What's the haps, yo?!

Alrighty...what's been going on with us? Nothing too crazy, I haven't been on the computer all that much, not that I've been busy doing other stuff, just haven't been on much.
We're getting ready for Halloween, not decorating so much but getting costume's together. Rye is going to be Tinkerbell. We're just waiting on her shoes to come. We've got the outfit, some glitter spray for her hair and body and we also got a little bag that we're putting star confetti in to be her fairy dust (Eric's idea). She is so excited for Halloween to come. Eric is excited as well...I'm not sure why but this year he became obsessed with dressing up. At first he wanted to be Ricky Bobby but he could not find a nice enough costume. So now he is being the Ghost Rider, his only disappointment is that he cannot set his head on fire for the full effect. He has decided that this will be something that he'll be year after year (I think this was just his way of explaining spending more $$ on the costume). ;) We haven't decided if he'll pass out candy or walk Rye around. Should be an interesting night though.
I will be 38 weeks tomorrow. I think the baby has dropped (so does Eric) but there is no way for me to be totally sure. I have an appointment on Monday, so I'll fill you in then. I can tell you that I have gained 38 lbs so far, I'm not at all sure how I feel about this. Things are getting much more uncomfortable and I have been having several relatively strong contractions a night, but they don't go anywhere past that. Maybe you could say a prayer that she'll come sooner rather than later...not for me, I can handle the discomfort a few more weeks (maybe not the stretch marks though, hahha,) but for Eric. He found out yesterday that he WILL be going to CAX, only a little late. The company will go on 28 October, he'll join them on 9 November. I'd really love if he was able to spend some time with the baby before he goes. Any tips on how to get this thing going? So, I had a 38 week pic I was going to post but I'm having some trouble uploading pics on here right now. Soon as it's fixed I will post them.
I was given a surprise baby shower last Saturday. It was an actual surprise (I ususally figure these things out, I must be off my game) and a real treat. I am so thankful to have a friend like Layla here who would go out of their way to do this for me. I have pics from that as well, so I'll post them when I can. I must warn you though, seeing as it was an actual surprise to me, I look like shizz in most of the pics. Sorry!
Only other thing that's going on is that one of Eric's friends is going to move in with us till they leave for Iraq (early next year). He'll really only be here a month or so, they have CAX till end of November then they have leave (which he'll be out of town for) end of December and early January. He's a really nice guy and he's going through some tuff stuff. I'm glad we're able to help him out. Not that we're not pretty lucky in all this though. He's selling us his huge sectional for a very good price. And we get to use his 50" TV and entertainment center till he gets back since it won't fit in his storage unit. Sweet deal, yeah? Of course we'd help him out without the added stuff, I'm just glad we can.
That's about it from the Aloha State. Now I gotta walk down tot he commissary and get some stuff for dinner tonight...BLTs...mmmmmm

HANDS DOWN...

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD!

1ST GRADE
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!

New Stuff

So, I got a couple of new things today...yeah! First was this beautiful addition to my pink kitchen collection (though it's not kitchen aid). I happened upon it on a trip to the HUGE A$$ Pearl Harbor NEX...and I HAD to get it, I'm sure you understand. ;)
Next, I saw this crib bedding @ WalMart last week...I went back to see if they had it today, assuming they wouldn't because that's just how my luck runs usually. They had moved it so it took me a bit to find it but, it was there, WOOT! I had tried to find it online, but the only place I saw it was on Ebay and they all said it was hard to find and that wasn't even the pink style, not a peep about this baby, so I knew it was quite a find. You all know that I am totally into the RainForest collection from Fisher-Price. They had this bedding in the regular colors of the collection but when I saw that they had it in PINK, I had to act. I obviously won't be needing the comforter for warmth, so I'm going to hang that on the wall. I know I already have a bumper and crib skirt but I have been in contact with the nice people from BabiesRUs and they said I could return it and put it toward another purchase. I'm thinking I might put it toward this bad boy. It's relatively new or it would have been on my registry from the beginning. I thought of just using my playard in the room, but it might be a little too bulky. Not sure yet. I'm not sure why I'm so obsessed with this collection. That was one reason I thought this little chica was going to be a boy...all I wanted to look at was this collection or anything green or orange.
So that's about it in my not-so exciting life. Waiting for Eric to get back on Sunday and trying to keep Rye in a good mood (her friend went on an unexpected trip to the big island and she's been left without a play mate over the long weekend). I'm doing alright, pregnancy-wise. Getting more uncomfortable, but that's life. I'm resigned to the fact that if I follow the trend I will be late having her like everyone else I know who has had babies in the last month. Not one early birth among the 4 people I know who've given birth since September. I've been having a some contractions, some that hurt and others that just leave me short of breath. Nothing major. Sleeping has sucked, especially last night when the power went out for like 2 hours. Not a breeze to come in through the windows...no fans...it was so quiet I wanted to SCREAM! It got so hot...let's hope that's not a trend. Anyway, I'm beginning to ramble...I'll check back in soon enough, I'm sure. Later all!

Great Show, Great Ideas

So, I haven't been all that into cooking and stuff lately. I used to watch Food Network religiously, but I've been in a bit of a slump lately. But I found this show call Just Cook This! with Sam the cooking guy. Sam is great and he's full of humor, healthy tips and great recipes. I think I may make it my goal to cook one or two of his recipes a week. He has themed shows (i.e., pasta, burgers, shrimp) and he does three quick recipes a show. We tried his shrimp tacos last week and Eric devoured them. So, check out his site or his show, you'll be really glad that you did. It's on Discovery Health, Tuesdays @ 4 & 430 pm (1 & 130 pm , my time..how weird is that?).

Only 4 more weeks...hopefully

So, I had my appointment and labor & delivery tour yesterday, everything went well. I got my strep test, they'll let me know the results of that. Her heart rate was in the 160s, she was moving around a lot. She is head down, so she's not trying to punch her way out through my belly, just trying to kick her way out. The doctor said that my cervix is still posterior and has moved down a little but not much yet, it's also still very firm. She asked if it was easier for me to breath yet, I gave her a big, "NO!" She said it should get better soon...but then, won't I feel like I have a little bowling ball sitting in my pelvis? I guess till she's born I trade one discomfort for another. My next appointment will be on the 22nd, a couple days after I hit 38 weeks. Here are the ever-loved belly pics.
32 weeks

36 weeks

Other than that, nothing big here. Eric has a 96 this weekend and then leaves for a few more days of training. We're pretty sure they're going to let him stay here for the baby, but nothing has been set in stone. On the name front, I'm leaning toward Josefine Rae (after the 2 most important men in my life,) but Eric is still for Autumn Josefine. Only time will tell.

What's been up lately...

So...it's been brought to my attention that I haven't posted in a while. Sorry about that. Not much really going on. I have my 36 week appointment tomorrow, so I'll post about that after. I haven't been on the computer too much since Eric got home. I'm so happy to have him home. It's sounding more like he'll be home for the birth and might not have to go at all. Which would be AWESOME!
I've been fairly steady this pregnancy, emotion wise...until this last week. It started a few days before Eric got home. Rye and I were having a bad day and I started freaking out about being a terrible mother and starting all over with another and doing it all alone again while he's gone. I was flooded with all these memories from when Eric was in Japan for 10 months when Rye was little. Add to that seeing my friends tiny baby and I was scared competely sh!tless over what lay ahead of me. I calmed down relatively quickly...but since then I have been very emotional. Things that don't normally get to me are getting to me and I'm really over it. I don't like not feeling in control, especially with something like my emotions. I could use a little prayer on this one, if anyone can spare some. ;)
Rye is on fall break this week...actually, October is a pretty sparse month school wise, if you ask me. She has a total of 8 days off and then two weeks of early release (tho it's only an hour earlier) while they do teacher conferences. She also has a field trip to the pumpkin patch on the 30th, I didn't realize they grew pumpkins in Hawaii. Hehe! I'm really missing the cooling of the temperatures and the changing of the leaves. I can only imagine what the trees in Shenandoah look like right now. We should also be getting her school pics back, I'm excited to see how those turned out. Can't wait to show you all.
I seem to have slowed down in my scrapbooking again. I want to do it, I just don't feel like doing it. Maybe that will change.
So, we have a list of names started for the baby. Her middle name will be one of the following: Josefine, Rae or Frances. So far for the first names we have (tho some are just one's I've come up with that Eric hasn't given his opinion on, I'll also add possible nicknames with them): Josefine/Joey, Virginia/Gini, Brenna, Darcy, Delaney/Laney, Marin, Jude, Autumn, Evelyn/Evie, Lena, Finn, Jillian/Jilli, Moira (I really only like this one because it's the Irish form of Mary, which I like for obvious reasons) or Rowan. We also heard a little girl called Ramsey at the store this weekend, Eric liked that but not sure about having to R named kids or them both ending in the ee sound. I am such a dork. Not need to tell me, I already know. Feel free to let me know your favorites.
Alright, that's it for now. I'll post my 36 week pic later in the week with anything new from my appointment tomorrow.

Challenge pages

So, I did two pages today. One is for 2 challenges, new ones...the theme is God's promises for the Salt challenge and the layout is from the scrapdragon challenge #4. I used the verse, Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." I used it with a picture of my dad and me when I was small.
The next was for the this is me challenge, 5 habits or quirks about me...I really had to think hard on this. Not that I'm perfect or anything...it's just, what do you consider quirky? Anyway, here it is.

What a difference...

It's crazy how much a difference just 2 months can make when you have a shorter hair style. Especially when you're pregnant and your vitamins make your hair (which grows fast anyway) grow even faster. I thought I'd share the difference with those I love. Away we go...
My hair within a couple days of getting in cut, back in July.
My hair today, a little over 2 months later....CA-RAZY!
Can you even see the difference? Or is it just me? Maybe it's the angle...

I'm worth...

$4201...I got this off my sister's blog. Thought it would be interesting. Like her, I'm not sure who came up with it or why prices are what they are... but here we go.

Natural Hair Color:
[X] Brown - $100
[ ]Blonde - $50
[ ] Black - $15
[ ] Bald - $5
[ ] Other-$75
Total: $100

Eye Color:
[x] Brown - $1
[ ] Green - $75
[ ] Blue $50
[ ] Hazel $100
[ ] Other - $15
Total so far: $101

Height:
[ ] Over 7' - $200
[ ] 6'8" to 7' - $175
[] 6'0" to 6'7" - $150
[X] 5'5" to 5'11" - $75
[ ]4'9" to 5'4" - $45
[ ] Under 4'9 - $45
Total so far: $176

Age:
[ ] 41 to 49 - $300
[ ] 31 to 40 - $100
[X] 26 to 30 - $75
[ ] 21 to 25 - $50
[ ] 19 to 20 - $25
[ ] 0 to 18 - $100
Total so far: $251

Birth Order:
[ ] Twins or more than twins - $300
[ ] First Born - $300
[ ]Only Child - $250
] second born - $150
[X ] Middle child - $100
[] Last Born - $100
[ ] third born - $100
[X ] fourth born - $100
[] fifth born-$600
Total so far: $451
Drink?
[X] No - $400
[ ] Only Holidays - $250
[ ] Sometimes - $215
[ ] YES - $200
[ ] only weekends - $300
[ ] Every other day - $50
[ ] Once a day - $15
[ ] I live from the bottle - $Bankrupt$ [[back to $ZERO]]
Total so far: $851

Vision?
[] perfect vision -$300
[ ] need or have glasses/ contacts but dont wear them - $200
[ ] No correction $100
[X] Glasses $50
[X]contacts $25
[ ] Surgical correction - $10
Total so far: $926

Car Color:
[ ] Pink - $2,000 (oh man, I wish)
[ ] Maroon - $800
[ ] Gold - $700
[ ] Gray - $600
[ } Blue - $900
[x] White - $475
[X ] Black - $450
[ ] Red - $400
[ ] Green- $350
[ ] Silver $300
[ ] Purple- $250
[ ] Metallic - $200
[ ] Yellow - $100
[ ] Primer - $75
[ ] Tan- $20
[ ] Rusted - $15
[ ] No Car - $0
Total score: $1851

Shoe Size:
[ ] 13+ - $300
[ ]12 and a half to 13 - $250
[ ] 11 to 12 - $700
[X] 7 to 10 - $500
[ ] Under 7- $550
Total so far: $2351

Favorite Colors (two):
[X]Green-$750
[ ] Red - $600
[ ] Black - $100
[ ] Yellow -$475
[ ] Brown - $50
[ ] Purple - $225
[ ] White - $400
[ ] Aqua - $350
[ ] Orange - $300
[]Blue - $300
[X]Pink - $100
[ ] Other - $ 50
Total: $3201

Did you use a calculator to add it all up?
[ ] Yes $0
[X] No-add $1000
[ ] on some- $750

GrandTotal: $4201

Craft Club

So Rye and I started attending a Craft Club @ her school this last Tuesday. We had a lot of fun and Rye is already wanting the next meeting to be here. It's only twice a month so this might help her with the patience thing a little...one can only hope. Our first project was a zipper pull for her backpack, made with beads. She had so much fun picking beads out and stringing them on. She was also able to make a bracelet for her friend Cheyenne, she loves giving to others. Seems she might have a bit of the gift giving love language. Next meeting we'll be making a night scene picture. We can't wait. Here is a pic of her two crafts.
I also wanted to share this next picture because it is just too cute. She wanted a picture of her with her new snake. It's one of those wooden ones that can move. Cheyenne took the picture. It has since been broken, only a little, but she's still loving it.

Latest pages

Two more challenge pages, I am loving these things. I have a couple more in the works, keep an eye out.
This is was for the OLW challenge, perfect being the word. I was hoping this would be the word because I just love this quote form Michael J Fox, "I am careful not to confuse excellence and perfection. Excellence I can reach for, perfection is God's business." I did it right after I read the challenge, even though it was 4 o'clock in the morning. Gotta love early morning hunger pains.
The next one was for the this is me journal...a favorite quote. I chose this one by Michael Pritchard, "You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing."I don't usually use pictures of myself, alone, on pages but Rye took both of these the other weekend, so I thought I'd use them.

32 pounds...

and growing...
Any other time of life and this big a gain would scare the shizz out of me, but I know it's all for my baby girl. I'm handling it and I can't wait for the day I can start taking my little girl on walks with me. It's getting harder and harder to take my walks in the morning, some days are better than others. I really can't wait to meet her...
I wonder who she'll look like? Will she look just like Rye? I mean, so many people have said that Eric and I look similar, so how different can she look from Rye? I hope she has her Daddy's eyes. I love his eyes...not just the shape, crazy thick lashes (thank gawd Rye got those puppies) and their amazing color (man, that green...surrounding that orange-brown, beautiful,) but what I see in them. The love and laughter, the warmth and caring....alright, I have to stop typing about this, I'm starting to tear up. Let's just say she'd be a lucky girl to inherit those babies.
So back in August we went to the beach and Eric took that pic of my in my bikini, this one...

So, yesterday I laid out in the backyard for like half an hour. Rye and I took a bunch of pics this weekend and I noticed she's getting way darker than me. Hahaha! I I took another pic of my in my bikini to see the difference 5 weeks can make. I'm standing the opposite way but you get the idea.

Alright, I'm not really seeing a difference...though I feel it. This little chick likes to make herself known. Rye has taken to calling her Roo, btw. Get it? Like she's in my pooch. Oops, I mean pouch! Hahaha! Good nickname though. So maybe we'll just call her that until we decide on a name.
Okee Dokee, I'm gonna go lay out back for a few minutes, nice and relaxing...maybe call my baby sister and wish her a huge
HAPPY 28TH BURFDAY BOO!
I love you very much and wish I could be there to celebrate with you.
Keep and eye out, I'll be posting a few more scrap pages here in the near future, gotta ride the wave while it's flowing. Remeber if you want a better view of them the link to my portfolio is on the links list.

Lil' bit about baby...

First off, I got this adorable little owl to put in the baby's crib. It's about 5-6 inches tall and so plush. It goes perfectly in the corner. Second, I'm going to say something and I'm just gonna share my heart here. I'll be completely honest, I don't know if Autumn is going to be the baby's name. I can't say what her name is going to be for sure until I see her in the hospital. I would appreciate if I didn't get eye rolls or laughter at my expense about this. I guess part of me just thought that I had to have a name picked out before hand. But that's not true. Our child's name is going to have to be one that she (and we) live with for the rest of our lives. There's nothing wrong with me going through thousands of names, if I want to, until I find the one that is absolutely perfect for us.
I can hear some of you saying, "You've made a name sign...," "You've bought letter for the wall...," "You made a scrapbook page about it..." I say to all that, "SO WHAT!!!" All that can be changed...letters can be returned, signs and scrap pages can be remade. It's not like I've had the name tattooed on my a$$ or anything. I could understand all the guff I get for it if she was already here, I'd named her and now I wanted to change it. But she's not and I haven't. When I do finally name her, it WILL be permanent so I want it to be just right.
As my sister told me, I have to be true to myself. And I am just not the kind of person who has a name picked out so far in advance and sticking with it. I like to go through all the possibilities, over and over. That's just who I am and I don't want to change it. Love me for me!
That's it, nothing more. So, next time we talk...please don't sigh at me, make little jokes at my expense...just respect my decision. Thanks.
ps...there are a couple more posts, so don't forget to scroll down....

Rye, age 6, as drawn by Rye

more and more...

Couple more scrap pages...

Even more pages...

So, I've been a busy lil' bee, doing one or two layouts a day. I started 2 new challenges, color your world and unpubbed. These have really been helping get my creative juices flowing, I've even done a few bigger 12x12 layouts. So, I'll post the bigger layouts first, then I'll post all the new challenge layouts I've done since the last post. If you want to see the pics bigger or just want a way awesome site, here is my profile on SISTV. Just click on the portfolio section and you can see everything bigger.
So, we'll start with the 12x12 layouts I've done.

This next one is my first layout for the color your world challenge. It's titled U leave footprints on my heart.

Next, I used this one for two challenges, both the category stories & the unpubbed challenge. The layout is a take off the one from unpubbed and the topic is from category stories, favorite body part.

These next two are for the one little word challenges, stop & pure.
This last one is for the last this is me challenge, spread the love...you had to date it and write down what you love. I added a few things after I took this picture...I added MARY-BFF and my husband's eyes!

2 new layouts.

Alright, one of them is new but it's a re-do. I hated the layout I did for the ultrasound pics when I found out the baby was a girl. So i've redone it. The other layout was for the "this is me" journal challenge I've been doing. It's about fear. I went a little more on the silly side for mine. Here they are. Hope you like them.

Couple more pages done...

Got a couple more pages done. 2 for the One Little Word Challenge and 1 for fun. The two words for the OLW are simplicity and automatic. I know the automatic one is a bit of a stretch but I liked the quote. HeHe!
OLW
The quote above is from Oscar Wilde, it states, "Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some prefectly uninteresting event."
For fun...
If I do anymore today, I'll update the post.

Scrap pages

So here are the latest pages I've done. I'm doing a few challenges and I just started a new one to catch up on while I'm waiting for my other challenges to continue. I'm getting addicted to these things, which I guess is better than some other things I could be addicted to. So here they are:
This is Me Journal Challenge pages

Category Stories pages

One Little Word pages

32 weeks...

Only 8 to go. It feels so close but so far away. I really want it to hurry though. I'm extremely uncomfortable. Blah! I had my appointment yesterday. Everything is good so far. I'm measuring the right size and the heart rate was in the 150s again. My next appointment will be at 36 weeks (beginning of October) and I'll get my strep test. I'll be counting down the days. So here are the 28 and 32 week pictures, respectively.
28 WEEKS

32 WEEKS

So, Eric and I were talking last night and we kind of had a funny converstion. Well, it was funny to me. I was getting ready for bed, putting lotion on my belly and this is what followed:
Eric: You have a baby in there.
Me: I know. Weird, huh?
Eric: You're growing a little human inside of you.
Me: I know. Kind of alienish...
Eric: Yeah, like alien.
Me: Except she won't burst out of my belly and try and eat me.
Eric: Yeah.
Me: At least I hope she won't.
Well, anyway...we had a good chuckle about it.
Next up, I went a little picture crazy and did a little mini photo shoot beofre I feel like a fat heffer. Hahahaha! They turned out pretty cute. Here are a few of them. I'm really diggin' the black and white photos lately. I know they're a little cheesy but, deal with it! =)
Lastly, I'm very proud of myself. I'm still doing my walks everyday. I might be doing htem a little slower but I'm hoping I can keep them up until the end. I'm definitely feeling the "pelvic area shifting to get ready for birth and making room for AJ" which makes it a little tough, but I'm getting through. Here's a pic right before I took Rye to the bus and went on my walk. I look so tired, right? It helps wake me up.