More Pages and a DS#3 Update

It's been a while since I posted. I've been busy with the Scrapaddict "Winter Blahs Crop". I actually got lots done! Here are the pages I've completed since the last time I posted. First, some more Disney pages with the first one being my title page, and the next two with photos taken at Disney Hollywood Studios:



These next two uses photos from a trip to NJ for my cousin's wedding in July 2006. They just had a new baby girl! (Note: you can click on the scrapbook pages for a bigger picture.)



As for my own baby news, DS#3 has been standing "taller". That is, he will stand up very straight at DD's play kitchen, for example, and stretch himself even more in order to reach something. He hasn't been taking too many steps along furniture, but he will now sometimes only hold on with one hand and he doesn't just plop down on the ground. He makes a very controlled descent down to the ground, if that makes any sense. Oh, and one other change is that he now crawls on his hands and knees instead of the army crawling he's been doing for four months! I know I really need to post some photos, but I've been holding back with downloading photos from the camera until I have time to edit them at the same time. There just isn't enough time during the day for everything I want to do!

Lots of Princess Pages

Scrapaddict.com has been having a week-long crop and I'm getting so much done. The best thing is that I'm getting a bunch of my Disney photos scrapped! Here are the last four Disney Princess pages--I'm finally done with the Princesses, at least for this trip anyway! These were all done with Scrapaddict sketches and old kits.

My Little Obsession

I have been really happy with how many layouts I've completed this month. Scrapbooking is really quite an obsession for me and I feel good when I'm indulging in my obsession. Unfortunately, I also feel down sometimes when I'm NOT indulging. Why is that? I have no idea, but I hope I find out soon, because otherwise, DH is not going to be happy with me. If anyone out there has any ideas, please share them with me. :)

These are two pages I did yesterday and today. In the first one, DD is only two years old. In the second one, she is five and thoroughly enjoying herself at Disney World. I try to remind myself every day how lucky I am to have such a wonderful DD. Sometimes it's tough when I'm grouchy and she is just chatting on and on about nothing--like tonight. I should be happy that she's healthy enough to talk incessantly, right?

I think that's all I'll get done for tonight. DS#3 was not kind to DH and me last night and I'm beat!

Baby Fix

I haven't posted new photos of the baby recently, so here are a couple. In this first one, he is peeking around the corner of the sofa so he can see me. He LOVES playing peek-a-boo! DH took this photo, and he's really proud that he did. I'm slowing training him... ;-)

This is a photo I took the other night. DS#3 was fussing so badly, but I was giving his dear sister a bath and getting her ready for bed. DS#1 is so good with him and held and sang to him until he fell asleep. The baby looks so adorable here, doesn't he?

Golden Arrow update: DS#1's teacher emailed DH back about how he had made an error with one of the quiz grades. The short story is that his average in that class is "95" and not "93" for the quarter, so he qualifies for the "Golden Arrow".

Gold and Silver

Today, DS#1 got a "Silver Arrow"(As and Bs on his report card) instead of the expected "Golden Arrow" (straight As) and all because he got a "93" (you need a "94" to get an "A" at their school) in ONE class. DH and I are a little upset because we can access their grades online and we didn't see this coming. DH has emailed the teacher in question to ask him how he weights his grades. I can't help but think--wow, this is a good problem to have, isn't it? I mean, missing an "A" by one point is disappointing, but to be that close is still great, isn't it? DS#2 missed an "A" by a tenth of a point last quarter. That was downright heartbreaking. Today, he got a "Golden Arrow"--one of only two boys in his class. That was really cool to see that. :)

DS#3 has been roaming around the house a little more. He is getting better at playing by himself. Just a little while ago, he was roaming around the kitchen area while DH and I were having a conversation. DH was walking away when we suddenly heard DS#3 crying--a distressed but somewhat muffled cry. We had to laugh, though, when we realized what had happened. The pantry door tends to be open most of the time, and most of the time DH or I shut it without even thinking about it. Well, DH shut it as he was walking away and apparently, the baby had crawled in there to check it out. Poor baby! He probably got a bit frightened when it got dark in there all of a sudden and he couldn't figure out how to get out! You've got to admit, though, that it's a little funny. :)

Nursing Woes Revisited

No one has had to listen to my "nursing woes" for a while, so I'm just going to say a little on the subject. Everything relates back to the hard time I had with my firstborn. One of the things I worried about then and now is running out of milk. I'm not worried about my milk stopping; I'm worried about not keeping up with my baby's needs and ending up using formula. It's not a bad thing to give formula to baby, but it's just that I worked so hard pumping at work and all of that sacrifice in time and energy and having to end up giving formula would make me feel like I failed and that all of that wasn't good enough. Why am I talking about this now? Well, we're down to the last ziplock bag of frozen milk. I have 9 packages of frozen milk, 5 ounces in each, between the baby having only my milk and his having to have formula instead. Ack! DH says it's because he drinks more from a bottle and that DH mixes some of it with the rice cereal. All I know is that I'm falling behind...

On a happier note, I've completed 12 layouts this month! That's more than any other month in the last year and a half! With the Winter Blahs Crop at Scrapaddict.com this coming weekend, I should be able to complete a few more by the end of the month! I'm very happy about being able to get some creative things done! Here are three layouts I've done the past couple of days that are using one of the upcoming February 2008 Scrapaddict.com kits.

This is one using photos of the older kids meeting their little brother at the hospital for the first time.
This one uses photos from the kids' Valentine's Day parties at school last year.
This is an old photo of DH and kids from four years ago. Yes, the weather that January was pretty mild, too. Aren't they a good-looking bunch? :)

First Ice Cream

Here I am putting my blog to good use again. I used a couple of my June 2007 entries for the journaling here about DS#2's eighth birthday. After DS#2's basketball game today, I tried to give him a kiss on the cheek. He tried to run away as usual, but I grabbed him and I was trying to hold him, but he was strong enough that I couldn't bring his face toward me. I did manage to kiss the top of head, anyway. :)

DS#3 got his first taste of ice cream today. I took the kids to Baskin Robbins after dinner. I put the Jamoca ice cream in a sugar cone in front of him and he automatically opened his mouth. I dabbed some on there, he tasted it, and then he opened his mouth again. When I was slow about giving him some, he let me know how impatient he was by screaming at me. I took some photos and even took a video. I told the kids that I was going to show DH the video and he would probably say, "That's my son!" We got home, I showed DH the video, and he proudly said, "That's my boy!" I haven't had time to upload and edit any recent photos, but hopefully tomorrow I'll post a photo of my ice cream loving baby! :)

I was tagged!!!!

By Jen.

Seems the idea here is to answer all the questions and then add one yourself at the bottom, then tag some people. :)

1. Name your 2 favorite scrapbooking topics: My cute kids and how lucky I am. :)

2. What are the 2 best places you've been to? Disney World and at the top of Keystone Mountain

3. Name 2 things you do every day: Nursing my baby and watching TV

4. Tell us 2 things that pretty much everyone knows about you: I am married and the mother of 4 children.

5. 2 places you wish to visit: Hawaii and Washington, D.C.

6. 2 things you may not know about me are: I hate confrontations and I've been pregnant 7 times that I know of.

7. 2 nicknames you've had at some time in your life: Lanie (my family's nickname for me) and Mel (everyone else's nickname for me that I don't like too much but that I don't try to correct anymore)

8. Name 2 of your favorite drinks: Chocolate milk and orange-pineapple juice

9. Janet's question: What are 2 interesting (in a good or bad way) jobs you’ve had in your life? I've really only had four jobs. The one that I have now (and those of you that know me know what it is) is pretty interesting on a daily basis. Besides that, I've only been a receptionist at a family friend's medical office, a medical records file clerk, and a lab tech (for a summer in college). I don't know if those would necessarily qualify as "interesting".

10. Cheri's question: Name 2 resolutions you've either already broken or 2 that you've kept so far: Well, I haven't exercised at all recently, but I have scrapped more pages, so I've got one broken and one kept.

11. Jen's question: If you could be any age you wanted to be what would it be? I would be at my present age, because I have all the experience of previous years that have made me the person I am today.

12. Melanie's question: What is your favorite holiday and why? I just LOVE Christmas! I love all of the family time. I love the decorations. I love the meaning of the holiday. I love that I get to celebrate my birthday right beforehand! *WINK*

And I am going to tag...
Anita
Pam
Laura
I can't think of any more people that might actually read my blog that have their own blogs, but if anyone else wants to, please participate! :)

LOAD Challenge Page #8

I finally finished this page! I started this at a crop at the end of December. It really only needed the journaling, which I took from some previous entries on this blog. It still looked plain, though, but then I came up with this way to do the title. The title itself was from a title challenge from Scrapaddict.com a while back. The journaling talks about one busy Saturday in September and also details how busy our weekly schedule was, mostly because of soccer. With that, I am done for the night. Yay! I got to scrap! I feel so much better now! :)

Longing for Creative Stuff

I've blogged every day this month, so I couldn't let tonight go by without saying a little something. I just wish I was still doing a layout a day like I've been doing for the first week of this month. There's just something about exercising my creative side that makes me happy and satisfied. I hope I can get some more pages done this weekend.

I booked our flight to Denver for Easter Break tonight. I got a decent deal on a non-stop flight and I couldn't pass it up. Non-stop flights are SO much easier when traveling with small children. It'll be so fun to visit the mountains again. The kids are pretty excited about going to ski and play in the snow. We haven't been there in about 3 years, so DD doesn't really remember it too well, but the boys do. DS#3 will get to wear the same snowsuit that DS#2 and DD wore at about a year of age. You can get a lot of use out of those things if you only use them once every three years or so!

That reminds me, maybe I'll need to do one of those "connections" layouts that my friend Catherine always talks about where I show photos of the three kids in the same snowsuit. Ooh, now that sounds like a cool idea. I love that creative stuff!

Nine Months

I don't have a layout done today because I'm working on a lecture that I'm giving tomorrow. I just wish I didn't get so nervous every time I give one of these things! I'm sure it's because I never feel like I know what I'm talking about. I'm going to have to change that one of these days...

For the good news, DS#3 is NINE months old today! He had a routine appointment with his pediatrician today. He is apparently dropping off the chart as far as weight--he's only 16 lbs. 13 oz. which his siblings all reached by about 3-5 months. He is definitely still growing, though, since his height is up to 28 1/2 inches (about 50th percentile). His head circumference is 44.5 cm if that means anything to anyone out there. The doctor isn't too worried yet, since he is still growing, but he did discuss allowing him to eat fatty foods, even ice cream! The kids heard that and they all want to feed him ice cream. DS#3 is also meeting all of his milestones, like babbling and getting into things, pulling up, etc. By the way, that's new--he is pulling up by himself on furniture now, not needing assistance from anyone like he was before. It'll be just a matter of time before he starts walking along the furniture. Just tonight he crawled into the office into my scrap area and started pulling at my bags of kits and trying to open my drawers. Uh-oh!

I'll try to get some new photos up on the blog tomorrow!

...And Then There Was One

At 4AM this morning, DS#1 comes in to tell DH, "Papa, I threw up." Ugh! At least he was old enough to do it in the toilet and clean up after himself. So, we started with all four kids at home this morning. DH went ahead and took the baby to daycare because we paid for it anyway, and at least we wouldn't have to worry about him. DH is the only one that hasn't had any symptoms--yet.

DS#2 said he got sick twice, although we didn't see any evidence of it, but he didn't eat so well this morning and he actually took a couple of naps, so he obviously wasn't feeling well. DD spent breakfast time in the bathroom saying that she felt like she was going to get sick, but she didn't. She felt well enough this afternoon to go shopping at Target with me. She's such a little shopper. Sometimes I feel like I've had enough of her constant chattering and constant asking for things when we're out shopping, but today I really appreciated having the company. :)

Here is a simple page I did today using photos from December of 2002 when my oldest son got this huge gear bag with his new weapon package from karate. I wanted to see if they would both fit in it, and as you can see, they did. These photos still crack me up!

Hit By A Truck

I had to work yesterday and it was a particularly busy night. I feel like I've been hit by a truck, I'm so exhausted! Fortunately, the baby has been keeping things down and I was able to nurse him to day, but unfortunately, he still has some of those containment leaks and also DD started the throwing up yesterday. Today after school, DS#2 was telling us that he wasn't feeling well. I think it may have been the power of suggestion (either that or the way my body is reacting nowadays to being so tired) but my stomach was feeling queasy today, too. So tomorrow, we'll have two possibly three kids at home. Sigh--so much for a "day off"!

This page isn't particularly inspired, but the grandparents might enjoy photos of DD. I'm sure they'll want to read an excerpt from the journaling. I asked DD what she like the most about soccer and she said, "Being on the bench." When I asked why she didn't like running around, she replied, "Because I get hot." There you have it--a kindergartener's perspective on soccer. :)

LOAD Challenge Day #5

This is just a simple page with our Christmas Card Photo. The actual newsletter didn't fit well with the scheme of the page, so I adhered a copy on the back of the layout and I put excerpts from the newsletter on the front of the layout. This challenge is killing me, but I'm getting pages done and that's making me happy. :)

Oh Poop!

I told DH that he is never allowed to say that he is worried that little man hasn't pooped in X number of days. I think this was Day#3 or something like that, but now he has officially pooped three times and all three were containment leaks, including one that was up his back and on our bed!!!
Poor thing is just miserable! :( He has also been throwing up everything. I'm glad that I only fed him some rice cereal and not something orange or green earlier today. He did manage to hold down some bananas tonight, followed by some Pedialyte. I nursed him tonight about an hour ago, so hopefully that one will "stick". Poor little guy! :(

On an upbeat note, the "little guy" on this layout scored today at his basketball game! He had two out of his team's three points. We're very proud of him!

LOAD Challenge Day #3

I don't know if I can keep up this pace, but this is a page I did last night. The photos are from 2004 when my oldest was only 8 years old. My, how time flies!

On other news, we went to DS#2's basketball game tonight. The baby desperately wanted to crawl on the floor, so DH let him, even though we knew that the floor was probably dirty. The baby became intrigued by the area UNDER the bleachers, however, and that was just in its own category of uncleanliness, so we spent the rest of the game carrying the little man instead of letting him crawl around like he desperately wanted to!

Last Two Pages from 2007

These are two of the four pages that I started at a crop on the 21st of December that I went to with my friends Jen and Amelia. I finally used some of my 2005 Scrapaddict.com kits. I just now got a chance to scan and upload them after finishing them last week. I actually started two more, but I haven't had time to finish those. Little man has been quite clingy today, and I've barely had time when he hasn't been in my arms or on my lap since I got home from work.
The photos on the first page were taken at Disney World this past September. DD was simply thrilled when she got a chance to take a photo with Snow White. She was all about the princesses on that trip!

The photos on the second page were taken a few weeks ago when my DS#2 shot two free throws and those ended up being the only points his team scored during that game. So, his team didn't start out very good, but it's amazing how much they improve even from week to week.

Layout-a-Day Challenge (LOAD) Day #2

I did this page yesterday. I'm not entirely pleased with the lighting in the pictures, but it's a learning process for me. Improving my photography skills is something I really want to do this year. My journaling talks about how I fixed DD's hair on the spur of the moment on New Year's Day and how I love being able to play with her hair. I'm lucky to have a daughter with such great hair! :)

A Page A Day

I just signed up to do a Layout-a-Day Challenge for the 31 days in January at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Am I crazy or what?!! Here's the page I did very late last night before I knew I was even going to do this challenge. It's a simple page with all of the kids' handprints stamped and a photo I took yesterday so I can see how big they're getting over time. Wish me luck!

Happy New Year 2008!

Today was a fairly lazy day, at first. DH and I got to "sleep in" until around 7:30 or so when DS#3 woke us up. After feeding him, he was wide awake and all smiles. It helped a little that his big sister was there smiling back at him. I made banana pancakes and turkey bacon for breakfast. The baby officially loves banana pancakes! I'm going to have to double that recipe every time.

After breakfast, we played more Wii games. I think the kids and I are addicted, and it'll be hard once school starts back up and the kids' electronic time is limited. We're all rather competitive and we keep wanting to improve so that our scores are better than everyone else's. :)

We then went to the mall for lunch. It was packed! You would think it was before Christmas! I was amazed when I realized that the last time I was at the mall was before Thanksgiving. Anyway, we had to get the kids some new pants--khakis for DS#1 (the ones I bought for him a month ago are now too short), jeans for DS#2 (the ones I bought for him this past summer have holes in the knees and his other ones are too short), and jeans for DD (who is very skinny and very hard to fit, even with the adjustable waist jeans). We were successful for two out of three. I'm afraid we are going to have to start buying pants at department stores for DS#1. He is too big for the kid's stores and too small for the men's stores. Oh joy!

The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent cleaning and putting away things, although the kids did get to spend some time outside on this very beautiful day. DH did lots of laundry and the rest of us did lots of folding and putting away. After dinner, we got to play some board games, Harry Potter Scene It and a new game that DH just bought called Drakkon. DS#1 knows the HP books AND movies inside and out, and he almost always wins at HP Scene It--and he did again tonight. The new game was a bit confusing at first because the players actually "make" the gameboard as they go. We all seemed to enjoy it, though, so I think we'll be playing that game again.

We went to a neighbor's house around 8PM. It's so nice to have nice neighbors. Some of the neighbors were setting off fireworks and were generous enough to let my kids have some, too. They had lots of good food and it was fun to socialize with them for a bit before going home to feed the little man and get him in bed. It wasn't so easy to get him asleep again, and I decided that he will be going to bed on time no matter what tomorrow! I got to take my shower and get ready for bed in peace, at least, and I finished just before the repeat of the ball dropping in Times Square. The rest of my family was still outside, so I spent the first few minutes of the New Year alone. It was short-lived, of course, since everyone came home soon after midnight. We were amazed at how well the kids held up. We'll see how they hold up tomorrow. We'll see how well DH and I hold up tomorrow!

Happy New Year, Everyone!!!