It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I love this time of year! Christmas is so magical! Tristan is understanding more of the Christmas hoopla this year too which is so much fun!

I hope you didn't think I had vanished forever! Life was just SUPER busy for me. I'm happy to say that thankfully things have slowed down a bit. I'm finally going to have a teensy bit more free time. I've got the itch to design something but I can't quite get anything started that I want to finish *lol*! I've been scrapping whenever I do have a few minutes which has resulted in me working on the same layout for days and days trying to find enough time to actually finish a LO.

I had a really nice visit at my dad's for his birthday and early Thanksgiving celebration. I got to see my sister and her family which was great. Tristan ADORES his cousin Nathan and followed him around all weekend. It was cute. Naomi is cute as a button! She's a tiny little doll!

Thanksgiving here was really nice too. It was just me and the boys and my brother and his girlfriend. We had a really lovely dinner. They helped me get the tree up a few days before that. I love having the tree up, it makes the house feel so cozy and Christmas-y!

I did a bit of Black Friday shopping for the first time in forever. We don't have a huge budget and this year I am only buying for my boys. I so wish I could buy gifts for everyone but it's just not feasible. So I'm just concentrating on giving my boys a nice little Christmas. I would say I'm about 75% done shopping for them. I think I'd like to get them each one more inexpensive toy an outfit and perhaps a pair of jammies. All the gifts have to hide in the trunk of my car until Christmas morning. Tristan gets WAY too excited when he sees even a wrapped present. It's cute but I know I won't be able to keep him away from the presents until Christmas if I tried to put them under the tree now. I think it will make Christmas morning all that more magical to him when he wakes up and sees presents under the tree!

In my absense from the blog I posted tons of layouts to my gallery so I can't share them all here. I will leave you with this one though :)! I used Parker by Micheline Martin! I still can't believe I'm going to have THREE boys! It's amazing! Now if I can just pick a name *lol*!

Just popping in....

Hey, everyone in blogland!

I know I have been MIA from ye old blog here. Being sick took a lot out of me last week. Things are a bit hectic for me this week too. I've got a bunch of appointments and they are just throwing my whole daily routine off *lol* So I may not have much time to blog or anything computer related all week.

I'm heading off to see my Dad on Friday :). It's his birthday Friday and there is going to be a family Thanksgiving celebration the next day!! Looks like I'll be seeing Lena and her family too!

So if I don't pop in to blog for the rest of week I hope everyone has a good one and I'll hopefully "see" you next week! Happy blogging and scrapping!

things never go as planned...

So much for my nice, quiet, extra long weekend!

So I tried to do my best on Saturday but I just didn't feel quite right. I just felt really tired and kind of blah but I managed to get through the day. Then at 3 am, I woke up in pain. I wasn't sure if they were really bad cramps or contractions but they were intense and painful. Soon thereafter I started throwing up. Whenever a really intense cramp would come I would get really hot and nauseated and start throwing up. By 7 am I had nothing left to throw up but bile. My munchkins were waking up and I had to call for help.

My Aunt Theresa came and took the kids and my brothers girlfriend, Susan, drove me to the hospital. I was taken directly up to labor and delivery. They did some checking to make sure I wasn't in pre-term labor. Thankfully, I wasn't. They still aren't sure what exactly caused it but they suspect I just caught a really nasty bug. I was really dehydrated so they had a terrible time getting an IV in me. After two bags of fluid, some IV Zantac, Phenergan and Zofran I finally stopped vomiting. My cramps had settled down enough that I was thankfully able to return home. Now my belly is just really sore from all the cramps and vomiting. I can't lift anything or bend over. Thankfully I feel fine now other than a sore belly. I have been really careful to eat very bland things (which get really boring and old really fast!) I'd rather eat bland than to ever experience another 12 hours like I did Sunday.

Hope you all had a much better weekend than I did!

a loooooooooooong weekend...

Really, really long! The boys don't have preschool on Fridays and then there is no school on Monday and Tuesday for election day! So the kiddos will be home until next Wednesday! I am actually REALLY looking forward to it. Sometimes I am so sad to send them back to school on Monday. I love having them home with me.

Of course, we all know Digital Scrapbook Day is tomorrow!! There will be lots of sales and fun activities going on all over digiland. I'm running sales at both my stores! 50% off at ACOT from now until Monday and 30% off at SBB from now until Monday! Be sure to drop by SBB tomorrow. There will be several forum based challenges and chats from 6pm EST until midnight! They will be giving away a huge, gorgeous kit and lots of prizes throughout the day. The 6pm chat is being hosted by yours truly and Amy :)!

Thanks for all the get well vibes yesterday, I think they really helped. I did move a bit slower yesterday but I managed pretty well :). I'm feeling okay this morning thankfully! I still don't feel quite like myself but I'm not so under the weather that I can't function.

Look for Halloween pics and some snaps of the kids room coming soon! My brother came over and painted their bedroom floor yesterday and it looks great! I thinking it may not even need a second coat. I am actually hoping it doesn't because I'd like to put all the stuff back in their room. My house is too small to have all this stuff in the hallway *lol*!

Don't know when I'll have a chance to blog again but I wish you all a happy DSD!

23 weeks today and under the weather!

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by! I glanced at my ticker this morning and my jaw just dropped. I have managed to get this far into the pregnancy without getting really sick amazingly. I think my luck may have just ran out! Late yesterday afternoon I was overcome by extreme tiredness. I was in the middle of making dinner (yummy Tuscan Rosemary Chicken) and suddenly felt as if every ounce of energy just left my body. It was a struggle to get through the rest of the evening until bedtime. I ended up putting the kids to bed a half an hour early because I just couldn't make it any longer. I chalked this up to waking up too early yesterday morning. However, I think it was a sign of getting sick. I'm not too ill this morning but I have a piercing headache, a stuffy nose and my throat is mildy sore. My lips also cracked last night which seems to only happen when I'm sick. I hope it doesn't get much worse. I also hope I don't pass it on to the kids. Gabriel just got over tonsilitis! Being ill is definitely going to put a cramp in my day! Thankfully, I've only got a small to do list. Any get well vibes you can spare would be greatly appreciated!