Hi Friends

Why Hello crafty friends, it has been a good while since I have updated my blog. I am super busy these days, I am now a mom of two little ones. My oldest is now 3, and my baby girl will be one February 9th. Time has went by super fast with these two. I hardly have time to make any cards or projects. I am super bummed about that. I miss crafting and viewing blogs. I'm not making any crafty promises this time around cause I never follow through...haha. I hope everyone is doing well, and those that have stuck around, Thank You! I have been working on my little girls birthday decor, just going simple polka dots/sprinkles theme. I'll work on getting pics up on here soon as I get me some more Scotch quick dry. My other dried up, goes to show when the last time I have made anything. Life has been busy for me. I try to work on crafts when hubby is off, if I get a chance to sneak to my craft space when he gets home I don't like to spend too long, he did work all day and the kids are wild and into everything. Still a SAHM, I love it but it wears me down fast. My toddler is now a Threenager....yes that is real and it is going on in my life right now....ahhhh haha. I will tell you all this, I do feel at home and at peace when I am crafting, making cards. It was my hobby for a very long time, so when I don't get to play or make time for myself I get drained and bummed out a bit. I'll be okay though, I got this, there has been threenagers before, insane toddler meltdowns. His doctor says its normal, friends tell me its normal, I'm leaning on God and good friends to get me through these toddler years. We don't have family near so it is hard to depend on family to come and watch them for a few hours, and then you feel guilty for leaving them but, it sure does feel good those 2-3 hours of just you time.  I will tell you our little girl is so different compared to our son. Totally two different people. Anyways I won't bother you all with my mommy drama haha, just wanted to hop on blogger, visit some blogs I follow, etc. Hope to be back on here soon. Until next time, happy crafting and God Bless you all.

Hugs, Sheena aka Tired Momma

Thanks card

Hi Everyone!! Long time since I have been on here. Been so busy with little man, and other things going on. Its hard to find time to sit and make a card. I'm glad I got to make one today. I made this for a dear friend. I used the "Free, Make It Now" on the Cricut Design Space. I never done that before and saw this card and really like the design, and I needed a "Thanks" card. I changed it, by doing my own colors. They had pinks picked, but I wanted something bright and summer like. It did take a bit to cut cause all the detail. Also I dunno if it's just mine or anyone else's but when it scores my cards to fold later it don't score right in the middle, its kinda off, so I have to do a quick scoring of my own to try and fix it. I hope you enjoy my fun summer card. Sorry the lighting is kinda off today, it's gloomy here (expecting more storms). The yellow is BRIGHT yellow. In the full card pic it looks much darker.

I Used:

Cricut DS: Make It Now card (free)

The Paper Studio PP: Four Seasons

Wausau CS

Crayola Fine point Markers: Black

MS: Black marker for stitching 

A2 card

Thanks for stopping in! Hope you all are doing well.

Hugs, Sheena 

MOM- Mother's Day card

Hi Everyone!! Sorry I haven't had a post the past few weeks, I have just been busy and not really having the creative juices flowing. Every time I try to even use the Cricut Design Space App I don't ever come up with ideas  that I really like and would cut. Anyways, I needed a card for my Mom, from me and my sister. It needed to be pretty, but not a lot of detail since I will be mailing it to her. She don't live near me, and me and my sis always go in on a gift and card. This year my sis bought the gift, and I made the card. I know my mom will love this card.

I Used:

Cricut Explore: The images are basic searches like, Circle, Oval, Rectangle, and Mom. I stretched the Blue circle to make it an oval. I love Design Space, being able to do that.

Pebbles PP- Garden Party

Darice CS

White Gel pen

SU pop dots

A2 card

I hope to get some good card making mojo back, I miss playing with my cricut and all my paper. I keep buying the smaller paper packs like 6x6 and 5.5x 8.5 packs. I don't seem to waste as much. Just need to make more projects so I can use them. Thanks for stopping in, hopefully it won't be such a long break next time. 

Have a Great Mother's Day to all the wonderful Mom's out there.

Hugs, Sheena  

Birthday Shaker

Hi Everyone! I wanted to share my Birthday shaker card with y'all. I made this for my niece. I knew she would love something like a shaker card. She likes anything that has sparkle, and not really kiddie. She turned 10. Her birthday was on Easter. Enjoy!

Used:

Cricut Explore: Free- Octagon, Free- Phrase

American Crafts PP- My Girl

CTMH Inks

CTMH Stamps- Dots

Craft Plastic

Doodlebug Sequins

Filler beads

A2 card

*since there was so many tiny areas on this card I made several layers of the same layout, glued them all together to give me thickness for the shaker. 

Thanks for visiting!

Hugs, Sheena 

Egg Muffins

Wanted to share this quick and easy recipe with you all. I have a hard time getting Little Man to eat eggs, so I have been pinning egg muffin recipes on pinterest to try and other muffin recipes. Oh man the ideas people come up with for muffin meals..YUM!. Maybe thinking the eggs will be thicker and he can hold them better, like he does his broccoli nuggets. These were good, great healthy breakfast or lunch.

Recipe:

-7 eggs or more depending on size eggs. I used Eggland's Best Large eggs

-Your choice of fillings. I used Steamed Broccoli, and shredded cheese

-Grease the muffin cups 

-Make sure you place ingredients in first so they kinda mix in with the eggs. You could probably mix them with the eggs, but this way I know each one has a even amount.

Bake at 350, depending on stove mine took 12 minutes to bake, I inserted a toothpick in the thicker ones. They all came out perfect and yummy. 

Little man ate a few bites, but walked away. Mommy had them for lunches the next several days. Honestly thought these tasted better next day and days after than they did fresh.

Sorry the recipe is all over the place, but I made these super quick and did the baking time different, most call for 20 minutes, but our oven is weird and likes to burn everything. So if its says 20 minutes our oven it means 12-15 minutes 

Thanks for visiting!

Hugs, Sheena 

Simple Easter card

Hi Everyone! I just wanted to share my quick Easter card with y'all. I needed a card real quick that didn't have a bunch of detail. Hope you all have a Happy Easter!!

Used:

Cricut Explore: Easter 2010 - Bunny, Free Scalloped Rectangle

Recollections CS

The Paper Studio PP- Four Seasons (I love this stack, has a nice variety) 

White Gel

A2 card

Thanks for visiting!  

Hugs, Sheena 

Taco Soup - with Pictures

Hi Everyone! Wanted to share my Taco Soup recipe again since I made it a week or so ago when we had some colder days again. It's same recipe as before just wanted to add pics this time

Recipe:

1 pound meat, your choice. we use rotisserie chicken 

1 can Corn drained 

1 can Pinto Beans drained & rinsed

1 can Rotel

1 can Diced Tomatoes

1 pack Taco Seasoning

1 pack Ranch Dressing seasoning

I use about 4.5 Rotel cans filled with water to cover ingredients. You can use more or less, we like ours not a runny soup.

Toppings: Fritos, Sour Cream, Cheese or other topping you may like.

We double the recipe and make it in a 7quart crockpot

Thanks for visiting! 

Hugs, Sheena 

Baby Boy - shaker card

Hi Everyone!! Finally having some warm weather that's gonna stick around for a bit here, Thank Goodness!! Able to take little man out to the park and play. A very dear friend of mine I went to school with is having her first baby and I wanted to make her a special card. So I gave the shaker card a try again. This time not so many cuts or details like my first. I love how it turned out. Just need to invest in one them powder brushes  that will keep static away. My sequins were sticking to the plastic sheet. Enjoy this Baby Boy (shaker card)

I Used:

Cricut Explore/DS : Rectangle/Frame-PSchoolbook, Onesie- NA, Bow- WC

DCWV PP- Little Mister stack

Bazzill CS

Core'dination's CS

CTMH Inks/Stamps

Sequins

Darice Glass filler beads

A2 card

I placed the onesie on the outside of plastic 

Thanks for visiting, hope you have a great weekend! Also will have a updated Taco Soup recipe with pics this time post coming soon. 

Hugs, Sheena 

A Lovely Easter card

Hi Crafty Friends! Hope all is well. Here is a Easter card I wanted to share. I was playing around with layering on my Cricut Design Space App and thought this was cute. I love that App. This was just a fun play around card, wanted to see how well the explore cut small words, how a lot of layers looked all cut and in person. Hope you enjoy!

Recipe:

Cricut Explore: P&F clouds, PS grass, Easter 2010 lamb, eggs, WC saying, CF&BS layers

Darice CS

Paper Studio PP

American Crafts PP

White gel pen

Cricut pens

CTMH Inks 

5x5card

Thanks for stopping in, hope you all have a great weekend!

Hugs, Sheena 

1st Shaker Card

Hi Friends! Hope you all are doing well. Finally going to have some beautiful weather in the 50's, woohoo! I wanted to share my first ever shaker card. I love watching people make them in YT videos. I think they be so fun to make, add that little special detail to a card. So it took me awhile to get my supplies cause I was looking for the best deal on things. Pretty sure I should have stuck with a more simple design of shaker. I like how it turned out for being my first shaker card. Practice will make perfect, only way to learn.  So here is my 1st Shaker card..please enjoy.

Recipe:

Cricut Explore : P&F clouds, grass, WC hello, DC sun, FMK frame

Darice CS

American Crafts: My Girl Stack

Doodlebug Design Sequins

Black pen

A2 card

*My Notes* I need to find some glue that don't show through the plastic. so I didn't glue the cuts to plastic. I used a SU pop dots under the small cloud. I only did one layer of foam tape and it seems to shake fine, only getting stuck on the pieces of images that aren't glued to plastic. Anyone got any tips for glue that works for that?? I might just use pop dots under the bigger parts next time. 

Thanks for stopping and checking out my first shaker card. Hope you all are enjoying your week, have a great weekend!

Hugs, Sheena 

Lucky

Hi Good Friends! Hope you all are doing great. Here is the second card in my "LUCK" theme. Another cut out card and paper piecing behind the cut. This one has a little more piecing. Hope you enjoy.

Recipe:

Cricut Explore: ACY font. ACY clover, PSchoolbook Circle

White Gel Pen

Darice Kraft CS, Dark green CS

DCWV gold CS

The Paper Studio: Four Seasons PP

4.5" x 4.5" card

Hope you all enjoyed this little series. Thanks for popping in. Have a great weekend everyone!

Hugs, Sheena

Luck

Hi Friends! Hope you all are staying warm...goodness it has been really cold here in these parts. Sure am ready for SPRING!! Hoping to work on a few spring related cards here in the next few weeks. I have some ideas. Today and next weeks post is all about "LUCK", I made a couple cards for St. Patrick's Day. Both cards i used the same papers and paper piecing behind a image cut. I used what I had really close on hand. I hope you enjoy this weeks card, and next weeks.

*working on cleaning up and organizing my craft work area today. Its just too cold for outside activities, so I'm busy trying to figure out where i want to place everything..hmm.

Recipe:

Cricut Explore : ACY Font, ACY Clover

White Gel Pen

Darice Kraft CS

The Paper Studio: Four Seasons PP 

4"x8" card

I really love the look of these style cards, not a lot of pieces to put together. Simple and clean.

Thanks for stopping...have a great weekend everyone!

Hugs, Sheena 

Writing/Drawing with my Explore

Hi, Crafty Friends! Hope you all had a great weekend and week. I wanted to play with my pens using my explore. I had this idea in my head, I think it turned out kinda how I wanted it, but it will take some more practice. There is no cuts, only the card base. Hope you all enjoy!

I Used:

Cricut Explore

Cricut Pens:Blueberry, Geode, Sour Apple, Very Berry, Candy Corn

Cuts/Write: Clouds(P&F) Sun (CAC) Flower(GAH) Grass(PSbook) Hello(ACY) Line(free) Leaf(free from GF) Card base(AA)

4.5"x5" card

Darice texture CS White

Simple flat card

If you notice the cloud the blotch of blue ink, when the pen started it like slammed the pen down causing that blotch, then for some reason the pen didn't get the bigger flower all the way. It got the little one great, drew that one after the big one....hmm 

I will make some cards similar to this. Its simple, no glue, and it would mail great. I used a score line(free) changed it to write and that is what I used for the flower stems.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope this gives you some ideas to try and play with the pens in the explore. I will try and post every Thursday.

Cloud card: Dear Friend

Hello, Crafty Friends! Hope you all are having a great week. Crazy that in a couple days it will be Valentine's Day already. This year is scooting on by. I've been told by several "that once you have kids time goes by fast" boy were they right.  On to my cute card made in Design Space. I made this card for a Dear Friend of mine who is always there, we met in the crafting world..connected through Cricut...Another reason to love this machine, you can make great long lasting friends. She loaned me one of her Carts that I didn't own, and I wanted to make this cute card for her to Thank her when I sent the cart back. She loved it!! I linked up all my carts to DS so now I have more images to play with. I used the cloud card from Hello Kitty cart for my base.

I Used:

Design Space- Hello Kitty(own) Cloud card

Teardrop Font *it was Free when I used it, some say its $4.99 now, but when I checked its still free, Birthday Bash font

Cricut Pens - Candy Crystal, Sour Apple

White gel pen

Pop Dots * I popped up the front of card to the base

4"x3" card..I think this card was small, to give scale I have it propped up against a Essie nail polish bottle

Thanks for stopping. Hope you all have a fun Valentine's Day!

Hugs, Sheena 

Circle V-Day card

Hi, Crafty Friends! Hope you all had a great weekend and are staying warm. Pretty cold here where I live. Temps are in the teens and below zero...eeek! I wanted to share my second quick Valentine's day card using the " I Love You" free image on Design Space. All images I used are Free, so anyone that can use Design Space can use these cuts.

When I made this card I could tell I was off my card making game a bit..hehe. I wanted to faux stitch and my little guy wasn't having it when I wanted to take my time, so I did a quick faux stitch and added some diamond stickles.

  

Recipe:

Cricut Explore 

Free Images DS: Heart(s), I Love You, Scalloped Circle 

4.5" card

Darice CS - pale pink, cream

PP- My Paper Studio "Four Seasons" stack 

Pop Dots

Bic Intensity Fine point - Red

Diamond Stickles

Hope you all have a great weekend! 

Sheena 

Quick V-Day card

Hi, Everyone! Here is a super quick Valentine's Day card using the explore. I used all Free images for this card and the next card post. I wanted to use the "I Love You" cut for both cards, to stick with a theme. This card I made today is simple. I did the layout myself, welding, and attaching cuts. I won't have super detailed cards just yet, well not until I can get little man on a schedule that works for me working on detailed cards. So cards for a bit will be quick/simple!
**sorry the lighting is awful...I need to find my ott lite, I haven't unpacked a lot of my craft supplies when we moved**

Recipe:

Cricut Explore

Free Images: Heart(s), I Love You, Scalloped Rectangle

A2 card

Darice CS - Deep Red, Cream (not sure real names, from value pack)

Pop Dots

Sorry for the quality of pics, I will dig out my Ott Lite asap. 

Have a Great Weekend Everyone!

Recipe: Taco Soup

Hi, Everyone! I wanted to share this yummy soup recipe I got off my SIL. I changed hers a bit to the meat I like, but you can make it however you like. I know this recipe is different from the ones I have found, but this one is super easy.

glitter-graphics.com

TACO SOUP:

1 lb. meat cooked

1 can Corn (drained)

1 can Pinto beans (rinsed)

1 can Original Rotel

1 pack Taco Seasoning

1 pack Ranch dressing seasoning

1 can Diced Tomatoes 

Toppings of your choice: Fritos, sour cream, cheese etc.

Crockpot

Double recipe just add two of everything.

Doubled my recipe: I used a 7quart crockpot set on low, I love using rotisserie chickens, already cooked and less mess. I shredded 2 rotisserie chickens from Walmart, 2 of everything else. I used about 6 1/2 Rotel can size filled with water to cover the ingredients. I layered my ingredients when I use a crockpot
started out with both cans of corn, 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1 can pintos, 1 can Rotel, 1pk each of the seasonings, shredded chicken, other can pintos, the other 1pk each of seasonings, other can diced tomatoes, and other can Rotel, added water to cover. Cooked from 11am-3pm on low, set on warm for later. We ate this for 3 days and it got better each day. The soup is so good with Fritos, Sour Cream, and Cheese added on top. My One year old even loved the chicken, he didn't get much since the Rotel gives it a kick, but he kept coming back for more bites. When I made this our temperatures here were -15 out, so this soup really warmed us up.

*sorry I don't have a pic, I deleted it from my phone the other day..oops*

GOALS: My Goals for my blog

Hi, Everyone! Hope you are having a great weekend. Where I live we had a really nice sunny warm(45) day yesterday. It was so nice getting out n about with my mom, little guy stayed in with his daddy, and his grand pappy. I got to do some major window shopping yesterday. I just love looking at all the new things that are coming out for Spring. I wanted to make a post for my goals for my blog for 2015.

2015 Blog Goals:
-Try to make one project a week post
-Do some updates, and everyday chit chat
-Visit all my blogs I love, see all the beautiful creations.
-Enter some challenges
-Work on getting more followers
-Create some of my own challenges
-Share some craft projects besides card making....I have a few coming up, one I'm working on for the little guy
-Try new recipes and share them...have one coming up this week. That will be my first officially coming back post
-Be better organized on my blog and in everyday life
-Learning to better manage my time
-Learning the ropes for having a budget for family, everyday life
-Using what supplies I already have
-WORK HARD TO STICK TO MY GOALS!! WISH ME LUCK!!

I know some these won't be met all the time, but I will try my hardest to make them happen. I have little reminders set to tell me "Hey you have some goals to reach" so hopefully that helps, plus visiting others will also help get me back on track. Hope everyone has a great weeknd, and rest of the week.

Hugs, Sheena 

UPDATE 2015..LONG

HI, Everyone!! Wow, it has been since march 2014 I had made my last update. So sorry for not updating sooner or coming back to visit blogs I love. I miss you all, and all your pretty creations.

glitter-graphics.com

First off how many got Crcut Explore for Christmas?? I got mine back before Halloween. I love it, haven't used it a bunch yet, but so far I love it for what I have made using it. When I find time during my day I try to make something or play around with the design space. I love design space better than the design studio software I have. I find that the design space is so much easier for me to use. I hope to get my little craft area made nice and neat, get out my most used craft gear, try to cut back having unused items taking up space. I don't make new years resolutions, but I make goals, my goal this year to craft more, and organize my life better. With having my now ONE year old, our place isn't as neat and tidy as I would like.

Now on to my ONE year old. Goodness where did 2014 go? no really? It went by so fast. He turned ONE on 12/27/2014. We had two small parties. One at my parents, and the other at my SIL. We kept them small for several reasons. One being it was so close to Christmas, Two we don't speak to many of our old friends, yes I call them old, because well we don't speak to them much anymore, if we do it has been a year or two in between talks. I kept the parties small and family that have been in little mans life since he was born. This may seem harsh to some, but that's how we wanted it. Honestly, how do people have these big parties?? The small ones I had for him took a a lot of work. I of course made his cakes, both for us and his smash cake. After making for his first party I decided we will buy for the SIL party. Anyways, he got lots of fun toys and he had a great time playing with his little cousins.

He had a great first Christmas. He wasn't too interested in opening gifts, he just wanted to play with the boxes. After we got back to our place from our parents I feel like Toys R Us backed up a toy truck and unloaded here. Guess what?! he still plays with random things, not the toys he got. He rather carry around a sock, or DH belt. No matter how hard I try he just don't care about the toys. Now some of them he loves and will play with. Like the yellow fisher price chair, he loves that thing.

His status for ONE year is 18# 5.5oz 30.2", he's a walking machine. Soon as he turned 10months he was going going going. Now all he wants to do is climb everything. I have baby gates through out our place, and I am getting a great leg workout climbing over them. I have a really big evenflo gate that expands for our kitchen opening since the opening is wider than a normal door. That thing is tall, so I climb over that thing at least 100x a day or more. I could go out for the hurdle team. He keeps me busy and on my  toes. Very high energy little fella. Why I find it hard to make time to create anything. So far been just creating and saving files for later when I have the time to cut. I really miss card making. I tell my dear friend(she knows who she is) that I miss it so much, it was so relaxing and I just love being creative. Why I hope having the explore will help get back in the grove of things. I still have my expression and love it still, so I'm not getting rid of that baby. I have been watching a lot of YT videos to give me some mojo. Past few days I've been watching CHA videos, and OH MY!!! all the pretty things that are out now. Too many wishlist items to mention. I want them all..haha.

I really do miss all you and visiting your blogs. I miss seeing all the new techniques everyone is learning and sharing. I miss entering blog hops, and challenges. I really miss I Feel The Love project. I always loved making cards for others to cheer everyone up. Maybe when I get back to creating I can make a challenge for my NICU that my little guy was in. Oh I had the days wrong for his stay, it was 9 days total. I said 7...ugh mommy brain. My DH had to remind me. Also he had a NICU reunion back in September. It was kinda neat and weird. We thought he would see his main Doctor and his station nurses. Now we knew some would be working or not there. When we got there they had it all decorated cute and little goodies for him to keep, and a picture of the family to keep etc. The reunion was more for station neighbors. When we were in NICU we had two neighbors. We didn't really speak to them much, one neighbor was kinda on the mean not friendly type, the others kept to themselves(their little one was super tiny). They were both at reunion, but neither spoke to us :( kinda sad. I tried to approach them, but thought why bother, they didn't make effort for us. The ones we did talk to just got out of NICU like 3 months before the reunion. They felt the same as us, kinda weird. I asked a nurse about little mans doctor. She said they only come if they are on the shift during reunion. So that made us sad. They did let us go up to NICU to visit before we left, plus we had a box of preemie an NB sleepers we wanted to donate. We get up there ask about little fellas nurse, find out she was a travel nurse :( that made us sad. Also wanted to know about a nurse that helped us in NICU that was from the labor floor. They said we have to go there and ask, cause when he was in NICU they had so many nurses coming in and helping cause  they were short staffed. We didn't go find that nurse. Maybe when we have another she will be working...haha. She really loved our little fella, AND she used the NICU's expression and made his name for his station. I'm getting a frame hat is 8'x30' to stick in. To keep it, cause its so cute, and I don't want it to get messed up. Right now its stuck on his closet door at an angle cause its so long.  

I will post pictures when I take some of it, and of his cake, and other goodies I made for his parties. I did make his banner using he explore, and expression. I hope everyone had great holidays with family and friends. Hope to be back sooner than almost a year..eek!! Wish me Luck!! Send me good crafting mojo...

**Also need to update my blogger header..need to say explore and little fella now..
HUGS,
Sheena
  

UPDATE...UPDATE...LONG POST!! Enjoy!!

HEY EVERYONE!!! WOW...it has been several months now since my last update...SO where do I begin...hmm lol

 
glitter-graphics.com

My Little Boy was born December 27, 2013...yes my due date was January 30, 2014, but he wanted to come early at 35/1 weeks. He weighed in at 4 lbs. 9 oz. 17 in. He was in NICU for 7 days. That was the longest 7 days, but so worth it for him getting better and able to come home. Since he was so early he didn't have his sucking down right so he wasn't eating the recommend ML's  for his size. At first he didn't have a feeding tube, but day 3-4 he had to get one cause he just wasn't eating enough. He dropped down to 4 lbs. He also had the Billy Ruben blanket put on him, he looked like a little glow worm. That day when they put the tube in and had him wrapped I didn't know til I got to the NICU for our morning visit and the Dr, and Nurses were doing their rounds to each station, when we walked in they just got to his, I got over to my little guy not paying to much attention at the time to him with tube and blanket cause the Dr was talking to me while I was putting my stuff down(explain all that in a bit) and he told me about the tube and blanket, when I saw my little guy all I could do was cry, I know my little guy didn't have to be in one of the inclosed bassinets like other preemie babies, but seeing him like that upset me so much. I have no idea how other parents handle all those emotions. He had the little eye glasses covering eyes, the tube taped to his little face, and that big blanket wrapped around him, I just lost it. The Dr and nurses explained he was okay, just being a little stubborn and had a touch of jaundice. We always went in for 2 visits a day morning visit and evening visit. I would go home and pump and get things ready for him when he is able to come home, since only thing I had unpacked from my shower was the crib. It was put up the day I turned 35 weeks......

Now to go back a couple weeks before Little Ones arrival....

Remember I packed all my craft supplies cause we were moving?! well we got moved at the beginning of Dec. Got most of our things unpacked (we still don't have everything unpacked), got settled in, had all my appts and they were starting to go down to every week after my 36 week check up. So my last OB visit was at 34 weeks, little guy measured at 4 lbs, heartbeat is great, was cleared to travel two hours away for Christmas. We go back home to our parents had a great Christmas at my parents, had Christmas at my SIL...and that's where it went weird. That whole day I didn't really care to be around anyone, I was freezing, and my MIL was being a real pain in my you know what...UGH. I had no cramping or anything, I just placed it as being tired. The next morning we get up on the 26th and we head back home to our place, I was feeling great, tired, but glad to be home and away from my MIL. So hubby and I started working on the crib, I just helped hold it up while he did stuff(no picking up anything heavy). Well the day was going great almost done with crib and he gets a call from his Mother....UGH...she had the nerve to call her car insurance company to ask them if it was safe to use snow suits in car seats..now back up a day at Christmas..she argued with me cause they ARE NOT SAFE TO HAVE ON IN CAR SEAT, I Repeat NOT SAFE!!! Yes, they sell them and people think oh they are too keep baby warm, but they are not. She was so mad arguing that they were safe. Her insurance said  ''Sure they are safe" I instantly flipped out over the phone. Reasoning for this argument she bought the baby a snow suit and I said the baby will wear this but not in car seat and she got mad. So I was pretty stressed from that, hubby hung up on her. Even his NICU nurse who is certified car seat installer said NO SNOW SUITS on them in the seat..she was mad at my MIL. She explained to me its like if say we have a down coat on with the seat belt on, we get in a crash there is extra padding there and the seat belt isn't as tight cause to be ejected. She said its the same for the baby. Yes they are strapped in, but the coats, and suits are too thick. Yes they can wear the small thin coats, but just cover them with a blanket and take it off it car, they sweat while in car seat and you don't want them over heat. So y'all know my MIL still argues with me about it.

TMI...TMI...TMI
So later that day I take my normal night shower before bed cause so if I did go into labor I at least had a shower..lol Well that night I went to the bathroom 4 times before 1 AM..normally it was 3 times the whole night. When I woke up at 1 to go I felt like I couldn't hold my own pee and it was running down my leg. I get to the bathroom went and it wouldn't stop after the pee stopped, I'm like UH OH! I go in wake hubby up saying something isn't right, I keep gushing water. He said lay down see if maybe thats what it is..so I laid down and that's when the mild cramps started. I felt like I had to go again. Got up and he heard it gush, he was like look it up online...lol (mind you we just had a birthing class on the 14th of Dec) I knew what it was. He told me call the on call, I'm like no we need to get to hospital. So hospital is only 10-15 min from here. We get there around 2 AM at the ER and they got me wheeled up to Labor triage, the nurse comes in says "you're not gushing blood like they said" I'm like Huh?! I said i never said that, said I was gushing water, my water broke. See the ER don't know how to handle pregnant women so they just get you up to Labor super fast. Since it was before 8 AM I couldn't go straight to Labor and Delivery, I had to go to ER first. The nurse said "sweetie you aren't going home, you are having a baby today" I look at my hubby scared cause I'm only 35 weeks. He called my mom told her what was going on and said we call back once they got me in my labor room. So I get in my room and I'm going thru all the papers, getting hooked up to everything, my IV, signing papers etc. My mom lives two hours away, so she had plenty of time to get there. I wasn't even the tip of my pinky finger dilated. Everything is going great so far no real pains yet, only thing hurt was when they give me antibiotic in my IV since he was early(yes we knew the gender, but no one else did). I had nothing ready no hospital bag packed yet, we planned on getting what else we needed for baby and pack my bag that sunday the 29th.

Hubby and I planned way before arrival that no one will even be at the hospital while I'm having the baby except him, my mom, and my sister if she was able to be there. So no calls went out to anyone that I was in labor. I didn't want his mom or sister there, they caused me enough stress during my pregnancy I didn't want that while I'm in labor. As the day went on pain started getting more, so I had the epidural done at 4 centimeters. They sat me up in a chair and that seemed to help progress my dilating. By 8pm I was starting to push, he was ready to arrive. I pushed for awhile, than came 8:44pm I pushed one last time and little guy arrived. It was amazing, the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my life. He was so active and ready to go. Also so tiny. They got him in the little heat bed and did all the normal stuff, I only held him for a few minutes cause they had to get him to NICU, I cried and cried, but they kept me calm and told me he's in great hands. As the Dr was finishing up my stuff she told me that I did a Great Job during labor and that I was the picture perfect delivery..lol I'm like um ok..lol She said me not having a bunch of people in and out of my room kept me relaxed, plus I also did yoga before my pregnancy, so that helped a lot. My mom was in the room with hubby when little guy was born, she cut the cord. They asked me, I said no cause I was shaking so bad, they asked hubby, he said no cause he was nervous, so they asked my mom so Grammie got to cut her first grand baby's cord. My sister was out in the waiting room and my mom went to get her. Her and my hubby went to NCIU to get pictures, but she wasn't allowed in :'( only parents and grandparents. Due to it being flu season. She did get to see him though for a little bit. She was really upset and so was I, cause that's her first little nephew, but she understood, she works in the medical field. They told me it be a 24hr observation in NICU and before I went to the mother's room(my room) that I can come down to see him.

They took me down, and I was so emotional seeing him all hooked up to machines and it was just over whelming to see. I held him for the first time in NICU and it was amazing. He was so tiny and precious. I was there for 20 min or so and they had to take me to my new room, plus they had to do some other testing on him. So I get to my room, at 11 or so that night, got me some subway...Yum..I was starving, and a sub was so good seeing I had GD gestational diabetes, I didn't eat carbs. I kept to a diet to keep my numbers low. After eating I was able to go down an visit him, do skin to skin/kangaroo care. I was so in love with this little gift I couldn't stop crying. I thank God everyday for blessing us with our little boy Ethan. They told me in NICU that it will be a few days before he can go home, and that I'll go home before he will, that broke my heart., but I understood.

He had no room and wanted out. I only gained 8 lbs , I gained 12 but lost some when I went on the GD diet. Having GD is not what caused him to come early, he had no room, and was just ready. They said he may have gotten to 5 lbs, but I wouldn't have gotten much bigger. If anything the GD would made me go to 40 weeks.

(I won't go into detail of the 7 day NICU stay) I did pump so he could have my milk, plus formula to help get him strong. My goal was to pump for 3 months and I did. Today I just took back the pump I rented. It was hard pumping and holding him cause he hates being on his back. That whole not liking being on his back started about 3 days before his 1 month check up. Plus he has/had reflux so they gave him zantac. That helped a little bit, but he loves the warmth from us so we hold him a lot. I would hold him on my bare chest at night to sleep. I did do my goal of pumping, but I wanted to go on longer, but with him wanting a bottle instead of latching on( yes he latched on, but wasn't getting enough and wanted bottle) it was wearing me down trying to pump 5-6 times a day. I am happy with him getting the 3 months of my milk he did so great.

He is 3 months now and I say weighing in at 10 lbs. Growing like crazy...when other moms told me that time goes by so fast enjoy it...they weren't joking. To go from super tiny preemie clothes, to now 3 months cause he's getting long, the NB stuff is getting short on him, but the 3 months are big..lol He's gonna be tall like his daddy. He still don't like being on his back, so hubby sleeps with him now on his chest, cause he's so much bigger that my breast are too big and neither of us get comfy to sleep all night. We have tried everything suggested for getting him on his back, and nothing is working. So we will do what we feel is best, and his Dr said do what we have to, but keep close eye on him, and we do.

I miss making craft projects..so that is one reason I am not back to blogging and crafting, when hes able to be in a bouncy seat and not cry, or a jumper gym thing I'll start card making again. I know there are so many new things out..like the Cricut explore..does anyone have it? Do you like it?  I did make him letters for his room using he Pooh Font...just gotta get them done and painted. I won't be posting his pic here since its a pubic page. If I have emailed you in the past and talked to you thru email, let me know and I'll show you pics there. My email is slynne1 at gmail dot com. Just let me know why you are emailing in subject line.

MY TIP for New to be Moms:
You see how many pinterest post there are for hospital bags and what to pack. I'm tell you in my honest opinion I am okay not having a bag packed, I didn't have one since he was so early. I used everything the hospital provided. I stayed in my gown cause they checked me so much, it would have been a pain pulling my pants up and down all the time. I used their pads, their undies they provide, everything I used. the only thing I wanted of mine was my Toothpaste, toothbrush, and shampoos. Hubby went and got those for me. I wasn't in the hospital that long to need cute outfits for myself, and since Ethan was in NICU there was no real pictures taken while in my room. Plus when your baby is in NICU your looks go out the door and fast. All you care about is that baby. So ladies if you ever not have your bag packed just know you are okay. My hospital supplied so much I had the hook up. Just check before hand what your hospital provides and take advantage of it. Don't go spending hundreds on things you don't really need. this is my opinion..everyone is different.

I hope everyone is doing well. We are great, ready for warm weather to get out an walk. I miss visiting the blog, but it just makes it hard to do stuff, and when I do have free time I am usually taking a long bath or a long nap. I do want more kids, maybe one more in the near future..not like next month or so. I loved being pregnant, it was amazing. I just hope my next is this easy :) :) Have a great day everyone!! BIG HUGS!!!

Sheena