So I've decided....

....that I am going to use this blog as my scrap blog (mostly). There will still be a few things on here that make it personal, I'm just going to try to keep it separate as much as I can. It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me to make this a really personal blog when I have my project 365 blog which has become more of a personal blog for me. I'll share creative team info and all of my layouts here. :) Speaking of layouts, I have been getting so many done lately!! It's so nice to be able to scrap every single day during the day!! Naptime is awesome for scrapping. Well, unless I'm insanely tired and then I try to nap a little!! Being the one that gives Claire her last bottle of the night and then waking up in the middle of the night really tires me out!! Then since she's been stuffed up lately, she's not sleeping as late as usual. That's okay though - I wouldn't trade this job for anything in the world!! It's late tonight so I won't be uploading any layouts. Hopefully tomorrow I will!! Night!! And happy February!!

Birthday Girl x 2

This is for you, Carrie!! I know you've been wanting me to scrap this picture since we took it, so here you go!! I hope you like it!! :) Love you!! <3

Two to go!!!

Two more days to go!! I'm just so excited!! Nate and I are going out to dinner on Friday night to celebrate!! It's really strange to think that I won't be waking up at 5am everyday to get ready for work. I won't have to work any more weekends. I won't have to worry about traffic. I won't have to worry about driving in bad weather. I won't have to wake up on Sundays and completely dread Monday. With the good comes the bad though. It's definitely going to take some getting used to the fact that Nate and I won't be carpooling to work anymore. We won't be able to see eachother throughout the day like we do now. It's kind of bittersweet that the place that we met, the place that started our story is over for me. That's okay though. Being at home with our babies is better than anything and a decision that I would never in a million years regret. We can still talk and email during the day and I'm thankful for that. I know most couples don't have as much exposure throughout the day as we do, so it's something that we'll just have to get used to too. People have always asked us how we can stand to drive in to work together, see eachother at work and drive home together and not get sick of eachother. We've always wondered how we could possibly get sick of eachother. We think that we've been pretty lucky these past seven and a half years to have had the chance to spend so much time together. Even during the morning commute when we're not all that talkative it's still comforting just to be together. I will definitely miss my time with him.

I can't help but feel like this is the start of a new year to me. It's a fresh start for me and I couldn't be more excited. I can't wait to be able to have a routine that the girls and I can get into. It's so difficult when you're working full time and parenting to keep up with the household duties like you should. It's hard to keep up with laundry and it's very easy for the house to get messy and unkempt. I can't wait to be able to clean whenever I want and not have to spend so much time on the weekends cleaning the entire house. The weekends will be the time that we get to spend just relaxing with Nate. I think of all of the fun things that I can do with the girls when it gets nice. I am just so thankful that I get this opportunity to spend so much time with my babies. What an awesome gift!! I definitely am blessed!!

Last night was the season premiere of American Idol and I have to say that I don't think that I'll be all that into it this year. I'll give it a chance, I suppose. There are just some years where I'm not all that into it. The year that Jordin Sparks won, I wasn't into it at all. Loved it last year because I just loved David Cook. This year I guess we'll see. I wish I would have watched the Biggest Loser last night. That would have been better. I didn't get to Tivo it either because one of the satellites isn't working properly…we're getting this message saying that it's searching for signal on Satellite 2. Whatever that means.

Tonight Libby and I are making puppy chow. We made some for New Years Eve and she loved it so now she wants to make it again. I do want to make it, but I always end up eating most of it by myself. Those eleven pounds that I am below my pre-pregnancy weight are going to sneak on back up if I don't watch it!!

I got some cute videos of the girls last night. I was filming Claire being cute and smiley and cooing and Libby came in the room. I asked her to sing a song. She wanted to know which song, so I asked her to sing her favorite. She proceeded to make up a song called "The love of the Claire". It was entirely too adorable and Nate and I had it stuck in our heads the rest of the night. I'll have to upload the video to You Tube later!! It's too cute to miss!!

Well I don't have much else to say. I just wanted to take a few minutes to reflect on how I'm feeling right now since this is such an emotional, life changing, exciting time for me.

Just 3 work days to go...

....before I no longer have a job!! Wheeeee!! It feels so good to be able to say that. It's hard to believe that after working for so long I will finally not have to go to work everyday. I know I'll miss the people (some of them!!) but that's about it. Staying at home with my girls is the ultimate dream and what I believe will be the best job in the world!! I didn't think it they would, but these 2 weeks have just flown on by!! Thank goodness!! I still am trying to find the time to balance scrapping/blogging and spending time with Nate and the girls. One thing I have managed to keep up with is my Photo a Day project. I may not update this blog everyday but I have been updating my photo blog nearly everyday. Hooray for me!! I've also been updating Claire's photo a day site, so I'm doing doubly good!! :) The links are to the right in case you missed them!! Well, Claire's getting a bit antsy, so I'm going to try to get her to sleep now. Hopefully more very soon!!

Happy 2009

So I ended up taking the month of December off - both from blogging and scrapping. It was a crazy month. Aside from getting used to having a newborn in the house again, we had to deal with a sick newborn for a good part of the month. Libby didn't go to daycare all that much, but somehow in the short time she was there, she managed to get RSV. RSV and newborn babies less than 3 weeks old is a pretty scary thing. She ended up being admitted to the hospital for observation and then again for treatment (breathing treatments). All in all, she was there for about 3 days. What a long 3 days that was. Spending the night in the hospital is never fun, but it's especially not fun when your child is the reason you're there. With God watching over her, Claire made a wonderful recovery. She's healthy and thriving and we couldn't be more blessed. December also brought my dad visiting from Omaha. It just happened to be the exact week that Claire was diagnosed with RSV. It was a hectic time, but I was so happy that he got to come see Nate and I and most importantly, his 2 beautiful granddaughters. December also meant Christmas. What a special time that was. Libby really got into the Christmas spirit and excitement this year. Talk about fun!! It was so special this year to have our most precious Claire with us!!

So now it's a new year and lots of new and amazing things await us. What is so exciting to me right now is that tomorrow when I go back to work from maternity leave, I get to give my 2 week notice. Yes, I am blessed enough to get to be a stay a home mommy!! Nothing is more exciting than the thought of being able to stay home and mother my 2 babies. I have lots of other things planned that I would like to accomplish this year. I am hitting the Project 365 with full force this year and also 365 Days of Claire which is well underway. I am so motivated to keep better track of my family's memories and to be able to look back and see exactly what we were doing at any given time during the year. This blog is also something that I want to maintain on a very regular basis. So now it's time for me to go eat dinner and get Claire fed. I'll be back soon!!

Happy New Year!!

Introducing....

....Claire Olivia!!!
Our beautiful new little girl arrived November 24, 2008 at 1:02 p.m. She weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and was 19.75 inches long. She is amazing and beautiful and so very loved!! It all started Monday morning at around 7:10 a.m. I was laying in bed preparing for a long day of rest and relaxation when I had my first contraction. It definitely wasn't a Braxton Hicks contraction. It was in my lower abdomen and in my back too. I called Nate (he was already at work) and let him know. The contractions continued about every 10 minutes or so and lasted about a minute a piece. They were getting increasingly intense, so I called his mom (who works here in town) and let her know that I was thinking that maybe I might need to be heading to the hospital. I called the hospital and they told me that they wanted me to come in so they could hook me up and check things out. I took a quick shower and my mother in law picked me up at 9:30. We were at the hospital at 9:45. They put me in a gown, hooked me up and checked me right away. The nurse told me I wasn't going anywhere - that I was 5-6 centimeters dilated at that point. I was so surprised!! So at this point, Nate is on his way home and then to the hospital. He gets to the hospital at about 10:45. I was SO happy to see him!! Shortly after he got there, I got my epidural. That was really uncomfortable and not very fun, but oh did it help out!! I was having some serious back labor, so the relief was much appreciated!! I was a little worried because when I was in labor with Libby (at Anderson Hospital) I couldn't feel a darn thing with the epidural. I couldn't even move a muscle on my own!! With this one, I was still able to move my legs somewhat. At about 12:30 my doctor came in to check me and I was still about 6 centimeters. He decided to break my water then and told me he would be back in a few hours to check on me. I gave Nate the okay to go run to Dairy King and get some lunch with his mom. Seriously, not even 5 minutes after they left, I felt that uncontrollable need to push. I started to feel a little panicky, because I was worried they wouldn't be back in time. One of the nurses came in then and asked me how I was doing. I told her that I definitely felt the need to push. She checked me and sure enough I was completely dilated!! They started setting the room up and called the doctor. Just as I was dialing Nate's cell, he walked in. It was 10 minutes to 1 then. It took him about 4 minutes to eat and he was back. The doctor was still getting ready when they had me start to push. One push and there was her head. They suctioned her nose and mouth out. One push later there she was. What an amazing feeling it was. I am so glad that I wasn't 100% numb from the epidural because I got to feel the incredible experience of her birth. WOW. I was also overwhelmed because I actually got to hold her right away, unlike Libby. We got to do the skin to skin contact thing. It was so incredible and life changing. I'll post later about how things have been going this first week at home. I just wanted to get her birth story posted!! One of the coolest things about that day was that sweet baby Claire shares a birthday with her Aunt Carrie. What a neat thing that they'll always share!! I am so so happy that Claire made her entrance into the world when she did. She's such a blessing to this family of ours. She's so sweet and innocent and beautiful and our lives are so much better now and more complete now that she's in it!!

Could be any day now....

....It is amazing how anxious I am feeling right now!! Nate and I went to my doctor's appointment today and they ended up checking me (they said last week that I would be 38 weeks when they first checked me). Before the doctor came in, I made my prediction that I was only dilated 1 centimeter. She came in, my blood pressure was high. I knew it would be - it has been getting higher. I wasn't worried about it. She then checked Claire's heartbeat (150s - although it was right in the middle of a contraction so that's why it was that high). Then she checked me. I was absolutely shocked when she told me that I'm 3-4 centimeters dilated and 90% effaced. She said that because of the blood pressure they wouldn't let me go past 39 weeks. Awesome. So December 4th is the latest she will be here. Chances are likely that she will be a November baby. I can't even believe it. She also wrote a note that she wants me to stop working now. That's alright by me, especially now that I know how much progress I've made thus far. I would hate to go to work and be that close to going into labor and be 45 minutes away from the hospital!! She said once I reach 4-5 centimeters it would be considered active labor. Just pure craziness I tell ya!! Tonight we're going out to eat and then heading to Walmart to pick up formula, a bottle warmer (yep, Carrie, we thought about it and decided we're going to get one this time), some newborn diapers since the size 1s that we bought will likely be too big for her. We also need a bottle drying rack and baby wash and a couple of other things. Yikes!! I'm washing up the last of everything now and am getting the clothes together that I want to take to the hospital. That way I'm ready. It is so helpful to have my mother in law working in town. That way if I happen to go into labor while Nate is at work, she's right there and can take me. Nate will be taking Libby to daycare this week (except Thursday and Friday) so that will be good that she's there just in case. It's crazy how close it all seems now!! I know the original due date was only less than 3 weeks away, but this feels SO close!! Still no timeable contractions, so that's a good sign. I've just been taking it easy (as much as I can) and I'm hoping that I can keep her in there just a little bit longer.

Here's a page I finished this afternoon. I used Robin's new kit, Whoa!! SO much fun!!


And here are a few pictures I took of Libby earlier - gosh I love this girl SO much!!


That's all for now. I'm looking forward to just hanging out with Nate later this evening and relaxing and hopefully getting a full night of sleep!!