December Daily Days 3-7

A few more December Daily pages (trying to catch up with the blogging!)

 

Day 3:  Teresa Collins Journaling Page + white cardstock.  Journaling reads:

If there's anything I can really claim to be AWESOME at, it's chocolate chip cookies.  I get rave reviews every year.  My secret?  Use the recipe n the back of the Nestle bag.  Delicious perfection, every single time.  My molasses cookies aren't too shabby either. 

Day 4:  White + craft cardstock, Cosmo Cricket papers, TC journaling card.  Journaling reads:

(left)  ...and there's more in the backseat.  (right)  Shopping for our holiday party this year exhausted me.  I hit Sear's, Boscov's, Wal-Mart in Dover, Sam's Club, + Wal-Mart in Camden all in about 3 hours.  My feet were killing me, but I got everything!

Day 5:  Cardstock + a digital template from Ali Edwards.  The inside of our party invitations, plus some pictures and a little journaling about this year's Shindig.

Day 5 + 6:  Another Ali Edwards digital template, tweaked just a bit to fit my pictures to continue day 5.  Making Memories papers for Day 6.  Journaling reads:

The best cure for a long night is a delicious breakfast the next morning - maple sausage, eggs, fresh bread, + oj.  A Sunday morning tradition.

Day 7:  An 8x8 photo, kraft cardstock + a diecut journaling block.  Journaling reads:

We saw some beautiful trees at the hospital last week, and I told Phillip that one year I wanted to decorate our tree entirely in blue + silver.  I saw these fabulous glittery ornaments and got 4 boxes.  They are sitting in punch bowls for now - festive!

Will hopefully get a few more days up soon.

Confession Time

I have a secret.

I'm going to give birth in 4-5 weeks. (Obviously, that's not the secret.)

Here it is:

I'm terrified.

In about a month, I'm going to transition from "that pregnant chick who can't see her feet" to "that new mom who has no idea what she's doing."

Yeah, scary.

I think I've been pretty good about the whole pregnancy thing. I haven't freaked out about anything, and I have generally enjoyed every moment, minus the vomiting in the beginning. That pretty much sucked, no matter how you look at it.

But now? Now I'm freaking out. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I like to have a plan. And the idea of giving up that control to someone who weighs 8 pounds is enough to make me have a small anxiety attack.

I know that it will be absolutely wonderful, and most of me can't wait for Tator Tot to get here.

But there is still that small part that is screaming, "Are you kidding me? A mom? You can barely get to work on time! You have no idea what you're doing! The last time you cared for a child for any length of time you were 15!"

I had the crazy thought that I should just keep the baby in my uterus. Because honestly? I think I'm pretty darn good at this pregnancy thing. I've managed to keep my baby safe and happy for 8 months now. And I see no reason why I should fix it if it ain't broke.

OK, I can think of a few reasons why that wouldn't work out very well. But still. I thought about it.

So Tator Tot, I love you, and I can't wait to meet you. But please be patient with me. I'm new at this, and I'm scared. If you could come out looking completely adorable (like I know you will) it would really help. Lots. And if you could cry when someone other than me holds you, I'd probably appreciate that too. (I realize that's ridiculously selfish, but I'm pretty much giving up all of my other selfish tendencies cold-turkey. Please let me have this one.)

Panic attack over. For now.

December Daily, Days 1 + 2

I haven't updated in a while, but I promise I have been ridiculously busy.  And super tired.

Thought I'd just jump right in with my December Daily, which I am keeping up with, even though I haven't posted anything.  Days 1-7 are complete, which quite honestly is better than I did last year.  (You can check out that book here.)

I went with a more simple red  + white + black + kraft theme this year, which I'm hoping will help the book feel more uniform.  I'm also doing a few digital pages this year.

Another change?  I didn't include any numbers!  I'm going to add them in as I go.  Turns out that was an excellent idea, because I've already switched a few pages around to better fit that day's story.

(Please ignore all the blurry pictures.  I don't have time for great pics this year.  Use your imagination, and pretend that I have a better camera.  It's on my Christmas list, don't worry.)

Cover of my 2009 album (American Crafts D-ring cloth album, 8x8).  Very simple, just two thickers.  And yes, that's an "O" not a "zero" because I ran out of zeros.

Next, the cover page.  All digital, I used a Jessica Sprague template + papers from her Holidays in Hand class.

The back of that page is another digital page, using an Ali Edwards template.  All about our annual trip to get our tree, and how Phillip gets to do the lights this year.  Here's the blank version (Teresa Collins album page, bazzill cardstock):

And here's the left-hand (digital) side:

And the right-hand side:

Next up, December 2nd.  Phillip doing outside lights.

Before (Teresa Collins journaling cards, Heidi Swapp overlay, October Afternoon black patterned paper):

Left side:

Right side:

More tomorrow!  I'm going to catch up a few days at a time.

This Weekend . . .

Our household has been kind of chaotic lately. Not Britney-Kevin chaotic, but still.

Here's a brief synopsis, starting with Thursday the 5th:

Thursday the 5th: Phillip called me at work to tell me his father died in the hospital - one day after his 52nd birthday. Complete liver failure (Please, if you're going to drink, don't do it to the extent that your liver can't keep up. It's an awful way to go, both for you and your family.) Phillip had to drive 4 hours home from Virginia that night. Very emotional.

Friday the 6th: Both of us home from work. Made a trip to the funeral home to plan for the next week. Spent a lot of time with family. My mom + grandma brought us lasagna. A ton of Phillip's friends came over to support him and just hang out. It was wonderful to see this close-knit group of guys, two of which have also lost their fathers in the past 3 years. A few of them helped to put our baby furniture together.

Saturday the 7th: Went to IHOP for breakfast and took Phillip + his brother for haircuts. More planning.

Monday the 9th: Viewing + funeral. Nice service by the minister who married Phillip + me. Good message about our sins being forgiven + effectively glossing over the past 3 years of his dad's life, which were honestly still at the front of everyone's mind, but not really the way we wanted to remember him.

Tuesday the 10th: Stayed at home with Phillip again. He's starting to get sick, probably from being completely run-down over the past few days.

Wednesday the 11th: I went back to work while Phillip stayed home. He + his brother met with a lawyer to work on the estate legalities. Mom went to labor class with me since Phillip was sick.

Thursday the 12th: Phillip went to the doctor. Antibiotics. He is miserable to be around when he's sick. Very whiney. I had a meeting with a new customer at work. Rainy all day long. Good news is that even though he was sick, Phillip was also very, very bored at home. I came home to a sparkling clean house!

Friday the 13th: Ominous, right? Still rainy. Phillip still sick. Breastfeeding class for me. I cried all the way home, something I hadn't really done at all throughout the last week. I was trying to be strong for my husband, but everything caught up to me all at once. Plus, I'm slightly emotional from the pregnancy.

Saturday the 14th: Surprise baby shower! This was definitely the highlight of the last few weeks. My family threw a wonderful shower for me + Tator Tot. We got a TON of stuff, most all of which is still sitting in the nursery in gift bags. I was completely exhausted afterwards, and pretty much crashed on the couch as soon as we got home.

Sunday the 15th: I'm drawing a blank. Told you I've been stressed/worn out.

Monday the 16th: Work, for both of us. First time Phillip's been to work in over a week. Found out that we were not registered for an infant care class like I thought we were. Freed up our night. Made, wrote, and sent out about 25 thank you cards for condolence notes we got.

Tuesday the 17th: Phillip traveling to Ocean City for Crop School. (Yes, you read that correctly. He had to renew his certification as a Certified Crop Advisor.) OB appointment in the morning. Doctor confirmed that I had a bruised rib and that there was basically nothing I could do for it but take Tylenol. Not helpful. Baby is still doing well, 140 heartbeat. My blood pressure is holding steady at 88/55. Normal for me.

Wednesday the 18th: Lots of driving for me today - visiting several customers to sign loan papers. Phillip drove back from OC to go to labor class with me. We had a tour of the hospital, which was fantastic. We're both really enjoying the classes. Talked a little bit about c-sections, which confirmed my thought that I want to go all natural, or as natural as humanly possible. Weird that the dentist freaks me out, but that I totally think I can manage labor. We shall see.

Thursday the 19th: Bad news. The job I applied + interviewed for over a month ago was offered to someone outside the company. So much for promoting + hiring from within. My consolation is that immediate boss seems pretty ticked about the decision too. Turns out she campaigned for me to get the position, which I certainly appreciate, even though it seems that it did little good. Oh, well. I do like my current job. I just thought I'd like that one better.

Friday the 20th: Right, that's today. All caught up.

Plans for the weekend: Finish invitations for our Holiday Shindig. Work on baby shower thank you cards. Christmas cards. Have Phillip pull down decorations from the attic so I can see what I want to get for this year. Make December Daily. Clean the house. Organize nursery/put stuff in the attic. Try not to stress myself out. Remember to relax.

Week in the Life 2009

I went all digital this year (with the exception of a few stories I'm going to elaborate on in paper format). Here's my 2009 Week in the Life Album:

The opening page for each day were adapted from a template by Jennifer Wilson for simplescrapper.com (Tabitha). The picture pages were adapted from a template by StarXLR8 for simplescrapper.com.

I loved this project again this year. My pages are already being processed, and I'm just going to slip them in an album when they come.

Happy Halloween!

From all 3 of us!

Hi My Name is . . .

Phillip & I went to wedding yesterday, and the whole time, all I could think about was how I wished I had a name tag. Or pre-printed business cards. This is what they would have read:

Yes, I'm pregnant. Obviously.
Yes, I know I'm getting "so big." Thank you for noticing :P
No, we don't know what we're having.
January 13th.
Yes, it will be here before we know it.
I had a raging case of morning sickness throughout the first trimester.
I feel fine now.
Yes, we're excited.
Yes, Phillip is the father.

(I'm totally kidding about that last one. No one questioned that. But what a great conversation starter, eh?)