The Before and After

I thought it would be fun to post some before and after pictures from the pregnancy. No, I'm not showing any belly shots--my whole abdomen area is still very much in recovery mode, as well as some other parts of me. But I have seen drastic improvements in the foot department. A few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to scare people with my elephantitis feet. Well I am happy to report that they are no longer the size of squashes. They look like my feet again! I would add that  my ankles, calves, knees and thighs ( well, more or less with that last one) have also deflated. :)

Here are the pics to prove it:

Before

Even Crystal is scared!!

AFTER

Hm... why do my feet seem more tan when they were fat??

Claire Eva Casebolt

This post is long overdue and I really  had good intentions of doing it for the past week...but it just didn't happen. You'd think that lying around the house all day I would find some time to blog about my baby girl. But anyways, I am finally doing it!

Claire Eva Casebolt was born Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 10:05 p.m. She came into this world weighing 6 lbs 15 oz., measuring 20.5 inches long and looking absolutely perfect! She had beautiful, flawless skin, big attentive eyes and a head full of hair. Our little angel had finally arrived. However, we had not been expecting her quite so soon. New years day Jason and I went to the hospital because my blood pressure had been measuring high and my OB had told me to check in with the hospital nurse if it was over 140. The nurse asked us to come in so they could double check my pressure so we went, casually thinking they'd give me a baby aspirin and tell me to put my feet up.

We couldn't have been more wrong.

With my pressure consistently measuring in the mid 140s over 105 the nurses seemed pretty concerned. They told me that I probably had a mild form of preeclampsia and the only way to resolve it was to have a baby! The doctor decided that they would monitor me for the next 24 hours and then decide what to do. Jason ran home to grab more stuff and they moved me to a labor and delivery room.

Monday night they began the induction process with a Foley catheter and Tuesday morning they started giving me pitocin. Luckily  I progressed well enough throughout the day without any problems. The worst part of the whole thing was that my epidural only lasted for about an hour before I began feeling INTENSE pain in my lower abdomen and back. The anesthesiologist never did figure it out--I was completely numb up to my hips and that was it. But by that point I was completely dialated and I pushed little Claire out in less that 45 minutes! Oh the relief! And oh, what a beautiful baby!! She really was perfect. :)

We stayed in the hospital 3 more days so that Claire could be treated for jaundice. She is doing well now and putting on lots of weight! She is our precious little angel and we love her so much!

She had daddy wrapped around her little finger the moment he first held her.

Getting her tan on under the bili lights :0)

Grandma Casebolt flew in the Friday after she was born and was a great help to us!

Patiently waits as dad changes her diaper--what a good baby!

Jason actively "fathering" his child ;0)

Tummy time!

Look at those eyes! So alert and attentive.

2012

The year 2011 brought its fair share of sorrow and grief to our little family. Jason and I learned a lot about what it meant to lose something important to us and we learned how to cope, relying on each other, our wonderful family, friends, and especially on our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We grew closer as a couple and I believe we have come out of this past year stronger, more grateful for what we have and with a better realization of how precious this life is. And now, with the close of 2011 we are looking forward to this new year and the opportunity we will have shortly to become parents to our little baby girl. What a great way to start off a new year than by having a precious little child sent from God! Looking back over 2011, I know we were richly blessed by Him and I can see His hand in our lives. Now, as we move forward into this new year, we can continue to count our blessings. I can only hope and pray that I will remember to always give thanks to my Father in Heaven and remember how much He loves me, no matter what happens this year.

All I can say is, bring on the new year! I have a feeling it's going to be a good one. ;0)

Happy New Year!!!

The Interesting Things That Can Happen When You Are Pregnant

I don't mean this blog post to be a complaining post. I have absolutely loved being pregnant and I have embraced every part of it--the good with the ugly. But when I say ugly, there are some things about my body that have become, literally, down right scary! Pregnancy has been an amazing journey and watching how my body has changed in order to support a living being inside of me is nothing short of miraculous. However, sometimes us pregnant folk must adjust to a body that is less than, eh, ideal. :) I have been extremely lucky in that I have had minimal aches, pains and general issues that can plague a pregnant woman. However, I did not escape this pregnancy problem free.
In the last few weeks, I have watched my feet, ankles, legs and hands swell to unusual sizes. Wearing compression socks have been the only relief for my legs and my hands have not worn any sort of jewellry for some time. While generally uncomfortable, it has been the source of amusement for me, Jason and, while they were in town, my in-laws. We played the game of Lets-See-What Sort-of-Indentation-We-Can-Make with my feet. Here were the results:

Behold the fat foot

Sinply press in...

 and, Voila! your very own indentation.

Impressive, no?

The Story of How We Built a Couch

Once upon a time Jason and Chiara wanted to get a new couch. Their couches were old, ugly and abused and they figured it was time to upgrade. They searched throughout the land but could not find a couch that was what they wanted or in their price range. They desired a big, overstuffed couch that could serve also as a bed for guests and that would have plenty of storage--for their home was small. So, they came up with the brilliant plan to build their own--from scratch!
This tale has been one of blood, sweat and tears, over the course of 6 months. But it is a happy tale because we finally finished it! What an accomplishment! I feel as if a very heavy burden has been lifted and I can now continue on with my life! It was a great feat-one I wish never to repeat in my life!

So without further ado, through picture story telling, here is the story of how we built our very own couch:

First, the supplies we needed:

Wood-- we chose to use 1x1 to build the frame and plywood to cover the sides

Upholstery fabric--we chose a light brown chenille fabric from Jo Ann Fabrics. We used approx. 50 yards!

Batting--We used a brand called Dacron. This added additional cushioning to the sides of the couch

Foam-- Rather than buy the pre cut squares of foam, we ordered shredded foam-both regular and memory foam--online because it was much much cheaper!

Tools: Jason built a work table so he could use his circular saw and drill press. We also needed a regular drill, an electric staple gun ( for upholstering), wood glue and screws

All of our supplies!

How to Build a Cushion:

We came up with a template for all the cushion sizes, including 1/2 " seam allowance when sewing.

 I cut all the fabric pieces and sewed simple rectangles for the most part. Sewing on the zipper for each one was the hardest part for me.

 After sewing the cushions, we glued a layer of dachron in each one so that you wouldn't feel the lumpines of the shredded foam.

 The spray glue made the fabric bunch so we would have to stretch it out like below:

Then we put the pre-stuffed cushions outside to air out

Let the stuffing begin! We used a mixture of regular (blue) and memory foam(pink).

 Building the Frame:

 First, like mentioned before, Jason had to build a work table to do all of his drilling and sawing.

 Then came the assembly of each frame that would make up the different chairs in our sectional couch.

After building the frames, using screws and wood glue ( for extra strength) we put the plywood on

Look at all that room for storage! :)

After building the chair, it was time to put the dacron and upholstery on it to make it look like a real piece of furniture!

Each chair has a lid that is also dacroned and upholstered.

 

The corners were the hardest parts to do:

Sometimes our house got a little our of control! It was an ongoing battle to fight entropy!

But we managed to somehow stay sane through it all, taking periodic breaks throughout the course of the 6 months to enjoy what we had built so far.

 

The final part was to build the two platforms that would serve  two different functions: 1) the first platform was to allow people to sit comfortably on our unsually high chairs and 2) the second platform would allow us to use the couch as a bed. We ran out of fabric and had to wait almost a whole month for more to come before we could finish!

 

And that is the story of how we built our own couch!!!!