So, I am thinking that it is time for a party! I have room for 16 people, 20 if we have lots of interest. I love the idea that Rachel B told me about. I will provide the hostest gift (which will be pretty cool) and everyone else will bring a white elephant gift for an exchange after we are done playing. The gift theme for this bunco night will be a "nice" home decor item with a $10 limit.

The prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd will have to do with the gift exchange. The three top players of the evening will get to pick an advantage to hopefully get the gift they want the most. The options will be, 1) pick which number you want be in the order of the exchange 2) get a "freeze this gift" pass 3) get an "unfreeze this gift" pass.

So what do you think? Sounds like fun right? Leave a comment on this post or give me a call if you want to party!

The list so far... (2-07)

1) Me

2) Nicole R

3) Jilene

4) Summer

5) Amy B

6) Rachel

7) Allison

8) Bonnie

9&10) Sarah B & SIL

11) Sarah H

12) Angela

13) Tori

This party is not exclusive to blog stalkers. If you know anyone that would like to come just let me know.

If I could decribe my feelings today, this picture would be it! Today was a snow day for school and I just about cried when I heard the news. Carson has been sick since Sunday which means, I have been home being his slave. I am going crazy! Seriously, I have anxiety that is going to make me flip my lid if I don't have some time to myself. For the last 4 days, Carson has assumed that I don't know how to me a mom to Ethan. I am constantly hearing, "Mom, Ethan is crying," "Mom, you need to change Ethans diaper." "Mom, you need to feed Ethan." "Mom. when is Ethan going to take a nap, I think he is tired." HOLY CRAP child I am going to tape your mouth shut. If he wasn't bossing me around about the baby, he was asking me to do the stupidest stuff for him. "Mom. will you get me a drink of water?" "Mom, will you put my water on the table?" "Mom, my neck is tired." "Mom, the couch is lumpy and I can't get comfortable." Can I say it again? Holy crap I am going to lose it. Mady has been pretty special herself. She tells me she is hungry 20 times a day. She can still have chicken nuggets on her breath and she will ask me when dinner is and if she can have some now. If she doesn't get what she wants, she will hang on to my shirt as I try to run away from her. You would think I would have the strength to get the child off my back but she always does it while I am holding something and I can't use both of my hands.
So, I am really really praying that they don't close school tomorrow too. If they do, I may just start repeating "Dear Lord, make me a bird, so I can fly far far away."

You would think that getting less sleep, I would use every extra second of the day to rest. Well, since Carson is home sick, taking a nap SO isn't going to happen. I decided to use my time to make some new backdrops for pictures. I have a session on Wednesday that I can't wait to use this for.

I used a piece of bead board that was left over from the wall in the kitchen. I painted one red and another one brown. I was able to prop it on top of my cedar chest and put the mirror on top of the chest. Not too shabby right? This project cost me $0. I LOVE using the stuff that I have around the house for projects. My husband should be so proud.

You will never guess what! I took more pics of Ethan! He only peed on me this time. It was like a little fountain that splashed up on my legs when it hit the floor. I pretty much just let him finish cause I was just thankful that he wasn't pooping! Cleaning up pee is a breeze especially when he doesn't do it on my backdrops.

This picture cracks my stuff up! The comment on the pic is something that my dad used to say. He thought that all newborns were scary looking (until he started getting grand babies of course.) There have been a few cases where I agree. That is where the phrase, A face only a mother could love, probably came from. If someone ever showed him a pic of a newborn or showed off their baby he would always say, "Now that's a baby." He figured that way he wouldn't have to lie about his opinion. When I saw how this picture turned out, that is the first thing that came to mind. I think when my dad sees this picture, he will print it and put it in his wallet just to see how people will react.

Are you sick of pictures yet? I am pretty sure that Ethan is. Oh well, he is the one who picked our family. (That is SO something my mother would have said.)

Things are going pretty good around here. I am pretty sure that Ethan caught a little cold over the weekend. I had 16 people visiting from out of town for his baby blessing. He would be sleeping well at night but I have to clean out his nose in the middle of the night and for some reason, that wakes him up and he stays up for about 2 hours. Poor little guy!

I am feeling really good and have started to book photo shoots for indoor sessions! I have loved having the break to have a baby and focus on pics of my kids but I am excited to get back in business. I hope to be able to do some landscape pics during this winter weather but along with the snow comes the FREEZING cold. The sacrifices I am willing to make!

Hello my friends! I have to say that I am a little shaken up. I have had my first near barf experience with Ethan. We had a moment together that left me in shock and motionless with the words going through my mind, "Did that just really happen?"

Last night, I was being a good little mommy getting my brand new baby ready for his bath. I was taking off his diaper and checking his new belly button and a little puff of air came out of my lovely babies butt! Holy crap, I was about to grab the new diaper so that I could puke in it. I just sat there totally grossed out! Lesson #1, when a puff of air comes out of a newborns butt, cover it up RIGHT away. That boy shot out his little mustard yellow poop like a missal at me! It was all over the front of my shirt, my pants and all over my arms. My reflexes did nothing for me. I couldn't think fast enough. All my brain could think about was how it looked to have yellow poop shooting out at me. If I close me eyes, that is all I can see, a stream of poop! Spencer had been outside getting the hot tub ready for himself and when he came back in, I was slowly wiping my arms trying not to throw up! He looked at me and said, "What's wrong?" Are you kidding me? Whoever said men are blind was talking about my husband. When I finally TOLD him that Ethan pooped on me he said "We have got to get a picture." OK so the first pic that I take with my son is going to have his poop all over me? No thanks. Yep that is the only time he has even had the idea to take a pic of me. I told him, No that is was gross and it wasn't even worth posting on my blog. Then he said "I gotta get out of here, that is going to make me throw up." By all means, leave, cause I like being stranded with a baby and poop all over me. As he is leaving he says, "You might want to take your shirt off." That is all I needed to know that Spencer is full of amazing advice. All he could think of was seeing me without me shirt on, pervert. So, I got cleaned up without loosing my dinner, but it was close.

So my PSA for the day is, if you hear a puff, cover it up!

I thought since I had such a long annoying post that it HAD to have some pics on it to lure you in! I have more that need to be edited that I can't wait to share.

I had to post these pics of my boys. I am so excited to see how much Ethan will look like Carson.

I had to post this pic too. This was Ethans first session. It lasted about 5 mins. I have to hurry and get some good newborn pics before he gets too big!

We have a baby boy!!!!! Ethan Oakley Ray arrived on the 3rd of January. I will start from the beginning, Wednesday night. Since I was being induced it was really hard to sleep. I was so tired but my brain wasn't. At about 1 in the morning, Spencer says to me, I have a problem. So, what's new. He had some work that needed to be done the next day. He didn't get wind of it until that night so he was in a pickle. I said, do it FIRST thing in the morning, I am sure you will have plenty of time. So, I was up at 4:30 and drove myself to the hospital at 5:3o. We planned on taking two cars because my mom was going to need a car since my cousin was dropping her off at the hospital.

I get into my room around 6:00 and it was time to get hooked up. My nurse couldn't find a good spot for the heart beat so they brought in the ultra sound machine. We then learned that he was slightly transverse, he head was in my left hip. No wonder why nothing worked!!!

They got my IV in and started the antibiotics at 7:00. They turned the Pit on at 7:20. I called Spencer at 8:00 and told him not to worry because the doc was going to have to come and move the baby into position. My nurse told me that my labor was most likely going to be long and hard because he was also sunny side up, his back was against my back. We all know what that means, BACK LABOR. My nurse just said, don't rule out the epidural. You got it lady. So, my nurse, who I am sure felt bad that I was alone, would NOT shut up about her curtains and her daughters car problems. Do you REALLY think I care about this. My contractions were starting to hurt and I was try to get through them while listening. I didn't want to be rude.....whatever. It didn't take long for the "I think I am going to die" feeling to set in. My contractions were in the front, back and in my legs. At 9:15 I asked for something for the pain so the nurse was able to give me Nubian (don't know how to spell it.) It took about 25 seconds for it to kick in and I was asleep in between contractions. After about a half hour of that, I couldn't get on top of my contractions. I didn't have a break in between them and I said, K-I am ready for an epidural. They checked me and I was a 6. In a matter of minutes the guy was in there. I was laying on my side and he asked me to bring my legs up so that I was in a ball. I told him if he wanted my legs moved, he was going to have to do it. In the middle of him doing his thing, I felt the urge to push. So, I have a guy putting a needle in my spine. I am feeling the pressure to push from the babies head. At 10:00 they tell me that my mom is there. She wasn't so sure about being there during the delivery because she didn't want to intrude on such a special experience. Well, she walked in, the nurse told her to come to my side and she was trapped between people, trays and me. I finally called Spencer and to find out where he was. Luckily he was pulling into the hospital parking lot. So much for take your time. I said, "You better run, the doc has is masky thingy on and I am ready to push." Spencer got into the room two minutes later and I started to push. I SO didn't want to push. I was in so much pain and it was only causing me more pain. I started to scream after one of my pushes. My mom started to say "Shhh...it's ok." I screamed at her "Don't you tell me to shhh. This hurts and I will scream if I want to." She didn't say much after that. By my second push, the doctor moved out of the way of the mirror and I could see the progress I was making and I went to town. Two more pushes and he was here. That makes a total of 5 minutes that Spencer was in the room before Ethan arrived. When they said, "It's a boy", I was so excited. If a girl would have come out, I would have said, put her back and find me the rowdy baby boy that kicked the crap out of me for the last three months. So, Ethan was born at 10:24 am Thursday Jan. 3rd. (also my dads birthday) He weighed 7lbs. 11 oz. and measured 21 inches long. The funniest thing is, I didn't even miss a meal! My epidural worked perfectly! I never lost sensation in my legs and I didn't feel my after birth pains. Everything turned out just right. He is here and healthy and one of the most delicious things I have ever seen. I will be doing a photo session soon so be looking out for more pics soon.

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive. I know that my recovery has been going so well because of it. To sum it up in the most cheesy way I can think of, I can feel the love.