Friday, May 27, 2011

Answers and some Truths

Well hello to anyone that is still here with me!


I know I have been a horrible blogger and thou there is not excuse I swear I have a good one.

We are going to have to go back a bit for you to understand. There is going to be some TMI and this is your disclosure on that. This also is going to be a very long post with no pictures, so thank you in advance if you make it to the end.

I started this blog as a way to document going from a newly married couple to the joys of owning a home and starting a family.

On October 28th, 2010 I found out I was pregnant.

As like most couples we had not discuss our plans of having children with anyone because they are that OUR plans. We did not want people asking how it was going giving "encouraging pep talks". This was something private in our lives we had been dealing with since our wedding. We knew we wanted to have children ASAP as we have both been married and not getting any younger. There was many things we had to get straighten out with insurance and relocating to Austin and New Braunfels but we took the "well we will just see what God gives us".

By July of 2010 (a year after being married and no bebe) I began charting and told P that I was wanting to see if we can make sure I am ovulating and all that good stuff. He was on board so then began the morning temperatures, ovulation predictor strips and reading up on things to help encourage pregnancy. August I charted all month and saw a clear ovulation and that there could be some issues because I Oed really late and have a short Lunar Phase. For those that do not know what a LP is, it is the time from Ovulation till your period begins again. "Normal" LP is 12-14 days, mine was 8 days. Why this is bad is that you do not implant a pregnancy till somewhere between 7-10DPO (days past ovulation). By this point my uterus was already shedding. I called my OB/GYN and they basically told me don't worry. With some research I found out that B6 has been proven to lengthen LP. So I began taking it.

September I charted everything went along smoothly and in October I got the ask on a pee stick most women want "Pregnant". I had a due date of July 4th, 2012 (yes had) I called and made an appt of Nov 18th which I would be just past 8 weeks and we would be able to see the heartbeat and know everything was fine. I told my closest friend and youngest sister. I knew I would need some support. My friend has been thru it all and my youngest sister does not know enough about fertility problems to say the wrong thing.

I knew for months that I wanted to surprise P with a willow tree figurine of a man holding a baby, because he refuses to hold babies till he has his own. I went to the florist and got one came home from work and wrapped it before he got home and waited.

After much prodding he finally opened it. I didn't get the response I expected cause he was in shock. He went into planner mode. I was a week out from my sister’s wedding that I had many duties and roles and we knew I was not going to be able to do everything that I normally would be able. We planned to tell my parents prior to the wedding just to give a heads up. But before telling my parents P wanted to tell his first because they have been waiting for 15 years to hear of them getting a grandchild. Thou I did not really want to tell anyone til 12 weeks it got out there fast. The next day P told his work because July is a busy time of year and he would need off for the birth. He told his parent that weekend, an old HS friend also pregnant at church, people at a Halloween party, etc.

I began to get over this fear I had had for years of telling too soon. I had a miss M/C years and years before and never been pregnant since. I was not like many of friend to have a accident from not being safe. Prior to getting pregnant this time I had told P my wishes to not tell cause I know there are high odds of MC early on. The more people that found out once my initial “why did you tell them freak out” was over the more ok I became with people knowing.

So the following week we loaded up and drove to Houston for my sister’s wedding. P, my mom and myself ran errands and in Sam's Club my mom saw many cute baby things and said she needed grandchildren to spoil cause the stuff was too cute not to buy. P and I exchanged knowing glances of that we were telling her and my dad that night.

We had dinner at a great seafood restaurant and I order a steak salad and my mother thought I was crazy for not getting fresh seafood like everyone else. Minutes later I gave them gifts that had oneies with cute gramma & grampa sayings and it was on! They were very excited and my dad does not get excited about much! My mother was ready to call everyone. I had a twinge to tell her no don't tell everyone but I let it go. By 9 am the next day everyone in my family knew. It was not my intent to over shadow my sister's wedding but that of I cannot lift the 50 lbs tubs of stuff and I was in the tired stage.

The next day was the wedding day and very hectic and I could tell I was over doing it. Help my sister swore would be there to set up showed up an hour late. They messed up the groom cake in transport and I had to fix it. I was the wedding planner, decorator, makeup artist, hair stylist and bridesmaid. It was a looooong day.

The day after the wedding we headed home cause P had tickets for the Nascar race in Fort Worth and would be leaving in the middle of the night to go. I spent Sunday getting the house cleaned up, grocery shopping and running errands. The whole day I felt off. I felt like something was wrong. I called my OB/GYN and was told don't worry it is normal for first time mothers to think everything is wrong. Just to get some rest.

Monday things got worst and I was still told just to rest. Tuesday was a little better.

Weds. there was no denying I need immediate medical assistance. My OB/GYN office was closed. I had to call another office to see me and the fit me in 30 mins later. At this point I just knew I had lost the baby. We got the office and they had me that a pregnancy test and it was still positive. The doctor saw me and said my cervix was still closed so everything was still inside me. A few mins. later we saw what was supposed to be the sac was not nice and egg like with something in the middle and blank space around it but a deflated sac for lack of better description. My body was trying to expel it. I had not miscarried yet but I would in the next 24-48 hours. There was nothing I can do to stop it or that I could have done to prevent it.

Going home to sit and face a death sentence is horrible. Normally I am the one to fix the situation when people are broken but I could not put my pieces back together. All I could think of was I have to go take our white bedding off the bed, put dark sheets on and just stay there till the end of time. But I spend Weds feeling sorry for myself and I worked Thursday without any pain thinking maybe the doc was wrong. Friday morning everything happened while I was by myself at 6:30 am. Blood work two hours later proved I was no longer pregnant. P was at work and I text him to which he replied "Oh well we can try again". I know he meant well but it did not sit well with me.

My mother had her own "encouraging " words of well at least you know you can get pregnant, It just was not meant to be this time, I know so and so and they M/C too. I know she meant well also but again not helping. My friends that knew did not understand it cause they have never dealt with it. They all took home their babies.

I told P and my mother that they had to untell every since person that was told. I was not going to have this open for discussion and give answers for things that I would never get answers to. What was supposed to be my 8 wk appt turned into a consult that left me with no answers of the way I was feeling and to wait 3 months.

So I told you I would give you some answers as to why I have not Blogged since Dec. Obviously that has been since the M/C. Well to be brutally honest I have had severe depression since. I threw myself into planning the perfect X-mas and entertaining everyone for the holidays and trying to BE NORMAL when I was feeling far from it. The more I pushed and acted normal the less I felt like me.

For those still with me you get a cookie. As well as a cliff hanger. I have made some changes but I still have a long way to go. I am still not pregnant. I have dealt with horrible physicians that gave me no answers and am still on the best place. But I am moving forward. I have admired may a bloggers that have shared their stories and be too afraid to tell me dark secrets of what I am dealing with. Next I will tell you what is going on with us now.



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Monday, December 6, 2010

Crafty Wreaths

Hi Ya'll! So I took a week hiatus cause I was busy finishing all our Decorations of the house for Christmas. Starting this week we get in to madness of house guest and holiday parties so I wanted to be ready. I have been working on our wreaths and am very excited cause I have made 3 for this year! I know I am nuts with all the decorations but I just love decorating for this time of year.


So this one I actually made after Christmas last year. It is the ornament wreath you have seen everywhere that you just string ornaments on a wire hanger. I would suggest using shatterproof ornaments which I did not. This hangs on a wall since I did not want it to break on the front door with the wind.


This year I made a Coffee filter wreath like every other blogger out there. I lurve it and I made mine a little different cause I used a different wreath form for it. 

I took pearl head push pin and took 5-10 folded filters and made a fan with them. They are really fluffy and will cover alot of area this way.




See instead of a foam wreath form my dollar store sells these wooden type ones. The wood is soft enough that the pearl head needle will go thru it.


After I filled the wreath I added some bling. All the little crystals were used in my bridal bouquet.

Some extra white and silver swirls I stole of the tree....


A couple picks with red in the for some pop...


Dollar store ribbon


Rolled over itself as much as it can go...


Stabbed with a tack in the middle....

And the loops pulled out back and forth till it was how I liked it. 



TADA!!!! On the front door. I just use one of those Command hooks stuck to the glass.


A close up. I think she looks pretty good!! 

Then I needed a wreath for my kitchen. My Kitchen tree has candy, and gingerbread cookies, and cookie cutter type ornaments and so I wanted something to go with it. I saw this wreath on Be Different, Act Normal and there was not credit to how originally made it. But it was a CUTE mashmellow and candy wreath.

So I winged it.

3 bags of marshmellows
2 boxes of Dots
Again a dollar store wreath form
Dollar store ribbon 
Low temp Glue Gun and LOTS of glue sticks



Just start gluing the marshmellows on. At first I tried lining them all up and having them be facing just so, but as I got going I stopped ripping the marshmellows apart and started gluing them how they were stuck to one and other and I really liked how that looked.



After I covered the form with marshmellows I just started filling in little cervices with Dots. You can use any candy you want this was just what I found at the dollar store. After you finish you can spray it with clear coat so it will "keep" and you can use it again. 


But here she is on my pantry door. I really like it and it adds what I needed to that side of the kitchen. 

Each wreath I spend less that $5 on by getting everything on sale or at the dollar store!

Thanks for stopping by I will be posting more decorations this week!








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Sunday, December 5, 2010

Christmas Cards Preview

Swirling Ornaments Christmas Card
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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Fragile'

Ok I promised a tutorial for my leg lamp. I have wanted one of these lamps since I very first saw "A Christmas Story" . I loved it.

"It's a major award!"

Well looking around for ones of these they are expensive, IE 200-300 bucks! Too rich for my blood for a lamp I will put up for a month. So I got to looking I could make one. First stop Ebay, I found a "stocking leg" that was 28" tall for $9.99 with shipping it was $18.99. After a week I was the proud owner of a leg. Next was time to do some shopping.

First I stopped at Hobby Lobby for a base and black fringe. For the base I got an unfinished wood piece from the area near the build your own clocks. Regular price it was $2.99 but was 40% off. The fringe they sell by the yard and I got 2 yards and used all but about 6 inches. Also on sale for 30% off off $3.99 a yard.

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I got the heels at goodwill for 99 cents. Just an FYI the leg wears a 6-6 1/2 and needs a 4 inch heel. Please do not make my mistake and get a 5 1/2 and have to nail the shoe on while acting like she is Cinderella's ugly sister cramming her foot in the heel.

Next was Wal-mart for a 3/4 inch dowel, a pair of thigh highs, a light kit and a lampshade. You may be about to get the lamp shade at Goodwill or other thrift stores for cheaper but mine did not have one and I was in a hurry to get her made.

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You will also need heavy gauge wire and paint or stain. Tools you will need a 4 inch screw and a drill with bits and a saw.

Supplies in hand I begin. First I took the base out to the garage and stained it. You can paint it also but I had stain already.

Next I came back in to hot glue the fringe on the lampshade.
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Next I failed to take pictures of but I took the leg to the garage and I cut the "sole" of her foot out. This is so you can thread the lamp kit thru the leg.

Next you will need to drill a quarter inch hole thru the bottom of the heel for the lamp cord to come out. It is easier to do this now and thread the cord thru before attached to the light.

 After giving enough room for you to be able to plug the lamp in you run the lamp cord thru the leg and put the lamp kit together per the instructions. It is very easy to do.

Now the next thing I did was drill a small hole through the now stained base for a 4 inch screw to go through.

Based on the size of the screw you are using you will need to drill through the high heel at the "sole" close to the arch of shoe. You also will need to drill a pilot hole thru one end of the dowel for the screw to come into.

Once you have all your holes drilled now you can begin to assemble.

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When you put the stocking on the leg you will have extra at the foot. I just tacked mine to the "arch" area of the foot so it was out of the way.

I glued my stocking around the "sole" cut out and then cut a hole in the stocking so I was not tearing it up with screw.

Now I placed the dowel in the leg with the pilot hole side down. You will screw thru the base, the shoe and the leg to the dowel till the screw will not tighten anymore. at this point it should be about to stand on its own.

All you have left is to drill 4 small holes for the heavy gauge wire to go thru the top of the leg















Now I know this does not look pretty but it does the job and it is all covered by the lamp shade. If you have a better way go ahead I just wanted to be done and put it up! This is what it looks like from the inside.



Now all that is left is attach the lamp shade and stand back and admire!!!!

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All in all it cost me around $45 to make and that was only that high cause I could not fine a cheap lampshade at the thrift store. I think that is a pretty good knock off and way better than spending $250 on it don'tcha think?

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I am linking to 



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Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special




UndertheTableandDreaming


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Friday, November 26, 2010

Christmas Decorations

Ok so I may have mentioned that Hubs and I like us some Christmas decorations. OK we love to decorate for Christmas. We began out outside decorations last weekend. I know you should not turn your lights on till after Thanksgiving and we did not cause we finally finished the day before. It took us 6 days to get everything out, countless hours painting all the yard cutouts. Hello I started painting them in September! Ok so here is a picture over load...

I give you the Kopecki's version of Grizwald-ification=

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Here is what is on the left side of the driveway. Hermie, a elf and Sam the Snowman telling a story

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In the middle of the yard is Cornelius putting the lights on the tree, a stack of elfs putting the ornaments on, Bumbie putting the star while the head elf directs.

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I peek of the window and the lights in the back.

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Santa is talking to Rudolph and his girlfriend Clarice as Rudolph's nose glows.

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Yes even the backs of them are painted!

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Our flower bed

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Just a little lamp that is in our front window. ;) 

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All LIT up!

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I had to slow the shutter speed down so it was not a blur.

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All the Misfit toys that line our drive way and side walk.

Plus not shown is my front door wreath cause it is not done just yet and let my happy fall ya'll wreath get few more days use before it gets packed up.

So that is our outside! What do you think are we nuts? Next up with be the inside and a tutorial to make this.....

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P.S. Sorry the pics are so big but I am too lazy to change the size and post the new codes for all the pics. True story