i heart you

My Dad had an Angiogram this morning and they found that one of the 3 main arteries to his heart is 65% blocked and the other 2 are 100% blocked. He has been a heart attack waiting to happen! Instead of putting in stints they felt the best plan of action is open heart surgery sometime next week. He is being sent home today which seems a little risky to me, but I guess that's what they do (whith lots of instructions and restrictions of course).

Meanwhile...we've been singing a lot of Christmas songs at our house. My favorite line so far is "...then one froggy Chirstmas Eve..." I need to get that on video.

***Upadtes: Dad's surgery is scheduled for Thursday Dec 11th.

Help me pick a pic!

After opening the most beautiful baby and big sister gifts, I was inspired to try to capture a photo of Sam for his birth announcement.

"J"...thank you soooo much for the gorgeous monogrammed cashmere jumper. I'm excited that he should grow into it in time for his church dedication in just a few months!

Here are my favorites so far...I'm thinking Sepia because I've found some gorgeous announcements on Etsy in blue and brown color schemes. You may recognize the little guy in this one. I love this one, this one, and this one too.


I'd love to know which ones are your favorites too. I'll pick one main pic and then I might use hand and foot photos in supporting roles depending on the announcement I choose.

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8.


Hands and Feet






Sepia




***Say a little prayer for my Dad. He went to the ER yesterday with chest pain and this morning they found somthing in his heart during a chemically induced stress test (they couldn't do the standard run-on-the-treadmill-test due to his MS). Just waiting for the cardiologist to come tell him what they want to do next. It's hard waiting by the phone, but not as hard as I'm sure it is for him to hear they found somthing.

***Update: They just sent him home (Fri night) and he has an angio-somthing scheduled for next week where they look to see how much blockage there is and fix it then and there. Hopefully it won't be too bad.

***Angiogram is scheduled for this Wednesday at 7am.

I'm still here...

Technical difficulties is right! As soon as we got home, the lap-top crashed, my feet and ankles swelled up to 4 times the legal limit (I'll spare you the photos), carpel tunnel worsened (sure makes nursing fun!) and my sciatic nerve kicked into full gear leaving me couch bound. Not quite how I envisioned this first week at home. The c-section part of the pain is mostly gone, but it's all this other stuff that I could do without.

Samuel is doing wonderfully! We can't wait for his 2 week check-up when we get the green light to no longer have to wake him up every 3 hours to eat at night. I'm sure he'll start sleeping 5 hours at a stretch then. That would be heaven!

The girls adore him, each in their own way. Allison loves to just cuddle him and be with him, while Emily prefers to talk about all the details and ask a zillion questions. Introducing Baby Sam to our family has not come without it's own challenges as they adjust to sharing our attention 3 ways. My Mom picked up the girls for the day so we could get some cleaning and general straightening-up done, and the never ending output of fresh laundry folded, and a nap might even be possible too. I just took a heavy duty pain pill left over from the c-sec, for my back. I've got lots to try to do before it wears off in the next couple of hours. As soon as the computer is fixed (Hubby says it should be any day now...ugh), I'll share some more pictures.

Sam is just such a cutie and we are relishing every moment with him as we remember how fast these first few months fly by. He has completely stolen my heart. Gone are the fears of "how do you have room to love another child as much as the first." The answer is..."You don't!" The love I feel for each of my three children is different for every one, as they are all different and uniquely made. There is no cookie-cutter version of love, it just is.

Christmas Card Give Away!

You have got to see the fun, fresh and oh-so-hip Christmas Cards made by Jennifer of Nounces on Etsy. She has teamed up with Jenn of TakeABow to offer a drawing for 40 free Christmas cards, so be sure to stop by Jenn's blog to enter.

Jennifer makes Birth Announcements too and I've got my eye on a few, just need to take the perfect photo.

Introducing...

Samuel David Eagen
Born at 12:27 pm
8 lbs 10 oz
21" long

And he is PERFECT!

He has Allison's face shape and hairline, and Emily's lips and chin. And the longest toes I have ever seen. His weight and length are exactly the same as his daddy's were. Just think how much bigger our Sam would have been if I had made it to next Friday! Nursing is going perfectly and everything just seems so much less stressful this time around.

The girls stopped by for their first visit this afternoon. They are completely enamored with him. They got to sing him Happy Birthday, eat cupcakes and both received a new book from Sam ("If you Take a Mouse to School" and "If you Give a Cat a Cupcake").

Allison's comments:
He's heavy
I singing to my brother
I tell stories to my brother
And she gave him lots of kisses

Emily's comments:
He has soap on hims
He needs a bath
And she sang "Hush Little Baby" to him

I am so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. I had been in labor since 6pm last night. I'm so glad I was able to make it until morning before going to the Hospital because David got to have a good nights sleep and I managed to get 3 hours in.

On our way to the hospital!!!

New Baby should be here TODAY!!! We are on our way to the Hospital and can't wait to meet him or her.

I am happy to say that I did get to make "Big Sister" tees and 2 pillow cases yesterday and get our bags packed and in the car. Just in time to head to the Hospital this morning for a c-section at exactly 38 weeks. They do have wireless there so we should be able to post some pics fairly quickly. I'm so excited!

Prayers are greatly appreciated!

Projects

A few weeks ago I tried my hand at a pair of decoupage jeans to go with all the cute Scottie Dog separates I bought at Gymboree. I really love how they turned out. These were a bit tricky since this pair of jeans could only be opened on the outseam, but they were still lots of fun to make. I added some green fabrics to make them feel a bit more Christmassy, but they will still be fun all winter long and well a Minnesota spring.







And here are the new Dick & Jane jeans and top I whipped up. I'll add a photo of the tops reverse side later. I appliqued a gingerbread girl wearing black mary janes and used some Mary Engelbreit fabrics I won from Jona. I still have a lot of embellishing to do on the jeans and now I'm regretting not putting pockets on the top, so maybe I'll take it apart and add some. We'll see...Now it's your turn to see...

Oh and I thought I better put up a new belly shot too (terrible lighting I know) since I'm almost done. Just 10 days to go...WOO HOO!!! I've only gained 35 lbs this time, compared to the 60 with the girls, but I fell like I'm retaining water just as badly as before. I know the puffy face, hands and feet will be over soon, but unfortunately it will get worse before it gets better due to the looming c-section. I can't wait to get my body back to normal! Almost as much as I can't wait to meet this little one that feels like it's been practicing for soccer try-outs in there.

I Spy Another TaDa Resell

Last Christmas, my "Deck the Halls" collection was one of my all-time favorites. Christy is selling her darling daughter's blouse and jeans set from this collection and it includes a mini diaper bag too. There's a ton of detail on the jeans and the blouse looks so sweet over it. Visit her auction here to get in on the action.

time to vote

In a couple fo hours I will be entering our polling place with my girls in tow. When I explained to Allison our agenda for the day she didn't understand the word President, so she asked if we were getting "presents" for her. I like the way she thinks! But I am sure she will be disappointed.

Speaking of disappointment...Dave and I will be glued to Fox cable news tonight hoping for a miracle. But the way things look right now, I'm sure we will be disappointed in tonights results. A good reminder for us all is that no matter how you vote, our country will be ok. The greatest crisis in the world today is not economics, or national security, it's the heart of man and the plight of the un-born. And there is only one King who has the power to change that. He does not need our vote, he reigns supreme and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. I like to keep things in perspective.

Dollies

I'm so excited to show you what I've been working on all week! I fell in love with Nicole's Softie Doll Tutorial and decided that every little girl on my Christmas list needed one this year. And now I think I need one for myself too.

I still have 2-4 more to make, depending on whether my best friend and cousin have girls or boys (they are both due 2 weeks after me). And I just picked out the fabrics for Emily and Allison's dolls (Moda's Swell from last spring).

I wish these first 3 weren't all going to separate homes, they look like they could be the best of friends.

And a sweet little heart on her bum.

*Updated to add a link to more dolls I have made with Nic's wonderful, easy-to-follow, tutorial.

See them all right here.

HallZOOween

We took our little "Butterbyes" to the Zoo for trick or treating. The girls had tons of fun with their friends and it was so cute to see them all holding hands.

My biggest fear about going to the Zoo was that there would be too many kids dressed up in scary costumes and the girls would think they were real. They are at that age where they believe everything they see. At one point they both invaded the personal space of a girl, about 7, who was dressed up as Snow White. Touching her dress and just basically fawning over her in awe. That was Snow White!

Thankfully the kids that dressed up were pretty tasteful, mostly princesses and a few "bad" witches (as the girls pointed out on our way in). But the worst I saw was a Dad who was dressed head-to-toe in a reflective skeleton on a black background. For some reason we couldn't shake their group, even when we strategically stopped at the reef tank for 15 minutes and they kept walking. Ugh...it seemed like he was always staring at our kids. I was so annoyed, but I don't think the kids paid too much attention. It probably helped that I used my hands for blinders on them a few times or said "look over here" in the opposite direction when there was really nothing to see there.

All-in-all we had lots of fun and since it was indoors, we'll probably do it again on a year with crummy weather. This year it was actually a beautiful night, which is rare in MN. I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!





Emily dancing with her Belle.