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6 Years Ago Today...

I became a MOM!! What a wonderful day in my life.

6 years ago today...

6 in the morning a phone call to the dr. on call because I was having contractions. She said wait until they are 5 minutes apart...they were 7.

6:15 my water breaks and we call the dr. back. She reluctantly says to go to the hospital.

7:15 Triage on L & D. Got all the monitors on and hear the fabulous sound of a little train as I called it. My little girls heart beat.

10:15 Dr. arrives. Different from the dr. that told me to come in. This dr. was my favorite so I was thrilled that she was on call. At this time she checked me and told me that I was 3 cm and at this point we don't do an epidural. I was having extreme back labor so I told to to give me whatever she could. she then reminded me of my birth plan and I told her "I don't care."

11:00 The magic man with the epidural came and made life a lot better.

2:45 Ready to push although clueless how to do that since I wasn't allowed to go to any of the classes due to strict bedrest from 24 weeks on.

Finally at 4:12 Emma arrived into the world and made David and myself parents!!


Here she is sleeping in her cradle that her Daddy made her in his wood shop. She always sleep with her hands together like she was praying.

Emma's birthday party one year later!

Here she is with a very big hat on.


This was Emma the day after. Her dad thought it would be fun to put a swim diaper on her head. She did look pretty cute.

Emma's second birthday! She got a sandbox from Grammie and Grandpa. There is Jake in the background. He was never far from Emma.


I made her a caterpiller cake.


Uncle Keith getting a hug from the birthday girl. He is her Godfather.

The second party with David side of the family. I had no energy to make a special cake. I was pregnant with Timmy at this time.


Opening one of her presents.


Happy 3rd Birthday!! It was a Shrek birthday.


Making a silly face at the camera. Can you tell it was a hot day outside?


I made Emma a scrapbook book titled "The ABC's of My Life"...she loved it!

Here she is turning 4. Do you see what I mean about Jake and his girl?!


If was a princess birthday. So of course we needed Sleeping Beauty shampoo and soap.


Cinderella cake with a Cinderella princess to blow out the candles.


Snow White looking marvelous!


No step sisters here, just a little brother to do all of the shores.


Turning 5 brought 2 parties. One with Grammie and Grandpa. This is her ice cream cake.


Then a party with her friends. She had a great time. My camera decided not to work too well for this party, but I did manage to get a few pictures.


It was a Chicken Little party.


And today she will have her 6th birthday party. I will be baking the cake and trying to make my house look a little presentable with all of the construction going on.

It is a special day for David and myself also. It was on Monday, July 16, 2001 that our lives changed and we became parents. What a journey it has been.

I think I am in the right profession...

and grade level...

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What can I say, I'm a good little girl!

Renovations Step One

Well the laundry room is complete!!

Here it is in pictures!

Here is what the master bathroom used to look like.




So this is what the laundry room looked like before. More like a laundry closet at the end of my eating area for the kitchen. So my dirty laundry was on the floor if people stopped over out of the blue. Or my drying rack (see it on the side) would be there doing it's job and people would come and see the clothes drying. Or how about the folded clothes on the kitchen table. That is always fun. When we first bought the house, we thought it was great having the laundry room there. After many years, we have found it is not so great.



After some very hard work on my hubby's part and some painting on my part this is how it looks now!

New tile floor. There was nothing wrong with the old floor, except for the fact that there was no tile under the bathtub and we didn't have enough spare ones to fix the spot.



I now have a soaking sink.


We are reusing the vanity from the bathroom and just got a new counter for it. This is where I fold the laundry.


I love my new sorting hampers. It makes it so easy to see what load needs to be washed. Before I would have a pile of laundry, then sort it on the kitchen floor and find that I didn't have enough wash for a white load and then carry the clothes back upstairs.


Christy, we are using the kids bathroom. So instead of my palm trees and beachy feel, I have all yellow ducks around me! It is working fine. But I am sure it will grow old. We are adding on to the second floor of the house at the end where our bedroom is. We will be putting on a new master bathroom and an exercise room. The latter is very funny because we don't exercise, so it will probably be my craft room.

Downsizing in a BIG Way!!

I have so many posts that I have not gotten too and that just depresses me.

Things to look forward to:
1. Emma's Kindergarten Spectacular
2. The scary decision of what to do with Timmy in Sept.
3. Dealing with my mom
4. I finally have a Godchild...he could have been my kid
5. The house is in turmoil and it hasn't even started

Those are only off the top of my head! So are you intrigued to see what has been going on? Do you want to know me better? Stay tuned!!

Now on to downsizing. There is so much I need to downsize. the clutter in my house, my kids toys, the amount of crap I buy, the clutter in my head and the amount of blogs I read.

The good thing...I already downsized the blogs! Not that any of you care, because I got rid of about 20 and none of those people check my blog so it really won't hurt their feelings. That is not why I got rid of them. I was feeling bogged down and I was wasting my time reading about other people instead of taking that time to do things in the house or with the children.

Now getting rid of clutter in my house is a little harder. As a teacher and the daughter of a hoarder, I am destine to keep crap. You know, I might need it someday. If I go back to teacher (which thank goodness I am) I could use that in my classroom with the children...All of this has gotten me into trouble over the years. I have found that a lot of lower elementary teachers tend to be that way. It makes me feel a little better. So this weekend is going to be spent digging through my teaching closet in the basement and pulling out all of the stuff I will need. Then I will go through the garage that has more stuff that I am sure to be able to use.

Speaking of the garage, it is time for me to get rid of the 2 umbrella strollers, the big stroller, and the double stroller. These are the last of the baby items, except the cradle David made for me. Did I ever show you a picture of it? It is beautiful.

Going back to work is good for getting rid of the clutter that I buy because I will not have any time for that! My time will be very limited which is good from that angle.

The clutter from the children, I figure will get better with time. As they get older they need less of the toys and they will move into different items that can stay in their rooms. For those that don't know, I gave the kids our family room that is now a playroom. Nuts, yes, but we live in a colonial and I couldn't let them bring toys up and down the stairs. And frankly, I am way too lazy to do it for them. I am all about making my children self sufficient. Right now as I type, Timmy wanted help getting his short sleeves shirts down from the closet. I told him to get his step stool from his bed and use that to get them. See I am lazy, but I am trying to help them be better thinkers at the same time. Oh, the step stool didn't work so he called me, but I thought it would be better if Emma went to help him. You know, help that bond grow a little more! (Yes, people, I am lazy)

Now as for the clutter in my head, it kept me up last night. I ended up going to bed with a HUGE headache. I should have taken my Maxalt (the best migraine med in the world!!) but I was too lazy to get up. Do you see a pattern here? I am not just lazy with the kids, I am an equal opportunity lazy ass! Oh, while I was writing this, Timmy came downstairs naked and explain that "I'm sorry that I am naked, but I had to put my PJ's in my bathroom and I left my clothes down here. OK?"

So this clutter in my head, it is all about my classroom, the class, activities that I want to get together, and oh, how I can't believe that I am going back to work!!! I truly don't think it has really hit me. I placed my order for supplies so I thought that would help it sink in, but not yet. Next week, I have to go and start unpacking my room and figuring out how I am going to arrange it. So many decisions. If you follow me through the year, you will see that my classroom changed a lot. I am always looking for the best layout and flow.

Oh, I forgot to tell you...my master bathroom transformation into my laundry room is almost complete. I painted the ceiling and walls yesterday. The walls need one more coat and then my part should be done. I have before pictures that I will post with the after pictures sometime next week. It should be completed by then.