It's ALMOST like having a 2nd child.

Jackson became a big brother Wednesday August 13th at 15:07. He had a little sister named Kymberlin Opal. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz ( a small baby for me) and is 20 inches long.

We ALMOST have a 2nd child as she's been hanging out in the NICU since she was born. My darling daghter thought it might be fun to gulp amneotic fluid as she was being taken out by the doctors. That became a problem with her lungs which also brought on some reflux leading to a few small heart rate drops.

I had no clue of what was going on until my pediatrician called me while I was in recovery letting me know that he couldn't get there right away and that one of the neonatologists would be checking her. To be completly honest, I still really had no idea until the doctor came up to my room about 8pm that night as to what was happening to my daughter.

So it's ALMOST like having a 2nd child. I have the pain pills and second beginnings of a scar to prove I birthed a child. I have all of those things that they DON'T tell you that happens after childbirth, but I won't go into the yucky details. Somehow, I just don't have a child at home and I'm sleeping through the night.

Kymberlin is expected to come home Monday. I can't wait!! She'll be sleeping on a wedge for a little bit longer to help with the reflux/heart issue, but she'll be home. I'm excited to see how her big brother reacts as the only time he has seen her is when daddy carried her out of the OR.

Monday will be just as special as last Wednesday was for me. It will be an emoitional day I'm sure.

5 Days!!!

Whew...it's almost here! In less than a week I will have 2 children! I can hardly beleive it.

It's much different this time. While we are totally excited to be parents again, there's not the anxiouness that there was with Jackson. I'm sure part of it is because there is a scheduled section too. That helps.

I really think Jackson is going to do pretty well with the transition to being a big brother. I'm excited to see his reaction when he comes to the hospital with Grammie and Papa.

In other nrews, I need to get a card done (TODAY) to submit for the Cricut Demonstrator. I'm not a big card maker, so I've been stressing about it. I really just need to get it done and over with.

Once it's done and submitted I will post it here for everyone to see!

Hurry up!!! Post!!

Heh...well, I'm totally slacking in the posting arena. Good thing that since I said twice a week I still have more than 2 days left in this week.

Not a whole lot on the bedrest front. Go back to the dr. today to make sure everything is still fine and see how big this kiddo is getting. I may have to take a detour to M's and/or HL. I'm also tossing around the idea of running into FFT and stopping at Memories Ala Mode. That'll really depend on timing and how I feel though.

Besides, I need to get home and pick up a little bit as the in-laws are coming into town with my boy!!! I can't wait to see him! It seems as if he grows a foot each week that he's gone....and this time it's been 2 weeks.

We're down to 19 days!! It's going to be no time whatsoever. So far, yet so close. I can't wait though! Not to mention, I know Jackson is going to be a GREAT big brother.

Most Recent LO

I had a heck of a time trying to get this loaded. My old scanner had a stitch program with it...apparently this one does not. So I had to try and find one that was free and didn't put a watermark across the finished product. FINALLY I found one. It's called Auto stitch. So far, so good...pretty easy to use.

So without any further adieu, here is the newest LO I created for Lasting Legacy.

Keep up!

You'd think being on bedrest would make it extremly easy to stay on top of my blog. HA! fooled you...okay, well I probably didn't fool you, but I REALLY want to be better about keeping up. Posting once a month, if that, isn't really worth it. So my goal is to post twice a week. We'll see how long that lasts.

I want to be able to share my life with friends and family. I want to share my scrapping as well. With our new computer, I shold be able to do a better job about being able to share current pictures, creative endevours and life in gerneral as it goes here.

My baby turned 16 mos. almost a week ago. I can't beleive it. His Aunt Neen works for Portrait Innovations in Crestview Hills. Since Grandma had him this past week, she took him down to visit Aunt Neen. His pictures are AMAZING!!! I was so shocked to see them.

Here are the ones they got printed:

To view the rest, click HERE.

So that's what's going on for now. The doctors are VERY happy with how Jumping Bean is growing. I'll head back towards the end of the month to make sure everything is still good.

Bedrest

So I've really had intentions on keeping up better with my blog. Maybe I can now since I've been put on bedrest.

I'm going to go on full maternity leave as well. The dr. keeps saying we'll see in 2 weeks if I can go back to work. Well, there are only so many 2 weeks left before the baby is going to be here.

I have a section scheduled for Aug. 13th. We are so excited!!! It's just in time for all the weddings of our friends and family as well!!

I'm going to try and be better about updating.... and finding a focus for the blog. I need to make myself a schedule for writing.

It's been a while...

Okay. So it's been more than a while. A lot has changed since I've been here last. Not really on the outside, but looking inward. Looking at myself as a woman, a wife, and a mom. Doing those things on my own, with friends I can trust, with my husband, but most importantly with God in the center of it all.

I've wanted to write for sometime now, but nothing has seemed right to put out there. I've been drawing bounderies..lots of them. Some new, some just needed to be reconstructed. Life has seemed to be better now that it has been started.

Family life is wonderful. For those few that don't know, we are adding to our family at the end of August. Once again we are waiting on the sex...and not really sharing names.

There really has been a lot going on in the past 5-6 mos. However, like I mentioned before, most of it really hasn't had the necessity to be shared as we were working through some things as individuals and a couple.

I hope to keep up blogging...at least once a week anyway. No promises though.

OK.....here's the deal.

It's not that I'm upset about her getting married. Really, I'm happy for mom if that's what she wants. My problem is the phone call. I mean, why couldn't she tell us? She would have killed me if I called her one day and said, mom dan and I got married. Or mom, Jackson has a new sibling. It just doesn't make any sense.

Whew....what a day yesterday was.

Jackson had a check up....that meant the weather was crappy. It seems like it is always raining the day he goes in. Anyway, I can't believe he's 9 months old already. He did great. Only one shot; the first half of his flu shot. He's 29 1/2 inches long and 21.02 pounds.

So I think it's going to be a normal afternoon. We get home and there is actually some good stuff in the mail!!! YAY!! Including a gift card for dinner.

So we went to Applebee's. Then we finished Christmas shopping. Yes, I said finished. Well, almost. I have to get some pictures printed for a couple things, but then they are done.

We come home and I had forgotten my phone. Mom called and left a voicemail. She sounded devious. When I called her back, I found out why.

She informed me that she had gotten married. WTH?! You just randomly go and get married. What's that all about? So I asked if Janine knew and Aaron (his son) and grandma and grandpa. Well, our family had gotten the same phone calls that I had just received. Aaron on the other hand knew they were getting married, but didn't know when. So why couldn't we know?? AHHH!

I just don't get it sometimes.

Wow....It's Thursday.

An update in regards to my miscarriage.

The dr. finally called Friday morning. It felt like it was never going to happen. The news was that I had passed everything naturally. So, in this bad event, that was the best news I could have received.

Needless to say, it has been an emotional week. Dan and I had a come to Jesus meeting to fix somethings that had been let go on both of our sides. We really saw how each other was feeling about certain things. So that's good.

It's cold....too cold. It's weeks like this that I wish I could winter in Florida with grandma and grandpa.

So it's December 6. Christmas is almost here and I'm not sure I'm ready for it. Well, I know I'm not ready for it. I'm not ready for some of the family drama. However, I'm going to be the bigger person. We're going to Cincinnati. AND staying at my dad's. So prayers would be appreciated. :)

Get ahold of me....if you can.

I know I've been rather difficult to call lately. My phone has either been off or just plain unanswered. We've been dealing with something that is so hard....emotionally and physically.

It's kind of ironic that my last post is what it was. Especially on that day too. Why?

It was that afternoon that I learned I was miscarrying. again.

Yesterday afternoon was spent at the hospital/dr office having an ultrasound to make sure that everything had cleared as well as doing bloodwork to try and rule out the possibility of an egtopic pregnancy. I find out today what some of the levels say. From there It may mean more bloodwork on Monday. If that's the case it'll begin a series of discussions I really don't want to have. D&C. I really don't want to go there.

So yeah, if I haven't gotten your phone call...well there's a reason. If I've not responded to something...you know why.

Stop thinking.

How do you stop thinking about getting pregnant so that it actually happens? I can remember telling other women, that when you stop thinking and stressing over it that it will happen. You can't just stop thinking about it. I've learned that little tidbit recently.

We want to grow our family. It's not a one sided thing at this point. We both want to grow our family. Even though I know it's not the truth, there's a part of me that feels like it's my fault that it's not happening. My body conditions have to be right. No stress. It has to be a perfect physiological moment.

Timing may not be perfect or the right thing. However, if you wait for the right time that's like saying I'm going to wait until all the lights are green to head home from work. You'll never make it home! Not to mention some of the best things in my life have come at the "wrong time."

The other thing I have to throw out is what others say. I've had comments from everybody who thinks they know what's best for me, for Dan, for us as a whole. There's a wall that has been broken down from before so it's a brand new learning experience on how to deal with the comments. And, it's not really even dealing with them as much as not retaining them and playing them over and over until I get so angry. That in turn causes stress on the body.

It's a vicious cycle. How do you stop and put an end to it?

Fun weekend.

Before I start about the weekend I just wanted to say one thing in regards to comments. Please make the note that we are up to a count of 3 weddings for Thanksgiving.

Now onto your regualrly scheduled post. :)

We just had a great time this weekend as a family. It really doesn't get much better. Friday we spent the day out shopping. It felt like we were running all over Lexington, but hey, it was a blast. From oil change to a fill up to buying Dan a tux for the inagural ball. It was just good to spend the day together. We enjoyed lunch at BD's Mongolian Grille. YUMMY!!! Who would have thought that for $30 you could find a REALLY nice pair of tuxedo shoes to fit a size 15 foot!

Friday evening, I headed to the store for DT. It was good to be with the girls. I didn't stay too late though. Happens when you get old! ha.

Saturday we went and looked at a different tux and ended up getting it instead. It was just a better price and we couldn't pass it up. Then we just came home and napped and hung out together.

Sunday after church we hung out. About 7 my friend Athena who was moving from CA to SC came to stay with us. Oh my gosh!!! It was just a blast!! We didn't go to bed until well after midnight last night. She left this morning for her last leg of her 3 week trip. The end stop: her grandbabies! WOW! Such a journey she's taken.

Otherwise, there's not a whole lot going on around here. We're just working on getting things ready to go see my mom and grandparents and then for me to go back to work full time again.

Oh!!! P.S. a big CONGRATS goes out to Sam!!! I'm so proud of you for winning!

Holiday Weekend Weddings.

Weddings. Love 'em? or Hate 'em?

That was the icebreaker question last weekend at cg.

I LOVE a good wedding. no really LOVE weddings. I dont' know what it is, I just do. It's a very special day. It's one of the biggest decisions and days in your life. I don't take it lightly.

However, what's up with the trend now to get married on a holiday weekend? Now weekends like Memorial Day and Labor day, not so much a big deal, everyone has that time off. Not to mention the fact that those weekends are made for getting together with friends and family yet aren't exclusive to close family.

But Thanksgiving?! I mean really. Isn't that a little selfish? Not everyone gets the time off to travel that weekend. It's a time to be with your immediate family. I happen to know of not one, but 2 weddings this year Thanksgiving weekend. (and one the weekend between Christmas and New Year's)

Yes, Thanksgiving is about being with your family, but come on....are you really supposed to take everyone else way from their close, immediate family? Now, I guess I should have said, that the 2 Thanksgiving weddings I know about are a couple of brides who have always been pretty selfish. So, maybe it's the perfect weekend for them to get married.

I realize that everyone doesn't think the same way I do. Yes, I believe it's selfish to get married Thanksgiving or Christmas weeken. It's my opionion.

No Baby and headed to Frankfort.

There has been a lot emotionally going on here in our little part of the world.

First off, just like the title says, there's no baby on the way. Yes, we've been "trying" to get pregnant again. Yes, I know I'm crazy. I've heard it a million times. Yes, I realize 'how close in age' they'll be. Yes, I know I've 'just lost all that weight'. I know. Really. I know.

Neither one of my doctors are worried about it at all. Not even a little bit. So, despite what you may think about how crazy I am, it's okay. And to be perfectly honest, I really don't want to hear how crazy I am any more.
It's what we want.
Thank you. :)

Moving on from that soapbox....

Frankfort. No, we're not moving. My job is though. Having a new govenor elect means a new position for me. Don't worry, I'm not leaving Mary Kay; it's just going to be a sidebar for the time being. My new adventure??

Chief of Staff!!! Yes siree bob, I'm going to be the cheif of staff for one of the cabinet positions. I can't quite disclose which one at this point, but I have been in contact with the person for whom I'll be chief of staff. You don't just get this opportunity; especially when you are 24. So yeah, I'm a slight bit excited.

My family, that knows, is so proud of me. Heck, I am too. It's just a super opportunity.

So I'm a little bit jealous...

of the fact that my cousin who lives very close to me (he's actually the reason I moved back to KY) pays more attention to a female roommate than he does me. I ask him something and get a one or two word response. She can ask the same thing and get an update on everything. Its just a little frustrating really.

Well, I guess I could update....

Not this past weekend, but the weekend before Jackson got sick. I mean SICK. He ended up with croupe AND an ear infection at the same time. At least he's like his momma and when he does something, he does it all the way. It liked to kill me, him being sick. How do you not worry when your child has a temperature of 102.1 and it won't break and the nurse you call says, "you don't have to worry until it's about 104 and really not until it's 106 or 107." Yeah right!!! My one and only child who is sick for the first time and I'm not supposed to be worried!

Oh well, he's better. He's himself again.

Onto other news. I may be taking a new position. It's a good one. I can't say a whole lot about it until after Tuesday. You know, secretive stuff. Does it mean I'll be dropping the Mary Kay?! NO! That is one thing I won't let go.

Halloween. It's tomorrow. The things we do for our children (and nephews). Caleb has decided that if he's a fireman for Halloween, that his friends and teachers at school will make fun of him. Crazy!!! He's in a Peter Pan kick. So Sunday, Nancy and I head over to the Disney store and get a costume for Caleb. So then we ran all over Lexington to try and find something for Jackson. Yeah, that was hard. Finally we found a really cute costume for Jackson, but it had nothing to do with Peter Pan....so we thought. We head back to Nancy's to get the boys and surprise Caleb. He was in his glory. Anywho, we're talking about the movie and trying to figure out what Jackson is going to be. Then we get to talking about the lost boys! That's it, the really cute costume WILL work!!! So Jackson will be.....


one of the Lost Boys...the one that's dressed like a skunk!

Other than that, we've just been busy with the life of being a family....and wanting to grow our family. :)

Life Happened Yesterday.

I was so excited yesterday morning to hop on, check email and write about vacation! Vacation was wonderful. However I'm going to have to wait to post about it.

So I get up early in the morning anxious to get things done and get back to "normal" life after being gone for 11 days on a much needed vacation. I go and turn on the computer when it happens. I smell something burning and then it just quits. My computer blew up on the inside. (I'm borrowing my SIL's laptop). At the same time my phone is beeping at me to charge it. So in the midst of my sobbing over the computer I start to look through the bags and suitcases from vacation. No charger appears. Also, there are 3 messages from the dr.'s office for me that I need to call about.

Once Dan is off to work, Jackson is fed and back down for a nap and I've calmed down, I get my tower and proceed to open it up. I clean out everything I can dustwise and put it all back together again. Plug it up. Nothing. So here come the tears again. I seriously did nothing but cry yesterday.

I call the dr's office. Now mind you, I told him unless it was fatal not to call before the 15th as I was going to be on vacation. He promptly wrote it on my charts. So here I am freaking out. I call. I'm on hold for 10 minutes. She gives me the news that my cholsterol is slightly higher than they want. Not a ton, just a little bit. Are you serious?!?! 3 messages for that? I about went through the phone. I let the nurse give me her spiel about diet, exercise, etc and hung up.

After Jackson's nap, we head out to run a couple of errands. I start out by taking the computer to the repair shop here in town. They moved! I didn't find that out until I had Jackson in the stroller pushing it with one hand and carrying the tower in the other while walking a block up Broadway. It's gone! A lady came out of the Laundromat to ask if I needed any help when I was 3 feet from the bus. Before the tears started, I managed to ask her where the PC repair shop had moved. Load everything back in the car and drive over there.

I finally find the shop...it took a bit as they have very little outside signage from just relocating. They help me to and in the door as there is no ramp and I'm trying to get Jackson and the computer up the steps. I explain to the guy what happens. So after talking to him, he explains that it is a minimum of $100 to fix what is wrong. Tears. I couldn't stop them, they just ran. I had no control over it. He said he'd work on it quicker than normal and call me tomorrow (today) to let me know what was wrong.

So I leave, in tears, and head to Wal-Mart to grab a couple things right quick including a new phone charger. I walk back into the electronics department where they don't have one for the Sony Ericson phone that I have. Now, I have purchased their off brand phone chargers before and the one I bought was not for the same brand of phone I had. So I take it up to the girl and ask. She asks me what kind of phone I have and I tell her Sony to which she promptly points to the label and in that condesending how dumb are you voice says, "no, it says Nokia."

I walk away and you guessed it, cry. So I go grab the couple quick groceries I need and head to the front. The lines were long so I lingered in a couple different areas for a few minutes and head back to line. The aisle next to us was getting ready to open so I start to walk over there. The lady in line in front of me grabs my cart and jerks it to a stop. Mind you Jackson is in the cart. She looks at me and goes, "Oh no you don't. I've waited for 15 minutes now and you are not going to walk in front of me." Not saying a word I just let her go in front. It wasn't worth it. She was horrible. She worked for the Southern Rose Stables....so if that is how they treat people outside of work, what are they doing to your horses?!

Since ATT is in the same area I decide to run in right quick to find a charger. He informs me that they don't have any at all....but I could try Radio Shack. Needless to say, here come the tears. So I head home as I had milk, eggs and cheese in the car and because I can't remember for the life of me where the Radio Shack in town is.

I get home. Jackson is sleeping the car. I run in put the bags in the fridge and try to calmly think of where the Radio Shack is. I remember so I head over there right quick. I take Jackson out of the car and walk him in sleeping on my shoulder. My eyes are puffy and red from crying so much. The guy in there walks over and softly asks if he can help me. I hand him my phone and am able to get out, "I need a new charger." He finds one! Finally.

So I have a new charger and no computer. I"ll see what they say when I get the phone call later.

So that's where I stand. One day I'll get to posting about Disney. Hopefully soon.

William Tell Overture for Moms

I love it. Really I do. There are times I'm sick of the fussing ALL day, but I still love it. It's fun. It's rewarding. There's not a better job anywhere.

However, I know my days like this are to come.

ATT Customer Service

We all have had horrible experiences with customer service be it for one company or another. However yesterday, I had a rockin' customer service day.

Dan and I had been discussing direct tv as we are in the stone age and don't have cable. Well the internet choice bundling wouldn't give me an idea of what I wanted. So I called just to see what the price was. Boy am I glad I called!

They haven't been telling anyone, but if you were a Bell South customer call and ask about being 'switched' to ATT's plans. Why? Because for a flat rate of $25 you get your local as well as Unlimited long distance. (need it having an at home business and a cell phone with a different area code). That happens to be cheaper than Bell South's rates with NO long distance. So for switching that over we got a $50 rebate. Well, then I ask about bundling bills. By bundling our (already bundled) internet, we got another $30 rebate. Ok, DUH! She then informs me that for one price I get that phone plan, faster internet and direct tv AND another $50 rebate.

So now I'm up to $130 in rebates. I go on and ask more detailed questions about the direct tv and cost and what extra is going to be added to our bill. Sometimes I ask her to repeat it so that I make sure it's noted in our account. I start asking questions about DVR...well that's a free upgrade with no monthly charge. Ok, add it to my order please! I double check with her again to make sure nothing is going to be added to my bill each month and she lets me know that nothing other than the state taxes. Okay. fine. I restate it again just to make sure that I heard her correctly and to make sure there is record of it.

After I am done speaking with her, she transfers me to wireless as I have a few questions for them.

I had been getting messages from the company saying I was eligible for a phone upgrade. yay! Everytime I went into the store though, they are like the free phone is this and proceed to show me the old Nokia...you know the one. So I thought I'd look online. Well, I found one that I wanted and it's pink!! I add it to my cart and it says "total due today: 0.00 **" Well I saw the astricks and that's what I was wanting to ask about.

So I talk to the guy about what it all meant and he said there is an $18.00 upgrade fee. That's dumb. I've been a customer, with this phone, never having a late bill since I was 19 years old. We're both looking at my account at the same time. I mention the "fee waived" part that I had just noticed on the bill. He checks and sure enough it was so I pay nothing....not even shipping. Yay so now I have a free phone!

But wait, there's more! (man that sounds like a RonCo commercial)

Being a Mary Kay consultant, I knew I was eligible for another discount. So I ask about that and what I need to do in order to receive it. He tells me. I do it and call back. So now, I have a discount on my cell bill. Here's the kicker. By adding the direct TV and taking the discount off my phone. We are spending the SAME amount of money each month.

So as of today, I like ATT customer service. We'll see how much I still like them between 12 and 4 on Friday afternoon.