It has been a wild & crazy few weeks–and I am glad to be FINALLY posting!  Thank you to those of you who dropped me an email or facebook message to check on me, it really meant a lot to me.

We are home and getting settled- and with the help of my friend Jessica from Homespun Elegance, we should be back to our normal blogging schedule after the long weekend! YAY!!

But, for now a brief update on what’s been going on.   I was struggling with some preeclampsia and/or HELLP symptoms around 33 weeks of my pregnancy.  The doctor put me on bed rest, which meant i could only get up for about 10 minutes at a time….that left little to no room for crafting.  especially since my studio is downstairs.  It killed me not being able to do anything–craft, go to Target, even cleaning & organizing. But, I knew we needed to keep our little guy in for as long as possible.

My doctor had planned on inducing me at 37 weeks exactly -but, then at 36 weeks my symptoms started to get worse- and I got a headache that would not go away.  So, the team of doctors decided it was best to go ahead and induce me then- on May 9th.

They started me on cervidil to soften my cervix, since I was only dilated 1 cm.  We did this for 12 hours, or thru the night.  Of course I didn’t sleep because I was uncomfortably in a hospital bed, hooked up to various things.  Since I have a history of hemorrhaging in the past, they also gave me an extra iv for a ‘just in case’ blood transfusion.  The build up of stress and anxiety was huge for both Mr. Pink & I- as we tried to shield our other 2 kids from the stress.  My parents came into town to take care of them, and we were ready to induce full force on May 10th at around 8:30 am.  As we waited for the pitocen to do it’s job, I laid in bed and ordered the last few things I needed for our new baby from Amazon.  I hadn’t been allowed to go shopping for the past 3 weeks-and there were still some things we needed.  :)

My sweet nurse (seriously the BEST labor nurse in the world) even brought me some toast and peanut butter when I told her I was starving.  Typically doctors don’t like you to eat–but, this momma hadn’t eaten in way too long and I needed something.  They kept turning up the pitocen, and about 1:00pm my parents left to go get some lunch and pick up our other kids from school.

Just after 1:00 I felt like I needed to push- so I called our nurse into the room-   she checked and started getting things ready.  At 1:30, the doctor came in and it was time to push.  One of our concerns at 35 weeks was that the cord was wrapped around our little guy’s neck.  They were going to play it by ear, and hopefully all would go well.  In the middle of pushing, I had to stop so the Dr. could unwrap the cord from his neck.  It was wrapped around twice. At 1:58 Grayson was born.  We didn’t have a name for him at first, because we wanted to really see him and when we did–we knew Grayson was the name for him.

He was 7lbs 6 oz and 20.5 inches long–with so much hair. The kids and my parents arrived literally minutes after Grayson got cleaned up.

Everything seemed fine, and he was perfect.  But, when we tried to nurse his O2 levels kept dropping.  The same happened when he took a bottle or a had a tube put down his throat for food.  So, they took him to the NICU that evening.  My heart was breaking.  I had barely gotten to hold him.

After they got him set up in the NICU we were able to go to his room- where he was hooked up to all sorts of monitors. We were not allowed to hold him the first night.  The 2nd day we were only allowed to hold him to nurse and connected to all of the monitors.  All I wanted to do is be close to our precious new baby–and we seemed restricted by everything.  It was hard for the other 2 kids to really understand what was going on.  It was still hard for me to understand.  That same day I was being discharged from the hospital, but Grayson was not.  This was also Mother’s Day.  Never would I have imagined I’d spend Mother’s Day in the NICU with my 3 kids.  This was a really hard day for me…

Though we couldn’t hold him, we touched him as much as we could– to let him know we were there.

Grayson was the BIGGEST preemie on the floor– and yet it didn’t matter because his suck/swallow reflex was not developed enough, effecting his breathing. The monitors kept going off, leaving both Mr. Pink & I on edge.  Some nurses were amazing and some were not…leaving us feeling helpless and like I had no idea what I was doing.

How could I have forgotten how to be a mom?  I hadn’t.  But, in those moments of complete weariness I was convinced I knew nothing.

Every single day was a roller coaster – we’d have a good feeding or a good report and then the very next feeding/report would be bad.  We felt like we were never going to get to leave.  We had to measure everything he ate-  and it had to be exactly what the dr. ordered.  Since I was not giving up on  nursing– that sometimes meant that the nurse would draw whatever he ate back out of his stomach to measure it, and then put it back in.  It was heartbreaking to watch.

On the 4th day, we were told we could put clothes on him–the first time he’d be dressed.  It felt so good to feel like we were doing normal baby things.  We both cried tears of relief or joy…or maybe just exhaustion.

Then the next day we were told we could hold him as much as we wanted- words I had been dying to hear.  As we felt things were looking up- Mr. Pink left to take a nap and a shower.  Luckily, we had good friends and family that helped us keep a normal schedule with the other 2 kids and allowed Mr. Pink to be with me and the baby as much as possible.  We could not have done it without them.

But, when he was gone, I was holding Grayson as his O2 alarms started going off.  They dropped lower than I have ever seen and he started turning blue.  I panicked- because, of all the time we were there no one told us what we were supposed to do in this situation.  The alarms echoed in our room and down the hall, and no one came.  Seconds seemed like hours, and I felt completely helpless. His breathing returned to normal when someone else’s nurse came in finally.  But, in those moments a piece of me finally broke.  A piece of me that I’d been trying to hold together for the older kids, for my husband, for the nurses, for Grayson…for myself.  I sat in that dark room, scared to be alone with my own son, sobbing.

See, they thought it was a nursing/feeding issue.  And, we had seen specialists on swallowing and nursing and whatever else.  No one had any answers–and I just wanted to scream that ALL he needed was to be held.  You don’t get to say that in the NICU.  You feel guilty because other people have sicker babies than you.  You feel stupid because you don’t know what the monitors mean or how bad is very bad.

Well, that day the lactation consultant heard it all from me, between sobs and more sobs.  Then Mr. Pink called to check on me, and I was still sobbing.  He never left my side even for a second after that- because emotionally I didn’t have it together any more.  I needed him.  I needed my baby.  I needed my family to be together.

It was one of the hardest days in my life- one of the nurses thought I should get out and get some fresh air–so, in between feedings I went home to take a shower.  And, I dug out any shred of positive thinking I had buried in me.  Any thread of hope still lying around and I pulled it together enough to put on the same outfit I had planned on taking my baby home in days and days ago.  I packed things as if we were going to come home with our baby the next day and I prayed.

(*PS Thank you for all of YOUR prayers and positive thoughts- the messages we got were so thoughtful and really helped me pull it together. So, thank you!)

The prayers worked because the next morning- the doctor came in and after looking at everything decided that we could be discharged.  We almost didn’t believe our ears. We just had to pass a 90 minute car seat test before we got to go home.  I had stopped feeling hopeful, because every time I did- it was soon taken away from me.  But, he passed with no problem.

Then I explained to the doctor how apprehensive I was feeling about my mothering instincts because I had been staring at a monitor for so many days.  And, he said what I had been needing to hear all along.  You’re the mom, you’ll know–you’ve done this before, you’ll both be okay.

We came home- and Mr. Pink and I were still on edge, somehow waiting for an alarm to start blaring.  But, we are settling in, and things are getting back to normal.  Grayson gets held a LOT– but, that’s okay.  When you don’t get to hold your baby right away–you make up for it later.

We even got in a photo shoot with a talented photographer, Kristi Hall. She was so patient- and great!  I can’t wait to have her take sibling shots in a few week!

Here is our healthy, at home, held-all-the-time, adored-by-his-siblings-and-mom-and-dad, sweet baby Grayson.

He is all of 7 lbs now, and such a tiny little peanut compared to his siblings who weighted 8lbs 12 oz and 9lbs 4 oz- but, we are all completely in love with him!

Sorry for the LOOONG post–but, I know a lot of you were wondering what was going on!  So, thank you for being patient and hanging in there with me!! Hugs to you all!

Jaxen helped me make these cute little treat holders for Bubblicious gum- we used the “Thanks for Popping by” sentiment from PBD Sweet Grams and Echo Park’s new line Hello Summer by Lori Whitlock.  To make these- I used a strip of cardstock- measured 1.5 inches by 9 inches and then scored it at 4 7/8 and 4 1/8, using my atg to keep the gum package in place.

I used these bright little containers from the Dollar Tree to hold all the fun goodies- this green one held goggles, (also from the Dollar Tree- 2 for $1)  I used vinyl to label the front.

I used sticker paper to print and cut these labels for the bubbles.  I designed them in my Silhouette software by using a scalloped circle, filing it in with polka dot digital paper, then taking a circle filling it in with pink, stacking them on top of one another and then using a white font to type the words and the little fish. The silhouette cut perfectly around the scalloped circles- and I finished them off by tying aqua tulle around them.  The bubbles were 3 for $1 at Dollar Tree.

I filled this little bin from Dollar Tree (4 for $1) with sunglasses I picked up in the Dollar Section at Target.  The girls LOVED these!

I used vinyl to personalize these little white pails, and added little yellow paper shovels, cut with my Cameo.  The pails came from the Dollar Tree- 3 for $1. 

I filled them with little candy fish, in little cellophane bags.  

I decided for all their goodies, that I’d personalize some little canvas bags- also from the Dollar Tree- 2 for $1.  I screen printed them with my yudu.  The yudu can become pretty fussy- so, if I had to do it over- I would have just used iron-on vinyl!

They say:  ”Thanks for swimming with me! Love, Alexis” and the Sun is a sun that she drew. The flowers on the bags are actually barrettes Alexis helped me make.  I bought a lei from Hobby Lobby for $3 and took it apart- glueing flowers together, and a rhinestone in the middle and then gluing to a barrette.  Buying the lei was much cheaper than buying individual flowers from the floral section, which you have to take apart anyway.

We decorated the flip flops with the same lei flowers- and rhinestones.  They went on alligator clips so the girls can remove them if they want.  The flip-flops came from the Target dollar section and the girls were so EXCITED for these! The Dollar Tree Bin- was also vinyled up with the name and a cute little pair of flip flops!

When I see pinwheels I automatically think of beachy, summery breezes- so I put these in an old starbucks frappe bottle- and added a print and cut label, that I made the exact same way I made the bubble labels.  The pinwheels were 3 for $1 at the Dollar Tree.  (do you think I went dollar tree crazy?)

To the Pinwheels I added little flags- that I print and cut just like the others- with the same patterns- that say Alexis is 7.

The girls got little flower rings in their bags- and had to wear them!

For the banner, I used Lori Whitlock’s Build a Banner file in the Silhouette store- and DCWV glitter stack and Spring stack.  I love the chevron pennant file that is included in Lori’s file.  I used the same swimsuits. I used on Alexis’ invitations, to put the letters on.

I sprinkled the table with these real dyed starfish that I picked up at Hobby Lobby for $3.99 and used a 1/2 off coupon on  The girls were amazed that they had a real starfish- and they looked so FESTIVE on the table. 

Though I wanted to make the cake- Alexis wanted an ice cream cake- so we picked this one up at Dairy Queen and she LOVED it!!

All the girls had a FABULOUS time- and loved all of their goodies! Hope you guys enjoyed the pictures! 

This year- there won’t be a huge party. Just family coming up and celebrating the first grandchild on both sides.  There will be cupcakes and ice cream, presents and hugs…and it will be just as perfect!

Okay, for today’s link up party, all you have to do is link up your blog post or picture below, and be sure to say you are LINKING UP with us on your blog post- you can also grab our gray and pink linkup button to the right. Be sure to stop by a couple other blogs to say hi and give some bloggy love!

Okay, let’s see what some of you were up to this week!

I was hoping someone would make this awesome 3d Cake from the Silhouette store…this beauty was made by Nana from My Crafting Channel

This sweet Mother’s Day card from Beth at Beth’s Beauties

And these awesome Magic Show cookies by Blackberry Vine

Congrats ladies- don’t forget to grab your featured button on the right- you deserve it! And, thanks to everyone for linking up this week- and I can’t wait to see what you are up to this week!!

A quick update:  Continued bed rest, and now we are going into the doctor’s office 3x a week, and just going day by day.  I’ve always had healthy pregnancies- so, I am a little stressed out about the complications, but I know we are going to be okay.  My preeclampsia symptoms are not getting worse but they are not getting better.  My platelet count has gone up, thankfully.   However, during my latest non-stress-test baby was not as reactive as doctor would have liked.  So, like I said we are going day by day- and welcome any prayers!

I know I didn’t post last week, but I wanted to get some posts up this week…since I am not allowed to craft really. And Mr. Pink has had to use ‘tough love’ in denying to bring up my sewing machine or anything… I thought it would be fun to show some of my highly pinned projects from pinterest.   A PINNED PRETTY!

I am not promising I will post every day this week–but, I will get some up!

Here’s one of my PINNED posts:

Today- I wanted to try out another awesome feature about the Cameo- which is that it is compatible with Amy Chomas adjustable pen holders- It’s basically a pen holder that fits in place of the blade- and allows your cameo to draw, write, sketch and more with all kinds of pens, markers, and more.

For today’s project I actually used a Ranger Perfect Pen Bullet Tip that you can use with Perfect Pearls and it also acts as an embossing ink for embossing powders.

I put the pen in the holder- loaded it into the Cameo- and then when I sent the project to the Cameo- I used the pen option instead of the blade option.

The typewriter was drawn by the Cameo, and can be found as a sketch inside the Silhouette store- After the Cameo was done drawing, I sprinkled red embossing powder over the image and then used a heat gun to set the embossing powder.

It gave the scrapbooking page an embossed look, that you see on so many papers nowadays!

I added a piece of paper, slightly curled- with the stamped sentiment Just my Type from the Pink by Design stamp set Timeless Pieces- I wanted it to look as if the paper was coming out of the typewriter.

I then added some fun ribbon to the bottom, ruffling the red and white ribbon as I adhered it to the page.

Thanks everyone and tomorrow I will try to post our link up party again!!

Here I am at 34 weeks

Sooo… Good week but then, on Wednesday I started having a lot of contractions, not let’s have a baby contractions, but contractions that lasted all night and into Thursday afternoon.

So, I called my dr. to see what he had to say and he thought I should go to the hospital to gets monitored. So I took the kids and met Mr. Pink there, thinking it would be a quick check. Nope.

They ran tests, listened to baby- and kept track of my contractions. When the contractions continued, they gave me a shot to stop them. However, it didn’t do any good because the contractions seemed to get closer and more intense.

Then the nurse came to say that the contractions weren’t as worrisome as a couple other tests they ran. I was showing signs of preeclampsia and also had low platelets. I had no swelling and I’ve always had stellar blood pressure, so this threw me for a loop. Them too, I guess. So, they started me on a 24 hour urine analysis- which means I wasn’t leaving til at least 9 on Friday.

The whole family stayed at the hospital and family came into town on Friday which turned out to be a huge help!

Turns out I did not give them the results they were hoping for and they wanted another 24 hour test to be run- but, I was dying to get out of there. They let me go home and do the second 24 hour collection at home. I take it in today and then wait to hear from the doctor.

Meanwhile the dr. has put me on modified bed rest, which is not as easy or fun as it sounds. I am a mover and a shaker- and it’s hard to sit or lay still. However, the nurse warned me that if I didn’t- I would have to rest at the hospital so I am trying to be a perfect patient.

It’s been quite the last few days- and I am still trying to figure out how to get some crafting projects done while on bed rest, but I’m not sure it’s gonna happen. :/

Hope you all are doing well and I will be sure to keep you updated!

I used a piece of 8.5 x 11 white card stock cut at 4 inches and folded over.  I added a cheap little paper doily–you know how much I love doilies, because they bring so much “pretty” to a project for such a tiny investment.

I used chevron yellow paper from DCWV’s Sunday Afternoon stack….love. this. stack.  Some dark pink washi striped tape, coordinating button and solid twine.  The heart is also from the DCWV stack punched with my Stampin’ Up heart to heart punch.  (this is probably my favorite punch in my whole collection…but, unfortunately they don’t make it any more)

A couple of sparkly rhinestones dress up the card just a little- and the hand-cut tag was stamped with lagoon ink from Close to my Heart & the It’s a Wrap 2 stamp set from Pink by Design.

Here is the It’s a Wrap 2 stamp set and coordinating dies- which are on special TODAY and you can get both of them together for just $20!  That’s a huge savings- since you get 3 dies total and the stamp set!!  But, there are ONLY 20 bundles  available- so don’t wait too long!

The pencil box is a shape from the Silhouette Store by Jennifer Wambach - I just love how cute this box turned out!  Because of the snow days we kept using this year- I won’t be able to send this in to the teachers til June now.  We were supposed to get out in May…but, I can’t complain because those snow days were so nice when we had them!

You can fill this pencil shaped box with all sorts of things—I had some Hershey Hugs laying in my craft room from Julie–so I threw those in there for the picture.  I will be trading them out probably

Also, I did a little bit of shopping yesterday and Joann’s was having some good sales.  50% off most of their papercrafting stuff, 40% of their punches–so I picked up these 2 fun punches!  I love that Fiskars came out with new hexagon punches!

Lastly, if you haven’t heard– the Gypsy is now able to be linked to Cricut Craft Room!  We’ve been waiting a long time for this–and it is very exciting!!  Here’s a copy of the letter all gypsy owners should have received.

Plus, to thank us for our patience, they are offering $20 digital credit to gypsy owners!   Here’s a copy of the letter Gypsy owners should have received.

	April 16, 2013Dear Cricut Gypsy™ owner,  Gypsy linking is here! We’re happy to announce that you can now upload content from your Cricut Gypsy™ device to your account in the Cricut Craft Room® design software. Here’s how:   Make sure you have the latest versions of Cricut Craft Room® and Cricut Sync. Connect your Cricut Gypsy™ device to your computer and follow the prompts to update the firmware. Open the latest version of Cricut Craft Room®, agree to the linking Terms and Conditions, and then sync and uplink your cartridges.
	That’s it! After you link your Cricut Gypsy™ device to your Cricut Craft Room® account, you will be able to access the cartridges on your device in Cricut Craft Room®—and vice-versa! For more information, visit our FAQ page. We’ve put detailed, step-by-step instructions there, too.If you’re not familiar with the Cricut Craft Room® design software, now’s the time to link your Cricut Gypsy™ device and try it out! Just like your Cricut Gypsy™ device, Cricut Craft Room® lets you drag and drop your images onto the virtual cutting mat design away—size, slant, weld, rotate, flip, or stretch to make your perfect image.If you’re not familiar with the Cricut Craft Room® design software, now’s the time to link your Cricut Gypsy™ device and try it out! Just like your Cricut Gypsy™ device, Cricut Craft Room® lets you drag and drop your images onto the virtual cutting mat design away—size, slant, weld, rotate, flip, or stretch to make your perfect image.We’d like to give you a $20 credit to purchase digital images and try Cricut Craft Room® and Gypsy linking for yourself. Just shop for digital content on Cricut.com—when you check out, you’ll see your credit in the shopping cart. Then log in to Cricut Craft Room® using your Cricut.com account information and you’ll be able to start using your images. Any unused portion of the $20 credit will expire on May 17, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. MST, so hurry and start shopping now!  We know that the wait for Gypsy linking has been long—we appreciate your patience and are confident that you will find it worth the wait!   Thank you,   The Cricut Circle™ Team

Let me know how it goes- when you link your gypsy with CCR!