Fall Farm Photo Shoot 2012

So, thanks to the urging of my sister I dressed Gunnar up in all his cowboy attire and took him out to the family farm to get some late summer early fall photos of him. In a half hours time I shot 74 photos and came out with 18 that I like so I am feeling like it was a successful morning. 

The Search for Satisfaction

Excuse the poor quality of the picture...I had to be my own model and take the photo with my phone  all the while trying to reign in my bubbling excitement...not a very easy task. 

Excuse the poor quality of the picture...I took it with my phone.

For the past few months I have taken a short hiatus from doing anything really crafty because nothing really motivated me. I spent most of my time being ridiculously bored with no creative outlet and walking through my scrapbook room staring at things and wondering why I couldn't get motivated to do anything. Finally I cam across a pattern for a coat and decided I was gonna try and make one for myself. I got the pattern traced and cut out (which I have found is the worst and most time consuming process of sewing clothes) and finally started putting it together a few days ago. As I progressed with the pattern I became more and more excited about the project. Once I got the hood and upper body (minus the sleeves) of the coat done I was so excited I did my happy dance (yes...I have a happy dance...courtesy of my sister...she taught me) and proceeded to wear the partially finished jacket around for the next two hours. Last night I was able to get one of the sleeves done and attached ( the hardest part so far...with the worst instructions...guess I will have to youtube it...I love youtube) and did another even more excited happy dance to which Gunnar fell over on the floor laughing like crazy over. Then I wore it around again for a while...not quite two hours this time...but pretty close. Anyway, the moral of the story is that I have finally found some creative satisfaction...doing something new and something useful! I can actually wear this coat and when people ask me where I got it I can say: "Yep, I made it!".

Hope

Through my life my only experience with pregnancy was with my mother and my sister. My mother had my brother when I was seven years old and so that bit of my experience is extremely limited to impressions of a growing belly and the wonder of a new baby. When my sister became pregnant in 2006 it was a whole new story. I was able to ask questions and see how things progressed but even then it was not the same as being pregnant myself. Finally in 2008 I became pregnant with my son Gunnar and started walking the long road of pregnancy. There were many things I was not prepared for and many things that I was and many things that I never imagined I would experience. Overall I was blessed with what my doctor called "a boringly perfect pregnancy", and when disaster stuck I was not at all prepared. I never even thought that something would go wrong.
In October 2009 I found out I was pregnant for the second time and in November 2009 I found out it was an ectopic pregnancy or a tubal pregnancy and was ordered by my doctor to take two shots of MTX (methotrexate) in both hips. Although I was aware at that point that it was not a viable pregnancy terminating it was the hardest thing I may have ever done. I remember sitting in the doctors office with tears running down my face trying to muster the strength to even stand up and walk out of the room. I felt utterly defeated, confused, and resentful. Why did this happen to me? Why after such a perfect first pregnancy was my second such a complete disaster? For months I was unable to look a pregnant woman in the face or feel real joy for their circumstances. It is a feeling that I have never quite been able to leave behind me. Still, I feel it a bit ever day.
In August 2011 I found out I was pregnant for the third time. After two and a half months of exhausting weekly blood tests, two ultrasounds, a viable heartbeat and baby picture...I miscarried in early October. "Again...this cannot be happening to me again!" was my only thought. With this loss came true despair and bitterness. It was all I could do to not feel real hate and anger when I saw a pregnant woman or a newborn baby. Now I just feel a deep gut wrenching sadness that I can hardly control. The kind that drives you to eat a whole bag of milk chocolate chips and cry until you cannot see and are gasping for breath. It has been two months and I sometimes find myself frozen in desolation with tears running down my face.
Recently a friend of mine has become pregnant for the second time. I am so completely happy for her and also ridiculously envious at the same time that it sometimes makes my head spin. I sat looking at the picture of the two pink lines and cried...and cried. It continues to be so hard for me to see any facebook posts, or blog updates, pictures of bellies, and pregnancy complaints. I feel like I die a bit every time I see them.
Still...I have hope. The anger and bitterness has faded to an exhausted memory, and I am now left with only the anguish and desolation. Everyday is still a struggle but I hope the struggle gives me strength. It is my wish that writing all this down and sharing it...facing it aloud will help with that struggle and give me hope. Hope to try and try again.

About a week ago recieved my VERY early Christmas present from my amazing husband and after I signed the pad with the UPS man and did a very energetic happy dance I started unpacking it and set it up in may craft room. I have since only tackled a few projects and played a bit with the stitches...I have not really done a whole lot. Truth is...I am a bit intimidated by this machine. It is about 3 times bigger then my Kenmore Mini Ultra which I have been sewing on for the last seven years and does just about anything and everything you can imagine. I was completely awed by it when I saw them demonstrating it in HSN (yes...we are occasional HSN watchers) and it looked super user friendly but now that it is unpacked...I am just a bit overwhelmed. What is a woman to do? I guess I am just gonna have to dive right in and see where it goes. Maybe I just need to find the right project to get me going...maybe that new coat pattern I bought with do the trick!

The Empire Strikes Back

After countless hours practicing his knocking on the door, saying trick-or-treat, and then thank you we left the house on our way out to collect as much candy as possible! We started out in one of the better neighborhoods in town with great expectations only to have them crushed when almost every house we visited ignored our knock on the door. I was a little peaked...ok, ok, honestly I was pretty pissed off over the whole situation. Really...you are gonna ignore your door on Halloween night with your cars sitting right out front in the drive when you live in one of the better neighborhoods in town? It made me miss my childhood when there were about 500 (or what seemed like 500) other kids out on the street walking from house to house and every house on the street had their door open, smiles one their faces, and bowls of candy in their hand ready for the hoard to arrive. Oh the good old days.

Despite the lack of show from the neighborhood he loved every minute of the experience and got as much candy as he could carry, but by far his favorite part of the night was growling at all the other little kids from behind his Darth Vader mask and getting bubble wrap from his Aunt April. He loves that bubble wrap...don't all kids?

Well...Happy Halloween!

Puddle Jumpers Pumpkin Patch Trip 2011

Gunnar had his first trip to the Pumpkin Patch this year with his preschool class and loved every minute of it! He had so much fun picking out his pumpkin that he can't wait to go back when daddy gets home this week!  Once we arrived I was almost completely unable to pry him away from the vintage tractor they had that was surrounded by straw bales and pumpkins for the kids to climb all over until it was time to take the hay ride! It was the favorite part of the whole trip for him. Before we set out on the hay ride we were give a general announcement detailing all the rules and a little word of caution to "watch out for the black widows". Needless to say I was a bit freaked out about that...I mean really?

Apparently my thumb is greener then I thought!

Besides all the weeds in the background you can see that all my squashes, pumpkins, and melons are doing great! My peppers are looking good and my tomatoes are on their way. I still don't have more than a handful of tomatoes on but they were like this last year also. I didn't get tomatoes until late in the year and they never really turned red. On the up side I had a lot of green tomatoes for frying I guess. I also got my first five yellow crook neck squashes out of the garden yesterday and Gunnar has been begging me to make them for dinner tonight. All in all I am super excited with they way the garden is turning out!

Fair 2011

It was time once again for the annual Malheur County Fair so Adam and I loaded Gun up in the car and headed for the fair grounds. We took Gun to see all the livestock and the pigs and horses (of course) were his favorites. While we were walking through all the stables for the horses we looked over to see Gun with his pants down in the middle of the isle going pee....yeah, pee. We were of course semi-mortified because we were in a public location but it is better then him peeing in his pants and really, we live in Vale so it wasn't that bad. After the livestock we sat down to eat something because I was not about to leave the fair with out getting a happy bowl, scone, and kettle corn...what kind of fair experience would that be without the basics? Then we ventured to the carnival where I was astounded to learn it cost three dollars per ride...OH MY GOD...and three dollars per carnival game. So we rode the two rides he was big enough to do and did the two carnival games that we could help him with. He left with a little teddy bear worth about 50 cents that actually cost us 6 dollars and memorable ride on the motorcycle merry-go-round. We left with these FABULOUS pictures which were completely worth the trip.