Man Am I Glad August is Almost Over... A Bad Month in Review Part 2

OK...so I got the worst part of August out yesterday...you can check it out here if you didn't get to read it. I suggest you do so before you read this one, so you can see what my frame of mind was before you hear what happened next.

I told you that Caroline fell on August 2nd. This was a Tuesday. Fast forward seven days to August 10th...A Wednesday.

I can't tell you how excited I was when I woke up that morning. I am a avid reader and HUGE fan of the book called The Help. I don't know if you have read it, or if you even like to read, but if you haven't or you don't...this book is worth your time. It definitely ranks up there in my top 5 favorite books of all time! Either way, they created a movie about this book and it came out on August 10th. I had fandango'd my ticket and was anxiously waiting to go see it that evening at 7:10pm with two of my best girlfriends. I was giddy with excitement! (total book nerd I realize)

Either way, husband came home and we ate dinner together. I needed to leave the house around 6:40 to meet the girls by 6:45. I quickly kissed my family goodbye and headed out the door. I have to let you know that I live, maybe, 2 miles from the movie theater (not exaggerating here either). It was within those two miles where I became another statistic. Most car crashes happen within a few miles from the home.

Yes, that's right...a week after Caroline's fall... a car crash. I rear ended an old tank of a Ford Explorer. I was paying attention, just couldn't see the stand still traffic that was on the other side of a hill in front of him. By the time I could hit my brakes, it was too late. Then the air bag went off.

I don't know if this has ever happened to you, but it's awful. Like getting punched in the face. The smell is terrible, and your car fills with the smoke from the release of it. Luckily I didn't get hurt, although you could see the outline of my face from the makeup on the bag.

Anyways... the guys I hit couldn't have been nicer, and the police officer I knew. The tank of the Ford Explorer had little to no damage, but my car on the other hand was not so lucky. Hood was busted to shreds and the radiator was completely busted. Chris was right when he said, as the tow truck carried my car away, "I bet insurance will total it out." And they did.

Again, I emotionally handled the whole thing until we were taking things out of my car and we pulled out the car seat. Flooded with the fear of the previous weeks events with Caroline, I was beyond thankful she was not with me in the accident. She probably wouldn't have been hurt, but never-the-less I am glad I was alone.  Another God thing if you ask me, as that she is always with me.

Anyways, we have spent the better part of August looking for cars and dealing with idiots trying to sell them. I don't recommend trying to buy a car off craigslist, as two weeks after the accident we thought we had found "the one" (a new car) and worked a deal with the guy, when he so graciously sold the car out from under us. Taking us ever so back to square one with a week left on the rental car. Gotta love that.

Between the emotional wreckage I started the month off with, to the emotional wreck I was after my wreck...plus the emotionally unstable person I was flamed many arguments between the husband and I. To say we were stressed and took it out on each other was an understatement. My poor husband put up with a lot this past month...sorry honey. I am sure that you are glad August is over too.

Sweet Caroline got over her fall, but decided it was time to teeth her four 1 year molers. If I thought teething was bad before, I was kidding myself. This has been a month from you know where plus some. We have spent alot of money (ER visits and new cars aren't cheap), lost alot of sleep (babies who are teething don't really like to sleep) and cried several rivers (or I have cried and Caroline has cried)...but we made it through.

Now on to September... It's time to celebrate (literally, Caroline's birthday is in 15 days!)

Thanks for listening to me whine...
Lindsey

Man am I glad August is almost over...A Bad Month In Review Part 1

A friend of mine today posted on Facebook "SO, August sucked...September anyone??"...to be honest, I had to say an Amen! August has flat out been a terrible month. (And I am not even exaggerating)

I have been putting off this post for a while now because, to be honest, I just didn't want to talk about it. It has been emotionally, physically and financially draining. As my husband said this evening, it has been one expensive month. So I bet your wondering what all happened... I guess I will tell you.

On August 2nd morning, a good friend of mine dropped off her little girl for me to watch the next couple weeks. She is a teacher and needed a fill in for a couple weeks before her annual sitter could watch her. I have had lots of people ask me to keep their children, so I thought this was a good opportunity to try out my skills as a nanny and mommy at the same time.

To be honest things started off really good. Caroline was in a good mood and my friends baby is always in a good mood. We were gracefully moving through our morning, and even though the girls weren't very interested in napping, we were ready for lunch. By this time, Caroline had been walking for a couple weeks and was all over the place. After I fed her, it was time to feed the next baby. So I put Caroline down, and she proceeded to walk between me and our back doors to look at the dog. A friend of mine decided to pop in a little early to come visit me and I am so glad she was there. (she was suppose to drop by several hours later...a total God thing if you asked me)

About 5 minutes later, as my friend and I talked as I was feeding the other baby, Caroline took a very hard fall in our kitchen. She was just steps away from me and had fallen straight backwards onto our ceramic tile floor. It had to be the loudest fall I had ever heard, and immediately I was up and by her side. I quickly scooped her up expecting to hear screams coming from my child...instead I heard nothing. I mean absolutely nothing....Caroline wasn't breathing.

I anxiously patted her back and kept saying "Breathe Caroline, Breathe." As my friend came along side of me, I saw the panic in her face. After about 30 seconds, Caroline breathed. Immediately she locked out her arms and collapsed in my arms. That's when fear flooded me. I thought "this is that freak accident that you never expect to happen to you."

I turned to my friend, she is a mother of three, and gasped for help. She blankly looked at me and I grabbed my keys to leave, Caroline still limp and unconscious in my arms. She immediately said "911". So the first time I have ever called the ambulance was for my daughter. They came quickly (a shout out to the EMT's in Rutherford Co.) and about a minute or so before the got there Caroline came around. She was beyond a shade of white and not quite blue...more like a slate gray. She was cold and sweaty, and wasn't really focusing. She would raise her head ever so slightly and then gently lay it back on my shoulder. The Fire department (3 of them) the police (2 of them) and the EMT's (2 of them) all crammed into my living room and examined my sweet Caroline. The quickly affirmed that she was going to be ok, but that I still should go to the ER because she is so young and it was a head injury. I declined the ride in the ambulance assuring them that I would take her there myself.

I didn't break down until I heard my husbands voice on the phone. I couldn't breathe because the fear over took me. Yes Caroline was alright, but I was scared to death. Chris immediately came home, and he and I took the little one to the ER. By this time, she was much better and the ER doctor confirmed that Caroline had just knocked herself out. (Think of a boxing match KO). She said that we should watch her but the most likely she would have a wicked headache, and a slight concussion.

At that point, we finally let her nap. And she slept for a long while as we came back home. Everyone else seemed to go back to normal. Chris and Caroline were both fine, I on the other hand not so much. It seemed like every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was the lifeless Caroline in my arms. It wasn't her not breathing, or the sound of the fall that freaked me out the most. It was the rolling of her eyes back into her head and the feel of her limp body in my arms. I didn't sleep and the next morning I hysterically cried before Chris left for work. I didn't want to be alone and I couldn't watch my friends baby. I was traumatized.

I didn't know when I would get over it and I can't fully say that I am. I still panic when she falls (which is daily, the fun of a walker). I still panic when she acts weird. I still want to carpet our whole house. But I am better...and trust that God has her in His hands. That's all I have in the end.

That was just August 2nd,
Lindsey 

DIY Friday: Play Room

OH MY~ It has been a ridiculously long time since I have blogged. It has been an adventurous month for sure and only increasing in hecticness because of a certain someone's 1st birthday coming up in just three short weeks.

Either way... I promise to update you on all that has happened come Monday, but just wanted to do a quick DIY Friday tidbit. This is an unusual DIY because it is not crafty, it is practical. Since I have, essentially, a one year old running around (and I do mean running around) our once roomy house has shrunk because of all the toys that lay around. Every night after she hits the sack, I go around every room in our house and put up all the toys she has taken out. Needless to say, this is really annoying.

So my BRILLIANT husband had a great idea. Our spare bedroom goes unused for most of the year. All of our family lives in town, except my sister, and since we went to school locally...our friends are here too. So no one comes and stays with us, hence the unused spare bedroom. So... we gutted out the bed, bookshelf, lamp and chair and replaced it with toys, toys, toys and toys. We made our own play room!

Let me just say, as I blog happily and freely, it was a genius idea! If you have a room that is unused and you need a great space for your romper to romp around... DIY and change it to a play room. If you are anything like me... you won't regret it :)

Happily walking around without stepping on toys,
Lindsey

DIY Friday: Homeade Pennant Birthday Banner

SO I told you I am in the process of planning C's 1st Birthday party!! I honestly can't believe it :)

Anyways... there are lots of projects that I am doing for her party, one being making a birthday banner.

Here are some of the ones that I saw...not sure which type I am going to pick, but that's what Hobby Lobby is for (to help me make such decisions :))
Click on the picture below to take you to the "How To" pages







Happy Crafting,
Lindsey

Something to Remember: For those that are married

I told you that I would always be honest...and today my honesty lands on the side of marriage verses the side of parenting.

I have had the privilege of being married to my amazing husband for 5 years. Please hear me out, I do not think 5 years is long enough to be an expert in anything, but I do think it's long enough to have a solid understanding of things. And today I have some more solid understanding on the covenant we call marriage.

When we say "I do" at the altar of marriage, we say I do for eternity. We walk into a solemn binding agreement between two parties that says, I am yours and you are mine. We are one, no longer two. But after marriage, for the most part, we continue living two lives in one household. He does his thing, she does her thing...and then at night they come together for dinner or date night and reconnect.

I have learned that this doesn't work, and hear often from other women, that they feel more like they have a roommate than a husband...and vice versa. I have experienced this in my own marriage, and it is the quickest way the enemy has come up with to get in between the two of us. And since we have had the baby it has been easy to fall into this same routine. He goes to work, I take care of the baby. He gets home we eat dinner together and then he watches TV and I usually read. Once a week we try and go on a date.

I realize that this may not seem all that bad to some of you...and maybe for you it's not. But I know for Chris and I we need more than that. We need more connection time.

Here are some of the things that I have realized in the past couple days:
1) I need to make more of an effort. By this I mean I need to pay more attention to the things that are important to him. Whether that be budgeting, office humor, future plans, goals or whatever...I need to be more invested in him and the things that make him tick.
2) I need to make him more aware of the things I do everyday. For me I feel like life is so mundane right now, because for the most part I change diapers, clean the house and cook. Yeah I play with Caroline, or we might go to the store or the gym. But for the most part I feel like it seems pretty boring to everyone else. But if Chris is going to "get" me, he needs to be invested in my day also and the little things I do.
3) We need to shut off the TV and put down the books and talk. I am not talking everyday, but more often than we do. This is important to reconnecting as date nights are. To talk about the things that are about us, Caroline and the things we don't usually have time to share.
4) We need to realized who our enemy is. And it's not each other. This weekend was a prime example. We were having one of our reality check arguments (this is where you realize the other one has issues with the you or vice versa that need to be dealt with) when we figured out that we were treating each other as our enemy and not our allies. By that I mean...we have an enemy that seriously wants to break up our marriage. He tries everyday to do that. EVERYDAY. So when I realize that he is the one causing all the problems, I begin to fight against him and not my husband. And my husband becomes my allie and not my enemy too. We fight the battle together, not at each other.
5) Everyone's love language is different and they express love and need love most likely different then you do. There is a great book called The 5 Love Languages, that teaches this concept. I need to remember that the way my husband gives and receives love is different than me. And to show him that I love him, I need to use his method and not my own. This clears up a lot of communication issues when done correctly and effectively. Because each person is getting his or her own needs met.
6) Being in covenant with another person, requires sacrifice. I have to give up things that I think are important for the sake of the relationship. And Chris has to give up things that he thinks are important for the sake of the relationship. This is so hard, because we are so selfish naturally.
7) Finally, God can work anything out and change any old habit. Plain and simple. So pray for your spouse continually. That means don't ever stop or let a day go bye that you don't pray for them. And if you can..pray together, this will bind you faster than anything else. We are a cord made up of three strands: God, him and I.
And a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

I know this is long...but I needed to be reminded. Hope it ministers to someone else too. If you have any other reminders leave them below for someone else.

Happily married to the most amazing man ever,
Lindsey
This pic below is us after a food fight Sunday after church. We laughed so hard at the mess we made but it was so fun! Some how I look like I got the worst of it :)

DIY Friday- Fabric Chandelier

Ok...so I follow this blog and she started her own DIY day. Her first DIY puts anything I could do to shame. So instead of trying to post my own, you should go do this project because it is awesome!

It is a cloth fabric chandelier. All you need is an old lamp shade, 1 1/2 yards of your fabric choice and a glue gun! Really it is too simple. I am going to do one for my outside patio, but it would be great for a little girl's room too! When I get done with mine I will post it for you to see :)

Here is the link: http://www.joyfolieblog.com/2011/08/diy-wednesday-torn-fabric-chandelier.html

And this is the finished project :)


Let me know if you make your own too! Would love to see a pic!

Crafty getting the best of me,
Lindsey

A couple videos down memory lane...

I am not sure what led us down that path last night, but as we crawled into bed Chris had to check something on the laptop. So I was reading and he was on the computer. Just before he got done, I remembered that I had been wanting to watch something on YouTube for a while now and decided that now was the time.

I told Chris to open up the website, so he did. Then he looked at me and said "What do you want to watch?"

Me: "I want to watch a C-section."
Chris: "No Lindsey...you don't want to see that."
Me: "Yes I do. I want to know what I went through."

Chris reluctantly typed in the search engine and voila. A plethora of videos to choose from. I decided on the safest one on there from Baby Center. As we hit play, I had a moment of panic thinking... I don't know if I should see this. I am sort of squeamish when it comes to all things blood related. But as the procedure happened, I found myself elated with what I saw.

To be honest, when I found out that I would have to have a C-section I was worried I would miss out on this great birthing experience and that somehow mine would be less than. But after seeing what my body went through and the beauty of the baby being pulled out, I realized it was just as beautiful!

So after we watched the video, we decided to open up our own home videos and relive those incredible first moments with our daughter. What started with one video on YouTube turned us right down memory lane. We laid there in bed and watched video after video of us in the hospital those first few days with our Sweet C. We smiled, laughed at how goofy we were, thought we looked so young holding our little girl and reveled in how tiny she was.

I don't know if those videos will ever get old to me. Especially now as we had our first medical emergency with C the other day. I will blog about it later... it's too emotionally raw for me still. I just treasure everything a little more now, and the day she was born will be nothing short of the second greatest day in my life. A severely close second to the day I married her father.

Anyways...here is one of the videos we watched yesterday. It's the first time I got to love on her and really see her. I hope you enjoy.

Hopelessly romantic over her,
Lindsey

Walking and Kissing

Well...since the last time that I blogged my little girl has started walking. Hence the lack of posting on my part. Since she started, I have been doing my best to keep up with the little bug.
It has been fun to watch her waddle around though. The first time it was a lunge forward with a couple steps attached to it. Now it is very methodical and thought out. She knows how to stand up on her own with out any help and she knows how to get from one side of the room to the other. Although she walks alot now...she still depends mostly on crawling. I am not sure when that will stop but it's fun to watch her try out her new legs. I can't believe we are already to this stage...where did it all go?

Another new thing for the little one is kissing, or what we call giving sugars :0! Caroline's God Mother, Meghan, has been trying to teach her for a while now. But it hasn't been until recently that she finally has picked up on it. And she can't stop. She kisses everything! The dog, my knee and even her dad through the front glass door! I mean seriously...I can't handle this picture!

I would love to post some video of Caroline walking too, but it's like she knows what I trying to do every time I get the flip out... she won't let me get it on film! But just know...as soon as I do, I will share!
Anyways...it's fun catching up with you all, and stay tuned because I have another giveaway coming up on Friday!

Bye for now!
Lindsey