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.

Ladies Night Turns Babies Night

So I remember a time when Ladies Night consisted of getting dressed up and hitting the town for some fun activities. Those days are long gone! On Friday night we had our monthly Ladies Night at the home of one of the girls that just had a baby. It is tradition to bring the new mom dinner and meet the new baby! This is a great tradition and tons of fun for everyone.

As I drove home after our meeting I realized our lives have completely changed over the last few years. We spent the evening talking about breastfeeding and the benefits of buying a minivan! YES! I just wrote minivan, there was a time in my life when I swore I would never drive one and now I am convincing my husband it is a luxurious choice for our family.

I wonder what we will be talking about in the next few years! It is amazing how quickly our lives are changing as we welcome husbands and babies into them. The most important thing is that regardless of where we are in our lives that we continue  Ladies Night  and support each other!