Tart & Tangy Class!

Woohoo! I've finally got a stamp class on my calendar. Now you all need to put it on yours!

This class will use the Tart & Tangy set from the Occasions Mini Catalog with the nice bright, summery colors of the Summer Picnic designer papers to boot! Check out the class description on my Stampin' Up website. I can't seem to get the pictures to load onto my blog, so I'll keep trying my best to figure out all this technical stuff!

The result of my long absence...HBA2C!

Okay, I've been gone for too long from this blog...I've used my time well, though. I've been incubating & giving birth to baby number three! Welcome to Henry Bartholomew Cooper who joined us on March 20, 2008 at 12:01 am in our bedroom :)





I have a brief birthstory that I wrote up for anyone who's interested enough to read about Henry's arrival...it only took 45 minutes for him to arrive, but it took over a month for me to finally write about it. He obviously doesn't have his mother's procrastination genes!





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On Tuesday night my water broke at 7:00 when I was just about to put Joey to bed for the night…I waited until nearly 8:00 and called the midwife, Paula, to let her know that things would be starting sometime in the foreseeable future. (With both Lucy and Joey, my contractions started about two hours after the water broke.)

Wednesday came…no contractions! Nothing going on! I went on a loooooong walk & spent a leisurely day watching movies with Gene since I wouldn’t let him go to work in case things got going. Still nothing after that walk. Paula called to check up on me in the afternoon to remind me to sleep if possible since we knew things would go sooner or later. Who can sleep, though, when waiting to meet the little person you’ve been anxiously awaiting for so long?!

After a few more phone calls, Paula said she’d come over around 9 pm to give me a castor oil “shake” to kick things into gear since my water was broken & we wanted to move things along as naturally as possible. I drank the lovely concoction at 9 & Paula checked me to see if I’d dilated at all thus far before the castor oil started its (ahem!) magic. When she checked me, she let me know that I was already @6-7 centimeters with no contractions. At that point we waited for the castor oil to have an effect. An hour passed…no contractions…no castor oil effects…Paula checked again only to find that I’d dilated to 7-8 centimeters. At this point I was joking that maybe the baby would just fall out with no contractions since I was experiencing the beginning of transition still without contractions.

At about 11:00pm, Paula’s partner, Claudette, arrived at our house to join the birthing party. She & I were sitting and chatting in the living room with Paula when I finally experienced two contractions (around 11:15) that felt like they might be starting to do some work. I only felt the contractions really low instead of across my entire belly, so I assumed that things were just beginning & that there would be a bunch more before something big happened…THEN…

I felt a little sick & thought maybe the dreaded castor oil was coming, but when I went to the bathroom, I just threw up a few times. I got up from the floor & went into the bedroom since I wanted to get away from the toilet. Upon getting into the bedroom, I had a couple of *serious* feeling contractions during which Gene & the midwives were trying to fill the birth tub. That wasn’t going to happen fast enough since then I dropped to the floor and started feeling like pushing…and I did as my body cued me to do…it was so nice to push without anyone telling me I could/was allowed to like they do at the hospital!

Things were happening pretty fast, so the midwives had me lay on my left side in bed. At this point, baby’s heartrate dropped, so Gene had to hold the oxygen mask up to my face in hopes that the heartrate would rise again…no luck. So down to the floor we went again. I was so glad to get off my side! I don’t know who finds that position comfortable for pushing babies out, but I’ve had that position tried on me for both this birth as well as Joey’s labor and couldn’t stand it both times! Uck!

Happily baby liked it when I was on my hands and knees, so I continued pushing while Gene held up the oxygen mask for me. I really loved how cold it felt on my face! I was *so* overheated! Soon Paula was busy catching the latest addition to the family! Welcome little Henry! Once Henry was out, I was helped into bed to await the arrival of the placenta while admiring how handsome our little man was. Thank goodness Claudette was a good photographer…we have lots of photos of those first moments with Henry. I couldn’t believe how great I felt after giving birth! I even was able to take myself to the bathroom later…talk about major differences in even the smallest details from the miserable c-section recoveries!

Henry is the biggest baby we’ve had yet…he beat Joey by 2 ounces. Henry was 8 pounds, 3 ounces and 21 inches long. He was born at 12:01am on March 20. Who knew what a difference 45 minutes could make in our lives!

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Here's the tub we never got around to using...I was so excited about it, too! Maybe next time!
Henry's first real photo!

Here's Gene cutting Henry's cord with Paula's assistance. I'd never seen any of this before, so it was really pretty neat!

Here's our first real family photo of Momma, Daddy, and Henry.

This was Easter morning...Lucy & Henry just LOVE Henry!

2 Years Ago Today...WOW!

(WARNING: Shameless Lucy brag photos follow!)

I can't believe that Lucy turned two today! It's almost impossible to think that there was life before Lucy was with us, but it just doesn't seem like she's already been here for two whole years. Here are a few choice photos of my sweet little ham:

Here is the only kid in town who, apparently, wouldn't mind charcoal in her stocking. Lucy was trying to hide that she had found the charcoal & was smearing it on herself. I was laughing so hard that I just had to take a picture instead of scolding her or chasing her around in circles in the backyard! Hee hee! I think someday I may be able to properly embarass her...!

Here's my dress-up girl. She's so funny in her choices...a bunny rabbit hat, a shiny skirt, and Momma's shoes make for one gorgeous girl, huh?

Here she is today as an official two-year old! We went to McDonald's with Grace & Danny as a special treat for dinner. Grace & Lucy played for nearly two hours before we could convince them it was time to go home.

This is what happens when you want to mount your new stamps, but your child needs to be distracted...hand her some of your rubber scraps for homemade stickers! Everyone wins!

Here's another princess shot...this time she was using the already-assembled dress-up outfit, so she looks like a princess ought to in a Disney tale. Isn't she just about the cutest princess ever?

Free Stamping Stuff Goes to...

Jenifer & Alex! My hostess appreciation/new catalog unveiling was a great success thanks to all who attended! Jen won the booking prize of a new package of In Color assorted cardstock (8 1/2 X 11) & Alex won the scavenger hunt and $25 gift certificate! Congratulations, girls! btw...Alex tied with Gretchen, Heidi, and Aileen, but my husband was my lovely assistant & drew Alex's name from a random drawing.

I wanted to make sure everyone saw the outcome & that it didn't get lost in the HUGE list of stamps for sale below! I swear that I sat and formatted (for a looooooooong time!) columns, but Blogspot doesn't like that kind of thing in their blogs, apparently! Sorry for the smooshed list!

Retired Stampin' Up Stamp Sets That NEED New Homes

Okay, I'll admit it! I'm a hoarder! I love every single stamp set that I've ever bought...why else would I buy them, right? But as a demo, I can only demo what's current, so I have to clean things up a bit to make room for what I can demonstrate in parties & classes. Can I just blush now about how long this list is? And I'll confess that I've got a TON of other retired sets that I'm just too emotionally attached to to sell right now...hee hee! I love stamping!!! ...and I'm not telling how many are still in my stash still :)

The following is the list of stamp sets that are searching for loving homes; I will post a separate blog post with wheels & any accessories that I can bear to part with :) Happy shopping! If you live close enough to pick them up, there's no shipping. If you'd like them mailed, I can priority them to you for $4.60 for the first set & we'll work it out if you'd like to adopt more than that. I do accept Paypal as well as cash, checks, and credit cards, so shop away! (One last note: some sets have a ? in the original price category because I couldn't remember which catty they were last in, so I used consistent pricing with the other sets.)

Email or post in the comment box to reserve your stamps...it's first come, first served!



If you make it to the bottom to read this (wink! wink!) & would like a photo of anything, please drop me an email!

Love at first bite!

Or kiss? Lucy loves to kiss everyone, especially Joey, but Joey just wants to clamp down on her! He gets such a kick out of his sister in everything that she does near him.
Today the kids & I were in the backyard a lot again...the temperature today was finally normal & not sweltering. Hurray!!! Our poor yard that is showing in these photos looks like we live in a desert, but just focus on the cute kids & you won't even notice the brown, dead stuff under their tushies!
Here's a favorite activity for Miss Lucy...peek-a-boo, Joey! This form is fun for everyone since Lucy is busy using up some of her huge reserves of excess energy while entertaining Joey & anyone else who's within sight. She uses her Big Climber to peek through from the top, bottom, and middle holes and shouts, "Boo!" at Joey. He giggles & gets so excited that she just has to do it again...and again..and again.
Joey is soooooooo close to crawling. If he'd just get that other leg into position & push off a bit, he'd be *gone* in an instant! He's a pretty good sport about it, though. He's really mostly excited about cruising along the couches & tables...walking is really where it's at according to Joey!
And I just had to close with a picture of my little beauty queen up close & personal...I was lying down in the grass to take photos from a different perspective & she needed to copycat me on the ground. She's such my little helper in EVERYTHING that I do! :)

New Stamps & accessories = Prolific Stamping!

The sample above was made with the new Three for You punchbox. I used the slot punch to make the scallops across the bottom & then punched the flowers across it. The colors I used were the new Purely Pomegranate & River Rock along with good ole Old Olive. I'm lovin' those colors as you'll soon see!
Here's a gate fold card made with the new Baroque Motifs set...ooh la la! I like this set with that little flower stamped randomly around over the swirls. Very easy & quick! Very me! The colors used were Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, and Blue Bayou with some River Rock cardstock. Notice that blingy brad? Oh yeah! Rhinestone brad assortments!!
Here starts the super quick & easy cards! This one used Throughout the Year to make a quick focal point. I layered it onto Wild Wasabi (I just like saying that name while I use it...kinda adds flavor to my project! Picture Emeril saying "kick it up a notch" but me saying "Wild Wasabi!") and then onto Purely Pomegranate.
Same set...different look...equally as easy! I really found myself liking these images since they don't require any kind of serious coloring & they're cute to boot! These used the polka dots from the new punchbox as well as Blue Bayou & Soft Sky/Groovy Guava & Purely Pomegranate for the coloring & layering.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...another easy card with *that* set? Told you I couldn't stop! Same colors as the baby card but for the recent graduates in my life. I think this set will be one of my new faves!





I hope all my simply layouts will inspire some serious creativity in your stamproom, too! I made NINE cards in 2 hours! I was so excited about the new stuff that I had gotten last night that I needed to dirty some of that pristine rubber! Last night didn't work since I sat & mounted stamps & gazed lovingly upon my new brads/papers...





I can't help but also include some super cute pictures of the kids taken recently...Joey's finally into eating. And Lucy now has enough hair to do funny things with it! Enjoy!


Looking at this sweet & oh-so-deliciously fat little face, you'd never guess he hadn't been eating heartily for a long while! What a little darling in his new booster seat!

...and here's my favorite camera ham! Lucy had pigtails for the first time in this photo from Father's Day.

Signing off for now...I'll try not to be such an absentee from my blog!!!!!