Update on my Dr.s appointment

I went in thinking they would be doing an ultrasound. I was so excited! It was a bit disappointing to find out that I have to wait until I am 20 weeks to have an ultrasound done. She doesn't see any sense in "burdening" the health care system with ultrasounds that are just to see a blob. Whatever. (I was crushed). Then she did an internal, Apparently I look pretty good inside (ewww) but then the bleeding started again, she said I have NOTHING to worry about as far as the bleeding goes. I have a sensitive cervix, and she said I am likely to bleed all through my pregnancy. Then onto the Doppler to hear the heartbeat!!! Yay I was so excited.. She found it almost right away listened for about 10 beats then stopped and asked me if we have a history of twins in our families. I told her Chris does... She commented that she was hearing "an echo" and that rather than have me come back at 20 weeks she wants me back at 16 and she will requisition the ultrasound then. She said sometimes the echo can happen because of the position but she said there may be a possibility of twins... The colour drained from my face...

OMG- Now I have to wait another month with that on my mind...

The bottom line is that the baby(ies) doing fine the heart beat was 169 which she said was nice and strong. This jelly tot is sticking around!

An old funny story.....

This is one of those stories that has you laughing for years to come. It happened when I was about 13. My family had gone to pick apples and the next day my dad decided he would play Martha Stewart and bake some apple pies when my mom was at work. He peeled, sliced etc for hours prepping 4 pies. Just before he added the crust he decided to sprinkle some brown sugar all over the tops. This was at a time when my mom was a huge BULK shopper and everything was in the same type of container. 30 minutes into the baking process I came out and could smell chicken.. mmm!

Of course my dad said I was nuts because there was no way I was smelling chicken, that I smell apples. So I went to the kitchen and sniffed inside the oven... I could see pies but smelled chicken.

I called my Dad and insisted I was right, and that something MUST be wrong. He pulled them out of the oven and sheepishly agreed that he too could smell chicken.

Turns out the "brown sugar" was Shakin' Bake..Gross!

We have NEVER and will never let him live that down.

In other news tomorrow we have an appointment with our OB to do all the critical checks and to determine why I have been bleeding. I am scared and on edge still, and praying for a heartbeat. I'll post an update tomorrow later in the day.

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXOXOXO

Really Bad Night...

Austin had a HUGE breakdown last night. Cried all night and said he wanted to run away. He doesn't want to be here anymore and if we don't take him home he will'' find his own way" to get there himself basically threatening to run away. He has NEVER done anything like this at all. I sat up most of the night with a blanket so he couldn't get by me.. We reminded him that we're planning to go home next summer and he didn't care, said he wants to go home now, not next year. I cried for hours and when I tried to go back to bed at 3:00 he was still awake crying... He said he feels like we don't care about his concerns and that if we did we wouldn't force him to stay here. We talk about nearly everything with Austin, except money. So it's hard for him to understand why we can't go now. The truth is our savings are gone after spending months in a hotel at $100/night... We need time to save money in order to go home...Chris said he's gonna look for another job at night that will pay more. There's really nothing I can do at the moment. Chris said as long as I can pull in enough (once I am given the all clear) to cover the groceries and small things that he can do the rest. He doesn't want me working full time right now and thats what I was hired to do. He told me to concentrate on finding something part time. He's gonna bust his butt to make enough money that maybe we can go home by Christmas. Austin seemed relieved at the thought we might go home sooner. Our lease is up December 1st, and Chris wants to go then. I am just sick with worry and I wish we never came here to begin with.

My advice to you: If you are really close with your extended family and are contemplating a long distance move. Make damn sure you can really handle being away from family before you go. And don't bother trying to convince yourself, you won't be fooling anyone.

I am sickie!

Ok so I now completely understand the whole morning sickness thing. When I was pregnant with Austin I had it for 5 days and thought it was rough. I have now been sick for a few weeks non stop. I can't keep anything down and we can barely cook with out me getting ill. It has made from some really bland meals. I take pitty on my family who are suffering right along with me.

We made a big decision these past couple weeks. We have decided to go back home next summer. None of us are really adjusting as well as we'd hoped so we're gonna pack it in and move home in a year. I hate feeling like I am throwing in the towel. I have always been a fighter but I so desperately want and need to be home.. close to extended family and friends.

I have been on bed rest for a while (sad complications with my pregnancy- not ready to share this yet) and have an appointment next Friday to find out if everything is still OK . It has me really worried and we had to have a talk with Austin about how sometimes pregnancies are not viable and that it can result in no baby. We explained it as simply and as softly as we could in case something goes wrong it won't be as devastating to him. Until next week we just pray that all is well. I have been feeling a bit better this week. At least well enough to be able to go out a bit. We went to see weird al. That was really fun!

A friend of mine (Shalaine) has been my saving grace... basically keeping me positive when I feel really down.

If you have a chance send me some good vibes/prayers.

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXOXO

Pregnancy

It sure is strange being pregnant again. Unlike many moms, my kids will NOT be close in age. Fertilly issue have forced us to have a very large gap. Austin was born OVER A DECADE AGO! (Pick your jaw back up, that look is not becoming!) I know it's shocking but it's a fact. So being that Austin is 10 we've already been having "The Talks" for quite a while and he has sex ed in school. When we told Austin he was gonna have a brother or sister he looked at us blankly for a second and then said... " Oh gross... That means you guys did it" I laughed so hard and Austin was clearly traumatized.. There comes a time in every kids life where it occurs the them that there parents still have sex. I remember when that day happened for me. I too was traumatized so I understand.

Second on my mind is that I signed up for this great weekly newsletter that talks about the babies progress each week. Austin and I read it together, I figure it will help him with his fears to know exactly what's going on in there. Each week it gives you an idea of the size so the first one I got said it was the size of a Raspberry, so for that week austin had a nickname for it. Last week it likend it to a lima bean so that was what he called it. This week it was a grape, so that's what he calls it. It makes my day to hear it, it's so funny/cute. This morning when Chris was leaving he said "love you, and the little grape too!" I guess he likes the nickname too.

I am so blessed to have what I have already and more and more I notice how my heart sings as result of these little moments...

I am loving life right now more than ever. (Too bad I can't stop throwing up...)

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXOXO

Now my B I G announcement....

I had to share the news with my family first but now that that's done I can spill my guts to you all too! The best way is to show you!

Yes I am almost 9 weeks Pregnant! Those of you who have been reading my blog know that we have had fertility issues and have been trying for #2 for years. Finally we are expecting!!!! We're still working on letting it sink it. It's pretty surreal.

Love, Coleen

XOXOXOXOXO

Taking a huge deep breath....

I am about to have some info confirmed or denied that with possibly change our lives.
While I have to remain tight lipped about it for now. Say a little prayer or jsut send happy thoughts my way.... At any rate I will post about this info soon.

Here are some things that have been on my mind...

1.) Stay here or go home...
2.) Continue with a mediocre career or go back to school...
3.) Plan a trip home to see my family (gosh I miss my sister!)
4.) Plan a fab camping trip for my son...

Just a few things I have been thinking about lately..


Love,

Coleen
XOXOXOX

I'm baaaack!

Wow, it has been a really really long time. 3 months since I stopped blogging. First as you all know we were given a decision to make about relocating on the other side of the country. It was a scary decision but one we knew our family was strong enough to withstand. Once we arrived here we had a spell of very bad luck. We were in a hotel for ages and just on June 1st did we finally move into what we now call home. It is temporary, we just had to take anything (it's a rental and not very big, We all feel crowded). There is a terrible housing crisis here in Edmonton, meaning the prices are now sitting at an average of 500k for a standard 3 bedroom home with no frills. OUCH! Too high for us at the moment. rentals are at a 1% vacancy rate. So all that is available are your little dank dark apartments. We were really fortunate to find a beautiful place albeit small. So many things have happened since the move, we are definitely a stronger family, and we all are homesick, but feel this could be a permanent move for us. Edmonton is WONDERFUL despite the hardships we have endured. One thing I can safely say is I wish we moved slower and took more time, and I wish we had found a place to live before moving. Living a "rock star" life in a hotel eating nothing but take out got VERY old VERY fast...

Lastly, I should have continued to ask myself "What would Martha do?" LOL!! Planning planning and more planning, that's what she would have done!

Sorry it's been so long. I hope you'll all come back and see me regularly as I have some HUGE news to reveal very soon!


XOXOXOXOX

The old me:

The new me:

Sorry I was gone for a while, I will still be gone but I will return...

Hi everyone, First of all I REALLY have to apologize for leaving things the way I did. Clearly not in a good frame of mind and then not posting at all for nearly a month.

My official appology can be found HERE, you must go and take a look.

I had decided I would take a week to just avoid all commitments and focus on myself. I was doing such a good job for almost the whole week. Then one day out of the blue my husband comes home with a shocking announcement.

He was offered a transfer. Not a move a couple of hours away like the last one (Exactly a year ago.) Oh no... A huge one... Like all the way to the other side of the country. This far. I was asking a zillion questions, "What will you do, is it better pay, will they pay for the move, how soon, do YOU want to, why should I, will we be okay so far away from family. Typical ranting and raving questions that any woman would ask her husband before she slips off the edge of reality. I was so sure it was a joke... He must have been testing my faith in him or something to that effect. For a week I kept asking if he was kidding. He kept saying no but we have to think seriously about it so he can let them know our decision. OK after a week I finally started thinking hard about it. All those hours of tossing and turning and laying there awake finally got put to good use. I came to the decision, that my career has always come first until we made the move here. He has worked so hard to get where he is and to finally get the recognition by being offered this new position is so great for him. I am proud that they want him. (He is a great man and hard worker who really deserves it.)

So like Tammy Wynnette- I am gonna STAND BY MY MAN. <--- go ahead click it you know you want to. We are moving to Edmonton Alberta in 1 months time.

There are a few complications with the transfer stemming from the fact that he is in a non unionized office and will be going to a unionized office. The move will not be paid for up front but he will be compensated for it afterwards. It would cost us over 3500.00 just to rent a truck to take our things, so we have decided to sell everything and re buy when we get there. We don't have a place to call home when we get there yet so I am worried about that. I hate selling my things but I look forward to LOT of shopping.

The bottom line is I have spent the past couple of weeks working on getting things done before the move. And from the bottom of my heart I am sorry I left things hanging. Thank you to EVERYONE who e-mailed me concerned about how I was doing. I love you all tremendously. The nice thing about you all is that you go with me on my new chapter!! (In a manner of speaking.) So pack your cyber bags.

I must get back to worrying, crying all that emotional junk before my guys get home. I may be gone a while but I promise to return.

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXO

P.S. The hardest thing will be thinning out my scrap supplies and selling most of it.... Boo hoo...
Any takers?

Ever get the blues?

Sorry for not blogging. Not exactly sure what's up with me. I can't get motivated at all. I feel a bit "down", just a sense of "blah". We were all sick last week and I am not quite better yet. Probably hard for you to understand what I mean but normally I am always pretty upbeat and get a lot accomplished in a day. That has not been the case at all for the past 5 days or so. I literally had to push myself to get on the Internet to check e-mail and post on my blog. Yesterday I was sitting here thinking I should get some closets organized or re clean Austins room. (He does the standard tidying and I go in every couple months or so and do a HUGE overhaul.) I couldn't stomach to do either. I haven't scrapped since Christmas. When I realized that I couldn't convince myself to get some of these things done. I just cried. Talk about ridiculous. I don't know what to do to get back to myself. I am so upset with myself for feeling this way but no matter what I do, it won't go away. Deep down I think I know what troubles me but I can't understand why it effects me so much right now when it has been a long term issue that can't be fixed and we have dealt with it for so long already. Mysterious I know, I don;t like to talk about it because it is a sore spot, I think in all this time blogging I only ever casually mentioned it once. What is it you ask? My inability to have another child. *wince* We have tried for years and no luck. I know we are fortunate to have Austin and should be happy about that but yet my heart yearns for another. For years I have felt like my family is not yet complete. It has struck me that I am going to be 30 this summer (July 12th), Every birthday just makes my chances more difficult. Recently so many people are having babies or getting pregnant and I think all the "being happy for others" is getting harder. Selfish huh?

Well sorry for the downer but it's the only thing on my mind and I can't shake it right now. I guess I just need to push it a bit further down and get on with life.

Love,
Coleen
XOXOXO

Grrrr... I suck at html

I managed to accomplish everything I wanted. But I could not for the life of me find the tag that relates to the "Snipits Of Me" located at the top in pink. I want it gone but cant find the right code in html for it to remove it. I have no trouble over on Coleen Slims Down- where I did a total overhaul.

Let me know what you think... the good the bad and the ugly.

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXO

Hooray!

I have managed to get my banner up there. Still have a few things to work out. I also fixed my title that appears in the very top of the browser bar.
It now says: Snipits Of Me {Coleen Thompson}

There is so much more I want to do, but I am taking baby steps...

I have to head out for a bit. Something kind of exciting and new for me (I hope). I'll post more about that when I return.

In the mean time let me know what you think of the new banner.

Love,
Coleen
XOXOXO

Pardon my mess..

It is 10:00 EST and I have begun playing with my template, so if you show up at this time. My appologies. Be patient with me all will be fnished soon. (I HOPE...)

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXO

So Frustrated, Please help...

I am desperate to redo my layout and give it a more "custom" feel. I have created my first EVER banner for the Title but I have no clue how to get it up there. Ladies with fancy shmancy blogs: can you help a fluffy gal out?

Here's what I have.. It may be a bit "rustic" as it is my first attempt.

Better yet, if any of you would like to toss your own creations into the ring perhaps you can be the one to come up with a better idea/design. Feel free I need all the help I can get!

Thanks ladies!

Love,

Coleen

XOXOXO

Welcome to the first "Fluffy Friday"

How about some nice fluffy fun for Friday. I am going to try to start posting something silly or fun on Fridays. Something that is quick to do and gives your brain a break from thinking.

Ok, now on to it....



I urge you to go try this it takes just a minute or two. It's super fun and best of all it's neat to see who you look like. Go do it now and add it to your blog. Then come back and let me know who you look like!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXO

Scrapbook supply organization- "The ScrapRack"

Hey everyone! Okay, you have all seen what my scrap space looks like. For those of you who forget or didn't see it. Take a peak at my scrap space. It looks nice and every thing but the drawers are a different story everything is just kind of in there. Things are hard to find, you know what I mean right? Well, here's my question for you all. Right now I have some of my stuff in an old CM tote, from when I first started scrapbooking. It opens like a binder and has all the pages for embellishments, stickers, alphas etc. It doesn't hold very much and it was specifically designed for CM product which I don't use anymore. So it is awkward trying to put other things in there. I want to see how you have your alphas, sticker and all other embellishments sorted. Do you do it by theme, colour, type of embellishment?

I got a brochure in the mail for the "Scrap Rack" it looks like a great idea. An easy system to use once set up. The protectors come in all different styles which is very scrap friendly. Everything from pockets for embellishments to a fiber board to wrap your fibers around, so even they can be at your finger tips. Take a look at their site for more info.


This photo gives you an idea. Go here for the details on how it organizes your space.



It really is quite remarkable. Pricing is listed on the site, you can buy packages or purchase specific items separately. I can not offer any kind of product review as I do not have one myself but I wanted you all to see something new in the scrap world.


Would you buy and use this or do you have a technique that works really well. If so tell me about it in the comment section. I would love to see your pics, so link to them or drop me an e-mail to snipitsofme@netscape.ca

Happy scrapping!

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXO

5 pounds down!!!!

I have lost my first 5 pounds! If interested see details here.

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXO

The George Family

Recently a serious subject has been on my mind. The deployment of more US troops and how it effects our families at home.

I have no friends or family oversees or even in the military at this time but I have a wonderful blog buddy named Jolene whose son is in the military. She is the reason I have been giving this so much thought. I love her to bits and she is truly a remarkable woman. Just like you and me but every thing is larger in Jolenes world. She seems to have a larger family, more mouths to feed, tons more laundry, gives everything she had to friends family and her community, gets a ton accomplished EVERY day and has a love of family that is admirable in the highest sense. Every day she makes me proud to know her. The other day she opened up to us about being a military mama whose son was leaving. Seeing some of the pictures and reading her words were devastating to me as a mama myself and as a human. The heartbreak she feels could not be any worse. I actually sat here and sobbed. I cried so hard for her and her family that I gave myself a headache. We always think about how hard it is for the men and women to go off and serve their country. We must also think about their families left behind with gaping holes in their hearts. The constant fear of the unknown they must feel is terrible. Not just worrying about if they might be killed or inured but also if they will come home "broken mentally". It makes me truly sad that this war is tearing families apart and causing so much residual pain. It takes men and women from their children and partners. It takes children from their moms and dad. In Chads case he leaves behind a huge family of 4 brothers, a beautiful fiancee Sandy and a great extended family. All of these people hurt and we sometime forget that. I pray t is not all in vain and that it is for more than just control of oil.

Jolene, I love you to bits and I want you to know I am thinking of you! I know that you and Sandy have needed hugs lately, I hope you get them!

If anyone would like to send a care package or letter to motivate Chad while he is away. He would love it. Many of us will be doing it to show our support and to keep his morale high. Kind of like an adopt a troop type thing! More details can be found on Jolenes site or by going to Suzies Q's site to sign up. But I will post the address as well:

PVT George, Chad
2125 GSU-Delta Co.
1-158 Inf. Azarng
3238 Butner Road
Fort Bragg, NC 28310

Andi, this was a wonderful idea, I am so thankful you put it out there for us all to take part in!

Thanks for listening!

Oh and for those of you interested I have had some success with my New Year's Resolution! You can read about it at Coleen Slims Down.

Love, Coleen
XOXOXO

Who knew I had cheerleaders?

OK I haven't scrapped in ages. It is taking all my effort to not eat junk food. For more on that pop over to my Coleen Slims Down blog. The post there is very sincere and kind of lets you know how hard I am finding it. Anyway. The reason I set up the other blog is to keep all the diet stuff over there. I think there might be people who aren't interested in that so they can still come here with out seeing "diet stuff" in their face all the time. and for those of you who do want to follow along you know where to go. This week has been especially rough and I haven't had good Internet this week. It has been up and down more times than Ron Jeremy's "youknowwhat" A little crude but really drives home the point. No pun intended. Really high winds have caused major problems here. I get about 2-5 minutes each time then boom, the net is down for hours again.

I wanted to post something important to me. I have been blogging for several months now and have been lucky to know la creme de la creme of bloggers. The circle of bloggers is kinda cool they way it branches out. You have a bunch of people in one close knit circle of bloggers and 1 or 2 of them are also in another circle of bloggers and 1 or 2 of them are also in another circle. And so on... I am quite amazed by our dynamics. But there are so many people who time and time again are reading and commenting on my posts. Sometimes your answers make me laugh, sometimes they are so sweet they make me cry, sometimes they inspire me or motivate me to do better and amazingly enough sometime they may me think. Well the comments on my last post Snipits Of Me: Revelation and resolution made me take notice of how much we all grow to care about each other even though many of us have never met. The comments I received were like those of close friends who truly care. Not strangers. Each and every one of you have given me hope. Some of you were pleased to know you are not alone in the challenge and wanted me to know the same. Some of you were amazed that I was able to post it at all. But one thing that resonated in all the comments was that so many are proud I have the courage. I am not courageous I am just a "fluffy gal" (thanks for that Missy!) who needed to wake up and take action. I feel more motivation from you all than I have ever had on my own. I feel I need to thank you all individually for your kind words.

Here I go:
Sue, Teresa,Traci, Leah, Jen, Telah, Missy, Andi, Cheryl, Jolene, Heather, Beth Amy, Anita and Diana: from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

You are the best cheerleaders ever!

Love,

Coleen
XOXOXOX
4 days in and 1 pound down

Revelation and resolution

I used to weigh 130lbs but childbirth, marriage, take out, comfort food and laziness have brought me to this:

I saw that I am precariously close to 250lbs. In fact I currently weigh 248lbs. I used to tell my husband to shoot me if I ever weighed 250lbs. What was I thinking. I don't want him to shoot me. I hope he really won't but to be on the safe side I have to drop way down to avoid it. I am tired all the time and just aren't the same person I was when I was skinny. I am admitting for the first time EVER that I am self conscious and despite the facade of a strong confident person, my weight hampers how I feel about myself and I am sick of it. I refuse to gain 2 more pounds. I will not hit 250, now or ever. I love junk food and I hate exercise. Tough combo eh? Well, I can honestly say that in all my 29 years I have never made a New Years resolution. Easier to avoid failure that way. Until the other day I stepped on a scale for the first time in years and what I saw killed me. I realized that I have to act now before it's to late for me. It was scary and horrifying. As a way to hold myself accountable I decided to share this painful bit of personal info with all of you too. I figure that once my resolution is "out there". You all can share your weight stories positive and negative. You can motivate me or YELL at me or something. Whatever you do at least it is a place for me to document what I need to share. I have goals for myself but I need to be realistic so for now I am shooting for 25lbs. Once I hit that I will reward myself with a pedicure and hair cut. After that I will set a new goal.
Most women keep their weight a secret, especially when you begin to have a few extra pounds. I am no different. Believe me when I say I truly am shaking and scared to death to post this but I really have hit "rock bottom" and I know that this is what I need to. No one is going to pull me outta my house with a crane to take me to the Maury Povich Show damn it! I have created another blog and you can find the link to it at the top and bottom of this blog. For those of you who wish to follow my progress you can go there, for those of you who are not interested you can still keep coming here for all the regular stuff. Now for the hard part......

clicking the publish button....

Any second now....

Deep breath.....

and....

click.

Shocking resolution- my dirty little secret.

This picture in no way represents how I felt the morning of January 2007. I swear I was good. Everyone makes and breaks their New Years resolutions so many people done even bother to make one. Well my friends (and family) I have one. It will be shocking and horrific. I will be baring all for my blogging "family" to see. It will be awful, scary and probably a nightmare. For those of you brave enough. Please stop by tomorrow for the excruciating truth to be revealed.

In the mean time here are some that I have been contemplating:

*Spend more time outdoors.

*Get in the picture

*Eat better

*Dedicate more time to scrap booking

*Go home more often to visit

*Be silly

*Stop over-analyzing EVERYTHING so much

*Breathe

*Catch up on my list of tasks that is so far behind.

*Create a "to do before I die list" and cross off at least 1 thing each year.

*Stop making so many lists. (lol, like that'll EVER happen.)

*Get away at least once every quarter.

*Tell myself that sunglasses, a pina colada, flip flops and having the heat cranked does not count towards "getting away".

*Credit the people who impact my life and make sure they know it.

Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for the painful revelation of my 2007 New Year's Resolution. It will be revealing in the highest sense possible. I am shaking now about the fact that I will bare my secret to you all. I hope I don't change my mind.

Happy New Year!!!

Well, I went home over New Years and it was wonderful. We actually managed to visit everyone we had planned on, and some even a couple of times. I even had a chance to cash in on my gift from my little sister, Shannon. She got me a pedicure! How sweet is that? Here's the proof. Sorry not the cutest feet but painted nails none the less.

I got an amazing new digital camera from my dad which came as a huge surprise. A great gift card from mom and dad. Actually I was pretty spoiled this year because the list of gifts goes on. But more importantly I got to spend some long over due time with family. It was wonderful. My Grandad even wound up coming at the last minute from N. Ireland. I couldn't have asked for more. Well, more time would be the only exception. Austin had a blast playing with his cousins.

We spent New Year's at my Aunt and Uncles. As always they were fantastic hosts, we had a fun, safe time. I hope you all celebrated the new year in style. I am thankful that I am here to see the new year as we all should be.