Sleep Little Baby...but please wake up alittle!

Boy, have I forgotten how much newborns sleep! Sofia just loves to sleep the whole time she is at our house. Two days in a row now I have babysat from 10:15 am until 1pm and this little nugget never wakes up!! She is 2 weeks old tomorrow already. I want to stop time so I can savor this sweet infant stage. I'm trying to embed in my memory her little noises, her sweet smell and the feel of her satiny soft skin.

Oh, a quick opening of her eyes....just long enough to snap a picture, then back to snooze land she goes.

Jami and Hanna came back to pick up Sofia and Jami put her in her sling. It is one of Sofia's favorite places to be. All cozy just like a little pea in a pod!

Hanna is feeling great now and has regained most of her strength. This morning she had her music lesson and then out to lunch with mommy. She just loves her little sister and has now become mommy's wonderful helper.
Tomorrow I am going to go up to the clubhouse and check out the Art Club. I have a friend who is painting and has joined the club and invited me up. She wants me to bring my canvas art up and join in. I have put a call into a lady who teaches watercolor classes and hope to take a few classes from her to see if I have any painting talent. I know, I know, ANOTHER activity to add to my already crammed life.....hey, no one can say I don't stay busy. I just love exploring new creative avenues. It all seems interesting to me and for the first time in my life I have all these opportunities available nearby. I just can't seem to take enough classes. Too bad I didn't feel this way when I was in college!!!

Headbands, Headbands, Everywhere

I've been busy today!!! I needed to get my inventory of headbands built back up and since today was cool and windy I figured this was a good day to stay inside and get some work done. It's been quit a while since I have made this many at one time. I put on over 180 swarovski crystals on these. Needless to say, it took me about about 7 hours to finish them. So when my hubby got in from golf I hadn't even thought about what to make for dinner, much less start it! We ended up at Taco Bell...


I'm realizing that my picture taking techniques are in bad need of help. My little digital camera is just not getting the job done. Or maybe it's the picture taker. LOL!! Whatever, I need to get some help. Anyhow, it was a good day and it flew by. Tonight we got to be entertained by our grandsons on Skype. For those of you who don't know what Skype is, it's free internet download that allows you to see and talk to each other over your computer. Coleman sang his new song that names all 50 states while Caden read (tried to) to us. Cole showed us his school paper that he had written the numbers from 1 to 100 on. We are so proud of his progress. And Caden showed off his fancy baseball underwear that stayed dry all day at school today! So it's was a big day all around!

Sunday after church I snapped this picture of Hanna. She is feeling so much better now but still needs to put some weight back on. So my mom invited us all out to breakfast. We went to a little place in Gilbert and had a delicious breakfast. Afterwards we took a few more pictures before heading home. As you can see, it was a beautiful, warm day.


Here's my mom with her 5th great-grandchild, Sofia. Pretty cool, huh?
This past weekend was filled with parties and fun for us. Thursday evening we joined our Yoga couples (the four husbands go to Yoga class on Thur. nights at Trilogy) for drinks and dinner up at the club after class. Then on Friday eight of us went up to the club to dance to The Roadrunners. We had a great time and all of us danced for 3 straight hours. On Saturday afternoon we joined about 26 others friends for a "Pub Crawl". We went to three different homes for drinks and appetizers and at the last house we were served dinner and then all got in the pool. What a fun night. I'm sure we will be doing more of them. Boy, did that 2 hour nap on Sunday afternoon feel good!!

My Cup Runneth Over

that's how my heart feels....that it's so full of love that it runneth over. That's what 4 grandchildren does to you. How perfect, two boys and two girls. All four are incredibly special and unique. They are the joy of my life and every time I think of them, see them, kiss them, hold them, talk to them, play with them, I am sure that I am the luckiest "Gigi" in the world! Those are moments of heaven on earth. Sometimes I wish time would stand still so that they wouldn't grow any bigger. I don't want to loose these sweet, young, innocent years. All the funny things they tell me, the way their faces look when I ask them if they want a cupcake, or how they smell when they have just been bathed and lotioned up and then they curl up in chair with me in their soft pj's and let me kiss their little foreheads. Who knew that a heart could stretch this big and ache this hard with love....only God, I'm sure.

1st A New President.......then new canvas art

Hopefully everyone was able to watch today's historical Inauguration of Barack Obama. The crowds were amazing. I don't envy him his full plate of issues that need to be addressed, but I do wish him great success. And I thought Michelle Obama and their daughters looked fantastic. Loved all the color.
Then is was in to my studio for me. Time to get back to work after taking several days off to enjoy my new granddaughter. I decided to try out a couple ideas for Valentine's Day. Seems like there are not a lot of Valentine decorations out there at the decor stores. Here's a couple pictures of my first canvas. It's done in a darker red background with black and white accents.


I went with a lighter, brighter red in this one. Both of these are done on 8x8 canvas. This is a nice size to sit on a picture stand.

At the last minute I created this little 4 x 4 canvas. Again the picture doesn't do them justice. They all are covered with irrediscent glitter to make them pop.
Frank and I went for a long walk this morning. It was so beautiful and warm out we couldn't wait to get out and enjoy it. We still have to pinch ourselves to believe that it is January and not May! We came home and threw the doors open. Since I watched the Inaugauration and then gave my hubby a haircut, I didn't get into my studio until noon. The next time I looked at the clock it was 4:20pm! WHOA....where did the day go? I still have a couple other ideas that I want to get onto canvas for a Valentine theme so will have to get on that before the week is out.
I'm of to Scrapbook Club in the morning and then hope to stop by and see my granddaughters. Oh, and by the way, LOVED Michelle Obama's white ball gown this evening!!

ON THE MEND...FINALLY!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all who stopped and said a prayer for our little Hanna. She finally turned the corner today and it looks like she is on the mend. Here is a picture of her this evening. She actually played with some toys today. We are all so relieved to see her smile and eat a few bites. Now it is just a matter of building up her stamina so she can return to school and her other activities.

Sofia continues to thrive. She is staying awake a little longer during the day now, although you can't tell it by this picture! The hat I made her is still a teensy big for her, but sooo cute. We couldn't resist putting it on her.

Where is that ball of fur going with that baby???????????????
Okay, this headband is too funny. Good thing we have such a willing model.

Here's Sofia's and her Auntie Bre. Sofia told me today that she really, really misses her Auntie.
I brought all the girls back to my house today to hang out. It was 78 degrees outside and just beautiful. Frank BBQ hamburgers for all of us tonight. It's like an early summer here.
I actually had very good intentions of working in my studio this afternoon and did start on a new Valentine canvas art, but didn't get very far. It's too distracting to have my new little granddaughter in the house just waiting for me to pick her up and love on her. So looks like I will put my artwork on hold until tomorrow. I also want to get my Valentine decorations up around my house. Sometime I have so many ideas and projects rolling around in my head that it seems overwhelming to even get started on anything.
I am excited though, because I was in my favorite decor store by my house a couple days ago and after showing one of the owners a picture of Sofia with one of my crocheted hats on, she wants me to bring them in to possibly sell in her store. Might have to show her my canvas art also. I'm off to read some other blogs now. Have a great evening.....

I'M IN BABY HEAVEN!!!

OK, let's be honest, isn't she the cutest little thing!!! Yesterday we took Sofia out in the 75 degree sunshine for lunch and a quick trip to Gymboree to pick up a few more outfits for "up to 7 lbs." Here she is sporting one of my new bow designs with a white feather. She continues to be a great baby. She likes to sleep during the day and be wide awake in the middle of night which is not going over well with her parents!! But she told me yesterday that she just loves being snuggled up in our arms all day and it just makes her want to sleep, sleep, sleep.

On Friday Auntie Bre and I took her to her first Dr.'s appointment. Sofia was so excited that she slept through the whole exam. But we had such fun getting her dressed in her pink and brown with matching Gigi bow with tulle and crystal accents. She was quit the fashion statement.


After stripping her down to be weighed (she only had lost a few ounces) we realized that we didn't have a blanket in the diaper bag to wrap her up in while she waited for the Dr. to arrive. But Auntie Bre came to the rescue and wrapped her up in her Juicy Couture velour jacket. As you can see, Sofia felt right at home in it and snored away the rest of the appointment.
Sofia's sister, Hanna, continues to struggle with the influenza. She is a very sick little girl and doesn't seem to be getting better. We are asking everyone to please stop and take a quick minute to pray for her quick recovery. We are very concerned about her.
Auntie Bre flies home to cold WA this morning and we are all very sad to see her leave. Jami has really loved having her here and is going to miss her help in getting up 5 times a night to nurse Hanna. So Gigi and Papa will now take over that mission.
Gotta run as we our on our way to Jami's. Will keep you all posted as time permits.

SHE'S GOT THE CUTEST LITTLE BABY FACE!!

This is our new darling little Sofia Elizabeth Lindberg!! Born last night, January 14, 2009, at 9:45 PM, weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. We think she is absolutely adorably THE cutest little baby girl. Honestly, she has the softest skin you would ever want to kiss! OK, so we are very proud grandparents!! Anyway, here is a short photo clip of the days events......

Here's Jami just before we got in the car to head for the hospital yesterday morning. It was funny cause she made Mike stay home to finish his appraisals so I drove her to the hospital while Frank babysat Hanna who is very sick with the respiratory flu (she's been sick since last Sunday). So we climbed in the car with our Mocha's, stopped at the bank for Jami to make some deposits and then drove the 1/2 hour to the hospital sipping our coffee!

Here's Jami, all smiles, tucked in bed awaiting the medication to get things started. Little did she know what was to come!!

Jami and Mike surprised Brean and bought her a ticket to fly in for the birth. Bre arrived just about an hour and a half before the birth. Here's Dr. Bre getting ready for the big event!!

After about seven hours in the hospital and 4 crocheted baby hats later, Jami's water broke with a loud pop and she went into aggressive labor. Things starting progressing very quickly when she was told that she needed to try to hold on cause the Dr. had just been notified and she was a 25 minute drive away!! YIKES!! We weren't sure Jami was going to be able to hold off until the Dr. arrived, but she was a trooper and kept her calm and made it. As soon as the Dr. came through the door Jami was ready to deliver. Sofia came quickly and Auntie Bre cut the cord. It was an incredible experience for all of us.

Daddy Mike was speechlessly proud and Baby Sofia was wide-eyed and calm as could be.

Mommy didn't waste a moment texting the news to her friends! Did this woman really just give birth????


Auntie Bre was so excited to see a live birth (she has had 2 C-sections under anesthesia). This night will forever be etched in her memory as one of God's miracles.
Sofia was wide awake for several hours after she was born. She makes the cutest little mewing sounds when she is awake and asleep. We think she looks a lot like her daddy and sister, Hanna.


Today I just had to get a picture of her in one of the headbands I made her. She told me she just loves it and put an order in for several more in different colors!!!So tonight Frank and I are basking in the joys of grandparenthood. I doubt that life can get much better then this. We love, love, love our wonderful daughters and their amazing husbands, but we don't think that anyone can quite live up to the deep affection and incredible love that we have for our 4 adorable grandchildren. We feel so blessed to have this close-knit, affectionate family. We just pray that God will protect and guide these little children and keep them in his care. These little people are definitely "the icing on the cake".

THE BIG COUNT DOWN

We are on the final count down for our new granddaughter's arrival. Hopefully, we are less than 24 hours away. Today I sat with Hanna for a few hours while Jami ran last minute errands. Poor Hanna has the respiratory flu and is running a high fever and feels lousy. We are praying that she will recover by tomorrow so that she can be home when Sofia comes home on Thursday. Meanwhile, Jami surprised her sister, Bre, with a free ticket to fly down for the birth. Bre will arrive tomorrow early evening. We are so happy that she gets to be here for this big event. Just sorry that the rest of her family can't come too.
This morning I ran to Joanns and loaded up on some more art supplies. I can hardly wait to dig into them. I have a million ideas rolling around in my head that I want to try out on the canvas art. I did manage to get two more baby hats crocheted while I hung out with my granddaughter.
Frank and I are off to Bible Study tonight.
I will keep you posted on the baby's arrival....with pictures, of course!!

YAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Took my daughter, Jami, to the OB Dr. this morning and she is scheduled to be induced on Wednesday at noon!!! FINALLY!! Unless of course she goes into labor prior to that. I know she was really hoping for tomorrow, but now we have a whole day to get ready...groceries to buy, meals to make, laundry to get caught up and an extra day for Hanna to get over her cold. We are now totally excited for Sofia's arrival. Just wish our younger daughter, Bre, could be here for the big event. She is busy chasing two little boys around in the pouring WA rain. Speaking of grandsons....over Christmas while the family was here Coleman crawled into bed with Frank and I one morning. He was lying next to Frank and looking at all the moles on his body. After a moment he looked up at his Papa and said, "Hey Papa, you sure have a lot of nipples on your tummy". LOL! Don't kids say the funniest things.
This afternoon I painted a few canvas in my studio and then realized that I don't have all the supplies I need to finish them. I want to do some Valentine ones. So tomorrow I will need to run out and see what I can find. I am crocheting more baby hats though. So the whole day is not lost.
Keep peeking back to my log for news of our new arrival!

Have To Make A Mess To Create!

Creating for me means making a mess. Not a bad mess, but several organized (well sorta organized) piles, TV on, phone nearby, package of rice crackers kind of mess. It's how I do my best and most enjoyable work. I find myself usually setting up a card table in the middle of my studio to work at instead of using my desk. My desk area doesn't allow for enough room to spread out my "mess". But hey, good things come out of it as seen below.
These two pictures are a new idea that I came up with for my canvas art. I am branching out on the designs that I am using.

I am now embellishing all of them with some swarovski crystals. It adds that little bit of sparkle to each picture. I used some on the little girls headband and on the swirls in the lower corners.


My dear friend, Rosie is having a birthday tomorrow so I made this necklace and earrings for her. I am still having difficulty with my picture taking. I can't seem to get the lighting right and I am getting glares where I don't want them. Anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of that?



I used black crystals, white pearls, green and clear crystals and some white saltwater pearls.
Wanted to let you know that my digital scrapbooking class that I took at Scrapbooks, etc. was great! Joey Otlo taught the class and she was so organized and informative. I really learned a lot and was able to come home and actually complete some projects fairly easily. Unfortunately, do to the fact that Frank and I ended up at our Trilogy restaurant, Slate, on Friday night with 8 other friends for drinks and dinner, I never made it to the "Girls Night Out" at Blissful Living Studio for the 5 hr. digital get together. I was bummed and hope that Tangie of, www.tangiebaxter.com, does it again next month. My next challenge is to figure out how to design and implement my blogger heading.
So that's it for today. I am still hanging in there on my diet. It's been 3 days and I haven't fallen off the wagon yet!!! Believe me though, I am starving and try not to think about it too much. Whenever it gets really hard I run into the kitchen and drink a whole glass of water. Needless to say, you can guess where I am running to the rest of the day!! Have a great Sunday!

Side-tracked

So I was headed to my studio to work on my canvas art when my eyes caught a glimpse of the bag of colored crocheted headbands that Jami had dropped off for me to embellish for Sofia. OOPS! Side-tracked.....I made the mistake of picking them up and starting to think about how I would decorate them and that was all it took. I spent the better part of the day decorating headbands and not working on canvas art. But is actually turned out to be a lot of fun.

I used my swarovski crystals, flowers, tulle, ribbon and feathers to decorate them.

The pink feather puff has tiny crystals scattered through it.
At the last minute I decided to try the flower with the furry feathers and it turned out cute. I can't wait to see how they all look on our new granddaughter........whenever she gets here!
I spent this morning pampering myself when I joined Jami for a very relaxing pedicure. We were there for an hour while they worked on our feet and legs....such indulgence! Boy did it feel great. Then it was off to the movies with my hubby. We saw "Valkeri" with Tom Cruise. Very good. We enjoyed it. Now it's time for me to cook some dinner.....Hmmm, think we will have breakfast for dinner since I forgot to take anything out of the freezer. We like having eggs and hashbrowns for dinner once in a while. It's kind of like comfort food on a chilly evening. We have lots of sunshine but it is still a little cool outside.
Tomorrow morning I'm off to my knitting group. Haven't seen those gals since the beginning of Dec. so I am looking forward to getting back together. Tomorrow evening I am taking another digital scrapbooking class. It's 3 hrs. long and will cover a ton of information. Then on Friday night I am attending a "Girls Night Out" at Blissful Living Studio from 7pm to midnight!! It's 5hrs of digital scrapbooking and blogging along with personal teacher help. I am so EXCITED!! I hope to finally get some problems solved.
Off to the kitchen I must go. A wife's work is never done! Have a great evening.

IS THAT A FORCED SMILE??????

Okay, so the pregnant lady isn't exactly happy about still carry this baby in her tummy and not in her arms! This was taken yesterday morning after breakfast out with the family at Cheesecake Factory. As you can tell by Jami's forced smile, she is not happy. Thankgoodness she had a Dr.'s appointment this morning....but unfortunately the Dr. was out delivering a baby!! But Jami, not to be put off to wait for another appointment, insisted on seeing someone....ANYONE! So the nurse practitioner gave her the once over and told her that she is ready to deliver any moment. So back through the same procedure as last Monday (exit the membranes) and the waiting continues....with the addition of hard cramps. So maybe tonight Miss Sofia will make her appearance. Not sure how many more days Jami's sweet husband can hang in there! Phew! He deserves a medal!!
Meanwhile, back here at the nest I was busy working on some new canvas art creations. Since I don't have any completed yet I don't have any pictures. Will try to take care of that tomorrow.
My day was MADE when I heard back from so many people that they are actually reading my blog and even enjoying it!! That did my heart good.....so will continue to blog away. I hope that you readers get a chance to check out some of the other creative blog sites that I have listed on the right. But be careful, it becomes addictive very fast! Thanks to those who let me know they are following my blog. I really appreciate hearing from you.
Had a little overcast sky this morning with some cold wind, but not to worry, it warmed up this afternoon and we had sunshine the rest of the day...not coat needed!!
Now I must close so I can read my new magazines I got in the mail today. I also picked up some new yarn to crochet another baby hat with. Have a great evening~

DEFINITION OF ABNORMAL...

....when it rains in Arizona. Honestly, it was so weird to wake up to a thick foggy sky and drizzling rain. Seems to put me in a mood. A "what should I do" kind of mood. Like, should I keep doing this blogging thing? Seems like only a couple people read it. Should I keep taking creative classes? Seems like I just make things and never get around to trying to sell them. And on and on it goes. I think it might be a bit of the laziness that creeps in with the cold and rain. Makes you want to curl up under a blanket with a cup a hot chocolate (with whip cream on top) and just watch old movies. Instead, we rented some movies, put on our cozy warm-ups and ate popcorn and peanut M & M's!
But I must admit, I do wonder if anyone other then my family members ever peek into my blog world.....and if they do, why don't they ever leave me a comment. Come to think of it, I may be guilty of that with other bloggers. I spend hours reading other artists blogs and rarely take the time to leave a comment. I think that may be one of my New Year's resolutions. Let the other bloggers know that I do read their blogs and I do love to see all their pictures and their wonderful creations. Hopefully that will rub off and others will leave comments for me. Meanwhile, I still am undecided about posting my creations on Etsy.com for sale. I would like to create my custom art canvas's like the ones below for people. I think they are very unique. We'll see where it all leads.

SOMETHING PURPLE

Have all of you settled into the new year? Are you ready for what 2009 may bring you? I always look forward to each new year. I know that so many happy times will be coming, a few stressful times and usually a couple sad times. But all these help us to grow in character and have a greater appreciation for those we love and the things we have. I'm always amazed as I look back on the year before and how God's hand moved in our midst. His timing is always perfect. His blessings are always so generous.
Today I created with the color PURPLE. Jami's nursery was still in need of a lamp on the dresser so I purchased this one at Target. It had a plain lavender shade which I embellished with dark purple velvet ribbon and jeweled fringe.

It still looked like it needed something more so I started fiddling around this wired ribbon.....


...and wa-la, ribbon roses! The roses tie in with the other roses that I used in embellishing the nursery valance and dresser baskets. I also added three jeweled drops in the center of each of the flowers. You have to look close to see them. (still working on my photography skills)

I stopped into one of my favorite paper stores, Scrapbooks, Etc., in Mesa. They are jam packed with tons of scrapbooking and altered art supplies. It's hard to walk out with just a few things. But I did manage to pick up these items for future use on my art canvas creations.



Well, we still don't have a new grandbaby yet. Lots of contractions, but no action!! We continue to lay out our clothes each night just in case we get called to race to the hospital.
I just glanced up at the clock and "oh my goodness" it's past my bedtime! It's off to church and then out to breakfast in the morning. This breakfast out with the family has become a regular Sunday occasion. Not good for the diet! (what diet?) Any-who, hope to dive into these new purchases tomorrow and start on some canvas art. Nighty-nite!