Introducing Ava Mary, my angel!!!

If someone had told me last Thanksgiving that by this Thanksgiving, I'd have a newborn baby, I'd call you lots of names and laugh at you. But guess what........ I have a newborn! LOL! It just seems like last week that I posted about our pregnancy and suddenly, it's almost December! My original due date was December 1st (which is tomorrow), but baby girl is already here!!! Due to some complications, my OB decided to induce me at 37 weeks on November 9th and baby was here shortly after!

(a few minutes after her arrival)

Ava Mary arrived at 8:08pm on Thursday, November 10. She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long. Healthy as can be and sooooo beautiful!!!

(getting ready to go home!)

The labor was not quite what I had expected and was a bit rough, but she is here and healthy and I am fine and healthy (though still recovering, so taking it easy), so it was worth it! She will be 3 weeks old tomorrow already (oh my goodness!!) and is growing so fast. I am still trying to figure out life with a newborn in my house. I was blessed to have my mother make it here to Florida from PA in time for her grand arrival, so I had some help for the first week that we were home. Then the rest of my family from PA (father, sister, uncle, stepdad) came down to meet her and to spend Thanksgiving with us all. Sadly, they all went back to PA on Saturday so it's just me and baby now. Someday I'll figure out how to organize my time with her, but for now, I'm just enjoying her!!!!!

Sooooooooooo, hopefully sometime soon, I'll get back to crafting and posting on a more regular basis. The past 9 months have been so hectic and crazy, so for that, I deeply apologize! I managed to get out on Black Friday to get some new supplies to encourage me to get back in my crafting room and I know that for Christmas, I will be getting some more neat crafting/scrapping stuff, so I just have to get to it, eh? :-)

I do want to thank you all for sticking with me through the past 9 months; for understanding why I've been MIA and for all of the sweet comments on my blog and on my FB! It really makes me smile to know that I'm surrounded (even if only virtually) by lots of love and support of all of you that I now consider friends!!!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are preparing for a beautiful holiday season and I can't wait to catch up with you all soon!!!

Hello! :-) I'm baaaaack!

First, my apologies. I've been MIA... again... for far too long. I still do read everyone's blogs and follow you all on Facebook, but the energy to type much more than a quick status update has been escaping me. Except on the days that I DO have the energy, I focus that on doing things around my home that need to get done in preparation for Baby Girl's arrival!!

Speaking of, I am FINALLY in the 3rd trimester! :-) Have had SO many ups and downs with this, my first pregnancy, but I am still so excited for her arrival. We have some new things that we are dealing with, but I am doing well and baby girl is growing well! We had an ultrasound yesterday and she is SUPER active and beautiful already! In less than 3 months (I suspect), she'll be here!!!!

So here's my update on crafting and on life in general since it's been almost 2 months AGAIN since my last update.

LIFE/BABY:

We are getting the house ready for Ava's arrival. This meant packing up my scrapbooking room/spare bedroom and moving the scrapbooking to the dining room.

This was my craft room (kinda before... the table and the storage units were already moved).

This is the dining room after the move, before the set up.

The new set up in the dining room...

Then, a couple of weekends ago, hubby and his dad painted the now-known-as nursery pink and set up all the furniture. I did a pseudo set up of the linens in the room to see how it looks (of course it's not done), but here are the results.

(I had some random character's made up from my niece's visit last fall, so I hung those on the door.)

I still have A LOT to do in her room, but I feel much better knowing that she has a room of her own!

Other than that, it's just been trying to keep up with the regular household stuff and trying to take it easy (since I've been threatened with bedrest... EEK!).

CRAFTING

Now, on to what I started this for... my crafting life!

Well, there really isn't one lately. Besides moving my room and setting back up (and getting organized), I haven't done much. I did a visit with a friend and made some cards back in July, but that's it.

But, in trying to get re-motivated, I did attend the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbook Convention that is here in my city of Jacksonville this weekend today with a great friend of mine! We didn't do any of the classes (we missed the deadline) so we just attended the vendor show, but it was still a great time! Got a lot of inspiration, found a lot of stuff that I wanted to buy (but refrained from.... I've got bigger things to spend my money on for right now and her name is Ava. LOL!), and seemed to have gotten the bug again. Not necessarily like I had it before, but definitely enough to want to get back in there and play some more. Especially with my favorite season and holidays coming up soon, Ava's arrival (and all that will come with that .... thank you cards, memory books for her, etc.), I think it's my season for scrapbooking/crafting!

I did purchase a few things that I haven't seen in any of my local scrapbooking stores or big box stores (clear acrylic albums, some awesome embossing powder, etc), so perhaps this weekend I may get to those.

I do hope to get back into this again soon to be posting videos and projects and photos for all of you beautiful people who have continued to follow me, despite me being so absent lately!! I appreciate each of you and I promise that I will be back VERY soon with something awesome to show my thanks!!!!! :-) So stay tuned!

Until then, my friends....

Update... mostly on Baby!

I am amazed at how quickly the time is flying by since I've been pregnant, but suddenly, it's been almost two months since I last updated! I check in to read up when I can, but never get around to writing much, so here I am.....

Since my last update, we have gone on a vacation to Pennsylvania to see my family, had many baby doctor appointments and some milestones, some low points, and some high points, so here we go! This will mostly be baby-related, as I still haven't had the energy to get in my craft room....

Last week, after returning from PA, we had our almost-20 week ultrasound to check on the baby and all is perfect! Two hands, two feet, saw the heartbeat and the spine and the belly and all that cute stuff!

Here's a photo of baby, looks like sucking its thumb!

And then, here's our acrobat! Feet up in the air, butt wiggling around, and head at the bottom. :-)

And here's what I was waiting for...................

IT'S A GIRL!

We have already picked out her name: Ava Mary. :-)

This was such a huge day for us. Jon could hardly keep his excitement in. He started calling people to tell them as soon as we got out of the doctor's office!

So, seeing her has definately made pregnancy so much more fun and exciting. We started our registries and started picking up little things here and there. It's so real now!!!

To make it even more real:: I started to feel her move! I was worried because I hadn't felt her but suddenly, last week, I did! SOOOOO AMAZING!

I still struggle with some morning sickness (still on meds for it) and now am dealing with elevated blood pressure and a horrible cough (not sure if it's a cold or a by-product of acid reflux), but honestly, it's all worth it! Once we got to see baby girl, I realized that it is all worth it!!!

~~~~~~

In the excitement (and exhaustion) of everything that my body is going through for the past 20 weeks, I still have not spent more than 10-15 minutes in my craft room. I think I'm in mourning because I know that in the next few months, it will no longer be my craft room as that will become the nursery and my craft room will be moved to the dining room until I find a more permanent solution. I go in and just look around and imagine what it'll look like very soon and it's soooooo weird to think that it'll be Ava's room soon!!!

In trying to get me back in the spirit of crafting, Jon let me order some new cartridges from CricutMachine.com when they were having their 4th of July sale ($17.76 on most carts), and they arrived today, so I THINK I may actually go play tonight.

(sorry it's sideways; I can't turn it)

I got My Community, Car Decals, and Sesame Street Font. (Can ya tell I'm getting in kid mode? LOL!)

We'll see what I come up with. :-)

I hope you are all well!

Could it be? A real update?? YES IT IS! A long one, too!

*deep breath*

First, I must apologize for my longer-than-anticipated absence from my blog. Needless to say, LIFE IS CRAAAAZY and sadly, the first thing to fall off the wagon was my hobby and all that comes with it.... including the blog. But, hopefully, this update will help everyone understand where I've been! :-) Let me go back to March.

In the beginning of March, I got a jury duty notice. I'd never had jury duty before, so I wasn't quite sure what to think about it, but it's my civic duty, so... on March 21st, I reported to the courthouse for jury selection. In my county, they only do selection on Monday's for the week's trials. This meant, 400+ people in one room getting selected to go to the court rooms for questioning. Luckily, I was in the second group to get called. We walk to the courtroom and selection begins. Fast forward about 2 hours and it was "Hi, my name is Carol and I'm juror #7 on a civil trial." So, for the next three days, I was sitting on a jury for a very heated, difficult, and exhausting trial. I can actually say though, that I really enjoyed it!! I'm not saying I'd volunteer for this duty, but it was such a learning experience and I really have a greater respect for our country's judicial system!

On March 24th, my first day after jury duty, I realized that something was missing from my life....... ladies, you understand. So that morning, I got up really early and this is what I found.

So.... that began a whole new world for me. Doctor's appointments and a few freak outs, but yes, hubby and I are expecting! After a few ultrasounds, it has been determined that we are due on December 1st. I am so ecstatic and afraid and happy and nervous... all at the same time!

What's the first thing hubby wanted to do after we found out? Of all things...........

Yes, that's right. He wanted us to buy a van! He's wanted a van since we first got married, but I firmly rebelled.... until now. We wouldn't have enough room in my little car for all of us (gotta count the dog), so I caved in and bought my very first brand new car! It's a Kia Sedona and as much as I hate to say it, I LOVE IT! Oh what have I become?

After we found out, I needed to plan a trip back to PA to tell my family. I went there for a week and my family is out of this world happy!!! I got to spend some great time with my beautiful niece! Aunt Carol even introduced this cute little almost-three year old to PLAY-DOH (which she calls her "colors"). Mommy wasn't too excited about this, but isn't that what aunts are for??

I also gave the little angel her birthday present a little early. It's a pen that reads books out loud for her and there's games and music on it. It comes in a little backpack that she never wanted to take off!!

My father's birthday was the week after I was to come back to FL, so we had a family celebration for him while I was home so I could actually be there for it! It was nice to be home for his party!!

I returned to FL in time for my first OB appointment and got my second ultrasound done. We got to see the little peanut AND we got to hear his/her heartbeat! What an AMAZING experience!! Both Jon and I were in tears! It's so incredible to think that there's a little tiny person with a heartbeat inside of me!

So that's the big reason I've been MIA so much lately..... this baby is kicking my butt! I've had horrible horrible morning sickness for the past few weeks to the point that there are often days that I am afraid to move because I know it's going to make me sick. I think I have finally found a few things that settle my stomach, so I'm going to try to work these into a routine so I can start getting back to normal.... at least until I get past this part of the pregnancy. :-)

LOL! When I think I found something that actually stayed down, my hubby went nuts and bought lots of it! Yes, that's ginger ale, saltines, sprite, and salt and vinegar chips!!!

When I finally had a day that I felt somewhat human and had some energy, I got into my scrap room as soon as I could! I wanted to make my Mother's Day cards before Mother's Day passed. I was so happy to get back in there. You don't realize how much you can miss a hobby until you're away from it for a month or more and finally get back to it!

Here is one of the cards that I made. I am so happy with how it turned out!

So, to finish up this looooooooooooong, but needed update, I will hopefully have LOTS to share with you after this weekend. For part of my Mother's Day gift, my hubby is sending me to a weekend long scrapbooking event at a camp near my city that's being hosted by a local scrapbook supply store! It starts at noon on Friday and it goes until 4pm on Sunday! I'm going with a new friend of mine and we are staying on-site. There is no internet access (even from my phone), so I won't be updating over the weekend, but as soon as I get home, get unpacked and get photos done, I'll share what I make!! I've never been to a scrapbooking event before, so I'm very excited. I have no idea what to take with me, but I'm still excited!!!

I hope this update helps you understand why I've been missing.... It's not that I don't still love my hobby, but baby and mommy's health comes first. :-)

I promise to try to stop in at least a bit more to post, but please know that I appreciate all of my followers and I still read all of your blogs as often as I can, even if I'm not posting or commenting!

Happy Crafting, everyone!