Catching Up and a Fresh Start!

 Hello All! 

It apparently has been 2 years and 4 days since I last posted. Needless to say, after my last post, life got a little bit hectic (understatement of the century 😆). Since Feb 2019 the following has happened:

March 2019: Found out we were pregnant with our 2nd child and were very nervous/excited!

March-April 2019: Hubby, daughter, and I visited Japan for 2 weeks for our 5 year anniversary. It was absolutely amazing and we definitely will be returning probably for our 10th anniversary, if not before. We spent time in Tokyo, Hakone, Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Hiroshima. We visited countless shrines/pagodas, stayed in a traditional Japanese inn, rode on a pirate ship, went to Tokyo Disney Sea, ate at the Pokemon Cafe, experienced TeamLab Borderless, saw a huge moving Gundam, saw many cherry blossoms, attended many Sakura Festivals, rode the bullet train, ate so much amazing food, and paid our respects in Hiroshima. It truly was the most amazing trip we've ever done and we loved the country so much that we even said we could see ourselves moving there after the kids were grown and can decide what they would like to do. 

               

    

October 2019: Good - Excitedly welcomed our handsome baby boy on the 17th. Bad - Lost our extremely loyal German Shepard of 10 years very suddenly to bloat on the 21st.

December 2019: Lost our loving Yorkie of 12 years due to a broken heart from losing his best friend. This was extremely hard for me because he was my first fur-baby who came into my life when he was just 7 weeks old and provided me comfort during a very difficult time. 

January 2020: Almost lost one our cats due to a urinary blockage and had to spend several days shuffling him back and forth between his normal vet and the emergency vet for around the clock care. Doing this with a 3 month old and a 4 year old was exhausting. 

Starting in March 2020: Our daughter ended up in the hospital for 96 days, mostly in the ICU for a condition called Stevens-Johnson Syndrome/Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Overlap. This is a rare condition in children, usually caused by antibiotics and rarely by a virus where the immune system fights off something but then doesn't get the signal to stop and attacks the skin cells and all mucosal sites inside the body. She fell into the viral category, but they never could figure out which virus after she came back negative for every signal viral/bacterial/toxic test available. People with this are treated like burn patients because their top layer of skin is completely killed off. Usually a cytotoxin is used to block a portion of the immune system enough to stop the progression and allow the body to heal. Unfortunately for us, our daughter's was not stopped with just the cytotoxin but we also had to approve the use of a TNF Inhibitor to shut down yet another portion of her immune system, which we were told there was no record of both treatments being done on one patient and that they did not know what the effects would be or that if it would work. Thankfully it did. In the end, our daughter's body was 80% affected before they could stop the progression and she lost all her beautiful hair and her finger nails fell off. Another terrifying thing that happened during this was that one day her sedation was not really working and she was constantly rubbing her back raw against the bed, mainly in protest of everything as far as I could tell. When the burn nurse went to change her bandages that day, it released all the pressure and our daughter started to bleed out because her blood was no longer able to coagulate because of all the rubbing she had done over such a large body surface. In the middle of a Covid pandemic, they only allowed 1 of us to stay with her at a time but they called both of us in to the unit because they all seriously thought they were losing her. It took 2 hours, 6 bags of blood, 2 bags of plasma, and 3 bags of other various blood products for them to get her semi-stable. The week following that episode, she finally started showing signs of improvement and proved the doctors wrong every time when it came to her recovery. We had to authorize the placement of a trach to help with maintaining her airway while she was sedated and were told that she would have it for most likely at least 6 months - it came out 3 weeks before we went home. We were told that she would have to have a feeding tube for several months to assist with her nutrition - that came out a week before we went home. We were also told that she would need to have a wheelchair and walker for her to use once we were home because she would be too weak - we went home without either and she walked out of that hospital because she was determined to relearn how to walk so she could teach her baby brother how to crawl and walk. They said she would need to do outpatient physical therapy starting the week after being released from the hospital until the end of October - she "graduated" on September 2nd. They said she would probably have lifelong damage to her lungs - we just received word a week ago that any damage that was caused by the SJS has healed and her most recent CT scan showed completely normal results. Our daughter is back to looking like herself, albeit with short hair and no eyebrows/eyelashes for now, running around and screaming with her little brother, and enjoying life like any kid should. For all her strength, courage, determination, and perseverance, she is my superhero.

October 2020: We took a little time in the beginning of the month to go visit with my husband's father and grandparents in Indiana and to see my dad and his husband in Michigan. We felt our daughter's immune system was finally strong enough to brave traveling and that it was a much needed trip for everyone. Then our daughter picked a space theme birthday party to celebrate our son's 1 trip around the sun!

 

December 2020: Filled with all sorts of holiday fun with social distancing in mind and our kids were spoiled waaaaaay too much by everyone on Christmas but it was nice to see them enjoying themselves and just being kids. 

January 2021: Our daughter turned 5 and we got to celebrate a birthday that very nearly didn't happen. We spoiled her with a Little Mermaid birthday party at home with our immediate family the Sunday before her birthday and then with a 2 night stay at a Disney resort. She has been desperate to go back to Disney so we surprised her with reservations at Epcot the day before her birthday and Magic Kingdom and lunch in Cinderella's Castle on her birthday! She's still talking about how beautiful Cinderella looked!

 

Obviously our daughter's health scare has thoroughly changed our outlook on life. We know how precious time is because we came extremely close to losing one of the most important things in our lives. We take nothing for granted anymore and we cherish every moment, big and little. We now have a 1 and 5 year old running amuck in our house and we couldn't ask for anything better! 

It's because of our 2 little ones that my hubby and I have decided to make sure that we get back to a healthier state both mentally and physically after a year of neglecting ourselves. For me, physically this includes small habit changes such as walking/moving more, being more aware of what I choose to eat and eating a piece of fruit instead of that bag of chips, and cutting out soda and sticking to water or tea. Mentally, it's making sure that I take time to do the things I love (arts and crafts, video games, reading, etc.) and allowing myself to have a little me time once a week to decompress. Hence the unintended, very long blog post. I am hoping to use this as an outlet whenever possible that includes not just my long neglected cross stitch but other things that I am nerdy about as well. 

If you've read this far, then thank you and I wish you health, happiness, and a great and safe 2021 from my family to yours!

Our first ride at Disney in almost a year: The Seas with Nemo and Friends!

After the Holidays and Into the New Year!

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a great 1st month of the year!

Our Christmas was pretty awesome because this was the first time our little one could actually recognize that it was Christmas and was so excited to open her presents. That was definitely a busy week. We celebrated Christmas Eve with my husband's parents, Christmas with my parents, and then opened gifts from my dad in Michigan over FaceTime the day after. My daughter was extremely spoiled this Christmas and loved everything she received!

Even with all the busy days after Christmas, I have not one but TWO stitching updates!

First, I had a complete finish! The Polar Pals stocking for my daughter was successfully completed in time for Christmas! Finally seeing it finished, after being so frustrated with the actual stitching, was awesome and now I love it! She was so excited to get it in her Christmas Eve box and then to have it filled with all sorts of goodies on Christmas!

FINISHED! DIMENSIONS NEEDLEPOINT KIT - POLAR PALS STOCKING

My friend did an amazing job with the sewing! She was a little nervous at first but it came out great!

The second update is that I was able to finish stitching the Star Wars piece for my friends' son finally! 

I don't know why but stitching large areas of black are really hard for me because I start to lose interest. I finished the stitching before the new year and knew I wouldn't be able to get together with my friends until this month so I haven't been in a rush to complete it. I do have all the stuff to finish and will do so on my next days off!

Our hectic days didn't really stop after the holidays because we have 3 birthdays during January: my daughter, my sister-in-law, and my niece. Needless to say January is always crazy for us but as my daughter was saying all day at her Frozen themed 3rd birthday party, we just "let it go!" and try to enjoy all the festivities!

I do have a new start that will be another piece for my mom and stepdad....eventually.... It's a Game of Thrones family houses/flags/sayings and it should be pretty neat once it's done.

Now that it's officially February and all the festivities are over for now, it's back to work, school, family, and hopefully I can sneak in a little more stitching this year. 

I wish everyone a great rest of the year since I missed posting in January! 

A Start & Finish

Being stuck at work during the weekend before Christmas means that it is a pretty slow work week. 

While 911 never rests, we do have our down time around certain holidays thankfully and it allows for a bit of arts and crafts at times. 

I have a co-worker who has mentioned several times that they wanted a specific subversive cross stitch done and I finally gave in and made it for them. It took me 6 hours to start and finish in between 911 calls which wasn't too bad. I googled several different versions of the phrase and ultimately settled on the alphabet style of one I found on Pinterest and added a simple little bottom border. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything about who created it but this was the image I worked off of. 

I hope they like their subversive cross stitch!

FINISHED! Subversive Cross Stitch

WIP Wednesday

Today is an exciting WIP Wednesday post for me because I can officially say that I have a (sort of) finish!

After several hours of:

1.  stitching on a frustrating stamped pattern

2. trying not to go crazy over basketweave stitching

3. getting very angry over a ridiculous amount of French knots

The Polar Pals Stocking is done! At least for my part....

Here’s where I last left off:

And now:

I’m so glad this is done. I don’t think I’ve ever been more frustrated with a project before. I’ve come to the conclusion that I really don’t like working on a stamped canvas. However, I think it ended up coming out great (despite the name not being spaced right...).

This afternoon, I met up with my friend who is going to finish this into the actual stocking for my daughter. We picked out a nice fabric and batting at Joann’s and now it’s just a waiting game. Fingers crossed that she can get it done in time for Christmas. If not, then it’ll end up being a 3 King’s present and we will get to use it next year!

I can’t wait to see what this will look like once it’s completed!

Now I can finally get back to working on other projects that are actually cross stitch! Yay!!

Am I Seeing An Update??

Yes! 

Your eyes are not deceiving you! 

After about 7 months, I have an actual update!

In all honesty, I have truly missed the ability to stitch for the past several months. Unfortunately I have had a full schedule between my daughter, family outings, work, and taking several classes at a time. Thankfully, things are starting to slow down with school since the semester is almost over! I only have a week left! I also switch back to dayshift in about another week as well!

*Does happy dance*

Thanksgiving came and went here and there was lots of yummy food to be had even though I did have to work that night. I did have the following weekend off though, which was nice. I spent my days off celebrating a late Thanksgiving with my parents, running around Disney's Magic Kingdom with my in-laws, and putting up the Christmas lights outside and decorating a little bit inside (not much inside though because we have some jerk kitties that thing it's fun to mess with them).

Most of the stitching I have done was over the Thanksgiving break and I've continued a little bit here and there. I plan to keep stitching and to have at least 1 finish before Christmas. So I have chosen to focus on the stocking that I have been working on for almost 2 years for my daughter (granted I did lose it for a little bit when we moved rooms around). I am going to try my hardest to have the stitching done in time to then have my friend finish it as a stocking because I don't know how to use a sewing machine.... maybe one day I will learn 😆

Here is how far I was on it the last time I posted:

And here is where I am at the moment:

I have managed to finish all (but the scarf) of the penguin and the snowman since the last post. It's hard to see, but I've also started on some of the blue on the rest of pattern. Basically all that's left are the various blues and greens and then the accent backstitching, french knots, and putting my daughter's name on it! 

One thing I am really learning with this project, is that I'm not a fan of working on a stamped pattern because it becomes difficult to tell where to actually stitch with small details here and there. The other thing I don't like is that it makes it hard to tell the actual progress I've made at times...at least in pictures. 

That's all for now! I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far!

An Actual Stitching Update!

I finally have an actual stitching update!!! 

I haven't really been able to focus much on stitching between family adventures, my classes, and work but I have been able to do some stitching here and there over the past couple months. So this update is the culmination of progress made since about mid March and might be a bit long.

The 3 projects that I have chosen to focus on are all intended to be gifts and I would REALLY like to have them done in time to be gifted for their respective dates. I apologize in advance for the lighting on the updated photos.

First up is the Polar Pals stocking that I have been working on for my daughter. 

Here is where it looked like last time I posted it on December 2016:

Here is where I am at with it now:

It is a little hard to see the progress because it is a stamped design but most of the grays in the snowman's hat and in the penguin's arms have been done and the top section up to the first orange band has been completed since the last time I posted it. The intention was for this to be ready by my daughter's first Christmas... that didn't happen and then my husband had moved my project and couldn't remember where and I couldn't find it for about a year.... so I'd really like to have this done this year to be put up right after Thanksgiving, since my daughter is 2 and this will be her 3rd Christmas.

Next up is the Olde World Map. 

Last time this was posted about was in December 2017:

and now:

It doesn't look like much progress but there is some. The inner border for the Western Hemisphere has been done, the signage in the hemisphere has been started, a couple more feathers on the headdress, and a little more work on the boring border. If I can really hunker down and work on this one, I would like to have it finished and framed to give to my mom and stepdad for Christmas. 

Last up is the Star Wars piece that I am working on for my friends' son. 

In July 2017 it looked like:

and now:

This is going to be a birthday gift so I have until January to finish it. This piece is actually an evolving piece. The original pattern was of Yoda, Darth Vader and "Star Wars" but I decided to change out the words for their son's name in the Star Wars font and added his birth date at the bottom. I am still undecided as to if I will consider this a finish after the names are filled in or if I am going to incorporate another pattern and modify it. I have tiny patterns for the main characters and am contemplating adding them either along the bottom or the sides.

That's all for now! Here's to hoping I will be able to post an stitching update sooner than it took me to post this one!

Checking In...

It has been about 3 months since I last posted, so I figured I would at least check-in!

It has been quite a busy 3 months between Christmas, New Year's, my daughter's 2nd birthday, the loss of my great aunt, school starting back up, and switching to 12 hour days at work.

I haven't had any time to stitch lately but I have been itching to get back into it. Hopefully I'll be able to start again soon. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly when soon will be since this month we will be celebrating my mother and my mother-in-law's birthdays and my anniversary.

I hope everyone has had a good start to the year so far! I have a lot of catching up to with blog hopping, so off I go!