money unless I need to) I made Emery a Halloween costume this year.  I found some leftover fabric that I had in my craft bin and pilfered a bunny costume pattern from my sister and came up with this little number.

 Since I was cheap and didn't want to go buy fur for her costume I decided to go the stuffy bunny route and even hand stitched around all the edges with a blanket stitch to add some detail.  You can tell how much I sew because it took me from 9am straight until 5pm to do this one little costume.  Granted the hand stitching took most of the time but yeah, not a sewer much.  Don't look to closely or else you will see my crappy craftsmanship.

And what became of all my hard work?  Well, this is how much Emery appreciates her costume...

Onto easier and more my style of Halloween projects.  I decided to paint myself some pumpkins for our front porch.  I took these three cheapo $2.46 pumpkins and made my own stencils out of painters tape.  Then used some leftover spray paint that I always seem to have an endless supply on hand.  I think I might have an obsession with spray paint.

 And this is what resulted in the end.  Gotta love the monogramed one (It's Trevor and my own favourite one).  Of course Sterls loves the spider one and wants me to paint some spiders on his pumpkin when he carves it this weekend.

Shiny, shiny, I love me some shiny pumpkins!