Birthday Boy- Then & Now!

April 5, 2011

Happy Birthday Joe! I can't believe it has been a year! You have been such a wonderful blessing. We had a great day playing on our new swing set and eating ice cream cones. I will share photos from today of  soon but I wanted to put a photo of Joe & I a year ago today!

April 5,2012

A Year Ago Today!

April 4, 2011 My last pregnancy photo!

      Last year at this time I was calling my husband to take me to the hospital for the delivery of our son. I would love to tell you a dramatic story about contractions or my water breaking but none of that happened. I guess I should start at the beginning. Two days earlier I woke up and knew that my water had not broken and I had not wet my pants, but I was somewhere in between. So I called the doctor and was told to go to the hospital ( I could not believe this, I was in tears, I was not ready). After about three hours at the hospital it was determined that my water had not broken and I was to go back home!
     Fast forward two days, I was in the kitchen getting ready to go to my non-stress test and my dog was freaking out at me. Keep in mind I had been leaking fluid for two days. So I decided to try the little strip that doctor had given me at the hospital ( the doctor gave me a a little slip to test the fluid to determine if it was amniotic fluid so we didn't have more false alarms), the strip immediately changed color. So off to the hospital! I was excited this time, I had been having a lot of low back pain.
    I had been getting ready to eat breakfast when all of this drama occurred, but I poured it out because our birth class said it was not a good idea to eat during labor, BIG MISTAKE! It is not a good idea to eat during active labor, I was not having any contractions, and once you get to the hospital they only give you ice pops.
   At the hospital I was checked again and again the doctor did not believe my water had broken. Instead they decided that I had a high leak that started on Saturday, so I was staying. I got into bed and the started pitocin. This was fine I was feeling great. To give you a timeline it is a about 9:30 AM on April 4, 2011. I spent the rest of the morning relaxing and wishing I ate breakfast.  Around 1:00 PM they decided to break my water and that was when I thought I would die.
  At that at time I was ready for the room to be empty, I wanted to see no one. I decided it was important for all parties involved that I get my epidural. Once that occurred life was good again. I spent the afternoon and evening in good spirits. I was no longer in pain but I was hungry. I did not start to get grumpy until about 9:00 PM,  I felt like the labor was going no where. I was 3 cm when I got to the hospital and I may have been about 6 cm around this time.

My sister and her husband.

   I believe I finally hit 10 cm around midnight but they wanted to give me another hour so the baby would be lower in the birth canal. Finally, at around 1:30 AM I was allowed to start pushing. It was a miracle or so I thought. After about two hours of pushing I no longer thought the pushing was a miracle. I was just wondering if I would ever see my baby. We had been through several episodes of American Pickers, and there was nothing on TV at this point ( I had a wonderful epidural I was not in pain so we were watching TV in between contractions). I do remember my nurse telling me that if the baby did not come in the next hour, we may have to look at some interventions. It was 3:30 AM, I knew that this baby was not coming through my pushing, so I basically watched time tick away for the last hour. Finally, around 4:20 AM the doctor came in and he was going to try and use the vacuum to help me get the baby out. At 4:39 AM Joseph was born at 7lbs 13.6oz.
     This was the most challenging day of my life and I would not change a minute of it! Check back tomorrow for picture of Joe from then and now!

Chalkboard Wine Glasses

Well, it has been almost a month since I created these glasses but I am still excited to share them with all of my fans! Wait, I don't have a single fan! It doesn't matter I am still gonna share. I decided to create a chalkboard tray and set of wine glasses for my sister-in-law, for her 30th b-day! She loves to entertain and I love giving gifts from the heart.

The first step was  finding the tray and glasses. I found the tray and glasses at Target. My Sis-in-law has a beautiful white kitchen so I searched high and low for this tray! In addition I bought a can of chalkboard spray paint, set of stencils, and painters tape.

For the tray I used the painters tape and old newspaper to cover the areas that I did not want to paint. This was easy.

 The glasses on the other hand were not nearly as easy. The first time I taped the stencil to the glass and covered everything I did not want to paint with newspaper. I thought this was brilliant, but the squares did not turn out exactly how I wanted them to. If you don't mind fuzzy lines or wanted to add a border to your glass I would recommend this way of doing it. It was quick and easy to complete.

 Take 2, I was determined to get the straight lines that i had imagined (lucky I bought extra glasses in the event I made a mistake). This time I cut the pattern out of painters tape and stuck it to the glass, then I covered everything else with old newspaper. This approach was  more time consuming but I do believe the final product was worth the time.

 I think the tray turned out great! This was easy and a great way to tell guests what you are serving.

 Below are some of the final shots of the glasses. I did have my husband use a razor to help create some super straight lines.

 This is the final product gift wrapped and ready for the party. I added a bottle of wine to finish the gift and I wanted to get chalk and write Happy 30th Birthday on the tray but I forgot to get the chalk! I least I remembered the wine!

More! Diaper Cakes!

Well,  I know it is hard to believe but I do have more diaper cakes!

 The diaper cake above was the one I gave my sister after she had her baby boy Declan Charles  in November 2012!

This diaper cake is still waiting for a home! I had to make a boy and girl cake because my sister did not find out what she was having!

Another Diaper Cake!

Here is one of my favortie Diaper Cakes. I made this for one of my husband's co-workers

Diaper Cakes

 This a Peter Rabbit themed Diaper Cake I made for my sister's baby shower.

This is the first Diaper Cake I made and I actually sold it! If only I could get more sales!

This a Shark Diaper Cake I made for one of my friend who had a beach themed shower.

This cake was made for my cousin-in-law for her baby boy David.

This cake was made for my cousin-in-law for here baby girl Jenna.

So, I have decided to share some of my Diaper Cakes with my D2D groupies! Well, I am not sure how many groupies I  have but I think these cakes turned out cool!

My new love!

So, I have no idea where I have been for the last several weeks but I have found a new love and I wanted to write about it. Pintrest- I love it! If you have not checked it out then you need to give it a try. It is my new addiction and what I do when I should be working or cleaning.