New year, New outlook

Today is my birthday. Yesterday we hit a new year.

I want to start off and apologize for my abrupt silence for the past little while. Life got really hard really fast. I suddenly found myself taking some of the hardest classes of my college career (including one law class that, I swear, was trying to kill me) along with balancing my grief around the holidays and watching my business flourish online with record sales in my last three months. Blogging, and most social media, really took a back burner as I was filling orders in between writing papers and studying for tests.

On top of that, I am suddenly pregnant again with our last child.

So, things are complicated. The holidays were tough to trudge through. I missed my twins with every breath. My new little person grew by leaps and bounds. I'm already feeling little kicks and I am just 15 weeks along. My etsy shop has exploded, keeping me busy.

Now, with 2014 officially in the books and completely behind me, I think I am ready to start looking forward instead of back. I'm looking forward to a new semester of college classes (my second to last semester before graduation!), I am looking forward to the birth of our last child this summer, I am looking forward to a bit more free time and more time to spend focusing on my business.

Let's do this, 2015! Fresh start!

Knowing When to Quit

Last week was Spring Break for us ETSU kids. I was looking forward to a relaxing few days at home with kiddo, getting a jump start on a fairly large paper I have due in a history class, and working out which foods the twins will let me handle...

Well, those trouble-making twins had different ideas.

I spent my first three days of Spring Break on the brink of insanity. Morning sickness ravaged me. Nothing stayed down, not even water. By Wednesday, I was calling my parents, begging them to take my son for a few days so I could rest and he could have some fun on his break. Apparently my appearance frightened my dad, and as soon as my husband came home from work, we were off to the Emergency Room. After a long night of fluids and Zofran (which is heavenly), I was able to return home with a steady stomach, stronger limbs, and happy twins.

My Spring Break fiasco frightened me, to be honest. I worried about my little trouble-makers (Grandma has already taken to calling them "Thing 1" and "Thing 2") and how all of this sickness was affecting them. I worried about Kiddo, who watched me deteriorate so fast. I worried about how I was supposed to return to school today, which has been good so far... thanks, Zofran!

But, in order to make things easier on myself and my family, I have decided to cull some unnecessary things in my life. And the easiest one is my online presence and my craft shows. So, as of right now, my Etsy shop and my Zibbet shop are both in vacation mode until further notice. I have backed out of my Spring craft shows. I have stopped posting on my facebook page and twitter page. The only thing I plan to keep going is my blog, since that is working as a grade in one of my current classes.

Tomorrow, I will be 9 weeks along. Morning sickness is supposed to ease up by 12 weeks, so if all goes according to plan, I hope to start everything up (except craft shows) around that time. Babies willing, of course!

Thanks for sticking with me through this...

Personal Post... Oh Baby!

Honestly, I've known for about a few weeks that I am pregnant with my third child. I lost my first pregnancy at 9 weeks. My second pregnancy gave me Kiddo, my sweet little boy who turns 4 years old this July. And I've kept it no secret from those who know me personally that I have always wanted Kiddo to have a sibling. I grew up with a younger sister and I can honestly say that she is my best friend and only my husband knows me better than her...

Kiddo, age 3.5

So, we decided to start trying for a third pregnancy in 2012.

Now, in 2014, we finally got the positive test that we had been anticipating for so long! It was a shock, seeing that it alluded us for ages, but it was a welcome shock! My little family was over the moon! And as the days and weeks went by and my first trimester symptoms began to kick in at full force, I became more and more confident that this pregnancy was going to stick. My fears of a second miscarriage began to fade away.

So, on February 28th, I went in for my initial doctor appointment and was so excited to get an ultrasound. It was Tunnell #2's first photo session. The sweet, quiet ultrasound tech waved her ultrasound wand and began looking for that teeny baby that I was desperate to see.

After a few quiet moments, I heard her say "Well!" and as I looked at the television screen, completely unaware of what I was looking at, she said "Here is baby #1 and baby #2!"

I won't lie... I cried so hard I worked my way through at least half a box of tissues. I laughed hysterically. I cried and laughed so hard that the tech had a hard time taking photos! We saw two tiny blips with two perfect little heartbeats (baby A was at 122 and baby B was at 118) and two little yolk sacs!

Thing 1 and Thing 2 at 6 weeks 3 days gestation

Oh baby! Er... babies!

Kid-free Weekend and some Soap Porn

This past weekend, for the first time since our son was born, my husband and I had a child-free weekend! Benjamin spent the weekend with my in-laws, working on the farm...

Giving hay to the cows...

Driving tractors...

And indulging in a few s'mores at Myers pumpkin patch! 

While all of the fun was being had at Tunnell Farms, me and my husband enjoyed a lovely date night, filled with trips to antique stores, a stop at the Nutty Java (our new favorite coffee spot!) and dinner at Mad Greek in Bristol! 

I also found some time to knock out two great holiday soaps! 

This first one is called Country Christmas, which is a great blend of wood and pine, orange peel, berries, and snow scents. I colored the soap with a warm green base and swirled the top with some gold mica. Super simple, but I am in love! 

My second new holiday soap is one that I am calling "Christmas Night". The soap is a dark black soap, scented with black currant and topped with some white and gold sugar pearls and some iridescent glitter. 

And now, it's Monday. Husband went back to work and kiddo and I are back at school... But what an amazing weekend! 

Oh, College...

Hello, sweet readers!

Man, life has really been hitting me hard lately. As some of you may know, I am a full time college student at ETSU. I'm a junior this year, and after coming off a not-so-great semester in the fall, I am determined to really kick things up a notch this spring and rebound off into a great summer.

I decided to take extra classes this semester in order to keep myself on track to graduate in about 2 years. I'm finally getting around to knocking out my science classes, and the my choice for the first of two sets necessary for my diploma ended up being Geology. I am in love with this class! My professor is an amazing speaker (and I am not just sucking up in case he stumbles across this post!). However, if you have ever taken a science class, you know that they are taxing... As much as I love the subject matter, I am getting quite overwhelmed with it. AND, this is only one of four sciences that I will need to graduate! I'm also taking the first of my advertizing classes, as well as picking up a few classes that count towards my electives.

I'm taking 16 hours total, which has turned into more work that I realized!
Add on top of that an amazing toddler who is learning more and more and his favorite thing to do all day is to play with his "Mom-mom." Oh, and add a blossoming small business that is doing better and better as time goes on... Plus a blog... and a YouTube channel... and the daily grind of creating bath and body items/photographing/editing/listing... and now there are craft shows to think about, with two of them coming up at the end of April... YIKES! (Oh, and don't forget my husband, who likes to see me every now and then!)

So, with all of these things pulling me in a hundred different directions, I've decided that it is time to start scaling back some things in order to make school and my family the priority. So, until this semester ends at the beginning of May, I am going to scale back my blog posts to two a week: Monday and Friday. I will continue to feature my Etsy artists until I run out of folks to feature. I would like to continue to add new content to the blog on Mondays, but as school and family and my shop continue to need my attention, Monday posts may move to the back burner for me. My YouTube channel will also be scaled back as well, as it is easier to create new things without having to worry about extra equipment to set up, as well as not looking like a complete moron in from of a camera. :o)

I hope that you all will continue to bear with me as I make it through this semester. My Etsy shop will still be around, as well as my Facebook and Twitter, which are easier to update on the fly. Make sure to follow me there to keep up with me!

I hope to hear from you all soon!