I survivied!

The past 2 weeks have been full (if you haven't read about it on our main page). Before I was injured we had planned to be in Oregon for Christmas. The airlines refused to work with us and we spent a lot of money on our tickets. I was healing faster than we expected, so we took a gamble and kept our travel plans. Take off and landings were not fun, but other than that, it was tolerable. I am getting a little more mobile each day. I still can't hold Addie for very long, but hopefully that will change soon. For the most part my nerve pain is gone. I am probably more grateful for that than anything at this point. I still have quite a bit of dull back pain though.


Today was a turning point... we said goodbye to the hospital bed. I am looking forward to the comfort of my own bed each night. Jon is a trooper and handling things very well. He is supposed to go back to work this week (we are hoping that changes) which may make things very difficult. I would like to thank everyone who has helped out in any way. I have felt the prayers. I know they are helping. I know the blessings I received have helped. I am so grateful for the outpouring of love and support. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Day #10

Today I walked into the kitchen ALL BY MYSELF. Then with help from Reagan, I made a sandwich. Slowly (and I do mean slowly) I am progressing. Tomorrow I have an appointment with Orthopedics and we'll see how that goes. I am more concerned with getting in and out of the car than anything else. Well, it's time for a Vicodin aka sleepy time...

Soap, Shampoo, and Hot Water!

Today was a GREAT day! I conquered one of my fears since being released from the hospital. With help from Jon I made it upstairs and was able to shower. This was difficult and painful… but TOTALLY worth it. I’m sure everyone within smelling distance would agree.

The physical exertion was so great that afterwards I climbed in my OWN bed and took a glorious nap. Even though it’s no secret I despise our bed (longing for our old, softer king size mattress) the queen was heaven compared to the stiff, plastic twin hospital mattress I have been confined to. I am not complaining. I have appreciated having this bed, but after hours of lying on it… it becomes VERY uncomfortable.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. For now, I am content knowing I am clean and had a great nap in the comfort of my own bed.

Catching up

I am really behind on my blogging. I guess I have to start with Thursday. As many of you know, it was my birthday. A few years back I decided to stop celebrating it. If I don't celebrate, it's like it never happened right? Well, the kids had gymnastics and it was a school night which left us little time for fun. We had dinner at Chili's and it was so good. I love the Mushroom Jack fajita, YUM! I also received some amazing gifts from family/friends.

Saturday the kids went to a birthday party and I went to the R.S. broadcast. When I arrived home I was surprised with a little party planned by Jon and the kids. So sweet right? They had an ice cream cake, roses, and balloons. It was such a great night, especially considering that it was not my birthday. Notice how thoughtful Jon was when he put up my candles. Am I spoiled? Definitely

Watch Bracelet Bands

Watch bands are on the way! This is the first of many more to come. Check out my etsy store for details. http://www.brinababe.etsy.com/

Gift Sets

Check out my new gift sets. I am selling these with or without the clutches on etsy. Many other fun things are on the way.     
http://www.brinababe.etsy.com/

Etsy

If you didn't catch the info. on facebook, I have started selling wipe clutches on Etsy. To view mine, go to www.brinababe.etsy.com and I have 14 different styles to choose from. These are so much fun hopefully school won't tie up too much of my time. Until the next update...

Crafty Crafts...

So if you were wondering, I've been crafting a lot lately. With all the babies being born this summer I decided to stock up on wipes clutches.





I can't decide which is my favorite.

Frustration...

Jon and I have been hitting the gym hard. We have been on the treadmill nearly every day for 3 weeks. I usually do the bike for 3.5 miles plus a good run. We keep our heart rate up for AT LEAST 40 minutes, sometimes longer. With all the sweat, blood, and tears you would think I would see some sort of pay back. Unfortunately I haven't lost ANY weight. I know I am getting older, I know this is my 3rd baby, but seriously? I've never had this hard of a time loosing weight. I am also watching my diet. Because I am nursing, I am limited to what I can/can't do diet-wise. Any suggestions? Just a side note, Jon and I are doing a 5K in 2 weeks... wish us luck!

A few of my favorite things...

I was surfing the web trying to get ideas for baby gifts when I ran across several fun projects on etsy.com. I wanted to do something easy but personal. These wipe clutches were perfect. I have made several of these and they only took about 15 minutes to put together.

I am just getting around to posting pics of the beautiful flowers I received. The first bouquet came from Jon and the kids. Gavin and Reagan picked the flowers and ribbon while "Daddy" supervised. The other two were sent by Guy & Jeanette (Jon's parents). It has been wonderful having so many fresh flowers in my house... I could get used to this.

I survived... again!

After what seemed like an endless agonizing pregnancy, I endured yet another long labor. The fun began at my appointment on the 17th and was informed they would not induce me and could potentially go over my due date. I was not happy. This concerned me for several reasons. Jon gave me a blessing which helped me to be settled and at peace. I had another appointment on the 23rd and was expecting to hear bad news again. To my surprise, I was dilated to a 4 and they could induce me the next day (my due-date). We had to call at 6am and see if any beds were available (EAFB only has a few labor/delivery beds). They had an opening so at 6:30 we dropped off the kids and headed to the hospital.

The pitocin actually started at 7:30 and didn't do much for me. Slowly they increased the amount and before long I was in pain. This was so much fun that I began asking for pain meds. At 1:45 my water broke and the anesthesiologist still hadn't shown up. The nurses assured me they had paged/called him several times. Finally at 2:30 I got an epidural. Even though I was hoping for an intrathecal, I welcomed the pain relief. Unfortunately it only helped with my contractions. I still felt all the pushing and delivery. It compared to having Reagan without pain meds. At 3:35pm Addison was born. I was so happy to be alive and see my beautiful daughter. Even though it was a challenge from pregnancy to her birth, she was well worth it.

The waiting game

Tomorrow is my all-so-important Dr. appointment. I still haven't figured out why they are referred to as Dr. appointments. I have yet to see a single doctor. So far, it's been nurse practitioners and midwives. Hopefully they will be inducing me and we can finally meet Addison. Per the clinic records (which are disputable) I am "officially" due on the 24th but was told last month that they can induce me a week early. Cross your fingers!

Another one down!

Today was my final test. Wahoo! I am officially done with classes until September. The timing couldn't be better. Now I am just patiently (okay, not so patiently) waiting for the arrival of Addison. Until next time...

The Nienie Dialouges

I love this blog. For those of you who haven't heard about it... I recommend checking it out.

Girlie Girls

I have been working on the girls room for quite a while and my efforts are starting to pay off. I couldn't find a bumper/crib set in the patter or color I wanted so I decided to make one myself. I still need to make a skirt (I am thinking green), but for the most part here it is.

The bumper is reversible (all pink or blocks) so I can change it whenever I get bored (knowing me, sooner than later). Both girls have a lime green chandelier above their names and I am planning to make matching quilts for them.
Funny how things work, we have been on the hunt for white furniture since September 2007. No one had all white furniture. In fact, most places told us we were nuts for wanting it. Well, we bought ours at Fred Meyer recently. The dressers came with black knobs which we quickly swapped out. Now that we have everything situated, EVERYONE has white furniture. Target even has a 15% off sale right now.



For the most part I am happy with the way it turned out. If you have any other suggestions... I'd love to hear them.

Wrapping up another semester.

This semester I had a hard time deciding if I should take classes or not. I knew the baby would be due right around finals so I ended up taking 2 online classes. I took my final for an XP class and TADA, another A. I am almost through with my second class and it looks like my 4.0 gpa will still be in tact. Wahoo!

Valentines Day was one of those days that had highs, and lows. I woke up with a head cold and wanted nothing more than to sleep all day. That didn't start things off on the right foot. At 10:00 we had a primary activity in Eagle River. We loaded the kids up not expecting too much and were pleasantly surprised. The gym was decorated like a carnival. Balloons, snow cones, cotton candy, sugar cookies... oh my. Several of the classrooms were used for activities that kept the kids entertained for hours. Sugar rush aside, the kids had a great time.

After that we dropped our kids off at the Holt's for a few hours. I have missed Carino's and Olive Garden since living here and Jon wanted to find a way to give it to me. He found recipes for some of my favorite dishes and we went to work preparing them. The Italian Nachos turned out great (if you want the recipe email me). The only downside was the 1 1/2 hours it took to prepare them. We have since simplified the prep-time and can do it in about 45 min. We had planned to make Scallopini for the main dish but time was running out and the Nachos really filled us up.

We headed to pick the kids up, napped a little and then started on our main course/dessert. The Scallopini did not turn out right at all. Unsure if the recipe was bad, or if we did something wrong, we will try it again. Even though our house was full of goodies (we baked cupcakes and cakes all weekend) I went to work on angel food cake. The strawberries were tart (hard to find decent produce in AK) but the glaze made up for it. Yum!

Full bellies and a happy family later, I snuck off to work on my talk. I spoke on Charity and yes, I cried like I always do. Luckily the Hartzell's watched our kids (Jon's schedule still won't allow him to attend church :( I am still taking classes and trying to plug away at them in hopes of being done before the baby arrives. Other than that, I am just trying to survive one day at a time.