It seems like it has been a while since I posted, but nothing much is happening here and I didn't want to just put in a filler fluff post.  Those are boring and lame.  ;o)

A few days ago, I finally got up the nerve to start on a rag quilt for the new baby.  I found this awesome tutorial from Creations by Kara which was simple enough to follow, even for lil 'ole me!  I'm not sure I'll ever be able to make one without Kara telling me all the measurements to use because I'm math-dumb, but since Kara did all the hard work for me, I did it!!  I made mine 32"x32" just like Kara.

I headed off to Hancock the other day, spoke with an old lady that teaches the quilting classes they have there.  I didn't realize until about 1/2 way through our conversation that she was WAY more into quilting than I was at that point.  She was sweet.  Instead of buying any batting for inside my quilt, she instructed me to buy some Northern Lights fleece to use instead.  Cheaper than batting, works just as well, I was sold!  I also splurged on a self healing rotary mat.  I sew on the floor most of the time and it is big enough to keep all my sewing stuff off the carpet while I work.  And it was AWESOME while I was using the rotary cutter to cut my squares. 

I hadn't used a rotary cutter before.  Have you?  You should.  They're awesome.  I love it.  I can't believe I lived all this time without one.  Here are the squares I cut from my fabric stash.

This is how I look now - round.  LOL

Here's the baby today too.  The condition I have is still there and I have to spend the next 2 weeks until my next check up on the couch or in bed.


The baby has its legs up over its head with ankles crossed.  Too cute!!  And....  its a GIRL!!!

Here's the best from our photo session from the other day.  :)  Enjoy!!

We have been so busy here.  And by 'we', I don't really mean me, but everyone else around here sure looks busy.  My Mom and my Mother in law have been coming by to pitch in and distract the kids for me.

Having other people grocery shop for me is fun.  Actually, it isn't.  People see my highly anal-retentive grocery list and they then offer to drive me and then push my cart while I drive in the motorized cart like I'm an elderly disabled person.  I seriously want to fly by the oldsters at WalMart in my motorized chair and give them the 'rock' fingers.

....and then zoom off in my chair, white-smoking my tires and peeling out.  LOLLOLLOL

Enough of that.  That annoyance isn't productive to anyone!  Gotta stay positive and drink lots of water.  HA

Today, I saw my new OB, she's nice and my Mom works in the ER with her husband so she came highly recommended.  She basically repeated everything that my other OB said.  I didn't switch to the new OB because the last one was stupid or anything, but this new OB is about 20 minutes closer to my home and I thought with the possibility of a long term hospitalization for myself or a micro-preemie, I thought closer would be better!  I'll also be switching perinatologists for one that is closer.  I have Dr appointments every week now.

16 weeks now! At least 5 more weeks of bed rest to go.  I can do this, that's only 5 more Dr. visits. 

I'm taking the kids (not by myself) to get their pictures made tomorrow.  It has been a ridiculous amount of time since I've had professional shots of them so I'm taking them back up to WalMart.  Does that count as professional?  LOL  We'll see how they turn out.  Be prepared for unlimited cuteness in pictures tomorrow. ;)

Let me also just say how AWESOME Michelle is.  She runs this little blog called From House to Home.  She is amazing at little crafty projects around her house and I think I've probably been begging her for years to come and re-do my own home since I suck at accessories and she just makes it look too easy.
Michelle is a good friend of mine.  And I love her.  She recently wrote a blog post about me that made me cry. 
Thanks for inviting people to pray or send some positive vibes my way.  I really appreciate them and I'm feeling the effects.  So far, so good (relatively!) with this troublesome pregnancy...as hard as this is on me right now, things could be a LOT worse than they are!  Every week I'm pregnant is a week closer to my baby and I making it through this serious complication.

Thank you EVERYONE for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!!

Did I tell you that I'm basically on bed rest now? 

Yes, it is true. I say basically because the Dr. has all but said it.  I have to lay on the couch or bed, not lift anything, limit my activity and be still!  Sounds like bed rest, right?   My hubby is working from home to help me wrangle the babies while I sit around on my buns.  I'm bored and tired of laying around.  I want to do something and I'm anxious from sitting still.

Yes.....and it has only been a week.  *sigh*

I had an ultrasound last week with a perinatologist who explained that I do not have placenta previa, which was what was previously thought.  Instead, I have something called SCH, which in english means I have a big, honkin' blood clot between the uterus and the baby.  My pregnancy is now high risk, more than it was before, because this SCH carries more risks for mom and baby.  Scary stuff but hopefully the resting I'm doing now will make a big difference in the outcome of things later.  I hope!

I hope everyone had a joyous Christmas!  We sure were busy and the kids had a wonderful time unwrapping presents and playing with their new things.

The kids had their last day of MDO today and had a small holiday party too.  While we were there, we got all of the crafts that the kids had been working on for the past 2 weeks.  I came home and promptly hung them up in a prominent place in my home.

The kids are over the moon to have their art hanging up.

I love it.

I think I like it.  :)

Want to know how Mrs. Creative (scoff) over here figured out how to make 46" long curtains, which is not a standard length for curtains around here?  Or well, it isn't in Target and that's the only place I looked.  LOL
Well (!!) I bought a twin xl crisp white flat sheet and turned it into two curtains.  :-D  I didn't want curtains to cover the whole window, just the patch of blue that was on either side of the window.  It didn't matter to me exactly how wide the curtains were, just how long they were.  They needed to cover the whole space, right?

So I bought the sheet, washed it, cut it, hemmed it, made a pocket for the rod and threw those babies up there.  Even Mr. Skeptical was pretty impressed with how it turned out.  I even fooled him with the curtains!  He didn't realize that the windows didn't go all the way over to the wall.

That just shows how you can look at something for over a year and never really see it.  LOL

Here are the windows before:

If that were true, why don't I laugh more?

Instead, I'm just frustrated with their crazy antics.  But that could be my hormones talking.

Today, instead of going quietly into that sweet nap time, Riley fussed at me.  He wanted a chair.  I peeked in his room, he had a chair.  I said, 'You have a chair.'

He said, 'Yes, but I need another chair for my babies.'  Ugh.  Sigh.  Ugh.  Darn it.  Not those guys again.  I think that Riley's babies must be the most demanding inanimate objects in my entire house.  They ALWAYS need something.  It is annoying.

What?  You don't know what the Babies are?  Lucky you!  Let me learn you on the Babies.  The babies came about when Riley was brand new, he nursed all messy-like and I had to use diaper flats or prefolds between me and him to catch all the spills or we'd both get soaked.  Over time, the little towels got all ratty and stained but Riley loved them.  Inevitably, they'd get in his bed for naps or what not after being stuck in his neck for a feeding.  He got used to them being near him and that was that.  The Babies were born.  At some point, I sent the little nasty things out to get tie-dyed for extra beauty.  Riley loved that too! 

So now, we have about 3 Babies that are, at any point in time, sneaking around my house.  Today they caused trouble at lunch when they needed their own chair to watch Riley eat his macaroni and cheese.

ANYWAY, I got off track.  The babies needed a chair for quiet time, remember?  I said, 'No, your babies do not need a chair.  This is silly.  Don't be silly.' Insert amazing amounts of whining from a little pitiful, whining face that only a mother (possibly only this mother) could find annoying.  'Please mommy, they need a chair, but I waaaaaaannnnnnnt a chair for them.'
'No.'
Then, I had second thoughts.  Perhaps I was crushing his spirit or something and I should make some kind of accommodations for these fussy Babies. So, I said, 'Hey, there's a little stool in the bathroom, why don't you use that for your babies.  They aren't very big, I bet they'd like that one because it is closer to the floor.  Their legs aren't very long, you know.'
The boy looks at me and says, 'That's why they want a big chair.  They want to be up high.'

SIGH.  I can't win here.  I tried to be nice to those stupid Babies but they still try to sucker punch me.

So I told him to chuck his Babies up on top of his loft bed if they wanted to be high.  I was through messing with it.  I turned around, closed his bedroom door and began to retreat to the other room.  As I was walking away, he threw one of his tennis shoes at the door.  I suppose that was meant for me, but I just let it go.  I bet the Babies made him do it.

Isn't it lovely?!?

This is the 2nd year we've been in this house for our Christmas and we're still experimenting with the best placement for our tree.  Last year, it landed in some front window, squashed in a small corner, without much room for present opening around it.
This year, we decided to move our living room furniture around and put the tree in there.  I think I like it a lot better.  You sure can't miss the tree now!!  It is almost dead center in the room.  You have to walk around it to get anywhere.  It is a pain, but I love it.

This is the first yeara the kids have been big enough to help decorate.  I have to admit, they want to put about 200 ornaments in the same 4" square of tree.  I made it my job to re-home the ornaments from where the kids placed them and spread them around the tree.  I would have left them, but they were right near the bottom, some were breakable, and we have cats that bat at things, kwim?
We have a green star because Riley's favorite color is green.  :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We had an enormous garage sale Saturday and it was a success!  I made a lot of money and got rid of a lot of clutter around here.  We got rid of our corner desk from the office, making room for 'Thing 3', and our office looks huge.  I'm still working on accessorizing my master bathroom though I notoriously suck at such tasks, I'm trying to stay positive.  I don't have a lot of inspiration or space to work with so it is slow going.

Such is life around here!!  Happy Holidays!!