Archive for Month: December, 2010
#reverb {d 30, 31}
December 30 – GIFT.
This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year? (Prompt Author: Holly Root)
This whole #reverb series was a gift; it was so wonderful to look back on the year, all I’ve experienced, gone up against, and overcome. And, to really reflect and to manifest and direct positive energy into the new year—it’s been a blessing (and a gift to myself) to participate.
December 31 – CORE STORY.
What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Author: Molly O’Neill)
Simply put…
#reverb {d 28, 29}
December 28 – ACHIEVE.
What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today. (Prompt Author: Tara Sophia Mohr)
- There are a few things that I want to achieve next year, but the biggest thing is I want to be completely physically fit, and as a result of it, I want to lose weight. I don’t care how much I lose, but I definitely am aiming to be under 200lbs. I am not much over that amount, right now, but I still have work to do. The more I achieve this I feel more content with myself. When my body is strong I feel successful and unstoppable.
- I want to make everything from scratch, thus eliminating anything processed or made with high fructose corn syrup. I know that I can do it, I just have to! Doing this is thoroughly fulfilling. I recently made some things from scratch that I would have normally purchased, already made, and I was surprised at how easy it was and how much better the quality was.
- I want to be booked with weddings all spring, summer, and fall! I just can’t wait to feel that special feeling that I felt when I shot Erica and Dusty’s wedding in October. Again, and again, and again!
10 things I can do to experience these things today:
- Take a walk
- Run, lunge, and jump
- Practice Yoga
- Break a sweat
- Stretch
- Bake something from scratch
- Pick up the camera
- Shoot
- Shoot
- Shoot
December 29 – DEFINING MOMENT.
Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year. (Author: Kathryn Fitzmaurice)
BLOGHER 10
David is Four Today
Four. How did it go by so quickly?
You are
our sweet,
LOVING,
smart, and
AMAZING
Baby boy!
We Love You So Much…
Happy 4th Birthday Davey!!
The Birth of David Alexander
born December 28, 2006 @ 3:32pm
11lbs 13.9oz, 21.75″ long
On Wednesday, the 27th, Michael and I met with Dr. Calabrese to discuss a possible induction. Dr. Calabrese didn’t want to do anything since I was not experiencing anything that deemed it medically necessary to induce. Once I reminded him that each baby got bigger by one pound, he found his medical necessity.
He called the hospital and scheduled me to go in on 12/29 at 5am to start the induction process. After he hung up he said, “Now, 80% of the time when I schedule an induction it means that I’ll deliver the baby tonight or tomorrow.”
We laughed and told him we’d probably see him tomorrow!
That very next morning at 7:15am, I woke up to go pee and before I got out of the bed I felt a *pop*. I thought to myself that maybe that was the popping sound that mothers hear when their water is about to break. Sure enough, when I got up I felt water flowing and I knew I wasn’t peeing. I got to the toilet as quickly as possible and when I did I had a HUGE gush of fluid. I waited a few minutes before grabbing a towel to put between my legs and went to tell Michael what happened. I’ll never forget how his eyes pinged open brightly when I said, “My water just broke!”
The kids woke up, we told them what happened, I showered, and called down to my mom to tell her, too. Shortly thereafter we headed to the hospital but not before stopping for coffee and a bagel (there’s always time for Tim Horton’s.) I knew they wouldn’t feed me anything and I needed some kind of energy. We got to the hospital at about 8:45am and I’d had a couple contractions but nothing worse than any of the Braxton Hicks that I’d been having for weeks. I was sent to Room 1, given a gown and I quickly got undressed and settled. A couple nurses came in and got some information from me. One nurse, Christine, asked me about pain meds and I told her that I would not be having any. Just at that time another nurse walked in and they began to fight over me.
“She’s my kind of birth.”
“No, she’s my kind of birth,” they fought.
I couldn’t help but laugh at them. Christine won and she became my labor nurse. She was great, too. Very sweet, thorough and funny. She fit our bill, for sure. Dr. C came in around 9:40am and we all laughed about the event and how I didn’t make it to the induction. He instructed Christine to call him when I hit 8-9cm because he needed to go to the office and did NOT want to miss our baby being born.
I had contractions, sporadically, and upon an internal exam by the labor & delivery midwife (Jessie) it was determined that I was 5-6cm dilated. At 12:30pm my pitocin drip was upped to 4 and my contractions started to pick up. I started to alternate from left to right, hoping that it would do something and for sure my contractions intensified. They got to about 3 minutes apart, then 2 and then they were about a minute-and-a-half apart and VERY intense. I counted and breathed right through them and tried to focus the pain away. They were pretty painful and I began to sweat and tremble. I was in active labor!
Jessie checked me again at around 1:45pm (those cervix checks are not fun, at all) and I was 8-9cm dilated. Dr. C was called and he told them that he was on his way. At this point I felt the need to pee, and in between contractions I got up and made my way to the bathroom. I sat down, had a horrible contraction, peed, and got up to have another contraction. I made my way to the bed and sat down on the edge. I didn’t want to lie back down b/c I just felt better sitting up and then another contraction came. With this one I wanted to push; I wanted to push sooooo badly and Jessie told me to do so. I pushed and when the contraction was over, I lied back down. Dr. C came in and examined me (OUCH!) and told me I was fully dilated and that he wanted me to push with every contraction from that point b/c the baby had a way to come down (this was at about 2:20-2:25pm).
The pushing was really hard. I felt like I was getting no where and at one point looked at Michael and said, “I just want to be done.”
In this time I also got a new labor nurse. Her name was Shannen and she was great! I was so grateful to have her, Jessie, and Michael there with me during the pushing. They were awesome.
With every contraction I pushed, they pulled my legs back, I pushed, Dr. Calabrese massaged my perineum and I pushed some more. He then left the room b/c he felt that I would get further without him there.
His exact words were, “I leave the room and a few minutes later get called back frantically b/c the baby’s right there!”
I pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and cried and pushed and cried some more. Finally, I could feel that the baby was there and asked Jessie if she could see his head and she could. All the while she was doing some perineal massage, too. Dr. C was still not in the room and then they quickly got him in b/c within the next couple pushes the baby would be out. He took his sweet-ole-time getting his gown and gloves on and I felt the need to push.
“I HAVE TO PUSH!!”
“Don’t push, honey, the baby’s right there and will go into the garbage can. Blow it away. Don’t Push!”
“I HAVE TO PUSH!”
[Everyone in the room] “DO NOT PUSH!”
Finally, Dr. C got to me and I pushed two or three times and out came this beautiful baby boy of ours. Oh My God. Instant relief. He was on his back, on my stomach and Michael says that as soon as he came out he opened his eyes and looked around at everyone. He made it to the party we were having for him!!!
I could do nothing more than stroke his head and exclaim, “Thank You God, thank you God, thank you, God!!”
They took him over to get cleaned up and weighed and everyone was clambering about how big he was. They got him on the scale and everyone was in shock. ELEVEN POUNDS THIRTEEN POINT NINE OUNCES. Holy big boy, batman! He was wrapped up and all the vitals were taken. He scored 9/9 on the apgars but it was feared that his glucose level was low because of his size.
We decided that his name would be “David Alexander”. Dr. C thought we should call him “Goliath” instead.
After Dr. C was done with delivering the placenta and giving me one stitch on the minor tear that I had, David was given to me to hold and I just couldn’t believe how much he looked like Mikey when he was born. He was alert and when he heard my voice, and I’ll never forget the way he looked at me.
Ah, another sweet baby to love!
#reverb {d 27}
December 27 – ORDINARY JOY.
Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year? (Prompt Author: Brené Brown)
10-10-10: We took a hike on Sawnee Mountain. The day was perfect and we enjoyed a snack, at the top, by the Indian Seats. It was a refreshing day, and one that was an ordinary moment that brought us all profound joy!
Fashion To Figure
Today at Curvy Girl Guide I’m talking about my current fashion love. There’s also a great giveaway, so check it out! The giveaway is from Fashion To Figure.
Fashion To Figure brings fashion to the figure, specializing in clothing for sizes ranging from 12-26.
A while back I was contacted by them to see if I’d be interested in reviewing something from their store. Once I checked out the website, I was pretty certain that I wanted the vest you see in the pictures above. I love vests, and always have.
This vest, though, is different in that it has a really cool asymmetrical line that allows me to wear it these two different ways. It’s also light enough to wear in any season with either short or long sleeved tops underneath. It’s also the type of clothing accessory that I can either dress up or down.
Fashion To Figure has a great online store. It’s easy to navigate, making it easy to find exactly what you are looking for. There’s a flat rate shipping fee of $5.95, but shipping for orders over $70.00 are free. They also have free shipping return policy for items ordered online.
Another thing I love about Fashion to Figure is that it’s perfect for my budget; I can find plus size dresses, tops, bottoms, jackets, accessories, and more that fit both my style and budget. And, these days? That’s so very important. That being said, my favorite-favorite-favorite section is the SALE section.
You can also follow FTF on Twitter and Facebook.
[Disclosure: FTF sent me the vest to review, but I was not compensated otherwise.]
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