My Weekend

I started off on Friday at the Memories Expo. I took a great class where I made a "Things I love about you" album that I plan to give to my mom for mother's day. I bought quite a few items that I can't wait to work with. Saturday, same thing...I went to the Expo again and made a wedding tin (my first tin) and an all boy tag album. They are both adorable, especially the tin! I bought more paper, which I need like a hole in the head! LOL! Today, I threw my sister's bridal shower. Everyone had so much fun, especially my sister and that made me happy! We played games, toasted the bride, laughed, ate good food (half from Olive Garden, half homemade) and just had an all around good time! I'm tired as heck, but I had a great time, just what I needed to keep my mind off of the ultrasound!

Hopefully, I'll get the stuff that I made posted!

Yesterday Was The Worst Day

Yesterday, I had the worst doctor appointment ever. At first, I was quite excited about it because I was getting my second ultrasound on the baby. I am 12 1/2 weeks, so my doctor scheduled me for a nuchal translucency ultrasound which gives you more detail as to the baby's health. The sonographer looks for any abnormalities or heart defects, anything that would cause concern for an unborn fetus and then shows any findings to a genetic obstetrician. Well they found a doozy on my baby. Apparently, a cystic hygroma is growing on the back of the baby's neck and is causing a great amount of concern. As soon as the doctor told me this, my heart started pounding and then the rest of the visit was a blur! Next thing you know I started hearing phrases like Down's Syndrome and Turner's Syndrome.

I was asked if I wanted a CVS done. I immediately said YES! I needed to know what in the world was going on with my baby. I was told I would have to talk to a genetics councelor and then taken into another room and prepped to have the CVS done. Using an ultrasound, the doctor stuck a needle through my stomach and uterus and into the cystic hygroma in order to aspirate cells for Chromosomal testing. This was a pretty painful since my uterus was trying to fight the needle. At one point I even said SHIT out loud...I figured, I couldn't move so I had to do something.

Then I was sent into a room to talk to a genetics councelor about all of the possible scenarios. As soon as I walked into the room and sat down, I saw a box of tissue and immediately grabbed one because I knew that I would not be able to hold back the tears. This was another blurry moment! She took a family history, but as far as I know, there are no genetic abnormalities in neither my family nor Troy's. I'm not over 35, so that risk factor doesn't play a part in this, so why are we here? I remember her saying things like, trisomy 13, trisomy 18 etc... I remember her explaining to me about Down's Syndrome and Turner's Syndrome (occurs in a female child with only 1 X chromosome, which means sterility for her), she talked about severe cleft palettes and some sort of heart defect that would cause 95% of the fetuses to miscarry and that 5% that survive birth don't make it to their 1st birthday. Like I said, it's all one big blur, I still have a headache!

So now, what am I to do? I've decided to go on as normal until I get the results, probably Monday. Then and only then can I deal with this. So today I attended the Memories Expo here in NJ and I will do the same tomorrow. Sunday I'm throwing my sister's bridal shower; she's getting married May 5th!

I figure it's all out of my hands anyway...completely out of my control. I'm a little sad, but I don't think there's any sense in being angry. Obviously God has a bigger plan...so pray for me even though I don't know where to begin to pray myself!

HOF Hopefuls

OK, so the calls went out last month and I didn't hear from Lisa or Fred...maybe next year! I really loved my HOF entries, though. I decided to share a few of them here and the journaling to each. The first LO was my Innovative Technique entry; I created bottle cap buttons to use as flower centers.
Journaling: The people I’ve met throughout my life have differing takes on my personality, especially when first getting to know me. Some know me as the silly, funny, loud, outgoing girl that makes everyone feel comfortable; the girl with the rebellious teenager deep down inside, the one who danced on a bar while vacationing in Mexico. Others know me as the quiet, sweetheart with the nice smile who sits alone at the lunch table reading books and magazines or doing word puzzles; the introvert who barely says “hi” as she passes some co-workers in the hallway. So, which side is right? Well, they both are. I consider myself to be on the borderline between introvert and outgoing, though I tend to teeter more on the outgoing side. I hardly ever take the initiative to make a person’s acquaintance, but I love meeting new people. I have to feel out certain situations before opening up, but once I do, it’s tough to get me to shut-up ‘cause boy can I talk! I do, however appreciate quiet and alone time where I can kind of check in with my inner self. I know it can be a little confusing, but that’s me in a nutshell…on the borderline!

This layout was my Photo Extraordinaire entry. I took this picture 4 years ago at my friend's wedding.

journaling: When Two People Marry
Your hearts are filled with happiness so great and overflowing. You cannot comprehend it for it’s far beyond all knowing. How any heart could hold such joy or feel the fullness of the wonder and the glory and the ecstasy of love. by Helen Steiner Rice

The following layout was for the Journal Your Passion assignment. This is one of the most different layout I've ever done. I sketched the curvy arrow pointing into the eye of my camera and included a few images from my world on it. The whole purpose of this layout was to express how I am able to see the world a little better through my camera.

journaling: My dad gave me a camera for Christmas when I was 11 years old and I have been hooked ever since. I loved taking pictures as a little girl and I still do to this day. There’s just something about forever freezing one single moment in time that truly intrigues me. It’s amazing how closing one eye and looking through a small view finder helps me to see the world in an entirely different way. I pay closer attention to detail both large and small. I’ve seen changes in my friends and family and I have watched my son grow up right before my eyes, all through my camera’s lens. Because of my love of photography, I can look back at these moments that aren’t so clear in my mind any longer. I have proof that the people I love existed! What could be better than that? Now thanks to scrapbooking, I am taking my photos a little more seriously. I’ve read books on photography and I want to take a class. I carry my camera just about everywhere I go. What can I say, photography is my passion. I am in no way a professional, but I put my heart into every picture I take. Even the blurry, out-of-focus, overexposed ones!

This one was for the Crafty Combo assignment, my craft being sewing, of course. I used several different types of stitching on this layout. I used a sewing machine to stitch the patterned paper strips behind the photo. I hand stitched the scalloped frame. I used a pen to draw “stitches” on the title letters and I added rub-on stitches to my journaling strips.

journaling: I have such fond memories of sewing going back to elementary school. Growing up in a single parent household with limited finances led my mom to sew for us. Not so much making our clothes, but I remember her making clothes for my Barbie. If I close my eyes I can see her tracing Barbie to make a pattern and then cutting the clothes out of old pillowcases and clothes. When I entered middle school I hoped for sewing as my Home Ec. class, but that didn’t happen until 8th grade. I was a little intimidated, though. As part of the class work we had to make a pillow. I chose the Bug in a Jar. My intimidation got the best of me and I ended up sewing it by hand. In high school I decided to give sewing another go and ended up taking it all 4 years. I made all of my prom gowns and various outfits. I was entered into a statewide competition for FHA and won 2nd place in the sportswear competition! After HS, I stopped sewing. My machine conked out. It was the same one my mom used to make Barbie clothes. Then I went away to college. Fast forward 13 years and I’m sewing again and it’s oh so nice! I’m happy that I can bring my new love (scrapping) & my long lost love together.

Thanks for looking!

Now I Know I'm Losing It!

On my last post, I stated thatI was at the last day of my first trimester, but I'm not! I actually have 4 more weeks to get to that point. I just want to feel good so badly, that I'm rushing things. If I keep this up, this is going to be a long pregnancy. So to correct myself, I'm only at the 12 week mark.

On another note, I made the design team for Zsiage! I'm so excited and can't wait to see what the next 6 months has in store on this FAB team!

So Neglectful

Gosh, I haven't posted here in a while. Truth be told, I've been feeling quite crappy. I swear this baby is draining the life out of me. Today is the last day of my first trimester, so hopefully I'll have a little more energy to do something besides lay on the couch as soon as I get home from work! I am very thankful, though. So far everything is going well with the pregnancy. I'm not nearly as sick as I was the first time around; I've only actually gotten sick twice, though I feel sick all of the time. Everything I eat makes my stomach hurt; it feels like a small fire burning in my belly. Everything I smell nauseates me, especially food. If this keeps up, there will be a permanent frown on my face! LOL! I swear every other sentence from my mouth is EWWWW, what's that smell? I seem to be breaking out a lot on my chin. Must be the hormones because I've never had a problem with acne, not even as a teenager. I have to stop myself from picking at it because it's starting to scar and I can't have that.

I can't wait until I have more energy to scrap. I started a pregnancy journal that I'd like to post sometime before the baby arrives! In the mean time, here's the first layout I did about my pregnancy. Boy oh boy, this kid doesn't know what he/she is in for...a crazy camera totin' scrappin' momma!