Homecoming

 What a crazy few weeks it has been for us! I have been having some signs of pre-term labor and been on doctors orders to take it easy. For those of you with a toddler and a deployed husband you know how hard it is to "take it easy". About 2 weeks ago my mother-in-law called me with news that she was being admitted into the hospital. Her doctor had found nodules on both lungs and said she needed to be seen immediately. I contacted the Red Cross to get a message to my husband so I could let him know what was going on.

......Well, what a crazy few weeks it has been! I started to write this (the above part) on December 7th, 2011. It had been a long day at the hospital with my Mother-in-Law. My husband was finally tracked down by the Red Cross and was able to call me at 2am. I filled him in on what little we knew at the time. His Command put him on the first flight out they could and he arrived home on December 9th, just 11 days early from his original Homecoming date. Those 11 days in hindsight are priceless! My mother-in-law was in the hospital until just before Christmas and we were going to host Christmas at our house since I was ready to pop and didn't want to drive anywhere 9+ months pregnant. She had several procedures done and it was determined that she has late stage cancer of an unknown origin. They know it started either in her Pancreas or GI Tract but can't pinpoint it. She did her first round of chemotherapy.....

Back to Christmas:

 My husband and I stayed up until about 1:30am Christmas Eve finishing putting together our daughters play kitchen since Santa's Elves didn't send it assembled. I woke up at 6am on Christmas morning...in labor! I poked my husbands shoulder and told him "Hun, I'm having contractions and they're 2 1/2 minutes apart." In typical fashion he told me to give it a little to make sure and call the doctor. I went down stairs and called my OB/GYN to let her know we'd be on our way to the hospital and then called my best friend (who's more like my sister) to watch our daughter, and then called my brother-in-law to let the family know we would NOT be hosting Christmas this year. We were able to get ready to go and open presents with her before we left for the hospital. Our beautiful baby girl was born on Christmas Day at 2:50pm!

  Just a week later my mother-in-law was readmitted to the hospital. She has remained in the ICU since she was readmitted and last Friday it was decided that only her symptoms will be treated and we will just do pain control. Please keep her in your prayers for peace. We are so thankful that my husband was able to get those last few good days with her while she was out of the hospital and that she was able to hold her newest granddaughter before she went into the ICU. I hope you have all had an amazing end to your 2011 and a very happy and healthy 2012 so far! I'll post about what's going on with Baby Battle Rattle products and changes to the store very soon!

Stationery card

Little Gift Birth Announcement

Birth announcements & graduation announcements by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

One Down

With 2012 about to make it's arrival, as well as our little bun in the oven I'm feeling the pressure to accomplish my list of 12 things before the year runs out. If you haven't seen the 12 by 2012 post you can read about it here. I'm happy to say that I have crossed off TWO things on my list! The first thing I finished was my office space. I found a desk at the thrift store that was just the type I was looking for, cheap and ready for some paint! It took a couple of baby's nap times to get it finished but it turned out perfectly. I can't make a decision on how I want to paint or change to drawer pulls so for now I'm going to leave them as bronze. (My apologies for not having a finished photo yet!)



Before (minus the drawers)



After the 1st coat of paint.



The second thing I have crossed off my list is the new nursery....well, for the most part. I'm going to pull the pregnancy card and say I win this one. I have the bedding, the lamps and wall accessories. I have the Pottery Barn rocking chair (thank you Craigslist!). I have her clothes hung in the closet. What's missing? The crib and dresser, but since they are being delivered on Tuesday and set for me I'm going to call this one done. The only thing I'll need to do is move the diapers from the closet to the dresser and make the crib and it's done.

I've even started on the freezer meals, but as I've only made one and would like to have about a week or two's worth in the freezer I won't count this off my list yet. Have you joined in on this challenge? I hope you guys are feeling as accomplished as I am!

12 by 2012

 

  I have been following The Small Things Blog for a little while now. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to check her out! Amazing hair ideas and tutorials, cute outfits, and generally crafty awesomeness. She posted about 12 by 2012 and as a list-a-holic I'm in! I think this is a fantastic idea and hope you find some inspiration to do this as well. So here is my list:

1. Finish Isabelle's nursery.

2. Make a homecoming sign/banner for my husband.

3. Decorate for Christmas...and not just a tree this year.

4. Finish the pantry makeover.

5. Create a new office/sewing space.

6. Submit my USMC trademark applications.

7. Knit a throw.

8. Make freezer meals for after baby Isabelle arrives.

9. Detail my car!

10. Finish Christmas shopping.

11. Take a hospital tour.

12. Have a baby!!!

Ok, so maybe they won't ALL get finished 100% but I really hope so. Number 12 may be done and maybe she'll hold out for her due date (January 3rd), but I've got a feeling she'll be early like her sister was. Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!

Shop Vacation

  It feels like not too long ago that we announced Baby Battle Rattle was going to be a big sister. The time has come to put the shop on vacation until after this little bun in the oven makes her debut. This fall is going to be busy for us! From now until my due date we have Halloween, my HS reunion, Thanksgiving, Christmas and my husbands homecoming (thrown somewhere in the mix). No, don't fret I am not posting when in that mix he'll be coming home, heck, we don't even have the date...but AFTER he is back on U.S. soil I will let you all know.

  The shop will be closed today, Friday October 14th. I don't have an exact date when the shop will reopen, but it will be some time around early spring. Right now I'm thinking March. I will still be updating the blog, Facebook page and update on Twitter. In more exciting news, have you seen the new logo for Baby Battle Rattle?! I LOVE it! (NOTE...blogger is being uncooperative and won't show the picture...I'll work on this more later. But if you can't wait and want to see the logo now, it's on the Facebook page.)

ME and Moose

  A few weeks ago Baby and I were able to fly to Maine to visit some great friends from back when we were all stationed in North Carolina together. What a trip!!! The last time I had Baby on an airplane she was 9m old and did great; however she wasn't a 20m old then and not interested in sitting in my lap but instead running all over the place. I prepared for the worst and prayed to God for the best!

  Earlier in the week we had an Earthquake here in Virginia. It was quite the event for most people here, but having lived on a military base for more than half my life I initially thought "Ugh, why are they shooting artillery during nap time!?" Then quickly the Californian in me kicked in and I realized it was an earthquake. Did I jump up and run for the baby and cover? Heck no, this IS Virginia we're talking about. I figured it wasn't going to be much so I sat on the couch for a few seconds longer until things really got moving and a picture flew off the wall. Okay, now this is real! I ran up to Baby's room and yanked the poor sleeping kid from her crib and we got in the doorway to ride out the 'quake. All in all I was impressed for an East coast earthquake, a 5.8 not too shabby! We're all fine and Baby went right back down for her nap and I toured the house to make sure there was no damage to be found.



The only picture that didn't fall off the wall...and the only one that is irreplaceable.



  The day finally arrived for us to fly out. It figures that common sense would fly out the window when it comes to air travel. We flew from DC to Chicago to Boston. Of course because I had Baby with me we were delayed in Chicago for a few hours and missed nap time. We finally arrived in Boston at 8:30pm...only 13 hours after we left home! Yes, it was at this point I realized that I could have driven faster but we all know what they say about hindsight. We spent a wonderful weekend with our friends and got the grand tour of Maine, had both styles of lobster rolls (butter & mayo) and enjoyed a whoopie pie!



Baby in her very own big girl seat (thankful the flight wasn't fully booked!)




Baby & I found the monster of all whoopie pies!



My 1st Lobster Roll...delicious!





Checking out a lighthouse, how do you not go to Maine and see one?!





Baby's first whoopie pie!



  Then hurricane Irene came to town. I got a call from the airline on Saturday that my Monday flight had already been canceled. The nice woman who was rescheduling our trip home for us gave us a few different options and I asked her if any of them were a direct flight? She told me that they all were! Woohooo, our flight home was only 56 minutes in the air for a total of about 1 hour and 15 minutes from when we stepped into the plane until we stepped off. What's better than a short flight? A sleeping baby the whole way! We had a WONDERFUL time visiting our friends and can't wait for Mr. Battle Rattle to be home to make another trip up with him. Enjoy the pictures!

Growing a Business

  Two years ago (almost to the day) I cut up one of my husbands old unserviceable blouses. For those of you who read this and are not affiliated with the military just read that as I tore apart his uniform! I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Baby Battle Rattle and my husband was on his second deployment to Iraq. I had looked for baby items at the PX on base and all over the internet, but there was nothing to be found. Nothing that was cute enough to spend money on anyway! I got to work cutting out squares and made a simple quilt out of the old blouse. It was adorable!!! I was so proud of my handy work I posted a picture of it on Facebook so others could see it too. Little did I know that this was the beginning of Baby Battle Rattle. I was overwhelmed with how many people loved it and asked "Where did you buy that?" "Do you sell these?" and "Where can I get one!?"

The 1st ever Baby Battle Rattle blanket, August 20th 2009.

  Today I took the next step in building my brand. I have decided to work with LaunchHer. They had an amazing promotion going on this month and it is the right time to Trademark my business to protect my products and myself. I have also been working with an amazingly talented graphic artist who has designed a new logo for me. It's just about finished and I'm having a hard time deciding which one to go with because they are all so fabulous! There is so much going on and in the year that I've had my Etsy shop open I've added a lot of new items. It has been such a fun learning experience so far and I really enjoy creating these things for all the other military babies out there!



The new improved style & the most popular item in the shop!
Baby Battle Rattle blanket