Slaying the Dragon

New Nail Idea

2012-01-28T12:16:00.003-05:00

I recently joined Pinterest, and let me tell you i'm so hooked on it....

I am a visual person, if i can see it i can normally make it happen. craft wise or what ever.

i made the mistake of searching ma

nicures/ fingernails/ nail art

WHOA!

this idea came from there.... and it has also renewed my desire to paint my nails. I had basically run out of ideas, and i didn't have time to stamp or even hand design my nails. i needed fresh ideas of uber quick polishes in-case Matt wakes up from a nap early.

Well my lovelies here is the first neat quick idea!

can you see the page reinforcements on my fingers? (the ones in my desk that i never use, were clear)

I still need a coat of clear over all of it, but for now, i think this was really neat.

Cat toys not recommended

2012-01-24T11:46:00.003-05:00

it is amazing the things you don't think about. Matt got a hold of a kitty toy and i was sitting here with him, so i thought whats the harm? I'll make certain as i watch him that he doesn't choke on it.

well.....

FYI black rabbit fur mice are not made from black rabbits.....

he had this maybe three mins before i noticed that his tongue was turning black... so of course mom had to be mean and take this from him....

Sleepy baby

2012-01-21T18:43:00.002-05:00

Matt had his flu vaccine yesterday, shots always makes it hard for him to nap, so by supper time he was really tired, not too cranky, but whiny from being tired. well, he finished his dinner, and i gave him 1/2 a biter biscuit (cookie) to chew on while i quick washed up his dishes, i turned around to find this.....

2012-01-18T04:04:00.000-05:00

2012

2012-01-03T08:25:00.005-05:00

Kent and Steve figuring out the washer died...

Yea Steve was less than impressed at my need for a photo right then...

The end of December brought many bad days. As always, i was visited by spirits past, the loved ones that were here but are now gone from my life. November – December always meet me with depression. This year due to Matt’s illness being so “in front” my PPD did not kick in until, you guessed it, November. Right when I normally get a bit down in the dumps. It was also compounded by Michelle being off at college and Steve going to work on a mostly night shift basis. They both truly understand how difficult it is for me to get through this time of my year. And not seeing anyone really took its toll on my psyche.

Because I get so focused internally during a depression I normally end up ignoring someone unintentionally. This year it was my best friend who was going through her own battle after the loss of a loved one. Sadly our friendship couldn’t handle the strain.

And the cherry on top of this depression sundae was my washing machine died. Most don’t think that having your clothes washer dying is a huge deal. But have it die over the holidays when you dont have the extra money to buy a new one and if you did all of the delivery people are off. Then lets throw in that I am a “cloth diaper” mom. I do a load of cloth diapers every day. I buy one 64 box of paper diapers a month to put Matt to bed in as they are less bulky to sleep in for him and he gets a better nights sleep. So having our washer die was really one more thing I just didn’t need.

But God brings good through the bad, and he brought a friend (Kent) that used to work with Steve to me. I was always quite fond of him back then (he has since left the store and is a college student) and although he is much younger than I am he has turned out to be “mr fixit” not only did he help me though my depression, but also, through the loss of my best friend. Helped me to many areas of my life that I needed to work on and has helped those see where I am coming from. He’s been helping us get things fixed here at the house as well. Leaky faucets etc. things that got let go while I was ill, and simply have not yet been tackled.

Matthew is growing like a weed and is starting to display separation anxiety, but I am trying my best to keep him content without enabling him to only have me at his disposal. It became painfully clear the other night, I had gone over to Kent’s house to do a load of much needed wash, and we left Matt at home with his daddy. When I returned, about an hour or so later, Matt bursted into tears as soon as he saw me, I rushed over and picked up the little bugger, he slowly stopped crying and started smiling. I guess he missed him mommy.

We did get our new washer. And I gotta say I LOVE it. My appliance dealer has been the same guy for 20 years and he knows my style and what I like so well now I can call him and buy without even looking at the product and Cory knows just what I will love. Buyt delivery was not possible for a few days. So once again Kent came to the rescue! Steve and he went over to the store and picked it up in Kent’s pickup. HUMMM that’s right I now a have a friend with a pickup….

New years was met with a lifting of the doom and gloom in our house. And I have to say its nice to see a light dusting of snow. And although I still am a bit depressed, the “November Curse” as I call it now is gone. And I am ready to face this new year with some new friends and some new habits. J

tired baby...

2011-12-29T06:53:00.005-05:00

Matt, has been wanting to spend more time with the family, so he has been fighting sleep. so we have gotten lots of shots of cuddly baby. this is just two of the favorites.

hes doing so much more now than he was last time I've had him on the blog. he is ALMOST standing on his own. his balance is really improving, he rolls over both ways now which has made changing diapers OH SO MUCH fun!!!

we are thinking he will be trying to walk soon, he's holding fingers and taking steps but wont let go with both hands. yesterday he let go one hand and it threw him off balance.. I guess he needs more practice. :)

Matt

2011-12-10T11:27:00.002-05:00

Our little bugger is getting so big! he is starting to see the benefit of overalls, and so are we, Daddy has him by the straps so Matt thinks he is standing all by himself. {thus the big grin}

Unsolicited advice

2011-12-05T07:52:00.006-05:00

By far i think this is the hardest thing to overcome as a mother. Every Jane, Lisa and Vivan. (names only to replace tom dick and harry) wants to tell you how to raise your child...

you feed him too much
you aren't feeding him enough
co sleeping is best for him
co sleeping is the worst for him
he needs more formula at one time
you need to give him less formula at a time.
he needs to be int he fresh air more
you cant have him in this wind
sunshine is good for him
you have to shade him from the sunshine

the list goes on and on. now i am not talking about family (they have some exception to this but at times they make you want to scream but since its family, you deal)

I am talking about random people on the street. or even people you have dealings with oh say once a month or less, I know how to be a mom, most people i know have said i have already raised one great Kid. why do people who i know i have already done this feel the need to tell me again all this same crap that made me think i was a "bad Mom" the last time????

TV is bad for them (one week later)
don't forget to let him watch the Christmas movies!
don't hand your baby over to just anyone
you cant just hold him yourself hes got to get used to other people

I think its high time people start letting moms of young children use their own judgement. there's lots of "baby raising manuals" out there, you want to give someone sound advice? buy a book for them. i cant say they will read it, but at least its going to be for a professional.

ABOVE ALL if a young mother asks you for advice, surely give it to her, but if she hasn't KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!

ready for christmas

2011-11-30T14:14:00.005-05:00

We spent thanksgiving break getting ready for christmas. Michelle was home from college, and she helped me get things cleaned and decorated. we also spent a day doing family photos. here are some of what we did

found

2011-11-16T16:11:00.001-05:00

The Wellsboro Gazette

We are pleased to report that Kirsten Clemens has been found and returned home. Police are continuing their investigation into her absence.

Police Seek Help to Find Missing Girl

2011-11-15T21:10:00.001-05:00

this is a girl my daughter went to school with, please help us find her

Wellsboro police are looking for you help to find a missing teenager.

Police say 17 year old Kirsten Clemens was last seen November 3RD at her home in Wellsboro.

She is five foot two and weighs 140 pounds.

Clemens has green eyes and brown hair.

She was wearing a green Wellsboro High School jacket.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the Wellsboro Police Department.

It is our general policy to only report on missing persons cases when there is an active search underway and police ask for our help.

happy boy...

2011-10-29T08:26:00.005-04:00

after some very much awaited formula, I think we have finally found a formula for Matt that will stop the horrible allergic reaction! we have been on it now for 4 days. After being on pedilite and cereal for ten, hes starting to not argue about it. I am certain if you ate something for four months and every time you ate it you got sick, you would be a little hesitant to eat it again right?

well as you can see, hes a happy little boy now, starting to sleep normal again which makes this very tired mommy very very happy!

and as long as i am on the subject, Matt LOVES this new walker! as you can see, we had him in his walker AWAY from the TV while we were watching "smackdown" last night, and a commercial for Shawn Michaels new video came on, and he walked himself as close to the TV as he could get! thank goodness for the toy baskets blocking his way! I guess we have a new WWE fan!

our Trip to the college

2011-10-16T16:16:00.005-04:00

We went to the college for "Parents Day" this past weekend. We wanted to get a Photo to use for Christmas presents, But it was SO VERY windy. So In reality we got lots of nice snapshots, but none i really like well enough for a "picture"

Other than the wind it was a BEAUTIFUL! All of Michelle's Friends LOVED Matt and they made a big fuss over him. He of course loved it.

Daddy did a fair bit of carrying Matt.
We also enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Michelle. The college once again out did themselves. We had grilled tuna, pork roast, stuffed chicken breasts, salad bar and dippy veggies (my favorite) and of course a LOVELY desert table. which had Elizabeth-towns famous carrot cake.
While we ate dinner we were entertained by a Jazz Band :)

Matt decided the jazz music was wonderful to sleep to.

All in all a great day.

Fall is here

2011-10-03T15:32:00.002-04:00

Fall has come to northern Pa. and with fall has come 40° nights and 50° days. BRRRR, I know a little boy who was very happy that Daddy found him this great bombardier jacket!

Certainly mommy needs to find him a suitable hat, (maybe something to match with ear flaps!) and maybe even a white scarf! but the jacket was top priority!

Trip to the canyon

2011-09-16T22:35:00.005-04:00

We went for our annual trip to the canyon. Here are some snapshots of the trip...

Monday Mani - Purple crackle over white

2011-09-12T18:03:00.003-04:00

I LOVED this Sally Hansen purple crackle over my sally hansen insta dry white. BUT I ran my finger over it after the crackle was dry, and low and behold the instadry WASN'T I was quite sad to see it never really "set" back up. guess ill have to try another base color....

purple crackle

2011-09-06T12:42:00.004-04:00

My daughter bought me a bottle of purple crackle sally hansen polish. i painted it over OPI and i gotta say i really like it, but i need a lighter shade under it. teh next time it will be neater!

first night...

2011-08-31T11:20:00.002-04:00

First night in his own room, Matt went to bed at 10;30 (after seeing Daddy for a bit) and slept until.. {drum-roll please} 4:30!! he was super soaked, BUT the hemp soaker i put in his diaper held it fast, so we still have dry sheets. and dry PJ's he took a bottle, then we laid him back down. he cooed by himself until he either fell asleep or simply got sick of sitting by himself.

Momma and Daddy went back to bed, Daddy shut off his alarm cuz it was going to go off in 10 mins, well oopsie. we both fell asleep and thanks to Matt hollering to get up at 6:15 Daddy at least made it in on time. I did have the monitor a bit low at the 6 am cry out though, becaue i heard him through the house not the monitor. i need to work on that. on getting the sound level just right.

I will say right now, that this is really nice. and i hope michelle doesnt feel hugely put out when she comes home the next time

completed nursery!

2011-08-30T12:56:00.003-04:00

Well My oldest is settled back into college. This will be her second year. i think she will do so much better this year. shes sounds happy :) which any mom can tell you is 1/2 the battle!

The first day she was gone i made up my mind to thoroughly clean her room, and get it set up for Matty's crib and other things. She wont have a break of more than four days until Christmas time, so Matt will have his own room (basically) for quite some time.

this morning before the BIG nap we managed to get the crib moved in and set up.then while Matt slept, i settled his clothes in the dresser drawers Michelle left him. hung a shelf, and basically got comfortable with the space.
This is Michelle's bed, when shes at home we reverse the bedspread so its a solid blue. but now that shes not here, we have the construction side up. The minion is hers, she meant to take it with her.... although i think he fits in just fine with his work pants and his safety goggle!

Michelle's desk, and the dresser, i tried to keep Matt's stuff off of this, but until i can get more shelves up, the book worm had to find a home.
and this is Matt's side of the room. thank goodness these two aren't closer in age! or we would have two cramped kids!

clair's pink/purple

2011-08-29T23:45:00.004-04:00

you could see it in person, but honestly the change was soooo slight.

the fingers coincide with the sticker on the bottle :(

this is the second polish i bought at Clair's. once again the same issue i found with the other one, your hands had to be super cold to see the change, and it wasn't as dramatic as the sticker led you to believe.

ALTHOUGH I did learn something, My polish comes off REALLY easy. i thought (at first) that maybe it was cheap polish, but now i realise that i have a new activity that i haven't had in YEARS I am washing baby bottles by hand! doing dishes is hell on a manicure.

the CHANGE

2011-08-26T06:33:00.000-04:00

my left hand i ran under our ice cold well water tap to get it to change.

then i ran my index and my ring fingers under the hot tap to change them back to blue...

what color dominates? the blue... sadly the purple comes when your fingers are ICE FREAKING COLD! i live in norther pa, and i think i woudl wear this polish in December and January on my fingers AND toes to use a a guide to ward off frostbite!

so i guess for the most part, this is a blue polish not purple.... and color change? doest really do it. maybe the purple /pink polish will be better?

new polish

2011-08-25T18:21:00.003-04:00

Ive gotten into the color change polish. I went to clair's and purchased these two colors. I selected these because there was a big difference in the color change. I don't know how well they will work, i wasn't really impressed with the color change i bought at hot topic, it flaked terribly. and the color change wasn't enough for me to notice. I hope these are better.

Matt at two months old...

2011-08-20T15:54:00.003-04:00

I haven't done a post about Matthew for a short bit, he changes so quickly i really cant get over how much!

This was taken two days ago. the day before he turned 2 months old. hes not sitting without assistance, but if you get him in the corner of something like the corner of this chair arm he sits there quite well and happily. he had unfolded his thumbs, and will soon be grabbing everything within reach!

Loss of a friend

2011-08-17T01:18:00.004-04:00

BARBARA L. FRELIGH
September 18th 1965 ~ August 16th 2011

Barb was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer stage 4 two weeks after i received my diagnosis of lymphoma. Even though she knew that one day the cancer would take her life, she refused to stop living. Quite the opposite in fact. She quit her job and got onto a course of chemo that "managed" her cancer, "kept it at bay" you might say. for that first year while i was so sick from the chemo that would save my life, she was on vacation. Going places, seeing people, being a living testimony to how living was to be done.

One day over coffee i told her that i envied her, not the fact that indeed we both knew she wasnt going to be here with us for a long time but that the time she was here she was taking full advantage of her time. she smiled and told me to work on that.

Barb was a great person, and i know that today she stands in the pure light of the Lord, and though she will be missed, I am not morning her death only my own loss. the fact that i only knew her for 3 short years. not nearly long enough to learn everything i could from her. But i have to trust that i can practice what i did learn.

Not to take life so seriously, after all none of us get out of it alive.

A visit from Cousins!

2011-08-07T10:35:00.002-04:00

My cousin lived jsut down the street as I was growing up and her daughter jsut had a baby boy right before Matt was born. (10 days to be exact) She was in town with the little bundle last night and they came to visit. This is a picture of me holding Matt and his new cousin, although at this point i think they are way distant since the wee ones grandma is my second cousin!

Happy happy

2011-08-01T21:20:00.003-04:00

After a few weeks on the new formula, I can tel you I have a "new" baby! My little man is a happy camper. So much nicer!

he has started smiling spontaneously and even lets out a silent laugh. soon I know he will have sound to his laugh. as soon as I can get a video of it i will post it. :)

out door baby!

2011-07-26T21:26:00.002-04:00

Matt LOVES to be outside. his favorite place (currently) is to swing after supper (his) on the porch.

As a child this was my favorite place as well, Grandma had a glider out here and us kids would sit in the cool breeze (that never seems to go away) and watch the traffic. we would snap beans here too. Now we just watch the cars pass and listen to the chimes.

2011-07-24T10:34:00.002-04:00

I have always felt that if something pours out of you (and its good you know) that it most probably comes from God.

I was watching a special on TV this am on a songwriter who said "i don't know where this song came from it just poured out of me" I wisheperd to Matt (whom i was feeding at the time) "if it just comes out like that it comes from God"

Well as i sat and listened to the lyrics, i heard the main message that you get from God. I had never heard this song that way before, i had always looked at it as human relationships before, the song has a whole new meaning for me now, and i thought i would share. perhaps i am the last one to notice this, and since i started looking for videos of it im seeing that i probably am :) but no matter, its still a great song.

Yesterday Steve introduced me to Black label society (its a heavy metal band) and when i saw their cover of this i had to give it a listen. its AMAZING!

NOT COLIC?

2011-07-21T21:35:00.003-04:00

OK this is the Dr’s opinion about what is wrong with matt. And I'm starting to believe this is probably the case just do to Matt’s reaction to what we have done so far.

Matt’s allergy is not to Dairy, so you can’t fix it with soy, rice, goat or other milk substitutes. A dairy allergy presents as vomiting or at least heavily spitting up. Matt never spits up. That’s how the dr’s were able to know not to put him on soy (or other choice). They already KNEW it wouldn’t help.

I say “allergy” when in actuality it is more of intolerance. He has Intolerance to milk protein amino acid chains. I am going to try to explain this as best I can, so please bear with me.

A protein chain is made up of amino acids. Something Like this string of beads, each color is a different acid. Your (and my) digestive system can take these beads and separate them when we digest them. Matt’s system cannot. All protein has these amino acid chains. Soy milk, rice milk, goat’s milk, cow’s milk, breast milk, they all have VERY similar protein chains. That is why you can’t just breast feed him or put him on something other than cow’s milk formula. They all have a long chain that he cant break apart.

So He needs as specialized formula. This formula has been broken down (by manual process) they have separated the beads by color for him already. So he can digest his food. The first Dr told me it was “predigested” which honestly I thought was gross sounding. But its like how a bird will regurgitate to feed the baby birds. Matt needs to have it partially broken down for him. And since I don’t want to feed him my barf, (LOL) the formula is the best bet. He will grow out of this.

Now, this is why it took so long to diagnose the intolerance. This is called a “slow allergy” if you are allergic to strawberries you are going to rash out as soon as someone slips you one right? Well that’s because its an allergy, not an intolerance. Matt was actually reacting from this from bottle one. And each bottle after that one made things a tiny bit worse, until his crying made me (and family) think whats the deal. We then switched formulas to another milk based normal formula. And each bottle of that made things a little bit worse until we started bleeding from the bowels.

Which took us to the dr and why we’ve done all this, this week. I hope this explains why we didn’t try all of these other ideas.

And so far, Matt isn’t fussing when he eats, but he does still while the food moves through his system, although I am certain hes still sore inside. We see the dr again tomorrow. And I am hoping we will be told we are on the right path.

what colic has taught me about God

2011-07-13T14:02:00.003-04:00

My son has colic. Now for those of you that have never experiences colic let me let you in on a little secret. Colicky babies cry. If they are dry fed burped and just woke up from a nice nap they cry. I have said to my husband are his eyes open? Oh then he must be crying. now he really doesn’t cry that much, but it’s an easy 3 hours per day strait. We aren’t talking fussing. Everyone has seen a fussy baby. That is not what we are talking about. Full throttle, screaming bloody murder, crying, That is normally for one full hour, With a one hour ramp up of fussing and a ramp down of fussing, If we are lucky.

So what do we do? We sooth him best we can. Hold him try to burp him, coo to him, rock him whatever it takes to stop the cycle before the blood curdling screaming begins. {We also use semthicone and gripe water} does it help? Sometimes yes sometimes no.

What has this taught me about God? Very, very simple. I know nothing about what is bothering my child. all I know is that hes crying and I want that to stop because I want him to be happy. So I hold him and I coo to him “it’s ok baby, I m here, your alright, mommas here, Shhhhhhh it’s ok”

God does the same thing for us. We come to him crying, although he understands what is wrong and what we want, it might not be what is right for us right then, so what does he do? Well some people says he does nothing, but I know he picks us up, tries to calm us, coos to us that he’s got this and everything is going to be ok. Like Matt sometimes we listen and trust it’s all going to be ok, other times we keep crying. Does it mean he puts us down and walks away? No, he continues to hold us and rock us and love us, until the spell passes, Just like I do Matt.

Coloboma

2011-07-05T17:04:00.000-04:00

When Matt was 3 days old i got a nice look at his eyes and i noticed that his left eye was not the same as his right. His left pupil was round on top, but drooped down to the bottom of his iris. I took this up with his pediatrician. He had never seen this prior to now as a "congenital problem" he had only seen it in "accident victims" so he sent us to Williamsport to see a specialist.

the specialist told us what we have is Coloboma. Which is...

The pupils of the eyes are not round, they’re more of a keyhole shape, or an upside-down teardrop. The condition is called coloboma, and is a congenital defect of the eye. Essentially, coloboma is a gap in part of the structure of the eye. The gap can be large or small, but normally appears in the bottom part of the eye. It is caused when a fetus’s eyes do not develop properly during pregnancy.

Coloboma forms while the baby grows in the womb. The eyes normally develop between the fourth and twelfth week of pregnancy, and start off as little buds. Usually the eye folds in on itself as it develops, which leaves a small gap called the foetal cleft. The foetal cleft helps maintain the blood supply to the developing parts of the eye. In the final stage of eye development during pregnancy, the cleft seals up from the back of the eye forwards and all the structures of the eye are formed. In an eye with coloboma, this gap does not fully close and remains in some of the structures of the eye. The condition occurs in about 1 in 10,000 births.

Our specialist took a good look at Matt's Eye and determined that the optic nerve is good and "normal" and that the retina is also good and "normal" so the only part affected by this condition is the actual iris. Although he does want to continue to watch Matt's eye as he grows to make certain that we do not develop any complications during growth.

right now, its just cosmetic

happy 4th

2011-07-04T06:36:00.000-04:00

Yes look a that! its a MANI!

I have had my nails painted in a plain pink polish for weeks, but my neice's toe polish inspired me to polish my nails in my "old style" gotta say it feels nice to have them done up!

Two weeks old today

2011-07-03T10:14:00.003-04:00

IN the two weeks that Matt has been with us, hes been a really good boy. rarely fusses, only cries if he needs something sleeps 3-4 hours at a time.

this Am after a diaper change, he did something to shock us all. now we dont think this will be a regular occurrence, but to see it twice in one day was amazing!

Loves to cuddle

2011-07-02T08:55:00.000-04:00

Little Matt loves to cuddle it doesn't matter if he is with momma, daddy, Sissy Shelly, or in his chair w/ his toys. hes a real cuddle-bug

Matthew

2011-07-01T20:36:00.003-04:00

Pictures pictures and more pictures!

Matt is 12 days old now... these are some of the pictures we have taken at home since we have been home.

Matt has gained a pound and an inch since coming home from the hospital! Hes not a "chunky" baby, the Dr. says hes just very strong.

Hugely behind

2011-06-24T03:50:00.004-04:00

I am hugely behind on my blog reading/ writing. But i swear to you i have a very good reason.

I went into labor on Saturday the 18th. but the contractions were mild and 10 mins apart. but i felt those contractions were mild so i went on about my day. by 3 am they had naturally progressed to stronger contractions so the three of us headed off for the hospital.

by 11 am, I still had not progressed in my dialation so they gave me a stimulator that woudl help "break apart" some scarring i had on my cervix, although gotta say it didnt work. just like i said it wouldn't. ( i had apposed inducement because of that reason i had seen too many failures)

it DID, however, increase my contractions. I went into transition labor at 3 min apart contractions around 1 PM. but since i still had not progressed some Genius concluded my labor wasn't "real" (dumb-asses) and sent me home.

by 4 pm I was in tears for every contraction. and i called my doctor and asked if we could have a c section. he agreed and we went back into the hospital for pain control and to prep for surgery.

by 8:28 I had delivered my beautiful baby boy of 9 pounds 4 ounces. and 21 inches long.

I was back in my room by 9:15.

they kept me until Wednesday. and the general consensus of everyone was that i was doing remarkably well. normally i would have stayed until Thursday.

now we are all adjusting and settling in to the newest member of the house. its good to be home.

oh and FYI, no signs of the prevous issues with Matt's heart

week 39 are we done yet?

2011-06-07T09:10:00.003-04:00

I don't know how much of an update this is... I'm 39 weeks still pregnant still nesting like mad. still uncomfortable. nothing seems to be changing. except that the countdown is getting smaller.

Steve has a wicked cold. so sleep isn't something i am getting much of. But my house is looking cleaner and more organised with every passing day!

People keep asking me if i am getting excited. but honestly, I'm tired. I am tired of saying Not really i am just ready to move forward. half of the people say "you need to go by _____" the others keep telling me to "hold off until ______" because they have some event they want me to attend.

I have news for all of you... when Matt says its time I'm gonna listen! :)

I did however hold off until my last baby shower which was on Saturday. WONDERFUL time. Lots of happy people lots of fun and chatter! all in all a good time was had by all.

Vacation

2011-05-28T06:56:00.004-04:00

Well not mine...

How does an OBGYN go on vacation? Babies are born every day. without fail. they have to make their plans and Trust that everything is going to be good while they are gone.

My OBGYN is going on vacation. He's going to be gone two weeks he gets back on 15th. I am due from the 12th through the 15th.

Where does that leave me? Well, i haven't started dilating yet, and Matt's heart is in really Good shape (according to the specialist) so i deal with it.

Does that mean i didn't whine? COME ON! of course i whined. but I was good natured about it. I get to meet the replacement OBGYN on Tuesday, I know all i can do is trust my OBGYN's decision on who is going to take over my case until he gets back.

OH, and CROSS MY LEGS!

The last of the painting!

2011-05-26T08:33:00.007-04:00

Yesterday Michelle and I went to work at finishing up the paint in the nursery. she has been home from college for just over a week and we REALLY want to get the house settled. What was her room will now be primarily Matt's room. she will only be home two - three months in the summer and a month at Christmas. and a week here or there. the rest of the time she will be at college. so it wont be a HUGE imposition on either of them. While Matt is a newborn he will (of course) be in our room since he will need a lot of care. then by the time she comes home from college at Christmas, he will be 6 months old and sleeping through the night, at least for the most part.

So in order for us to get her unpacked for the summer it was a big deal to get this last step finished so we can have all of the furniture moved back to where it belongs, and really give her a sense of "home".

Michelle chose to do the underwater scene for Matt herself. This part of the room will be covered by her dresser. we both felt that was really nice as we are planning on leaving this paint up for a number of years past when she will be permanently moving out. After all by the time she finishes college Matt wont even be 4 yet. so when she leaves she will be taking her dresser as well. so a nice "new" scene painted by the "big sister" just for Matt may make that transition a little less difficult or at least cool.

I think she did a wonderful Job!

baby wellness update..
at our last checkup, Matt's heart was rarely skipping beats and no fast beats were found. we were sent home to wait for two weeks unless we deliver before then. :)

bridge

2011-05-23T09:53:00.004-04:00

Well the "main" part of this is done. The bridge! Wow what an undertaking! I had no clue it would be this difficult. keeping the suspension cables even was very hard. I finally used a ruler to get them strait and even, it was a huge task.

Next is the "fun" part of the design! the fishes! thats why you can see the post go all the way into the water. we will have a bit of underwater world in this corner :)

step 1

2011-05-20T19:36:00.004-04:00

I have got the main part of the bridge done, i still need to do the cables, and the decorations. but heres a good shot of how it looks right now. It has to dry before i can start the next step.

FINAL wall design!

2011-05-20T04:52:00.005-04:00

Time is running our for me. I have 4 short weeks until D day and the mural isn't done yet.

I wanted to have something 100% free hand that i did all my own somewhere in this. and i wanted something tall to possibly show over the dresser.

I asked lots of people for ideas. Ive posted on face book for others thoughts. But nothing really struck me.

That is until Michelle came home from college.

she and i collaborated on this project when we got it started, so i guess it was fitting that the last design was a work of a joint effort. we both were not really happy with how the "dirt" turned out in this corner, it didn't have the same "flow" as the rest.

now work in the dresser, the height needed, it was just hard to understand what needed done.

We got to talking about buildings. how a building with scaffolding could be tall. but i always imagined these little bears were building roads. probably because while i was going through cancer treatment they rebuilt route 15. and we had construction every time we went for treatment and it was completed about the time my treatment was completed. In some way i credit my conception not only to God but to the cancer treatment, but that's a whole other story...

So what else gets built on a road? well we have our sluice pipes that are being laid, steam rollers, etc... then Michelle said what about a bridge? a big suspension bridge?

Back in school we studied bridges and bridge structures. they have always fascinated me. as a child i always tried to build bridges over the creek that runs behind my parents farm. NEVER very successfully, but it was fun.

so a suspension bridge, suddenly my mind starts filling with pictures of the golden gate,and other suspension bridges i have seen in my life YEA!

so i penciled it out on the wall. then i realized, WOW this is going to be a real in depth piece of artwork, there are supports, cables, and the LINES!!! but i love the sketch.

(you may need to click on the picture to enlarge it
so that you can see the pencil sketch)

the water under the bridge is going to take care of the "dirt" issue we have, and then we got to messing around with what to put in the water. that is still up in the air, but for now the sketch has an octopus some fish and of course sponge bob...

we still have one design to do on the door, but this wall has to get done first

update on the baby

2011-05-17T19:45:00.002-04:00

Matt’s heart problem was, that his heart would skip a beat then have several fast beats (SVT= fast beats) to catch up the SVT is what had the Dr so worried, AS OF TODAY we still have the skipped beat, but no SVT was found! This is very Good news! As they are hoping that Matt’s heart will “grow out of” the condition. We will not be going back to the specialist until next Tuesday and will continue to only see him once a week as long as his SVT remains absent.

In other news, hes 6 wonderful chubby pounds, approximately 16 - 17 inches long. and has great lung breath action.

we are at 36 weeks. with a very short 4 weeks to go!

Monday Mani

2011-05-16T20:33:00.004-04:00

I recently went to a different Rite-aide. I love going to chain stores because even though they are chins, and they still carry the same great products, the color selection varies because of the population demands. the colors that this rite aide carried were bolder brighter due to it being closer to the city. Out here in the country people stay away from bold colors and you see more pale pinks and neutral colors.

This is the red i picked up #760 cherry crush. WONDERFUL color! absolutely awesome coverage. I am so in love with this color i don't even think i WANT to stamp on it!

It ranks up there with my OPI DS Glow, which is a copper color. BUT if you cant get your hands on that copper color with OPI, Revlon has a color "Copper Penny" that is in the same "family" as this cherry crush and i really think that copper penny would be a great competitor. I nearly bought this but my daughter pointed out that it was sooo close to my opi, that i put it back and bought the cherry crush. I am VERY happy with this polish!

reflections

2011-05-15T05:16:00.002-04:00

Today is discovery date. two years ago today I was told that i had a tumor in my chest. that was what was causing me to cough and be unable to breathe.

I would LOVE to say that it was the scariest day of my life. But it wasn't. I heard them tell me, but i didn't hear anything.

it was nearly a month and a half before i REALLY understood. Shock works like that. it wasn't until after i was fully into treatment that i realised that i had CANCER, i was having CHEMO. life was forever different.

two years after the fact what is still here?

My cough. I KNOW i will have this forever. i breathe OK, but i still have phlegm. i still cough every AM until i vomit. am i sick of it? hells yea. But now its just a way of life. there are days that i pass with out doing it. but mostly i "look forward" to it. I breathe so much better those days.

My fears. I am still really afraid. afraid that it will come back. everyone has told me that if it were to come back it would be here now. but there is a small percentage that says due to my age, it wont for 20 years. 20 years sounds like a really long time doesn't it? but now with Matt on the way, that's just repeating history isn't it? Matt as a senior in high school with a mom going through cancer treatment. yea that scares me. even though Michelle and i are both really grateful for that time, we became really close during my illness, i would like to get though the rest of my life without it every coming back.

scars and stitches. I have stitches from having my port removed that are still there. and i have the scars of course. people see the scars, and they ask. "oh god what happened there?" the scar isn't huge nor is it visible (hugely) but the look on a new Friends face when i have to go through the "oh that's a scar from my biopsy when i was diagnosed" its just a conversation that i dislike having. I much better like saying i go to relay for life. and leave out all the cancer survivor stuff.

people treat you different when you have "survived" now don't get me wrong. surviving is way better than not, but its also a club i don't want to belong to. never did want to belong to it. but i do. i don't like people to treat me with "kid gloves" I don't like assumptions i cant do something, now sure there are things i cant do. but that's up to me to decide, not up to the other person. (this makes my daughter crazy) I don't want you to tell me what i cant do, but if i say i cant do it, i want you to be understanding of it.

What cant i do? well probably walking Watkins glen, or the turkey path is part of my past. stair walking is still too hard. i simply cannot breathe well enough. if the coughing subsides, then perhaps. so maybe in the future. after all its only been a year + since i completed my radiation. and the radiation is what was hardest on my lungs.

I cant shop all day either. my check book appreciates that.

Now there is a very good chance, that if i weren't in my 9th month of pregnancy perhaps I would feel a whole lot better. how about i give it a year and get back w/ you?

Surrendering to God

2011-05-13T20:54:00.003-04:00

I was thinking about a request from a friend who asked how you surrender to God. As I was doing my morning stuff this thought came to me.

Do you remember playing mercy when you were a kid? I played with my big brother. He’s 7 years older than I am, and yes, he ALWAYS WON. He would take my tiny hands and force me to my knees. He never really hurt me, but I learned that he was bigger and stronger than I was. And it would ALWAYS be that way. After time and time again of trying to assert that I was “strong” and that I could do this I could “win” and never doing it, I finally realized that I can’t, not where Scott was concerned. He was bigger he was stronger. And every time I tried to take control and beat him he would knock me down and reassure me that he was the strongest and most powerful. It didn’t take long for me to stop trying. It would have been easier to just get on my knees and say “OK! OK! you are bigger and more powerful than I am! you win!” Scott did lots of other things cuz he was bigger and more powerful than I was. He doted on me. Even now as an adult he still makes a fuss. Not as often cuz we are thousands of miles away but I know he still loves me and know if I needed him he would come, just like he did if I was getting picked on in the playground.

And it’s really the same thing. Trials that come into your life grab you by your tiny hands and force you to your knees. After you have been forced to your knees enough times, you learn that you might as well surrender everything to God. Now I am not saying that it is easy. Because we have a strong will as people. We want to be in control. So we may “give this to God” But in all reality 30 minutes later we are stressing and worrying over it all over again. That’s not giving it to God. That’s standing up and saying “ok I can beat you at mercy lets go again”

Am I saying I always give it to God? Well I try. But I take it back A LOT. Then I stress myself out and start to fret and once again I’m on my knees begging God to take over, to show me mercy. To handle what I can’t, to help me though that tough time. And you know what? God Always shows me mercy, he always helps me stand back up off the floor, dries my tears and says “ok now who’s bigger me or you? Ok then I got this, relax”

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T09:15:00.000-04:00

Today is mothers day. Its a day you spend with your mom, or with your kids. and in a perfect world both!

this year its just Matt and I. My mom is still off on her own adventures in the south RV-ing but soon to be home. and Michelle is still at college studying her heart out for finals this next week.

I know i will call my mom, and without a doubt Michelle will skype me.

the three of us all got together after i started to "show" and went on a shopping spree. and had a lovely time. we should have taken a picture of us then, but we forgot to.

So happy Mommy's day to all of you out their whether you are a mommy or if you have a mommy.

BUT the most important thing is, call your mom often, not just today. because how many times did you call her in the middle of the night after you screwed your life up so badly you knew of no one else to call? yea she deserves more than a phone call.

baby shower

2011-05-07T20:40:00.003-04:00

My baby shower that my best girlfriend threw me was today. and even though it was sunny, then rainy, then sunny, then it hailed, then it was sunny again. we still had a good time.

This is one of the gifts i received, its a 12 month photo frame. you have a slot for a picture every month for the first year. I cant wait to fill it!

in the grey is my friend Thera, she has a little boy about 6 months old, and shes giving her hand me downs to us. In the blue is my girlfriend from high school Stacy. I rarely ever get to see her. It was SO nice to have her come to this!

in the green is my friend Erin, this girl has 5 kids and still keeps a full time job and is also a very active housewife. (i swear she has a big super woman costume under her clothes) in the blue is my hostess and best friend Bridgette. Shes the beez kneez she organized this and sent out numerous invitations. she made all the food (except what i insisted on) and didnt ask for a single hand in any of this over and over she said "its your shower you dont get to do anything!"

I had a great time and all of the gifts were so wonderful! I had a great time. didnt want to go home :(

First Look

2011-05-06T19:38:00.003-04:00

this is a 3D shot of the baby's face. Mom said it takes the surprise out, I personally dont think so, it just makes it a tad bit harder to wait the rest of the time!

They have determined Matt's heart condition to be "stable" as he isn't progressing into heart failure. His heart is "normal sized" and no accumulation of fluid, and the amniotic fluid is the correct amount as well.

Everyone has assured me it is OK to relax that Matt Probably doesnt even realize that his heart is dong this.

ALSO, this is not something that happened because of my age or something i did i the two months before i knew i was pregnant. there is no known cause of this condition. and there is a VERY good chance that he will out grow this completely.

34 week ultrasound

2011-05-05T17:13:00.001-04:00

This is the ultrasound from yesterday, or at least the good parts, I have pointed out what you are seeing so that you can understand what you are looking at.

Update from the specialist

2011-05-05T02:16:00.003-04:00

We had an appointment with a specialist yesterday. A very prolonged ultrasound, where we just watched the baby's heartbeat. and indeed we do have a cardiac issue.

Supra Ventricular Tachycardia. Now for those of you who don't know what that is, (like me) that is where Matt's heartbeat is "normal" for about 1 or 2 minuets then it suddenly and without reason starts beating UBER fast, for about 6 or 7 beats then it goes back to normal.

So what that means is, because it is beating so fast, the bats aren't good strong beats. and the blood isn't pumping like it should. BUT because it is sporadic, sometimes its every minuet sometimes its five minuets between episodes, and never for very long, Matt hasn't had any adverse affects from it as of yet. (that we can tell at this time) We also couldn't tell why this is happening . BUT we are going to be monitoring his progress very closely.

Dr Larry said that he can tell if hes got a sick baby so we are going to check on Matt by the end of the week, and just "keep an eye" on him.

What can be done...
right now, there isn't much that we can do, If it gets worse, he can medicate me, that will cross over and medicate Matt, BUT that will make my heart be all weird and make me sick, and Matt isn't sick enough for that at this time, the next option is, hold on until 37 weeks and deliver so we can then medicate Matt directly. or at least have a cardiac pediatrician look him over directly and decided what to do after Matt is born.

Of course trying to get to full term is the optimal goal.

in other news....
Matt weighs 5.5 pounds and has hair!

infertility awareness week

2011-04-30T04:16:00.005-04:00

April has been infertility awareness month. As someone who has struggled with infertility, I felt that i should have put ONE post up about it to help educate my readers about the pain and suffering that goes along with infertility.

what infertility is...

Infertility is a disease that results in the abnormal functioning of the male or female reproductive system. Both the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), World Health Organization (WHO) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recognize infertility as a disease.

That means infertility is NOT a curse from God. you aren't being punished for the possibility of being a bad parent. disease is NOT your fault! it just happens. this was one of the obstacles i faced. Large quantities of shame and guilt. many women feel this way.

Being a woman of "advanced" age (28) when i found the right man to marry i felt it was all my fault for screwing up my life so completely prior to meeting him, then playing it safe and wanting to wait until we had been married for five years prior to discussing children as i didn't want to find out i had brought another child into a broken marriage. i was over 30 when we started trying.

Infertility is defined as the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected intercourse (six months if the woman is over age 35) or the inability to carry a pregnancy to live birth.

When we had not conceived by the time i was 35, we sought professional help i was convinced that I was simply "too old" only to find my fertility doctor was my own age and 6 months pregnant! she assured me that i was NOT too old that most of the women my age were simply on their 3rd pregnancy, provided of course that they weren't teen moms (16-20)

Infertility affects 7.3 million people in the U.S. This figure represents 12% of women of childbearing age, or 1 in 8 couples. (2002 National Survey of Family Growth)

1 in 8 couples. to me that's huge! i had no idea that it was that high. but where there is guilt and shame people just don't talk about it. that needs to change. YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Approximately one-third of infertility is attributed to the female partner, one-third attributed to the male partner and one-third is caused by a combination of problems in both partners or, is unexplained.

unexplained. that's what they told us they didn't know. it wasn't my fault, it wasn't his fault. did that help? nope! cuz then it was OUR fault. it didn't help the guilt. it didn't help the shame. we just didn't know who to blame.

A couple ages 29-33 with a normal functioning reproductive system has only a 20-25% chance of conceiving in any given month. After six months of trying, 60% of couples will conceive without medical assistance.

this information cracked me up! i mean facts are facts right? So how are there so many teen pregnancies? only a 25% chance? during my years of infertility, i saw a girl have three "unplanned" pregnancies! yea that was insane for me. it felt like the whole WORLD was preggers! every where i looked there were women that were HUGE with babies or pushing babies in strollers and grocery carts. it got so i never wanted to leave the house because just grocery shopping hurt too much.

Approximately 44% of women with infertility have sought medical assistance. Of those who seek medical intervention, approximately 65% give birth.

Approximately 85-90% of infertility cases are treated with drug therapy or surgical procedures. Fewer than 3% need advanced reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization (IVF).

65% those are good odds aren't they? so we went that route. three courses of a drug called "clomid" it stimulated ovulation. combined with taking my basal temp every am and charting it and counting and waiting. and GOD KNOWS how many dollar store pregnancy tests. it still didn't work! before we started the drug therapy, we sat down and discussed how far we were willing to take this and we decided IVF was not for us. especially since our insurance does not cover ANY fertility treatments. all treatments we had were paid out of pocket.

Fifteen states have passed laws requiring that insurance policies cover some level of infertility treatment: Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and West Virginia.

Kudos to these states!

so three months of the drug therapy was all DH would allow me to try. the wrecked havoc on my emotional state i cried all the time i was so miserable every time i had another negative test i wanted to die. i don't mean sadness i mean literally wanted to die. i have never in my life felt like such a failure. I kept believing that there was a reason.

I was diagnosed with cancer within a year of stopping treatment. had i conceived i probably would have had to terminate my pregnancy due to chemotherapy.

WELL THERE IT WAS. my reason my cause. down int he bottom of my heart i felt maybe there was a chance that later we could try again. BUT before i started treatment, my oncologist asked if i was planning on having any more kids. because i would have to freeze my eggs and have IVF to be able to conceive. that was it. the finial blow. it was not going to happen. EVER. not only did i have to deal with cancer but I had to give up my dream of having a second child. I was crushed. i had cancer, i couldn't give my husband a child, i was worthless. I was a burden.

Every drop of money i had saved toward having the baby slowly went to cancer treatment. gas to drive me there, specialized food my system could tolerate, mouth washes that didn't help. medications my insurance didn't cover.

As I got healthier, I came to terms with my infertility. and with God's help I accepted the fact that i was alive and i was loved my my husband regardless of a child. I even learned to love myself once again. I was grateful for my journey through infertility. I found some wonderful friends through my support group whom i still talk to daily. these wonderful women now rejoice with me at Gods great gift of Matt. How after all I have been through God has bless us without a drop of trying or fertility treatment.

yes, i'm 40 now. I don't know if i would have tried clomid again after the cancer treatment if i had been told i could "try again" honestly probably not. there are so many more risks at 40 but its far from being unheard of. the one thing i was NEVER going to do was sneeze at a gift from God as this. no matter what some people said to me.

~~~~~~~~

information for this page has been taken from the national infertility association and there is so much more information on their page! local support groups online support if you have problems with infertility please check out their page here

MORE RAIN?

2011-04-29T03:42:00.004-04:00

OK let me explain this picture, behind my house there is a small creek. as a child we would wade in this creek, it was about ankle deep in most places. never very fast, just a nice brook. no real big fish minnows mostly.

if you look in the picture you see a tan line running through the center... That is the creek im speaking of. this particular part of it is the SLOWEST running part. slow and shallow. but if you look carefully, you can see whitecaps on the water.

I have seen the creek this high one other time, to my memory. and at that point the creek had overflowed its bank. the creek had many changes that year when the water went down. (that was the year the Beaver moved in) I cant wait to see what changes are in store this year!

P.S. hey mom, we checked the upper yard to see if we could mow since we had a nice day with no rain and its still too soggy, but the grass is green!

Of course i'll mow your lawn!

2011-04-26T17:40:00.003-04:00

Mom asked me to make certain when her lawn got high that we would mow it for her. well the warm weather has made the grass GROW!

But i'm thinking that we will be able to mow it sometimes in august....

on the upside, We have some BEAUUUUUtiful flowers!

GRRRRRRR!!!!

2011-04-22T17:53:00.003-04:00

I normally don't post weather related stuff on this blog they are normally on Krista's Krafting but this post has me SUPER upset! see the daffodil in the bottom of the picture? we SHOULD NOT be having snow too!

News about Baby Matt….

2011-04-19T19:08:00.000-04:00

Last Friday when I saw the doctor, the fetal heart beat showed an arrhythmia. Basically the heart beat would speed up then slow down and skip here and there. SOOO they wanted me to see a specialist.

I have been waiting for an appointment at either Robert Packer or Danville. During the last 4 days I have done extensive thinking over this, and I actually was thinking that the doc could have had my heartbeat instead of the baby’s as mine generally runs faster than average and I have had sporadic arrhythmias due to my breathing.

So today, when they called and told me my appointment is May 4^th, and the doc would have LOVED to get me in sooner but it wasn’t feasible, I asked for a second listen due to my concern about weather it was my heart or the baby’s.

He took me right in, and we listened to both mine and the baby’s mine was indeed faster than he expected. He was actually kinda shocked by that. And we heard only a trace of arrhythmia in Matt’s heartbeat. Doc even commented if he were not listening expressly for that, he might have missed it.

We are still keeping the appointment at Robert packer so we can do a fetal EKG. And be absolutely certain if we have arrhythmia or if we don’t. We have not discussed what would be necessary if we do. As there is no need to cause undue stress/anxiety to me worrying about what procedures we would need to do until we know for certain that there is a reason.

2011-04-19T07:57:00.003-04:00

this is a NYC paint, along with a new BM stamp i have never tried. its at least different lets hope it holds up better than last weeks paint! the mint candy apple chipped off in the shower on Tuesday am!

Monday Mani

2011-04-11T21:30:00.005-04:00

Essie mint candy apple, with BMo3 stamped in hot topic poison bottle purple. im just impressed i have it done! because frankly im tired!

What i really miss? my hand painted nails. but i know im not up to that not with everything that s going on and i dont have two- three hours to do them in.

Newest wall.

2011-04-11T08:09:00.003-04:00

I fell asleep early last night and forgot to paint my nails! I did however, decide to actually paint them, well more to the point my nails did the deciding. in the very first room I cleaned my nails started popping off. so tonight after dinner during my TV show ill do my new mani. and perhaps even get it posted!

for this am's post though I have a new wall done! I still have one corner to go. and that one is taking some real thought. the dresser is in that corner, and i am trying to decide how to do it, shall i jsut do the same thing behind it? or should i work it some how so you can see the design. A friend and i are brainstorming on this idea. maybe ill come up with something

to paint or not to paint

2011-04-10T07:19:00.003-04:00

I am supposed to do my nails tonight for tomorrows post. but last week i put on glue on nails. and the paint has held to them PERFECTLY! I don't even have a chip! and all the nails are still holding fast, so do i take the polish off, and paint them again? or do i keep this mani running for another week? HUMMMM i'll think it over today and see what i come up with.

(I gotta say even with my natural nails this Essie polish held fantastically well, but im really surprised at how nice this still looks!)

Coolest thing since sliced bread

2011-04-09T07:27:00.004-04:00

Lately I have been having lateral side cramping. I never had anything like that during my first pregnancy, so naturally i thought something wasn't right. it didn't seem like round ligament pain, as the pain got worse as the day wore on, andmy ligament pain would get better with stretching.

I called the dr.'s office and the sent me to OB to "be safe" and then sent me home for some rest, and to follow up at my next appointment which was yesterday.

He suggested this pregnancy supporter. at first i was skeptical. BUT, i thought i cant NOT try it. and WOW the thing makes me feel so much better! my back doesn't hurt I can stand up strait (apparently Steve says i have been slouching from the weight) and no more lateral pain!

I actually went grocery shopping yesterday, and did a FULL day of errand running without feeling beat down beyond belief! I thought i was just "pregnancy tired" but I'm thinking, since I'm carrying Matt so far out front, and i wasn't in the best shape before i got pregnant. (technically I was still in physical recovery from the cancer) my body wasn't as prepared to carry him as I would have liked.

I have today off so i'm going to REALLY clean my house, and have good faith that i can do it since i know i can be on my feet all day and not collapse after 2 pm!

Bet You Cant Guess What I am Sick Of!

2011-04-07T07:38:00.005-04:00

In this shot you can see the LOVELY ruts the drilling rig made in the yard. oh and speaking of the drilling rig. its still here, covered in snow, without a crew. i havent seen anyone since i got home yesterday at 2. with the amount of actual hours i have seen them drill i am really glad im not paying them by the amount of time the rig sits here! since its been here nearly a week with no drilling going on!

Monday Manicure Double stamp!

2011-04-04T06:17:00.000-04:00

This is the new Essie pink i just bought, BUT the mint candy apple i wanted to stamp over it was too close in color. and it didn't show up! :(

So i broke out the new purple I just got from hot topic. (in the poison bottle).

I first stamped the BM12 flowers on the tips, but it just didn't cover enough of the nail for me, so i stamped BM 03 in the center of the stamp to coordinate a full stamp as the flowers all look the same.

I must say i wore the pink last week for a full week with minimal chipping. I was UBER impressed!

Two walls completed

2011-04-02T16:35:00.003-04:00

light switch wall

closet wall

I have cut my hours back to 4 days a week. I have simply been too tired to continue working at the at pace. so with my second day off in a row, I spendt the day painting in Matt's room and i can say its nearly done. i have one wall and one corner to address. before Matt comes. then one small thing i want to do after his arrival.

As I start otopaint i think to myself i have to be out of my mind to be doing this. But honestly i am finding (as i always do) that painting is extremely relaxing for me. no wonder i love to paint my nails or ceramics or anything. I think that after years of searching i have found a hobby i really enjoy.

Bad april fools joke!

2011-04-01T15:50:00.004-04:00

we ahev been having issues with our water. Today we found out what that was. Appaently our 100 year old well collapsed in on itself. and now there sint anythign left of eh hole that used to be our water sourse.

SOOO heres a great shot of the drillers that have come to put in a new well. i really think if they were actually working, maybe we would have water? but honestly i am having alot of trouble dealing with the house shaking as they try to drill through the bed rock. its MRI kinda sound and it creeps me out.

It will be nice though to have running water!

:D

2011-03-30T07:23:00.004-04:00

Last September My PCU (power control unit) went out in my computer. At that time i was yet to go back to work after my long stint with lymphoma. and there were several things in the house that needed purchased prior to fixing my tower. the part it self wasn't that expensive, ($100) but we thought there was a good chance that we would have to send it out to get it done, and labor isn't cheap on that sort of thing.

well after pooling Christmas money, working some OT, Mary Kay, and hoarding every cent we could get our hands on. we finally have our PCU bought and installed!

The one we bought Steve thought he could install himself. well unfortunately we were missing the correct connection. To return it and get the correct plug was going to cost us MORE than the part we originally bought. PLUS a 20% restock fee AND the shipping to send it back.

I cant tell you how upset i was over this kink! (insert pregnancy hormone joke here) Well My BRILLIANT husband thought he might be able to go to our local guy (Barry) and see if he could help us out.

I have had dealings with Barry in the past that have not been so nice. i was certain we would be better off to just take the loss and order the other part.

Not Steve, the "ever trusting" Steve went with both parts over to Barry's and explained what had happened and walked out with an adapter to make it work FREE OF CHARGE!!!

he came back in with a HUGE smile on his face. and he said "i have an adapter kit!"

Of course that got me singing "one piece at a time" by Johnny Cash. But i have to say the slimline computer is now up and running! So nice to have it back!

I need to send out a HUGE thank you to my gentleman friend that so kindly lent us his spare tower until we could fix ours. I didn't expect it to take so long, but we have it back to where it was when you lent it to us. than you so much!

Monday Manicure

2011-03-28T14:06:00.000-04:00

Walmart has started carrying ESSIE!!! the "mint candy apple" i have Had for some time and i like it a lot. So i picked out this delicate shade of pink to go with it "french affair" is the perfect hue to match it. it was a great deal at $7 and i was thrilled i didn't have to drive 45 mins to the mall to get a nice bottle of polish!

My intention is to stamp the pink with the green. BUT it felt kinda nice to just have the simple pink polish on. so perhaps now that it has lived through a day of working, (and had a tiny chip) I will have to wait on the stamp. This is a wonderful color I can see it on a 4 year old's fingers easy!

Matt's Door

2011-03-28T06:54:00.003-04:00

The door to Matt's room had been painted for years, and it needed a fresh coat. At first we thought we would just repaint it white. But of course i couldn't settle with it just that way! I am very glad i decided to paint 2/3 of it blue. that door being that much blue is what started all of the changing to the room in the first place. I just fell in love with that color! Then i got to thinking something to show it was Matt's room would help the separation that I feel about the room. I mean its not hat i don't want Matt or anything, but that was my space. And I know Michelle had felt that was HER room. we both now realise that this is no longer my office and no longer her room. it belongs to Matt. and with that knowledge i think we are both content.

Don't think this is the last surprise of this paint. a good friend came up with a thought that i ran with last night. BUT I cant even start that one until Matt makes his debut!

PS yea i did my nails in a very new shade of essie im posting that Later, I was very excited to get this door up!

personal results of yesterdays test

2011-03-27T07:54:00.003-04:00

As you can see, my results (the purple line) run close with the pre-diabetic/hypoglycemic line. I don't know how he will treat this, as after 3 hours my sugar goes low. my beginning BS, is within the normal range at 111, (which is what i have found doing self tests) then it goes up to the mid 200's and as time progresses it lowers to under the 100's. I personally have never seen it lower than 70. but when i feel it lower to that point (70) I normally start to fix my meal as its at 4 in the afternoon. (i eat lunch at 12:30-1. what does this all mean? no clue... but i do know that my dr will be calling to tell me the treatment he wishes me to be on. Honestly though IMHO, I am thinking that a gulcosphase medication would lower my sugar too far and cause more hypoglycemia. but i don't know. perhaps i will after i talk to the dr.

whats going on...

2011-03-26T07:06:00.004-04:00

I go for my 3 hour glucose tolerance test today. I'm not really concerned about the test, as i have been monitoring my blood sugar levels all week and they seem to not only hold steady but they don't go high, Or at least high in my opinion. i haven't seen any 300's or 400's like what my diabetic Friends have seen and my lows aren't really low either, unless i have it really controlled with my diet?

the chart that is above is one i found for a 6 hour test, but as you can see it measures what should go on with a three hour as well. SOOO I'm planning on taking my glucometer and a copy of this test with me to chart my own test as we go along today. I will at least know how i am doing!

finished walls

2011-03-24T19:40:00.004-04:00

These are the two walls i have been working on. This is as completed as they will get, I am ready to move to a new wall.

Steam roller

Sign holder

as for actual baby updates....

They think i may have gestational diabetes, i go for more tests on Saturday. could come back either way I have been monitoring my blood sugars and they are the same as they have always been. other than that Baby Matt is very active and loves the sound of deep male voices.

Monday Manicure OPPS its late!

2011-03-22T20:40:00.002-04:00

I really ahve to appoligise! i bought the OIP Nichole Justin Beiber polish. BUT I love this stuff! opi is a great brand and this is dimentional just like the other line.

I dont clean up my cuticles very well when im using glitter, but do you see the difffrent size glitters? thats what i really like about this polish. this happends to be 4 (thats right FOUR) coats.

COMPLETED TRUCKS!

2011-03-22T20:13:00.002-04:00

Well i got to spend a few hours finishing up some of the trucks on the "main" wall. I am very pleased how they turned out!

First coat of mural paint

2011-03-19T14:31:00.003-04:00

Here are some pictures of my first coats of the mural. I thought you might like to see them.

New Blanket

2011-03-19T08:22:00.003-04:00

My Grandmother loved to crochet. She taught me how to do her favorite Afghan stitch. I cant for the life of me write it down because she didn't teach me the code, but she showed me painstakingly for a week until i got it right. I cant forget it now. and i recognise that stitch where ever i see it. She made my Daughter not only one but two baby blankets. a green one to match the nursery, then a pink one that she gave Michelle after she was born (we waited to find out with her)

I have been a bit melancholy about those in my life that have passed away, that Matt wont get the privilege of knowing. and sad also that Grandma wont be making him a blanket.

I learned after my father passed that you may pray for the impossible, and you KNOW it is impossible, but God will find you the second best thing. I dint pray hard for this, as a matter of fact,it was just a passing statement. "God I know I'm going to have plenty of blankets, I'm just a bit sad cuz i wont have one from Grandma."

fast forward a weeks or so. I'm in the grocery store parking lot its a nice day the snow is melting and under a pile of cinders is this poor excuse for a blanket. its dirty. its nasty looking. But being a blanket carrier since i was a small child, I knew this blanket must have been loved a tone point and i would put it in the back of my car and wash it and have a look at it clean. "Heck," I thought to myself "it wont even hold up to a wash!"

well It did. frankly three washes and a fourth with bleach, and look what i have.

This is THE SAME pattern my grandmother used! trimmed the way she would have trimmed it! The stripes isn't quite her way but it is VERY VERY close! Blue and white. like i said before he wont give you what you know is impossible, but he will provide the next best for you.

Monday Manicure

2011-03-14T20:01:00.003-04:00

I had these very nails on all day, and the picture loaded on the camera so post early this am. but DUH! forgot to log the post!

Sally Hansens Emerald City. with the same BM stamp from two weeks ago. I just stamped it once this time. I like this MUCH better!

TRUCKS!

2011-03-12T19:11:00.007-05:00

I started getting the truck outlines on the wall.

I did this by researching color pages on the Internet, printing them off and then using carbon paper to transfer the picture to the wall. I could have hand drawn them on the walls, BUT this woudl ahve taken more time away from actually painting them. and i prefer to paint not draw.

Carbon paper and i have a hate hate relationship since "typing I" back in 9th grade, but it seems we have worked out our differences :)

Here are some other designs that have made it too the wall.

Sunshine!

2011-03-09T07:11:00.003-05:00

Michelle designed and painted the Sun.
I think it looks warm and cozy :)

This is the separation stripe. We used frog tape to tape this out. we normally use the cheap blue tape, BUT the frog tape was on sale and i LOVED it! it gave such cleaner lines! nice and crisp!

More nursery paint

2011-03-07T20:59:00.006-05:00

Michelle Painting the door

These are the updated pictures for the nursery. another full day of work! of course we also ran errands and bought groceries. (and since last night was monday we had to quit early to watch WWE RAW) More to come later!

Are you wondering what this brown is?

dirt hills

Here are some pretty sponged clouds :)

We have other things in the works but i will post them when they are finished :)

Painting the Nursery

2011-03-07T06:46:00.008-05:00

Yes I know Monday Manicures is supposed to be today's post, But we aren't painting nails when we can paint WALLS!

Michelle has come home for a 10 day spring break. We were sorting through her room, she wanted to set Matt's crib up, I told her we couldn't do that until we got the room repainted. so She has taken it upon herself to repaint what was her room then was my office. You might remember I painted this room just last September after Michelle left for college.

We took down the shelves, and patched the screw holes. We are not yet certain how we are going to reset the room, so we felt better to not be "locked in" by where the shelves are at.

While I was working Michelle started priming the room. She was never fond of the purple, so as you can see...

She was very happy to have it covered up!

We started off with a blue stripe where all of our stripes have been in the past.

Then we started the yellow on the bottom.

Then Michelle and i got a very creative idea for the door...

(that you will have to wait to see)

After looking over the yellow, and then the door, We started thinking the top of the wall yellow MIGHT be too bright. so we decided to go with all blue.

I know this picture the blue looks more intense than the door. But, I assure you it is the same beautiful baby blue that is on the door. we got a lot of snow last night and this is intense from the glare off the snow. where the other pictures were taken at night.

We still need to get another quart of the blue before we can continue this painting. But we made a HUGE dent in this project for one day's worth of work!

baby Matt...

2011-03-03T06:25:00.002-05:00

Well Matt is really getting big, last night he was kicking so hard i set the remote for the TV on my tummy, and he kicked it so it rocked like a teeter totter! needless to say Mommy is VERY tired this am, as he kicked a good share of the night. Hopefully, hes not starting a trend :)

MARCH NAILS!

2011-03-02T19:26:00.004-05:00

single stamp

Double stamp

Triple stamp

I LOVE MARCH!

This year i thought i would try to do a triple stamp and make a "field" of clover on my nails. I don't know what i think of it it is three different shades of green. and it feels "messy" MAYBE Ill try just one later.

or maybe i just need to be more careful when i stamp and do it more organized.

Opinions?

One step closer

2011-03-01T08:55:00.002-05:00

Last night Steve and I went out and bought Matt's crib. this is a picture of one of the same kind (our is still in the trunk)

I CANNOT get over the calming effect just making this purchase has had on me. My family (Michelle included) are all saying i am in "heavy nesting mode" and I have to admit i feel a HUGE pressure to "Get it done" of course working nearly full time right now makes it nearly impossible to get it all done as fast as i want it done. But i see the time slowly slipping away. and we don't have long to go now.

According to my charts we have less than 15 short weeks before Matt makes his appearance. the time has gone by so quickly! and i can almost audibly hear the ticking clock!

But we are on our way and it wont be long!

Monday Mani - Lolly's

2011-02-28T07:58:00.000-05:00

This base is a color my mom had bought some time aga and she didnt liek it so as good moms do, she handed it down to me. its called love her madly. i think its very close tothe hot topic red i work for valentines week. the BM stamp is #02 and i used the insta dry I love how that white stamps!

CUP CAKES!

2011-02-26T07:43:00.000-05:00

BFF Bridgette came over the other night. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the natural shape of her nails! and i can never resist painting them for her when shes here!

I picked up this base coat at hot topic last week its a lovely shade of lilac. although its a matte shade, and it took three coats to cover i still really like the color.

I haven't done a dual color stamp in quite some time, so i felt perhaps a different color was necessary for the frosting!

the clear coat really made this design POP.

extra day off

2011-02-25T16:36:00.004-05:00

Whew! recently we had 12 inches of snow. last night we had an additional 7 inches on top of that! Early today My work called me and offered that I stay put. instead of coming home.

My Darling Husband and I braved this 19 inches of snow to walk down to the storage shed at my moms house, to get my small box of easter decorations.

My Buffet is where i display a good chunk of my holiday decorations. My mother was big for "doing up" a monthly holiday when i was small. It was a nice tradition and i enjoyed it very much. HOWEVER, I don't have the time to do every room so I am just doing this one small area. I still get to decorate for the holidays. and yet i only have a small area to switch over.

now that sounds like a great course of action doesn't it? well, it will be once i get my holiday stash built up. :) right now i don't have enough St Patric's day ceramics done to do that holiday and i need to do more to get ready for valentines day as well, SO i have fast forwarded right to Easter!

and since Easter is late this year, I get TWO months of Easter!

As you can see i have lots of little Easter knick knacks. Some i have that my Grandmother made for me 40 years ago. :) I am very proud that i still have them after all this time. This would make her happy.

Monday Manicure

2011-02-21T06:07:00.003-05:00

I awoke to a foot of snow today. so i think my mani fits quite well!

this is my 25 cent hot topic blue, with BM03 stamped on it. I thought they looked like tiny snowflakes. I used sally hansens insta dry in whirlwind white to stamp with.

crock pot savy

2011-02-16T08:56:00.004-05:00

A good friend of mine have multiple crock pots. I never understood why. After all I have my 6 quart. it travels well, and i can feed an army with it.

BUT now that i am down to just Steve and i at home, (at least until Matt gets here and big enough to start eating like a teenager) I don't need 6 quarts of spaghetti.

Steve was rooting in the cabinets last night and found a tiny crock pot my mom had "uncluttered" to my house. I kept if for oh who knows why after all what did i need a 1 1/2 quart crock pot for? its so small barely big enough to feed two people.

two people hummm that's what we have here now. :)

So out it came!

I was thinking as i was putting our stuffed steaks into the small crock pot that i wish i had a place to keep this little one, because everyone know if you put an appliance away you will never use it.. then i picked it yup and popped it right into my 6 quart and it sat there quite nicely. so there i have a nice storage spot AND it takes up no more room than my normal crock pot!

As you can see Mom had a bit of an accident with the plastic lid and a hot stove LOL, so i used my sauce pan lid, honestly the crock pot is a bit on the very full side, so the blue lid wont fit anyhow. but OMM NOMM! stuffed steak without a ton of leftovers, and with only a tiny crock pot to pop into the dishwasher!

If you would like the recipe for my stuffed steak please go here

TOO MANY DISKS!

2011-02-15T09:48:00.000-05:00

After doing my monday manicure, I realised there were SOO many other Valentine stamps available! I really wanted to do another one.

So i used 4 difrent disks and a diffrent stamp on each finger. Its fun at least :)

Monday Manicure

2011-02-14T07:00:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentines day!

I used the solid pink from my last mani, with a stamp of "love" from BM 09 plate for this weeks mani. I gotta say its nice to do a Monday Mani again! It is nice to have that "me time" to look forward too!

booties!

2011-02-10T06:42:00.000-05:00

My mother-in-law Does not knit. neither do I. My mother does i felt it too tough to do all that counting LOL.

So anyway, my MIL was out and about the day after We found out we were having a Boy and she came along these in a craft store, and just could not pass them up! I have to say I think they will look just great on Matt!

Hot topic Pink

2011-02-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

This is the second hot topic color that I got for a song!

what a wonderful color for the week before valentines day?!

Lunch box suprises

2011-02-07T18:52:00.008-05:00

Back when I was a wee one. (in the 1970's) My father worked at the Delco Moraine plant in Dayton Ohio. Safety was HUGE in this factory. and once a month they would have safety meetings and Delco would hand out trinkets at these meetings.

Daddy would throw it in his lunch box. He was the first adult home after I got home from school. (about 1/2 hour later) Every day when He came home I would sit on the bar stool in out kitchen and we would talk about my day at school and other stuff. while he unpacked his lunch box, emptied the left over cold coffee from his thermos, and throw away the assorted baggies. On the safety meeting days He would hustle me to the kitchen (some times i would get wrapped up in scooby doo) he would say "Krista aren't you going to unpack my lunch box?" That was my SPECIAL clue!

Off I would run! you never knew what you would find in the bottom! they were small insignificant things. as I look at them as an adult. But as an child under ten, it meant so much to me.

Today I went to my mothers house to drop off some things to her, and she presented me with this....

Hard to believe we actually had to use these! after all soda pop was in glass bottles in the 70's and they weren't screw on tops either! this we put on top of our bottle of pepsi, so it wouldn't loose the fizz inthe fridge, (you NEVER drank out of the bottle!) when mom handed this too me it was so amazing how i got th6e smae ruish of emotions that i woudl have when daddy would holler at me to come and unpack his box.

We had lots of treasures from Delco, Mom still has many, some are jsut gone due to moves and simply the passing of 30 years. this one is really special to me as it is the only one I still have (i think)

I have since put this in my special box of treasures. One day my grandchildren will ask what on earth all these little things in the treasure box are, and i will have 1,000 memories to share :) Maybe one day we will go through the treasure box and i will put those stories down here.

Change of Venue

2011-02-06T07:37:00.000-05:00

I have been doing some thinking about this blog once again. and reality is what it is. I simply do not have time to continue to do manicures daily. Although i do enjoy them, I simply have an awful lot going on and with a new baby on the way i am pretty certain that my nails will take a back burner.

I do not however wish to let this blog die, as through my FEEGIT I can see that i still have a nice number of people searching and finding answers they need about Hodgkin's lymphoma, and treatment. and if i shut this down that information will be lost.

My Krafting blog takes my craft projects as well as my hobbies and many many of my recipes. I use this for my own personal reference. so that blog must also stay.

So I have decided that i am going to change this from a a mostly nail blog to just a day to day personal blog. I will still post my normal health updates and of course my baby updates and a mani here or there as i still love my nails. I am thinking of just going back to Monday manicures, as once a week i think i could really enjoy that. But the main focus of this blog will no longer be just nails/fashion.

If you choose to leave my blog for that reason thank you for reading I do appreciate the time we spent together. and there are lots of other nail blogs out there I am certain you will find one.

If you choose to stay, Prepair yourself to learn about me and my life.

Chosen name

2011-02-05T06:51:00.000-05:00

Well we have gone from barely feeling much more than squirmy sensations to full blown Kicks. Although we still do a considerable amount of squirming still.

I had forgotten how much I did like this part of pregnancy. I find my stress level is even lower now that I don't constantly worry if the Baby is fine!

We have decided on naming our little man Matthew. Matthew means Gift of God and after 3 years of trying (with a conclusion that other than IVF pregnancy would be impossible) and then my Hodgkin's lymphoma and treatment (2 years), with every doctor telling us that chemo would make me infertile on top of our fertility problems. We Basically decided that We would be happy just to have a life together. So we felt that Gift of God was incredibly fitting!

I also love that the verse i leaned on very heavily while i was going through the years of infertility was Matthew 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" I did a whole lot of asking in those first three years then a whole lot of "explain this to me" in the time i call "the cancer years" never in my dreams did i expect this.

missed anniversary

2011-02-03T07:21:00.003-05:00

As I was working on my blog this AM, I happened to notice some dates at the top right hand side of my blog. 2-2-10 that was a year ago yesterday. the day i walked out of the cancer center knowing that all my treatment was done. I still had testing to do and a port to be removed etc. But i knew the cancer should be gone and that i was going to be alright.

Its odd, because i was thinking it had been a year when i woke at 4 am today as well. HUM it blows your mind looking at it. a whole year went by. and it seems it went very quickly. if you had told me that a year alter i would be 5 months pregnant and feeling just fine working at a job i thought i had left in the past as well I would have told you that you were nuts.

But that's exactly whats going on. I can still feel some scar tissue from my port being removed. and maybe still a stitch or two. I know i need to take a trip down to seem my ex-oncologist, and everyone at the cancer center. not everyone that goes there comes out as lucky as I am. I do miss them all so much. but it isn't the same when you go back certainly everyone is happy to see you, but you don't belong to the club any more. I still think on Tuesday i will plan on going though.

so happy anniversary to me. I'm a year past it and I'm better for it. Things have changed for me. i live a little more. But i can see where the further i am away from that year the more I'm going to get wrapped up in life and less in living. I supposed i will have to work on that. I need to focus more on where i have been to see where i am going.

Hot topic sale paint

2011-02-03T07:06:00.004-05:00

One of the many colors i am needing to try!

Its a nice enough color and will go well with my uniform today. Perhaps if its still in good shape when i get home from work i will stamp over it. Right now i am just pleased i had time to paint my nails at all!

this was a hot topic sale color. it dopesnt have a name or any way to special identify it, saddly! i wish it did

Absolutely Essie

2011-01-29T18:37:00.004-05:00

I LOVE Essie polish! it wears so nicly. I did my nails on monday and here it is on saturday and yea there is wear, but itsnot horrible, and please remember, I CLEAN for a living! everyone knows how housework will destroy a manicure!

this is Essies "plumski" as my base with Essies "mint candy apple" stamed using BM09 plate. the mint was pretty translucent but i still really liked this

Silpada

2011-01-28T18:22:00.003-05:00

My Silpada dealer came over the other night to close her party and while she was here i did her nails for her. I love peoples first reaction to the Konad stamping system! many are in awe of how quick and easy this is!

This was Bundle monster plate BM12 in white over revlons hot for chocolate.

Baby Update

2011-01-21T07:21:00.002-05:00

We had out 19 week ultrasound appointment, and we found out that we are carrying a baby boy.

So at this point we are trying to find a name, along with what we will be doing for the baby's room. (we were going to use purple since that is the colors in there but purple and boys just don't work)

The ultra sound was quite wonderful! I am certain you are familiar with the "bouncing baby boy" well he certainly does BOUNCE! I wasn't feeling anything but he certainly rolled tumbled and kicked to get out of the way of the camera. that is until they decided to check his hips and thighs! then he sat quite still and showed everything the Good Lord blessed him with!

all in all, the baby is healthy, everything looks normal, we checked over all his internal organs and bone size etc, and everything looks great.

I was really surprised that i couldn't feel any of his movement. as i have barely felt anything.

as of last evening , all that changed! i can feel stretching and kicks. very clearly. how it changed so suddenly i think i just didn't recognise it LOL I guess that's possible after 19 years huh?

Slaying the Dragon

New Nail Idea

Cat toys not recommended

Sleepy baby

2012

tired baby...

Matt

Unsolicited advice

ready for christmas

found

Police Seek Help to Find Missing Girl

happy boy...

our Trip to the college

Fall is here

Trip to the canyon

Monday Mani - Purple crackle over white

purple crackle

first night...

completed nursery!

clair's pink/purple

the CHANGE

new polish

Matt at two months old...

Loss of a friend

BARBARA L. FRELIGH September 18th 1965 ~ August 16th 2011

A visit from Cousins!

Happy happy

out door baby!

NOT COLIC?

what colic has taught me about God

Coloboma

happy 4th

Two weeks old today

Loves to cuddle

Matthew

Hugely behind

week 39 are we done yet?

Vacation

The last of the painting!

bridge

step 1

FINAL wall design!

update on the baby

Monday Mani

reflections

Surrendering to God

Mother's Day

baby shower

First Look

34 week ultrasound

Update from the specialist

We had an appointment with a specialist yesterday. A very prolonged ultrasound, where we just watched the baby's heartbeat. and indeed we do have a cardiac issue.

Supra Ventricular Tachycardia. Now for those of you who don't know what that is, (like me) that is where Matt's heartbeat is "normal" for about 1 or 2 minuets then it suddenly and without reason starts beating UBER fast, for about 6 or 7 beats then it goes back to normal.

infertility awareness week

MORE RAIN?

Of course i'll mow your lawn!

GRRRRRRR!!!!

News about Baby Matt….

Monday Mani

Newest wall.

to paint or not to paint

Coolest thing since sliced bread

Bet You Cant Guess What I am Sick Of!

Monday Manicure Double stamp!

Two walls completed

Bad april fools joke!

:D

Monday Manicure

Matt's Door

personal results of yesterdays test

whats going on...

finished walls

Monday Manicure OPPS its late!

COMPLETED TRUCKS!

First coat of mural paint

New Blanket

Monday Manicure

TRUCKS!

Sunshine!

More nursery paint

BARBARA L. FRELIGH
September 18th 1965 ~ August 16th 2011