Projects

I have been working on several projects lately, some long term and large and some within the foreseeable future. I tend to take on lots of things to fill my "spare" time, not that there is much of that with Little literally trying to RUN around. But I have found several things that I enjoy and look forward to working with on a continual basis. As I have mentioned Knitting is one of those things and I have found a new love for cross-stitch. My mother-in-law does a beautiful job making stockings among other things and I thought I would try my hand at it and have found it to be something I enjoy attempting.

I finished a knitted ruffled scarf yesterday. It is dark brown and pink and it turned out really well! Now I want to make a hat that matches, just for the future happenstance that I may in my lifetime give birth to a little girl (we're thinking we're more of the boy making variety since my last miscarriage was a boy and then we had Little).

A "project" that had been in the works for a while was finally leaving Little with a sitter long enough to go to the Temple and enjoy a session without panic overtaking both Husband and I and giving up and turning around before we even reached the parking lot. It has now been accomplished and we are hoping to make it more of a regular occurance.

On the actual craft Project front, I have finally started using my Cricut that I got for Christmas and Little is going to have a birthday with the most fun signs and invitations - Hopefully I will be able to post his invites after they have been sent out so I don't ruin the fun for any recipient.

I have also started back into knitting my grandmothers famous baby booties - they don't come off and are so snugly cute. I made Little 3 pairs and that is what he wore for the longest time. Now that I am a more experienced knitter I am hoping to make some with more complex color schemes (i.e. stripes, different colored soles) and just stockpile them 'til we bring forth another Little or until I have reason to give some away as gifts.

I'm trying to get back into blogging more regularly, so as I try to dedicate my time to all the things I find very important in my life I will be attempting to be here more regularly with well-crafted posts.

Remembering 2008

I have been thinking about all the changes that happened in 2008 for me and Husband and Little. And while they may not seem momentous, they have changed our lives, for better or worse.

In {2008}

Husband and I moved into our apartment 30 minutes away from school and most family. (only downstairs from some family).

Husband and I made plenty of trips to the emergency room with false labor and those darn tricky braxton hicks contractions, among other pregnancy related lovlies like a shortening cervix, bleeding, very little fetal movement (lazy Little!) and a really bad case of heartburn that I thought was labor...

Husband and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary by going and getting an amnio and realizing that we would deliver our Little three years to the very day after we were married.

Husband and I welcomed Little into our lives with open arms.

I recovered from a c-section delivery and battled with my pregnancy pounds (lost 22 lbs of water weight in 2 weeks).

I rejoined Weight Watchers and took my family with me!

I started and FINISHED two classes at school and got good grades!

Husband started his 2nd year of Ph.D. education.

Husband submitted his first article for publication in a peer reviewed journal.

Husband started and stopped(due to school demands) an outside Therapy gig.

Little ate and slept and pooped and cried. Then he smiled, cooed, laughed, ate solids, got 4 teeth and began crawling and enjoying all the many adventures around him.

Little said his first word "Peh Pah" our little dogs name.... so much for Mama or Dadda.

I reached Lifetime status at WW and continued losing....

We made several life changing decisions, with the help of the divine...

Husband and I started reading scriptures to Little every night (sometimes only three or four verses, but we did it).

Husband and I eliminated violent and innapropriate media from our home to set an example for our children.

We suffered with those around us who suffered and grieved for their struggles and losses.

I watched my father struggle with a year long health battle requiring over 200 days in the hospital...and I watched him beat the D#%^ thing and I am grateful for his life!

I watched my mother change careers and succeed tremendously and flourish in her new environment.

I realized how very important life is to me, not just my own but all those I care for and love.

2008 was a year in the trenches for my entire family and we made it through on the other side stronger, with more intense and concrete testimonies of the gospel and conviction that cannot be removed from us.

I guess if I was looking for a year of positive changes made, I definately got what I was looking for and I am eternally grateful for all the blessings I have recieved! They have not come to us without trials to prove our determination and faith but we have recieved blessings and we are thankful for the entirety of our experiences.

Welcome to 2009...what are you going to bring us this year?

Resolute!

As the new year approaches every year I wonder why we use it as such a momentous celebration? Is there really any difference in one day that makes it so amazing because a number changed in the year. It causes me confusion for the first 6 months of the year when writing checks and filling out paperwork and for that reason alone it is slightly disconcerting. But when I really think about it I find that it is a marker in time, an opportunity to start anew with a resolute determination to fulfill your dreams and set new goals.

I hope that my 2009 will be filled with the following:

Love

Happiness

Family Fun

New experiences and opportunities to learn

A growing family

Weight Maintenance

Fulfilling relationships and growing friendships

and a great resolution found here....

to be more {becoming}

in speech in thought in deed in love

Via www.mormoninmanhattan.blogspot.com

Be Resolute - What do you hope for in the coming year?

Holiday Cheer

In the rush that is Christmas preparations I took some time to bake. Yes many would not call this a break, but I do, especially when my life has been hectic and busy while knitting for gifts, making mistakes on knitted gifts, reknitting gifts, making ornaments, making deliveries and keeping the house clean for guests of all kinds. Add in to this equation some nice driveway shoveling and salting and basically freezing to the bone and you've got about the stress level I've been experiencing lately.

A bright spot in my last few weeks was when I stepped on the scale at my weekly WW meeting and I had lost 2 lbs! That was nice and completely due to the 5 points per day that I dropped because of how much solid food Little is eating, therefor decreasing my nursing calorie expenditure. I am only 3 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight and that is just the best feeling.

I am now getting ready for the final rush to wrap all the gifts that I have purchased and finish all the lofty projects I have started. And I just got the best present of all - My sister who lives upstairs just got a snowblower! No more shoveling for me! It has been a good workout, but my back muscles will thank me later.

And after this holiday rush I will take the time to put together a yearly greeting and send it out, whether it be via email or the snail variety. I say yearly greeting because I hesitate to say holiday because it may not be around the holidays that it arrives. But I look forward to making this card and adding some nice photos to my collection of family pictures.

12 Days of Christmas Baby Mama Style

The Husband and I decided to {splurge} and provide the 12 days of christmas for a family in our area. The prospect of doorbell ditching someone (the same someone) for 12 days in a row did not seem so daunting, that was until we realized there were young boys in the house that sprint faster than we do {especially in the SNOW}.

So far the goods delivered to our 12 Days house have been pretty easily pulled together but as the number escalates so does the difficulty of finding a coordinating {insert anything here}. And we have run into the problem of me wanting to make double of everthing so I can have one for myself. The process of deciding who we were going to bestow our deliveries upon was quite a trial, we love to give and we couldn't decide until {the night before} who it was going to be. We finally decided and made our first terrifyingly exciting jaunt into the cold night air.

I wrapped Little up tight and we waited in the car while the Husband {ran} through the snow after depositing the gift on the stoop and doorbell ditching. We didn't expect to feel like such teenagers with the rush that we felt after committing such a {crime}. And we almost got caught! We should have ordered up floor plans for the intended house or something because those kids made it to the door faster than Husband could reach the end of their walkway. Luckily Husband had on his nifty disguise of {a grey hoodie and his winter hat} to keep them from knowing who it really was.

The gifts for these 12 days have been very fun to come up with. We decided that for our first day we would give a {special ornament} featuring a swaddled baby Jesus. The second day was a 2 liter of Pomegranate 7up (delicious and fresh tasting). The third day we delivered 3 special ornaments featuring a clay polymer ornament I made, a cross-stitched pillow ornament I made, and a gold bell.

On the fourth day we delivered {Chocolate covered candy canes}. On day number five we delivered my childhood favorite Chocolate Waffle Cookies now affectionately deemed {Wookies} by the Husband. On Day number 6 we delivered a box of Swiss Miss with a cute little elf/gnome made by my sister-in-law. Our house guests (the Husbands cousin and adorable wife and little boy) were so kind as to help us in our deliveries and it made it all the more fun for day six and seven.

On day number seven we delivered 7 pairs of knit gloves, the ones I used to wear as a child and accidentally leave in the {snow}. On day number 8 we left my favorite fruit (competeing with pomegranates), mini {clementine oranges}. On Day number nine we delivered 9 glass ornaments perfect for embellishing a tree just right. And seeing as today is day number 10 I will have to fill you in later on what we are leaving tonight.

Our chosen family left us a note that brought me to tears. It was simple and humble and grateful and brought to my heart the true {spirit of Christ} and giving. I hope that we can do this every year to show our children how wonderful it is to give to others. We have a very awesome day 12 planned so you will have to {come back} and check it out.

I will post the waffle cookie recipe later if someone leaves a comment that they want it. I also have a stuffed pasta shell recipe that is low point and will be appearing here later. It was {DELISH}!

Weight Watchin' and it feeels so good!

I will never forget the first day I walked into Weight Watchers and discovered all the ways I could make myself a healthier, happier person. And even through all the ups and downs (literally) I have stuck with it and for the first time I reached my lifetime weight! That momentous day was back in October and I have since maintained and even lowered my wieght a little more by following the flex plan that has worked so well for me all these years. Whisperings in our weekly meetings have been that there were changes on the horizon and today when I stepped to the scale (I still weigh every week so I can stay right on top of that!) My cute leader handed me new materials for the Weight Watchers Momentum Program 2009. So it felt kind of funny being back at square one refiguring my points (which they have changed for nursing mothers in a very positive and helpful way) and learning how to incorporate some techniques from core plan (which I had been so hesitant to try) into my flex life, which I guess is now my life full of momentum!

I'm excited for the changes and improvements and I always love conquering a challenge. When I talk to people at meetings and they look at my 5'6" frame at my happy lifetime weight they tend to immediately judge me and decide I must not have had that much to lose. I can attest to the fact that getting healthy after weighing 265 lbs. is a struggle! It took me 2.5 years to get down to within 10 lbs. of my lifetime weight and within my healthy BMI range. After 2 miscarriages and a successful pregnancy and birth in which I managed my food intake pretty darn well I have finally battled a great number of my food demons and they only rarely rear their ugly heads! We'll see where this new program takes me over the next few months and all the while I'll be trying to discover all the new little details of how I can become even more healthy.

If you are interested in joining me and lots of my family that I have recruited into the WW way of life click here and learn how you can journey to a healthier place in your life!

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway at Design Mom

One of my oh-so-favorite blogs is hosting a 12 days of Christmas giveaway. She has the most splendid giveaways(and posts) EVER! Click the link below to check out Design Mom's giveaway coming up this weekend!

The graphic above will take you to her site when you click on it!

Just click away and find out why all the rest of us are so addicted to Design Mom's blog!