Tuesday Toot--Bows, Bows and More Bows

My Tuesday Toot today is all about bows. I've been one big bow making machine. I've been working day (as much as possible with Taylor craving my attention every minute--she's in a mood) and night, but it has paid off because I've made some really cute bows that look great in Taylor's hair-- and I'll hopefully sell some too.
Please go check out my bows at Jacie's Designs.

Tuesday Toot

Toot Toot! Christmas shopping ---done! Well about 95% of it anyway! Hubby and I went early this year (2 weeks ago) and got just about everything off the kids' lists. There's only a little bit left for us to get. Our goal this year was to try hard to get the hectic stuff (shopping) out of the way so we could really enjoy the season with the kids doing fun stuff like decorating, watching Christmas movies while curled up on the couch with the kiddos in pj's, reading The Polar Express (Grayson's favorite) every night and visiting friends and family. Besides, getting the necessary shopping done makes it so much more fun to go browse-shopping when the mood strikes in December because you don't feel like you are on some mad mission in which you are prepared to beat down that woman who just put the last Darth Vader Starfighter or Sleeping Beauty's Walking Horse in her cart. Christmas shopping in December can get downright dangerous. That's why this year I started in October. Toot Toot.

More Hair Bows-Tuesday Toot

First let me apologize for some of the photos being turned sideways. I rotated them, but blogger doesn't seem to believe me. Anyway, my Tuesday Toot this week is showing off the hair bows I've made for my precious little girl. We've all been fighting a bad cold the past few days and while we were stuck in the house wiping noses and resting, I managed to make these cute bows. Aren't they adorable?
Toot tooting my horn.

Tuesday Toot--Bows for my Cutie Pie

I may not be the craftiest person in the world, but lately I have been trying a few things. Taylor is going to be a Georgia Bulldog cheerleader for Halloween this year and I was having trouble finding a cute bow to go with her uniform. So I decided to make one. Toot Toot! Here it is. I'm very proud of it. It really did turn out cute.

Here is another bow I made to match a few of her outfits. I'm hoping to get good enough at making them to sell a few throughout our neighborhood. It is full of little girls--and little girls just gotta have cute bows.

I just got some cute pink and white polka dot ribbon and blue and brown striped ribbon. Once I make up some more bows for my little cutie pie, I'll be sure to share. And if you are interested in learning how to make bows, come back tomorrow for my Crafty Wednesday post and I'll share.

Proofread Teachers or I'll Grade Your Papers!

This week's "Tuesday Toot" is something that my fellow educators of the English language will surely appreciate.

Last week, Grayson was randomly selected to move into a new class at school due to class sizes being over the state limit. Now let me just say, I used to be a teacher and I know first hand how hard it is to teach when you have too many students in a class. Grayson had an amazing teacher. She really was something special--a rare gem for public schools. But his class size was huge so I was relieved to hear that they were hiring two new teachers. I couldn't help it though--I didn't want Grayson to be moved. He has had to endure so many changes this past year (moving from GA to CA to FL, changing schools, leaving family, friends, church, etc.) It's been hard on him. And finally, he was getting settled in and making friends in his class and getting into a routine. Then we got the news that he'd be changing classes.

Here is part one of the toot. I was sad, but I didn't go up to the school and demand that he be kept in his class. I did simply compose an email to the teacher and principal explaining the past year and requesting that he be able to stay. However, I told them that if he must be moved, I understood and we would just get through it the best we could. Well, he moved into his new class yesterday and is handling it like a champ. I'm so proud of him (and me). Toot toot.

Now here's part two of the toot.

Yesterday afternoon I looked in his backpack for the note the teacher said she'd be sending home. When I read it, glaring out at me, were several errors in her grammar. Yes, I was an English teacher, but normally I don't walk around with my red ink pen out editing and marking mistakes on people's letters, emails, etc. I rarely even proof my own emails, posts, etc. unless they are important so I know I make my own share of mistakes. However, this woman is a teacher and was sending out her first form of communication to parents who are already uneasy with this new change their children are going through. She should have proofread her letter. It took everything I had not to mark up her letter, walk back up to that school and show it to the principal and say, "You took my son out of a wonderful, competent teacher's class and put him in a class with a teacher who doesn't know the difference between their and there. She's a dummy!" But I didn't (although I will if she keeps on sending home poorly written letters.) I really am trying hard not to judge her too harshly. But come on!!!

Ok, maybe I am being a little harsh. But I'm only looking out for my son. He deserves the best. So Toot for me.

Tame at the Game--Tuesday Toots

It is Tuesday again and time for Tuesday Toot Me! Today's toot is simple--not as dramatic as my previous weeks. This past Saturday, Grayson had his first soccer game. He's only 5 and has never played before. Now you should know that my husband and I are very competitive people by nature (and nurture I think). We both played sports competitively growing up, and we were both good at them. We both excelled in academics as well, and so we grew up to become very competitive people. We just can't help it. We can turn anything into a competition and we both hate losing. Hey, at least we can admit it. My worst fear though was that I was going to be one of those moms that you roll your eyes at and talk about at the soccer fields. You know the ones--the ones who scream at their kids for not being in the right position or for missing a goal. The ones who yell at the referee and jump up and down all around and in general make a big scene. Like I said--it was my biggest fear to be one of those moms.

Toot Toot-- I WAS NOT one of those moms. I was tame at the game (well relatively). I admit I was by far the loudest at cheering-- but they were all positive cheers and they were for all the kids on the team, not just mine. But I do admit I was loud so you may have rolled your eyes and giggled at me a little bit. I did jump up and down some and run up and down the sidelines a bit. And I did take the most pictures and video too. But I swear I never crossed the white line painted on the field--not even when Grayson was goal keeper and I needed a better angle for a shot of him stopping a goal. So I'm tooting my horn for not turning into one of those psycho moms at the soccer field. I am trying my best. Toot Toot.

118 Pounds to 178 and Back!

Wow, it is time again for Tuesday Toot Me. I hadn't realized it'd been a week since my last post until I sat down to begin writing this one. Sorry I fell off the blogging scene for a few days, but I've been out of town visiting family who live so far out in the country that they spell it "Kun-tree" and they only have dial up. So anyway, I've been thinking hard about what I should toot my own horn about today and like I said last week, it has been harder to do this week. Anyway...

Here's my toot.

I weighed 118 pounds when I got pregnant with Taylor. The day she was born I weighed in at a whopping 178 pounds (see my misery in the photo). I gained 60 pounds--that is about 25 or 30 more than what my doctor recommended. Yes, I weighed in at each doctor's visit and I knew how much I was gaining. I couldn't help it. Food just tastes so good when you're pregnant. I loved my three or four bowls of Snickers ice cream every night. Oh and fast food galore!! I swear my husband was on a first name basis with several McDonald's and Wendy's workers I sent him on so many fast food runs when I was pregnant. Forget weird cravings--I just loved food--any food--period. And so I put on the pounds and like a big dummy was grinning the whole time as I was thinking "Oh it'll come right off just like it did after I had Grayson." Ha HA HA! I wish. The baby came, months went by, but the weight wasn't going away as fast as I was so sure it would. And so-- the get skinny plan came to be. Eat well. Exercise often. Simple, eh? Yeah, yeah I know-but it really is. It just took me two years to follow through long enough to see the results I wanted.

But I'm there.

I am 3 pounds away from weighing what I weighed when I got pregnant with Taylor. It has taken me two years of trying to eat healthy and trying to get as much exercise as I can, and I am proud to say that I've done a pretty good job. It has been slow to lose the last ten pounds or so, but it is happening. My goal is to return to my pre-baby weight of 115. But I'm realistic. I know I will never have the same body shape or fit into some of my pre-baby clothes. I won't get rid of my saggy left breast that my children favored or the silvery stretch marks that run vertically around my belly button or my c-section pouch as I call it (that flab of skin that hangs over the incision scar), but I can live with all that. It's nothing a good padded, lift up bra, a one-piece swim suit and some of those girdle panties won't cure.

115 pounds---here I come!

The Toot of a Bedrest Survivor

In searching the blogosphere to get acquainted with other bloggers out there, I came across a neat little idea that MommyCommunity.com came up with called "Tuesday Toot Meme". You sign up for the group and promise to read and comment on all the participants' blogs. The great thing about these blogs is Mamas use each Tuesday as an opportunity to toot their own horn. I love this idea because it seems that women--especially moms--find it difficult to pat themselves on the back. We can tell you how great our kids are and what their latest accomplishments are but when it comes to us, we struggle to think of anything. I am guilty of this too. It took me quite a while to come up with what I was going to write about today and I'm sure it will be even more difficult next Tuesday. But as the weeks go by, I'm hoping that it will become easier and I will be able to realize my accomplishments as a woman, a wife and a mother. I hope the same for you.

Here's my toot...

In August of 2002 I discovered I was pregnant with my son Grayson. I had already been reading all the books I could find on how you should care for your body during pregnancy--what you should eat, how you should exercise, etc. I did everything I was supposed to--period. After my 12 weeks doctor visit, they told me that everything looked great and that I was in the clear of that "danger zone" when typically miscarriages occur. I felt wonderful, and I was on cloud 9.

However at sixteen weeks pregnant, I had a partial placental abruption where for some unknown reason the placenta begins to tear away from the wall of the uterus. I was bleeding and the doctors couldn't tell me what was going to happen. All I could think about was the possibility of losing my baby. At that emotional trip to the doctor's office, I was told point blank by the doctor "If you lose it, you lose it. You can have another one." I was crushed. I didn't want another one. I wanted my baby that I had inside my body right then. As the doctor was about to walk out the door, I stopped her and said, "Wait. You tell me what I can do to save THIS baby." She proceeded to tell me a bunch of what I call "doctor crap" and basically told me it was just best to not worry about it and let nature take its course. Of course, that wasn't good enough and suddenly I felt the urge to blurt out "What about bed rest? Would that work?" To my disbelief, she looked straight at me and said, "you would be willing to do that?" I said, "Yes. Of course. Anything to keep this baby." She still told me that it wasn't a guarantee that bedrest would work, but she did say that it would be the best thing to try. So she pulled out her little prescription pad and wrote me a note to take to work saying I would be on complete bedrest until I delivered the baby. Now quitting work was the easiest thing I had to do at that moment. Worrying about money (along with everything else) was completely turned over to my husband's list of duties. My new job was to stay in bed and let my body do the rest.

Yes, bed rest was awful. I only left the bed to use the bathroom and brush my teeth. I bathed only every three days. I had a mini-fridge by the bed. Skipper fixed me breakfast before he left for work. His mother came to make my lunch, do a few things around the house, and take me to the doctor each week- sometimes twice a week. My parents would come to clean the house when they could. Basically, everybody pitched in and I am so grateful for such a wonderful family. But still, bed rest was awful. When I was alone was the worst. My mind would wander and it always led me down that horrible path of thinking about having to give birth to a dead baby. I think I cried every single day for five months.

Then one day as I was sitting on the bench in the shower, crying and praying and washing my hair at the same time--I just stopped. It was like I was being forced to be calm by a power much greater than me. I got out of the shower and was drying off when these words came into my mind ---"I have you and I've had you all along." I tear up even now as I think back to that moment. God's peace came over me and for the first time during my pregnancy, I let God take care of my baby instead of thinking I could do it myself. I didn't cry again until I had tears of joy when I heard my son being pulled from my body in the operating room. He was nearly three weeks early and while it wasn't an emergency c-section, it was dramatic with its scary moments. But he was perfectly healthy weighing a whopping 9 lbs. 4 oz. Pure joy! I survived, my baby survived and even though I give all the credit to God, I'm going to toot my horn for listening to Him and obeying Him. So TOOT TOOT!!