And the Winning Name is...

Charlotte Nichole Millar Born Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 4:06pm
7 lbs 11 oz, 20 1/4 inches long

Its officially going on the birth cert... and it suits her, I think. We choose "Nichole" after Charlotte's aunt (my little sister) Marissa Nichole, with whom she now shares a birthday.

The Birth Story: -- feel free to skip ahead
As you know from the last post, we had a bit of a "surprise" induction on Tuesday. In a nutshell, here's the time log Boz kept of it:

1:30 - break water
1:45 - Start IV
2:50 - Start pitocin
3:35 - ask for drugs (7 cm)
3:40 - 9 cm
///wait for doctor
4:06 - born

My elaboration:
We checked in around 1pm. My doctor came to check me before we did anything at 1:30- I was at a 4 and he "poked" me to break my water. So I was basically very ready to go, so that was good (and expected....like I've said I had PLENTY of pre-labor prep). Due to my history of going fast (with the help of pitocin anyway) I was first started on IV and penicillin to make sure I had that in my system before starting pitocin. The Dr. wanted me to start the epidural early on to avoid a "Jack labor" repeat. -- With Jack I asked for the epidural way to late. I was ready to push before I even had enough IV fluid to allow one, but since my Dr. was 15 minutes away they gave me one anyway. And I was too out of it and freaked out by then to refuse. In order to get it to me faster they got a new guy who had never done one in the position (side lying) I was in with contraction that close together... the result: a NASTY spinal headache from him puncturing me which was only cleared up by a spinal blood patch (where they draw your blood and reinsert it into the epidural spot to patch the hole) over a week later and the blood patch resulted in back pain that kept me flat for days. Needless to say, it sucked and I didn't want that to happen again.

(1 hour before delivery)

By 2:50 they started me on pitocin and I talked "pain relief" with the nurse, because I wasn't so sure about an epidural for obvious reasons. I decided when the time came I'd try IV drugs first. The time came at 3:35 :). I had only had about 5 or 6 contractions since starting the pitocin, but each one was quite a bit stronger than the last, so I wanted to make sure I didn't ask to late again. Before getting the IV drugs the nurse wanted to check me during a contraction... yep still getting a lot stronger with each one, so I was starting to feel a little alarmed, I was at a 6-7ish she said. She left and I had an even stronger one that I felt some "bearing down" with. Ok, so I know how this goes, I was starting to getting very alarmed at this point since no nurse had ever taken us very seriously about this rapid progression thing. Well, thank goodness one finally did: She came back at 3:40 and started prepare my IV drugs and somewhat jokingly asked "no pushing contractions yet, right?". My answer "well actually..."- She got wide eyed and checked me... I was at a 9 and she set off some alarm...

The next contraction sent me over the top with the urge to push and I knew it was too late for anything, but holding on till the end. Back-up came into the room and they called my Dr. (who was much closer than mine with Jack was, thank goodness). After the next contraction I asked if the pitocin was off. It wasn't so we took care of that ASAP, which at least did help with each contraction not being ridiculously stronger than the last. My nurse set about, stretching me (the burning didn't seem that bad compared to everything else) and trying to keep me calm and not "blast" Charlotte out (as she kept saying). Um, yeah, that's hard. I just kept thinking "doctor, doctor, he'll be here soon, hold on" as the nurse called for nursery twice and said "we're having this baby any second". I'm pretty sure I convinced her that she just might be delivering this baby.At 4pm my Dr. walked in. HALLELUJAH! He walked over and just as another contraction began, he started adjusting his stool and I thought "AH! SIT DOWN Doc, she's a comin'!". He did, thank goodness, and gave me some little snips. I was instantly bummed 'cause I thought by your 3rd your chances for not tearing are pretty good, but I guess not with babies that want to "blast" out. It was odd, because while the snips were not at all pleasant, they were almost welcome. Like a distraction from the other pain. After that contraction and before the next the Dr. had me push to ease her out. That felt MUCH better and with the next contraction I had to resist again as he kept saying "take it easy, take it easy", but I just couldn't fully resist and gave in to the urge and POW. I felt the crown of her head "pop" and a HUGE rush of satisfaction and relief came as I felt the rest of her just instantly slither through. It was 4:06pm.
Sorry if that was too graphic, but this whole birthing thing is pretty stinkin' amazing. I expected more pain to come with delivering the placenta and everything, but I didn't notice in comparison and I had my sweet Charlotte on my stomach ( and not in it...ahhh). She hardly made a peep and was just looking around. Just then I got really dizzy and felt like I was on laughing gas. Turns out that was the IV drugs kicking in... hahahaha. Great. Thankfully those wore off in an hour, I got to hold and nurse Charlotte and my dinner came :).... Not a bad afternoon, I'd say.

My favorite thing of all that afternoon was watching Boz. He claims he's not really into the "newborn phase" (understandable) and while he loves his kids, its much better for daddy when they get to a more playful state :), but I'll tell you if you could see the look of pure admiration and love on his face when he peers at his children for the first time, you'd know better. That look can't fool me, he adores his Charlotte. And I'm quite fond of the moments I've been frequently getting that look too.

I had to giggle when I first saw Charlotte, cause already she's proving to want to be just like her big sister :)
Nice crooked noses, eh?

Charlotte's Home:

Since all was well with the two of us, Charlotte and I got the go ahead to go home the next day. We got home around 4pm on Wednesday (would have been more like noon if we could have gotten my non-existent nurse to see us once in a while. Not to bad mouth nurses, I love and appreciate them all, and my nighttime nurse was awesome, but this one just wasn't so much. It was REALLY good to get home and finally get some real rest and see what Charlotte's temperament is really like when she's not getting poked and prodded.

Charlotte, or Charlie as Elyette likes to call her, is a very sweet and calm baby. She doesn't cry a whole lot and when she does she seems to calm herself quite well for a newborn. She's much more patient than her 2 older siblings were :). I hope that doesn't change. She likes to listen to her family's voices and has given her mommy a 5 hour stretch of sleep 2 nights in a row (and from about 12:30pm-5:30am both times). Lets pray that keeps up!
Jack and Elyette couldn't be more pleased with her. Jack just coos at the sight of her "oooo, her cute ... cute ears, cute eyes, crooked nose" (haha). His favorite is to play "she eating me" with her and likes to sit nose to nose just staring at her. He's very sweet with her and I foresee a very protective big brother in Charlotte's future.
Elyette is of course the second mommy we knew she would be for Charlotte. And to an extent I wasn't anticipating. She even pesters me to wake her up to feed her when she thinks Charlotte's hungry. Apparently its "Elyette Mommy" who knows best, not me :). Elyette will even loose sleep to watch her and wait to hold her. Newborn feedings are long and boring I'd say, but Elyette will be there every moment. Supervising probably. Its hard to get her to do much else than just looking at and talking to Charlotte. She also likes to read to her and tell her stories. It was Sleeping Beauty she told her in this pic (she pretended the card was a book)Aside from Jack and Elyette fighting over who gets to sit closer to Charlotte (and what to call her, etc.) its been very fun watching the 3 of them together. I love my sweet little family!

Thank you all for your love and prayers. We're doing GREAT!

Today's the Day!!!

Yep, we're having a baby today (unless she really stubborn and takes longer than that). At about 9:30 this morning I got a call from the hospital I'm delivering at. Apparently I was scheduled by my Dr. for a 5am induction this morning!... WHAT?!?!?! No one bother telling me this! We never even talked induction, though I was in favor of such shortly after my due date thanks to already have 40+ contractions a day for the last 3 weeks- have had 2 just while writing this (not very strong of course and most not BH). I was begininng to think my body would just keep doing that for another 8 weeks then she'd just pop out :)... needless to say I've been a little nuts and already acting "overdue".

Anyway, of course I called the Dr. office and they admitted to it being entirely the Dr.'s fault and asked me to come in for my regular appointment which was scheduled for this afternoon anyway. Shortly thereafter the Dr. called and told me he'd like me to go in to the hospital today when I can anyway. I agreed and there you have it. I'm on my way in.... wish us luck!

Nesting

I wish my nesting instinct was to scrub down the whole house and disinfect everything, but when the energy spurts come, I sew. My excuse is that deep cleaning is just too physically difficult and exhausting at this point to make the effort, but then moving around on the floor to cut stuff out definitely got a bit more challenging the last few weeks. Anyway, here's something I did before the "I've fallen and can't get up" phase hit:We've been making over Elyette's room with a bunch of fun projects (just 2 more little ones to go... for now :)... and then we'll share our efforts). And since she's excited to share a room with her baby sister we went on a mission to find or make baby bedding that would coordinate with her room. It was actually a much more stressful and challenging task then I thought, but after weeks of hunting (online and in stores) we found some fabric that we finally felt worked well enough (and in my budget!).

I made the crib sheet using this tutorial (FYI- if you try it, I recommend making it just a tad bigger), the bumper I made as a slip cover for the existing one I had for Jack and the quilt I HAD to splurge a little and border and back it with minky fabric... ah SO SOFT!

So anyway, there you have it, the "baby's nest" of Elyette's room... soon to be "the girls' room" :). Hmm... thanks to this and few other "girly" creations, Lets hope it really is a girl! haha... Anyone in want of some handmade baby girl items if not?

Spider-man and M.J.

We've been rather obsessed with spider-man around here these days. It all started a month ago with a box of spider-man fruit snacks... they hadn't even seen the movie ('til about 2 weeks ago).

Now Jack must wear stripes/plaid almost daily (he thinks they look like spider webs I think), unless he decides to be the green goblin instead, and Elyette, aka "spider-girl" (or as Jack would say it "spider-man girl") always makes sure the front door is locked to keep Dr. Octopus out. Sometimes he has keys-- it's rather frightening!

Today spider-girl is M.J.We had some fun with my straightener on Elyette's hair this morning. When we where done, Elyette grinned and said "Hey, I look like that girl on Spider-man!" :) - Yeah, I can see it.
And though Jack woke up the green goblin, After breakfast it was: LOOK OUT! Here comes the spider man! Yes. A plaid collared shirt just screams spider-man...

Well at least after I combed his hair (not pictured), Elyette said he looked like Peter Parker. That's about right.

Missing Fabmo

If you're in the Bay Area take advantage of Fabmo for me! Fabmo, in a nutshell, started with a couple up in Palo Alto taking discontinue fabric samples and such from the interior design community and offering them free of charge to the public for re-purposing. Its pretty awesome.

Thanks to my last visit to Fabmo before moving I have a new rocker for only $12! And I also got to use my new staple gun Boz got me for Christmas!

Before: (old, cheap, blah, rocker, we picked up at Walmart for $75 when we had Elyette)

Now a bit more appealing: (though I have to be honest and admit I don't find rockers to be "good looking" chairs by any means, but it does the job)

Though I scored on finding a sample large enough, I still only had enough Fabmo fabric to cover the front of the chair so I had to buy some fabric for the back. Here's the tab:

Blue Fabmo Fabric for front: $0
1 1/2 yrds clearanced blue microsuede for back: $4.50
Extra batting for added comfort :): $7

Accent pillow was also made from fabmo fabric and I stuffed it with batting from an old pillow I kept on hand. Not bad, eh?

Entering Adulthood?

You'd think that maybe by now I might feel like a "grown-up". Did getting married help me think of myself as such?...Nope. Graduating college? Nope. Being of a mother of (almost) 3 kids!?! NOPE. Odd....

Odd that is what has finally made me feel the first mark of adulthood:

Yep, we bought a minivan. A 2006 Honda Odyssey. The last car we bought was before we got married and it has served our family well, but alas loyal little Hyundai just couldn't fit 3 car seats in the back and still have the doors shut so we finally surrendered.

We wanted to buy private party (for cost purposes of course- we were paying cash), but after searching for weeks with no luck we concluded we'd just have to go hit up dealerships, starting this past Saturday. To our luck, this was listed Friday morning and was ours by that evening. Its a nice ride and was a company car so its in great shape with just 48K on it. We aren't wild about the color, but we're over it :). The kids really like it too, can you tell?

So, here's to adulthood!-Whether that's a good thing or not, I haven't totally decided :).

Rare photos.... BEWARE

A while back I intended to make a post on some Maternity dresses I made myself in November, but was seriously pouting over the finished product photos :)- Ha, I've said it before, pregnancy doesn't look good on me.

Well, whatever, I'm letting them loose anyway. Here's to honesty: I'm 35 weeks pregnant, 45 lbs heavier (gasp, I know), exhausted, out of breathe, whiny, "uncomfortable" (in pain would be closer to the truth), and completely and totally elated and excited to meet this little one, I can hardly stand it! There you have it. Now here's to photos you are lucky to see :)...

Retro Knit dress: modeled at 31 weeks preggo
Made from simplicity pattern 2956. Only altered to be maternity and added a ruffle on the hem.I can't take myself seriously, sorry...

Navy Dress: modeled a 24 weeks preggo (or so)
Also adapted from simplicity pattern 2956. Well, basically the sleeves are from the pattern, I altered the bodice almost entirely and did my own maternity friendly skirt.
Mini-me's Navy Dress (she posed first :)):
No pattern, but used a knit dress of hers for size guidelines. What you can do with a little extra fabric... I love her dress

Now here is what happens when you forget to pre-wash your knit and grow 10 weeks more pregnant (not a favorable combination I might add):

Navy Dress revisited: modeled at 35 weeks preggo
Since I failed to pre-shrink my fabric, I had to add some lace trim to the hem to make it suitable to wear again...
Mini-me's is still darling. Even better shrunken up a bit :)... Ah cute girl. Makes feeling like a whale all worth it :)...

Oo, and I have a bunch of that retro knit leftover and of course Elyette wants another "mini-me" dress. Any ideas?

The Name Game

Tell us your preference... POLL to the RIGHT------>

As pregnancy goes, many have asked us what we plan to name this little girl due to make her appearance in 5-6 weeks (we're hoping she follows suite with her siblings and come is 5). Truth be told, we have NO idea.

Names have come in and out of favor and of course we don't all agree on many.... I liked Amelia or Myra, Elyette wanted Cinderella, Boz just didn't want Amelia and stopped liking Myra... The three of us discuss this regularly.

Elyette's probably been the biggest and most creative contributor with a range of name options. She wanted to name the baby "Elyette" for some time, but we finally convinced her that would be confusing :). Then she thought of Katie-Anna, Coraline (we were sorta digging this one, but due to the movie couldn't convince ourselves), and Cole (like after her friend Nicole she said, but just Cole- cute).

Now she's back to trying to name the baby after herself somehow, by coming up with variations of Elyette. Since Saturday she's been calling the baby "ElyeJ" (her spelling suggestion, said like "el-ja") and thought we should call her "jella" for short. haha... well, she possibly won a little on that one since Boz of course, having a nickname for name himself, HAS to have a nickname for everyone (hence Slim and Dude) and has been blank with this little one so far. Well, thanks to Elyette's "jella", we may have a winner....oh boy.

As for the name I plan to call her... and everyone else, we'd like to take a poll. It likely we won't have just 1 name till her birthday when we meet her, but we thought it'd be fun to see where the favoritism lies. Here's the list of names we all can agree to like thus far:

Charlotte (Charlie for short)
Sadie
Rory
Nora
Lucy
Amelia -Boz, you don't use the name anyway :)
Cole (one for Elyette, different spelling maybe :))

Etched Glass Silhouettes

There are a lot etched glass tutorials out there, but I thought I'd add ours to the mix: Etched Silhouettes.

We made Christmas ornaments from beveled glass rectangles, but you could also easily do this on say a mirror, vase, candle holder, jewelery box, anything glass really. I think they make awesome gifts (FYI: V-days just around the corner!... although I think they are perfect for Mother's/Father's Day).

What you'll need:
-Glass object to etch
-X-acto knife
- Contact paper
- Etching cream
- Old paintbrush/sponge piece/Popsicle stick, etc. (to spread the cream with)
plus a pen or pencil and a camera

Step 1: Take photo
Take a picture of your subject with bright back lighting.
In a photo editing program (we used photoshop) bring up the contrast on your photo. (We did a bit more to clean it up, but its really can do fine with little to nothing... as long as you can see it well enough).


Size the photo to fit your glass object and print.

Step 2: Trace Silhouette

Place your contact paper (still intact) over your printed silhouette image and tape it down.
Using a pen or pencil trace your silhouette onto the contact paper. In order to see the silhouette you'll probably need some back-lighting. You could place it up in the window and trace, but for more precision, and it was nighttime :), I improvised by placing a glass cutting board over a desk lamp that I sat in my lap and traced out on that (WARNING: The bulb got hot and made the cutting board hot so I did periodically have to stop and let things cool).

Step 3: Cut it out
Once you're satisfied with your tracing job, position the contact paper onto your glass object. Peel the paper backing of the contact paper and carefully place it on the glass object and smooth it out well! The nice thing about glass, unless you're doing this on a mirror, that you can turn it around and check the back for bubbles.

Next, start cutting. Carefully cut around your silhouette with an X-acto knife. For small tricky spots, but sure to cut IN toward the center of the silhouette since you'll be peeling this part away anyway.
Using a pin or tip of the X-acto knife, carefully pull up the edge of the silhouette and slowly peel it away. Use the pin to get up any small pieces left behind. Hold the silhouette back and make sure it actually looks like the person your etching :).

If you are adding a name do this next using the same method as the silhouette. Since we made so many of these and the text would have been quite small, I bought custom made name stencils for $1 here, to save my self some labor and pain. If you are doing your own text, keep it simple! Curly cues, lots of serifs, etc. is just asking for trouble.
Cover as much of the glass object as you can to protect it (with tape or contact paper).
Again, double check the back for bubbles.

Step 4: ETCHING!
Once you've placed and peeled your text, covered the glass and everything looks satisfactory its time to etch! Be sure to use a well ventilated space, protect the surfaces your are working on and wear gloves.
Shake your bottle of etching cream. Slather on the etching cream using an old paintbrush, sponge, Popsicle stick or something else you don't mind trashing. Make sure you have a good thick layer covering everything. Leave the cream on for 5-10 minutes.

Now I tried a few methods of brushing it on, like, moving it all around while its etching, but I found that if I just brushed in on in one basic direction and let it sit it came out smoother (but then it could have been just my cream- it did seem rather clumpy).

Step 5: Rinse and Dry

After 5-10 minutes of etching rinse the cream off thoroughly with warm water. FYI- Don't freak out if it looks like it didn't etch at all, you won't see the etching when its wet. Pat glass dry and peel off the tape and contact paper to reveal your masterpiece!

and DONE!

Just Breathe - Kara Langer

I just realized I finished this song a while ago and never put it up here. Written by Kara Langer, recorded in my living room.

Kara Langer - Piano and Vocals
Matt Powers - Bass
Me - Drums and mixing

Vocalist Needed

Ok, I know it's a long shot, but I figure it couldn't hurt. I've been working with Austin Lewis on an album for the past few months, and we really desperately need someone to sing. Not just anyone, but someone good. I'd say someone amazingly good. We've been looking forever and have come across some really awful singers. Sometimes you just find the right person in the place you would least expect it (like my wife's blog).

So here it is. Below are three of the songs we have. We have about 10 songs and are going through and re-recording all of them now, so they should all sound good in the end, but these should give you an idea of what they will sound like.

If you can sing, or know someone who can sing, or know someone who knows someone who can sing please please please let me know. If you live in the Bay Area, then great, you can record at Austin's house. If you live in Fresno/Clovis area, then great, you can record at my house. If you don't live anywhere near those areas, then you'll have to invest $100 in a microphone and I can teach you how to record.

What we want:

• Strong powerful melodic vocals. Not too hard, not too soft, just raw power.
• Some one who can write good melodies and good lyrics. This is harder than it sounds.
  
• A recorded sample of you singing. Doesn't have to be high quality, but I just need to hear what you sound like. You can even just sing into the microphone on your laptop.
  

What we don't want:

• Cookie Monster or whiny Blink 182 style vocals. There's a high school right around the corner where I can find plenty of that.
• An explanation of how good you are with no recording to back it up. There's a reason why the American Idol judges have to go through 3000 people to find 20 good singers.
  

I will even accept ugly people.

So what do you have to lose? Nothing. The worst that can happen is you send a terrible audition, I post it here for all to make fun of, and we all go our separate ways (I'm kidding by the way). What do you have to gain? The possibility of singing in the greatest metal band that ever lived. Seems like a low risk venture to me (no longer kidding).

So, if you are interested, or know someone who is, send a sample recording to apatheticinterest@bozrecords.com.

Dress-up Photo Shoot

To debut what this elf was up to in the wee hours of the night prior to Christmas, the kids and I had a little photo shoot (They were SO much fun!).

This dress-up set is made up of different coordinating pieces for lots of costume variety and with adjustable sizing (velcro, ties, smocked backs, etc.) for years of use. So here's a sampling of possible costume combinations. Any thing you see that isn't plastic was made by yours truly.

Oh and you should also know that Elyette posed herself 90% of the time :)...

Victorian Sweetie I made the base of this hat from craft foam so it may not last long, but it was a fun experiment (makes me really want to try out a hat making class)

Belle of the Ball
Ain't she a beauty?

Masquerade

Mystery Maiden

Rags...

To Riches

And I'm not one to leave Dude out of all the fun...

Its a bird, its a plane, its...

Robbing the rich to feed this chubby :)

Buttler King

Howdy!

My Knight in plastic armor
...who tried to kill me- and the camera- thus ends our photo shoot.

2010 -- and Handmade Holidays 2009

So I can't decide if I want to say "Two thousand ten" or "twenty ten"...hmmm... Anyway, Happy New Year Everyone! And I hope all had a Merry Christmas! So clearly blogging isn't yet on my resolution list, but hey better late than never. We had a blast this Christmas.
Jack seeing Santa arrive on Christmas Eve.
We went up to Boz's parents (who are now very close to us) where we get lucky cause Santa always visit Christmas Eve with some PJ's for the kids.
They loved it. Of course we all loved every minute of Christmas. We did lots of vegging, eating, playing, eating, watching movies, and did I mention EATING! Yeah, um, the Holidays are not good to a pregnant woman who can clearly not control herself and there is no working it off for this chubby lady, just getting rounder. Oh well, pregnancy doesn't look good on me, such is life. At least I get some cuties to show for it :).
This year in the "handmade Christmas" department we made PJ's, robes, monogrammed totes, personalized notebooks and popcorn bowls, screened tee's, including another awesome T-shirt with the recipients face on it (this time we did Boz's brother Ray :)) done by Boz (sorry, not pictured...)
We got the kids an art easel and whipped up some smocks to go with (interested in a tutorial anyone?). Unfortunately, some chalk cloth fabric I ordered to make a splat mat (to go under the easel didn't come in time, so that's one of this weeks projects. This was probably one of my favorites. We made etched glass ornaments of the kids' silhouettes for the grandparents (and of course a set for ourselves). Let me know if anyone is interested in a how-to tutorial for these! I did intend to do one for a "homemade for the holidays" post, but of course ran out of time.

Can I just say how fun it is to come up with and execute handmade Christmas gifts! The best is that Boz does it with me! I don't know what I'd do with out him. His photoshop skills are VERY handy and I've been really wanting us to get into carpentry stuff and now that we have a garage we really can! Plus we discovered that tools aren't nearly as costly as we thought. Boz is becoming quite the wood worker and much to my pleasure, HE LOVES IT.
This year he made my dreams come true :). I've been dying to make a set of costumes/dress-ups for the kids and asked Boz if he'd make a trunk to hold them. He did a beautiful job ( shhhhhh, Santa brought this ;).) and I'm very excited about future projects he already has in mind.

And the kids and I had a fun little photo-shoot today (finally got some sun!) with the dress-ups this elf made, so be warned of a post coming :).