Still Waiting....

Baby Gracie has not yet made an appearance. Which, while stressful for those of us waiting, is best for her. Every day is a milestone right now!

Von, I saw your new blog layout...very nice. For some reason, blogger is not letting me get in to make a comment, I think it is at my end...I've noticed it has happened before, and when I restart the computer it takes care of it. I am just too lazy to restart, hence I hope you see this post. Anyway, I liked how you put your Virginia Creeper picture at the top of your sidebar....This is a great way to show off a new picture. Maybe I can be real efficient and change the picture weekly! Probably not, but it is a great idea!!! I started with the Victoria Sampler Washington State heart.

Our lives right now consist of waiting for baby to come, and somehow to always be prepared for that moment....I have taken to constantly carrying my tote bag with me..it has the movie camera, digital camera, extra batteries, a small stitching project, my mp3 player, etc. I have even been taking it to work with me, which has been only two days this week. I am trying to stay on top of the dishes and housework so that I don't have a huge mess to deal with and still be at the hospital with Amy Sue.

The weather has taken a decided turn towards winter. It froze last night, and it is cold in the house even with the heat set at 68 degrees. This now means that the leaves that had not fallen yet will be off in a day or two, having been frozen off. All the flowers that were still blooming will now be brown and hunkering down for winter. We've been drinking alot of apple cider at our house, with a little bit of caramel syrup...yummy! I haven't decorated with any of my fall decorations, since having a two year old in the house means they will not stay put, or even in one piece. I decided not to even bring out the temptation!!!!


We have been watching the news about the California wildfires, along with everyone else I guess. Several old friends of mine have had to evacuate their homes, and one family that I know of lost their home. What is even sadder is that the largest fire has been determined to be caused by arson. It has been amazing to hear first hand reports of how things really are....One gal sent us a picture of some miniature horses being kept in a shopping cart enclosure in the parking lot of a Costco....

A quick update!

For those of you friends and family who have an interest, this is just to update you all on how things are going with Amy Sue. She has been in the hospital since Thursday evening. She started having regular contractions again, and has been on IV drips of magnesium sulfate since then trying to stop her labor. It seems to be working for now. They have also been giving her shots of steroids to develop the baby's lungs. An ultrasound was done Friday afternoon, and the baby weighs approximately 5.5 pounds, and size wise is at about 35.5 weeks. Her actual weeks are 34 weeks today. They have ultimately decided to wean her off of the magnesium over the next 24 hours and just let nature take it's course. So I am expecting baby Gracie Lynn to be born sometime this week...if not tomorrow!!! (Yep, she finally has a name too!!) We are scrambling like mad around here trying to get things prepared, since we had done basically nothing to get ready for the baby at home...

I will try and send more updates as we know anything new and different. Prayers are definitely appreciated and needed!

For those of you who know Amy Sue...

she is now back in blogland while living here with us. She has posted a new entry at Diaper Days! Enjoy!!!

A new look for my blog!

I discovered this evening that Blogger now has some new features to be able to customize their templates, giving us more control over what our blogs look like. I did some experimenting and then lots of fine tuning, and here is the final result. Hope you like it as much as I do!!!!

It's a gorgeous fall day!

The sun is shining brightly, for now at least, and I took the opportunity to snap a picture of one of my dogwood trees showing it's fall color. It is so pretty with the sun shining on the leaves, making them glow from the inside, the picture doesn't do it justice. I cleaned house this morning, my normal Saturday morning chores, and Lizzie, Amy and I are going to go have manicures together this afternoon. John has kindly consented to watch Alana for a couple hours so that we can have some time away.

I finished the Mary and Joseph ornament this week, it stitched up fairly quickly. I pulled the threads and fabric for the final ornament in the series this morning, so I hope to get started on it this evening.

Life is in a nice routine this week, so nothing very exciting or dramatic to talk about. I am savoring this time, as I know when the new baby is born that life will not be "normal" again for quite awhile!!! Oh, but aren't they worth it???

This new granddaughter is still currently without a name. A first name of Samantha was mulled around for a time, but has since been rejected. Amy has her favorites of course, and Max is not wanting to cooperate and make a decision....as Mystie has said in her blog regarding their new baby's name, it may be a matter of who gets their hands on the paperwork at the hospital first before we know the final decision!!!! I keep telling Amy not to worry too much, she didn't have a middle name until after she was born, and then we ended up changing her name legally from Amy Celeste to Amy Sue Celeste when she was about 6 months old. Sometimes babies just need to let you know by their presence what they are to be called, I think!!!

I'm on a roll now....

I have finished another unfinished project last week...this time, Gazebo Roses, by Victoria Sampler. It's been about 4 years in my basket, so I am very excited to have it finished. I modified the pattern just a little to make it fit on my fabric better, changed one row and left off a few of the smaller rows, but I am very pleased with the result. I will probably finish it off into a bell pull one of these days.

I have gotten back to working on the Shepherd's Bush Christmas ornaments from the Just Cross Stitch magazines over the years...I am currently on the 2006 ornament, and now that I have the new ornament issue for 2007, I can finish up this series I hope in time for Christmas this year. I am planning on stitching them together into some kind of a banner, in order, so that it is easier to read the story in the words.

I went this morning and had my flu shot for the year...Ouch! Normally they

don't hurt and I have no lingering effects from the shot, but this time the person did it way up on my shoulder where there is nothing but bone and tendons and it hurt when he did it, and now my whole arm is aching big time. I am guessing it is from the placement of the shot and not the vaccine itself. Argghhh!

It is nice to have more time for stitching now that my test is over and the weather is forcing me indoors on the weekends. Its been cozy, sit with a quilt and hot water bottle type weather...just perfect for stitching and reading!