Born at Home

Wishful Toiling

2009-03-24T07:22:00.008-04:00

I have an addiction to toile and only one piece of it in my house! SHOCK! I have a boppy pillow with a toile cover that I just adore, but it isn't cutting it, friends.

Welcome to my post for the Toile Party, you can find the party over on the The Pretty Organized Palace.

So... I NEED new drapes for our living room, I NEED toile!!! I need affordable toile in neutral colors... I need a lot of fabric.
I went "window" shopping online and found a few to share... I like them either for their color combo or for their design... or when I get lucky, both!

I also need new bedding and if I could get the hubby to agree, I would absolutely be getting toile bedding! I used to have a pink and green toile duvet but that was when I was single and living on my own. DH (dear husband) wanted nothing to do with that. *sigh*

I found this on the target website.

Oh... and let's not forget kitchen toile. I would love to get a little mistreatment up on my window made out of this:
For now I dream...............

Promises... I promise not to make them empty...

2009-03-23T07:56:00.000-04:00

I promise that I will blog more :)
I promise that I will have interesting posts :)
I promise that I will get all of my pictures cleaned up and "post worthy", and
I promise to try and do that with out a heavy hand :)
I promise to post all the great crafts I have been working on :)
I promise to try my hardest not to make empty promises :)

Unfortunate Picture Announcement

2009-03-20T20:16:00.001-04:00

Prior to this post I have been getting comfortable with photoshop elements/cs3. (I really still am, but feeling a little better about things) Because of this, some - well most - of the pictures are over edited and harsh etc. While I will be going back into my personal files to adjust this and make them album worth, I may not ever get to changing them here.
Please don't hate me for it!

Easter Banner Preview

2009-03-20T08:22:00.010-04:00

I hope I am posting this correctly! I have digiscrapped an Easter banner. All that is left to do is print them out, cut them out, paste onto the cardstock I have here and string. I will be back to post the final product... here is the preview...
I have never done this before but I am going to try and post all of the pieces so that they can be saved and printed on your home printer.

The papers used in this project are from the kit "Apple of my Eye" by Jennifer Barrette.
Sorry I don't have the link to where I found this kit.
And the inspiration for this banner came from The Crafting Chicks where they posted a Birthday Banner and a Valentine's Day Banner.

I am going banner crazy!! Can't wait to try a Pennant Banner. I also saw a scrapped pennant banner but am having a hard time finding the link.

UPDATE: sorry everyone. I just realized that I saved the files as JPGs so they have the white background...

Making up for lost time

2009-03-05T08:16:00.003-05:00

I have so much to say today because it has been so long since I have written anything! First and foremost, I have a TON of pictures that I am editing and hope to have up in the next few days... HOPE being the key word here. Please don't hate me if it takes a week :)

I've missed my dad's birthday post which should also have been shared with one of my bestest friends, Suzanne, I missed one of my other bestest's birthdays, Jess, and one other, Lisa. I also missed my brother's and my two sister's birthdays. Is this an excuse for hardly blogging at all in almost 1.5 -2 months?! Am I forgiven? I have been really busy!!!

Yesterday the Little Lady had her 6 month well baby visit. She is now up to 16.4 lbs and 26 inches!! WOW! She is about 65% for weight and 75% for height. I find all of this amusing because Alex was up around 50% either at 6 or 9 months and now, at 2, he is 25%!! LOL. Big babies, little toddlers? I guess only time will tell.

I also don't think I have ever posted here how much I LOOOOVE matching babies, but seriously, it is an obsession. There is not much I love more than siblings who "match". "Match" as in look identical, not dress identical, although that is pretty cute too. I swore all my life to never dress my kids alike but something happens when you have your second, your mind goes a little loopy!
So... because I want you all to see what I see, here are my matching babies!
Here they are both about 4.5 months old, give or take a week.

Alex in April of 2007

Ellie in January of 2009

So, how about you? Do you love matching babies as much as I do?

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

2009-03-05T07:40:00.002-05:00

I totally missed the boat on this whole blog thing this past month or so... ooops :) Here we are on Valentine's day, all dressed up in our holiday colors!! It is too bad you can't see the Big Guy's shirt, it was cute!

In the spirit of love, here is something that I love. Her beautiful face!! Look at her fabulous eyes and soft features - aahhhhh *swoon*.

Here she is, loving being a little sister just about as much as I love her silly little grin. Seriously, there isn't much better than your babies smiling at you.

**disclaimer** I am sooooo sorry that the color on these pictures are off.... ooops

A Cracker on a Train

2009-01-27T08:33:00.000-05:00

My boy loves trains...

...and crackers...

...and crackers on trains.

They are the stars of his show, the highlight of his day.

And he is mine.

Just Another Temper Tantrum

2009-01-23T09:39:00.000-05:00

It took Alex less than 15 seconds to push his car into the kitchen, climb up onto it, scale up onto the counter and get into the spices. I like to catch him red handed rather then before he acts, so I waited to see what he would do... and this was how I found him.
Unfortunately for him, when you get caught doing things like this, you also get caught like this...

...in all his snotty, blubbery glory.

Poor guy.

Nothing that a little book can't fix...

...especially when followed immediately by a nap.

This looks like sitting...

...but it is really falling.

Thankfully after nap, everyone is a different person and we can see the day through bright and fresh eyes. Oh, we love you, new and happy Alex!

I Have 2 Questions...

2009-01-16T22:05:00.003-05:00

1. Who let me color my hair that color?! Seriously, what was I thinking and what were they thinking not telling me it looked that awful?!

2. Who did we think we were posing for this picture? I mean COME ON!? I can see my granny panties and the panty line!! Unreal.

Thank God I am not 20 anymore.... I have come a long way. I also can't wait until I am on the verge of 36 looking back at myself now saying, "what the hell was I thinking?!".

Snow Tubing

2009-01-11T08:46:00.002-05:00

It was yet another snowy day around here, another 6 inches or so of snow. Alex got lucky because Hugo got off of work early tonight - meaning Ellie could stay inside all snuggly and warm with her Papa and Alex could go out and get pulled around our complex on the snow tube.

He was so excited to be heading outside right at bed time and he had no idea that I was going to pull the snow tube out of the car.

When I took the snow tube out and started pulling him around he was laughing so hard!! He loved it. I took him on a little hill and let him go down, took him down little steps so they acted like jumps, I thought he was going to cry he was laughing so hard.

Neither of us wanted to go inside but Ellie was hungry and it was well passed Alex's bed time. Being a milkbar means I am on call 24-7, the things we do for our babies!

Antenna Toes

2009-01-09T08:25:00.005-05:00

Alex was born with some silly toes.

His 2nd toe is on top of his other toes. When he was an infant it would stick up in the air like an antenna, thus Antenna Toes. At first I thought they were weird. Then I just thought they were funny. After a while I just fell in love with them. They make him unique.

And at certain angles, he can even pretend he only has 4 toes!

When Ellie was born I was facing into Hugo's lap, he was sitting on the bed and my midwife was behind me (I was squatting - sort of). When Ellie actually came out, my midwife put her between my legs, I guess I was supposed to pick her up like all those moms do in the homebirth pics and videos... but I couldn't. I was still in pain and I didn't have the energy in my legs to not support my upper body with my arms (at this point, my hands were on the floor on either side of Ellie). I just stared at her, and specifically her toes. I was so hoping that she would have the same silly toes that Alex had. It would be something they would bond over, giggle over and hate together, I thought it would be awesome. At first glance I thought that she did have them, but later on it became clear she got Hugo's toes - where the 2nd toe is longer than the big toe. Now, I guess, this will just be ammunition that they will use against each other.

Hugo's Birthday

2009-01-07T08:55:00.000-05:00

Alex got to decorate his first birthday cake today for Hugo's 24th birthday. Yes, friends, I am a cradle robber. Not only did he help with the icing, he stabbed the middle of the cake with the spatula and stuck his fingers into random places in the cake. He absolutely loved putting on the sprinkles, although, he got a little excited and dumped them all in the center towards the end.

He did his duty as the chef and sampled things along the way. Surely to ensure the safety of those planning on comsuming his masterpiece.

Between tastes he did, in fact, decorate the cake a little bit.

And of course, sampled it a few more times.

One last taste before Papa got home from work. We don't mind his feet!!

Stools for the kiddos

2009-01-05T08:15:00.005-05:00

My kid had a birthday party to go to for twin boys. I whipped these stools up in no time at all!! Really, they weren't all that difficult. Paint - two or three coats, rub on decals, stencil, outline, sealant.

Kids will use them as little tables for themselves to sit at then maybe their stuffed toys then as tunnels for cars and trains and boats or hiding places for little figures then as they get bigger and need to reach things they can use them as stools. No matter how, they are very useful for the little guys.

Put the Fire Out

2009-01-04T23:02:00.001-05:00

My mom has some how accumulated all of these toys, from friends, I guess, for the kids to play with. One of the most endearing toys is this small fire truck with a button on top. When you push the button the truck drives forward and the lights flash and it plays music. First, before it starts the music it screams out, "PUT THE FIRE OUT", and then proceeds on with this porn-esque tune... and ends with a doon doon. Lovely. Alex loves it, really really loves it. I hate it - because Alex loves it.

*** ♥ ***

Of course, being 2 is very hard work. It consists of a lot of fighting, asserting, whining and crying. My two year old is an expert at testing his boundries. For me, that means that I have a choice. Move out or take pictures of the meltdowns. Some days I come very close to moving out. I just love this little barrel of fun too much to leave him yet.

FREE BABY CARRIER

2008-11-28T17:04:00.001-05:00

Win a Free Organic Embroidered Ergo Baby Carrier Hands Free System from Along for the Ride

Eleanor Isabel

2008-09-28T10:39:00.005-04:00

Eleanor Isabel was born at home on August 25, 2008 at 2:04 pm. She weighed 6lbs 11ozs and was 2.5 weeks early.

My contractions started Sunday morning around 5am and continued for most of the day until they tapered off into nothing... unless I was moving around. So Val (my midwife) told me to just use that time to relax, sleep that night and see what happened in the following days. She had originally told me that more than likely they would stop because I was still significantly early. At 8pm they started up again, but I tried to get sleep anyway. I was up all night, resting when I could, but not much. Around 5am I gave up and just went into the living room to read my book, but I couldn't even do that. The contractions were getting strong but I was so scared this was going to be a repeat of Sunday... until the bloody show started at 6:30am. I was pretty sure at that point this was it.
I spoke with Val around 9:30 and she said that she would be over within the hour and the day just went on from there. Contractions all day... walking up and down the stairs to speed them up, in and out of the shower, work work work. It was hard, but doable!!!
Around maybe 1:00pm Val asked if I wanted to check my cervix, just because my water hadn't broken, I was starting to crap out a little and she thought it would give me a second wind. I was at 9cm and Ellie was RIGHT there, but still with an intact bag. She told me that when the ctx came and I felt the urge to bare down, it would help with moving the baby down and getting the bags to maybe rupture. It didn't work. I was on the stairs, having what felt like one continuous contraction and near tears with the pressure. I have heard that when you are in transition you feel like you can't do it anymore. Thankfully that never happened for me. I always knew I could do it. However, at one point I told Val that I felt like if I pushed my body would split in half. She told me to stop holding back. So I did. And I pushed. And my water still didn't break.
We decided it was time to get set up in the room because Ellie was coming sooner rather than later. I was squatting at the end of the bed on the floor with Hugo supporting me and we pushed a little bit. Ellie just wasn't budging much because of the amniotic sack, so we decided to go ahead and break it. That was PAIN!!! She told me it was a really strong bag, but what do I know? I pushed about 2-3 more times, 6 minutes, and Elllie was born!!! It was amazingly fast, and so surreal.... but it was hard. I could feel everything, her head, her shoulders.... the relief when it was over. Amazing!!
Ellie was born weighing 6lbs 11ozs is 19.25inches long! only 2 weeks and 3 days early! So little compared to my 8lb 8oz 21.5 inch boy! I had one teeny tiny tear and felt like Icould do anything a couple hours later. It was so nice to be able to eat immediately, shower immediately, and to be at home.
Oh, and as for Alex.... When he first saw her he gasped with shock... I know he was in love immediately. He wants to be on top of her all the time, kissing, hugging, bringing her pictures to look at...