I thought I would show you all what I worked on last week. Ali Edwards and Jessica Sprague designed these really cute and easy to use album templates for Shutterfly.

Ali's is an everyday life book documenting the routines, celebrations, distractions, work, etc of everyday life. I really liked creating this album since I hardly ever do pages about topics like that. You can see my finished album here.

Jessica's album is a colorful and cute ABC album. I decided to take a different approach to just a regular ABC album and assigned letters to our family members and asked them to come up with advice for Drew on becoming a big brother. (Huge thanks to everyone for doing that on such short notice!) The album is full of humorous and sweet advice! I love the way it turned out! You can see the completed album here.

I'm still in catch up mode on some of Drew's baby pages. This one is of Mike's first Father's Day which barely happened. If Drew had been born on his actual due date Mike would have had to wait another year before he celebrated his first Father's Day.

Drew update: he's doing so much better. I was really worrying last week but on Friday he woke up and obviously felt a ton better. He's been energetic and playful since then so I think we are in the clear.

Here's an upcoming class I've got at Scrapbook Generation in February. The inspiration came from a layout I saw in a magazine (I can't remember which magazine it was!) titled "The Contents of my Heart" and it was a 1-page layout with a huge heart constructed out of pictures. It was one of those layouts that just stuck with me and I knew I wanted to lift in someway. This album was the perfect opportunity. I just wish I could remember what magazine and what issue it was so I could give credit to the person with the layout!

I haven't added in my journaling just yet but I was really happy with the way it turned out. Huge thanks to whoever it was that had that layout! Each page of the album is someone or something that I love...son, husband, family, friends, scrapbooking, etc.

Thanks to every who responded to the 2-page question! I was a little curious about the challenges of 2-page layouts since I've heard so many say that they think 2-page layouts are harder. I, for one, find them to be so much easier than 1-page layouts and like many of you said, I like for the pages in my albums to coordinate. Plus I usually have way too many pictures and I journal a lot. Trying to fit all of my ramblings on a 1-page layout is usually a big challenge!


I'm trying so hard to get a lot of Drew's baby pages done before the next baby arrives. It's nice to get a lot of these older pictures in an album before I forget all those special little moments. I'm so afraid that after Davis baby #2 gets here that I will forget things or get some memories mixed with the wrong kid! Silly me! Whatever works to get the pages done! :)

Journaling:
Going home with a new baby, I was terrified and excited at the same time. I was terrified that I wouldn't know what I was doing. Excited that we would officially get started on the new and amazing journey of parenthood. Terrified that I would mess up. Excited to get away from the constant shadow of the nurses who made me feel like they were just waiting for me to mess up.
I remember getting home and being so unprepared. We had thought that we had every thing in order and in the right place. We were wrong. We got home and a diaper change was needed. What should have been a simple two minute procedure ended up being a frantic "Where is this? Where is that?" moment. Diapers were still in the boxes instead of stacked in the changing table cabinet. Wipes had yet to be opened. The stuff to put on his belly button was in the bathroom. I'm sure it would have been quite comical to see me yelling to get this and that and Mike running around looking for it all. But I must say, it felt great to be home with our new little addition.

On Monday I learned that sometimes it's a good thing to be a worrier. Early Sunday evening Drew started acting really sick. He has been sick plenty of times but this was the first time he actually acted sick. He kept complaining about his stomach hurting and he was so tired that he was asleep at 6:00. I kept checking on him since I was worried and noticed that his breathing was a little weird and he kept moaning like he was in pain. Me being the worrier that I am, I wanted to take him to the emergency room but Mike insisted he was fine. I knew better but figured I would take him to Urgent Care in the morning. Again, Mike thought there was no need to take him. After a few hours of tests, x-rays and a breathing treatment they said that he had pneumonia. PNEUMONIA!! (If Mike would have been there with me this would have been the point that I would have given him the I-told-you-so look.) They gave him 2 shots, one in each leg, and we have to give him breathing treatments and medicine at home. The shots were the worst and for a couple of hours afterwards he couldn't even walk because his legs hurt so bad. So the rest of my day yesterday was spent eating popsicles, watching cartoons and pampering Drew as much as I could. I must say, aside from the being sick part, we both really enjoyed it.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Page #2 of my scrappy weekend. (The only thing I don't like about this page is that there isn't a picture of Drew actually playing with Mr. Potato Head.) Friday night I worked on this page and enjoyed a nice little chat with my fellow SOY finalist Noel. The only bad thing about the two of us trying to talk and scrap at the same time... we usually end up talking more than getting pages done. Last time we talked on the phone it was for like 5 hours, possibly more! I just have to say she's really became a good friend of mine and I'm so glad that SOY gave us the opportunity to get to know each other better.

I've got a question for all you 2-page scrapbookers out there. (This includes all of you who visit here and don't leave comments!) Why do you like working with 2 pages and what is your biggest challenge when it comes to 2 page layouts? I would have to say mine is working with patterned papers. I usually come up with my photo placement, title placement and journaling placement pretty quickly but then I just sit and stare trying to figure out what to do with the patterned paper.

Page #1 of my "Allison's weekend of scrapbooking." I struggled with this page for so long. I just don't think I'm a 1-page girl at all! The other pages I completed this weekend were 2-page layouts and they went together with ease!

I was sitting in my scrapbook room, staring at this page and trying to decide if I wanted to add anything to it when Mike brought Drew in to give me a good night kiss. A few minutes later I went into Drew's room to tuck him in and go through our little "don't let the bed bugs bite" routine. When I was walking out the door Drew said, "Mom."
"Yes sweetie?" I said.
"The page with the bunny on it is wonderful!" he told me.
That was all I needed to know! I wasn't going to change a thing on that page. Drew loved it, so I did too! I'm loving this age where he is so honest and says some of the cutest things, even if they aren't that complimentary. My least favorite but possibly the most humorous statement would have been when he was sitting on the floor and I walked over to him and he said "Whoa Mama! You're big!!"

I've got a Dr. appointment this morning and then I'm off to work or else I would post some new layouts. I scrapbooked all weekend and it was so nice to get caught up on some pages. I'll post them later tonight. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

A new but not so new layout. This was one of pages in my entry for SOY. Drew's favorite song is "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson from the Curious George movie and I thought the lyrics were perfect for a page filled with curious pictures. Talk about some easy journaling and I had about a million pictures of Drew's curiosity getting the best of him! The page in general is pretty plain but I wanted the focus to be on all the pictures, since there are so many on this layout.

I wasn't expecting this in January!

We spent the first half of the evening crammed into the office at the scrapbook store. (Mom, Marti (DT gal), Stacey, Jeremy, Mike, Drew and me.) We had this sad little black and white TV that Mom has had forever for information about the storms.

I felt pretty safe at the store and wasn't worried too much. Plus Drew was good entertainment to keep our minds off of the massive row of storms lined up to hit us.

After about 4 hours we decided to head home for the evening. I finally fell asleep at about 11:30 only to be woken up at 3:00 a.m. by the storm sirens. (The worst sound ever! They always make my stomach drop!) I don't know if I've ever been awake and out of bed that fast. All I heard on the TV was "take shelter, take shelter!" I woke Mike up and immediately we could hear the storm coming. It was so loud. I have never in my life heard wind like that before. I was positive that this was it. I just knew our house was going down. I have never been that scared in my life! Especially since we have a very open house without one room or closet to go into for shelter. Everything in our house is an exterior wall. Our power went out and then came back on in about 30 seconds. I couldn't get the TV back on to see what was going on and really started freaking out. After awhile I got the TV back on and we were in the clear. The storm was moving at about 70 mph so it went through super fast. Afterwards I was shaking so bad that Mike said it was making the bed shake. Did I mention that I have never been that scared in my life? When I finally calmed down a little I noticed that my whole body ached from being so tense. What a night!

Today it's been so sad seeing all the damage on the news. I can't believe how many areas were demolished. I don't know how in the world our house was able to hold up in all of that and I can't imagine what we would have done if we had lost everything. Mike (a.k.a, tough guy) even told me this morning that he was terrified and just waiting for our roof to come off.

I hope everyone around here had a safe night! Hopefully, we don't have to worry about tornadoes again until the season hits!

Resolutions

I'm running a little late in the resolutions game this year. I'm so used to having a big hoopla over New Year's Eve but being pregnant but a little damper on that this year. I guess I just kind of forgot about the new year! I hadn't even thought about my goals for '08.

I know that my yearly #1 goal of losing weight is out this year. Well, at least for the time being. I'll have to wait until after May for that one.

I will use my video camera more this year. I had gotten in such a picture taking mode that I forgot about the video camera stashed up in the top of our front closet. About a month ago we watched some home videos and I had forgotten how much fun it was to watch them. Scrapbooking is a great way to record a memory but it's just not the same has hearing actual voices.

I will complete the huge crossword puzzle in the back of Star Magazine. I know this is kind of a lame goal but I am determined to finish one! I always get stuck on the ones that ask "City in (insert some small, unheard of country)" Sure I could look it up on the internet but I want to finish one without doing that.

I will keep a journal. This one is a yearly goal for me. I never make it through the year but I'm hoping it will change this year. Instead of writing about the day or my feelings, I'm going to write little notes about silly things Drew has said that day. He's getting so vocal and half the stuff he says cracks me up! I want to remember that stuff but since it's so everyday I tend to forget about it a few days later. I'm hoping it will be a good reference for future scrapbook pages too.

Getting to know me in '08
My blog buddy Kodi tagged me with this little getting to know you "quiz". I thought it would be a good thing to blog about and have to look back on. It's always funny to look back and see what you thought and did a few years ago.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 7:00. Yuck! I am so not a morning person but the lack of sleeping due to pregnancy has officially started. It seems almost impossible to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds

3.The last movie you saw at a movie theater? I Am Legend. We went New Year's Eve thinking that it would be a good time to go since it was New Year's Eve and it wouldn't be packed...wrong. Apparently everyone else had the same idea.

4. What is your favorite TV show? America's Next Top Model. I'm in ANTM heaven right now since it's a week long "modelathon" on VH1 right now.

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Coffee

6. What is your middle name? Renee

7. What food do you dislike? Canned meat. Does anyone eat that stuff? I've never tried it and don't think I will anytime soon. Oh yeah, hot dogs too.

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I don't really buy CD's anymore but my favorite songs right now are: Sorry-Buckcherry, Paralyzer-Finger Eleven, and Coming Undone-Korn. I'm a rock girl.

9. What kind of car do you drive? Ford Expedition...aka The Big Rig

10. Favorite sandwich? BLT

11. What characteristics do you despise? Lack of tact. I'm don't see why it's so hard for some people to be polite. I totally understand people who speak their mind but seriously, what happened to showing a little bit of sensitivity to people's feelings?

12. Favorite item of clothing? right now anything w/ an elastic waist...that's so sad!

13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would it be? Hands down, Italy!

14. What color is your bathroom? Plain ass white...haven't gotten to that room yet.

15. Favorite brand of clothing? I don't really pay attention to brands. If I like it, I buy it.

16. Where would you retire? Right here, I guess.

17. Most memorable birthday? 21st..It's not really memorable for the fun part but instead for the fact that I spent the afternoon at my great-grandmother's funeral and then Stacey announced her engagement that day. Not really a lot of room for celebrating.

18. Favorite Sport to watch? dirt track racing.

19. When is your birthday? July 18

20.Are you a morning person or a night person? night

21. What is your shoe size? 8

22. What did you want to be when you were little? A doctor. I spent three years doing volunteer work at Cox Hospital while I was in high school. I'm not for sure what happened but my once strong stomach became a weak one and I couldn't handle the blood and stuff.

23. What are you doing today? cleaning my scrapbook room.

24. What is your favorite candy? It's a toss up between Snickers and chocolate covered peanuts.

25. What is your favorite flower? I don't know. I'm not really a flower person.

26. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? May 22.

27. Do you wish on stars? sometimes

28. What is your pet peeve? When people make their kids "clean" their plate. I had someone that did this to me and I am forever in fear of hot dogs because of it. I swear that was the only thing she could make and she knew I hated them. Nothing like being force fed your least favorite food.

29. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Mike

30. Favorite soft drink? I'm not really a big soda fan.

31. Favorite restaurant? Zios

32. Hair Color? auburn..well it used to be. It keeps getting darker and darker.

33. Siblings? 1 sister

34. Favorite day of the year? I love the 4th of July!

35. Favorite toy as a child? Hello...Lite Bright, the most awesome toy ever.

36. Hugs or kisses? Hugs

37. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate

38. What is under your bed? Don't know...don't want to know.

39. Who is the friend you've had longest? My sis, Stacey.

40. What did you do last night? Cleaned. I really know how to live it up!

41. Favorite smell? BBQ in the summer.

42. What are you afraid of? Tornadoes!

43. How many keys on your key ring? 5

44. How many years at your current job? 4

45. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

46. How many towns have you lived in? 6

47. Do you make friends easily? Not really. I think my shyness comes off as stuck-up. I really need to work on that. Maybe that should be a goal for '08!