Its all good…

Our little man is here! Maxwell was born at 11am on Tuesday, July 29th with a routine repeat c/section. He is 8lb.5oz. and 19.5 inches - he is eating great and sleeping really well. We’re hoping this isn’t just a trend while we’re in the hospital Here is the birth story…

So I was scheduled to go in at 8:30am for a 10:30 section. We did get sleep the night before, but I woke up at 5:30 anxious for the day to start. We got to the hospital, got all checked in and into our room. We met our nurse, Aileen, who was really nice and very reassuring that everything was going to be okay. I was actually doing pretty well anxiety-wise until they put the catheter in. That sucked. They do it before the spinal here becuase they don’t want to waste the anesthetic time on a procedure that can be done without it. So after that, I was just scared and quiet in my bed, I cried a little bit because of my worries and it was time to go in. All of the nurses and doctors were laughing and joking and trying to get me in a good mood - I love that about my hospital. We brought our ipod with a mix I made for the OR and they played it for us.

We got into the OR and Gordon had to go wait while they prepped me and it all started to really hit me. I got very nervous with the spinal and the anesth. was great. I had two actually - the guy who did the spinal and then another one who regulated everything during the surgery. They were both awesome and congratulated each other on a great spinal, LOL I was sooooo nervous. Everyone was trying to reassure me - and then the procedure started. I kept apologizing for being such a wimp and scared My docs were talking about a vacation that one of them had just been on - it’s so funny that it’s just like being at the office for them, it makes me feel better. Then the pushing and pulling started. Man, this kid did not want to come out! He was snuggled in really tight, so it took them a good five minutes to get him out. He came out pink and crying and it was sooooooo cool. I could hear him cry for about five or ten seconds before they brought him around the drape for us to see. I didn’t realize until that moment how worried I was about him being healthy. I had been so focused on the surgery, the anxiety of his well being hit me all at once and he was perfect.

After he was out, dh and Max went off to the nursery to get cleaned up a bit and I was left for closing. I had thought I’d want to be knocked out for closing. After Max and dh were gone, I started to get a bad headache and other than that, I was okay. Anesth. gave me something to fix me up and I joined in on the vacation conversation my doc’s were having. Then we all were talking about where we were from, turns out my nurse and I grew up on the same street, although she is my mom’s age.

Oh - and something cool I thought was to get me from the operating table back to my bed they had this blow-up matress thing that they inflated and just slid me over on, then deflated and removed. It was really cool. I was sort of worried about being picked up and put on the other bed, but this was so easy for everyone.

They wheeled me back to my room and my nurse, mom and sister were there. The docs and all my ‘team’ came by and said goodbye and that I did a great job - checked on me and gave me hugs My nurse worked on helping manage my pain and nausea and I just love drugs heheh… DH came in with Max and he was so beautiful! I couldn’t see him that well in the OR, so my first real look was when I got to hold him. He nursed pretty well, it was maybe an hour after his delivery at that point and he’s been a good little eater ever since. He sleeps a lot, which is nice. It took him about a day to open his eyes

They took out my catheter and took off my comperession socks yesterday and I started walking around. The afterpains are way worse than the incision pain. I was in a morphine/percoset haze until I switched to Tylenol-3 yesterday and I’m finally lucid and not constantly ready for a nap. I was able to get up and walk around the ward a bit yesterday, and am finally getting my appetite back, which is good for both me and Max. He is such a little cutie and good little man - we are hoping to go home tomorrow as long as we get the okay from the doc. I finally get my hep-lock (IV) out today, so I will be free from any wires/tubes YAY!

and counting til the hopeful arrival of McLovin’ - that’s just his nickname by the way, this kid will have a proper name at some point   We’ll be heading to the hospital at 8 tomorrow morning and as long as I don’t get bumped, surgery will be 10:30.  I am scared out of my mind - so much so that the fact that there will be a new person in my life tomorrow is an afterthought.  So, if you get the chance, please say a little prayer or a positive thought that everything goes well   See you in a while, internet friends!!

From Robin Cabana’s blog…  cause i’m in the mood - you can only answer with one word.

1. Where is your cell phone? kitchen
2. Your significant other? bobo
3. Your hair? ponytail
4. Your mother? sailing
5. Your father? tv
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? baby
8 Your favorite drink? coke
9. Your dream/goal? happiness
10. The room you’re in? bedroom
11. Your hobby? computing
12. Your fear? death
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? busy
14. What you’re not? sad
15. Muffins? chocolate
16. One of your wish list items? lenses
17. Where you grew up? ct
18. The last thing you did? ate
19. What are you wearing? nightgown
20. Favorite gadget? laptop
21. Your pets? wrigleylullamrp
22. Your computer? three
23. Your mood? happy
24. Missing someone? no
25. Your car? toyota
26. Something you’re not wearing? socks
27. Favorite store? target
28. Like someone? everyone
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? tonight
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

Hey Everyone!

I don’t think I’ve talked about this yet - but one of the things that Prima debuted at CHA in Chicago was their new RFH concept. These are DVDs that coordinate with our collections! It’s quick pages, wordart, digital papers and all of it is designed to incorporate digital and physical products so you have easy hybrid! Hopefully Josie will be able to explain it better when she’s on Terri O Radio today at 1:22 pm PST. I’ve never listened to the show before, but plan to today, for sure! You can even call in and ask questions! Here is the info…

Click here to get to the show and if you want to call in and talk to Ms. Josie yourself the number is 877-474-3302

And here is a peek of what is on my {YOU}TH DVD…

(i think if you click the image and get to flickr, you can choose all sizes and see it much larger than here…no promises though, i don’t know much about flickr, i’m so behind the times!! )

I heart Christian Bale…

I fell in heart with him in the movie Newsies - a Disney musical about newspaper boys where he sings and dances.   A far cry from The Dark Knight, which my friend Tery and I went and saw last night.  Since time for me to go and see movies is running short, we made some last minute plans to hit the local cineplex for their bargain night (only 6.00!) and see this movie.  I really like superhero action flicks and with my whole Christian Bale crush, it is the perfect combination.  Wow - this movie was crazy.  It was almost too much.  At two hours and forty-five minutes long there were some things that I felt could have been left out and it would have been okay - but I can see their need to make an epic.  Everyone in the movie was fabulous, Heath Ledger was a special sort of crazy.  I mean, the man did an amazing job with the acting, obviously embodying the role, but whoever wrote this movie is twisted.  Seriously.  I was a little afraid I’d have nightmares from this one .  Anyways - I’m hoping to maybe make it Mamma Mia also before McLovin’ comes, but who knows!

Only six more days til the big McLovin’ Day.  10:30 am on Tuesday the 29th is the time - I had my doctor’s appt the other day and the reality is all setting in, along with panic and anxiety.  I am most nervous about everything that happens after they take the baby out.  Last time, with Alex, they knocked me out because I was uncomfortable and once the baby is gone and dh with him, it’s just like me chilling with the anesthesiologist and although they’re usually pretty cool people - I’m not that patient a person.  So I sort of hoping to be knocked out again this time, but that means that I’ll be out of it a bit.  Should I try and suck it up?  Or just get some blissful relaxing drug-induced rest before the real hard stuff starts?  Oy decisions…

I’ve been trolling for pics of my stuff from CHA and I finally found some!  There are two Flickr photostreams that I found that have a plethora of shots from the show…

Jackiebogert from Lifetimememories.com had some good ones - these are hers of my clear kit stamps…

and a pic of the full display wall of the {you}th collection - (please note that these papers are shiny because they are prototypes and the actual sheets will be matte cardstock)

there’s papers, epoxies, brads, rubons and flowers.  There are also two transparencies that coordinate and one of the clear kit-club frames coordinates too.  Here’s a closeup of the collection accessories -

here is a closeup shot of a layout one of the flower girls did with the {you}th collection -

and then this pic is from shoppingdiva’s flickr and is all of the clear stamps i did for this show -

Cool, huh?  I can’t wait to get some of these in my hands!  I hope that people liked them enough to order and we’ll be seeing them in stores at some point…although most of the LSS’s around me are closed now   So sad…

Yeah, it’s just about too darn hot to do about anything around here right now.  I am lucky we have air conditioners cause this enormously preggo woman would be seriously in trouble right now if it weren’t for those machines!  They’re working overtime today to keep the house at a cool 70 degrees whilst it is a mere 100 outside.  Ick!  We do try and get outside a little everyday though, so this is what we did outside today…

That’s Alex being a goofball on his little waterslide   Ooo oo and I got a new camera for my birthday!  It’s a point and shoot Canon Powershot Elph.  My old P&S is permanently f’ed up from when I let Alex play with it one day.  What was I thinking?  I ask myself that probably at least once a day.  Anyways - I’ve been hoping to get a new one for a long time and a friend of mine got the elph for her bday and as soon as I tested it, I asked Gordon for one for MY bday.  I didn’t think I’d get it though, since we’re trying not to spend too much money these days, but he spoils me   I’m a lucky girl.  So this lil’ camera rocks because I can just slip it in my purse and go!  I love my d50, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes having that big camera can really weigh a girl down.  There is also almost no shutter lag on this camera, which was why I loved it in the first place.  YAY!  If only it shot in RAW, whoo then I’d be in heaven hehehe

And you can see Gordo in the background of that picture there working on Alex’s new sandbox!

Is this kid not the luckiest little boy in the world?  Yeah - I thought so.  Anyways - we had a small plastic one a while back, but there was this tree cutting incident and well, the plastic sandbox lost the battle with a tree limb falling on it.  One of Alex’s favorite things though is the sandbox.  It’s all he wants to do at the park, and his friend Justin has an awesome one in his backyard his dad made for him that Alex also loves.  So, it’s worth it   The trick is going to be the cover - but Gordon has a plan. 

Okay - time to do some laundry, hopefully the walk downstairs won’t wear me out too bad!    I’ll leave you with one last little pic of my puppy - I mean son

Yeah, it’s my birthday - I’m 31 and I have my cranky pants on today.  I don’t know what my issue is.  I woke up happy, then Alex woke up happy and started his daily abuse of me and I guess it just brought me down.  I’m sure the pregnancy hormones aren’t helping the situation right now, I’m taking all of his ridiculousness personally and it’s just him being 3 and a half.  We didn’t have the terrible two’s and he has a couple of big issues that are really not THAT bad.  Number one is NOT LISTENING.  Every mother of a toddler has this issue - I know this, but it is the most annoying thing ever.  Second, he insists on acting like a puppy about 50 percent of the time.  That means, barking, licking, and whimpering and it’s getting really old.  And third, often, when mad or upset, instead of speaking words he just makes sounds and oh my god, it’s like nails on a chalkboard to me.  Basically, he just really knows how to push my buttons.  And all that I seem to get from my work at trying to discipline him is a heaping helping of guilt that I’m just not doing a good job.  He likes dh better and prefers Daddy all the time.

I’m also bummed because CHA is this weekend and I can’t be there for my first real paper release.  I got to go to Winter show, where I had my first physical product release with Prima, but it wasn’t a whole paper line like this time.  I really wanted to see it and hear the feedback.  I need some positive encouragement these days as well, so I’m really hoping people don’t hate it.  It just sorta bums me out that I can’t be there.  I am hoping I can find some time tonight to print some of my pieces and make a project with them to show off here on the blog.

Ok - I need to stop this pity party now!  Alex has gone to get a book to read to me, to make me happy   And since it’s my birthday, I have a coupon for you!  Save 31% in my studio today and tomorrow (so through midnight July 17, 2008) using the code mbday31

Click here to grab it for a GREAT DEAL!!! 

Yeah - so I’m so preggo - it’s getting ridiculous.  I am trying not to let it keep me down, but man it is not easy at this point.  I thought it was hard enough when I was pregnant with alex - although I admit I have relatively easy pregnancies.  But this whole 8 months pregnant and trying to entertain/chase after a 3 and a half year old business is ridiculous!  I find myself getting lax with him and discipline which just really itches its way into the rest of our lives.  Mealtimes are becoming a challenge and it is not unusual to go through a meal with at least two timeouts for the alex-man.  It’s so frustrating.  Anyways - I know I’m rambling   Here is a pic of my preggo-ness -

I am not great about documenting my pregnancy in general, nevermind with pictures.  But, I’m gonna try this last couple of weeks. 

I have a new digi kit that I’m hoping to have an ad for by tomorrow and can blog about it properly.  It’s called Ugly Dolls and is in my studio now if you want to check it out - I just dont have the eye candy to properly show it off quite yet for the blog   But, i do have some other work-related news…

Seen on the back inside cover of the August issue of CK…what is this I spy?? :):):):):)

Why that would be an ad for my summer cha collection with Prima!  It’s called {YOU}TH and I am super proud.  The layouts in this ad were done by some fantastic members of my CT - Jheri Rowe, Maryann Buchanan, Jan Crowley and Kelly Buckley!