Huge Giveaways!!

For those of you that love giveaways, you need to hop on over to the Boutique Challenge Group on facebook. They are having a HUGE giveaway when they reach 5000 fans. I submitted one of our Super Hero Sets for the giveaway.  

The Super Hero Sets have become one of our most popular items. They can be designed with any color combination. Currently I offer two sets, the standard which is a lined cape with an emblem on one side, Super Hero ID card,  and coordinating mask/ wristbands. The deluxe cape set has a reversible cape instead which you choose a lightning bolt, star, heart or any other design on one side and the initial emblem on the reversed side. Now the one I am giving away is the mega deluxe set because it will include all of the above mentioned plus our newest design....... A power belt . I am so excited about it. I designed it this past weekend and it looks so cute. I think it completes the adventure perfectly.

If you were wondering what all can you do with these cape sets, hopefully you realize from the pictures, that we can design them to fit your childs personality perfectly. We can do logos that resemble superman or batman or the pow , bam comic book style logo.

Now maybe you are not interested in the Super Hero Set, you should still go check the event . They have over 250 prizes to hand out to some lucky people. You will need to look at both albums to see the prizes. The 1st album has 200 prizes and the 2nd album has about 70 prizes in it. So many beautiful items: jewelry, bibs, clothing, hair bows, hair bow holders, key fobs, certificates and the list goes on and on. Once you look through the albums, to enter, you comment under the picture (oh yeah, you obviously have to be a fan of the Boutique Challenge Group, remember it is a fan appreciation event ) and you must like the page of the boutique offering the prize you entered for. Thats it, easy peasy! Then you sit back, watch, cross your fingers and hope that you win! I will be hoping you win too.  ;-)

Pecking Order

From the moment the second child arrives, the pecking order begins. I love how sibling shirts have become all the rage, proudly stating where you fit into the family. This sibling patch from Applique Momma has become one of my new favorites to use when designing a sibling shirt.  You certainly could use the patch by itself . However, I think the fun part of designing is playing around and expanding what you can do. Personally when I looked at the patch design she digitized, I saw a big bubble and immediately thought of lots of bubbles.  After playing around with the placement of the circles and sizing them just right , I finally came up with this design for the sibling shirts.

I love them, they are just so adorable....... It makes you want to proudly display your sibling status for all to see, right?

 Now I am busy thinking of how to use the birthday patch that Applique Momma offers.

Hibernation.......

That is surely what you must think happened to this lady. I wish I could say that is what happened.  Oh how nice it would have been to have slept through some of that cold winter weather and just wake up to the beauty of spring.

 However that is not the excuse I can give to you concerning my MIA status over here in blogland.  SO what can I give you as an excuse..........

hmmmm...........  well...... you see........ its like this............. I have been swamped with homeschooling, winter illnesses, meeting deadlines for orders, Christmas, more winter illnesses, lesson planning, cooking, cleaning, sewing, babysitting and just about everything else that falls under the sunshine. The reality of it is this - I just would not make the time to write and share because sometimes when you are feeling overwhelmed, disconnected and thrown into overdrive you really do not need one more thing on your plate, KWIM? Plus, do you really want to hear how I am drowning in the neverending pool of task that I have on my To Do list?

For some reason my plate seems to be full before I can even get started with my day.

As the day progresses....many things tend to get pushed further and further to the side of the plate. Not intentionally but it just happens. I love my blog, I love creating, I love a clean house, I love my friends, I love my family, I love to read,  I love so many things that life offers to me but as the time ticks away I must prioritize between necessities and luxuries. It is such a huge balancing act that I obviously am still working on like every other mother in the world .

So for whatever the reason, just know I have been maintaining life. Sometimes that involved teaching the boys, sometimes it involved a mundane task around the house and sometimes it involved creating an item that was ordered. I will try to write and share often but honestly, that is all I can do. I am sure all of you can relate.

If you can not relate, this would be the time to zip it, hold that thought, do not share because really none of us need or want to hear how wonderfully you have got it all together. We would really like to believe that you too are living in that constant chaotic feeling of  "where did my day go" mode as you review your day only realizing in that precise moment..... You actually only managed to cross off a couple of items on the the never ending list of things TO DO.

The lingering effects

"I can't believe I am 10!" was the first thing awakening me this morning. I look at my clock and realize I have only slept about 4 and half hours again. I really thought we would be past that now but the effects of a premature birth still linger with us. After a decade, the optimism has begun to fade and reality has set in to what we do have to deal with. We run like a well oiled machine around here most of the time. Very few surprises pop up anymore like that day ten years ago when I went into labor. I knew something was wrong, the lower back pain was excruciating and then my water broke. Fortunately I had read enough to know that at 25 weeks, they did have a chance at survival. The statistics at that time were 50% chance the first night.  The percentage increasing with each passing day. The overall statistic for survival was 80%. I am sure that has changed  now due to medical advance in a decade. But for us that night changed our lives forever.

Both boys arrived 15 weeks early. Their eyes still fused shut, no cries. We would not hear a cry from them till almost 3 months later. I never had that final trimester most women endure. Gaelan weighed in at 1lb 12oz and Ghavin weighed 1lb 11oz, both were a foot long. They should have finished off their development in utero. Most babies do but for the next four months they finished their utero development in a NICU isolette and incubator. The hospital was about 30 minutes from our house. So much time was spent on the road traveling back and forth. I can not even count how many times we got home only to get a call that said we needed to come back because it did not look good or another problem had arose.
Gaelan was the sickest, born under distress, he had a bleed on the brain and his lungs were diagnosed with Chronic Lung Disease within a day. The bleed resulted in a diagnosis of Hydrocephalus. Of course when you deal with the brain , they really can not tell you much..... just wait and see how he develops. In a course of 4 months, he fought over 15 infections consisting of Pnuemonia, , Strep B , E.Coli just to name a few. He had a PDA ligation surgery, seizures and several surgeries on his retinas. One of the biggest catch 22s of having the babies on the oxygen for a long period of time is it accelerates the growth of blood vessels and they start pulling the retinas which untreated can result in blindness. He recieved his last blood transfusion 4 weeks before his discharge.
Ghavin came home a week and a half earlier than his brother after fighting off just as many infections and seizures but thank goodness his lungs were responding and healing better than his twins. He mainly struggled with his stomach, developed necrotizing enterocolitis and reflux. This will plague us long after he leaves the hospital. Ghavin received his final blood transfusion 5 weeks prior to his dismissal.

Most people just assumed they lived, all is well with the world. Unfortunately the effects of a premature birth linger long after the discharge from the hospital. They started  occupational and physical therapy when they were 5 months old. That was just the beginning of many therapies including speech, sensory, behavior and listening. I remember at one point in our lives we had a therapy every day of the week. Finally after 8 years of therapy, we stopped because honestly.... we were tired and ready to just accept this is as good as it gets.  Plus we were struggling with the newest challenge of academics.

The first three years were mostly all health and medical issues we dealt with. Ghavin was diagnosed with failure to thrive because of his severe reflux. He was a colicky baby for more than a year. If you have ever had a colicky baby on your hands, stretch it out a year long event. You get the idea. Solid foods had to be introduced slowly to both boys. Gaelans palette had suffered from the prolonged time he was on the ventilator. He also was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy. Due to those issues, he would not eat solids till after he was a year old.  We were not allowed to be out around people because they caught eveything. Regardless of this , they managed to contract RDS several times, and stomach viruses that put us in and out of the hospital for the next 3 years. Just as the health issues started to subside, we noticed things about Gaelan and Ghavin that would take us down the road of several specialists. We have had the terms Autism, PDD-NOS, ADHD, ADD, OCD, RLS loosely thrown at us. Acronyms became our life along with the doctors, the therapies and the IEPS. This time frame to me was harder than the initial aspect of their stay in the NICU. Gaelan did not sleep, Ghavin did not talk, both had meltdowns over everything. We were all just exhausted.

Fast forward 10 years..... Gaelan has mild cerebral palsy, OCD, anxiety, and a sleeping disorder. He fixates on laundry, cleaning, talks a mile a minute, wears glasses and overall is very social. Ghavin still has reflux,and was diagnosed last year as dyslexic and dyscalculic. He is shy, quiet, artistic, humorous, hates roller coasters and observes alot. We homeschool now to alleviate some of the anxieties that traditional school creates. Both boys still have not landed on the growth chart for their age. They look as if they are entering kindergarten or first grade and weigh about 45 pounds. The twins see an endocronlogist that has told us their bone age is running on the average about 2 years behind their actual age. We see a nuerologist, behavior therapist, orthopedic, nutritionist and pediatrician on regular intervals. Gaelan must have his retinas checked annually. He will be at risk for detachment for the rest of his life they say. Our day consist of brain gym exercises for processing and memory, games to promote sensory and motor skills and schooling at our own pace. Gaelan still does not sleep for long periods of time which means I usually do not as well. Sometimes we read, bake or he just talks while I try to hold my eyes open.

I am grateful they lived but wish we knew why I could not carry my babies full term. November is Premature Awareness Month.  I encourage you to visit http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurityawareness.html to learn more about this rising epidemic. The numbers are growing and they are astounding. Yes, most are surviving but the effects are lingering. I can attest to that.

I want to be.....

My boys start thinking of what they want to be for Halloween usually back at the end of August. Between then and Halloween, They will pick something new every other day it seems. Gaelan first decided he wanted to be a gargoyle. I found a great one to make at Family Fun. Definately different, right?

I have to say I was not thrilled with this selection. I was already envisioning....

Mom, I am hot, I can't carry my bucket, I can't see, etc. You sense all that too right?

Then he decided he would be a King Tut Mummy. This is a beautiful costume.

But once again, I kept thinking.... this mask is beautiful, will be fun to make not so much fun having him wear it all night. So I started my motherly manipulation and I talked him into the coolest, easiest costume. No mask, nothing too hot or bulky. He is going to be a ghostbuster! I may even have my ipod set on the theme song all night just for effects while I walk him around. Hee-hee!

Ghavin is such a pratical child, he originally chose this alien costume which I love the concept. It is way cool. I am sure he would get lots of stares.

He however decided it would be too uncomfortable all night so he opted to dress up as Sherlock Holmes. He has been reading the book and just out of the blue announced this past week what he will be. Now they can not change their minds anymore because the fabric is bought, props are bought as of today. They have to stick with this. As a matter of fact, I really need to start sewing before they change their minds.  *LOL*

Cya later!

;-)

A Spooky Elegance

I think I showed you the cool font I recently got that is a spooky frame design.

 

I fell in love with it but could not decide if I wanted to do a banner or some pillows. I finally decided on the pillows. I just love how they turned out. What do you think?

They are already gone though. I had to start a new set this evening for myself. I used a black and white toile looking fabric on the opposite side. Black piping finished it off with a nice polished, elegant look.
 In addition to the spooky frame, we managed to FINALLY decorate the front porch and the mailbox for FAll. My kids said......Well it is about time! I have them spoiled. They assume I will do something again because we have done it before. This is exactly why I have to make owl cookies, pumpkin bread, candy corn fudge and black cat cookies this coming week.

Cya soon. I promised myself I would not neglect my blog anymore! Hold me accountable folks! :-)

The smallest details

Sometimes the smallest change can make the biggest difference in a design.  This Whimsical Pumpkin design that I bought from Planet Applique is adorable as is, right?

I have been very intrigued by the ruched designs that I have seen so I took this design and tried my hand at it.....

I LOVE how different it turned out from the original design.

I decided to add ribbons to this turkey to create feathers.

 He was actually designed like this

So wonderful to get an alternate look from a design you already have.

Have a great evening!