I Was Born To Be A Mom #imbornto #sp

Almost 24 years ago, I gave birth to my first daughter. I can barely wrap my brain around that number. I kid you not, it feels like it should’ve been just yesterday I was holding her as a newborn baby in my arms.

Next month has not only Mother’s Day, but also the day my oldest will graduate with her Master’s Degree in Social Work. I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone from her being in my tummy to her going into the working world full time, doing what she was born to do.

When I think back to finding out I was pregnant with her, I remember not believing it was true. lol I had only been married a month! She was a honeymoon baby. There was so much newness in my life at that time. I’d only been a Christian for a few months. I’d only been married for a month. Now I was going to be a mom.

I didn’t know much about being pregnant. I was only 22 and very ignorant. Even though I’d taken a family life class in high school, it certainly didn’t prepare me for pregnancy. Thankfully I had a wonderful doctor who educated me along the way.

When I was about 24 weeks along, I started having contractions. I was working full time, and on my feet all day long. I had started to dilate, but not to the point of the doctor needing to do anything drastic. I was required to sit at my job, and was put on medication to stop the contractions. Let me just say, as a first time, and young mom, it was pretty scary.

As we got to the end of the pregnancy, I had an ultrasound and it showed a mass inside of her. We even have it on video tape! The doctor sent us to an ultrasound specialist a week or so later, but we and friends prayed over her, and when we went to our appointment, there was nothing there!
My daughter’s original due date was supposed to be August 11th, but she decided to come early on July 27th. We’d just gotten done with a day on the water, and I had a feeling my contractions were starting. She was my smallest baby, and the only one I ever had an epidural for. Go figure! If I remember, she was 6 lbs 13 oz. Yep, she was pretty tiny.

I wish I had pictures of her as a newborn with me. In just a few months I’ll have them with me again as we bring all of our belongings out to Maryland! When I get my hands on them I’ll try to remember to come back and post some of those pictures.

In the meantime, I’m one of 39 bloggers (representing the length of a full-term pregnancy) joining The Motherhood to share about the importance of the March of Dimes. I know first hand how important a healthy pregnancy means to mom and baby!

Did you know for more than 75 years, the March of Dimes has
been helping families? Check out these staggering statistics:

In the United States:
• 1 baby is born prematurely
every minute
• approximately 72 die each
day before reaching their first
birthday 

Worldwide:
• 15 million babies are born
too soon each year

This year, you can partner with the March of Dimes in a variety of ways! You can make the March of Dimes your charity of choice for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day (can’t forget those dads). You can also make purchases that will benefit them as well.

Here’s who you can shop with to benefit the March of Dimes and help make sure more babies are born healthy!



• Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.

o Chef Emeril Lagasse has teamed up with Martha Stewart Living to help raise at least $30,000 for the March of Dimes by giving patrons the opportunity to add a donation to their check at participating Emeril Restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Orlando and Charlotte. This runs from 4/26 to 5/10 and from 6/7 to 6/21.

o Fans can also participate by joining the #thx2u movement and sharing what their thankful for (visit www.marthastewart.com/thx2u to learn more; please share starting MONDAY APRIL 13). For every baby photo uploaded with a caption about what their thankful for with the hashtag #thx2u, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Meredith Corporation will be making a $10 donation.
• Bon-­‐Ton (and www.bonton.com)

o Customers of The Bon-­‐Ton Stores (and any of their other 7 nameplates) will receive a $10-­‐off coupon for every $3 donation to the March of Dimes made at checkout.

o When the donation is made online, instead of a $10-­‐off coupon, it will be a 25% off coupon.
o In addition, when a customer makes a $1 donation with a women’s fragrance purchase of $75 or more prior to Mother’s Day, they will receive an atomizer filled with the fragrance of their choice. 
This will run from April 30th to Mother’s Day and will be revisited again in June for Father’s Day.
o Link: www.bonton.com/marchofdimes
• MudPie

o MudPie will donate $2 to the imbornto campaign for every Bella Bar, Mom Bar and Mommy and Me jewelry item purchased for Mother’s Day.
o In addition, MudPie will donate 10 cents from each baby headband or sock purchase to the March of Dimes throughout the year.
o Link: http://www.mud-­‐pie.com/march-­‐of-­‐dimes-­‐imbornto
• A&E Jewelers

o Will be donating 20% of the purchase price from each brand new twinkling Swarovski encrusted sterling silver March of Dimes Enchanted “Healthy Beginnings” Necklace that was designed for this campaign.
o Link: www.aejewelers.com
• eBay Giving Works
o Visit eBay’s Charity Shop for Mother’s Day gifts where proceeds from your purchase support the March of Dimes. Also, from April 30 – May 11, you’ll be able to make a donation to the March of Dimes in checkout when making purchases on eBay.
o Link: www.ebay.com
• Kmart
o Celebrate mom with a gift of puppy love! From April 15 to June 21, Kmart will donate $1 from the purchase of each mother/baby puppy ornament to the March of Dimes.
o Link: www.kmart.com
• ALEX AND ANI

o ALEX AND ANI have designed their Special Delivery Bangle to honor all mothers. The Special Delivery Bangle is available in pink or blue both in copper and silver. 20% of each bangle sold will benefit the March of Dimes.
o Link: www.alexandani.com/pink-­‐special-­‐delivery-­‐charm-­‐bangle.html

What are you hoping for your children as they grow up?

Wedding Dress Bliss #FredNMimiSayIDo

My first attempt at trying on wedding dresses didn’t go so well. Mom and I started off at a boutique where the first dress I tried on was stunning and fit me like a glove. I fell in love with it! Going in I had no idea what I was looking for in a wedding dress, but at that moment, I knew…THAT was the dress I wanted.

That next week I could only think of that dress. Someone suggested going to a consignment shop. I was thinking, “I really don’t want to go to Goodwill to search for a wedding dress.” It really wasn’t the direction I wanted to go. I figured if it came down to it, I’d head back to David’s Bridal, and really spend a lot of time trying on a variety of dresses.

I don’t know what happened, but I decided to search Google for used wedding dresses. Actually I think I typed in “consignment wedding dresses.” One place came up, and thankfully I clicked on it. It was to a parent site Success In Style. Their mission is to

“assist women and men in crisis in becoming employed and self-sufficient.”

One of their retail stores is called Cherie Amour. They take in donated wedding dresses, as well as formal attire for men and women for any occasion. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get in touch with them. I started by checking them out on Facebook. Just scrolling through their page, I saw that their dresses were beautiful and affordable!

I emailed them and got an appointment for April 18th. I really didn’t want to wait, but I was so excited my friend from church to go shopping with me. So, wait I had to do.

The day finally came and off we went! Because they’re a donation site, there was no way for me to know what kind of selection they would have. Turned out we were the first appointment of the day! They had just gotten done adding on a new section, and that’s where I was taken to try and my two handfuls of dresses.

First one I tried on I knew I wasn’t interested. I didn’t even come out of the changing room. lol The next dress I tried on…BINGO! I came out and Gail loved it right along with me! it fit perfectly, and it had the lace that reminded me of the first dress I tried on!! I almost felt like not trying any more on, but moved on to the next 4 dresses. She and I both liked one of the other dresses, and had my wedding been more of a formal affair, I may have gone with it.

Gail was so cute because she was enthusiastic and really was there to totally help me. She carried my dresses, and even went in search of other dresses as I changed in case I found something else that I could get altered. In the end, the first one I came out in was THE dress.

Guess how much it was?

No, really. Guess.

GUESS!!

Ok, fine, I’ll tell you. $125! I don’t think I saw one gown there over $300. And that $300 dress was stunning! I would imagine people spent thousands of dollars on these dresses.

Now these dresses are NOT consigned or throwaway dresses. They are beautiful, well taken care of dresses. Cherie Amour was a gorgeous boutique, and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience if I’d tried.

One of the things we noticed with many of the dresses were notes written on them from the previous brides. Sadly mine didn’t have one. The notes were super sweet and very encouraging.

I’ll have to have my wedding dress altered slightly at the top. I’m not “full” enough up there so I’m going to need some help. Once again, the ladies at the boutique came through and gave me inserts and found this stick on type bra. It’s very interesting to say the least.

I’m also so happy about the dress because I know I’ll be able to wear it more than once. I might not have a lot of opportunities, but it’s simple enough to be worn to a formal event. there’s no train, and it’s not ball gown type so it’s perfect for our little venue! I can’t wait to wear it. Heck, maybe I’ll wear it while I’m working!

How many dresses did you try on before you found the ONE?

Changing My Engagement Ring #FredNMimiSayIDo

Back in December Fred and I went to the jeweler at the mall to get some ideas of what my style would be for an engagement ring. I had no clue what I’d like. The one thing I did know was that I didn’t want a round diamond, I wanted a square one. I had seen one when I went to MI for Amy’s wedding! I fell in love with the shape!

We looked through the cabinets trying various ones on. I have short fingers so I couldn’t have a thick band or it’d take up the entire bottom of my finger, and that would just look ridiculous. We can’t have that.

If you saw my first post about my engagement ring, you know I found a style that I fell in love with. There was just something about the crossover that grabbed me. It also had a sparkle that was just beautiful.

When I got my dream ring, it turned out I had a sensitivity to the scratching of the diamonds on the side of the ring. It felt like sandpaper rubbing between my fingers. I couldn’t think straight when I was wearing it. I truly, truly had hoped to get used to it. I didn’t. I figured the solution would be to find the same exact ring, but with the diamonds set inside of the band.

We went back to the jewelry store, and started searching through their book to find a similar ring. I thought we had found a couple, so we ordered them. A week or so later, we got the call they were in, so I went to take a look. Unfortunately, they hadn’t come back. There was a mix up somewhere and it sounded like nothing had been ordered.

We hit the book again, and tried ordering them again. It was a week and a half later, maybe, that we received the call the rings were in. Turns out there was only one ring. The other ring wouldn’t support the size of my solitaire. Bummer. I don’t remember what the other ring was like, but it wasn’t what I was hoping for. Sigh…

The manager at the store said they were going to be having a ring show the next week, and that we could set up a time to see what they had and that she thought there might be something I’d love. Ok. I guess.

This just wasn’t going the way I had hoped. All I wanted was the exact same ring, but with the diamonds inside the band so I didn’t feel them. How could there not be something like that?! There just wasn’t. Sad panda.

We went back to the store at our appointment time, and was shown an array of rings. None of them at all like the engagement ring I was wearing. They showed me lots of different engagement rings, and wedding sets. We finally came down to two sets. They were calling them the big sister and little sister. I knew they looked similar, but for some reason, I didn’t like the look of the smaller one. I think it was because my solitaire wouldn’t have looked as good with the smaller one.

It definitely wasn’t about the price either. I’m not fixated on bling or spending lots of money. If the bigger ring had been significantly less expensive, I still would’ve wanted it simply for the look of it. I was actually heart broken having to turn over the engagement ring Fred had given me. It was something I thought I was going to wear for the rest of my life, and the beauty of it will always stay with me.

They had the guy who sets the stones on hand, and they told us to come back in an hour and a half. As we walked out of the store, I was miserable. The rings they showed us were beautiful, but I was so attached to my engagement ring. Fred was extremely reassuring, and all I could do was agonize. I also agonized over the price because that had increased significantly, but we’d also just purchased the wedding ring since it came as a set.

When we got back, my ring was just being finished. The sales lady for the designer was super wonderful and patient. The store manager had been helpful through it all, and the guy who set my diamond was rather sure of his abilities. lol In fact, he said that he wasn’t impressed at all with how the diamond had been set in my previous engagement ring. He’d just confirmed how I’d felt about how it had been sitting. It seemed to not e very secure, and looking at his handiwork I knew my diamond was safe and sound.

I love my new ring, but absolutely miss the original one. I miss it because my heart and mind had been set on that design, and because Fred had given that to me as a sign of our future. It was extremely hard to give up. One thing I’m holding on to is this ring one of the sales girls showed me at the store. It looks similar to what my engagement ring looked like, and I hope to get it one day!

What’s your favorite piece of jewelry?

Searching For My Wedding Dress #FredNMimiSayIDo

This past weekend I headed out with the boys to stay with my parents. Mom really wanted to be part of helping me look for a wedding dress. I just loved that, and I was excited for it, too. She and I had spent some time looking online at dresses.

Now let me set the scene for the ceremony. We’re planning on something extremely simple. We’ve rented a room above the Federal House restaurant in old downtown Annapolis. That’s where it’s all going to happen. The “ceremony” and our meal. There will definitely be less than 40 people. So, for real…simple.

Simple is how I was hoping my dress would be. I thought something I could wear more than once. A dress that’s more like a cocktail dress in a champagne color. I was also looking for inexpensive.

The dress hunt was about to begin! Mom and I were pretty excited. That is until we started for looking for boutiques by her. She lives by a pretty populace city. We could only find 3 shops online. We headed to the first one by mid afternoon.

In we walk to the boutique and I immediately know this place is going to be spendy. She had maybe 40 gowns in her shop. Mom and I perused the dresses, but there wasn’t anything we were expecting in my price range. I did find a beautiful lace covered A-line gown that I decided to try on for fun. I mean, first of all, it wasn’t at ALL what I was looking for, it was too formal, and it was beyond my price range at $1500! I was mostly doing it to humor my mom. I wasn’t sure how many dresses I’d get to try on with her, and I wasn’t really interested in the dress.

Weeeell, let’s just say as soon as I zipped myself into that dress, I was smitten. It fit me like it was literally made for my body. It was more gorgeous than I expected, and I fell in love with it! Not what I was expecting. In fact, before I went into the dressing room, every time the owner would turn her back to me, I’d mouth to my mom, “No way I’m getting this,” to reassure her that I was trying it on for purely amusement purposes.

For me, as soon as I felt it on me, it became the dress I knew I would’ve always wanted for a large, church wedding. It was so interesting because you would look at it and think there was a doily on the dress, but on, it was absolutely soft and delicate.

Then I took it off.

That was a sad moment for me. I knew I would never be able to afford the dress, and it was exactly the dress for such a simple ceremony, but man I loved it.

From there mom and I headed to a non-existent bridal shop. We forgot there was another one by the first boutique, but when I looked on my phone, it turned out that it had closed at 2. TWO? On a Saturday? It was so weird. If you were one of only 2 boutiques in a 30 mile radius, wouldn’t you want to be open longer on a Saturday? Oh well.

Sunday mom called another bridal shop…an hour away. Mom was determined to look at more dresses. Thankfully it was in the direction for us to come home! She convinced dad to go with us, too! lol He was thrilled. Ok, not so much.

We ended up with an appt at 2pm, and the guys headed to Dick’s to kill some time. Once again, the dresses were pretty expensive, and the first ones we saw as we walked in were twice as expensive as the first one I tried on. Turned out those were the couture gowns!

The nice lady showed us where the off the rack dresses were. We found a few that we liked, but nothing that was comparing to the first one. I did try on one that wasn’t like the first dress at all. It was very ‘goddess’ like. There was just something light and flowy about it. The top was big and would’ve need to have been taken in.

It turns out when you add a sash/belt to the middle it makes me look like I have a figure instead of just being wide and straight. Mom and I actually liked this one, too and it was close to my price range. Well, add in adjustments and the almost $300 sash, and it was over $1000!! Back to square one. =(

Square one led me to David’s Bridal. I knew they had an array of bridesmaids dresses that would be affordable and I could get in a color I liked. I also figured they’d have something off the rack that would be a bit fancier, but closer to something I could afford. At least that was my hope!

  

I pulled out 3 bridesmaids dresses and found one that was ok. From there I went to the sales rack. I found two gowns that were…G-O-W-N-S! lol But, by looking at the price tags, I knew I could afford at least one of them.

I thought they both looked ok. The first one not as much as the second, but the second one was so intricate and so ball gowny, I just didn’t think it would work right for the ceremony we’re having. Sakes alive, who knew a dress would make me want to do our ceremony in a church? lol

 

I didn’t leave with a dress, but I know that there are a bunch out there to choose from! I called mom on my way home telling her I was going to email her the pictures I took. She wasn’t thrilled with them. Oy! So there are lots to choose from, but will I find one? Gah

As soon as I got home I started searching for more dresses. Dresses, dresses, and more dresses! Someone suggested searching for consignment wedding dresses, but I have no idea if there’s anything like that around here. I just want a dress. I had fun trying on those gowns because I never did before. Sad, isn’t it? I never got to wear anything as grand as a gown.

I had it settled in my mind to wear a cocktail dress and then I tried on a wedding gown. I’ve ruined myself towards a cocktail dress, that’s for sure. I’ve got a little bit of time, but not much since my wedding it under three months away. I will have to get off the rack and hope that nothing needs to be taken in or hemmed!

How hard was it for you to find your wedding dress? Was it the dress of your dreams?

My Daughter, The Social Worker & Giveaway #EarnItFrameIt #ProudGrad

Last week was an extremely stressful week for my oldest daughter. After three and a half years to get her Bachelor’s Degree, and two years to get her Master’s Degree, she took her licensure exam to become a social worker! Being that she’s 23, she hasn’t had a lot of real life experience in the field. The past six months she’s been working at a hospital learning to do social work as an intern. Even with that under her belt, she knew it wasn’t going to be an easy exam.

Now, that being said, she’s done amazing in school. She has always gone above and beyond what an instructor has asked for, and in some instances received a score higher than what was available. She would call me stressed out about a paper and then instead of getting 100 on it, she’d get 110. lol That girl has always worked so hard for all of her good grades. It’s never come easy to her.

Since the start of the year, I’ve been praying for her test. Praying that her anxiety would be lessened, and that she would have rest. If you have a child in college, you know that high anxiety and little rest is a very common thing. Have I mentioned she works at an elementary school, answers phones at an engineering firm, interns at the hospital, and is a student. As a mom, I can’t wait until she gets a job in her field and will be able to have down time that she’s probably needed for the past 7-8 yrs! She was the same when she was in high school.

She’ll be graduating May 22nd, which is the same day my second daughter comes home after being gone on her almost year long mission trip, and it’s Fred’s birthday! I’m SO incredibly sad that I won’t be able to be there to see her graduate. The mom guilt is huge, to say the least. I also wasn’t sure what to get her as a graduation gift. When The Motherhood asked me if I would work with them and Church Hill Classics, with a review of one of their frames for my daughter’s diploma, no way I could resist!

I had a feeling it was going to be a little tricky because she’s going to two colleges. I don’t know how to explain it. I guess they’re brother/sister colleges? It took some going back and forth with her, and her talking to one of her friends to find out exactly where her degree would be coming from. I guess every other year, the students graduate from the other college. She sent me a photo of a friend of hers who got the same degree she did this past year. It had BOTH colleges on the diploma.

I ended up emailing Church Hill Classics because I wasn’t sure which frame to even go with since they have both colleges. So many selections between frames, mats, color-enameled medallions, beautiful campus images, foil embossing of the school name and/or seal and even an opening for a tassel. I wasn’t sure of which college she would even want for a frame. Turns out emailing was THE best thing I could do! The response was immediate. I sent an email late at night explaining where my daughter was graduating from, and sent an image of her friend’s diploma. The customer service gal replied immediately, and said she was going to share my quandary with her colleagues, but didn’t think I’d be able to get what I was looking for. Lo and behold, they had a frame with BOTH colleges!! I was so thrilled by her response!

Well, I’m happy to report that my daughter passed her exam last week! I never doubted for a moment that she would, but I’m really happy she has that behind her. This past week I also got the frame for her diploma. Do you ever shop online for something and not really pay attention to EH-VERY detail? heh heh heh Let’s just say I MAY have missed the part that explained how large the frame was. I mean, I went through all of the frame choices, picked out her mat, and upgraded the glass.

When the frame showed up, my jaw dropped! This thing puts any other frame I’ve ever seen to shame! NOT. KIDDING. It’s H-U-G-E! Her frame is no shrinking violet. And it’s gorgeous. I don’t think anyone else graduating from that college will have as nice of a diploma frame as her. It’s absolutely going to have a prominent place in any home she ever lives in.




If you have a loved one graduating this year, this is definitely the gift to go with! Can you imagine their diploma, that they’ve worked so hard for, sitting in some drawer? Did you know that 56% of respondents to a survey by The Motherhood said they haven’t framed their diploma? Years from now, the cash that was tucked away in an envelope will be spent and forgotten. A customized frame will fit your graduate’s personal style! Church Hill Classics has over 1,500 colleges and universities to choose from. Go find yours.

What is your graduate getting their degree in?

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