NEW AND LOVELY

Have you noticed my blog lift?

I would like to personally thank Cindy Bradwisch for pimping my blog. Gotta love Facebook for brining old friends back together.

Wanna know a secret?

I don't know html code.

I can't design my blog.

People call and ask me to help with blogging, and I say, SURE! Just sign in to blogger!

Maybe someday I will actually learn it.

But not when I have people like CINDY to bail me out!

I am going to send her something lovely from The Pampered Chef as a sincere THANK YOU SO MUCH for creating my new blog headers HERE and HERE. See how everything is all lovely and uniform now? THANKS CINDY!

Plus, she made me blog buttons for my new sites too! You can see them over here. -------------->

Guess what, you can hire her. Since she does graphic design for WORK! Ha! I am glad that she will let me pay her in Pampered Chef. But if you need her, go by and say HI!

Down-right Spooky

I knew putting that one first would make you laugh.. .




Things around here are down-right spooky. .
(Who is that even??? It doesn't even look like my daughter!)

But not because of me. . Because I have not gotten out a single, solitary Halloween decoration. I just can't do it. . . I mean, Where would I put it? Every square inch of surface is taken. Maybe next year. . .There is always NEXT YEAR.

But thanks to Pam, my kids had a lot of fun today. Who is Pam? Wade calls her Grandma, but Pam is Jaxon's respite worker. What is that you might ask? She is a complete and total angel who has been hired (by the stat of Arizona of course) to take Jaxon to and from therapy for me. . .and consequently, she has adopted my kids as her "grand kids" and brings them all sorts of fun stuff. We love her, and if I knew she was going to read this. . (she doesn't have Internet) I would say, PAM... YOU SAVE MY LIFE ALMOST EVERY DAY!


THANK YOU!

To All the Girls I've Loved Before

I have a confession... I feel HORRIBLE about it. Seriously, so, go easy on me. . . here it goes.

I had a box in my hallway for two weeks like looked remarkably like this one.

Ok, IT WAS THIS ONE.

It came from Jessica. Because a while back Jessica and I decided to swap some baby clothes. See, I was going to have a girl, and she just had a boy (in a round about sort of way). So, we decided to swap clothes. I send her Wade's clothes and she sends me her baby girl clothes. GREAT! We could both save some bucks!

My MIL delivered a bag of baby boy clothes to her shortly after her "delivery" and she was going to return it via my MIL. We tried to set up a rendezvous when the MIL came for THIS VISIT, but it didn't happen b/c she was coming from Hawaii (rough life, I know). So, a short time after the MIL returned home, I got word that a package was coming. . . I knew what was in it and I was stoked!

However, it arrived one day before *ell week. Except for you remember, *ell week was TWO WEEKS LONG. Really, it was all I could do just to survive. Serious.

My MIL came last week for the blessing of baby K and she saw the SAID BOX in my hallway. I said, "Oh yeah, it came right before spring break, and I just haven't had time to get to it because:

A: It was Spring Break and survival was of the utmost importance.

B: Kaylin has been living in my room and I had no place to put clothes and

C: My In-laws arrived the DAY AFTER *ell week so I had to frantically clean before they came and

D: My life has been COO COO ever since K was born.

[Insert picture of baby clothes over taking my room here]

So: as part of their visit, I decided to move Wade downstairs and kick him out of his crib (more on that later) buy him a cheapo dresser from Ikea, and get all of his clothes out of the nursery so I had some room to put that stuff. The in-laws bounced babies while I put together the dresser and eventually Wade was "moved downstairs". Jean finally had had enough of my postponing and said (one night at 10:30 p.m.) WE ARE GOING TO OPEN THAT BOX NOW!!! ( I didn't understand the urgency). But I complied.

Much to my surprise, there was a baby shower in a box from MY GIRLS. The girls from my old hood. Heidi, Kara, Holly, Karen, Lori, Lindsay, Jessica (of course) and Amy, Leah and Whitney. I was OVERWHELMED with LOVE. These girls are the best support system that anyone could have and I love them so much. As I lifted each gift out of the box the urge to cry got stronger and stronger. They were so generous and showed so much love through a box! They also sent me an amazing gift card so I could shop to my hearts desire. I was overcome with a feeling of love and support from them.

The tough thing about moving is missing them. I have yet to find my niche here with girlfriends and I am in DEEP NEED because I have a birthday coming up that I need to CELEBRATE!

Girls, you made me feel so loved. Thank you so much for all your love, support and prayers. I miss you all tremendously, and love you all. I wish I could have moved you all with me. As a matter of fact, I am still holding out hope that some of you decide to move here :) I am sorry your box sat in my hallway for two weeks. I love you, and thank all of you!

All Dressed Up With No Where To Go. . .

Alright, I dreamt it. I am NOT REALLY having a baby. It is all just a fabrication... a LIE. (You could tell by the pictures of the bulging belly, right? I mean, that is CLEARLY just an over indulgence of COOKIE DOUGH).

That is how I am starting to feel anyway. The reality of having a baby seems to be getting further and further away. I know my widget (floating baby) is missing from my sidebar, but, I am still not to my due date (Due Feb 2nd) So, I guess I am being a little hasty, but, I had high hopes! After all, Wade was 10 days early and this baby is BIG and ready to come on out. She has been working on it for a while... (contractions everyday that never get close enough to time but are persistent enough to a-drive me crazy, b-make it so I can't sleep and c- make me feel the need to get everything "ready" to leave the house d-the answer is all of the above)

So, I have now cleaned my house for the 3rd time.. Yes, the THIRD TIME. All the bathrooms all the floors, dusting and all the laundry.. for the LOVE, CAN'T I JUST GO INTO LABOR?

I have not had a full nights sleep in two weeks.. Between having to go to the bathroom (every HOUR last night) or having persistent contractions that are JUST uncomfortable to keep me up. And now, I am so run down, that I have a dirty rotten head cold. No amount of Emergen "C" has been able to knock this puppy outta the park.. so, here I am... head cold and all.. still waiting.

I guess it has given me time to be more "prepared" maybe little "K" just was waiting until I finished her Initial for her room.

I got one of those paper mache letters from Joanne's and covered it with the fabric from her valance and soon to be dust ruffle.. Of course that is not done! It probably won't be until I officially move her in.. After all, Wade is inhabiting her room right now, and it is unclear as to when that transition will take place.
I also got her diaper bag ready. Is this not the CUTEST DIAPER BAG? Made by my one and only MIL quilter extraordinare! (Really she is) I got to pick out the fabric and VOILA, she delivered it on her last visit. SO cute, and just what I needed to carry K's stuff in.
Here is her bag all ready to go.. I guess all I need to do now is get her an invitation!!! I have head flower: CHECK! Go home outfit: CHECK! Booties from my SIL: CHECK! Super YUMMY ORGANIC SWADDLING BLANKIE from the sweet blogger Kelly. (She is so thoughtful, seriously, we have never even met in person!) She checked out my registry and SURPRISE! It showed up on my door step. Seriously sweet. The bag has a few other items. Chargers, Cameras, etc.

Now, ALL WE NEED IS BABY.

This belle is ready for the BALL! Clean bathrooms AND ALL! So, come on little baby.. come on out!

OH! I have given you a little Poll to entertain yourselves (some of you are checking my blog just to see if I have gone into labor yet.. checking my tweets... You are lovely, thank you for being excited for me) so, now, when you come to visit and find that I am STILL HERE, at least now you can VOTE... (You might as well have something to do while you are here, right? ) ENJOY!

Don't you LOVE winning???

I sure do, and I won THIS yesterday! I have only won ONE other thing in my life, so I feel pretty fortunate. Especially because she is going to be bed-bound for the next few weeks... PLENTY of time to put together my handmade item... RIGHT? Just kidding.. Happy recovery Mombabe.

So, part of the "winning" is that I am to PAY IT FORWARD



You know what that means, right? I am given to.... I give to someone else... then you give to someone else and SO FORTH! Well, it just so happens that I am capable of such a thing, and I know JUST what I am giving.. So, you wanna be IN on this one... Here are the RULES. Copied DIRECTLY from MOMBABE BINGHAM TOTALLY COPYWRITED AND EVERYTHING.

{The Rules}

--Be one of the first three bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.

--Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift for the first three bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

--The gift that you send to your Three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

--When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!

If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Please take the button and post it on your blog; start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

SO, REMEMBER... it is good... :) Pass it forward.

I ACTUALLY WON.

I enter giveaways.. SURE I DO! I am a hopeful person. I feel lucky... most of the time. But THIS TIME, I actually WON! I am the PROUD recipent of all of this,

Thanks sooooooooo much Calibosmom! It arrived today, perfectly packaged with no breaks or spills! You are the best!

Isn't the blogosphere GREAT?