You know I love a good giveaway, right?

So my dear friend Devin is hosting one on her blog.  Check it out by clicking HERE.  Make sure you enter to win as well....

Every vote counts

So, today is my dear friend Devin's birthday. She's the big 3-0. (See, I'm the even bigger 3-4, so 3-0 doesn't even sound bad anymore) But, I digress...

Anyway, Devin's husband Shane has "challenged" her to see who can get the most comments on a blog post. It seems when she posted about him building his mom a corner cabinet, there were 17 comments left about what a great guy he is, what a great job he did, yada yada yada...apparently he was quite pleased about that, and I imagine there has been a little bit of teasing going on...(don't feel bad Dev - I think my posts that receive the most comments are generally about something Ande did, so I feel your pain...LOL)

So, for those of you who read Devin's blog (and even if you don't - go check it out), go leave a comment for her, wishing her a Happy Birthday. See, she'd already have Shane's record beat, except for the fact that Shane put in some rule about only one vote per person. And don't even think I wasn't tempted to leave several "anonymous" comments - I was! But I didn't. I may be a LOT of things, but a cheater I am not) So you need to help Dev win the contest. Why? Because it's her birthday, that's why! (Well, that, and GIRLS RULE)

And Shane - if anyone does leave an anonymous comment, I promise it wasn't me!!

I'm such a loser

So, in the last 2 weeks, I entered Amanda's Pay-it-forward contest, and when I LOST that one, I entered Amanda's friend, Jenn's, Pay-it-forward contest. I lost that one, too!!! MAN!! The good news is that my friend Cindy won Jenn's contest, so now SHE'LL have to have one. Maybe I'll win?!?! I might have to just continue following the chain of Pay-it-forward contests until I win!! (Because I hate to lose!)

On a completely unrelated note, Ande and I took Nans, Puckey, and The Jib to see a magic show at the Flint Public Library last night. It featured Doug Scheer, from "Scheer Genius" Productions. I have to say, I was very impressed. Mr. Scheer was very funny, had a great rapport with the kids, and was really good at what he does! If you are at all involved in scheduling assemblies for your children's school or fun activities for the children at your church, this is something you should at least check into! There are several different shows to choose from (we saw "Adventures in Reading", you know, since we were at the LIBRARY). All of the kids in the audience had a great time, as did their parents. Best part of the whole thing? Admission was FREE!

Moving on...in addition to not letting Ande push Puckey on the swings anymore, he is also no longer allowed to use the hair clippers unattended. Last week he gave himself a haircut (which he does every 2 weeks or so), and then decided to trim his eyebrows. Except he forgot the blade guard. So his eyebrows were nearly non-existent for a few days. I was reminded of the episode of "Friends" when Joey got his eyebrow waxed and then had to have Chandler fix the other one...

No, I seriously thought I was going to have to get him a set of these:
These babies are multi-purpose, too!!! Notice the packaging shows several different options. I'm digging the Tom Selleck-style moustache...LOL

There ARE actually eyebrow kits out there (I'm guessing for cancer or alopecia (sorry if I spelled it wrong) patients), which is a really cool product idea.

And for those of you who are wondering, YES, Ande's eyebrows are growing back in nicely...

A contest, a contest!!!! Whoo-HOO!

Um...So I didn't win. I'm really MAD happy for the winner, Jenn. I hope your new PT shirt gets lost in the mail is a fun addition to your wardrobe. Really. (Honest...I was just kidding about being mad!)

I like contests. Okay, honestly, I LOVE them. Unfortunately, I rarely ever win. But I pretend that I don't mind.

I was checking out some of my favorite blogs this morning...

Hey, while you're here, look at my new sidebar set-up. I got rid of a lot of junk, and now my fave blogs are listed in order of when they were updated last. SUH-WEET!!!

Okay, back to the topic at hand. So I was on my friend Amanda's blog, and discovered that she snuck in a contest sometime yesterday when I wasn't looking. (HA, now you won't be able to let anything past me, since I will see just when your blog is updated!!)

The jist of the contest is that you leave a comment under THIS POST, and Amanda will choose the winner next Tuesday. She will send the winner an ARMY PT shirt. The winner will then need to host a contest on his/her blog. It's called a Pay it Forward contest. Sounds like it's easy enough to participate...so get over there and enter!! I already did.

Oh Boy!! Another Contest!!

Michelle, at My Semblance of Sanity, is hosting another contest. The prize is a lovely bracelet - you can see a picture of it (and Michelle's Gabbin Mama Thursday post) by clicking HERE.



The rules are simple:

• Find a funny photo (of yourself, your dog, the baby....whatever)
• Post it, along with a caption that will make the picture even MORE funny
• Add a link to Michelle's blog
• Post a comment in Michelle's comment section HERE
• Next week we will get a chance to vote on the best pictures, out of a top 5 of Michelle's choosing.

Very simple, right?? So get out your old photo albums, the discs you have pictures stored on, or search your hard drive for just the right picture. It only took me about half a second to think of the picture I want to use for the contest.

READY?

WHAT? CHRISTMAS party? Man, we thought you said COSTUME party!

(Pictured from left to right: Julie, Ande, Grandma, Ben, Paul, Uncle Rich, and Jordan)

And yes, that was the family Christmas party, 2003. What a fun bunch of people!!

PICK ME, PICK ME!!

Alrighty friends, here's the deal. Today is the day for voting in Michelle's contest for the best birth story. If you are so inclined, please go to her site and vote (FOR ME) for the best story out of the ones she's showcased (which would be MINE). It's very easy - all you have to do is go to her site, and leave the name of the person who's story you wish to vote for (that's J-U-L-I-E), and when she announces the winner (ME), I can send you each a note thanking you for your vote.

Okay, so all joking aside - there have been some great stories I've read - some made me laugh, some made me cry, others made me cringe. Please go to Michelle's site and vote for the best one. The winner gets a cool bracelet. And don't worry, if you don't vote for me, I'll still love ya anyway!!

My birth stories - the final chapter...

Here is my fourth, and final, entry in Michelle's birth story contest. There's still time to participate - the rules are listed here. You can read my other stories here, here, and here. I kinda cheated with this one - it was originally posted on The Jib's first birthday. I have added a few details to increase the "WOW" factor - hey, I'm trying to WIN A CONTEST HERE, PEOPLE!!

That's right folks, Phil Says Six More Weeks of Winter BIRTHDAY!

Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/08 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:

Here Ye! Here Ye! Here Ye!
On Gobbler's Knob on this fabulous Groundhog Day (aka Ande's and The Jib's Birthday), February 2nd, 2008; Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators, Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths.

After casting a weathered eye toward thousands of his faithful followers,Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed: "As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me. Six more weeks of winter BIRTHDAY it will be!"

Okay, he didn't QUITE say that, I took a little bit of "artistic liberty" with what he said...(hey, the media does that all the time, don't they?)

Yeah, right about this time last year, I was begging the doctor to just PULL HER OUT ALREADY joyfully pushing my giant headed beautiful baby girl, The Jib, into the world. I had actually gone in on February 1st to be induced (a full week before my due date) because I had extra amniotic fluid and the doctor was a little concerned that the baby was getting to be pretty big.

My husband, Ande, had joked with my doctor about making it so that I didn't actually have the baby until February 2nd, which just so happens to be Ande's birthday. I was not amused. After the anethesiologist came and did the equivilant of tattooing the entire Constitution into my back (yes, he missed SEVERAL times), I was ready to just say "forget it" to the epidural. He finally got it in, but as soon as the meds started, I started feeling VERY strange. My ears started ringing and I felt really warm all of the sudden. I'm not sure how low my blood pressure dropped, but I do know I got some sort of shot to get it back up again. Once that was under control, Ande was allowed back into the room, and I was still hoping for a Feb 1st birthday. However, apparently God thought The Jib would make the best birthday present EVER for Ande, and she ended up not making her appearance until 11:11am February 2, 2007. There was much hard pushing and crying on my part, and of course by the time she was born, the epidural had worn off, so I pretty much felt everything. When she finally arrived, she was not doing the greatest with her "stats", so the pediatric team took her right away. Ande went with her. I had the same issue with my placenta as I had previously, but we were all prepared (except for the one nurse who stood too close too soon - I think I may have ruined her shoes.) The best news was that I DIDN'T POOP ON THE TABLE THIS TIME!! YEAH!!

The Jib weighed in at an impressive 8lbs 13oz and was 20 inches long. She is the biggest of all of my babies - she outweighed her Bubber by 7oz (although he was 22 inches long), Bug by 14oz, and Puckey by 1lb 7oz. Nans isn't biologically mine, but it seems like Ande told me she was around 6lbs or so, so The Jib outweighed her by at least 2 lbs!

The Jib will be our last biological child. Someday we may adopt or at least do foster care. Right now we're just enjoying being a family of 7!

Yeah for contests!!

Michelle, over at My Semblance Of Sanity, has decided to have a contest. Anyone can enter, IF you have a birth/adoption story to tell. (I would imagine it would need to be your OWN story, not your cousin's sister's daughter's story). Michelle doesn't exactly have a prize picked out yet, but I have seen some of the prizes she's given away for other contests, and they are pretty COOL!

Here's the rules:
Post your birth/adoption stories on YOUR blog, and post a link to Michelle's blog. If you do not have your own blog, but would still like to participate, you may post your birth story in the comments section of Michelle's blog here. Don't forget to post a link in the comments on Michelle's blog, or else she won't know you posted a story...

Michelle will pick ONE story each day to be "showcased" the next day on her blog. At the end of the contest (which runs until 2/26). On 2/27, we will get to vote on the showcased stories, and on 2/28, Michelle will announce the winner on her Gabbin' Mama blog.

Invite all of your blogger friends to participate - the more, the merrier! Plus, you know how us Mamas L~O~V~E to tell our birth/adoption stories. Daddies are invited to tell their stories, too. Although, Nate, over at CFHusband should not be allowed to participate, since anyone who reads HIS story would just HAVE to vote for him!! He'd win by a landslide! LOL (Just kidding, Nate, if you happen to read this)

I will be posting my stories in 4 separate posts...I'll start with Bubber, since he's the oldest. Most of my stories will contain stuff that some may consider TMI, but since they are MY stories, I'll tell them the way I remember!!!

So as not to confuse anyone - Bubber and Bug have the same dad (my ex husband Dan). I don't have a birth story about Nans, because she is not mine biologically. Puckey and The Jib have the same dad (my husband Ande).

The Story of Bubber

I had just turned 20. Literally, 3 days prior I had my 20th birthday. My due date was October 20, which had come and gone 2 days before. I tried walking, eating spicy food, driving down bumpy roads, etc. None of those things worked. I even went BOWLING the day AFTER I was due. Imagine the looks I got when people asked "When are you due?" And I said "Yesterday". Most people took a large step backwards, as if they thought my water was going to break at that moment. My (then) boyfriend Dan and I had rented a couple of movies and I just couldn't even stay awake to watch the first one, much less the second. I joked that I would most certainly go into labor the next day because I didn't get to watch the movie I actually WANTED to watch (I don't even remember what movie it was anymore...). So, I went to bed. It must have been midnight.

At 5:15am, I woke up to this weird "pop" feeling in my belly. I laid there for a minute, then started nudging Dan to try to wake him up. After several attempts, I finally just yelled his name and he said, "WHAT?" (He had only been asleep for a short time, so he was pretty mad to be getting woken up already) I told him that I thought my water had broken. He laid there quietly for a few seconds until what I said had registered with him. Then he literally JUMPED out of bed and started running around asking what he was supposed to do. (Think chicken running with it's head cut off)

I got up and did the "shuffle" to the bathroom (those of you who have had your water break on it's own at home or elsewhere may know what I mean) to confirm if it was indeed the case. Yep. So I told Dan to call the doctor and our parents, while I packed my suitcase. Okay, so I am a procrastinator. What can I say?!?

As we were getting ready to leave, Dan grabbed a stack of towels for me to sit on while he drove me to the hospital in his baby Iroc Z-28. WHATEVER. I guess he was afraid I'd get amniotic fluid on his seat. So he drove about 90 miles an hour to the hospital because he was afraid I'd have the baby IN the car. I wasn't even having contractions yet...

We got to the hospital by about 6:00am. I was feeling pretty good, and the doctor told me to walk around because I wasn't dilated very far (about a 1). I walked for what seemed like FOREVER, and came back to be told I was still at a 1. Sigh. More walking. It was cool, because at the time the hospital I was in allowed people in the maternity ward to walk the NICU. I was just amazed at those tiny little babies. After about 6 hours of nothing much happening, my back started to hurt. REALLY, REALLY bad. I threw up a couple of times in a bedpan. Okay, this was about the time I started to realize that this was not going to be easy. The doctor put me on a pitocin drip because I wasn't progressing very fast. (So slow, in fact, that at one point my family saw my doctor walking by eating a bag of popcorn.)

It was pretty cool, because not only were my parents and Dan's parents at the hospital, but my sister, her husband, and his little brother from Big Brothers/Big Sisters drove up from Detroit (they had been there for a Lions game that afternoon). I think my mom was the first one there. She nearly beat us to the hospital. (Bubber was her first grandchild, so she was pretty excited)

For those of you who are all about natural birth and all that - good for you! I, however, am a HUGE wimp when it comes to pain. Pretty much immediately after they started the drip, I started asking for drugs. They didn't want to give me an epidural because I still had a long way to go, so I got a shot of Demerol (sp?) instead. That didn't even touch what I was feeling, so they gave me something else (I can't remember the name of it). Still, did not really help too much. Fortunately, I had finally progressed in my labor enough to where they felt comfortable giving me the epidural. Instantly I felt relief!! What a strange feeling, however, to watch something touch my legs and not be able to feel it.

Because I was on the pitocin, I was also hooked up to the monitors so the nurses could keep an eye on my contractions. At one point, my doctor told Dan to read off the numbers to me when there was a contraction. Our families were in the hall, and they kept hearing Dan yelling out numbers. They asked the doctor what Dan was doing, and he said, "He looked a little bored, so I gave him something to do. It's gonna be a while". I really liked Dr. Rinehart, he had a great sense of humor!!

Finally, at about 7:30PM, the doctor told me I could start pushing. I told the nurses that I had to go to the bathroom. They insisted that it was just the baby. I told them I REALLY needed to go. They said it was the baby, and to go ahead and push. I pushed, and much to my horror, had a bowel movement. (I have a hard time peeing in public restrooms, so you can imagine my embarassment) I REALLY wanted to tell the nurses "I told you so" but thought better of it.

After nearly 2 hours of pushing, at 9:23PM my son was born. All 8lbs, 6oz and 22 inches of him. I thought Dan was going to throw up or pass out (or both!?!). I looked at my precious newborn son and thought "I've given birth to a CONEHEAD!" Poor little Bubber's head was pretty pointy when he was born. Fortunately it rounded out in a few days...then he started to look a little like Charlie Brown (which is not a bad thing, I LIKE Charlie Brown)

You Tube

I love You Tube - I have seen videos that made me laugh, cry, think, get angry, etc. It's a great place to see some of the funny, interesting, and/or sometimes strange things people do. It's where terrible singers can showcase their "talent", where bad actors can perform for millions, and where proud mommies and daddies can show off their little sweeties.

So now You Tube has a contest in which you can win a grand prize of $18,000 worth of LG products. (Washer/dryer, flat screen TV, fridge, dishwasher, microwave, etc...) I'm usually not much for contests and things, mostly because I don't think I've really ever won anything (except Ande's heart...GARSH!!), but I thought it would be fun to enter nonetheless. The theme of the contest is "Life's Good When..." and you have to finish the sentence. We are allowed 10 video entries, which I've used 4 of so far. Thought you might like to see the ones I've done. Turn the volume up if it's muted, so you can hear the music as well...

So, I might not win, but it's been fun making these clips! I must admit, though, having a house full of brand new appliances wouldn't exactly break my heart, either!!!