Swimming in a Blizzard! ....

Yep that's right! We have been swimming in a blizzard all day! Nathan's 26th birthday was today and we decided to go to Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor waterpark/hotel to celebrate his birthday and Valentine's Day. Anyways while we were here, Ohio got the biggest snowstorm in a long time. It actually is a blizzard outside with strong winds and about a foot of snow in like 12 hours! Good thing we were safe and warm inside the waterpark all day!!!! The girls had such fun playing in the water. Emma however got sick last night with some sort of bug, so she was not quite her usually daring self on the waterslides and all. She did do much more that I would have thoguht a 2 year old would have! She was on slides made for adults!!! Maddelyn however took 2 days to overcome her fears of even walking past the big tower that dumps buckets of water on you periodically. Emma...she stood under the bucket waiting for it to dump on her! Maddelyn did end up going ona big slide, but only after being bribed with M&M's and her daddy going down with her. It is so funny to see the differences between our fraidy-cat and our dare-devil! Caroline got a new suit for the trip bt she just spent the time at the waterpark in either our arms or in the carseat. The water and air int he park was plenty warm but we were worried about the chemicals. So she just sported her new suit and stayed dry.

Of course I had to share a few pics. Caroline is such a doll in her new suite! It's quite big on her, but it is only size 0-6 months from Gymboree. Man I love that store!!! I have to be very careful though because it could eventually become a habit just like my scrapbooking...and of course it is just as costly if not more! :D

We are staying a second night here and spending the day in the waterpark again. Hopefully by the time we are ready to leave the roads will be clear enough to go home. We'll see.

Back to Scrapbooking....

Well, I am trying to get back in the swing of scrap'n. I did a little work while on bedrest, but mainly just finishing up goals I told myself I would have done before Caroline arrived. I now have just started trying to get some general layouts done. It is hitting me that I am developing and printing pictures about 100 times faster than I am scrapbooking them. That is a slight problem!!! Not only am I way behind in my albums, but I am starting to see this nice little pile of photo boxes stacking up in the corner of my scraproom!

Here are a few recent layouts....

Back to Cold...Cold Ohio

Well, we're home! It was so nice to visit a state that's temperature was actually ABOVE zero! It actually felt warm at DC's 25 degrees! LOL! We came home ot a raw temp of about 9 degrees and then windchills on top of that. When we left on Monday morning the temperature was -5!!!! That's before windchills! Many of Ohio's schools have been cancelled this week due to the freezing temps.

We had a nice time in DC. It was really a buisness trip for the campaign Nathan is on, but Caroline and I just rode along and chilled out in the hotel room while he was in meetings. It was nice to be away from everything for a short break. I actually got three scrapbook layouts done in the hotel room. Yes, I took my stuff. What's relaxing if you can't scrap? I will have to post some later this weekend. We were able to go to the Dubliner while we were there. That is the Irish Pub that Nathan and I always have to stop at in DC. They have the BEST reubens...well of course besides my mom's! It was nice to chill out for a while and Caroline was able to get her first taste of Daddy's favorite city at only 3 weeks.

Yes, can you believe it!!! Caroline is 3 weeks old already! WOW! It seems like forever ago that we had her, but I still can't believe she is three weeks old! She is acting much more grown up now. She does pretty well at controlling her head movements and she actually looks for your voice now. Once sh efinds you she will look at you and not past you like she used to. It is nice that she is trying to find us! Caroline is also going through a rough time at night. She has been pretty fussy lately, I think from gasiness? She is not crying out all the time, just she whines all night. Basically she will just lay there whining between feedings. So needless to say, Mommy and Daddy aren't seeing too much of Mr. Sandman these days. I guess that is all part of a new baby!

We got the birth announcemts in the mail today and they are of course GOREGOUS! I posted a pic for those of you who I did not have addresses for. The lady who did them for me is named Marie and she does all kinds of custom cards and invitations.

Here is a link to her sellers page in ebay....
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZrainforestoneQQhtZ-1

Here is a link to her about me page on ebay...

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=rainforestone

Of course I had to add a few new pictures of my girls as well as Daddy and Caroline in Dc this week. Isn't Caroline changing her looks already?

Off to DC!

Well we will be gone the next three days to Washington Dc. Nathan has to go on a buisness trip so Caroline and I are tagging along. The girls went to PA to thier grandparents, but since I am nursing...Caroline gts to see the city!!!! Yep, it will be her first time to Daddy's favorite place in the USA! So Ia m no sure how much I will be poting, but I hope to at least get Caroline's birth announcents uploaded for you all to see. I ordered them from a lady on ebay and they are wonderful!!!!

That is pretty much it from FREEZING Ohio. It is sooooo cold here that the local schools are actually closed tomorrow for windchills! The raw temp is about 0 degrees and that is BEFORE windchills! So lets just say we are bundled up here!

Birth Announcement Photos...

Well I am finally getting around to Caroline's Birth Announcements. I figured up how much I would have in making them both time and money and right now, it was not worth it. I found this lovely lady on ebay who makes digital cards with photoshop, and I having her design a card for me. The samples she has sent me so far are adorable! It was hard to chose just one! Hopefully by the next time I need a card made, I will be able to do it myself ( I asked hubby for photshop for my birthday.)

Here are the pictures I took for the invitation. I was pretty proud of them to say the least! :D Man, I love my Nikon D50!

1st Doctor's Visit and 1st Pictures...

Our baby girl is already 2 weeks old! We went in for her two week check up today. She weighed in at 9lbs 13 oz and 21 inches. When she left the hospital she was 8lbs 8 oz and 20 1/4 inches, so that means she must be nursing well to have grown that much in 2 weeks! They said that she looked great and thier only concern was a herniated (sp?) belly-button. They said it was not a bad one...just stickes out a bit more than an outtie.....but that we would need to watch it. Sometimes they go down a bit and maybe that would take care of it. If not, then later on we might consider a small sugery to take it in a bit. We'll see how things go.

Daddy is still in FL today but should be home tonight. It will be nice to have him home again. Last night was Caroline's worst night so far. She is doing that cluster feeding right now during her first growth spurt and is nursing much more frequently. I think last night she was averaging at about every 1 1/2 hours. By the time I feed her and then get back to bed it does not leave much time for sleeping! It sure does help to have Daddy here to get up with the big sisters in the morning!

Here are a couple of the pictures we had taken last weekend of Caroline. She looks aweful tiny for a 9 pounder!

Winter is Finally Here!

It took long enough, but we finally have more than just a dusting of snow! Yeah, I know it's nuts...but it's not winter unless we have at least one big snow. After all we do live in Northern Ohio? It has been snowing off and on for the past couple of weeks...actually it started the day we brought Caroline home. But, the past two days has really piled the snow up in the yard. I would say we have about 6 inches? Yesterday Nathan took the girls out in the backyard to play in the snow. We have a little hill that is perfect size for the girls to sled down. They were so cute with thier HUGE grins as they played! Of course I had fun taking pictures, especially since it was my first outside pics with my new camera. I think they turned out pretty good!

Heather posted some great pics of A2Z's booth at CHA...you can see them on her blog http://heatherpreckel.typepad.com/

Nathan is in Florida for two days on the campaign, so it's me and the three girls on our own for the first time! My mom came over to help this afternoon, but tonight was just us. It was kinda wierd being just us 4 girls. Maddelyn said tonight "Mom, you, me, Emma, and Caroline are all alone tonight!" How can one be all alone when there are 4 of us here? Nathan will be back tomorrow night but of course he had to call from the terminal in FL to say it was a warm 68 down there! Yes the snow here is great, but sunny FL sure does sound nice!

Of course I have to leave you with a few pics of Caroline form the week. I really am slacking at updating with posts since the baby has come home. I guess that is what adding a third princess to the family does! This week's big events were Caroline loosing her cord and getting her first bath, Aunt Donna (Caroline Fayth's namesake) came to visit her for the first time, turning her head when Daddy said her name, and going through cluster nursing with her hitting her first growth spurt.

1 Week Old Already!

I can't believe Miss Caroline is already a week old! The last week has gone rather smoothly getting used to being a Mommy of 3 now instead of 2. Yeah I've had all the fun postpardum stuff to deal with this week, but nothing horrible and I have a great baby to help that along as well! Caroline is just a peach. She is figuring out the nursing thing much better now and still sleeps quite a bit. The carseat at night has helped alot even though she still likes to be held at night. It gives me a break between feedings...that is unless I fall asleep nursing her then she wins and gets to stay in bed a little longer. Maddelyn and Emma are adjusting very well to being big sisters. Neither one has had any problems with being jealous or anything. Emma still wants to hold her all the time and bring me all the baby's stuff. We wash more pacifiers from Emma touching them than anything else!

I am so excited to be able to show everyone these layouts! A2Z Essentials is releasing numerous new lines of paper this next week at CHA. One of the lines was actually names after the girls and I! The line itself is called Sugar Candy (after my blog) and the 3 papers are Maddelyn, Emma, and Caroline! The papers are so girly and cute as well! Here are 2 layouts and an altered letter that I made up to send to CHA for the booth. Caroline's page was done in her own paper and the other was a mix of the rest.

Here are a few pictures of this week.....

Ice-ed in!

Well we came to Willard today to show off Caroline to the rest of the family and now we are ice-ed in! It started a freezing rain after we got here and now we are afraid to make the 50 min trip home with the girls. So we are staying at my parnets for the night. Caroline is having an interesting time of keeping things contained in her diaper so I was out of clean clothes for her. My grandma went through the grandkids play baby clothes for the dolls and found some baby sleepers for her. I guess this is one of the benefits of a winter baby...never knowing how much to pack in case there is snow or ice!

Caroline is doing great! We came home from the hospital on Wed and have been spending time with family since then. She is doing a wonderful job of sleeping, maybe too well of a job! You have to really work to get her awake enough to nurse. She actually sleeps all the time! She is a very content baby. The only thing we are working on with her is that she tends to be alert only in the evenings and at night she is not content unless she is held. She just lays there whining wanting you to pick her up. Of course being her mom I can not sleep through it so I end up picking her up so I can sleep between feedings. Hopefully she is just a cuddler and not getting her days/nights mixed up! Tonight we are going to try swaddling her more and putting her in carseat. Maybe being confined will keep her happy.

The girls adore her! Maddelyn wanted to check out every part and piece of her. Her first questions were..."where are her earrings?" and " when do her eyes open?" We had puppies this spring. She loves telling everyone about her new sister and wants to mother her. Emma is even more facinated with her. She loves holding the baby. She gets upset when others hold her and is constantly asking where the baby is. Emma worries me more though because she adores the baby so much I know she will someday come to me carrying her new sister!

It's a Girl!!!

She's here! Caroline Fayth arrived at 4:22pm on 1/17/07! She surprised us all by being 9 lbs 0.06 oz and 20 1/4 inches! Who would have known I was carrying a 9 lb baby in there? We went in at 7:00 pm on Tuesday night after our induction was pushed back twice that day. Once I got in, they got me admitted and settled in adn at 9:30 they were to start a slow drip of pitocen. Well, in the next several hours they had 3 new babies arrive, so my pitocen was not started until 5am on Wednesday. I got my epidural at 10:30 and my water was broken at 12:20. The labor was totally uneventful.....praise God! When she was born the first thing we all said was that she looks exactly like her big sister Maddelyn did as a newborn! Of course Caroline is about a 1/2 lb heavier though! She also has dark brown hair and Maddelyns was jet black at birth. She is a really sweet baby and loves to suck on her finders already...Emma your little sister is already taking after your thumb sucking habits! She actually was born with a little blood blister under her toung from sucking so much in my stomach! It's already gone though, so everything is fine. She is doing a pretty good job of nursing. Sometimes I really have to encourage her that it is time to eat though...she really likes to sleep! Big sisters Maddelyn and Emma Grace are coming to meet her today. I can't wait for Maddelyn to see her! She told everyone yesterday that Caroline Fayth "came out" yesterday! How cute! Enjoy a few pics of our newest princess!

She's Coming!

We are on the way to the hospital! L&D said come on in! I'll post pics when she arrives!

Waiting.......

Well we are still here at home waiting to get in to the hospital for my schedualed induction. We were supposed to call about going in at 6am and they said they were swamped and to call back at 8:30. At 8 they called us and said the beds were still full from a crazy night and that my doctor wanted to try again tonight. So, we call back at 7pm tonight to see if they have any openings yet! Yeah, it's been a long night/morning. I did not sleep much because of watching the clock for 6am. I did sleep a little later this morning. Hopefully I can find something to do to make the hours fly by! Maybe I can settle myself enough to scrapbook??

If you don't hear anything by tonight that means we got a bed at 7!!! So we're just sitting around and praying today!!!

The Big Day!!!

Well it is finally here! We go in tomorrow for my schedualed induction! Tomorrow at 6 am I call in to make sure I still have a bed reserved. I am the third one to be induced that morning and they are allowed a total of 3 at a time. However, if a lot of ladies come into labor and delivery that night before, I am the first one to get bumped. So I call in at 6 to see and if I have gotten bumped then my midwife will try agin for later Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. So right now we are just praying that no one else needs to go in labor before then!

We have everything ready to go and sitting by the door tonight. The girls' babysitter Ashley will be staying with them for the duration. I just hope that we don't get pushed back any because Maddelyn is going to throw a fit if she wakes up and Ashley is not here like we told her she would be! She could care less about the baby coming...just about Ashley staying with her!

So unless I get pushed back...which I will let you all know...we will be holding little Caroline tomorrow night! I will of course update when I get the chance to and post pictures!

Thanks for all the prayers these past several months!!!!

Quick Update...

Just a quick update.....

We just got home from the past two days in Willard. Nathan's Great's funeral was beautiful. The music/message/flowers and everything were just as Grandma would have wanted. Most of the family was able to come in from several different states and be with us. Of course it is always hard, but it was a very nice service.

Tomorrow after church we will be celebrating a late Christmas with my dad's fmaily. My grandma was in the hospital with a broken leg and my aunt and uncle were in China adopting my new cousin over Christmas. So, we are celebrating tomorrow. It should be a nice relaxing day with family!

We are just counting down those few last days before Caroline arrives! It is hard to believe that she should be in our arms Tuesday night! I am starting to get to that point that it is hitting me that we are actually getting a new baby! We have had this early/false labor for so long that it feels like that is all there is to it. But it is hitting me that we are gettig a BABY this week! Wow! It has also started to hit me that I have to go through labor again. All of those wonderful labor memories that you forget before you get pregnant, are starting to come back to me. I have always said that if God did not design us to forget our labor pains after we see the baby, everyone would be an only child! So those memories have started to come back a bit. Then of course everyone has me kinda freaked out about being induced. I mean yes, I still want to do it, but everyone acts like I can't handle it! Talk about non-encouraging words! I mean yeah maybe it will be more intense than with the girls, but I had my water broke and was put on pitocen with both of them after labor was not progressing. We'll see how it goes. It is just frustrating when everyone acts like I am insane for doing it and that I can't handle it. I know I am a wus, but give me some credit...it's my 3rd! LOL!

Leaving a Legacy

Nathan's Great-Grandmother passed away early yesterday morning. She went to meet Jesus at 100 years and 4 days old! What a blessed life!!! To think that this one woman was the start of 6 children, 24 grandchildren, 52 great-grandchildren, and 41 great-great-grandchildren...with several more on the way! How amazing is that! Everyone who had ever came in contact with "Great", as her great-grandkids called her, would tell you what a sweet, sweet, woman of God she was. She was known for not only her faith, but for doing anything in her power to help a person in need. Even though Great will be missed by her loved ones, we all know that she is in a far better place now!

We had our 38 week OB check yesterday. My midwife said that Caroline looked well, but that she is holding on tight! There was no change! So we were able to get on the calendar a schedualed induction for next Tuesday the 16th. It is so nice to know that the latested that she will come is possibly next Wed! It is just very frustrating after all these months on bedrest and early labor, to be told each week that she is hanging on tight!!! So this is offically my last week pregnant!!!!

Blog Challenge

I did a bit of housekeeping on my blog template. Just trying out some new things!!

Not too much to report here. we are still just waiting on Caroline! Nathan and I had a great date night last night and went to go see The Good Shepard...pretty neat CIA flick. We are also still in prayer for his great-grandma as she still is not doing very well. Tomorrow we have our OB appt and then off to the party my aunt is hosting for the Ohio State game. GO BUCKS!!! Since there is not much to report today...I will leave you with this HUGE blog challenge. The ones I have done are in red!

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain - lots of them!
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive - taken other sports cars though
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone - enough said!
08. Said “I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper - duh!
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse - Thanks Mr. Grit
34. Ridden a roller coaster - Cedar Point local, born and raised!
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign - Do political signs count??
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip - I married a Martin???
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them.
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow - Ohio State Fair
56. Alphabetized your CDs - the perfectionist in me
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business - scrapbooking business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken - obviously, I'm married
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played a game for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married - to the most wonderful ma on earth!
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason - thanks to a romantic hubby
84. Performed on stage - high school theater
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone - my heart was while hubby was in Iraq
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children (or…raising children) - soon to be 3!
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to start over - in college
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds (cumulatively, if you count pregnancy! lol!)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth - kittens
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced - belly button
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol - I have a NRA hubby??
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery - tonsils?
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours - when I was sick
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper - quite a few times
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes - thanks to G. Hartz
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey - unfortunately
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read. Several... should have just read them back then!
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language - I grew up in Willard??
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you - on ebay all the time
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair - highlighted
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life - Fished a baby out of the water when I was little

Waiting on Baby and Taking Down Christmas....

Not too much going on around here. We are spending the day taking down all the Christmas decorations and trying to get our house back to normal. I was afraid that if we did not get it done today and the baby ends up coming, that it would be Feb before our tree comes down! No big news on the baby either. We went in for our weekly check up on Wed and the midwife said no change! UHH! So we are now 37 1/2 weeks pregnant and she is holding out tight! I told Nathan that after all of that early labor she has carved out handles in my ribcage! The midwife did tell me the earliest they would do anything to encourage her would be 29 weeks, so the most I have to go is another week and a half. We are just kinda holding out now waiting on her. Our famous last words when it comes to planning anything is...."as long as we're not at the hospital!" It's kinda of frustrating not being ale to plan anything and living out of a packed overnight bag for the last month!

We spent 1/2 of the week in Willard at Nathan's grandmother's house. We got the call on Tuesday that his Great-grandma was not doing too well and was fading fast. So we loaded up the girls and have been camping out there. Great celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday and has stabilized for now. So the family is all just waiting and checking in to see if Great's stubborness will pull her through this yet again! Can you imagine living 100 years! WOW! What a legacy!

Well, no big plans for the weekend. We are planning on watching Ohio State in the National Championship game on Monday night. So unless Caroline decides to make a weekend arrival....nothing big happening around here!