One year ago today....

So ONE YEAR AGO TODAY... I woke up EARLY and I'll spare you the details, but I wasn't entirely sure if my water had broken or not. So I kept going back and forth between the bed and the bathroom. I got up and showered around 6.

Charlotte had school this morning so in between some cramping, I got ready, packed her back, and had breakfast. I woke her and hubby up at 8 and got everyone ready to go. This is when I turned to hubby and told him that "I need to call the doctor, today might be the day". He looked somewhat like a deer caught in headlights and I added "after we get Charlotte off to school". Then comes the rushing around; get the over night bag, get Charlotte, call your mom... she's going to have to get her at noon. I ask hubby where his bag is; and he said "we are going NOW?" (um... I told you yes and I'm sitting in the car on a towel, what do you think?) "can't I come home and shower first?". (eye roll from this girl!).

We drop Charlotte off (with me holding onto hubby's arm for support during the contractions) and we head towards the hospital/doctors office; they are directly across the street... handy huh? So I get through to the doctor and explain the situation and she says, 'well... you can come in if you aren't sure and we'll check you out'. This was around 9:30am.

We wait 5 minutes and they put us in a side room (we were just at the doctors the day before and they figured that yes, I was in labor). As we were waiting, I got nervous because the contractions weren't as strong but when doc came in, he took one look... er.... under me... and said ,"um yeah, your water broke".

So I ask "do we need to go to the hospital right now?" and he says "well, not if you don't want to have the baby there" (thanks Jerk.... I was just asking because in all the rush we had left the cameras AT HOME!). He also said that he'd "come over and deliver me at lunch" (he was full of those fun one-liners). We go across the street and check in, "Hi, 'I'm, here to have a baby". This was around... 10:15am I think.

AND because I need to document... a camera phone picture (at 11:18am)...

A few hours, 1 IV, and NO pain killers later (doc {a} said I could do it on my own and {b} isn't a fan of pain killers) the doc stops by on his lunch break and checks me out. He decides he has time to run downstairs for a quick lunch, but he'll be close enough if something happens. Cool. This is around 12.

Contractions start getting worse and in walks Charlotte (I actually heard her down the hall "MOMMMY") and mother-in-law WITH THE CAMERAS!! They didn't stay long because the contractions were ROUGH and frankly Charlotte was scared to see mommy in a bed with wires, so my mother-in-law hustled her out quickly. This is around 12:30pm

At this point I ask the nurse to bed my doc for an epidural, he reluctantly agrees.

Enter the anesthesiologist: "Stay still" - easier said than done ... "what's wrong are you ok?" - fine other than the fact that you are sticking a HUGE-A$$ needle in my back as I'm having a contraction, no sweat.

The rest went pretty quickly...

They lose the heart rate as they are laying me down from getting the epidural, so they roll me to my side, which did NOT let the epidural work anywhere but my left leg. ugh. (turns out the wires fell off baby's head down there).

After hoping the epidural would kick in I suddenly feel.... Woah boy, I need to push!

Doc walks in and asks if I feel different contractions; which I didn't and he grumbles that it was because of the stupid epidural (jerk).

However I DEFINITELY felt the next one and 2 contractions later, Jillian Ann was born! This was 1:24pm.

Thanks to the epidural kicking in AFTER the baby, I was stuck in that room for another hour or so until I could walk; but I got to snuggle with my newborn.

Latest paint-penned birthday gift (for cheap!)

I want to thank Bargains for WAHMs for sharing that we could get several Hasbro Games for REALLY cheap at Walmart using this past weeks Sunday coupons. This came at a SUPER opportune time because we have another birthday party to go to this weekend.

Target Garbage Can (personalized) - $2
Chalk - $1
Old Maid - $0.97
Crazy 8s - $0.97
Crayons - $0.40
Travel Connect 4 - $5.97 - 4 coupon = $1.97
Mini Fishing Game - $2.24
Toy Story Memory - $7 - 3 coupon = $4
Half a pack of rocket balls - $1.25
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$14.80

Woo hoo!!

I really like adding something personalized to each gift that I give be it embroidery (when I have time) or some as simple as paint penning a cup, bucket, garbage can, etc. It shows that you worked hard and thought about the gift.

Over 50 hours of driving...

I am back... finally! Wow, it feels like I've been away FOREVER, but it was only 12 days.

I would be happy if I never had to get into the car ever again after this trip:

• home to my parents: 8 hrs
• parents to Clemson: 2.5 hrs
• Clemson to Atlanta Airport to parents: 5 hrs
• a few days break....
• parents to Grandma: 14.5 hours.... straight.... in the car with 2 little girls
• Grandma to rehearsal: 1.25 hrs
• rehearsal to Grandma: 1.25 hrs
• Grandma to Wedding: 1.25 hrs
• Wedding to Grandma: 1.25 hrs
• Grandma to parents (split over 2 days): 14.5 hrs
• parents to home: 9 hrs (stupid traffic)

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TOTAL OF: 57.5 hours of driving in the past 12 days

Well, I now know that my youngest is not a huge fan of car rides.... that was fun (not at all)! Since we were in the car for 57.5 hours!!

But all in all, the trip was awesome!! We got to go to Clemson to see friends and football.

I got to help decorate some wedding sheet cakes for my Aunt's wedding; I put my Wilton cake decorating class to use.

The girls got to play with their cousin and my cousins kids on the farm and play with stuff that I used to play with as a kid (swing set which has got to be at least 20 years old, a "tread mil", horse, and other various toys).

AND we had wedding festivities!!

Oh! So a scary thing happened on my last leg of the trip; I was driving past a small u-haul truck and just as I passed by I heard a loud BANG. No joke, it scared the bejeezes out of me. I jumped and frantically searched the mirrors and "tested" my car to see what in the world had just happened. Looking in the rear view I see the u-haul had blown a rear tire and they were slowly (and safely) making their way to the side of the road (Thank goodness!!).  I have never heard a tire blow out before and it is the scariest thing ever; I hope I never heard it ever again.

Charlotte started her first day of school for the year (a week and a half after her classmates) this morning and boy was she happy.

I'm slowing starting to unpack and get myself organized and back into my routine again with the gym, errands, playdates, and Bible study (which starts on Friday, woo hoo!). Please bear with me as I get myself back into the swing of things!!

Happy Hump Day everyone!

PS - Remember "that day" I was having right before my vacation? Well, this is what happened AFTER the post was written...

What to get the Grandparents for birthday....?

You know how it is... your mom or dad's birthday is coming up and they always say "oh nothing, I don't want you to waste your money" when you ask them what they need.

WELL, I came up with a super cute gift from the girls to "Gi gi" (my mom) for her 62 (shhh, I didn't tell) birthday. Ok, so it's not really a gift, it's the thought that counts right?!

Mom was coming in from GA, so I dressed the girls up in these shirts for when she got there! She LOVED it (**when she finally read the shirts **) It also made for a great photo-op of her and the girls.

Gotta love $5 at Target and iron on letters (with coupons).

... OK, I lied, I didn't JUST come up with this shirt idea... here's 2 years ago. I still liked the idea though.

Gi Gi 60; Charlotte 6mo

** Back to the whole "mom not reading shirts" ish. I flew up to surprise my parents back when I got pregnant with Charlotte (1st grandchild... big deal!), and had my brother drive me out to the house. When I walked in the door, mom was surprised and asked "What are you doing here?" (nice, huh). I pointed at the t-shirt I was wearing. And she gave me a dumb look. So I had to tell her to read my shirt. It said (in quite large letters) "BABY BUMP". (yay, hugs, kisses, tears, etc) You'd think she'd learn... nope.

What did I wear to Clemson?

Hello to all of my lovely readers!!

I know you are waiting with bated breath to see what I wore to this past weekends Clemson football game (right....? No?.... oh well, I'm going to tell you anyway).

I have been on the go/ away from home base since Friday AM, so I apologize for lack of posts AND lack of pictures (I left my cord at home... blech, so picture on this post has been borrowed from friends facebook accounts). Friday we left bright and early and drove the 8 hours up to my parents house in Georgia to drop the kiddos off for the weekend! (I am SO glad they moved somewhere near Clemson, it makes going to games so much easier). Kids did well AND I didn't even have to whip out the dvd player for Charlotte.
Then after a driving break of a few hours and some dinner, we drove the 2.5 hours over to Clemson so we could hit the town Friday night.

A great Friday night in Clemson inevitably turns into a rough Saturday morning in Clemson.... but we persisted and went to tailgate!

So which dress did I pick? 2nd from the left (gosh I'm short....)

 The Target (online only) dress!  Loved the dress... although I have some issues with one of the dress reviewers on Target.com.

This reviewer chick said something along the lines of "I'm 5'7 and I got a small and this dress is the perfect length". Perfect length my a$$! I'm no where near 5'7 and that dress length made me slightly uncomfortable. Now maybe it's because I'm now a mom of 2 upper 20s year old no longer hoochie girl, but sheesh... this dress would barely cover some 5'7's hiney.

Ok, rant over. I still like the dress!

Clemson 43 - Troy 19

I'll post some more fun Clemson pictures once I can get said pictures of my camera!

My blog will be in auto-mode until I get back to home base early next week. We are leaving tomorrow bright and early to drive (12 hours) up to my Aunts wedding in Illinois. Luckily, the girls and I are going to be in the car with my parents (hubby has to work). WISH US LUCK! Hope you guys have a great week.

Recipe::. Wedding Shrimp & Grits

This is the BEST Shrimp (and sausage) & Grits recipe ever!! (ok.. it comes a close second to the Shrimp & Grits at Clemson's fancy date night restaurant). We used this recipe for my brother and sister-in-laws rehearsal dinner... thus the name. You may think that you do not like grits, but what you are probably used to is the flavorless watery grits from Waffle House or maybe Denny's. These grits are such creamy goodness!! Trust me.

WEDDING SHRIMP & GRITS

Grits

4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 stick (8 tablespoons) margarine or butter
1-1/2 cups yellow or white stone-ground grits (I use Red Mill)
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper
Shredded cheddar cheese

Bring broth, water and butter to boil in 4-quart (or larger) saucepan. Lower heat to medium. Add one teaspoon salt and grits and whisk until blended. When grits thicken after about 2 minutes lower heat to simmer and cover pot.

Cook 15 minutes stirring occasionally with wooden spoon. Add milk and heavy cream and simmer an additional 10 minutes (uncovered) until tender and creamy.

Tender a creamy... yummy!

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add shredded cheddar cheese to grits or serve on the side. Makes 4 (ridiculously) generous servings.

Cajun Shrimp & Sausage
Raw Shrimp, peeled and deveined (allow 1 pound for 3 people)
12-14 ounces Andouille sausage (sliced into coins) (You’ll find this in most groceries with the bacon. Wal-Mart carries it)
12-14 ounces smoked sausage or polish kielbasa (sliced into coins)
Olive oil
Cajun seasoning

Place sausages in 13 x 9 baking dish or metal pan.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with Cajun seasoning, stirring to coat.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Add shrimp (drizzle with more oil and Cajun seasoning), stir, and bake an additional 10 minutes until shrimp turn pink.

Serve over grits. Makes 4 servings.

YUM!

How good does THAT closeup look?

See, even my 2 year old is a fan!!

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One of those days

Ever have one of those days? Well... TODAY is one of those days for me... ugh.

It actually started out quite well; Jillie was up at 5:45am (after sleeping through which is a change from normal), and then wanted to stay up so we got up. I did some laundry, cleaned the kitchen a bit, had some hot tea, and then the rest of the family joined us.

With today being the last day before a LONG road trip, I've got quite a few things going on; I should have made a list... which is what I normally do, but last night I couldn't find the paper, so I didn't.....

We are out of the house by 9:10 (since nothing opens til 9 anyway) because we wanted to get a lot done before our meet & greet with Charlotte's teacher in the 2's class at 11:15.  We hit the dollar tree to get some tailgate stuff (for CLEMSON WOO HOO!), then onto see hubby and grandpa at work so the girls can say 'Hi' before leaving for 2 weeks, then I text one of my friends whose daughter is in Charlotte's class to see if she's going at 11:15am and she said no, hers was at 9:15am. hmmmm.... oh well, I have 11:15 written down, off to the bank.

After the bank we run home to pick up the "My Favorites" paper about Charlotte to add to her classes and I see (when I open my notebook), that meet & greet was at 9:15-9:45am. WHAT?!?!

I gather up the girls and hustle everyone out the door to see if the teachers are still there (an hour AFTER the meet & greet ended) so I can tell her we are missing the 1st week of school and sorry we missed the meet & greet. We chat for a few minutes and I feel horrible (a) for missing the meet & greet (I am SO the trouble mom ALREADY which is funny since I'm the VP of the Parent Teacher Committee) and (b) for CHARLOTTE missing play time with friends. While we are standing there she keeps saying "I wanna play, mommy" because she knows this place.... we are here a couple times a week and she knows she gets to play with friends. Unfortunately, all her friends were there 2 hours earlier. So we go play on the playground and make a new friend for about 20 minutes.

Next we run to Babies R Us to find some of those cute white socks with the frills on them (Target does NOT carry them thank you very much) and see if they have black shoes (which... again Target did not have for Charlotte's size yesterday). Found them! Sweet. But not before Jillie starts standing up in the cart (I'm an awesome mom for putting her in the back of the cart so she doesn't topple over when she stands up instead of the front of the cart) AND with Charlotte asking for those super cute personalized bottles and cups which NEVER have her name. Poor child.

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Back in the car, and it's about noon. "Food?", "I wanna go home", and "waaaaah" (from Jillie) are coming from the backseat, but I still HAVE to get to the library to pick up an Audio book for tomorrows car ride. I'll just quickly swing by. As I arrive at the library I realize that I forgot the DVDs that I need to return. Crap. As I walk inside the library, I realize that I requested the audio book to a DIFFERENT library. Double Crap.

Back to the car.

At this point I decide to go home and try to reset my karma (or at least boost my brain cells with some lunch or something).

Now it's packing and then this afternoon is library (the correct one this time) and grocery; wish me luck!!!

On the bright side.... we are going to CLEMSON tomorrow!

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PS - Thanks for letting me vent :)