Let Them Be Little - I Heart Faces

This week on I Heart Faces the photo challenge is "Let Them Be Little" I can finally be involved in more photo challenges since we have a new little one in our household.

We had a little girl on Sept 24th 2011 and she's been a joy even after 14 years. Yep that's right I also have a 14 year old son. Never planned for there to be a gap like this but seems like the good Lord had other plans for us :)

Here is my little peanut Ione Minnie Ruth. And just for reference her name Ione is pronounced Eye-own. She was named after my husbands mother. Her middle names are after family as well. She's just got a name full of family :)

Check out other enteries at I Heart Faces

Arrival Day of Ione Minnie Ruth

So I've had several people ask when Ione's birth story would be shared and well things just haven't come together enough for me to have enough time to type it up. So here I sit and will attempt getting it typed up to share, can't promise anything. Oh wait eventually you will be reading it....lol.

So I woke up around 4am on Sept 24th 2011 to do the usual bathroom trip and I started to pay attention to the fact that I had cramping along with contractions. Nothing that was really setting a pattern but I dealt all night with the cramping so my sleep wasn't that great. I started writing down the time to see how far apart they were, then decided to call the hospital to talk to an OB nurse and see what they thought I should do. Since one of my trips to the bathroom also resulted in the famous *bloody show* as well.

Now since I had already been in the hospital on Sept 14th for around 13 or 14 hours and labor stopping I wasn't in a huge rush to go back to the hospital for fear it would stop yet again and I'd be sent home. But of course at this time I was 39 weeks and already had an induction date of Sept 30th if the wee one didn't arrive. 

After an hour of timing the contractions I decided to just head on into the hospital and give it a whirl. So there I was 5 or 5:30am driving myself to the hospital in chilly and foggy weather. Ah the things ya do for your kids :) The hubs had to work, of course I would start labor on the weekend he was working....lol. So he and Caleb went off to work after they sent me off to the hospital. Thankfully my cramping and contractions weren't very painful but noticable. So I wasn't all that crazy for driving myself in.

I get to the hospital around 6:30 since the drive was so slow with all that nasty fog. I grab my laptop, purse and pillow and off I head into the ER entrance to check in and start my day of who knows how long at this point. 

I get back to the birthing room they were setting me up in, get that lovely gown on and a robe then hooked up to the monitor to check things out, along with being checked to see how dilated I was. Sept 14th I left the hospital at almost a 4cm's dilated and when I was checked again I was still at a 4cm. So those 10 days didn't progress any in that department.

At first the contractions weren't really giving a pattern then they became closer together. I got hooked up to my antibiotics for my group b strep issue, so we had the 2 doses of that in my system before the baby was born. 

The morning really seemed to drag on, since it was just me and one of the nurses, a nurse that I loved having by the way, Erin was just awesome! I was cracking jokes all morning and she would comment on that. its just who I am though....lol. Sometimes ppl might look at me like I don't get out into the world much with the way I have acted in public before :D Besides Erin my nurse I also had another lady come in, since she was being trained in delivery, so she had all the stuff to set up and just overall be there during delivery as part of her training. So basically there I was entertaining those two with my quirkiness :)

Around noon, I was eating lunch when of course the contractions and cramping got much more uncomfortable, so much to the point of I had to stand up and try and find a place comfortable enough to get through them. Erin came back in to check on me and noticed right away that my contractions were indeed getting stronger. She asked if I wanted something for them, and I was more then willing to get my epidural to ease them.

So off she went to contact my Dr and get things moving in that area. They did another check and I was finally at 5 cm's. So the man with the wonderful drugs was sent up to my room to hook me up and my Dr was hanging out waiting for it to kick in and break my water. At this point my Dr told me "Now is the time to call Mitch and get him here, because we don't know how fast things will progress." So as I was waiting for the drug guy I called and told him what was going on and that he needed to leave work *now* and get to the hospital.  After I called him I called my mom to tell her that now was the time to get to the hospital since mom was in the room when Caleb was born she wanted to be there for this one as well. Of course mom was closer then Mitch was so she arrived before Mitch and Caleb did.

I get the epidural and let me tell you what, it was AWESOME....lol. They would ask, "did ya feel that contraction?" I was like "what contraction?" So yeah it was great to finally be able to relax, even if I couldn't feel my legs much at that time. Oh yeah and the lovely side effect of feeling itchy all over. That was fun....lol

So my Dr breaks my water and there we are just hanging out, them watching the monitor to keep an eye on baby and all that fun stuff. There I was back to cracking jokes, to which both nurses was beginning to think it was the epidural making me goofy, but after my mom showed up she told them right out that nope, that's just indeed my personality.

I got about an hour and a half of relief from the contractions when suddenly I started feeling them again, and it went from feeling them to them being back to painful. Mitch and Caleb showed up right around the time things were starting to get a bit painful. Caleb wasn't going to be in the room during the birth but he was hanging out until that time. Of course he witnessed his mother in extreme pain which might just have scarred him for life. Sheesh poor kiddo.

So I get checked again and I was right around 6 or 7 cm's so we were cruising right along in progression. Faster then I expected that's for sure.I didn't keep an eye on what time it was when being checked each time so I am not able to give you really good detail in that department. 

Suddenly things got a lot unbearable, Caleb went running outta the room with my mom so that he didn't see anything he didn't want to see, they checked again and i was fully dialted and things were ready to go. As the contractions came and weren't fun for me, they also weren't fun for baby. She wasn't liking the contractions at all. 

My Dr came into the room quickly trying to get all her stuff on and be ready while it seemed like there were many people in the room rushing around. My memory probably isn't going to be as good when it comes to this next part as it seems like things blurred together more then I thought they would. 

We started pushing and of course being the whimp that I can be when it comes to pain I was really thinking I wasn't going to be able to do it since that cramping with the contractions were the worst things ever! But Erin, the other nurse, my Dr, mom and Mitch were all telling me I could do it. Erin at one point got right up in my face to tell me I was doing a great job. I ended up with the oxygen mask on since baby was having issues in this final part. We tried some pushes on my back and eventually I was lying on my right side and pushing it seemed to the the side that worked the best to make less stress on the baby during the whole process.

Around 20-25 minutes of pushing and little miss was finally head out. In which we find out the cord was around her neck AND the little turkey had her left hand against her cheek. So yep she made some extra work for us on this delivery. They ended up using the vacuum on her little head to help her come out because of that little hand being on her face. I ended up with two 2nd degree tears and that's it. Things went much smoother then Caleb's delivery. Then again with Caleb I pushed for almost 3 hours....lol.

But she came out healthy and everything even if her delivery had some excitement involved. And to point this out Mitch and Caleb arrived 55 minutes before she was born.

Little Miss 

Ione Minnie Ruth made her arrival on 

Sept 24th 2011 at 3:11pm. 

She weighed in at 7lbs 4oz and was 20 inches long

{Virtual Coffee Tuesday}

 

I don't remember to do this every week, not sure if things will change to where I will or not....lol. You'd think I'd have plenty of time since I'm awaiting the arrival of the wee little bit in my belly. But alas I still don't seem to blog much. Sheesh.

Anyway on this Virtual Coffee Tuesday I am drinking a soda with caffeine. Yep probably shouldn't be but its just one of those mornings...lol. Would have rather had coffee but I can't drink much coffee with this pregnancy just doesn't seem to agree much. Or my little bit is picky, which has been obvious this whole pregnancy....lol. She's not been a big sweets fan, but her number one fave seems to be PIZZA! Crazy the amount of pizza I've eaten.

So if we were meeting for coffee today I would tell you that I'm so ready to have this little bit. I have 2 weeks left in this pregnancy but would not mind if she came early. Of course thus far she's totally not seeming to wanna budge. 

My last Dr appointment was last Wed and I was 2 cm's dilated and 70% effaced, which of course as you can see really means nothing since here I am almost a week later, gearing up for my next Dr appointment and it doesn't seem like any progress has been made.

I've had plenty of braxton hicks contractions since probably 20 weeks or so. Now that we are closer and want them to do something they aren't increasing at all.

If we were meeting for coffee this week I'd share that my living room floor finally got put down! I told the hubs that I wanted it down b4 the little bit was born. Our floor b4 was sub floor and just overall gross! So now we finally have a pur-dy floor...lol.

So there I am with my new floor at 37 weeks.

Here's a photo I thought I'd share of my 14 year old and I.

So I guess after rambling for my virtual coffee tuesday I'll sign off for now. Trying to get comfortable in this chair which of course has become a task most days.

Scripture and a Snapshot

I haven't been participating in any photo challenges in months. I hope to get back on track but with being due within the next 30 days or so, it might put another crimp in my planning....lol.

This is me as of today at almost 36 weeks pregnant with out *surprise* little one. And yes it truly was a surprise because we have one other child, a son, who will be 14 next Sunday.

Friday Bliss

So I haven't blogged in forever, guess even though I'm 35 and pregnant there still isn't anything interesting to blog about.....lol.

So I'm trying to get back into it, but who knows if that will actually happen or not. I decided to do SouleMama's Friday Bliss. I only took one photo this week so I didn't really have to choose anything just had to decide if I wanted to share it.

I do actually like the photo, its my 35 week belly shot. I really need to get some photos of the hubs and I before the little miss arrives. I know my almost 14 yr old isn't going to be interested in photos. But he might just have to get at least one or two *family* shots b4 she gets here. Lord knows we will need to get some after her arrival as well. Plus his *birthday/school* photos will be coming up soon, since his 14th birthday is Sept 4th.

Anyway here it is, hope you enjoy.

How I broke the news to the hubs about being pregnant...

is not really a sweet story or anything fancy. Funny I could say, but you'd have to know our relationship to think its funny. We joke around a lot and often times people think we are arguing when we are joking, I'm sure that might sound strange but we've always been the sarcastic ones when talking to each other.

So back in mid to late January of this year, I was going on about my late night as usual. Having dealt with  bouts of insomnia it was one of those usual nights. The nights of me chilling in the chair while the hubs was fast asleep on the sofa. Flipping through the channels on the tv or looking through the list on the DVR. 

SO during this lovely time I went to get up to do something and had a lovely bout of gagging, totally thought I was going to vomit right there. SO it got me thinking about what was going on. My 13 year old had been sick about a week or more earlier with vomiting so I figured I got whatever he had. But instead of just going with that, I chose to, at 1am to take one of the pregnancy tests I just *happened* to have in the cupboard. I don't even know how long it had been in there....lol.

Now we all know that its just something *normal* to do on peeing on a stick at 1am...lol. I figured I would just get that out of the way, get the regular result of negative/not pregnant and move on to deal with getting sick. Well much to my surprise I go look at the test after the alloted time and had to look a couple of times. I was like there can NOT be 2 lines on this thing. First off the control line that shows the test is working was faint and the line to show you are pregnant was super dark. I was thinking that just was messed up.

Then I decided to do what, oh every woman that's been on message boards with other women do, take a photo of the test to share with others to get opinions. So I was getting that done and posting it by 1:30am. I can't remember the exact wording I posted but it was something to the effect of "Please tell me there aren't 2 lines on this test."  Then the waiting began, because not everyone was going to be up at that hour just to tell me yay or nay.

I tried to go to sleep finally but I was too wound up that I couldn't sleep at all. So I grabbed the test and proceeded to wake me wonderfully, sleeping husband, waving the test before him. I told him "Look at this. Can you see what this is?" There he was one eye opened trying to adjust his eyes(and no I didn't turn on lots of lights for him just the lamp beside him) he takes it and says nothing. I figured it would be the usual like always when I talk to him while he's sleeping or half asleep, he won't remember the conversation when he gets up for the day. I finally said, "there aren't suppose to be 2 lines on this thing." and all I got was some huge, cheesy grin from the man I married.

I just crawled back into bed and went back to trying to go to sleep. Knowing that when the hubs got up to start his day for work that he wouldn't remember a thing about his nutty wife waving a pregnancy stick in front of his face at around 2am.

Well needless to say I did not sleep well and was up when the hubs got up for work anyway. Which is when I asked him, "Do you remember me waking you up?" And of course out of all the times I've talked to him when he's half asleep like that, this is the ONE time he remembers and was still smiling. 

I still wasn't sure if it was right so I made sure to take yet another test that I bought later that day, figured if it was newer it might give a different answer, I went with one of the ones that say "pregnant" or "not pregnant" no worries about lines and such. It came back saying "pregnant" so there I was 35 years old, pregnant, and raising a 13 year old boy, thinking "Lord you have one heck of a sense of humor."

Like I said its not some sweet story, its just us one that I laugh at even now thinking of how I was so freaked out.

18 weeks

I already shared the photos on my virtual coffee Tuesday but thought I'd put them up in their own post. Its not like I have many readers out there....lol. There isn't a ton of difference between my 16 week 5 day photo to my 18 week photo but I took one anyway.

and the comparison shots

That's about all the excitement going on here. I still think I'm a boring pregnant woman....lol. I have no fun stories to tell. Well I plan to write up how I told the hubs about being pregnant. So look for that soon, if there's any readers out there :)

{Virtual Coffee}

I don't think I have too much going on to talk about. You'd think I would with being pregnant, I'm beginning to think that everything in our life ends up BLAH...lol. 

So here on this Virtual Coffee Tuesday, I'm drinking lemonade because I haven't had caffeine in oh about  

18 weeks. Once in awhile I'll get just a little bit of it, but overall none. I just end up with a headache from having it. When before I got headaches from NOT having it. Ah the joys! :)

14 weeks

I'm glad to say that at least I can eat again! I dealt with 13 weeks of morning sickness and vomiting. I sure don't miss that one bit! Granted I know at any time I can get sick again so I don't think I'm out of the clear but I'm hoping to be done with it completely. 

I personally think my brain has taken a vacation, I know everyone says pregnancy brain is setting in. Yeah well I think its went into overtime on me. I can't remember much of anything unless I write it down! I also have to say that being pregnant at the age of 35 is TOTALLY different then when I was pregnant with our 13 year old at the age of 21! Holy moly I really didn't think things would that drastically different but they have been for me.

16 weeks 5 days

Like the fact that my poor body really is out of shape....lol. Then again with having been sick for 13 straight weeks I didn't do much but hang out in bed and depend on my 13 year old to get me stuff. At least there was a bonus on homeschooling during that time! Or in general I guess....lol.

We have our next monthly appointment coming up on May 4th at which time we get to see the bean again. Its out anatomy scan and we'll hopefully find out if we are having a boy or girl. And yes I'm one of those people that just have to know. I think the fact that its been 13 years since I've had a baby I just need to know. We already have to buy everything all over again since I got rid of the baby stuff from the 13 year old. I mean obviously I wasn't going to hang on to the stuff forever. Especially when I totally thought I was finished. But alas the good Lord has/had other plans for us :)

I think I'm done rambling now, I doubt any of this made any sense at all! But it wouldn't be the first time I'm not making much sense....lol.

Enjoy your Virtual Coffee Tuesday!

I heart faces - Pets

Its been awhile since I've participated in anything on I heart faces. Mostly because I don't have *faces* to share. My 13 year old isn't having any of it, so all I have to take photos of is my pets....lol. After Sept when our *surprise* baby arrives I should be able to participate more often! YAY.

So my pet this time is Molly. I had a shot that I wanted to get of her sister Ginger, but of course it wasn't happening. My girls lay in my bedroom window, on the sill most of the time, sun or no sun. But more often when the sun's out.

 

16 week update

Granted I'm 17 weeks right now, but I took updated belly shot just last Saturday.

There isn't a huge difference between the 14 week shot and the 16 week shot. But there is a noticeable difference.

Lesson Time

Caleb got a lesson yesterday without even asking for it...lol. The carburetor for his lawn mower needed some parts, he thought it just needed a carb kit for it. Then he was sure he had the wrong kit, so we took the kit and the carb into L&M Fleet and to the service desk for the car/lawnmower area. And I let him to the talking, which he did without any issues....lol.

He found out he didn't need the whole kit just a couple parts which ended up cheaper. Well then he asked how much they charge to replace the parts etc. He was just going to pay someone else to do it since he didn't have a clue.

I Looked at him and said "There's a first time for everything." and the guy who was helping him said "I was thinking the same thing" So the guy showed him in detail what needed to be done and everything he needed to know! I LOVED it.....lol.

So Caleb was working on it yesterday afternoon and wasn't quite right. But he's hoping he got it this morning.

I have no idea if he's going to want to do mechanic work after school. But if he does, my question is what subjects would he need to focus on? And how do I even find out? He doesn't know what he wants to do yet. But I KNOW he doesn't want to move off the farm! LOL

He made the comment that in 5 years he'll be gone, I'm like where ya going? He's like maybe I'll move into the camper since I don't want to leave the farm. What a kid.....LMBO. That's just for living of course, job wise he's not as picky, he does pretty well with things after he gets used to them its the initial learning that gets him.

A bit behind

Not that, that is a new thing, I feel like I'm a bit behind all the time these days.  Pregnancy is going good so far, after 13 weeks of nausea and vomiting I'm on week 3 of being able to eat and not feel nauseous. Overall feeling better. Although it seems I've gotten tired all over again in the second trimester. Strange but really what do I have to compare to, I don't remember details like this from being pregnant with my son 14 years ago...lol.

I haven't taken many belly shots. Because it stays about the same. Here's my belly shot at 14 weeks

not exactly huge....lol. By this time I'd lost 12lbs due to morning sickness. Thankfully I'm on the upswing and should be gaining instead of losing :)

Ultrasound pics

So here I am 12 weeks pregnant and have had 2 ultrasounds.

That probably sounds a bit overboard and it wasn't intended to have 2 of them. The first one was due to the fact that 10 years ago I was pregnant and miscarried, so I wanted to be sure things were alright. So that was one was simple and we got to see our puffy grain of rice.

7 weeks

Then our second appointment we just had on the 9th of March. I was 11 weeks and heartbeat was tough to find with the doppler so she sent me over to the US tech to get the fetal HR. There we got to see the flutter of the heartbeat.

Next up we have the quad screen and the US at around 18 weeks where I HOPE we can find out the gender.

Scripture & a Snapshot Sunday

I haven't participated in Scripture and a Snapshot in several weeks shoot back around Christmas time I guess.  So I thought I'd attempt to join back in, can't say I'll be back regularly but here's one for now. I haven't taken any new photos so I went with an old flower shot and a lovely verse.



We found out almost 2 weeks ago that we have been blessed with baby number 2. Yep after 13 years we will be having another baby in this household come September time. Kinda scary and happy at the same time. This is a true blessing as its a complete surprise and totally the Lord that brought this to us.

He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyus mother of children. Praise the LORD!

Psalm 113:9

Slight changes being made

So since we currently use Switched on Schoolhouse I don't really ever have any exciting things to share, Caleb does his work without me. So there's not any fun things going on, but I"m so looking forward to that changing and going back to making lesson plans and learning with him. Of course I'm not really sure how he'll like it because he's going to have to go back to *gasp* actually using his hand to WRITE things! Oh the horror!

One new thing in this homeschooling family of three is that this September we will be a family of four! Sooooo surprising that we have a 13 year old and are now pregnant again. The good Lord really knows how to keep things interesting...lol.

Now since I'm also in college classes I've chosen to take a leave of absence from classes for 90-days in hopes that my brain will be able to focus better, because I did horribly on my last 2 classes, one I have to take over and the last one was a passing grade but not one I'm happy with. I was just glad to learn I did not have to take it over. I just need to get my papers back in for my LOA to get approved. If I was really desperate I would be able to take a leave until September when the baby would be born, but that's just way too much time to be away. My focus is just cruddy though. Its like my brain is mush!

I really need to dig out my teachers planners for History, Health and Science(A beka) I love them and its what we are going back to. Caleb is currently doing history, science and health with SOS but as I mentioned in another post(I think) he can pass every assignment with 100% and the quizzes and tests he fails repeatedly! So then his overall grade is basically an F due to those. So I know its just not working the way it should be, he's not retaining things enough to remember for the testings.

For History I need to re-make the timeline we had hung up in the schoolroom(which will now become the babies room, or eventually will....lol) I need to find a better timeline, we had one with construction paper taped together. It took up a lot of space, so maybe something else will be easier. I think I saw a timeline on another HSing mom's blog that was super neat and seemed to take up a bit less space. I'm thinking it will help my son learn things better or maybe just remember better!

If anyone has any timeline suggestions feel free to let me know. Thanks for stopping by!

Emma

{Virtual Coffee}

Here we are another weekend upon us, I think the older I get the faster days/weeks/months goes by quickly. I'm a little late to be on the *Tuesday* part of VC but I'm here, sort of. After I get to rambling you will understand a bit better on why I'm slow this week.

All I have to drink is a 7-up, I don't think I've had any caffeine since Tuesday of this week. So I go through this insomnia bit, there can be days i'm up until 1-2am then back up at 4:30am or so. I end up taking naps but still. So on this last Tuesday around 1am I totally thought I was going to head to bed and I totally thought I was going to lost anything I had eaten that night. So there I am in the bathroom and decided to take a pregnancy test just so I could move on and just know I had some stomach flu. I had been nauseous off and on for some time before this date. So I take the test and am like well at least it will be one less thing to be thinking about. Low and behold I was looking at the test and was totally in shock and seriously thought I was seeing things. 

 I turned my laptop back on and uploaded the photo to post on a message board I'm on to find out if I was seeing things, if it was an evaporation line or what it was. And why in the world was the test line so much darker then the control line of the test.  Sure enough they confirmed that I wasn't seeing things. So there i was after 1am not able to sleep and just a bit icky feeling. Just. overall. SHOCKED. You might wonder why, well we have a 13 year old son, I was pregnant one other time after the 13 year old that resulted in a miscarriage. So for the past 10 years there's been no surprises or anything like that, until now. 

I made sure to buy another box of tests when I went grocery shopping on Tuesday and bought Clear blue easy and here it is, the pregnant words big as you please.

So slowly its sinking in, on Tuesday I also made an appointment to go to the Dr to find out as well. So 3 tests later I'm pregnant after 10 years and get to have a 14 year gap between my kiddos. I'm due September 22,2011. When I was pregnant with out 13 year old his due date was September 21, 1997 but he was born on September 4th 97. So we'll see. I think the good Lord wanted to keep me on my toes or something. I'm still nervous about miscarriage, but I'm hoping and praying that with this being a total surprise that its a keeper at that.

So for our coffee on Friday evening that's my exciting news.

Meet Me on Monday - January 24, 2011

So I came across this meme and decided to jump on in. I'm trying to get back into reconnecting with other homeschoolers, I had taken a break when we decided to use Switched on Schoolhouse. But we are not going to keep going with it. So I'm back in the homeschooling world.

1. What is your favorite kind of fudge?

Butterscotch, yummmmmm

2. Is there snow outside your window?

yes - more than I'd like as well. LOL

3. What is your favorite meal of the day?

Supper

4. Do you text on your cell phone?

yes, I go through streaks of how often. Depending on who I'm texting with. One of my good friends and I often text all day long, then other times none at all.

5. Waffles or pancakes?

pancakes all the way!! I'm such an oddball as well, I grew up with my mom putting butter and sugar on my pancakes, and that's the only way I eat them. French toast is what I use syrup on.

Check out others on Meet Me On Monday

Decisions, decisions

Here I am, trying to figure out just what we will be using for curriculum this fall. Currently my son is using Switched on Schoolhouse and Saxon Math. Let's just say I think both need to be changed, I know one thing for sure and that's that I am not going to go with SOS this next fall. Its clear that he's not retaining what he should be. So I know it will be back to books/textbooks/workbooks that kind of thing. Because its obvious he needs something more on that level. Even though he *loves* doing stuff on the computer. 

I have no problems with that if he was passing everything like he should be, but he's not so for now we'll keep with it, and I'm going to go through the curriculum I had bought b4 SOS and probably get something together for the rest of this year.  So those two piles of school books I have on our kitchen table behind the kiddo's computer is going to be drug out and lesson plans figured out. 

This out to be fun to get that and my class work together, I will get to learn to balance things, which I think will be easy after I get moving. Yes SOS freed up some to where I didn't need to make lesson plans, but the reality of that is then I had no clue what he was doing. I didn't get to his computer often enough to check things out. So in the end its just a waste of money and often time. At least there's a new desktop computer for him to use, and we have typing that he needs to be going back to, and if we switch to teaching textbooks for math he'll have a computer to use as well.

I honestly can't believe that I would *miss* making lesson plans up. I thought I'd be relieved that I didn't have to do that. But in the end I did miss it, might be an odd thing but its all good :D I just need to find some English/Language Arts that will work for us. Its the one thing we are the most behind on, I mean grade wise behind, its been a struggle since we started. There's just never been something that would fully work and help the kiddo learn. Well that and his reading comprehension. He of course is your typical *I don't like to read* boy. Granted there are plenty out there that love to read, I've just never been able to get him to enjoy it. Which is a bummer because I always loved reading, more casual reading and less school book reading but reading non the less.

So if anyone out there has suggestions feel free to leave them in comments section. We've tried a few things that just didn't work and others we might just have missed that were out there and would be a great fit. 

Ever have one of those days?

I think I have a annoying, yet quirky but lovable kiddo. I'm sure that sounds like I'm some horrible mother. I only say this, because this morning has been interesting, yet like every other morning with the kiddo. His little quirks can be annoying, simple little things really. The main one being he's always picking up the dogs, mainly Ginger, then bringing her to me. She's off doing something or laying where she wants to and he disturbs her. Its the one thing that is majorly annoying. Minor yes, but still annoying. I am always telling him to leave the dogs alone. Just how many times does one need to remind a child, a 13 year old kiddo at that, to just leave the dogs alone. Let them do what they were doing. But as I said he's still lovable, just quirky...lol

So that was what has went on since I drug my sorry butt out of my nice warm bed. Vegging in bed with my laptop. I've been out of the bed long enough to start Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon rolls, just waiting until noon to get finished. I get all fired up about baking then I decide to make these cinnamon rolls and then realize its a long time b4 the final results...lol. But they are SOOOOOOOOOOOOO yummy! So well worth the time. Of course my husband isn't all that excited, or rather he's being impatient and wanting goodies now instead of later. But I just have no ambition to make anything else. Might change my mind who knows.

 We ended up with 51 cinnamon rolls and a batch of chocolate chip bars. So the hubs should be set for a couple days for snacks! Ate a yummy supper of steak and potatoes. I so LOVE putting my steaks in to the crock pot, they fall apart when done and are just so easy to eat. I'm sure some people think that's "cheating" that if you knew how to make a steak you wouldn't need to do it that way. But ya know what, I could care less about that opinion...lol. My family loves it this way so we go with what works for us.

I've went through 2 crock pots before this one, because it never fails the inserts end up cracked to where it will slowly leak out of the bottom. Frustrating, I always make sure to not add any liquids to it when its hot, because we all know hot and cold aren't going to mix well when it comes to ceramic. If there's any liquid to add I do it at the beginning. Course I haven't any idea what I'd do if some would need to be added later. Ah live and learn, and learning is what I'm still doing.



I haven't been part of a blog hop in awhile so since I moved my blog I figured I should jump back into some blog hops! So if you might have been following me before when my blog was at http://www.emilylindphotographymn.com/wordpress and still want to keep up with me please follow me again. I have no desire to change blogs again, I had this one to begin with and decided to just come back with it. So I went through the process of exporting all posts from my wordpress one. Walla here I am!

I'll leave you with a snapshot of summer, because I'm ready for it to be here, anything but winter. This Minnesota weather the past couple days has been rough!

Well I think I rambled enough, I hadn't intended to ramble on a blog hop but I was already writing the post so decided to add the 2 instead of making a seperate post.

Leave me a comment and I'll follow back! Thanks for stopping by.

Emma

Shadow Fun

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I have been waiting all week to post this, at first I was like there is no way anything interesting will come out of me photographing an egg. Only because I didn't have any fun props or anything. But I think I did pretty well with what I did have. Again it involves shadows, which I'm loving lately!

 I haven't joined in over here in awhile, well I hadn't blogged or anything in awhile. But with the other photo challenge I had so much fun playing with shadows and it seems to have become a slight addiction. Mainly because of the fact that its winter, cold and cloudy most of the time. So I love when the sun is out and just take it all in!
I didn't do anything fancy with the above photo. All are taken in B/W on camera, and very little editing. A little sharpening and contrast. Otherwise nothing else. I just set things Up on my island counter with the son streaming in my small kitchen window. It was a challenge with such a small area. But I loved what I came up with. They were all taken the same way, but I think the last one is my favorite one so that's the one I'm using.