Polka Dot Junkie by Megan Green Auction on Facebook

Polka Dot Junkie by Megan Green


If you you click the link above, it will take you to Polka Dot Junkie. This Facebook boutique is doing an online auction for a Texas family who lost their 4 month old daughter, Maddie, earlier this month. 100% of the proceeds go to the family (minus some shipping costs some of the donors wanted back).

For more information on the Staat Family and to leave a message of encouragement, please visit their blog (HERE). The blog is updated regularly by Kellie, Maddie's mom.

If you can't participate in the auction, please send a little prayer for the family. With Auggie being almost 4 months old, I can't imagine what they are going through.

Thank you.

52 Fridays- Honeybee Creations Card Ordering!

I've had cards on the brain so much that I've been dreaming about them! Yes- giant cards have been in my dreams. Giant cards that I have to make! 

I have really enjoyed making all these cards for people. I absolutely love when people want me to make them for their friends and family. I have quite a few in line already for me to work on and I'm always looking for more! If you would like for me to make a few cards, please feel free to comment or check me out on Facebook @ Honeybee Creations (You should LIKE Honeybee Creations on Facebook....Oh and keep a lookout on Monday for Honeybee Creations' new blog!!)

I've set a few guidelines when you order cards from Honeybee Creations. Please order cards at least 2 weeks before your event so they can be mailed to you and then to your recipient.

 Please send the following descriptions when you're ordering:

1. Custom, Deluxe or Note Card (see prices below)
2. Event (his/her birthday, wedding/baby shower, anniversary, etc)
3. Colors or pattern (optional- if left blank, a pattern or coordinating colors will be chosen for you)
4. Wording (optional)
5. Will it be mailed to the recipient or given by hand?*
6. Date of event
7. Email address for Pay Pal invoice

*This will determine the thickness of the embellishments on the card and if a hand made envelope will be included. The closest size standard mailable envelope will be included if your card needs to be mailed.

Prices:

• Simple Cards (Squares or Rectangles with at least 1 embellishment) are $6 
• Rush orders (under 2 weeks) will be $10 a card
• As small at 4x4 and up to 6x6 for square cards
• As small as 3.5x5 and up to 5x7 for rectangular cards
• Deluxe Cards (Specific design other than square or rectangle) are $8
• Please provide description of shape you'd like
• Rush orders (under 2 weeks) will be $12 a card
• Note Cards (Squares with 1 stamp) are $6 for 4
• All 4 cards will be the same or slight variations of each other
• Not mailable
• Sleeve provided, not mailable
• Embellishments such as 3D stickers will be extra
• As small as 2x2 (more than 4 will be provided with this size) and up to 4x4
• Rush orders (under 2 weeks) will be $10 a set

Simple Card: Birthday

Note Card: Birthday Note card (2x2 shown with extra embellishment)

Simple Card: Birthday

Note Card: Thank You card (4x4 shown with 1 stamp and sleeve)

Deluxe Card: Corset shaped Valentine's Day Card

Please comment or send me an email with any questions or comments! Thank you for stopping by!!

Holland

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

I found this "poem" in the things our nurses at The Med gave us when we left for Dell Children's. Connie, one of our nurses, wrote us a sweet note about her son,13, (he was born deaf) and how she was given this when he was born. It was comforting knowing she knew some of what we were going through. 

I found it about a week after we left and have thought about "Holland" every day since.

Those times when there's a loud noise outside and Auggie doesn't react

or when I'm vacuuming 

or when I was reminded of being pregnant and thinking how Auggie wasn't bothered by the loud music at the bar

or when I noisily walked up to him in his crib and scared him so bad he almost cried

or when I think about our friends' kids

or when I'm out at the store by myself and see other couples with their little babies 

it all just seems so hard so I push it out of my mind.

I don't like thinking or talking about Auggie having TCS but I know if I don't talk about it, I won't be able to hide my feelings much longer. I've slowly opened up to some people- mostly through emails and texts- but seeing some of Julie's Facebook Notes have made me really think about who I should talk to. (Thank You Julie B.!) I've been trying to write in my personal paper journal more... making it less about what has been going on in my life and more about how I've been feeling but I figured if I'm going to start feeling emotionally better, it might help to write some in our family blog and talk to someone.

I understand it is not the end of the world that Auggie has TCS but it's like Kingsley wrote... I was just expecting something different... much different. I was expecting the overwhelming joy of having a baby and to have all the happiness to surround our family for some time after Auggie was born. Have all our friends and family come over and "oooh" and "ahh" over the little baby. Be able to Baptize him in the same church Tim & I got married in and have a nice celebration, again, with those same friends and family. Instead we had so much stress and some bad news crowd the happy event of his birth. He has only met a handful of people and his cousins have hardly gotten to see him. I also understand that Auggie could have a much worse case of TCS... I am very grateful that he doesn't. It is still just really hard to deal with the fact that our little boy will have some hard times ahead of him and Tim & I won't be able to relate to him as much. I know people have been through much worse and dealt with it differently but it is still hard (for me, at least) to go through. 

I'm at the point where I'm tired of being fake happy. I'm tired of saying everything is great. Of course, I couldn't be happier that our little Auggie bear is sleeping great and eating well. I just know something is different inside myself. There's always something nagging at me on the insides. I'm tired of feeling anxious when people come over and most of all I'm so tired of crying. 

So this is another time I'm going out on a limb. If you know me well, you know I don't pour out my emotions for anyone... This is hopefully the first step towards a happy Kelsey.

AND NOW ON TO AUGGIE!!

Gramma was here Monday through Wednesday. It was nice having her in College Station since she spent the last 2 weeks in Krum with Nathan, Jamie & Zach. Nathan had his 2nd birthday over the weekend (can't believe he's TWO!). For his 1st birthday Tim & I were the only ones in the family to make it up there (Dallas had all that snow again)... and then for this year, we were the only ones in the family to not be there. 

Tuesday, Auggie had his last RSV shot. Er, well, it was supposed to be. The nurse said since the hospitals here were still receiving RSV cases, they are coming back in March for another round for their patients. I guess we'll see if our insurance will approve another shot. I can't believe how expensive it is for just one shot!!

The speech therapist comes tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. And then March begins our month of doctors appointments- Dietician, ABR hearing test, 4 month check up, Craniofacial check up.

Auggie checking out the light on the "key"

Smiling for Gramma

Sleeping great for Daddy while Mommy & Gramma go shopping

In memory of a little girl named Maddie who loved big bows
http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com/

Well, mostly Kelsey on this one ;)

Tuesday Caught Me By Surprise

Valentine's Day 2011 

Talking to his new elephant friend

Looking out the window

"Will you quit with the pictures already?"

Smiling for Gramma 2/21

Wubbanub time!!

52 Fridays- Valentines

I did so many cards last week that I want to post but I can't since they haven't reached their final destination! I think it's been my favorite batch so far. I took a break from card making this week.. well, mainly to give our dining room table a breather. It was covered in supplies for a while there. It'll be SO nice once we move into a bigger house (years in the future) so I can have a proper craft room! But enough of thinking about my craft room... Here are some of the cards I can reveal!

Valentine's Day card

Valentine's Day Card

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.

Butterfly Kisses

How do you know you've found a true friend. When you are ready to talk to them about anything, even though they know everything about you already

Be Mine

I'm really hoping the recipients of the cards enjoyed them. Next year, I'll be doing a lot more Valentine's Day cards since I had so much this year.

Well, I'm off to go day dream a little about my future craft room!

Auggie is Getting SO Big!

Tuesday and Wednesday were both good days. Nothing too eventful happened so this will mostly be a picture post.

I did, however, meet up with some other moms in Bryan/College Station. We had dinner at Cheddars. There were only 7 of us but it was nice to get out and hang out with girls. I'm looking forward to getting together with them when Auggie is able to meet other kids.

And now onto the pictures...

Auggie all dressed up for the walk on Sunday Feb 13

In his carseat.. Auggie was not happy with us Feb 13

Walking to Brother's Pond Park: He was asleep by the time I was out of the house! Feb 13

Auggie passed out after having a rough early morning Feb 16

Watching the fan and being WIDE awake for sleepy Mommy

SMILE Feb 14

Sleepy time before our walk to the post office and Sonic FEb 16

Looking like a big boy! Auggie definitely has his Daddy's proportions...  I couldn't button up the back of his shirt because his neck was too big Feb 15

Sleeping at Sonic Feb 16

Beautiful Weekend= One Happy Mommy!

I don't know how this weekend could have been any better! Have I said I can't wait til it gets warm? Warm weather will definitely improve these darned moods I've been in lately. The warm weather not only made me happy but it also meant Auggie got to venture outside! All you Facebook people got to hear about what we did so you'll have to bear with me.

Saturday was full of clear skies and rugby.. and a little bit of work for Tim. He used the morning to go out and meet a landowner. He was supposed to take Aussie & Charley to get their rabies shots in Bryan but his meeting took longer than he expected. We had Subway for lunch when he came back and then went to the A&M campus to watch a rugby game. It was Auggie's first rugby game and really, his first time to be outside for a while! We don't have a cap that is big enough to shade his head properly so we used a bucket hat (or booney hat, if you're Tim) from Jane & Sherwin. Auggie was not a fan of the hat.. and who could blame him, if it wasn't in the perfect spot, it covered his whole face. A&M was winning 38-13 when we left. They ended up scoring two more tries against Sam Houston before the end of the game. A&M was controlling the game but I wasn't too impressed with their play (and I hardly know much about rugby so you know what that means!). It seemed like they played down to Sam's level.

Tim holding Auggie at the Texas A&M v. Sam Houston game

Auggie ended up not liking his hat

He spent most of the game snuggled up close to Mommy

After the rugby game, we came home and watched some of the 7's tournament at Las Vegas on ABC. Then Stephanie, Tim's sister, came up to babysit Auggie for the evening. Tim & I went out to celebrate our sixth Valentine's Day together! It was a nice evening for just the two of us. We ate at Olive Garden and then went to see The King's Speech. It was a great movie. I would recommend it! I can see how it is nominated for a bunch of awards. I really enjoyed our date night and we both really appreciated Stephanie coming up just to babysit! Thank you, Stephanie!!

Sunday was an equally as nice. Tim spent most of it outside and started prepping a tree in the backyard for decimation. Eventually, Tim and someone else (hopefully) will be chopping it down. It has been wearing some of the shingles on our roof off.  Tim had rugby practice at 2 and I took Auggie for his first walk around 3. Stephanie was able to bring up Jessica’s stroller on Saturday. YAY! Thank you, Jessica!! Auggie's carseat fits right in the stroller which made it really easy to use! I took my usual route down to Brother's Pond Park and waited for rugby practice to be over to see Tim. Auggie slept the whole time we were walking- even on the really bumpy gravel. He is so good in his carseat... Man, I hope that doesn't change!

Sleeping with his elephant (one of many) 2/14

Monday was a normal day for Auggie and me. I tried to organize my craft supplies (since they're all over the place now) while Auggie slept. I didn't get very far because I want to do too many things at once- organize my craft supplies, do laundry, do the dishes, fold clothes, organize living room.... So things got half done. I need to make sure things get all the way done this afternoon! Tim came home from work with my Valentine's DAy gift- a poem! I love when he writes poems. I only have three or four but they're SO nice!! I gave him a card Saturday night. I'll have to post it later this week on 52 Fridays.

Auggie posing with the elephant Gramma sent him for Valentine's Day 2/10

We took Aussie & Charley for a walk. Auggie enjoyed the stroller ride again. He was up all the way down to the school and then slept for the rest of the way. While he was awake, he kept following the tree branches as we walked under them. I hope he grows up to enjoy nature just like Tim! We ended the night by watching Public Enemies with Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and so many other recognizable actors. Emlie de Raven (from Lost & Roswell), Leelee Sobieski (Joy Ride), David Wenham (Lord of the Rings), Channing Tatum (She's the Man, Step Up) and a bunch of others had some small roles. I'd see actors I recognized and was like "huh, I didn't know they were in this!" It was an okay movie... nothing spectacular but it was entertaining. It continued our tradition of watching ooey gooey romantic movies on Valentine's Day... not! The first Valentine's Day movie we saw together was Smokin' Aces... definitely not a romantic movie!

Trying to eat the elephant's trunk 2/10

Trying to smile for the camera 2/10

So we'll see how the next couple of days go. I'm sure I'll be outside with Auggie on a couple more walks. I'm slowly starting to get out more and more and it seems to help me be optimistic... I am so tired of being a pessimist/unhappy. Thursday night I went out on a limb and met up with a mom and tots group I found through Meet Up.com. There's about two dozen moms on the group and they just started getting together. They have a few events planned for all the moms and kids to get together and I am really looking forward to getting the okay from Auggie's doctors so we can join in the festivities. Thursday night, I met with one of the moms, M, at Muldoon's (a coffee shop). She was really nice. I'm hoping we can be friends.. at least hang out on occasion. Hopefully the Meet Up group will lead to Tim & I meeting a few people to really get to know. Since Tim can get out and play rugby with the guys, I'll hopefully be able to get out with the mom's group and another group I found- College Station Crafters. I'll keep you updated.

Until Thursday!

52 Fridays- Sneak Peak

Since the cards I have recently made are still in the mail, I can't reveal them to you. So you'll have to make do with a few teaser photos. Hope you enjoy!

I'll make a special post once all the cards are handed out to their recipients. So stay tuned for those!

It's Cold AGAIN!

Have I said I'm ready for warmer weather? Oh, man! It's supposed to be 25 degrees at 8 a.m. this morning. I am ready for those really nice days when it's t shirt weather in the sun and jacket weather in the shade. I can only hope we'll have a lot of those nice in between days.

Tuesday was an alright day for me at least. Auggie was up all day and didn't really take a nap. He was good for the most part. :)  We had an appointment with a dietician from ECI (Early Childhood Intervention). She was very happy with Auggie's eating habits. On the 5 day average, he's eating 26 ounces a day- which is right in line with the average baby (22-30 oz). She was impressed he didn't have any problems with a cleft lip or anything. She weighed and measured Auggie- 12.2 lbs and 23.75 inches long! He's moving on up! He's at the 25 percentile with his weight and in between the 25 and 50 percentile with height. The dietician will be back on March 1 just to make sure things are continuing to go well.

Wednesday was a good day. Auggie had slept for a straight 5 hours Tuesday night! We were surprised and we didn't even know he had slept through until he woke us up. Auggie napped throughout the day... nothing too long, of course. He wanted to be held most of the time- especially after our little photo shoot. I wasn't able to get anything done until Tim came home at 3. I was able to work on some cards while Tim played with Auggie.

While Auggie took one of his short naps, I took some photos of the birds that were hanging out in the backyard.

Fluffy Mourning Dove on the back fence

House Sparrow on a chair in the backyard

When Auggie woke up, I figured it was time to take his 3 month pictures... Maybe his 4 month pictures will be the good ones. I put him on his tummy to see if he'd smile once but he got really upset the moment I turned him over.

Starting out Auggie's photo shoot 

Just missed a smile 

Just looking at Mommy to see what she's doing

Tummy pictures are still a no go

And that was the end of our photo shoot

Auggie slept the rest of the day. Tim tried waking him up to keep him up so we weren't up with him for the whole night (I write these out Wednesday night so we'll see how it turns out!). He only woke up to eat. He also kind of woke up just to cry for a few seconds and then would fall back asleep.

Daddy & Auggie

Getting ready for the Super Bowl

Sporting my football shoes

So until next Tuesday! We'll see how this weekend goes!