Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts

Friday, July 29, 2011

Welcome Penelope!


Penelope Elizabeth Ringia Was born this past Monday, July 25th.

I have another beautiful amazing daughter, Autumn, who is about 2 1/2, and I am absolutely amazed by how different the birth of Penelope was.

Sunday evening, or in reality, very early Monday morning, I woke up to go to the bathroom and my water broke.

I wasn't really sure what had happened, because I was under the impression that when your water breaks it is pretty obvious. It was almost more like I peed myself, and then continued to expel fluid for about an hour.

I had not had any noticeable contractions before my water broke in this pregnancy, and they did not start immediately after it broke, so I was not really sure what to do... so I called my mom, who just happened to be at the airport waiting to fly back to her home in Savannah.

My husband called the hospital, and they told me to come in within 6 hours or when I started having contractions.

I had an order that needed to be rushed, so I went ahead and printed that while I was waiting to start having contractions, and before I got it packaged I started having contractions. I quickly finished packaging the order and called my dad. I dropped the package off in the mailbox and my husband and I drove my daughter to my dad's house.

My mom decided to stay in Albuquerque a few more days to meet my new daughter and I was lucky enough to have my mom at the hospital with me. Only my husband and the hospital staff were in the room for delivery because that is what I was comfortable with, but it was really wonderful to have my mom there for so much of the process.

She was at the hospital for the entire labor and delivery process and kept us company for various parts of Penelope's birth. She was in the room when I called for the epidural and left when they administered the epidural. A few hours later, after a nap she came back and she was really impressed with the difference the epidural made :)

The delivery was easy and fast, and I had a successful VBAC.

I had my other daughter Autumn Via emergency C-Section and it was much more stressful. I never actually went into labor with Autumn, and I was really worried I wouldn't know when I went into labor with Penelope. When Autumn was two weeks past due I went to the hospital to be induced. I was 8cm dilated when I had the epidural and it was only starting to become painful at that time, but the contractions never felt anything like what they felt like with Penelope. Autumn was not positioned correctly and after 17 hours of labor I was whisked away for an emergency cesarean. The recovery for Autumn didn't really feel that hard, but in comparison I feel really great after this pregnancy. Recovery is MUCH easier after a vaginal birth.

I also am having much better luck breast feeding this time around. I know it is much harder to breastfeed after a cesarean, but I am sure that the hours spent with lactation consultants when I had Autumn probably helped a lot this time around.

I was surprised to have to stay in the hospital for 24 hours after Penelope was born, I guess I felt so great that I thought I should be able to go home right away.

I was released from the hospital in the afternoon on the 26th, and it was really wonderful to come home to my mom and my beautiful daughter Autumn. I have spent the past few days relaxing and recovering with my family and finally started production again for Caustic Threads. I have several orders that I will be slowly catching up on, and will reopen shop when I have all of my current orders (including my wholesale orders) complete.

I don't expect to be finished and back in full swing especially quickly, as I have more important things to tend to.










(The beautiful blanket in many pictures was made by Angela, her etsy store is http://www.etsy.com/shop/allthingsgranny )

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

So, in the news… Erica is due at the end of July with (odds are) baby girl number 2.

This is exciting, as it will:

1. Give Autumn a moving toy to play with for the foreseeable future.

2. Fulfill replacement value reproduction

3. Reward the parents with a tax break

4. Be another cute child

5. Give the grandparents something new to talk about

This is less exciting because it will require:

1. The purchase of Diapers for a few more years

2. Another baby seat, filling the car completely

3. Tolerance of house being a disaster for additional years

4. More of Mommies time, leaving less for Daddy

5. And will reduce the number of hours that Daddy can sleep


Generally, blacksmith shops are not considered very baby friendly environments. Carpentry shops are almost as bad. And Blade smith shops the worst of both worlds, plus some sharp edges.

I don’t know why, but people seem concerned about mixing a child (or children) with limited hand to eye coordination with a scattered and disorganized pile of blades you could shave with. Go figure.

I don’t think that I have ever seen Autumn hold a knife the wrong way, and she knew what they were and what they were called before she was 2.

I keep her out of the shop mostly because I don’t have protective gear small enough and she doesn’t like to wear it when it falls off like that. Also because she makes it more likely that I will hurt myself due to the distraction.

At least she can’t really open the door to the shop while I am working yet. But I can’t imagine that day is too far away. Sigh.

And here are some recent pictures of Autumn, since I was talking about her...

With her brand new big girl skates!

And again...

and just waking up from a nap...


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Exciting Day!

I was surprised to find myself on the front page of etsy today! How exciting!

The treasury was really beautiful!


And, I thought I would share some pictures of my pumpkin.

This is a picture of autumn playing "dress up" she is wearing a shirt I was trying to photograph, a hair bow as a necklace, and a pair of my very old sunglasses. They were from the 90's ska resurgence when clear lenses were hot, or at least I thought they were :)


I dont know. There is something cute about faces smushed up against screens.


And THIS is extra special fancy. Autumn is trying to crawl in the cat door.

What else? well my roller derby team played a game against Assassination City this weekend and won by a pretty sizable margin, so that was fun. The reffing was pretty awful, but if the refs hadn't been there we would not have been able to sanction the bout. Other than that, I am BUSY BUSY BUSY--- and I am developing a new product. With some luck I will be able to offer a preview later this week.

Ok. I'll be back for my daily treasury this evening.

X0xo :)
♥Erica

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

SO, Adam and I decided that we want to have another baby, or I should say I want to have another baby and he wants me to be happy (plus he wouldn't mind if I stopped playing roller derby).

I hated being pregnant, and the first few months of being a parent was really hard on me, but the more autumn turns into her own little person the more I love being a mom.

I have a few more games coming up and I should probably wait to try to have another baby until after regionals. After 5 years I am ready to retire from roller derby at the end of the season I think, so now is a good time to think about having another baby. I know I don't want to travel any more and I can wait until I actually get pregnant to stop playing on home teams.

The thought or retiring is very hard, but I can still skate and attend games, and lately it has been hard to motivate myself to go to practice. I haven't been feeling well and that is part of it , but I also have a lot of other things I like to do and roller derby takes up a lot of time. That said I would have to find another primary source for aerobic activity, so who knows how much time I would really have, especially with another baby.

Well,

Here are my new listings for today:
♥♥♥Brand New Threads♥♥♥
http://www.etsy.com/listing/50527219/i-love-to-sew-tote-or-reusable-shopping NEW ITEM
http://www.etsy.com/listing/50530661/unicorn-skeleton-tee-juniors-sz-m NEW DESIGN

I will be back this evening to post a treasury. Any ideas for themes?

xoxo
Erica

Friday, May 14, 2010

Autumn is 18 months old!

This week was clearly on fast forward, it seems like I barely even got enough sleep. I never got around to my color feature, so I will post that next week. I used to have Mondays off and since I started working on Mondays again, and opened a new store I can barely keep up with anything.

I guess maybe this whole year has been on fast forward. Autumn is 18 months old today! It seems like just yesterday I was planning Autumns first birthday, and just Sunday was already my second mothers day!

Autumn amazes me and breaks my heart every day. Being a parent is an amazing journey and now I really understand what people mean when they say things like that. She can cry and scream and make huge messes, and all it takes is a hug, a smile, or a kiss to melt my heart.

Autumn is a strange girl. She is not really very affectionate, but she likes attention. As far as I can tell she is also very stubborn. She likes dried cranberries, and shoes.

My mothers day was wonderful, we went to the botanical gardens and Aquarium in Albuquerque, which is where these pictures were taken. Adam made me an awesome cleaver, which I may never use, but I REALLY think is awesome. It is hanging over our oven right now. He also gave me a wonderful book on mixed media folk art with some wonderful stories in it.

I have so much more to write about and not enough time! It seems like between Autumn, my job, roller derby and etsy I am working from the moment I get up until I go to bed!

Duke City Derby is having our first bout at the New Mexico Convention Center on Saturday, and I am sure it will be great but I am already nervous!

Have a Great Weekend!

Xoxo,
Erica

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Holiday Season Kickoff!

I hope everyone enjoyed their thanksgiving, and I hope that those who decide to brave the retailers this weekend come out of the event unscathed!

Adam and I spent thanksgiving a few hours south of Albuquerque, in Las Cruses. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner prepared by Nick and his wife, and had a great time with them, and also my dad and his wife.


If you are not so into the crowds at the mall this time of year, you can buy more meaningful gifts this year on etsy.

Many stores are having sales this weekend. Here is ours:

HUGE BLACK FRIDAY/CYBER MONDAY SALE November 27, 2009- November 30, 2009
Free Worldwide Shipping! (on all orders)
Store wide discounts already taken, some up to 50%!
ACEO's marked down to $7.50 (25% discount)
$5 coupon Toward a future purchase WITH ALL ORDERS PLACED DURING THE SALE :)

These are our current treasuries! Please check them out while they last!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=77283
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=96909

We sell Art, Hand Forged Knives (great gifts for men), Arm Warmers, Baby Items and much much more !
_______________-Happy Holidays-__________________

ALSO, ONLY FOR BLOG READERS WE ARE OFFERING AN ADDITIONAL 15% off! Use promo code "blog" in a convo or in message to seller. This offer is only good for a weekend.

Also, I would love to see everyone else's sales for the weekend! If you are having a sale please post it in the comments, along with a link to your store! I would love to check it out, and I still have some holiday shopping to do.

Monday, November 9, 2009

I probably should not encourage this:



Or this:



and most definitely not this:



BUT SHE IS SOOOOO CUTE I CAN'T HELP IT! (and yes that is a girl even though she is wearing blue) I guess I should stop wondering how she became so spoiled!


Also, Adam finally got the Lathe he ordered, and he is very excited about that.


And I made this dress for Autumns birthday. It also has matching bloomers. I am selling them in my store, too.