Catching Up

While I have been pretty good at getting my daily pages scrapbooked for my "30 Days Hath September"album for my Have More Fun class, I have been terrible at posting them...both to this blog and to the class gallery! I blame it on breastfeeding! About two weeks ago I decided to try Sam on a bottle so Shane could feed him if I ever had to be away from home. So, I started expressing after I gave him his last feeding of the night (usually around 10:00 pm). By the time I was finished, it was inevitably late and I was exhausted so I was going straight to bed. This USED to be my free quiet time when I would surf and blog and post, so that is why nothing has happened lately!

But tonight I had a little time and thought I would catch up. But when I tried to post the photos of the layouts, I could not for the life of me get them oriented correctly...they would always post on the page sideways. Does anyone have any tips? Once I figure it out I will post, post, post!

Regular photos seem to work fine, so here are a couple of recent ones.

Here's Grayson "testing" a Halloween chocolate lollipop! (Can you believe I'm thinking about Halloween? Yes, the stores are full of it already...G.wants to be a pumpkin.)

100% trouble? 100% cute! Sam is weighing in at 17 lbs at only 14 weeks! Sheesh!

Sammy and I. What a little dear. I had to take this myself holding the camera out in front of us...pretty bad, eh?

Speaking of photos, I was getting really disappointed in the quality of home-printed photos I was getting with our all-in-one printer. So I sweet talked Shane into a new wide format Epson R1400 photo printer!!! YAY!!! I am so excited! Not only will it print out photos that are archival and higher quality than drugstore or big box processing, but I can now print my 12x12 digital scrapbook pages! I can't wait! And, Shane's little perk is that it prints on CD's/DVD's. Hopefully if my photos look better, my pages will look better.

Otherwise, we really seem to be getting into a routine finally. We have been able to get out to the stores and play dates, and life is a little more normal. I have time to get organized and clean the house and even fit in a little scrapbooking. I have been working on my website and have updated my free weekly page plans, which I really enjoy creating. Julie and I had a Creative Memories booth at the Baby Show last weekend and are planning Christmas trade fairs and a couple of all day crops. Things are going well!!! I guess it's true that the first three months with a newborn are a real write off in terms of having a "normal" life, but now that we have passed that milestone I think we are getting BACK to normal, and I like normal!!!

Happy scrapping!

Noreen

More "30 Days" pages

My 30 Days Hath September Album for my BPS class continues!

I am: 1) feeling proud of myself for keeping up with one layout per day 2) loving how I feel throughout the day - more aware, more present, more engaged with everything that is happening! Even though my days are ordinary and some would say boring, I am noticing little moments of of charm, happiness and clarity in them since I started working on this album. I am getting to know myself again as I contemplate what I am doing and why. I find myself asking myself why I am doing something or why I am feeling the way I am (whoa...that was a very "Austin Powers Spy Who Shagged Me" type of sentence!!!!)

Anyway...loving how quickly the layouts are done and really enjoying doing all the writing - visual journal style!

Here are the September 3 and 4 pages, photographed side by side.


And September 5 and 6:

I have also found that I am working on other layouts while or after I finish these fun little snippets. Getting lots done these days!

PS...I had to swing by Scrapbookers Paradise today...they are having a 4/$1 paper sale until September 20! GO GO GO!!!

Happy Scrapping,

Noreen

30 Days Hath September

I mentioned that the September project in my BPS class was to create a layout a day, resulting in a memorable album showing snippets of our everyday life for one month. So far I am doing well...I have a bit of a formula I am going to use for each layout and have gathered all my supplies together in a material file for easy scrapping. Even after doing only 2 layouts, I can see that this is going to be a very revealing project - one which causes me to live in the present and to be more aware of the precious, fleeting moments. The theme is Collect, Capture and Record. Stacy J. provides us with a prompt to use if we like, or we can simply focus on the day's events or other insights. I hope to share all the layouts here...even it they are not posted on the day they were created.

Here is the materials file. I am using a cute gated album by Fancy Pants and the coordinating papers and elements are from a digital kit called Sweet Cherry Pie. Both by Nancie Rowe-Janitz.

Title and Dedication page...the "why" of the project:

September 1: Since each page is only 6 x 12, it is a bit of a challenge to get a photo, memorabilia and journaling in. Today I hinged the journaling card so I could use the back and inside.

September 2: The photo is only adhered on three sides to become a pocket for an email recieved today.

I was worried that this project might be too much - a layout a day when I have a newborn and toddler at home? Well, I think it will be: a) manageable since each 6x12 layout is only taking me a few minutes each night to scrap; and b) really worth it as a cool exercise in self-awareness.

I'll keep posting every couple of days!

Happy Scrapping! (It feels really good to be scrapping again myself!)

Noreen

Grass, Poop and Stitches

A strange title perhaps, but these three seemingly unrelated things have dominated my life for the past two weeks.

First, Grass. WE HAVE GRASS! We finally have a yard that can actually be used! We have grass that the boys can play on! We have a patio that we can place the patio furniture (that we bought 4 years ago!) on! We have a fence that is not falling down. It has taken a year of waiting and a few weeks of work and it is done finally. I am so glad!

Here's a couple of pics...Grayson "driving" the bobcat, and that lush green instant-yard sod being laid.

Second, POOP. We have been potty training Grayson for what seems to be an eternity (about 4 months in reality). Nothing we tried seemed to work and we'd take one step forward and several steps back. He was getting pretty good at going pee, but never wanted to poop on the potty. After chatting with my friend Wendy who was going through the same thing with her son Sean, I decided enough was enough. So, I took a cue from Wendy and resorted to bribery! Here's the deal: Grayson got to pick a fabulous toy of his choice that was to be his reward for going poop on the potty. Once he went, he got the toy. If he didn't keep going on the potty after that, the toy was taken away. The toy was dubbed "the poop toy". I know, I know, but wait, it gets better...

Also, we decided that it was very important to celebrate this new found skill, so we had to make a cake (AKA the "Poop Cake") and we had to sing (you guessed it) the "Happy Poop-Day" song(sung to the tune of "happy birthday"!). For all it's inanity, it was effective... he has been going in the potty consistently for over a week now with only only one accident. And each time he goes, Grayson tells me "Happy Poop-day mom!" Yay Grayson!

Here we are with the Poop Cake (it was only fitting that it was a chocolate cake!)

Third, STITCHES. My boy keeps me in stitches all right, but not always the laughing kind. Yup, Grayson had to get stitches this week. I don't know how he managed it, but he fell and cracked his head against a vase/planter at his dayhome on Monday. Poor Mel (our lovely careiver) called me and said "Your son needs stitches!" We both rushed to meet at the Alberta Children's Hospital where after being triaged and getting freezing put on his head, he got his 5 stitches. He screamed blue-bloody murder while it was being done, but he was a trooper and afterwards got his much-promised yellow popsicle. Since then he has complained that his "stitch" hurts and "I no like my stitch mommy". Poor guy...I'm sure it's itchy and sore, and it's hard to explain to a three year old why you can't touch it or scratch it. His "stitch" will come out on Tuesday, so hopefully he will feel much better then. Here he is at the hospital...bandaged up "before" and with the stitches "after". Poor little guy!

But with all these crazy things going on,we're still trucking along. Sam is getting fatter and cuter each day (and sleeping 9 hours a night now!!!!!!)

...and all my boys are smiling. Lucky lucky me!

I didn't get a lot of scrapping done in August, but I am looking forward to September with Stacy J.'s challenge of scrapping your everyday momets everyday! Yup, we're making a "30 Days Hath September" Album with a layout for every day. I'll try to post as many as I can, but if I just get them done I will be happy! It's the final project in our Have More Fun class. I would definitely recommend taking a class from BPS...it has been a great learning experience as well as a wonderful opportunity to meet great scrapbookers from all over the world online. Love it!

Happy Scrapping

Noreen

Sleep, blessed sleep

We seem to be on the upswing around here! Sam has slept 7 hours through the night now for three nights in a row! I actually feel a bit more alive again, not just "functioning"!

From my previous posts you know that Sam had been very "colicy" and was having some unusual colored...ahem...poops. So Shane did a bit of online research and we figured out that I was having an issue with and oversupply of breast milk, or more accurately foremilk/hindmilk imbalance. When Sam would eat he would be bombarded with the sheer amount of milk (which is why feedings were so stressful for him and me) and then he would fill up on the foremilk (like skim milk) because there was so much. He never got to the fattier hindmilk. This caused 2 problems - because there is so much lactose in the foremilk, he would get painfully gassy (what we thought to be colic) AND he would never be satisfied...he would be hungry for more in 1.5 to 2 hours. Then I would compound the problem by feeding him on the opposite side where he would get MORE foremilk again!

We found the info on the La Leche League website, and the solution was pretty simple...feed on the same side until the breast is completely empty...that way he is sure to get the satisfying rich hindmilk. Voila...we are now at 3 hours between feedings during the day, Sam is WAY less fussy and he has slept 7 hours (11:00 pm - 6:00 am) 3 nights in a row! WOW! Do I feel great or what! I think we are on course for a decent, liveable schedule that will make all of us feel a lot better! Hopefully I'll be able to cook and clean my house and maybe even be able to do a little scrapbooking!


How could someone so cute cause so many little problems,eh? It looks like he's sticking his tongue out at me...heaven help me when he gets older!!!



Sammy clearly already adores his big brother!


Our back yard is 75% complete as well...the patio stones are down and the fence posts are up and our landscaper thinks they will be done by midweek! It will be great to be able to sit outside, BBQ and have a place for G. to play again. It has been hot here (31 degrees celsius) and would be nice to be outside where at least there is a breeze, but we'll look ahead to next weekend for our inaugural backyard BBQ party!

We did get down to the Bow River today though...Sam slept in his stroller and Grayson "rode" his Big Wheel bike as much as he could. Hot, but fun to be out and about.

I did make a slide show of some of my favoritre layouts, but I haven't figured out how to add it to my blog's sidebar yet! Watch for it soon.

AND...my new business website is finally live! I am still writing pages as fast as I can, but it IS up and growing everyday! Visit it at http://www.sharing-memories-scrapbooking.com/

I would love to hear your comments about the quality of info, what other topics you might like to see posted and general stuff like that. The plan is for it to become an online scrapbooking reference centre with tutorials, how-to articles, product reviews and eventually project and page kits for sale. But that is a ways off yet! Anyway, drop me a comment via my site and I will get back to you!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Bad Blogger

Ok Ok I know...I am a bad blogger! So much for my one-fun-thing-a-day postings, eh? Well, I think I have a good excuse - I AM EXHAUSTED. Gee, I wonder why?I have a 7 week old COLICY baby, a three and a half year old and a sore back.

Truly I haven't been this tired EVER. I remember when Grayson was born my Doctor said "Sleep when the baby sleeps". Good advice, but when do you sleep when you have an active toddler around? And to make matters worse, Sam eats every 2 hours now, so he is only napping for a short while between feedings. My house is a mess, we have been eating frozen dinners and take out for weeks now, I haven't paid bills or worked on my website at all, and needless to say I haven't been able to indulge in my scrapbooking at all. (I am saving all my handouts and lessons from Stacy J's Have More Fun class for a time when I can actually have more fun!)

I did get a slight reprieve this weekend as we drove up to Lloydminster to see Shane's family. The 6 hour car ride meant that both the boys slept a fair bit and since they were contained, I could sleep or read or whatever for a few precious minutes as well. While we were up there, we stayed in a hotel with a pool,so Grayson got to have some fun with daddy, and of course we went to restaraunts which meant I got to sit down and have someone serve me! Little things, I know, but what can I say?

Here is a shot of Grayson at the famous (infamous?) Pysanka egg at Vegreville, where we had to stop to feed Sam. I guess I really can call Grayson an egghead now eh?!

Sam is 8 weeks today and they say that colic tends to peak around 6 weeks/2months and then dies off. Let's hope that is the case. I can hang in another month. And things could always be worse...I found by pure accident a lovely blog from a gal who offers free digital kits. Her scrapbooking design work is amazing and great, but I was really touched by her personal story...she has a young baby girl who is going through a serious health problem and is actually having brain surgery next week. Through it all she seems to be coping well and reamin thankful for small things and very positive...what a good reminder to us all. So, I will be keeping her and her baby in my thoughts and remember to be thankful that my colicy baby is healthy. And today I will also be thankful for a cup of coffee with real cream in it, smiles and kisses from my 3 year old and maybe a piece of chocolate before I go to bed. Life is good.

Happy Scrapping
Noreen

FUN - Days 4, 5 AND 6!

Obviously I am not very good at posting daily am I?! (ie: I started this post yesterday and never finished it!!!) Well, Sam has been fed and is down for a wee nap, my other boys are gone for the day, I'm on my second cup of coffee and I have maybe 15 minutes before I need to grab a shower! So, here are some more FUN ideas to make up for the past couple of days.


#1 - FUN foods - what kinds of foods do you remember enjoying from your childhood? What was a special treat or reserved for special occasions? AND, which foods remind you totally of summer?


*popsicles...especially the homemade kind on plastic sticks


*freezies - love the long ones


*big hunks of watermelon eaten outside


*toasted marshmallows, hot dogs and s'mores over a backyard fire


*milkshakes and smoothies with crazy straws


*icy lemonade and lemonade stands


What other fun foods can you think of (no really...I need some more ideas!!!) Let me know!


#2 - Another thing that I think is fun is dollar stores...especially Everything for a Buck or Dollarama where everything really IS just $!! I like to take Grayson there and have a look around. He gets a couple of new toys without breaking the bank, and I usually find a few trinkets myself!


Why not take $1 or $5 or $10 (whatever you can "blow") and take a trip to your local dollar store. I bought all these scrapbooking embellishments for just $10!

I loved the colors of the chipboard letters so I had to have 4 different kinds, and the decorated brads were too cute to pass up. Now, it's true I use mostly Creative Memories products, but if you find something fun to add some variety to your pages or to make some cute cards with, go for it! There are no rules in this hobby...that's what is so great about it! (Just please make sure any products you buy for use in your scrapbooks are acid and lignin free!!!)

#3 - This whole site is full of FUN ideas for you and your kids! Lucky for me, Grayson has still been going to his dayhome since Sam was born, but today is his last day since Mel (our fabulous dayhome provider) is going on holidays, so Mr. G. will be home with me for a couple of weeks. Now since my back is still not 100% and Sam is a greedy little feeder (sometimes every 1.5 hours during the day!) I thought I should have a lot of little activities ready to go to keep G. busy. I got a tonne of good ones from this "Let's Explore" site and am looking forward to trying our quite a few over the next two weeks.

So that catches me up on posting my FUN ideas! Now I have to catch up on some FUN scrapbooking projects using one of my favorite tools -punches! I am working on a layout to be displayed (I think I will use CM Everyday Display instead of a shadow box) and one where you "create" your background paper by using up your scraps with your punches! Cool! Will post as I finish up.

I'll leave off today with a few new photos that I love...my good friend and gifted photographer Tracy McLeod came to photograph Sammy as a newborn and do some family shots. They are all precious and I can't wait to scrap them! Here are just a couple of my faves!

Have a great Friday and Happy Scrapping!

Noreen

PS...I changed the look of my blog to reflect some of my favorite fun colors. Lime green rules! I'm also going to try to add a slide show and re-organize some of my blogs and websites to make better sense (if I can figure it all out!)