Romper Style

Let me start off by saying...I love Etsy.  You can find so many awesome things there.  I frequent the sight fairly often, as in once a day, but I have never bought something until recently.  Usually I just browse because I find it a great place to collect ideas.  My shopping cart might not ever be full, but my favorites list is over flowing with Etsy bookmarks.

I also love sewing.  I started sewing a few years ago and it comes in flashes.  Sometimes I am hot, sometimes I am cold.  I usually get really aggravated at my sewing machine because it messes up a whole freaking lot ( I need a new one but that is a different blog).  In the past I mainly sew stuff for my two nieces, and I kind of took a deep breath when I found out I was having a little boy, because I only know how to sew girly things.

I finally bit the bullet and combined my two loves:  Etsy and Sewing.  I bought a pattern.  The instant gratification of buying a pdf pattern and having it delivered to your inbox aside, it was so easy.  I made a romper.  I am pretty proud of myself, I did not have to use my seam ripper, not one time!

 

I just successfully made something other than a dress, in one try, without crying, or breaking my machine!

These  were just some scraps I had at the house.  Now that I know I can do it, I think I will have to go shopping for some cute Thanksgiving and Christmas fabric because I will have a sweet little baby who will need something cute to wear come fall!

I did learn through this project that I need to learn how to use the serger that has been sitting in my closet for a year, anyone want to teach me?

So What Wednesday?!

It had been awhile since I particpated in the adorable Shannon's linky party over at Life After I Dew.

Today I am saying SO WHAT IF I:

• Pick out the marshmallows from my bowl of lucky charms in the am...or pm.
• Forget that I have clothes in the washing machine and have to wash them twice.
• Go 2 days without washing my hair, I like to think it is healthier for it.
• Might drink 2 glasses of orange juice in the middle of the day just because I want to feel baby moving in my belly.
• Bought a notebook I didn't need from Best Buy just because it had the cutest beagle puppies on the cover.  It really was THAT cute.
• Take board games to seriously.  If you aren't playing to win, then why are you playing?
• Delete people from Facebook because they crowd my feed with games/advertisements/etc...
• Have mostly children's movies on my Netflix que.
• Contemplate every single night asking Matt to take me Taco Bell for a beef meximelt.
• Answer the door to sign for a Fed-ex package without my bra on...that is what he gets for coming to my house before 10 am.
• I am still not dressed at 10 am.

What are you giving the finger to this week saying so what to this week?

Bisbee Copper Kings and a 5K

Friday night Matt and I were invited to go watch a minor (I mean really minor) league team in Bisbee.   They are called the Bisbee Copper Kings and the team is a summer league made up of college players from around the United States.  It was fun to be at a baseball game, but honestly it was kind of low rent.  These guys are really doing it "for the love of the game".  

They played at Warren Ball Park.  This ball park is supposedly the oldest ball park in America.  

Saturday we woke up and joined our friends Jason and Michala Siler at a 5K they organized.  This was just a  small friends and family event that Michala put together to support an orphan organization, Doorways to Hope, that is a large part of her life.  Similar groups to ours all over the country got together at the same time to run/walk a 5K for Orphan Nation. 

If combined, the population of all the orphans in the world would make up the 5th largest nation coming in at 173 million.  Matt, Duece, and I thought this was such a worthy cause! 

Duece meeting some of the puppy competition. 

Getting ready to take off at the start/finish! I love my two men.

 

Coming and Going...

Duece ended up placing first place in the dog division, go Duece!

Over all it was a great weekend.

Deep Vein Thrombosis or Death Via Thigh...you decide

Okay let's not freak out, but yesterday I thought I was dying. Fine, maybe not dying but I definitely was considering how I would be able to live without my left leg, because I was coming very close to sawing it off.  My Tuesday ended with the worst leg pain I have ever had in my entire life.  I thought it was a cramp, but cramps go away eventually right?  Right.  So after no sleep Tues. night,  trying every cramp trick in the book, waking Matt up with my tears, Matt convinced me I needed to call the doctor.  I knew the Dr. couldn't magically make my leg quit hurting, but being pregnant I can't really take anything other than tylenol, and I was hoping and praying they would call in a RX for a stronger pregnant lady friendly pain med.  No dice.  Their solution was to take Tums.  Um, okay. 

So in a 12 hour period, in effort to make my "cramp" go away I had done the following:

-Drank pickle juice (that's what athletes do)

-Ate 2 banana's (potassium and more potassium)

-Drank gatorade (maybe it was my electrolytes)

-Drank so much water I thought I was going to throw up if I even smelt water (I was drowning)

-Took a hot bath

-Massaged it

-Became best friends with a heating pad (only thing that provided some relief)

and last  but not least

-Took Tums (because apparently that is the fastest way to get some calcium in my bod)

It got better throughout the day, kinda.  At least it had graduated from making me want to chew my leg off to just being painful.  Then 3 o'clock hit and it was worse than ever.  I should say this:  I am calling it a cramp in my thigh because I don't know what else to call it.  It was not a charlie horse, it was not the run of the mill leg cramp, this felt like someone had drilled a hole through my leg.  I called my mom, in tears, because I wanted sympathy.  That is when she told me I needed to call the Dr. again.  But this time I called my friend Dr. Mary Beth. 

As soon as I told her my symptoms she drove straight to the house and took me to the ER.  She said I might have DVT or Deep Vein Thrombosis (blood clot) for short.  Turns out pregnant women are more susceptible to blood clots in the legs.  Fun Times!  

That is how I ended up with this, all wrapped up in hospital bracelets

I will take this moment to say, I hate going to the Dr. esp the ER.  To me the ER is for people who are missing limbs, giving birth in the back of a car, or coughing up blood. 

Obviously I didn't die, and I still have my leg in case you are wondering.  The ER Dr. told me I did the right thing by coming in because the symptoms I was having were definitely in like in DVT and it needed to be ruled out.  On a positive note, while they did the ultrasound of my leg, the sweet tech said, "lets look at your baby too." So I got to see my leg (weird) and my baby (freaking sweet and adorable already).  Turns out all they would give me at the ER was...you guessed it...Tylenol.  Turns out the Dr. didn't go for my suggestion of an epidural.  FML.

Fortunately I woke up this morning and as long as I am not walking or putting any kind of pressure on my leg it isn't that bad, kind of like an annoying head ache.

What my beagle does

I think if you have read my blog for any amount of time you would probably agree with me that I love my beagle baby Duece.  As much as I love him there are days that he definitely gets on my very last nerve.  This is the story of today.

I spent the morning cleaning up around the house, to include using my cherished new Dyson to vacuum the furniture because beagles shed like a mofo.  I love sitting on the couch after I vacuum it because it just feels fresh.  I am aware that if we were smug and pretentious those kinds of parents we wouldn't allow him on the furniture at all, but come on...you have seen his face, and snuggling with him is one of my favorite things to do.

Cleaning the house also involves picking up the beagle's toys.  Technically he has three toys, but they are all the same toy, a stuffing-less raccoon.  He sleeps with one every night.  I pick them up and put them in a tiny basket next to the TV.  I love it when everything is picked up and in his basket.

What would doing chores be without folding clothes?  Trust me, I had plenty of loads to fold, they had been staring in my face all weekend.  And I may or may not be guilty of leaving some towels in the washing machine long enough that I had to re-wash them...  So I got the clothes folded, not put away, but folded.

After my morning of cleaning, this is the conclusion to the story...
1.  After coming back into the living from from said clothes folding I find this

 

Yes, that would be my very naughty sweet beagle laying on the back of the freshly vacuumed couch cushions.  He always does this, I should know by now.  Obviously he loves a fresh couch just as much as I do. 

(if the fact that I have dog hair on my couch bothers you, I actually feel sorry for you, because you aren't enjoying snuggling with your fur baby nearly as much as me)

2.  In addition to finding this thing on the back of the couch, I found not one, not two, but all three of his toys back on in various positions in the room.  The pay off of having his basket where he can get into it is not having to get up and fetch his toys for him.  The downside is that he can get into his basket.

3.  Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the third problemo, because Duece knows when he is in trouble.  So when I found him laying on top of a pile of freshly folded clothes he ran for his life.  He knew what would be best for him.

I was mad for about 10 min and then I realized, Chelle, he is a dog, he licks his butt, he can't help it.  All it takes is one little look from him to make me forgive him. 

Do you have an ornery dog?

What did I find?

On our way home from San Diego we passed a Casino/Outlet Mall.  Yes, they were one and the same.  As soon as we saw the sign Matt and I started to drool.  For Matt casino = good time and for me a casino is more about what the buffet offers.  And really we all know that I agreed to stop because of...ding ding ding, the outlet mall!

No we did not technically win anything at the casino, but we did wiggle two free buffets out of the deal by signing up for a players card (that we immediately threw away, take that blackjack)!  But we did win at the outlet malls!

If you are having a baby or have a baby you know all to well the magical baby clothes kingdom that is Carter's and Osh Gosh.  Hello, baby clothes, coupons, sales, and more sales...what is not to love?  We definitely picked up a bunch of stuff. I know that some of you are posher mom's than I am and wouldn't be caught dead in a an outlet, but pshf...my baby is gonna be cute at a discount.

I also received a sweet package in the mail from our friends Katie and Matt B. and inside was one of my favorite things I have been given to date!  Isn't this the cutest onesie you ever did see?  I can't wait for him to wear it!  I realize that I am a complete loser that loves her dog to much...to the point that I would dress my child in this onesie (and love it). 

Neil will be so proud to have Duece as a big brother! 

Duece approves of the onsie!

The Run Down

This girl has been a traveling maniac.  For the past two weeks I have been on the road, first to Mississippi for a baby shower and then Matt and I left for San Diego to celebrate the Fourth of July.  So here is a run-down of what I have been up to, buckle up your seat belts!

First stop: Mississippi
Some sweet sweet family and friends threw a shower for baby Neil.  It was so exciting to go home.  Matt and I were in MS in March and had not been since.  Unfortunately, Matt didn't get to go with me, which I hated, but we made the best of the trip.  I got to spend several days with both of our families and capped it off with the shower.

The hostesses did a great job on the decor and food.  Personally, I think that the food is just about the most important part of any kind of shower.  Yes, people come to see you and "shower" you, but what they really want is food and cake. 

 My best friend Shannon even made it down from Nashville to be a part of the shower, and that made it even more special to me.  As I mentioned above on the rank of important things to have at a shower is cake.  My cake came from THE best bakery in town, Home Bake and Candy Shoppe.  This cake itself would have been enough to entice me to travel across the country.  I believe that Shannon may have come for the cake.

It was an awesome shower! I was so surprised by how many people came, ranging from people I see all the time to people I haven't seen in ages, regardless they were all special to me.  Let me tell you, after this shower, I know that baby Neil will want for nothing and is going to be so spoiled!

My mom and I also through an "after" baby shower for my cousin Amy.  Her little boy Smith is now 3 months old, and my mom wanted to do something special for Amy.

And like I mentioned above, food was a must!

By the time I got home, it was wash your clothes, and pack your bag again.  It was good by joe, we gotta go to San Diego!  I was really excited about this trip.  Matt isn't getting a lot of vacation time so we wanted to take full advantage of  it.  The sunny shores of SoCal were about 7 hours away and calling our name.

What we didn't realize is that between Sierra Vista and San Diego an approx 500 mile trip were 2 places to stop and this creepy RV park/gas station/run down roach motel was our gas oasis in the desert.  I was even willing to over look the signs in the bathroom that read:

"Please do NOT flush any toilet paper in the toilet, please put all paper in the waste basket."

Um, gross, I will let you imagine for yourself what that smelled like.

Our hotel was only about 4 blocks for the Metro Transit System of SD, so we decided to park the car for the weekend and make good use of it.  We thought it would take is really close to Balboa Park and the Zoo.  Apparently it only gets us about 2.5 miles away.  The said 2.5 mile walk was more like a 2.5 mile climb up a sheer face of Mt. Everest.  I. Was. Dying.  All the walking was followed by more walking once we got to the Zoo.  Apparently the San Diego Zoo did not get my memo about mandatory a Segway for all pregnant women and those with them.

The Elephants and Orangutans were the most entertaining to watch.  This orangutan hammed it up, rolled all over, scratched himself, and then made faces at all the children through the glass. 

The flamingos were so pretty and all of their chicks had just hatched about 4 weeks prior.  See those little gray birds, turns out baby flamingos are gray and actually don't turn their bright coral color for several years. Another interesting fact, the smaller giraffe in this picture was just born as well, Imara, and when she was born she had to fall 6 feet to the ground.  Good Lord, you would have thought her mom had to lay down, but nope, BAM and SPLAT.   I don't think Neil will have to worry about that.

Lesson I learned about San Diego:  The Langfords cannot pick a decent restaurant to save their life.

Notice the smiles?  Well that is before we got our food.  The Fish Market was recommended to us over and over again, but after dinner we would have to sadly disagree.  It was sub-par food for a premium price.  We should have known better, it seems that all big name touristy spots seem to have the same problem.

 

Yes, that is a bloody mary.  No, it does not have vodka.  Yes, I wish it did.  Yes, I realize it is basically spicy tomato juice.  Thanks for busting my bubble.

We loved visiting the Midway Museum.  So big and full of history, and Asian tourist.  We went on a harbor cruise before this, but you can't see any pictures of that because there were literally 2000 pushy and rude Asian tourists pushing, shoving, and stepping on my toes.  Matt and I were forced to seek shelter in the bottom of the boat where the camera would not take good pictures. 

We finished up the weekend with an afternoon at SeaWorld.

This is what SeaWorld looks like on a holiday weekend.  30,000 people once again pushing and shoving at the Sea Lion Show (amazing).  Fortunately I snapped this photo BEFORE the little boy sitting next to Matt and I ralphed his BBQ chips all over the man in front of him and everywhere else.  The worst part, the little boy's parents just sat there and did nothing, no apology or anything.  Um, how about taking your sick kid out of the sea lion show?  I think BBQ chips are off the menu for me. 

 

And my sweet husband won me this teddy bear.  Despite all of the people and all of the walking ( Matt figured it up and said we walked probably 15 miles the whole weekend), we had a really good time.  We are good road trip partners!