Mommie to a Dramanic

Whoa sick!

2010-06-18T17:58:00.002-04:00

TMI I know, but my new birth control pills are making me so super sick! I'm trying to tough it out in hopes that the side effects will get better soon, but boy is it putting a crimp in my exercise plan.

On the other side of the coin Dominic is my biggest exercise supporter. Every morning he brings me the Wii-mote and reminds me to not forget my running. Then when I do run he hangs out and chats with me so I can run without worrying about what he's doing.

Step 1: Goals - Still going despite sickness.
Step 2: Accountability - I think I can I think I can...
Step 3: Music - Pandora Radio!
Step 4: Weigh Self REGULARLY! - Today's weigh in puts me at about 163 so I'm moving back and forth but doing okay over all.
Step 5: Track Exercise/Day - I got my 25 minutes of exercising in today!
Step 6: Positive Thoughts! - I have the most supportive sons and husband. They make me feel beautiful even when I have messy hair and no make-up on. It makes all of the whining and fussiness from the kids worth it.
Step 7: Take a moment each day and just breathe. Count to ten and just breathe. - yep yep yep
Step 8: Hydration! - I need to have a bit more today.

and the new step is:

Step 9: Reminders! Setting up a reminder on the computer or phone or even a to do list encourages me to keep it up! (This step courtesy of my darling John).

Day 6 and still here despite a migraine

2010-06-15T20:52:00.002-04:00

HUGE migraine today put a damper on my exercising but I still managed a 10 minute jog.

Step 1: Goals - Still going despite problems.
Step 2: Accountability - Going Going Going
Step 3: Music - Storms and Wii Fit
Step 4: Weigh Self REGULARLY! - Today's weigh in reveals that I am now down another 0.2 lbs, lol at least it's something.
Step 5: Track Exercise/Day - So far I've only been able to do 10 minutes of jogging today.
Step 6: Positive Thoughts! - I have an amazing family. My husband, children, parents, in laws, aunts, uncles, and cousins are always there for me whether I need a hug, need to talk, or need more extensive help. I am so lucky to have what so many do not.
Step 7: Take a moment each day and just breathe. Count to ten and just breathe. - check!
Step 8: Hydration! - Water is key to being healthy and losing weight.

Day 5 and still going!

2010-06-14T13:16:00.002-04:00

Lots of rain lately yet somehow I've actually spent more time outside than normal. I'm not really an outside person, but I'm giving it a good try so the boys can be outside more. I really think have two days a week to myself for designing, housework, budgeting, and my own general sanity is helping a lot. Now onto the weight loss plan... You may wonder how this is going because you know it's been 5 days I should have some spectacular results by now right? lol. Yeah, right.

Anyways here are my current steps (and the new one!)
Step 1: Goals - Check Check Check!
Step 2: Accountability - Doing my best.
Step 3: Music - Postal Services makes the world go round yet again
Step 4: Weigh Self REGULARLY! - Today's weigh in reveals that I am now down that 0.4 lbs, lol.
Step 5: Track Exercise/Day - So far I've only been able to do 11 minutes of jogging today.
Step 6: Positive Thoughts! - Sometimes things get rough and very stressful, but you know what? I always bounce back. I have made it through so much in my life and that makes me a better person for it and I WILL make it through anything else life throws at me! (Be a little gentle for a bit though like, k? thanks!)

Now what step could I possibly add for Step 7 of my super silly going to lose 28 lbs weight loss plan?

Step 7: Take a moment each day and just breathe. Count to ten and just breathe. - check!

So as far as fabulous results, well the weight isn't coming off yet but honestly I've been feeling better overall more physically and mentally (other than some bill and budget upsets) so I give this plan an A+ so far!

Now what have I been doing wrong?
I had a 3 Muskateers Truffle bar AND half a TWIX yesterday (it was a rough day)
1 Piece of leftover chicken and feta pizza I probably shouldn't have had.

What did I do right?
Drank lots of water yesterday
ate my Special K for breakfast no sugar with skim milk
had a snack of fat free cranberry-orange muffins
Healthy and balanced lunch and dinner.

:D See you tomorrow!

Still going! Can you believe it? 4 posts in a row!

2010-06-13T10:05:00.003-04:00

Well the sleepover went well over all. It took Dom forever to go to sleep and I think he drove poor Ezra crazy. In other news our basement got flooded in the storm yesterday. Thankfully not only was there little damage but we got it all cleaned up and found the leak. Once things dry a bit we'll be sealing up the leak.

Now onto my new fabulous going to lose the weight plan:
Step 1: Goals - still going!
Step 2: Accountability - I am that I am
Step 3: Music - Postal Services makes the world go round.
Step 4: Weigh Self REGULARLY! - I keep fluctuating up and down that 0.4 lbs, unfortunately it's up today.
Step 5: Track Exercise/Day - 26 minutes of jogging on the Wii fit and 150 crunches so far. It's still morning though so we'll see what the day has in store for me.

Now, the next step in my daily step plan?
Step 6: Positive Thoughts! - Keeping positive is so important to any lifestyle change and really to life in general. So I'm going to make it one of my goals to say something positive about me and my life every day. Not only will this encourage me to keep on track, but it will also hopefully help to build a more positive self image. Today's positive thought? I CAN do this. I am more than capable of sticking to an exercise plan and I like exercise. I CAN and WILL lose the weight I want and be the person I want to be.

Now that I have that positive gushy stuff out of the way here is me being accountable for the things I did right and wrong yesterday.

Let's start with the wrong:
1 lg. tootsie roll, 1 small tootsie roll, 1 laffy taffy
3 pieces of chicken and feta pizza, 4 half bread sticks
way too much soda
2 glasses of white zin
cinnamon toast crunch for breakfast

So all of that is a high calorie mess and these high calorie problems are definitely interfering with my weight loss. This will be one of my next steps to nip that in the bud but for now being more aware is helping and I want to make these changes slowly so they stick!

What did I do right?
kept up my exercising
met my calorie goals on the Wii fit
drank more water than normal
did some heavy lifting while search for damage and cleaning up the leak
had a healthy snack of low fat wheat thins, low fat turkey pepperoni, and 2 slices of cheese.
had a healthy lunch of sliced peppered turkey an 1 slice of cheese on a sandwich thin.

Overall even though I haven't lost anything yet this new go around I'm feeling better and healthy and happier. However, it seems that John and the boys are having some bathtime troubles so I'm off to see if I can help.

Still on track!

2010-06-12T17:36:00.002-04:00

Step 1: Goals - it's been a day but I got my exercising in!
Step 2: Accountability - here is today's post
Step 3: Music - Today I discovered http://www.jango.com/ a create your own radio station site.
Step 4: Weigh Self REGULARLY! - todays weigh in? 163.4 so .4 lbs down or normal fluxuation.

Now onto a new step in my "create it as you go but stick to it" weight loss plan.

Step 5: Track Exercise/Day - Today I jogged for 22 minutes so far. Yesterday I jogged 28 minutes and did 175 crunches. I also gave myself heat exhaustion mowing the lawn mid-afternoon.

That's it for today. Tonight is a sleepover for Dom with some friends and Ezra just arrived so I'm off!

Got my Booty in gear!

2010-06-11T10:49:00.002-04:00

Two days in a row, so far so good. So let's look at the steps so far:

Step 1: Goals - working toward them now :)
Step 2: Accountability - made my post today, woohoo!
Step 3: Music - music of the day?
http://soundcloud.com/stuartallen/stuart-allen-10-more-mins-2010

Now onto a new step in my "create it as you go but stick to it" weight loss plan.

Step 4: Weigh Self REGULARLY! - without a regular weigh in I have no idea whether I am doing well or doing badly. This means I need a regular weigh in a few times a week so I don't start slacking off.

Now today's weigh in (almost 164!) That means I actually gained 0.4 lbs since yesterday, bleh! What might I have done wrong yesterday? Well lots actually, lol.

I had a few pieces of laffy taffy and a brookie (a brownie cookie combination that is pure sin and heaven on earth, lol). Neither were a good idea for a weight loss goal. I had 1.5 small sodas, a total of about 10 oz I believe. I had a large glass of wine and I had havarti cheese on french bread (although to be fair I did have light havarti cheese). All were delicious, however, not conductive to me properly dieting. I also had a chik-fil-a sandwich instead of the salad I should have had for dinner.

Now that I know what I did wrong yesterday, what did I do right? (This is an important part of not getting discouraged. I need to own up to what I did wrong and give myself some kudos for what I did right).

I exercises and met my Wii fit calorie goals, plus I did 75 crunches (have got to get those abs back!). I made my blog post and I've started holding myself accountable again. Those are good starts to getting back on track.

What about today, what have I done right and what have I done wrong? Well I weighed in, exercised for 30 minutes meeting my calorie goals on the Wii fit and did 75 crunches. All of those were good. However, for breakfast I had cinnamon toast crunch instead of special K and I didn't measure out my serving size as I should have. I'll have to do better for lunch.

More to come later!

Failure and Success...

2010-06-10T15:53:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been a total failure. I stopped exercising regularly, weighing myself regularly, and started eating stuff I shouldn't. I've actually gained a few pounds and really set myself back.

So what to do now?

Now I am going to get my booty in gear and get to exercising (and blogging about it to hold myself accountable.)

I have a new plan. That's right for the gazillionth time I have another new plan for how to lose the weight and keep it off for good. What is this fabulous plan you might ask? Well I'm making it up as I go along to see what works and what doesn't. In the past I've used sparkpeople to hold myself accountable and while it's been great I just don't have the time to commit to it.

So without further ado the new plan is to exercise exercise exercise, hold myself accountable by blogging regularly, weigh myself at least twice per week, drink 8 glasses of water a day, and spend less time sitting on my butt and more time chasing those 2 adorable (and dramatic) boys.

Step 1: Goals - those I have, check out my side bar.
Step 2: Accountability - make this blog my internet home page to encourage accountability.
Step 3: Music - find music that will keep me moving and exercising.

Today's musical find:
http://treehousemuzique.com/sundaysoularchive48.html

The perfect amount of music to keep me going to 30 minutes of jogging. Thanks John!

Wish me luck, a new step every day figuratively and literally to my weight loss success.

Updates!

2010-03-27T09:58:00.002-04:00

Well I am an exercise failure and I've been terrible about updating also but I'm down another 3 lbs this week.

This puts me at 12 lbs lost total and only 21 more to go to reach my final goal.

I am so excited! Off to get some Wii Fit in.

Thin Mints are my Downfall

2010-03-14T17:18:00.003-04:00

The thin mints arrived and I was scared to check my weight so i didn't. I also didn't keep up with spark people or my exercising. I know bad me.

However, I decided now that the thin mints are gone it is time to brave the Wii Fit. So I did and to my surprise I have not gained any weight. I haven't lost any but I haven't gained it either *insert happy dance here*.

So today I braved the Wii Fit and decided to hop back on the Sparkpeople horse. I'm not going to let thin mints get me down!

Now for your viewing pleasure here are some of my new layouts for the ADSR challenges:

Tish and I created this layout together about all of our boys using Jamie's Rainbow by me available at Inspiration-Lane.com
This fun layout is about my Dramanic and his love of capsella. I used my new collaboration with JennCK called Natural Spring. It will be available at Inspiration Lane later this week.

In other Dominic news he decided he wants to redecorate his room for his birthday so we are creating a fun geometric masterpiece for him in lime green, shades of blue, and white based upon the bedding he chose.
This layout shows my desire to show my boys everything about the world and more. It was inspired by Elemental Scraps "someday" ADSR challnge and I used the fabulous Family Traditions kit by Valarie Olstrom Designs available at Scrapable.com.
This fun page is my bucket list of 50 thinks I want to do before I die. There are a lot of interesting things listed here and my weight loss goals (and keeping it off) are certainly on there. I used my brand new Girls Night Out kit for this page, available in all of my stores.

Lost a few Days!

2010-03-02T11:04:00.002-05:00

I've lost track of what day it is and I've definitely missed a few days posting. I was diagnosed with acute bronchitis last week which unfortunately seems to be going strong even though I finished my anti-biotics. However, despite this and despite the girl scout cookies (oh how I love thin mints!) that arrived yesterday I am still losing weight! I'm down 1 pound this week and the Wii Fit now lists my bmi as NORMAL! It's awesome not to hear that snide voice saying "You're Overweight!" every time I do my body test. Let's hope I can keep it up.

Day 11 and Going Strong!

2010-02-21T14:00:00.003-05:00

I just had a fabulous night out with John last night and a delicious homemade Chicken Caesar Salad for lunch today. John is going to get the boys while I do some work and then we are going to come up with something fun to do. Maybe a family walk if it isn't raining.

Here is another layout, this one of Jams' first real snow experience.
Credits: A Winter Morning by Heather Manning
Sunday Date Element from Day by Day by Tracie Stroud
February Date Element from Everyday Delights by ScrapKitten
14 Date Element from CathyK Designs
Bungalow Alpha by Theresa Hernandez
Brush Me Vol. 4 by Inspiredbydominic Designs

Day 10 and missed another day whoops

2010-02-20T12:11:00.002-05:00

I had a fun day yesterday but ate out twice. However I managed to stay in my calorie level so I'm doing good there. Dom and I had taco bell. I had a chicken soft taco and half of a chicken taco salad (no beans) and half of a soda. The that night we broke down and ordered Larosa's because neither John nor I felt like cooking. I had a grilled chicken salad and two small pieces of thin/hand-tossed crust pizza with chicken, spinach, and light sauce (grease blotted off beforehand).

Now for this week's weigh in:
Starting Weight: 168
Current Weight: 159.5
Goal Weight: 135
Weight Loss: 8.5
Day: 10

Day 8 and still doing great!

2010-02-18T23:22:00.002-05:00

Ok when I first typed that I was not thinking about the rhyming, lol. Things are going really well overall. My calorie counts are perfect although I am not exercising very well so I need to get on the ball. More to come tomorrow :)

Day 7...opps Missed a Day

2010-02-17T13:27:00.003-05:00

Tuesday was an interesting day. The weather was still yucky but John took the boys to daycare on his way to work so that I could relax a bit for a day and get a break from them which I hadn't had in awhile. I didn't do much on Tuesday at all. I should have exercised, but instead I spent most of the day reading, chatting, and scrapping. I do feel a lot better though and I'm doing great on my calorie intake. I haven't been above the daily amount yet!

Today is a bit of an off day because I'm at school all day and forgot to pack my lunch. I'm hoping that the Buffalo Chicken Salad from Skyline with no dressing and light cheese (and a water of course) will be not so bad, we're about to find out though. I also had a cookie this morning, but I skipped breakfast since we were in a hurry so maybe it will balance some.

Overall though I think it's going well. I'm also wearing a few of my size 12 pants now which is VERY exciting!

Here is one of the layouts I made yesterday for ADSR 5 using Michael by Katie Mann.

Still Day 5!

2010-02-15T11:10:00.003-05:00

Just a quick update. I actually followed through on my exercise plans! I did 58 minutes on the Wii Fit and burned 308 calories! I think writing down here that I plan on doing it encourages me to actually to it. I'm starving, what to do for lunch a sandwich and salad or low fat turkey chili with toasted bread? I'll have one for lunch and the other for dinner. hmmm.... Decisions decisions. Oh well for now it's time to shower because shew I stink!

Day 5 and a Snow Day!

2010-02-15T08:57:00.002-05:00

It's Day 5 of my diet and today is a snow day. I was anticipating a day mostly to myself with an exam around one, but instead both kids and John are home so I doubt I will be getting as much done as planned.

I didn't exercise yesterday, but I am hoping to remedy that by hopping on the Fit today. Otherwise my plans for the day include scrapbooking, designing, homework, and family time!

We built snowmen yesterday. Pictures to come soon!

Day 4 and still going!

2010-02-14T10:35:00.003-05:00

It's Day 4 and Valentine's Day! I'm about to run out to the car and sneak in the presents for John and the boys. I'm doing great with my diet and I ended the day yesterday with the perfect amount of calories and protein, although my fat grams and carbs were a little low, but really that can't be so bad. Otherwise I haven't done my exercises yet today but the Wii Fit is calling my name shortly.

In other news I made a fabulous new layout of Dominic:

This fabulous layout uses my Hop Right To It Kit and stitches from Crush, Midnight Resolutions, and Under the Sea Jamboree, plus my Icy Day alpha.

Day 3 and Progress!

2010-02-13T11:49:00.002-05:00

It's officially day 3 of my new healthy me and today is my weigh in day. Perhaps it is because I was weighed at a different time of day at the doctor's office and got my monthly visit the day after which may have caused my weight to be higher, but my weigh-in today on the Wii Fit puts me just slightly below 161! That's 7 pounds down from what I thought I weighed. Even with the potential bloating and different time of day I think that watching what I am eating, avoiding snacking, and drinking tons of water is really helping me out. I haven't done as much exercising as I should although I did just finish 27 minutes on the fit which burned 145 calories. I'm going to try to get some more exercise in later.

For now though my current stats are:
Starting Weight: 168
Current Weight: 161
Goal Weight: 135
Weight Loss: 7
Day: 3

Day 2 of the new healthiness and pictures!

2010-02-12T12:38:00.005-05:00

Well it's day 2 of me being healthier. I did a fabulous job of not snacking yesterday and only eating what I should. I was even below the carb count so sparkpeople yelled at me, but I would rather be below than above. However, I was an exercise failure. Between school, kids, and getting ready for valentine's day parties I did not do any exercising. I did park at the farthest corner of the school lot today and yesterday though which forces me to walk more. I have no weighed in today and will not until tomorrow morning (I doubt there will be much of a change yet) but we shall see. Right now I'm getting ready to go to class and after that shopping for presents for the fabulous boys in my life (John, Dom, and Jams). After the class and shopping though I have a date with the Wii Fit. I am determined to make up for missing yesterdays exercising.

Now for what you really want to see! Here are two layouts I made of the boys using my new Finish Line Collaboration Kit with Pixiemama Designs.

The boys are doing great lately. Jams is walking all around everywhere all by himself and he loves to chase after Dominic (who is usually screaming for Jams to leave him alone). Dominic is now writing both his first AND last name as well as various other words as long as someone helps him with spelling. He is also having a blast drawing hearts for Valentine's Day!

Sparkpeople

2010-02-11T11:32:00.002-05:00

I'm back to using sparkpeople to help me get my butt in gear and perhaps trim a few inches off of it! I'll be redoing this blog shortly since it is sadly in need of a redesign and I am making it a priority to update it at least a few times a week so you can see how my amazing boys are doing and how everything is going with my weight loss goals.

Current Weight: 168
Goal Weight: 135
Weight Loss: 0
Day: 1

Wish me luck!

The kids, Updates, and Christmas

2009-12-10T21:31:00.002-05:00

So Christmas is coming up and I just discovered that they have character dolls from Dominic's favorite show, Sid the Science Kid (they play it on PBS). Heather posted a link to a giveaway for the doll on her new Giveaway Blog so I'm giving it a try. They are giving away one talking Sid doll here.

Other than that for Christmas Dominic wants a heater, a lamp, a fan, a TV for his bedroom, french fries, and new music. LOL! Only my kid.

Both boys are doing well right now. I'll update more later.

Jamie's First Words!

2009-06-28T21:34:00.004-04:00

Jamie has his first understandable sound/words today with "Dada" "Da-de" "dadadadadadada". John's working on him with Ma-Ma now. I can't believe how fast he's growing up! My little baby is almost 6 months old!

Here are some fun new layouts with Jamie and Dom.

Jamie's First Solids using William by Katie Mann

Presents from Dom's 4th Birthday Party using Happy Happy Joy Joy by Heather Manning

Brotherly Love with Jamie and Dom using Creating a Dream and A Day Just For Dad Remixed by me (Inspiredbydominic Designs)

Jamie in Beautiful Smile using Happy Happy Joy Joy by Heather Manning

Tummy Time featuring Jamie-James using Girl Time by Katie Mann

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T19:02:00.003-04:00

Today was Easter at my Grandmas and we all had a lot of fun! Dom found an easter egg with $10 in it and came away from the hunt with close to $15 dollars so he'll be headed to the toy store to pick out a toy and the rest will go in his piggy bank.

In other news I did some new layouts of Jamie and Dom that I really like.

These first two were created using Dielle Designs kit New Bloom, which you can grab here if you are interested.

The following two were created using Shabby Baby Boy by Katie Mann Designs, you can snag that here.

Easter photos and more layouts to come soon!

Update!

2009-04-10T22:06:00.002-04:00

Things have been pretty crazy lately but here is a bit of an update.

John's Zaida died a few weeks ago, which while it is a blessing because he was in alot of pain and unhappy, is also still very, very sad. The world lost a very good man.

The same day Jamie was admitted to Children's Hospital with bronchialitis and put on a breathing tube with wires all over him to monitor his oxygen levels. It was extremely scary but we only spent two days there before we got to go home which is good. Unforunately Jamie is sick again and I worry we are going to be headed right back there. In fact with all of the respiratory problems Jamie has had in his short three months here we think it may be possible that he has asthma and at his previous doctor's visit they did ask if we had any close relatives with asthma so I think they are thinking it is possible as well. We're going to ask that they try to test him for it at his next visit or refer us to a specialist. We don't want to take any chances.

I have some new layouts to post so those will be coming soon :)

Newborns and Sleep

2009-01-28T00:16:00.002-05:00

Even though Jamie seems to be a much easier baby than Dom at this age he still isn't sleeping much yet and we are exhausted!!!!! Dom has also been sick lately so we're frantically trying to keep Jamie from getting sick although it may just be wishful thinking.

Hopefully Dom will go back to daycare tomorrow, today was a snow day for Dom and John which worked out since Dom would have missed school because he was sick anyways. I'm glad John was here to help me with him since I'm still having a hard time adjusting to both kids and healing from my c-section. I think the healing is going well though, I go to the doctor on Thursday and I'm hoping that the majority of my restrictions will be lifted. Wish me luck!

Some layouts with Jamie and Dom

2009-01-26T23:07:00.003-05:00

CREDITS:1 Heart 2 Heart Funky Heart Doodled Heart by me
CREDITS: Morning in my Garden by Dielle Designs

CREDITS:Fallin' by Heather Manning

Jamie is HERE!!!!

2009-01-14T00:56:00.004-05:00

Everything started around 2pm on Thursday January 8th. At least that is when I first noticed I was having contractions that seemed different from the usual braxton hicks contractions. Around 3pm I decided to start timing the contractions. After about an hour it looked like I was having contractions about every 8 minutes apart but they didn't really hurt so bad so I still wasn't sure if it was labor. I decided to see if moving around stopped them, it didn't. Then I tried drinking lots of water to make sure that I wasn't dehydrated, no change. Finally I decided to try to lay down and take a nap and see if relaxing caused them to stop. I semi-fell asleep for about an hour and then got up when John and Dom got home. I started timing the contractions again and after an hour it looked like they were about 7 minutes apart but they still didn't feel terribly painful.

Around 6pm I called my doctor's office to see what the doctor on call thought. It seemed too early for me to actually be in labor since we hadn't actually considered the idea of the baby coming early as I had to be induced with our first. Since I had a c-section already scheduled for January 23rd I just wasn't sure what the best thing would be to do. The doctor on call called me back, unfortunately probably my least favorite doctor in the practice. I explained to him about the contractions which were now about 6-7 minutes apart and everything I had tried to make them stop. He said "If you could sleep at all it probably isn't real labor" and "I can't tell you that you are on labor over the phone". I was a bit annoyed at this point because I wasn't asking him to tell me if I was in labor I just wanted to know if they thought I should wait and see for a bit longer or go to labor and delivery. I managed to not show my annoyance and said I understood that he could not tell if I were in labor over the phone and again mentioned that I just wasn't sure what I was supposed to do in this situation and what did he recommend. He then said "If you really feel you need to you can go to labor and delivery and I can monitor you for awhile, if that's what you think you need to do." So at this point I was really annoyed.

Maybe I'm being overly sensitive but I really felt like I was being blown off. He then let me know that they didn't want me to have the baby this early (37 weeks and 4 days) and if I went to labor and delivery it wouldn't guarantee me an earlier c-section. I really feel like he thought I just wanted the baby to come early, which is almost funny to me because that's the last thing I wanted. With my first I definitely felt that way by this point, however, this time I wasn't really terribly uncomfortable and I really really wanted to have the baby on my scheduled c-section date, about a month away from Christmas. I mean I would think the fact that I didn't schedule my c-section for the first date they would allow (January 19th) but instead went for the 23rd, only two days before my due date, would have shown him that I really wasn't in any rush.

So I got off the phone and talked it over with John. I really did not want to go into labor and delivery only to be sent home if it wasn't real labor and I didn't want to deal with this doctor either because I really felt like he wasn't taking me seriously and I already didn't like him much. He kept me waiting for over an hour twice for appointments (back in the room even not just in the waiting room) and he seemed annoyed whenever I would ask any questions at my appointments. Generally I tried to avoid ever seeing him but we are required to see every doctor in the practice at least once. Anyways, since the contractions weren't painful and the doctor didn't seem concerned I decided I wanted to wait and see for longer since I really did not want to go in if it wasn't real labor.

That night none of us got much sleep, Dom woke up at 1 am with extreme diarrhea and then again at 3 am with more of that and throwing up. I was still having contractions and although they were definitely uncomfortable they weren't that painful still but it was enough that I wasn't sleeping well in between Dom being up. Around 4 am they were about 5 minutes apart. Finally around 6:30 am it seemed like the contractions were stopping or slowing down and I fell asleep and didn't wake up until about 9:45. John had already gotten Dom up, who seemed fine in the morning so we were thinking something he ate upset his tummy. I got up started making waffles and bacon for everyone. I was still having contractions but I wasn't sure how regular they were. So while I made waffles John timed my contractions. We ate waffles and even played the Wii a bit for the next hour or so. Around 11 John said it looked like my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and he thought I should call the doctor's office again. So I called and the nurse I spoke with said I definitely needed to go to labor and delivery right away because they already knew the baby was in the breech position and since I was a repeat c-section already they wanted to be careful. She seemed surprised I hadn't been told to go in the night before. So we called Dom's daycare lady and she agreed to watch him until we could find out what was going on. We dropped him off and headed to the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital they set me up in a room and took blood, just in case to prepare for the c-section, and started monitoring my contractions. I was definitely having contractions and they were about 3-4 minutes apart. However, I wasn't dilating yet, though the nurse said she wasn't sure if I would at all since the baby was still in breech position and there was no head pushing on my cervix. They monitored me for about an hour and determined the contractions were regular. Then they started IV fluids to see if that would stop the contractions. They did seem to slow down a bit with the fluids but they weren't stopping. This was around 2:30ish I think. I'm still thinking that they are going to say it wasn't real labor and send us home, maybe I was in denial, lol. I even told a few friends I thought I would be sent home pretty soon. The nurse came back in at 3 and said they were going to take me into c-section at 4:30 pm because they were worried about my water breaking, apparently that would be a problem with the position the baby was in. I commented that I had thought they were going to send me home still and the nurse said "Not with the way you are contracting". She then explained that they had to wait until the food I had eaten that morning was out of my system, at least as much as it would be and that they would give me some stuff to make sure my stomach didn't get upset during the c-section.

An anesthesiologist came in and explained the spinal procedure and gave me pepcid, zofran, and reglen (sp?) through my IV and the nurse came back in with some alka-seltzer for me to drink (yum). We called my Dad to have him pick up Dom from daycare and the daycare lady to let her know what was going on and then we called and texted a few friends to update them. Time actually passed pretty fast and next thing I know we were on our way to the OR and they had John getting dressed in scrubs and were inserting my spinal. It went into effect quickly and they started the c-section. It was a lot smoother than the previous c-section I had. Everything went great and I felt just fine, well what I could feel lol. Baby Jamie came out at 4:58 pm and boy was he mad. He screamed his little head off. He was 6 lbs 5 oz, which was way smaller than we expected, and 19.5 inches long. He scored an 8 and a 9 on the APGAR tests. John got to hold him pretty much right away and he brought him over to me while they finished up the surgery. We talked and watched Jamie and when they got ready to wheel me into recovery they handed him to me. I got to hold him then and even though I had major surgery I seriously felt amazing. I was smiling and just feeling great. I did still feel rather amazed that the baby was here, it all felt a bit surreal. I'm still shocked at how fast it all seemed to go (the pregnancy and labor/delivery).

Right after surgery in recovery

The next day

Hmmmm...

Check out how cute I am!

Our Wii has arrived!

2009-01-08T12:20:00.003-05:00

We got our Wii finally and we love it! We had so much fun playing with it last night and the sports games seem like some good exercise. :)

If you have a Wii and want our friend code number hit me up. The games we currently own are:
Super Mario Galaxy
The Sims 2: Castaways
Sonic and Mario Olympic Games
Wii Sports

Wii Play is on it's way and we plan on buying the following over the next few months:
Wii Fit
Mario Kart
Mario Party 8
Wario Land: Shake It
Mickey's Magical Mirror (gamecube game for Dom)
Wii Music (mainly for Dom)
House of the Dead

Woohoo! Fun times ahead and probably a little less online time.

In baby news I only have 15 days to go until my c-section, a little less actually. I'm extremely excited and terrified.

In flylady news I am doing great with my routines and the house is amazingly staying clean, if I/we can keep this up then we can keep the house from going all crazy when Jamie comes. Even Dom has been keeping his stuff clean, he cleans up one toy before getting out another. It's awesome.

Not much to say today...

2009-01-07T09:18:00.002-05:00

Nothing too new going on. The house is looking great with the help of my flylady routines. My head cold is full force now and sudafed doesn't seem to be doing anything to help with it.

Vinny came over and looked at my car yesterday it needs a new part on the exhaust but he doesn't think that will be expensive. We need to call around and get estimates for the repair since we know specifically what needs to be done.

Otherwise the baby is doing great, I've been having lots of period like cramps since last night but I think that is partially due to being sick. The cramps and BH contractions seem the worst when I'm sick.

Another cold?

2009-01-06T09:09:00.003-05:00

I swear it has been almost constant for me to have something, my poor immune system cannot get back up for anything. Jamie better stay in until I get better so he doesn't get this.

In other news we had a pleasant and unexpected visit from John's Dad last night. Dom seemed excited to see him for a bit. He had a flight that got held up at the Cincinnati airport so he stayed the night with us. It was a good time. John took him to the airport this morning, he had to get up early but I think it was worth it for him to get to spend some time with his dad.

Also, it looks like Laura will be moving back for awhile, she arrives on Thursday and is looking into getting an apartment in February. It looks like she'll be around to meet Jamie when he comes. :)

In Jamie news we have to change the name we had chosen for his middle name. We are now considering James Lucas or James Matthew, if you have any thoughts on what sounds best or even other options let me know!

In flylady news I did a great job yesterday and got a ton done though I am not completely back into my routine yet. I found my control journal and updated it and so far today I'm doing a great job of getting things done (including this blog post which is on my list).

Flylady

2009-01-05T12:26:00.002-05:00

So I've decided I'm going to try to start the Flylady program again since we definitely need to get some things decluttered and I think it will help me with getting things ready for the baby as well. I'm not sure how well I'll do with it once the baby comes, but I want to give it a go for now. I actually still do a lot of my basic routine stuff so starting back up shouldn't be too hard.

As part of my daily routine I want to try to blog at least once a day on either this blog or my designer blog.

So here is the current baby news: I go in for my 37 week appointment in about 20 minutes. I have 2 weeks and 5 days until my c-section and we are super excited and nervous. Everything is ready to go for the most part. I took our christmas decorations down last night to get that done. We're also trying to get caught up on laundry.

In flylady news today's zone is the kitchen so I spent 15 minutes decluttering the area around the bread box and cleaning out the breadbox. It looks a thousand times better and cleaner so I feel pretty good about that. Today after I get home from my appointment I'm going to look for my routine binder so I can get started updating it.

My other goal for today is to finish up and package up the Dr. Seuss inspired Valentine's Day kit I've been working on. It looks awesome so I'm pretty excited. I would also like to do a few CT team layouts today.

Ultrasound Today!

2008-12-30T16:49:00.001-05:00

Jamie is definitely still a boy, we got a great image of his ballsack but not much else. :lol

He is in breech position and pretty squished in there it looked like so they said he may not switch positions. It's no big deal though since I'm having a c-section anyways. She measured his foot and said he is measuring about 3 inches foot size. She also said he has a large head and is measuring about 6 lbs 9 oz currently give or take a few oz. That puts him in the 72nd percentile for right now if the measurements are right according to her chart.

Otherwise everything looked great, the fluid levels are good and his heart and everything looked great. So even though I am losing weight he is gaining quite well which makes me feel better. She also said he is really low down there but I thought he was still high up so who knows. No profile shots because his face is snuggled up to my back apparently.

I win clumsiest pregnant lady ever award

2008-12-10T13:02:00.001-05:00

So it's crappy weather out and I only live a few blocks from my doctor's office. So with my paranoia about cars and accidents I decide it's best to walk even though it's drizzling a little and it's been raining off and on all day. So I'm on my way and I take a little shortcut through this shopping center (I'm walking in the grass to avoid cars). Well the grass slopes down a hill and as soon as I hit the hill my feet went flying out from under me and I landed on my butt/back and maybe hit my head bit then slid about halfway down the hill. Now luckily enough it was soft, squishy, wet grass so there wasn't much of an impact. However, unluckily enough it was soft, squishy, wet grass with about an inch or so of water, maybe more. So I'm a block from the doctor's and I am completely soaked from the back of my hair to my shoes all the way through to my underwear. This made the rest of the walk interesting but thankfully I wore thinner pants so by the time I borrowed a towel at the doctor and left from my appointment I was mostly dry. This is my third, yes third fall this pregnancy. My DH thinks I need a padded world to live in (and yes I'm normally this clumsy in fact actually more so normally so I am doing better I guess).

I should say that I'm pretty sure if anyone saw me fall it was probably fairly amusing. I have the impression that it was a lot like someone falling over a cartoon banana peel.

Now on to my appointment update:
Everything looked good, Jamie is measuring dead on which makes me wonder if he'll be smaller than Dom, Dom was measuring ahead at this point. I lost another pound so we are watching that but since Jamie is showing signs of growth they are not too concerned yet. They dropped my blood sugar testing down to twice a day, I am incredibly thrilled. That's about it. Next appointment is the day after Christmas.

In other news we got the Christmas Postcards in and they printed amazingly! We'll be sending them out soon. Also Dom got his first school pictures taken and they turned out amazing. We are going to scan them in soon so we can post them.

Our Christmas Cards..

2008-12-02T13:10:00.002-05:00

I finally got our Christmas Cards done. John's sister Laura took these fabulous photos and I used Dielle's Fa La La La Page Kit to put it all together.

In other news my laptop completely pooped out yesterday and we decided that continuing to fix it was costing more than just getting a new one. We managed to get some financing so now I'm typing from my new Gateway M-series notebook. It has 320 GB of memory compared with the 80 GB from my old one, 4 GB of RAM vs the 1 GB I had in my old one, and even a web cam/camera with audio.

I am absolutely loving it though I am slightly stressed about getting everything off of my hard drive from the old computer. The new one also burns DVDs and CDs so I can make backups a lot easier.

Otherwise I'm 32 weeks and a few days pregnant and only 7.5 weeks away from my csection date! It's coming up pretty soon.

The Latest Happenings

2008-11-30T10:56:00.002-05:00

I tried to add some pictures but for some reason blogger doesn't want to cooperate today. I'll try again soon.

Some basic updates.
- I have a new freebie about the toothfairy available on my design blog (Inspiredbydominicdesigns.blogspot.com).
- We just finished breakfast with the last of the Bermans (Nancy and Terry) and everyone is on their way home.

Today our big plan is to get our Christmas decorations out and up. We're trying something new with the placement of the Christmas tree this year so we'll see what happens.

More to come later :)

The Updates

2008-11-26T07:13:00.002-05:00

- My morning sickness is pretty much gone, woohoo!

- I have my c-section scheduled for 9 AM on January 23rd.

- I failed my glucose test by 1 point so I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. This means a strict diet and testing my blood sugar 4 times a day. I've already lost a pound as of my last appointment instead of gaining weight due to the new diet. Hopefully this doesn't become a pattern.

- My wonderful in laws are due to arrive sometime this afternoon/evening in order to visit us for Thanksgiving. I'm so glad they are able to come to us because we were too worried about traveling with less than two months to go before the baby comes.

- It's a boy in case I didn't post about that. We are naming him James Lorne. His nursery is done in an Ocean theme and I'll have pictures to post soon.

- I have been doing a ton of scrapping and designing. Check out my designer blog (www.inspiredbydominicdesigns.blogspot.com) to see my latest freebie, new kits and element packs, and even a gorgeous collaboration kit with another designer. I also entered another designer challenge/contest and I've been working on some gorgeous things for that. My latest freebie is from the challenge and I'll have another freebie posted on Saturday (think tooth fairy ;) )

That's it for now. New pictures to come and perhaps some scrap pages very soon!

A General Update on Me

2008-07-09T11:11:00.001-04:00

Morning/noon/night sickness has been kicking my butt for weeks. Due to that I've been lucky if I've gotten anything done and online postings, scrapping, etc have had to be set aside. Otherwise though the baby is doing great. I'm 11 and a half weeks and the nausea seems better today. I haven't yet had to take my zofran. They prescribed the zofran after my last checkup when I hadn't gained any weight since the previous checkup and the nausea and throwing up seemed out of control. It seems like a miracle medication, though it causes some bad headaches.

Beyond that I started running a fever last night and it's still there today so hopefully I'm not getting sick. We'll see.

In other news my external hard drive that I've only had for about 6 months is dying already. I'm extremely disappointed and just trying to get everything saved as quickly as possible.

More to come later. :)

My Latest Layouts and some news!

2008-05-23T10:16:00.002-04:00

In case we haven't talked to you yet we recently found out that after 4 months of trying to conceive we are pregnant! We are so happy and thrilled and I am exhausted, lol.

Besides that I've been super busy with school, setting up my digiscrap stores, creating, and even scrapping. Here are some of my latest layouts:

The first two are created with Rose McDigital's Funkadeolic Cinnamon kit available at kjoistudios.com

This last layout was created with Grape Awakening by Heather Manning Designs, available at digiscrapping.net

I also have a quick page freebie up at the Inspiredbydominic Designs blog and I hope to have some pictures from Dom's birthday party up at the Berman blog later today.

I am selling my designs in a store!

2008-05-15T13:39:00.002-04:00

Scrappy Cats has opened a new store called DigiScrapStation. Today is the Grand Opening and everything in my store is 50% off!!

Check out my other blog for details. There is also a new mini kit freebie available on my blog.

You can also see my store here.

My store is 50% off until Sunday and the 20% off until Friday the 23rd.

Two New Layouts

2008-05-05T21:44:00.003-04:00

Here is a layout I created with my Dandelion Dreams mini of the photo that inspired the mini kit. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Here is a layout I created with Evitangel a kit by Heather Manning and Dawn Inskip. I LOVE the way it turned out. I cannot get over how amazing this kit is.
That's it for today. More to come tomorrow.

SYTYCD and more

2008-05-05T17:02:00.002-04:00

I entered Scrap Orchard's So You Think You Can Design contest. You can checkout my entry and get a link to the ScrapOrchard gallery to download it at Inspiredbydominic Designs

I feel really good about my entry and I worked extremely hard on it.

In other news I spent a good portion of today struggling to find out why Dom's new play gym has not arrived and been installed and when it will be. First they said it wouldn't arrive til next week (we've heard this everything week for the past few weeks) then when I complained that we bought it over a month ago suddenly it was arriving and they would be calling to schedule installation tomorrow. It better be up before Dommie's birthday or I will be upset. They guaranteed it would be installed before then.

That's about it for my news today. Hope everyone has a great day!

What a Great Day!

2008-05-04T10:03:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was so much fun. I shopped, chatted, played games, and even found some time away from the computer on NSD too. We hit up some great yard sales and got Dom some awesome toys also, then I still found some time to spend with John last night :)

Today will be butterflies and homework. I have a few papers to write and we are getting ready now to take Dommie to see the butterflies at the conservatory.

If you still want either of my freebies they will be available until the end of the day. At midnight (or tomorrow morning) I will be turning off all of the links and you will only be able to get them in my store. Details about the store coming soon on my Inspirebydominic Designs blog so stay tuned!

Happy Scrapping Day!!!!

2008-05-03T00:06:00.002-04:00

There are tons of freebies available today and you can find many of them linked to my blog.

At K Joi Studios we are doing a BLOG CARNIVAL.

You can download my contribution here.

You can get the contributions of the rest of the K Joi Studios girls at these links:

http://kjoistudios.blogspot.com/
www.triplettdesigns.blogspot.com
www.mommietoadramanic.blogspot.com
www.cactusmango.blogspot.com
www.dragonslairdesigns.blogspot.com
http://buzybeehive.blogspot.com
www.fotosbylisajo.blogspot.com
www.topsi-scrap.de.vu
www.summerraindrops.bravejournal.com
http://mlwcustomdesigns.blogspot.com
http://groovygrannysplace.blogspot.com
http://deesbibbmusings.blogspot.com/
http://tinkstrinkets.blogspot.com/
http://sarahscraftroom.blogspot.com

Also if you want to try out my brand new Painted Paper Buttons for free you can head off to my brand new blog for my designs here.

Both of my freebies will only be available for the weekend. Afterwards you'll have to come check out my blog to see the details for my new store!

As if that isn't enough if you want more freebies and a good time you can join Heather Manning and the rest of her dirty girls at DST at 9 PM EST. There will be a freebie and many other fun prizes. You can also join the dirty girls at Heather's CT blog for a brag book challenge!

General stuff for today

2008-05-02T10:53:00.002-04:00

We are working frantically to get ready for Dommie's birthday. His party is May 17th, if you haven't gotten your invitation and know that you should be invited (i.e. family and friends ) let me know and I'll send you the information. Basically it's the same as last year except May 17th and with a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme.

It should be a blast!

In other news Dommie and I just spent the last hour or so cleaning up his bedroom, putting away his plethora of books, and cleaning under his bed (can you say scary). He is thrilled with his newly cleaned and organized room.

Now to get the rest of the house in order. I plan on cleaning like crazy today, then scrapping like crazy tonight and creating some new element packs.

Tomorrow is (Inter)National Scrapbooking Day so I will have at least one freebie up here and links to get to other matching freebies for the K Joi Blog Circus! My plans for tomorrow are garage sales, scrapping, creating, chatting, and buying scrap stuff. Sounds like a fun plan right?

Sunday we want to take Dommie to see the butterflies at the conservatory and then it will be homework and snuggle day.

All in all I think it's shaping up to be a great weekend.

National Scrapbooking Day

2008-04-30T14:36:00.003-04:00

Here is some fun information I have about NSD.

Taken from Steph's Blog

Saturday is National Scrapbooking Day! Of course, Heather has some great stuff planned, and I’m lucky enough to be in on the fun! You’ll have to be sure to check out digiscrapping.net to be in on all of the fun. Do you need more of a reason to check it out? Well, how about this? Here’s a hint…don’t you just LOVE the kit that was used for this teaser?

I also contributed some to the fun we'll have on NSD so stay tuned because it should be a blast!

In other news, on NSD K Joi Studios is doing a Blog Circus and I have a great freebie that you will all be getting. It is by far one of my FAVORITE creations to date. I hope you enjoy!

Many of us from K Joi will have coordinating freebies up that day and you can follow the blog links to get them all. Combined they make a gorgeous mega kit that I know you would all love and who doesn't love free anyways!

Finally, here is a great sneak peek at something new coming from Heather Manning and Dawn Inskip. I've been lucky enough to view the entire kit and let me say it is jam packed, this is something that I would recommend everyone get.

Woohoo!

2008-04-30T12:27:00.001-04:00

The Autism Awareness Kit has so far raised $200!

Thanks to everyone that has donated and I hope you enjoy the kit! If anyone does any layouts using any of my pieces I would love to see them!

Thanks again to all that have donated.

Autism Charity Mega Kit!!!!

2008-04-26T07:41:00.006-04:00

In case you cannot read the text the main details are below.

To get this Mega Kit all you need to do is make a donation to AutismSpeaks.org then send an email with a copy of your receipt to XandraMartinDesigns@yahoo.com. Xandra will provide you with all of the download links and the password to download them. The mega kit is a FREE gift with your donation of ANY amount. Anything can help, there is no number too small.

If you donate $5.00 or more you will also receive an Add-On kit with quick pages and templates.

This is a great charity to donate to and your donation IS tax-deductable. I have taken this information from the website to show you what your donation will help pay for:
"Your contribution will fund autism research, awareness, advocacy and family services. With your support, we will transform a community of heartbreak into a community of hope."

As you are donating DIRECTLY to the charity organization there is no concern that the charity will not receive its money as there have been issues with this and scrapbooking charity drives in the past.

Please let me know if you have any questions or contact Xandra directly.

Here is a closer look at my contribution to this mega kit which contains:
6 solid papers
4 patterned papers
6 bows
3 butterfly buttons
3 crumpled paper flowers
6 shape glitter frames
6 paint splotches

There are 14 other designers! There are TONS of papers, elements, word arts, and at least one FULL alpha. You get all of this for one tax-deductable donation.

Sand In The Wind

2008-04-16T11:51:00.004-04:00

Here is a layout I made for a challenge at Elemental Scraps. I created everything in the layout except the font. I think it turned out pretty well. I might turn it into a kit. Any thoughts on titles? Island Fun...Tropical Heat...?

New Creations

2008-04-14T01:33:00.003-04:00

So I have been playing around with photoshop, illustrator, and a variety of tutorials in an effort to see what I can do. All of this playing has made me think that I might actually consider trying to sell some of my designs eventually. I'm not sure on the best way to go about getting into a store so if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions they are welcome. I don't think I'm quite ready yet, I want to play some more and learn more first. However, I think I could do a good job at it and who can't use extra money?

So here are some previews of my latest creations. Let me know which ones your favorites are and I'll put up another freebie on one or two of them.

Dotted Paper Pack

Stars and Stripes Paper Pack

Here Comes The Zoo Kit

A Day Outdoors Mini Kit

So what do you guys think?

Updates and another Freebie

2008-04-10T16:15:00.003-04:00

I've been off school this week and I've taken the time to get the house in order and start our yardwork. Classes start again next week and I've already had one get canceled. Since it doesn't look like I'll be able to fit a different class I need into my schedule next term will be an easier one with less classes.

I'm taking:
Children's Literature
Art History: The Medieval to the Renaissance
Statistics 2
Planning and Developing Proposals

In other news I have been scrapping like crazy but there is way too much to post all of it up here.

I did the Stone Accent Studios colour challenge for April and created a mini kit which I'm going to put up here as a freebie if anyone wants it. I'm still learning so it isn't amazing but I think I'm getting better.

Here is the preview:

Here are the links:
Elements
Papers 1
Papers 2

My First Digiscrap Freebie!

2008-04-08T21:29:00.004-04:00

I made this Alpha the other day and decided to put it up here in case anyone wants it. Enjoy!

Download Here

I've been teaching myself how to use illustrator

2008-04-02T23:55:00.005-04:00

In doing so I made this layout that I LOVE of Dominic. I created everything that I used in the layout with was a lot of fun.

I thought this turned out really well. I used a variety of fonts as you can see and I can't remember what they were all called off hand but if anyone is interested in one let me know and I'll look it up.

It's been a very adventurous weekend.

2008-02-24T15:19:00.002-05:00

What a weekend! I won't go into details but I'll say the past few days have been super crazy. I've had a good time though despite unnecessary drama.

I did a digiscrap Treasure Hunt from digishoptalk.com and it was a blast. I got a ton of new stuff and I plan to go shopping with some of the designers I discovered.

Tonight I have my first exam in my astronomy class and Tuesday an exam in my stats class. Wish me luck!

Wow, what an adventure!

2008-02-22T16:48:00.002-05:00

Yesterday turned into quite an adventure when my school closed down and basically pushed everyone out the doors at 4 PM. It had to happen on a day when I somehow forgot my wallet at home and my cell phone fell out of my coat pocket in Liz's car, perfect timing right? No big worries though because I had my handy dandy UC student ID which allows me to ride the metro buses for free and there's a metro that goes straight from school to about a half mile from my house.

So I use a phone at school to call John and tell him what's going on so he doesn't come to pick me up at 6 and I bundle up and head out to wait for the bus. As I walk to the bus stop I see a bus pull up and sure enough its my bus but I wasn't close enough to get there in time and there wasn't anyone to hold it for me. Still not too big of a worry the snow is picking up but I know that another bus is scheduled to come in about 45 minutes. Well...45 minutes came and went and then another 45 minutes and at this point we haven't seen a single bus at all in about an hour (and this is a very busy bus stop). So the people that I have been waiting with for the past hour or so and I start trying to decide what our options are. The school wasn't going to let us in they had already locked the doors and closed up. Traffic was at a near standstill but we didn't see any buses in the distance. At this point we were all freezing and an inch of snow had accumulated on our heads, arms, and bags. That's right we were officially turning into snow people.

Luckily we saw a bus coming from the opposite direction and heading towards downtown. None of us cared what bus it was we all hopped on and hoped that we would make it downtown to either catch another bus heading towards our destinations or catch a ride elsewhere. At this point it is about 5:30 PM and I had gone out to start waiting at 3:45 PM. The bus ride normally about 30 minutes so I knew that if John managed to make it home he would be worried about me. One of the new snow friends I had made offered me the use of his cell phone so I could call John. When I reached him he was stuck in traffic and hadn't even made it downtown yet so I told him to meet me downtown and just pick me up there. We made it downtown by 6 PM, usually only a ten minute ride and I called John again. He was still at least 30 minutes away because of traffic on the highway, usually only 15 minutes from his work to downtown.

I headed over to the downtown mall to wait for him and finally he got there at about 6:20 PM. We made the trek to get Dommie from daycare which wasn't too bad because it seemed like most people were stuck on the highway and we took back roads. We got Dommie and headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to get dinner and wait for the roads to clear some more. At this point at least 2 inches of snow had accumulated on top of the 2 inches we had already and now it was sleeting out.

We made it home around 8 PM and boy what a day it was! I guess it continued sleeting for awhile because John got to have a snow day today and stay home with Dommie and I. He had to work from home but we still got some snuggle time in and I was able to shower without too much trouble from the Dramanic.

If you've made it this far then WTG! I'll update my TTC news and tell you some about my latest Quick Page Set. I am at 4 dpo and I will probably break down and take a test Sunday or Monday morning since we bought the early tests that supposedly show results as early as 6 dpo. We're hoping but if it isn't our month then we'll just keep trying (It's not too much of a hardship LOL!).

Tomorrow or later today I'll be posting the preview of my latest Quick Page Set called Coral Delight. I'll also be posting up a great freebie that you can get to go with the Quick Page Set. A Blog Headers Set and freebie should be following shortly within the next few days.

Got Funky? Quick Page Freebie and Pack

2008-02-20T08:12:00.002-05:00

Hello Everyone,

I woke up this morning and there's SNOW!!!!!! We've gotten a few inches with more to come which means John is getting to stay home and hang out for a bit this morning because the roads are bad.

Also, for those of you who may not know there's a lunar eclipse tonight so check it out if you can! We are planning to go to the local astronomy club to watch it through a telescope.

Now onto the freebie! Here is a free quick page I created using Kara Jones' Neon Decay Page Kit. It is available at K Joi Studios, click here.

Here is the full set of 4 Quick Pages sized at 12 x 12 300 dpi. This is a really fun set and priced at only $3! Click here to check it out in the K Joi Studios store.

In other news, such as TTC, I am 2 dpo today! I will probably test at 8 dpo because the early tests we bought (in bulk, lol) say they can detect a positive as early as 6 dpo. If nothing at 8 dpo then I'll keep testing every other day until the dreaded AF comes or I get a positive! Wish us luck!

Got Funky? Blog Header Pack

2008-02-19T21:32:00.002-05:00

I don't have too much to say today. I've spent the entire day (8 AM to almost 9 PM) at school and I am exhausted. I am posting up the link and image for the full blog header pack. Tomorrow I will be posting the quick page freebie and a link to the quick page pack.

Hope everyone has had a great day! You can find the Got Funky? Blog Header Pack here for $3.

Also for those of you keeping track of my TTC news I am 1 dpo and in the dreaded 2ww. Wish us luck!

Blog Header Freebie!

2008-02-18T10:02:00.004-05:00

Kara at K Joi Studios has given me the great opportunity to design some Quick Pages and Blog Headers for sale in the K Joi Studios store. In addition to the Quick Page Set and the Blog Headers Set I created, I also created a Blog Header Freebie and a Quick Page Freebie for people to try out before they buy the sets. I used Kara Jones' Neon Decay Page Kit to create these sets. Here is the Blog Header freebie, it is sized at 700 x 150. You can get it here at the K Joi Studios shop.

Tomorrow I'll post the Quick Page Freebie which will also be located at the K Joi Studios shop. I hope you enjoy!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

2008-02-17T09:23:00.002-05:00

In my efforts to be a better blogger I am posting a quick update today on some basic stuff. Nancy and Julia (my MIL and SIL) are heading back to Kansas this afternoon. They drove down on Friday in the 1996 Toyota Camry that my MIL got us (which we really appreciate!). It's a great car, runs really well, and we could definitely use the second car.

In other random news I have Astronomy class from 5 PM tonight to 10 PM and I'm still wondering why I signed up for that class. Last week on the first day of class I took 14 PAGES of notes, 14 pages! I could not believe that we took sooooo many notes on the first day. However, once I finish this class I only need one more science class worth 4 credits. I'm not sure what I'll take yet though. I've taken Environmental Geology, which was a lot of fun and now this.

In other school news I was incredibly stressed about an exam I had coming up in my Psychology: Child Development class because it had 6 essay questions on it on top of the normal multiple choice and true/false. The exam is other theorists and genetics so I was a bit unnerved about all of the information I needed to remember. My grade came up last night though and I got 102%!!!!! Not only did I get almost every question right but apparently I got the bonus question right as well! Huge relief.

Crazy busy lately, here are some layouts!

2008-02-16T20:10:00.002-05:00

I have been crazy busy with school and home and everything else lately. Dommie's laxatives are working great and school is going well also. My IUD is out and John and I are officially trying to have a baby. We've bought ovulation and pregnancy tests in bulk, a book about fertility and a fertility log to help us chart and keep track of things to maximize our chances of it happening quickly.

In other news on K Joi Studios I have joined the Quick Page Team so watch for me to post about the quick pages I have created coming soon.

Here are some of my latest layouts.

Look here for the credits for "Dommie"

Look Here for the credits for "The Ability to Smile"

Look Here for the credits for "Take Our Breathe Away"

Look here for the credits for "Waiting For Snow"

That's about all from me, stay tuned for more soon. I am going to try really hard to be a better blogger.

I've been tagged by Naomi's blog meme

2008-02-16T19:25:00.002-05:00

The rules for this meme are:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

I was tagged by Naomi at One Woman Army for this meme, she is a very good friend of mine and her blog is awesome.

Six random things:

1. I absolutely cannot sleep if anything is covering my feet up, but I MUST have a blanket when I go to sleep. If the blanket covers my feet in the middle of the night it wakes me up and I have to move it.

2. Sometimes I sing in the shower and I ALWAYS sing in the car.

3. I absolutely love going to school and if I could afford it I would probably be a student for the rest of my life.

4. When I was in Kindergarten I used to eat paste. John and I were at the store a few years back and saw that they now make mint flavored paste. Obviously I am not the only one that used to eat it, lol.

5. I get extremely nervous meeting new people or going new places even though most people say they would never guess it because I am so outgoing.

6. I daydream a lot all the time and often have to do a mental rewind during conversations because I miss what people say. I don't mean to do it and it doesn't mean I'm not listening, it just seems to happen.

People I'm tagging: No one, Naomi tagged everyone I would have tagged. I'm a rule-breaker. LOL!

Things are looking up?

2008-01-28T20:36:00.000-05:00

The enemas did their job with Dommie and the x-ray this morning showed a clear colon. Woohoo! Dommie got his first dosage of the choclate laxatives this afternoon. If he hasn't gone by tomorrow evening on his own, we will have to give him an enema and increase the laxative dosage for wednesday.

In other news we have the surgery scheduled to remove my IUD for friday. Hopefully it goes quickly and painlessly, but even if it is painful I won't know because they are putting me to sleep for it.

That's all of my updates so far.

Dommie's Appointment Results

2008-01-25T14:17:00.001-05:00

Well the results are in and it appears that Dominic has a "slow colon". Basically this means that no matter how much stool softener they gave him it wasn't going to do any good because his colon still couldn't push the stool through fast enough to stop it from hardening. The good news is there's treatment without surgery. The badness is the treatment will last for many, many years and possibly the rest of his life even.

To treat it will will have to give him 3 enemas a day for the next 3 days and then on Monday they will do an x-ray to see if his colon is emptied. If it is we will then start him on chocolate laxatives, 2 squares a day to start off, adjusting the dosage up or down as needed. If he doesn't have a bowel movement every day then he will need an enema for the day without the bowel movement and an increase in laxatives.

We see the doctor again on Feb. 15th to see if the treatment is working or if it will need to be changed.

Off to Dommie's Appointment!

2008-01-25T08:41:00.000-05:00

We're heading off to Dommie's appointment now. I'll make a post updating everything when we get back. It will probably be later this afternoon.

I've reached a point of change

2008-01-24T11:40:00.001-05:00

I am re-evaluating quite a few things in my life. I've recently realized that things are not the way I thought they were in many ways.

Sometimes I think people remain friends for a long time simply because they have been friends for a long time. Maybe they shouldn't.

I'm taking a few steps back from Mommy Boards and I plan on sitting down to start pruning the list of people I consider friends. I think I give too much of myself to people and though I don't necessarily expect the same back I think...I don't really know what I think. I think things aren't working for me and overall I need to re-evaluate who my friends are and why.

I have a lot of thinking to do.

Dommie's big doctor's appointment is tomorrow at the Colorectal Center.

I'm sick right now, I think I have the flu, but here I am at school trying to take my finals for this term. I don't think it's going well. I don't think a lot of things are going well lately. For awhile I kept saying things would get better but they haven't and now I think I've almost given up thinking they will.

I don't think I have anything else to say right now.

Wow! I'm a terrible blogger

2008-01-18T16:12:00.000-05:00

Things have been pretty crazy lately and I can't even begin to go into it all so here are the highlights:

My laptop gave me the blue screen of death and it looks like the hard drive is dead. I hope to get it fixed soon.
John got into a "minor" traffic accident that ended up costing us a ridiculous amount of money. We are still trying to recover from the sticker shock.
My Dad went into the hospital had surgery and is slowly healing even though it seems like it's constantly getting infected.
Dommie is still constipated like crazy and we finally got him an appointment at the Cincinnati Children's Colorectal Center on Friday, January 25th. Hopefully we will get some answers and solutions then.
I started a new term at school which is now about to end, I have finals next week. Wish me luck!
I also started taking a class at UC for their Winter Term. Until the Cincy State term ends I am juggling 21 credit hours. whew!
I register for next term's classes at Cincy State. I'm taking Statistics, Astronomy, Early Literacy 3, and Psychology: Child Development.

That is life in a nutshell right now. I have tons and tons of layouts to post but I will do that later.

Updates on Dominic and My Dad and New Scrapping Pages

2007-11-07T07:42:00.000-05:00

It seems like it's been forever since I've updated. Things have been so crazy lately. Here is the latest news.

Dommie went to the doctor on Monday. He got a flu shot and blood taken for a thyroid levels test. The mineral oil seems to be helping his constipation though now he has a nasty diaper rash. We are trying to schedule an appointment with the radiology department of Children's Hospital for a barium enema (the next test he needs), but that isn't as easy as it sounds. He seems much happier now that he's getting stuff out but he's still holding it in too and he cries whenever we change him because the rash is so bad. I'm posting some updated pictures at the Berman Family News as soon as I'm done with this post so go check them out! The link is on the side.

Now, onto my Dad. He was finally allowed liquids last night after a week with nothing but mouth swabs and ice chips. He was pretty excited. Things also seem to be healing well except for some redness around his incision that they are concerned about. They haven't given him a time line for release yet and also haven't moved him out of the surgical ward, but a nurse did mention the possibility of going on this weekend if he continues improving. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, I will feel a lot better once he's out of the hospital.

In my own news I'm on break from school this week and trying to get ahead in my classes by reading a chapter from each of my books before school starts next week. My grades come in tomorrow, wish me luck!

Finally, here are some of my latest Scrapbook Pages!

CREDITS: Lilied, School Schmool Arrows, and Glitzy News by Dielle Designs.

CREDITS: Dirt Don't Hurt by Heather Manning Designs

CREDITS: Shabby Autumn by Katie Mann Designs

CREDITS: Eclectic Autumn by Brooke Roshen

You can check out all of the kits I used by clicking on the link in the credits. I love all of these designers they are some amazingly talented ladies.

In other news I also have my November Journaling Challenge up at K Joi Studios. Come check it out!!!

Halloween has arrived for the BFS

2007-10-29T13:19:00.000-04:00

There are new pictures of Dommie's costume, picking out pumpkins, and "Halloween Nights" at the Berman Family News.

In other news things have been pretty hectic lately. It is finals week at school and I feel like I can't stay caught up on everything. My Dad is in the hospital with pneumonia, gall stones, and a partial bowel obstruction so I have been very very worried about him. Dommie's constipation problems just do not seem to be getting better. He got impacted last week and we had to head back to the doctor. Two enemas later (such fun let me tell you) and he seems to be doing better but we still don't know what is causing it. We go back to the doctor in a few days.

More to come soon.

Sorry for so long without Updates!!!

2007-10-24T11:22:00.000-04:00

Dommie is all better with the fever. Right after the fever cleared we all got colds. We are still battling Dommie's constipation and we are at our wits end. I think we need to see a GI specialist because I feel like he is just in too much pain.

I'm in doing finals at school for the next two weeks so I probably won't update much. I promise to get back on the ball though once finals are over!

Dominic has been sick

2007-10-10T13:10:00.000-04:00

Dommie seems to have gotten the fever that will not go away. Poor guy is miserable, his fever averages about 102-103, has not broken once, and has even gotten as high as 105.4.

It's been a stressful past three days. I promise to get back to updating once he's all better.

Creative Team Guest for Heather Manning for October!

2007-10-01T19:52:00.000-04:00

I got another awesome guest spot for October. This one for Heather Manning. You can check out her store by clicking on the CT Guest blinkie off to the side. Stay tuned for some fun layouts using her amazing designs!

6 Months Pregnant With Dominic

2007-09-26T22:40:00.001-04:00

Here is a page using Dielle's Designs latest kit Corn Maze. Dielle is participating in the Digitals Design Star competition and Round 4 of that competition is to create a complete kit that will cost $5. All of the money made from the kit will go to the charity of the designers choice. Dielle chose St. Jude's Childrens Hospital. Check her kit out and if you are a digi-scrapper and love it (I think it's awesome) then grab it and help St. Jude's charity out while getting a cool kit all at the same time. The kit will be available in Digitals Store tomorrow (Thursday).

Here's the layout I made of it:

Credits: Corn Maze by Dielle Designs

Check out the Berman family News for the latest on Dominic and his entrance into the terrible twos. Also we are still looking for costume ideas for Dommie as well as ideas for John and I too. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!

8 Months Pregnant With Dominic

2007-09-21T20:59:00.000-04:00

Here is my second layout using the Julian Kit. I completed this for a challenge at Designs In Digital. The challenge was to choose a theme (i.e. circles) and use it for a layout. I chose round edges/circles because it seemed extremely appropriate for how round I was!

Here is the layout!

CREDITS: Julian by Majula Designs

Check out the Berman Family News for our ideas on a Halloween costume for Dominic.

New Creative Team!

2007-09-21T08:51:00.000-04:00

I have been offered a position on the Creative Team for K Joi Studios. Click on the name to check out their website. The site is undergoing a server change right now so check back later if it is still in maintenance mode when you go to it.

This is a really talented group of designers so I am honored that they have offered me a spot on their Creative Team.

The first kit I chose to work with was Julian by Martina Lang at Majula Designs. Here is my first layout with the Julian Kit. I had so much fun with this one. I used the Lyrical Challenge at SOTB and it practically put itself together.

CREDITS: Julian by Majula Designs

Since there wasn't a post last night stay tuned for a second post later on today with some new happenings in my life and possibly a new pregnancy layout.

My Letter to Dominic

2007-09-19T21:39:00.000-04:00

This layout is a layout in the works. I am going to add a letter from John and this will go into the pregnancy album.

CREDITS: Falling Leaves by Katie Mann Designs, pen from Express Yourself by Ronna Penner

2 New Layouts for the Pregnancy Album

2007-09-18T22:55:00.001-04:00

I've done two new layouts for the pregnancy album. The first one was done for a challenge at Just For The Scrap Of It and the second for a challenge at Elemental Scraps Blog.

CREDITS: Express Yourself Page Kit by Ronna Penner, Filmstrip from Blue Candy page Kit by Lindsay Jane Designs

CREDITS: Tape by Strawberry Wine Designs, Circle Stitches by Tara Sroka, Paper by Dahlia Co Designs, Frame by Netmaus' Scraps, Flower by Gina Marie Huff

What do you think? I am still looking for ideas for pages to go with my pregnancy album, post some comments if you have any. Thanks!

P is for Playground

2007-09-17T22:28:00.000-04:00

Here is my latest layout for the Alphabet Album. I made it using Katie Mann's brand spanking new kit Falling Leaves.

CREDITS: Template by Ruby and Page Kit "Falling Leaves" by Katie Mann Designs.

Stay tuned for something new tomorrow.

Is There Anybody Out There?

2007-09-16T21:40:00.000-04:00

I hope someone is still reading this since I've been so terrible about posting.

Here is today's new layout. It is a continuation of my pregnancy album. I'm attempting to be funny, not sure how well it goes over though. I created it for an element challenge at One of a Kind Scraps. The challenge was to use as many arrows as possible.

Credits: Birthday Glitz Mega Kit from the DigiShopTalk Designers, Tape by Strawberry Wine Designs

That's all I have for today. Check out the Berman Family News for Dommie's first sentence!!

L is for Laughter and Z is for Zoo

2007-09-15T20:54:00.000-04:00

As promised here are my latest two pages for Dommie's alphabet album, we are almost halfway done with it! Woohoo! Once finished we'll probably get a book printed at either shutterfly or some other website. I'm not sure if we are going to do hard or softback. The cost will be about 30-40 dollars for hardback and about 20 for softback.

Thoughts? We're still struggling to decide what to do for K but here are the rest of our ideas:

I - (needs to be redone) Imagination
K -
M - Mommie and Dommie
N - Nature
O - Original
P - Playground
Q - Questions
R - Relatives
S - Smiles All Around
T - Toddler Times
U - Upset faces
V - Vacations
W - Words
X - eXtra ____
Y - Yummy

Without further ado here are the layouts!

CREDITS: Template by Ruby, A Day at the Zoo Mega Kit elements and papers by Katie Mann Designs, Doolally Designs, Sarah Kendall, and Kellie Salmon
CREDITS: Template by Ruby, Be Who You Are by Katie Mann Designs

Stay tuned tomorrow for something new.

2 Months Pregnant With Dominic

2007-09-14T19:56:00.000-04:00

Here is my latest layout! I really like the way it turned out. I did it for a challenge at Scraphead. I think it's a good start to the month-by-month stuff.

Anyhow, I'm off to work on a layout for the alphabet album. Also I posted some new pictures of Dommie at the children's museum on the Berman Family News yesterday and today I'm throwing up the latest zoo pics.

The latest news in the land of me...

2007-09-13T21:45:00.001-04:00

Classes are going great and between classes, family, and homework I've even managed to find some time to digiscrap. Digiscrapping has definitely become a huge stress reliever for me and a way to get some creative energy out since we can't really afford for me to replenish my canvas supply right now... maybe later. It all works out for the best though.

I'm working on a pregnancy album right now and below you're going to get to see my latest pages for it. I would LOVE to hear any ideas you have for it.

I'm still working on the ABC album for Dommie too. I need to redo I because unfortunately the file got corrupted so I may try to work on that and K over the weekend.

In the meantime here is my pregnancy album so far! If you are want my update on family and Dommie you should head right on over to the Berman Family Blog (linked on the side) to check out some pictures from the Children's Museum and an update on our activities.

Credits: Feeling Scrappy Mini Kit By Elizabeth Lane at SOTB

Credits: Fresh by Katie Mann Designs at SOTB (check out her blog in my links)

Credits: Be Who You Are by Katie Mann Designs

And just for some fun here's a new scrap page of me.

Credits: Background, papers, and paint swirl: Back to School by Miss Vivi, Books with lines by Maddy, Study Zone Element by Angela Sharrow, Tag Element by Lara, Backpack Element by Beth Rimmer

That's all folks! Stay tuned for more soon!

WOW All in one day!

2007-09-10T16:30:00.000-04:00

Today it was announced that one of my layouts was a winner in a contest at Just For The Scrap Of It. I won a Mega Kit called Lip Smacking Delicious. The contest was to use a small sample of the Mega Kit to create a layout. There were three winners. Here was my layout.

CREDITS: Lip Smacking Sampler by LBCreations, Old Fashion Square by Fryske

Then as if that weren't enough to put me in an awesome mode one of my other layouts was chosen at Scrapper's Zone as their Layout of the Week! Here is that layout. It is Page 2 of my Dominic at 5 Months series. I am working on creating an album of double layouts for each month our Dommie has been with us. I have also been working on a pregnancy scrapbook and Dommie's ABC book still.

CREDITS: Design Remix: 100 Percent Boy by Katie Mann Designs. Based on my interpretation of a template by Rose McDigital Designs.

You can click on Katie's kit to see the full kit at SOTB. I have been scrapping like crazy lately and working on homework. I will post some of the scrapbook pages eventually, but some are going to remain a secret for a bit.

My final school schedule turned out to be:
Environmental Geology
Spanish 1
Exceptional Children
Math, Science, and Technology in ECE
Latin American Culture

I am also going to be tutoring for an hour or two each week at Cincy State in College Algebra. I think that is all of my latest news!

Finally Photos from Lexington!!!

2007-08-28T11:57:00.000-04:00

Weeks ago we went to Lexington and visited Tiff, jeremy, Karissa, and Colson. We stayed overnight and had a blast watching the kids play, watching movies, and once the kids hit the bed having a few drinks. The kids had a blast having a little slumber party in Karissa and Colson's room. They stayed up super late giggling, talking, and giving each other hugs.

Here are the pictures!
Karissa and Colson piling up on John the next morning

See John really was under there.

The Carousel Ride

Karissa and Dommie on a rollar coaster ride

When we first arrived, Dommie explores the room.

Dommie plays with his cousins

Smiles and Silly Faces

Checking out the bunny

Playing at Gattytown

That's all for now, stay tuned later for my latest scrapbooking layouts!

Smiles

2007-08-26T17:47:00.001-04:00

Here is my latest layout using Katie Mann Designs Page Kit "Fresh" and Lindsay Jane Designs grunge overlay on the photo. What do you think?

New Banner!

2007-08-24T20:51:00.001-04:00

John and I made a new banner for my blog tonight. I'll try to make a bermanity one for the Berman blog soon.

Credits: Paper from July Sunshine Kit by Mary at Scrapgalerie and Overlay: Heavenly Holiday from Atomic Cupcake

I am now on Katie Mann Designs Creative Team!!!!

2007-08-24T09:34:00.000-04:00

I am so excited. Katie has awesome Digital Scrapbook Kits that she sells. Being on her creative team means I will get a few of those free of charge and in return I will use them to make some of my layouts and post these layouts on a few digital scrapbooking sites. This is by far one of the coolest things I've gotten to do and it saves us money since I don't have to buy the page kits!

Here are my first two designs for Katie. Both are using her kit Design Remix: Fun and Games. You can click on the name of the kit to check out Katie's store and the kit itself.

I will update as I add new scrapbooking pages. I also have some great pictures to post of our visit to Lexington (although some are included in the first layout). Once those pictures are posted we have some awesome pictures to post of taking Dommie to the children's museum.

More Scheduling Difficulties...

2007-08-08T12:00:00.000-04:00

I haven't had this much trouble scheduling classes since I started back to school. They changed the days of the Intro to Psychology 2 class I was going to take and now it won't fit into my schedule. So instead I am taking Latin American Culture: A Special Topics in ECE course. This is only 2 credit hours instead of 3 and it is a required class for me so it should work out alright. I hope at least.

I'll update later if it changes again.

Pictures of Dommie in Louisville and GrandMary and George's are up on the Berman blog. Tomorrow I'll post pictures from the Lexington isit to Tiff, Jeremy, Colson, and Karissa here. Stay tuned!

J is for Jump and other pages

2007-08-07T12:42:00.000-04:00

Here are two of my latest scrapbook pages. The first one is the next installment in my alphabet series. J is for JUMP!. The second page is one I created for a challenge at SOTB, it is about Dommie's birth.

I am struggling to decide what K should stand for so if anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them!

Credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: Cool Boys, Sweet Girls by Mary at Scrapgalerie

Credits: Page Kit: Mysteria by Digital Diva's Designs

Journaling reads: "When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. - Peter Marshall"

Check out the Berman blog for new pictures of Dommie fingerpainting! Soon to come are pictures from our weekend in Louisville and Lexington. Stay Tuned.

Ugh...Scheduling Difficulties

2007-08-06T20:37:00.000-04:00

In all of the excitement this weekend I forgot to register for classes Friday night and when I remembered on Sunday night one of the classes I needed to take was already full. So I have spent the past two days frantically trying to rearrange my schedule so that I am taking the classes I need to take. So here is what I have registered for so far, I may change some of this later:

Environmental Geology
Exceptional Children
Math and Science in Early Childhood Education
Elementary Spanish 1 (Beginner Spanish, not a requirement but I think it will look good on my resume if I can refresh my high school spanish)
Intro to Pschology 2

This will put me in class from 9AM to 6PM with some small breaks in between on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Marie will have Dommie on Wednesdays as well so that will be a day for me to work on projects and homework since I am taking 17 credit hours this term. Hopefully I can keep up, but if need be I can drop Elementary Spanish without it affecting my financial aid.

Dommie Used his New POTTY!!!!

2007-08-05T21:22:00.000-04:00

We bought Dommie the Winnie the Pooh 3-in-1 Flushing Potty on Friday. He loves to push the flushing button. It doesn't really flush but it says something like, "You Did It!" and then makes a flushing sound. We didn't really get a chance to have him try it because the next morning we headed to Louisville, where we had a great lunch with Grandmary and George (pictures to come soon). Then we headed to Lexington where we had a blast with Tiff, Jeremy, Colson, and Karissa. Dommie had his first slumber party type thing with Karissa and Colson and they had sooooooo much fun. I couldn't believe how well they all got along.

Anyways, when we got home tonight Dommie announced he had to "poo-poo" we asked if he wanted to use the potty and brought it out. After we helped him pull his diaper down he sat down and proceeded to poop on the POTTY! I'm sure we still have quite the journey of potty training to go but we're off to a great start!!!!

We were so excited. Of course immediately after he tried to touch it and John whisked him off to get wipe and wash his hands. I went to help and then realized the cats were a little too interested in what was in the potty so I cleaned that up instead. We are sooooooooooo proud of our little boy.

Plants and Pages

2007-08-03T09:04:00.001-04:00

Dominic's plant obsession is going strong. Click here to see plants, plants, and more plants.

In other news things with school are moving right along. I register for classes tonight at midnight, wish me luck getting the classes I need!

Here are some of my latest scrapbooking pages for your viewing pleasure.

Credits: James by Mermaid's Haven. Font: Kirtsen

Credits: Page Kit: July Sunshine and Cool Boys, Sweet Girls by Mary at Scrapgalerie. Font: Anke Print

Credits: Page Kit: Cool Boys, Sweet Girls by Mary at Scrapgalerie, Flower Frame Overlay by Fantacy Font: Anke Print

Credits: Page Kits: Summer Brights by kimsmithdesigns, Doreen Stolz, and Gwenevere Dupus. Font: Tempus Sans

Credits: In the Shade of the Woods by Mira Designs. Font: Papyrus

School, School, and more School...

2007-08-01T16:54:00.000-04:00

Things are going great with me, overall the only new thing is school stuff. I went and visited with an advisor at UC. She will be my advisor through my transfer process in a year or so. She said I am right on track and helped me figure out which courses I need to take. She also said that everything should work out perfectly for me to take a break from school in the fall/winter 2008 for a new baby. (In case you haven't heard John and I are officially going to start trying for baby #2 in January or February.)

Here is my possible class schedule for next term:
American History 1
Exceptional Children
Environmental Geology
Geology

I may add Algebra and Trig 1 on as a night class but I'm not sure if I'm ready to spend an entire day away from Dommie. I register for classes on Saturday.

Also on Saturday we are driving down to spend the day with John's Grandparents in Louisville and then we'll stay the night and Sunday day with my sister, Tiffany, in Lexington. I am sure tons of pictures from those visits will be coming soon. Stay tuned. Tomorrow I'll post some new scrapbook pages.

New Dommie Video and some more scrapbook pages!

2007-07-22T21:02:00.001-04:00

There is a new video of Dommie and his friend Zoe from our BBQ last week. You can check it out here.

Here are some more of my latest scrapbook pages as well, lots of Dommie and Daddy with some Fishies as well. Enjoy!

Credits: Template from SOTB July Speedy-Scraps Challenge, Page Kits: One Fish, Two Fish by Kimberly Cameron

Credits: Summer Brights by Kimsmithdesigns and Gwenevere Dupus

Credits: Cords by Mermaid's Haven

Credits: Charlie's World by Mermaid's Haven

More to come tomorrow! I hope you've enjoyed these pages so far!

The Garter Toss and More!

2007-07-21T23:41:00.000-04:00

As promised here is the latest wedding scrapbook page and Dommie's First Year. Also I've thrown in the pages I created tonight, Dommie's first corn on the cob experience. I hope you enjoy! There will be more to come tomorrow!

Credits: Page Kit My Guy by Kimbs' Designs
Completed for July's Ad Challenge on SOTB

Credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: Inflorescene by Carrie Stephens

PAGE 1
Credits: Page Kit: Verona by Danielle Engebretson
Completed for Make Mine a Double July Challenge on SOTB

PAGE 2
Credits: Page Kit: Verona by Danielle Engebretson
Completed for Make Mine a Double July Challenge on SOTB

There will be more to come tomorrow, lots of pages of Dommie and Daddy. I am about to start working on the "J" page for the alphabet album. We took tons of pictures of Dommie jumping on a trampoline today at John's work party so you guessed it, J will be for JUMP!

The Letter I and BBQ's in July!

2007-07-21T09:06:00.000-04:00

First things first. We had a BBQ and I posted quite a few of the pictures up on the Berman Family Blog, you can see those here. The full list of pictures is posted here.

Yesterday after I posted the Alphabet Album so far I completed the letter I. Here it is!

I is for Ice Cream
Credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: Honeydew Lemon by Digital Divas Design

Tomorrow I really will post the Wedding Album additions and a view of Dominic's first year!

New Pictures and my Alphabet Album

2007-07-20T11:24:00.001-04:00

If you want to see the latest in Dommie's plant obsession check out The Berman Family News. There are some very cute pictures of Dom snuggled up in bed with his favorite kitchen plant. We have since then bought him a large plant for his bedroom and my Dad bought him a small not prickly cactus that he likes to carry around. Pictures of both with come later.

Below this post you can see Dommie's first Corn on the Cob pictures and a general update on my life.

Now the much awaited alphabet scrapbook album! I found these amazing templates on Ruby's Place and used them to start creating an alphabet album for Dommie. I do not have all of the templates yet, but she releases new ones every Tuesday and I am watching eagerly.

Here they are! Page Kit and element designer credits can be seen above each scrapbook page. All pages are made using Ruby's alphabet templates.

A is for Adventures
Credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: Fresh by Janosch

You are All Boy
Credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: DigiSprap4All by Helena Monteiro, Julia Fialho, Mitia Assef, and VirBrandi

C is for Christmas
Credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: Holiday Seasonal Sampler by Shabby Princesses

D is for Dominic and Daddy
Credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: Go Camping by Calico Designs

E is for Easter
Credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: Blue Candy by Lindsay Jane Designs

F is for Fishies!
Credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: One Fish, Two Fish by Kimberly Cameron

G is for Gardens
credits: Template by Ruby, Page Kit: Honeydew Lemon by Digital Divas Design

H is for Halloween
Credits: Template by Ruby, Papers and Elements: Unknown*

I am working on more alphabet pages and other general scrapbook pages currently. Tomorrow I will post some more pages from the Wedding Album. Stay Tuned!

* I lost the TOU files for quite a few Page Kits and Elements from a few years ago, If anyone knows who created this pieces of the Halloween page please let me know so I can update this with proper credit. I know the papers are all from different kits and the candy corn and bone page are from the same kit.

New Pictures Up!

2007-07-19T21:57:00.000-04:00

New Pictures are up on our family gallery for July.

Highlights of those pictures will be posted here and on The Berman Family News over the next few days. The first set is up right now, see Dommie's first Corn On The Cob experience here

Also I have tons of new scrapbook pages up on ScrapOutsidetheBox

These include wedding pages, Dommie and Daddy pages, and general Dommie moments. I am also working on an alphabet album that will be at least partially revealed tomorrow. I have A-H completed and hope to finish a few more before I post up the pictures.

Stay tuned for more, same Berman time, same Berman channel.

It's been way too long since I updated

2007-07-19T10:31:00.000-04:00

I am terrible at keeping a blog it appears. It has been way too long since I have updated on Dominic and the happenings in our life.

I am on my 5th term at school and I still have a 4.0. This term is a lot harder in some ways and a lot more relaxed in others. I have less homework on a daily basis, more projects overall, and a math class that is causing a small struggle. I used to be very, very good at Algebra and I am picking up on things very quickly, but it has been 8 years since I have had a math class and that is definitely showing. I got a A on my last test though! WOOHOO!

In other news I may be back at home with Dommie a few days a week and other than the loss of extra money I think I prefer it that way. I love the time I get to spend with him at home and I really feel like it's worth having to scrimp a bit. I need to redo our budget and we need to really stick with it for the rest of this year so that we can continue saving money.

I would still like to do our driveway but that may have to wait until next year. There are quite a few remodeling projects I would like to take on. If we can't do our driveway this year I think I want to see about fixing some things in our upstairs bathroom. We need new fixtures as the current ones leak, I think this would really decrease our water bill, I would also like to resurface the tub, do something to replace or fix the cracked tile, put in new flooring, and maybe do a little bit of painting.

Over the next few days I will update this blog and The Berman Family News blog with pictures of Dominic and the latest things in our lives. Stay tuned!

Our Photo Gallery is back!!!

2007-06-06T08:29:00.000-04:00

It's been down since November, but it's back now! We finally gave up on it getting fixed at the current host and moved the hosting to a new place. It makes me sooooo much happier to know that it's back and working.

It is a lot easier to upload photos and post photos from the gallery.

Here is the link

www.linenoiz.com/gallery

Birthday Pictures are up!

2007-05-31T08:47:00.000-04:00

Check out the Berman Family Blog...

Someone got ahold of Mommie's popsicle!

2007-05-30T08:01:00.001-04:00

Dommie wanted a bite of my strawberry popsicle, but the catch was, he HAD to be the one to hold it. *Insert tantrum here until he got his way* They say to pick your battles and this didn't seem all that important so I let him hold it. It quickly became apparent that he wasn't planning on giving it back now that he had tasted the yummy strawberry deliciousness.

Check out the innocent expression on his face.