Look who has....

Style!!! How cute is this??? I used Amy Knepper's new kit Style found at Scrapdish. Love the "bling" photo corners too :) Doesn't everyone take a pic of their kids in sunglasses???

I'm feeling much better, but I did stay home again today with no baby. I actually slept for over 3 hours this afternoon... it was so needed. But as I predicted, Ellie is now coughing and I can tell she feels miserable. It might be a LONG night.

Oh and I also got caught up on my Chick's Life stuff. I'm officially done with January! So poking around on the internet today and reading tons of blogs, I came across this one called "Are you Eggy with it?" Their challenge is to list things that bring you joy. So here is my joy list:

1. Ellie's little smile she gives herself in the mirror.
2. Joking around with Jeff about stupid little stuff, like faking accents (so silly)
3. Shopping
4. A nice latte from starbucks on the way to work
5. Swedish Fish
6. Singing on the top of my lungs in my car when no one is looking
7. Trips to Disneyland every summer with my family (cousins, aunts, mother, etc....)
8. A glass of red wine while sitting outside at night
9. Spending time with good friends just talking about whatever.
10. Running Errands with my mom and aunt
11. Sitting at my computer either playing games or digiscrapping or reading blogs

It's official...

I have bronchitis...ugh. But the good news is that I have antibiotics now, so life should be good again in no time LOL. While I was home today I did manage to finish my Intentions page..looky see:

I used Robin's Comfy kit... which I absolutely LOVE! I played around with the flower paper and made some little elements out of it (the flowers) I thought they turned out pretty nice. Anyway, don't be surprised if you see these papers being used again by me. Now I need to get my January in review page done. Maybe I should just post a pic of robitussin because I feel like Ellie and I have been sick the whole month..*sigh* But that's ok, February is looking up already! DH booked us a room at the Flamingo in Vegas for President's weekend!! Woo hoo. Grandma is going to watch Ellie and I'm going to live the life for a weekend!! LOL We are meeting some friends there so it should be a good time. I might even check to see if spa services are available.. listen to me.. I act like I'm a millionaire. Hardly. But I might add that I do deserve a little something :) Now if I could get Jeff to think that also.

Sick!!

I am so miserably sick. You know you're sick when you really don't want to do anything.. scrap, eat or watch t.v. All I really want to do is sleep. (Pity Party is now starting) I already called in for tomorrow at work, and in the morning I need to call the doctor so that I can get in asap. I'm in need of some serious antibiotics... I swear when I breathe I sound like Darth Vader. Poor Ellie, she is sure to catch it next.

I love the Sunday night owl chats at Rakscraps and I really have a feeling I'm not going to make it tonight :( Jeff just ordered pizza though, so maybe that will get me feeling better! Ok off to veg some more

Woot & Cough & Me

So I'm so excited.. I got an email today from Amy Knepper asking me to be on her creative team! I didn't even hesitate and emailed her right back and said yes!! She has some great stuff at Scrapdish and I can't wait to get started!

I can't stop coughing. I actually sound like a sick smoker and my chest is killing me. I swear my ribs hurt so bad just from coughing and every now and then I get in such a coughing fit that I have to run to the bathroom just so I don't pee on myself! (I know a complete overshare) Seriously, that's how bad it is! Jeff went to a lacrosse game tonight and I was so excited to sit at home and get some serious scrapbooking done, but noooooo I can't stop coughing.... *gasp* I did just instant message him and told him to stop and get me so cough syrup on his way home. If any of you know how to stop it short of drugging myself with robitussin please let me know, I'm desperate.

Speaking of me, here is the LO I did manage to finish earlier for the "Chick's Life". It's so weird scrapping myself. I'm sure I could have gone on and on talking about myself, but I narrowed it down to a few sentences :) (I'm really not that vain)

(credits: Christy Lyle's Shabby Dreams Kit)

I still have to finish my intentions page.. kind of dragging my feet on that one... because I really don't know what they are. I'm not doing well with my resolutions.... the Carl's Jr. six dollar burger last night says it all. On that note, I'm off to go cough some more and maybe even get a page done!

Getting caught up on A chick's Life!

(credits: The Good Life Kit by Marsha Zepeda)

Ok I finally sat down and got some stuff done for the Chick's Life challenge at the Digi Chick... My cover is above. So here is my 2005 in review... the LO is below on another post, but I finally got the journaling done. Here it is:

(Credits: Just the icing on the cake by Sara Carling)
The journaling reads: When I reflect back on 2005 the one word that comes to mind is "Bitter Sweet". This was a year of the most amazing highs and the lowest of lows. I started the year pregnant and we had just found out we were expecting a little girl. We easily decided on a name and I started getting ready for baby "Elyse". On Valentine’s Day I got a call at 6:00 am from my stepmother telling me my father had a bleed in his brain and he was getting ready to go to surgery. We then learned that the lung cancer my dad thought he had beaten had spread to his brain. I spent most of February and March at the hospital and thought for sure he would never make it to see his first grandchild born. But miraculously he did survive and the bleed in the brain did not completely take away my father. He was sent home with approximately 6 months to live. During this time, we also learned that my brother and his wife were separating. It was a blow on top of everything else.
In April, life was almost back to normal. I was "huge" and pregnant with the most swollen feet I have ever seen. Jeff and I worked to get the baby's room ready. I was showered with gifts from friends and families at my 3 baby showers. I was so excited that I would actually meet my daughter. My due date was May 3rd and my doctor was going out of town so she wanted to make sure I had the baby before she left. Jeff and I argued over the date of May 3rd (my choice) or May 5th (his choice). He thought having a birthday on Cinco de Mayo would be the great thing.. I caved in and agreed to the date, even though the thought of being pregnant even a day longer than I needed to be was not my ideal situation. To our surprise on Friday April 29th my water broke and settled the argument. She was coming on her own time and terms. At 4:35 pm our beautiful daughter Elyse Michelle Little was born via C-section. She amazed both Jeff and I. I suddenly felt feelings I have never had before in my life. My family was ecstatic, including my father who came to the hospital to meet her.
We took our baby girl home and we quickly learned what it were like to be"new" parents. No sleep, exhaustion, and bliss. Although it was hard, it was also wonderful to see this child getting bigger right before our very eyes. On August 5th I was rocking Elyse to sleep when I had the most amazing sense of calm come over me. I thought to myself that things would be ok if my dad died and that I could handle it. About 15 minutes later I got a phone call that my Dad had passed away. The funeral was beautiful and well done. I miss my father greatly.
I left the job at the elementary school and went back to work part time in August. Life again returned to normal. September through October gave me a chance to watch Ellie get even bigger.. rolling over, cutting teeth, scooting, crawling, etc.. Life began to be consistent. I discovered an amazing new hobby of digital scrapbooking and have been completely hooked. In November, life gave us another wonderful turn, Jeff's company sold which took a huge weight off of his shoulders. We ended the year surrounded by friends and family. I can honestly say I will never forget 2005 and I look forward to 2006.

Kind of long and a bit sappy.. sorry if you read through it all. So now I just need to do my intentions page and the me page. I swear I"m trying to get sick again. I have this horrible cough and my chest hurts. I took some Airborn for the first time, so lets see if it works. Tomorrow is Ellie's 9 month check up.. I hate holding her down so that they can give her shots. Jeff is supposed to go with me this time.. he can do it :)

Scrapbooking Item??

You are STICKERS!

You like brightening things up in life and

decorating your living space with your own

personal style. You are versatile and able to

get things done with a stick-to-it attitude.

People love your colorful personality and

personal flair! You like exploring new things

and are willing to try anything once. But

Stickers beware - sometimes you like to stick

to someone that you like a little too much

and take them into your confidence a little

too easily. Your personality tends to make

you a steadfast friend, but make sure the

friends you choose are worth your efforts!


What scrapbooking item are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Back to working on Mondays!

So after I had Elyse, Jeff and I decided that I would only work 3 days a week at the clinic.. the money is good and it pays more than if I worked 5 days in the school district doing therapy (i'm a speech pathologist for those of you who didn't know). So life is great, and I really enjoy only working 3 days.. amazing how the week flies by. Anyway, my very good friend Stephanie got this amazing offer to work in Wickenburg School District.. only catch is she was 9 months pregnant... so she referred me to cover her maternity leave. I figured it was only for 3 months so I would do it. Now mind you it's 45 minutes away. So I do my time and I actually learned to really like it. The people there are great.. but I was also a little relieved when it was over because working 4/ 10 hour days and taking care of baby is no easy task.. (I can't even imagine 5... for those of you that day my hat is off to you!) Well I was done December 12 and then in the beginning of January I got a call and lo' and behold they want to keep me on every Monday. I said yes. I figure another 3 1/2 months won't kill me and to be honest the money is great. So today I went back. I'm ok once i'm there, but I dread the drive and the time away from Ellie. I figure maybe I'll get a book on CD to help with the ride :) But really I just have to make sure I don't get swamped and focus and what I need to do... for family, me and work. Ok enough about me bitching about working.

I watched Grey's last night.. man I LOVE that show. Don't know why, but I do. Ok I do know why... Dr. McDreamy. He is soooo cute and he needs to get rid of his wife. She is not very nice! LOL I sound like I know them on a first name basis!

Poor DH Jeff.. they are launching a new look on their site (it should be up later tonight) and I guess things didn't go as planned so he worked yesterday from 9 am until today at 5 am!! Then he went back in around 10 am and is still there!! (It's 7 pm now) Poor guy I can only imagine how exhausted he is. See and I"m bitching about working 3 days.. Shame on me!!!!!

Crabby!

Ok here is a LO I did with Ginger's new kit! It's called Love you this much and it's at SOTB Doesn't she look so crabby!!!

She is at Grandma's house for the night! Jeff and I are supposed to have date night tonight and go see a movie! I'm wanted to see Chronicles of Narnia, but who knows what we will see until we are there.

I went to my friend's babyshower today. My friend, Kelli is having a baby girl! It's her second, but they are still so much fun to buy for.

The new sketch for Rakscraps came out and I love it. I can't wait to use it. I never got around to doing last months sketch.. I need to get my act together, but to be honest, I've actually finished quite a few pages this month. I still need to get my Chick's Life stuff done as well as my vacation to Disneyworld... hmm maybe this week. I start working on Mondays again this week. I'm not too thrilled about it, but the money is good and I couldn't pass it up. It's only until the end of May and that I can handle... just mean less "me" time which is a bummer.

Phew!!!!!

Ok so this past week (Sunday night) I found a bump or cyst on Ellie's head! And let me just tell you that I was freaking out! Mainly because we had just found a cyst on her eyebrow earlier in the week so I was concerned it was all related.. you can only imagine the thoughts that ran through my head.. seriously, I was going nuts! But today I went to the doctor and I can say that my worries have been put to rest! She has a lipoma ( I thing that is what it is called) anyway, it's a little mass made up of fat, they come, stay awhile and leave. I guess they are pretty common and can happen anywhere.. so she is OK! I almost cried right there in the doctor's office. It's amazing to me how I came to care for this little human being so much! I am also amazed at the amount of worrying I did over a little bump.. not that I shouldn't have been, but wow, I can only imagine what people with truly serious issues go through. The most amazing thing is that this will not be the last time I worry or cry or panic about my child. I have a lifetime of that ahead of me... ok i'm getting a little sappy.

On a brighter note, Heather released a new kit today at the digichick and here is my LO with it! I love this page, probably because this is one of my favorite pics of Ellie. It just makes me smile every time I look at it!

Tania (see link on the right) is joining the team at Scrapdish and I am soo excited for her! I can't wait to see the wonderful goodies she comes up with! I just love being on these creative teams.. it really makes me get my act together and scrap.

Oh and I still need to do my journaling for the It's a Chick's Life challenge.. maybe now that I'm not so worried I can get some stuff done!

Pictures!

On Saturday one of my mom's from the clinic (Cami) came over to practice her photography skills on us.. Now I have to preface this with Ellie went to a b-day party, then came home started to take a nap and then I woke her up 25 mins later so we could get these done.... And on top of it she still wasn't feeling 100%. So Cami came to therapy today and brought my pics in and some of them turn out really cute, but Ellie looks so serious.. not to mention she cried for most of them... My favorite is this one: (in B&W and then in color)


And then there's my absolute favorite one:

Isn't that the best!!! That is how she was for most of it! Which really is a bummer, because the pictures did turn out well. No smiles though :)

I was Tagged!

Ok Ginger tagged me so here it goes:

Four jobs you’ve had in your life: (All before my grownup job right??!!)
1. Waitress
2. Bartender (loved it!!)
3. Sales clerk at Pottery Barn
4. Montessori School Aide

Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Pride & Prejudice
2. Sleepless in Seattle
3. Plains, Trains & Automobiles
4. Bridget's Diary

Four places you have lived:
1. Lakewood, CO
2. Shawnee Mission, KS
3. Flagstaff, AZ
4. Phoenix, AZ

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. House
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Days of our Lives ( I admit it.. I'm a soap junkie!)

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Orlando, Florida
2. All over California
3. Seattle, WA
4. Edmonton, Alberta Canada

Four websites you visit daily:
1. Rakscraps
2. The Digi Chick
3. Blogger
4. MSN

Four of your favorite foods:
1. Chips & Salsa
2. Tacos
3. Spaghetti with meat sauce
4. Chicken Pineapple curry

Four places you would rather be right now:
1. Definately Sleeping
2. playing video games
3. Curled up in my jammies on the couch watching TV
4. Do the Bahamas count?

Four bloggers you are tagging:
1. Tania
2. Tiffany
3. Mrs. S.
4. Amy K.

There you go! Have fun!!!

Ever have one of those days....

....when anything that can go wrong will??? That was yesterday for me! I was exhausted, feeling yucky and way crabby! And so was Ellie. I thought she was feeling better, but I think she's not 100% yet. I figured that out when she was cranky & crying most of the day (and I swear she is a really good baby & hardly ever cries). I also figured it out when I went to change a diaper and it was everywhere after her nap.. the worst part is that I didn't figure it out until I went to change her diaper and stuck my hands in her pants to take them off and got a handful!! Yep... YUCK!!!!! And really that's how most of the day went. So Jeff called me around 7 to tell me he was still at work and wouldn't be home until 8 and I told him I hadn't cooked dinner yet.. too tired. He told me not to touch anything and that he would do it when he got home. An hour later he walked in the door with Chinese food and flowers. I was so suprised and yet it made a hard day better! He told me the food was because he loved me and the flowers were because I got pooped on...LOL. If that's what it takes to get flowers, I think I'll hold off for a while :) Here's a pic of my flowers:



One bright event of yesterday, I walked in to get Ellie after another nap and she was STANDING in her crib!! I almost fell over. It was so cute.. I got the camera and took a pic.. check out her page to see it. She has been trying to pull herself up all day and I guess she figured it out in her crib!

Exciting news

So.. not because I don't have enough on my plate, but I actually have been chosen to be on another creative team! I was surfing around on The DigiChick when I saw that Heather Roselli was doing an application process for people to be on her creative team. I read it a few times over a couple of days and then on Monday I decided what the heck I should apply and see what happens. I filled out the first set of questions, gave links to my galleries and then what do you know she asked me to be in the second round. During this round I had to answer some more questions about her kits, what I liked/disliked and make 2 pages using 2 of her kits. The first one I did was with her "Cute Christmas Kit".. which IS very cute!!

This is Ellie with Santa on our vacation. Font is Leftovers. Then the second kit I used was "Falling Snow Kit" which was a bit more challenging since we dont' have snow here in AZ, so I came up with Ellie in her PJs:

So then I received an E-mail from Heather and she invited me to be on her team!!! Yeah!! She has great kits and I really like the colors of them. I honestly didn't think I would get picked, but I"m so glad that I did!

So now I have NO excuse not to get my gazillion scrapbook pages done! LOL Rakscraps is looking for element team members. Check it out! I have made a few pages/elements, but I am by no means ready for an element team... which is a true bummer because I just love that place! How fun would that be!!?? Maybe next time around. I need to learn how to do brushes, etc.. a little better. Though I do think that Mrs. S should definately try for it.. she makes some great kits for the mega member raks!

Homefront news.. Ellie was great today. I really think she just had the flu bug and it's on it's way out the door!! Ok I'm rambling!

Getting better!

So things at the home front are looking up.. Ellie is looking good.. still going to the bathroom quite a bit, but not bad. They said it could last up to 10 days... UGH! But she is eating and drinking and looks good, so I'm a little less worried.

I finally think my antibiotics are kicking in! Fingers crossed.

Ok check this out.. Grey's Anatomy soundtrack! I wonder if it's any good?? I love the show.. so maybe this will be good too.. I'll have to listen to the little trial songs :) Let me know if any of you have it already and like it!

DH made me start to watch the movie "Blue Velvet". Ok he didn't make me, but it was on in the bedroom as I was going to sleep.. I only made it through half and I have to say I don't get it.. what a weird movie! He swears it's a cult classic and I dont' know why?? Maybe a cult, but by no means a classic! He has weird taste.. but I love him anyway!

Oh my good friend Tiffany is now a digital scrapper too!! She is hooked and even started uploading pics at Rakscraps! Her screen name is Ainwena! Way to go Tiffany!!

So far I'm failing in my resolutions.. (see them below) but like I said I'm doing ok with #3! But in all seriousness, I didn't go to WW because of Ellie being sick and me being sick.. good excuse??? There is always next week!

The flu has arrived!

Ok this may be a little graphic, and maybe an overshare... So last night I'm feeding Ellie and all of a sudden I notice she is going to the bathroom... next thing I know, MAJOR blowout! Which proceeded to happen about 6 more times. But now there is blood and I'm super worried so I call the doctor, they tell me to keep an eye on her and if she sleeps let her and then to give her some pedialyte if she wakes up.. so all is going well and she falls asleep by 7:45. Then at 9:45 I hear some weird noise and then she starts crying.. I go into the room and I swear it was horrible.. my sweet little angel threw up everywhere! It was a mess. Jeff picked up all the sheets and I gave her a bath at 10 at night. I took her out got her dressed and then she proceeded to throw up about 6 more times... UGH!!! So by now I'm totally freaking out and call the doctor again.. who knew that babies throw up until it is all out, so you get a lot in a short amount of time. Thank goodness they enlightened me on baby throw up! She finally fell back to sleep and didn't wake up until 5 am, I gave her an ounce of pedialyte (which stayed down) and she went back to bed till 7 am. So first thing this morning we headed to the doctor and I have to do some funky chemistry on her poop for the next 3 days.. I tell you that is love! Only a mother can collect samples out of a diaper and not gag. In a nutshell the doctor is worried she may have a bacteria infection.. but they can't treat it until they know what they are dealing with, hence the chemistry experiments.... The word E-colli even came up and I about had a heart attack! Today she acts fine and is crawling all over the place.. just a little tired, but still smiling away.. I guess this is the beginning of a limetime of worrying about my child. Me, I still feel like crap! I went and got some antibiotics yesterday, and I think they are just starting to kick in! Needless to say my house is on quarantine!!! Ok.. sorry for the graphic nature of this blog, but I had to fill you all in on my lovely past 20 hours!

Movie ratings

I almost forgot.. I watched "Wedding Crashers" and "Bewitched". I almost peed my pants on Wedding Crashers. SO funny! I am in love with Vince Vaughn.. such a cutie.

Bewitched was cute, not a movie to own, but a cute one to rent.

Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired!

That how I feel.. very exhausted, but do I go to bed early?? Nope, I'm too busy trying to catch up on me time... which means scrapbooking.

I'm also tired because for the past 2 days, Jeff and I have been house hunting!! We have definately outgrown our place, so we are looking at building a new house!! It's pretty exciting and we think we found what we want. We actually had another house picked out, but it had a lottery system and we didn't get chosen for the good lots and the ones left are in high traffic area, so we decided to look at others.. so we found this nice house that actually will have a basement. Jeff is completely excited about that.. all I keep hearing is "our movie room". It's actually a cool thing since houses here in AZ don't normally offer basements, in fact I don't know of anyone who has one. So that will be pretty neat to have. There is a catch though, we have to wait for some certain lots to open so that we can get what we want. So keep your fingers crossed. The build time is 12-18 months which is perfect for us to completely outgrow this place!

Ellie's hair is out of control. I comb it and brush it down and the hair just continues to stick up on top of her head. Jeff calls it a starburst! It's so funny! In fact we had groceries delivered and the guy walked in, took one look at Ellie and said, "nice hair!" Who asked him??? LOL I'll have to get some pics posted of it.. the ones I have so far don't do it justice. I hope it will all settle down soon.

Oh and can I just say how completely relieved I am to have Rakscraps back up and running.. I do love the digichick as well, but it's so nice to have Rak back. The people there are so friendly. In fact.. i'm off to go chat with them all right now. Check Ellie's page for her latest scrapbook page!

New Year's Recap

So for New Year's Eve, Jeff and I had some friends over for dinner. All together there were 8 of us. Jeff made the most wonderful Prime Rib. Jeff is an awesome cook and it was sooooo delicious! I always kid him about being Emeril. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and drank a lot of wine!!! By 12 midnight, Jeff was a goner. Even in his obnoxious drunkenness he was cute (is that a word???). I'm so glad I got to bring in the new year with some great friends.

Oh I officially converted another paper scrapper to digital. She got ditigal image pro for Christmas and now she is hooked. She even showed me how to tag all my kits in photoshop elements, which is going to take way tooo long, but I've started. I think I already mentioned that in the past post, but I have done quite a few already.. Yeah for me, I'm getting organized (Yeah right!)

Ok Resolutions:

1. Lose baby weight and then some. (going back to WW on Monday)
2. Become more organized and tidy (my office looks like a tornado hit)
3. Scrap a gazillion amount of pages!!!
4. Work out or should I say, try to exercise, which does not include typing and/or moving a controller for video games... which leads me to this thought..

You know those dance mats that you can get and the game for play station 2.. I'm so tempted to get that. I know I would look like a complete maniac/weirdo but people are actually losing weight with it. Plus how fun would that be???

Ok I digress. So those are my resolutions, I really think I'll be able to do #3. Oh ok and the others too. Here is a quick LO I did today from a sketch on Ginger's Blog. It's Jeff and I on New Year's Eve. I figure that will be my before picture. (I'll post the next one when I'm down 50lbs!!! LOL) It's actually the very first rectangle scrapbook page I've done, and to be honest the change was nice. I might even consider doing a family album that way. I'm such a rebel! :)

I'm rambling because I have a terrible cold with medicine head. Sorry.

Happy New Year!!

Here is a page I did for the year in review challenge at Rakscraps. I'm having trouble posting it on their site due to the server being slow, but I'll hopefully get it up tomorrow. I'll fill everyone in on New years later.. trying to catch a cold, so i'm off to bed!