He's "Almost" Here....

Well, I finally started having some contractions and a few other "pleasantries" associated with early labor that we won't go into on here, and from what my friend who's a labor/delivery nurse, and what a new friend who's a midwife/doula are telling me, the "things" I'm doing mean he'll probably be here in the next couple of days!!! I sure hope so!!!!!!

I want to tell all of you that your kind words and thoughts are so appreciated, you don't even know how much. It's really a wonderful thing to "meet" so many wonderful people and actually not really have even met them. It shows you that there are really great people out there and we just have to open our eyes and our hearts to find eachother!

I wanted to answer Teresa's question about falconers. A falconer is someone who handles birds of prey and has gotten a license from their state to do so. Many falconers do as very old tradition maintains and fly their falcons, owls, eagles, hawks and allow them to hunt quarry. It is an amazing sport. When I was at the Air Force Academy, we used them to teach the public about Falcons and we also used them to perform flights during football games, or at parades. Ours didn't hunt for P.R. reasons. I guess some people would choose to believe that wild predators walk up to their prey and ask them to please let them eat them and it's all a fun, happy time for each animal involved :) Ours did not kill any prey, we provided it for them, already killed (my first couple of years we actually had to kill the quail ourselves, but then we found it more cost-effective to order them already dead and frozen). Anyway, if you want to learn more about falconry, try this link: NAFA to the North American Falconers Association, and this link: USAFA Falconry to info on the US Air Force Academy's falconry program (which I was a part of).

I'll let you know any news as soon as I get the chance! Thanks for checking in on us!

I've been tagged, and STILL no baby!!

I am only 4 days from my due date, but little Daniel has made it very clear he's not ready to meet his family yet :) Of course I'm getting anxious, but I think that won't help so I'm trying to stay stress-free (in a hotel room with 2 little girls, yeah right, huh?) so that I am relaxed and he'll decide to join us . Thank GOODNESS, my hubby is going to come Saturday night to stay for good, and I won't have to call him when I go into labor and hope he makes it. That's SO AWESOME!!!!

As for being tagged, Laura (aka Stampin' Soldier) told me that I'm it, so I'll answer her questions and then try to figure out who to tag. With only 20 min to check the internet each day, I've been neglecting my Google Reader and haven't kept up with ANY blogs, I'm sorry!! Hopefully whoever I tag hasn't been tagged, but we'll see.

Here are seven random things about me:
My favorite fruit, I have recently decided, are cherries (you know, the Bing type)
When we are out of the military, I am going to get back into being a falconer
I ran cross-country while at the AF Academy (just one season before I quit for falconry) but who would look at me and guess that anymore?!?!?
I'm 5'1" tall
I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky and LOVE it there!
I was 17 when I left home for the Air Force Academy
I would love to work with animals for a profession, but am not sure that I can make that happen

Here are the bloggers I am tagging (my time on the net is almost up, so I probably won't be able to come up with 7 fast enough, sorry!):
Jennifer
Brandie
Teresa
Amy

No News.....

Still no baby yet. I guess I'm a little over-anxious :) He's not due until the 17th afterall. It's been a trial living out of a hotel room with 2 little girls and the constant worry of "what in the world am I going to do with the girls when I go into labor?!?!?" I have a friend moving here on the 10th, so as long as Daniel waits until then, we're good, but if he decides to come before that I really don't know what to do. I guess when you have a small family, there are some downsides - ie a huge chance they can't make it to help you in a situation like this.

Everyone keeps asking if my mom will come out, and the answer is no. I only have one sister and she's not coming either - she's got a wedding in August, so no time. Hopefully now you see. It's worth it though to be here and to have the chance at a natural birth to have to deal with the complication of childcare. I wouldn't trade this situation for an "easy" c-section back where I live just so that neighbors could easily watch the girls. That's a silly thought, I think. So - we'll make it work!!

Anyway, I still haven't done ANY stamping. The set-up in the room just doesn't allow for it with the girls there, so I am thinking that I'll send my huge tub of stuff I brought to stamp with back with my husband when he comes to visit on the 4th. Bummer.

Well, take care, and I can't wait to get back into the swing of things and to NOT BE PREGANANT!!!! :) Have a great day!

We're in San Antonio and "His" Name!!!!

Well, we made it here safe and sound yesterday afternoon. It's going to be interesting. I have a 1 bedroom "hotel" room on the base (us military-types call them lodging rooms instead of hotel rooms). It does have a small kitchen (no dishwasher, but it does have a stove and full-sized fridge) and a bar area with chairs to eat at. Each night I have to use a pull-out sofa for the girls and since they're in the bed together it will be interesting to see if they ever just go to sleep or if they'll be stinkers trying to play each night. This base is HUGE. We're at Lackland Air Force Base where Wilford Hall Medical Center is, and to give you an idea, it have FIVE pools on the base alone!!!! Our base (Laughlin) has one, and some bases don't have any. I can look out of my lodging room and see Wilford Hall so that's a huge comfort. We're still not sure where the girls will go when I go into labor since we don't really know anyone here, but we'll figure that out. I will not be able to post any pictures while here because the computer I have access to is not allowed to have anything up/down loaded to it. I do plan on making some cards though, and doing a little sewing of some baby items I want to make for our baby.

Oh, and for those of you that have been waiting, we're pretty sure that we're going to name the baby Daniel Peter McClellan(middle name is his father's first name). It fits in with our other "traditional" names that we gave the girls. He can be Danny when he's little - not sure if I'll call him that or not - and Dan if he wants when he's older. I like it, but there's just something about picking a boy's name. It's not the same feeling as choosing a little girl's name. Anyone else feel that way? :) Well, I've almost hit my 20-minute time limit on the computer so I've got to run, but take care and make sure you subscribe!!!! That way you won't be checking back each day when there's nothing new.

Last Card....

For a little while at least. I've got a TON to do to get ready to leave my house, with my two kids, and leave my husband and 2 dogs behind until our baby decides to join our little family. I leave on Monday for San Antonio and I just have to tell you that I've packed nothing, and have a very short list made of "things to do" so I'm feeling a little behind. I won't have time before I leave to do any posting. For my own sanity, I'm going to try to take some stamping stuff with me for in our hotel room - I could potentially be there for FIVE WEEKS!!!! If I get stuff made there, I will see what I can come up with as far as uploading it. I'm not too sure how that will work since I will probably be using library computers and I doubt they want me to plug my camera in and upload pictures. So - it may be a while before you hear from me. On that note, I don't want everyone to forget about me. I've LOVED hearing from each of you when you comment on my posts and it makes me a little happier each day to see how many of you care. So - SUBSCRIBE to my blog so that you don't waste time checking to see if there's anything new. I have a subscribe bar through Feedblitz on the right, and Google Reader works really well too.

Here comes some ranting....I am putting in a negative plug for Stamping Top 50. Forever I've had their little icon over there and have enjoyed watching my number drop. Most recently I was at 123. That amazes me because I'm obviously no Beate or other such stamper/blogger, but at least there are people out there that like to check in on me. Anyway, one day the little counter just stopped counting, so I contacted them, and they never replied back. This is the 2nd time I've had an issue. The first time I figured it out with the help of some of you, but even then I asked the site for help and they never got back. I think they only want to have their site advertised by us and don't take the time to actually answer back, even though they say they usually take no more than 48 hours or so to do so. Well, it's been days since I asked, with no response. So, lesson here, if you think you want their little counter, have at it. When it stops working though, don't expect any help from the people you're advertising for!!!

Here's my card. Two things to say about it since you might not see the details: I stamped the background of the Soft Sky card with Soft Sky on my Canvas BG stamp, stamped off once for a lighter effect. I also distressed the edges of my Whisper White CS with my finger nail. This was a quick card I had to make 3 of to give as thanks to individuals/stores that donated products/items for the 72-hour kits I mentioned in today's earlier post. Enjoy!!


Stamp Sets: Natural Beauty (retiring), Holidays & Wishes (Fall - Winter 2007 Preview set), Canvas BG
Card Stock: Soft Sky (Fall - Winter 2007 Preview CS), Whisper White, My Mind's Eye "Magnolia" paper from Costco paper pack
Ink: Soft Sky, Brown StazOn
Accessories: Blender Pen, Paper Piercing Tool, Paper Piercing Guide, Chocolate grosgrain, Dimensionals

For Now....

I do have a card to show you later, but for now I thought I would refer you to Sarah Moore's blog post on using chipboard. She has some ADORABLE cards that she made using chipboard in ways you might never think to use it to create cute little animals. They are so fun!! Click here to see her post.

I've been going nuts since last night, so I'm a little unorganized at the moment and that's why I won't have my usual early morning post. While I was at a function at church learning how to have 72-hour kits for each member of my family in case of emergency (they contain food, a change of clothes, water, flashlights, etc.) my husband was busy being told by our 2 year-old that there was a bug in the bathroom. He thought it was an ant or something, but Sarah took him in there and showed him a SCORPION hiding under her potty seat on the floor (you know, the kind you put on the potty for potty-training). AHHHHH!!!!!! Last year Emma was stung by one in the bath tub - long story and HORRIBLE experience - while it was SUBMERGED in the water (that little nasty thing lived for over 45 minutes submerged before we finally dumped it on the asphalt at the hospital parking lot and stepped on it). Thank goodness, as much as the stings can hurt, there's an imaginary line somewhere between here and Arizona and the poisonous scorpions aren't here. I can't believe they can say that as a blanket statement, but supposedly none here are poisonous. You CAN have an allergic reaction to them though, and thank goodness Emma didn't last year. So...my hubby caught it and flushed it and then when I got home he told me about it and all I could think/dream about last night was scorpions crawling all over my house. I didn't get much sleep. Today I'm going to get out some heavy-duty insecticide that I have and call the company and find out how much to use per gallon of water to treat my house (both for the local mammoth roaches and other bugs, and scorpions) because we got this stuff after the scorpion last year and I haven't used it much since. I'm also super paranoid about insecticides around my kids and dogs. We'll see what info I can get from the company.

SO - I will post a card later, and will try to figure something out so that I can sleep...can't you just see a scorpion falling in the crib with my little baby when I bring him home in July?!!?!?! That's what I'm thinking about right now! :(

Off to San Antonio

We have to leave in about an hour for San Antonio for my last OB appointment at Wilford Hall before I MOVE to San Antonio for the remainder of the pregnancy to be seen by my doctor there. So....no post for today. Sorry!!! Spend some extra time surfing some new blogs or something, and make sure to leave posts!! People really do get warm fuzzies knowing that others enjoy what they take time to post. Have a great day!!!