Bringing Leland Into the World

Our little boy came into the world on July 22, the day after my birthday:). He was due on July 20th but that day came and went and I had not felt a single contraction. I was so worried he would not come out on his own and I would have to be induced. So I started looking into different methods to trigger my labor. We tried the pineapple and spicy food with no luck. 

When it was July 20th I told my husband I would go play mini golf while he went to the batting cage. I played 18 rounds of mini golf and nothing-_- This little boy was in it for the long haul. We went home later that night and I told my husband I wanted to give the yoga ball a try. I was waiting to shower to do the exercises but my husband was being cranky and told me to start them. So I showed him the video and started practicing. I was on there for sbout 5mins and stopped. As soon as I got up I felt lower abdominal pains. I was like aw man this is the real deal. I took a shower and my husband told me to wait til the next day to hop on the ball so we could sleep. I agreed and went to bed. Well it seems our son had other plans. My contractions started at 1:30am. They were right on schedule lasting 1 min and happening every 5-6mins. I honestly couldn't believe it and waited til about 2:30 to tell my husband. Did not want it to be a false alarm. Well it wasn't. We waited until about 3:30 and they kept going consistently. I got up to shower so I could relieve the pain a bit before deciding what to do. When I got out of the shower it was around 4am and as I was drying uo I heard a loud pop. I immediately looked down thinking my water broke but nothing. I went in to the room and when I went to wipe myself to get dressed there was a bunch if blood. There was no doubt about it at that point and I called the doctor. He told us to head on over to the hospital to get checked out.

We arrived at the hospital at around 5am and they sent me back to get checked out. They checked and said I was between 1-2cm dilated but they couldn't tell if my water had broken. They did like 3 checks, some that made me cry, but determined my water had not broken. They had me wait 1 hour and my dilation had not changed so they sent me home.

I soent the rest of the day with contractions and sitting on the yoga ball to keep them going. When I had gotten home they started getting around 10-12mins apart so I didn't want to lose the momentum. They kept coming all day but was not enough to go back to the hospital. Again we went to bed. However, once again the contractions kicked in. This time though they were on steroids.Holy cow were they painful. Some I was able to control with my breathing but others were just out of this world. This time I told my husband I couldn't handle the pain anymore and we needed to go back. I think we were back at the hospital around 3am and this time around I was 4cm along :) This time they said we were getting admitted!

That was great news but on the other side the pain was out of this world. The nurse mentioned getting an epidural but I had initially said no because I was terrified of it. She told me the Iv she put in my arm hurt more than getting the epidural. Since the iv did not hurt she convinced me with that. 

I got sent to my room and immediately was waiting for the epidural. When the anesthesiologist came in I panicked for a bit and started crying pretty bad. My husband was there to hold my hands and calm me down though. The anesthesiologist administered the epidural and how they said it did not hurt. It felt weird when they put the tube in but it was not painful. I could feel the effects immediately as my toes started to tingle. The monitor ñed the contractions and pretty quickly they went away. 

I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I said I would go natural lol. That epidural was the bomb. I was able to go to sleep right away and rest pain free. The nurses kept checking up on me and my dilation. I made it up to 6cm and seemed to have gotten stuck there. They upped the pitocen, oh yeah they gave me some because I got stuck dilating, and man did the contractions go into hyperdrive. I could feel my muscles in my stomach contracting and soon enough I started feeling the pressure on my rectum. I thought the medicine was wearing off but when I told the nurse about the pain in my rectum she quickly checked me and said oh you are at 10cm!!!!

This is were everything got super real. I started to cry because I knew this meant that in a few minutes I would have my son in my arms. They had me practice my oushing but I got it on my very first try and was able to oush my son into position. It was time to get the doctor. I was pretty scared that I was at this point but was determined to see my soon. I started to oush with every contraction and thanks to the epidural I couldn't feel any pain. All I felt was the oressure of my son being there but nothing more. It took about 4 contractions and my husband telling me to take a deep breath before my last push to bring him out. It felt kind of cool as he came out. I felt his whole body exit and just leave me empty inside.

The tears started to flow as soon as I saw him. This whole moment was a bit of a blur because I could not believe he was finally here. They placed him on my belly and I could see his adorable dimples. I was supposed to cut the umbilical cord but I couldn't in the position I was in. My husband built up the courage and ended up cutting it. Let me pause here a sec and talk about my husband. He is not very strong in the stomach for these sorts of things so he did not want to look in fear that he would pass out. Hence why I was going to cut the cord. (He almost threw up when I got the epidural and when they drained my bladder lol). He stood right next to me during the whole delivery and he actually looked and saw out son being born. I asked him later what he thought of the experience and he said it was super beautiful! :) Glad he didn't miss out in that.

Back to the delivery, the doctor quickly worked on me down there. I ended up having 2nd degree tears and got sewn up in like 4 different regions -_- As this happened, the baby was checked and weighed. Everything seemed great with him. After they got us both ready I was transferred to my room. Which btw was 2122 (mine and my son's bday :) ). I soent Sunday and Monday at the hospital recovering a bit from my stitches. They were pretty painful and even almost 2 weeks later they are still bothersome. I was unable to do much since I could not get out of bed so my husband had to take over. He did the feedings, changing dipers, getting dressed, fetching me food and drinks, you name it. This man went above and beyond for me and our son. I don't know what I would have done without him. 

He was a very proud papa and me a proud wife and mom. Like I mentioned we were at the hospital til Monday and the baby and I got the thumbs up to go home. 

It has now been almost two weeks since he was born and this little angel is our world. Life has definitely changed but we wouldn't change it for anything in the world! Now we look forward to making this little boy the happiest human ever.

Life Changing Experience

I have been gone for quite some time now...want to know why?

Because of this little hobbit right here :) This little boy has completely changed my life for the better. Words cannot describe how amazing it feels to look at this little boy's face and know that he was made with lots of love by my husband and I. 

Getting him here will be in my memory for ever. He was a very active boy throughout the pregnancy. Started feeling him at around 15 weeks. I will be honest, the thought of a little human moving inside me always terrified me. However, this little man changed all that. It felt so warming and beautiful knowing he was growing inside me! Definitely a unique experience that cannot be described.

The husband and I share many beautiful memories of this experience all from hearing his first heart beat, finding out he was a boy, to seeing him with much detail at our 4D ultrasound. This was an amazing experience, a tough and painful one, but amazing none the less.

I am forever thankful that he made it into this world nice and healthy and surrounded by lots of love. I can't wait to watch this little hobbit grow with time and I definitely can't wait for our many adventures! :)

XOXO,

Lina

Pure Michigan

The husband and I went to Michigan for the first time! We call it one of our mini adventures. One of his friends was going to be in Michigan for the week so we decided to pay him a visit. At the same time we had another friend there so we hung out with him as well.

The weekend did not go as planned. We honestly did nothing of what we intended to do. :( one of our dogs was in heat so we couldn't leave her behind. She was thrilled to come along for the ride -_-

I mean....look at her

She always rides in mommy's arm like that.

When we arrived at Michigan our friend took us to The GM Rec Cen and that is pretty much were the whole day was spent. It was pretty neat because we got to see Canada!

It was a rainy day so couldn't get good pictures. On the left side is Michigan and on the far right is Canada. There was an elevator to my right so could not point the camare directly that way. We were at the top of the tallest building from the Rec Cen.

Aren't the buildings neat looking!!! The buildings are all connected on the inside.

The husband and I loved the place because it had a ton of pokestops with all of them having lures! I caught around 10 new pokemon!!!!! My favorite was that I got a Blastoise! :)

Anywho, back the the trip. Here is a ground view of Canada. We had the casino right infront of us. 

Unfortunately we left our passports at home so couldn't cross over. But we will next time we visit. I have never been to Canada before.

We walked around for a bit but didn't get very far because it started raining. We got soaked hehehe. But here are the few pictures I took.

Looking at the pictures and realizing your husband doesn't know how to focus the camera -_- FAIL...

After walking around it rained, like I mentioned, so we left. I went to the hotel so Jollee wouldn't be alone any longer and the guys went to hang out.

Jollee and I had bonding time! My snuggle buddy. :*

The very next day we pretty much could not go anywhere because of Jollee so we just headed home early. We ate breakfast at this neat Mcdonald's as the last part of the adventure.

The place look like a 1950's place. Loved it. 

Overall the trip was just okay. Wish we had gone to the Henry Ford museum. Maybe next time. For now it is just back to work :(. Let's see where our next adventure will take us. Iceland is just around the corner. Can't wait for that!!!

XOXO,

Lina

Party Hard and Play Hard!!!

The weekend is pretty much over and I have work tomorrow BUT we did have a pretty neat time. On Saturday we had a party type event for my program from work. 

I skipped out on this party last year because I don't think my husband was here. This time around I decided to go in order to do something different for a change.

I am soo glad we went. We dance quite a bit and chatted with my friends. :)

I hadn't really "dolled" myself up in quite sometime so it was really nice to do my hair, make up, and dress up! It was a fun time.

Then today, the excitement continued. We went to a place in Indiana called St Paul's Cliffs/ White Rock Park. OMG... The water was soooo nice and warm.

It used to be a Quary so it is a giant hole and people just jump in from different hieghts. The have ropes and ziplines. I did throw myself from like a 15 foot cliff and it was terrifying. So the people that do the 30 foot one are super brave!

It was a great place and we had tons of fun with our friends! I will definitely like to go back. Even if it is just to chill in the water.

There were lakes around also. Such a beautiful place! 

We were exhausted coming back from all the fun we had but at least had nice scenary to look at on the drive back. The route to get there is very nice to look at. Let me share a picture of that:

This was a field of sunflowers near by. There were farms everywhere. My husband and I were in awe since our dresm is to have one someday.

 If you find yourself in Indiana I definitely recommend this place. It is a neat hide away place. 

Our friend took his go pro si he has all tve action shots. I had to leave ny phone in the car so don't have good pictures.

Anywho, I am finally in bed now and my body feels broken from everything we did. I need to rest up...this is going to be a looong week. Good night!

XOXO,

Lina

Pullip Haul

It has been a while since I have made an update on my Pullip doll. I have not had time to sit and work on her again since my last update where I bought new tools to work on her. This mostly due to the fact that I don't have rubbing alcohol to remove some of the make up so I can redo it.

However, I have continued to be on the hunt for accessories and clothes for her. I have bought a few new things for her, all mostly from Walmart. They have some good options on Barbie clothes and accessories. 

I have also bought a few items that are for the American Girl dolls. Since the Pullip's head is so large some of the American Girl accessories for the head work on her.

All the items I show below are between $2-$5. Aren't those great deals? Let's jump right into the haul.

The first items I found are accessories for her. I found a musical kit, beauty kit, cooking kit, and sushi kit. They are the perfect size for her since her body is the same as a Barbie's body.

For the musical kit, she gets a guitar with guitar pick and a tambourine. It also brings a head set but I can't use it because it is barbie size.

For the baking kit, there is a mixer, cupcake pan, cup cake, measuring spoons, and a mixing bowl. I love this kit. It is so cute and perfect for her.

The make up kit brings a hair dryer, make up bag, compact mirror, and make up. The little make up back is pretty neat because it opens and you can store the make up inside.

The last kit I got was the sushi one. Now I am not a big fan of sushi but maybe my Pullip will enjoy it. It brings a board with sushi on it, chop sticks, and drinks. I honestly got this kit because of the soda drinks.

In addition to the kits I got her some clothes and wearable accessories. I got her a new blouse and 2 skirts.

Now the Barbie clothes do not fit her perfectly, it is slightly large, but I think with a few modifications it will fit perfectly.

I also got her new shoes. I had read that the Barbie shoes don't fit her since the Barbie has an arched foot but I personally think they fit her just fine. I love how they look.

What I don't like is that the shoes are all single colored and just plain. I do intend to work on these also and paint them.

I think that is all for the barbie accessories. The next few items I bought were from the American Girl section. I actually found headphones! These got me soooo excited. I got her a white pair and a purple pair. Don't think I will keep them those colors though.

They also have a little hole on the bottom so I think I will attach a wire here to make them more realistic. Aren't they adorable though?

Lastly, I found water goggles and sunglasses. These actually came in one pack together.

The goggles fit her perfectly while the sunglasses are slightly larger on her. The legs for the ears are just a little too long. But they fit perfectly over her eyes.

I was super excited with all these finds. Oh Oh and I almost forgot about the other accessory I got for her just because. So my mom had me buy her a blind box of Lalaloopsy so she could see what it was and I ended up getting her one of those and then 2 of the Shopkins blind boxes that are in the shape of backpacks. I got the back packs so I can use them for her.


The little Lalaloopsy that we got inspired me to get the Pullip doll her own doll :). I actually got her a mini Lalaloopsy doll for her.

I don't like the colors that she came with. Like the Barbie shoes they are too plain for my liking. I also intend to paint these. Geez I have a lot of paining to do hehehe.  Anyway, I love Lalaloopsy dolls so I think my Pullip will be fond of them also.

As you can see I am racking up quite a few things for her. Below is what I already had for her.

All I have to do now is actually finish her. I need to work on her make up and work on her wig. I asked the husband to go with me to get her hair materials so I can make her a wig. That will be my birthday present. I want to make 2 different styles for her.

This is a first for me though so we will see how that goes. I want to make her a flowy loose hairstyle and then make her a wig with my famous princess buns. Everyone in middle school knew me because of my buns. I think they will be perfect for my mini me!

Keep an eye out for more Pullip updates!

XOXO,
Lina