For Preslee's Parents

I think this will be the last post about sweet Preslee. I am still saddened by her passing but feel one last need to draw attention to her parents' blog. A beautiful woman has written and performed a song in Preslee's honor. It is available for download with a $1 donation that will go to her parents. You can find it here.

Thank you for reading and hopefully understanding my need to bring light to this sweet little girl. I feel like I have been busy lately and hope to be posting some craftiness soon. I have made several cards and not taken a picture of one. This is because I am usually throwing them together at the last minute. I am anxious to dig into a scrapbooking kit I got soon. I have been uploading and editing pictures for printing so I have some good material. So many memories to get documented!

Broken Hearted

I am sad to update that little Preslee lost her battle here on Earth and is in God's loving arms. I posted about her the other day if you want to go to her parent's blog.

I know I shouldn't be sad about the fact that she is in Heaven now, but I am. Terribly sad. I feel as if I lost a child. Tears have been flowing for days now, thinking about the anguish of this little angel and her parents. I don't even know them! I am trying to find a sense of peace in all of this and I know it will come at some point, but for now, I am DEVASTATED!!!!! I am shocked by the amount of tears I have shed. It's moments like this, I just feel like I can't handle reality. It seems as though every which way I turn there is sadness, loss, pain, and unanswerable questions. And I know it's times like this when I need to also look around and see all the good and happiness that is out there. And I wouldn't trade my reality for anything. But dammit, I am just so upset about this little girl!!!! Sorry for the crazy rant. Just feel the need to get it out there in order to help myself heal from this loss.

A friend directed me to this song by Amy Grant. It's beautiful! And I think will help me.

A Little Girl In Need of Strong Prayers

I don't know if anyone reads my blog, but if you do, please please PLEASE take a moment to send your prayers to a little girl named Preslee who is struggling to heal from a near drowning. I stumbled upon her story while blog hopping here. I don't know this girl or her family or the gal who writes the blog on which this was discovered. But I can't recall a time where my heart has ached so immediately and I have become overwhelmed with a need to pray with all my might. So please, if you have time, check out her parents' blog. And if not, please just take a small moment of your day to send prayers Preslee's way. Thank you!

Happy 4th of July!

Just popping in a quick moment to wish everyone a very Happy and SAFE 4th of July. Thanks to all of those service men and women who are out there protecting our freedoms. We may not be a perfect country, but there's no other place I would rather live. God Bless America ... land that I love!

Thank You Teacher

Two quick gifts I made for Hannah's teachers. The first is a book documenting some of her answers to questions I asked her about school and her teacher.

This one is simply a pillow box, wrapped in some paper. I stuffed a gift card inside. Super simple!

"Our Baby" album

I had so much fun making this baby album. Sadly, I didn't get to watch the mommy open it, but I am sure she loved it. It features the paper line "Garden Party" by My Mind's Eye. Once again, my handy dandy Silhouette helped me out.

Here's the cover:

Here's a look at the open book from above:

The inside cover:

Each page is an envelope I cut out using my Silhouette. I am not sure of the exact measurement here, but I would say the envelope dimensions are around 3.5"x8". Smaller and longer than what I usually do:

I designed the book so there's a place for a photo of the baby at each month in the first year:

In between a couple of the envelope pages, I tucked odd shaped pieces. This is a chipboard scalloped square cut down to fit the book:

And the other side of the piece (toes are another Silhouette shape):

Not the greatest shot of the flower, but it's actually several Silhouette flowers layered together and topped with a button:

This is my most favorite piece of the album! It's another odd shaped piece tucked in between two of the pages. You know how penant banners are all the rage in scrapbooking? Well I couldn't resist doing a similar thing only with the baby clothes on a clothesline. These shapes are all QuicKutz shapes:

The backside of that piece:

And a final odd shaped piece. This time using acetate. The little monkey is a Silhouette shape. Sorry the picture is so dark:

The back side:

The last page ... a place to quickly record those important milestones:

The inside of the back cover:

And because I had to put something INside those envelopes ... little journaling cards to document what the little one is up to:

A peek at what they look like inside the envelope:

The ribbon on the binding rings:

Another view of the whole thing:

It's a jungle out there

Just a couple of things I recently finished up. Going to a double, co-ed baby shower this weekend. One mommy has done the room in jungle theme (gender unknown). The other mommy just monkeys and giraffes. I have had these wooden door hangers for years now. Same for the animals -- got them at Michael's. Fortunately a couple of weeks ago I was digging through some boxes that had moved over from our old house (a year and a half ago) and came across all of them. I hope they'll be used and enjoyed.

I just have to say ...

... that Disneyland rocks! Or to be more exact, CA Adventure rocks! And not because they offer good rides, eateries, a clean and safe place to take your kids. But because their First Aid station is amazing. I took both girls there today in the hopes of having a wonderful time. We were meeting good friends there too. On the way there, Hannah complained of her throat hurting. Hmmm ... I thought perhaps a cold was coming on. Both girls have seemed a little sniffly and/or slightly congested lately, though I thought that was behind us. So on we went. After being there a couple of hours, she complained of a headache. Uh oh! She does this very rarely and yet because of past experiences, I know she knows what they are enough to be telling me an accurate truth. I felt her forehead and fortunately she was not warm. But I needed to get her something to alleviate the discomfort if we were going to be there until closing time (the plan was to stay in CA Adventure until it closed and then head into Disneyland for a few hours). I asked one of the wonderful employees if any of the stores sold a children's Tylenol. He wasn't positive but recommended going to First Aid first. I guess I knew somewhere in my brain that these type of parks have to have a First Aid, but hadn't ever given it much of a thought. So off we went. I walked in with poor little Hannah who was quietly sobbing and explained the problem. Two of the nicest doctors quickly said I had come to the right place because it was cheaper than buying something. They gave her the appropriate amount of Junior's Tylenol Meltaways (because apparently the Children's ones have been recalled). They gave her a Nurse Minnie sticker and 3 more for her sister and two friends, offered up a cot if I felt the need to have her rest, and told me to come back in 4 hours if she was experiencing another headache. It was so wonderful to be treated with compassion and friendly smiles. Three cheers for CA Adventure's First Aid!!!! I am sure they can be of assistance for Tylenol if a grownup is in need as well. Because we all know, it sucks to get older due to body aches and pains. And Lord knows trucking around a theme park is not always easy on the body.

And another AMAZING part of CA Adventure that I discovered today was that they have a Baby Care Center. I had no idea such a thing existed. BUT, if you are looking for a clean and peaceful place to change a baby's diaper, need a place to breast feed with comfort, a place to feed your child with the convenience of a clean high chair, a place to microwave some water or food for the baby, or need an emergency supply of formula (liquid or powder) or baby food, this is the place to go! I couldn't believe it when I walked in there. I should have taken pictures! I'll have to go back and ask if I can for my blog. The breastfeeding area has a nice rocking recliner with ottoman and a curtain you can draw around the whole thing so no one can see. The changing center has 3 very nice changing tables with soft pads and a nice thick sheet of paper you can place on top to protect baby. There's also a small, child sized, low to the ground potty for toddlers and a low sink so they can wash their hands. In another room, there's 3 nice wooden highchairs set up with a counter equipped with a sink and microwave. In the cabinets above are formula and baby food. I assume this is at a cost though because they were locked and I did spy a cash register. But hey, when emergencies call, you'll pay right? I hear Disneyland has one of these as well so look for the pacifier symbol on your map or ask one of the friendly employees where the Baby Care Center is. Almost makes me want to have a 3rd, just so I can take advantage of this convenience. I said almost! This gal also shares her experiences with it.

And another hopefully useful thing to provide you with is this. The Children's Tylenol recall. Honestly, I had no idea about this. I am not sure which rock I have been hiding under, but I will confess my bad mommy moment. Had the First Aid doctors not mentioned anything about it being recalled, I would have had no idea. Of course I mention this to my friend who knows all about it and proceeded to tell me that they had to throw all of theirs out and request coupons for new stuff. Yikes! So she tells me I can look it up online. So when I got home, I pulled out all of my Infant Tylenol, Infant Motrin, Children's Tylenol, and Children's Motrin bottles. I Googled "Children's Tylenol Recall 2010" and sure enough ... there was one. So onto my helpfulness regarding this issue. Here are two websites you can go to that will allow you to input the LOT NUMBER, entered directly on your label to determine if your stuff was recalled.

Children's Tylenol
Children's Motrin

Fortunately, none of my bottles were recalled and I was able to give my Hannah some before bedtime.

So there you go. I hope this helps someone. Did I mention that Hannah threw up immediately after getting her strapped into her car seat? And once on the way home, in the midst of traffic? {sigh} So needless to say, I am pulling a late night washing car seat coverings. Joy! I feel bad for making her stay the whole time. She's such a little trooper.

Remember

Happy Memorial Day everyone! May you be able to find a few moments to think about and be thankful for the sacrifice so many men and women make and have made to protect us and our country and what it stands for. May the meaning of this day not be lost on you.

Loving posts from this woman and this woman (scroll thru the 5 most recent posts) that speak to the importance of this day.

An oldie but a goodie

Here's something I have been meaning to post for some time. Another baby album I did for a friend's shower. It uses the same paper line as the last album I posted. While there are quite a bit of similarities, I think you'll agree they're still individual and unique pieces of work. (please excuse the awful pictures. I was up late into the night before the shower and had to take the pictures in bad light)

Note to self (regarding picture below) ... don't use Stickles to adhere crystals. Or if you do, make sure you don't accidentally bump the page when photographing. If you can believe it, I didn't catch this mistake until I uploaded the photos. Meaning yes, I did give my friend the album in this condition. Ugh! To this day, I am so mad at myself and have not contacted her about it. I don't know what I should do. She lives out of state. Should I tell her to fleck the crystals off and send her new ones that she can glue down. That seems kind of tacky. Yet I hate that she has this messed up page in her album.