Evelyn is 2 Months Old!

I absolutely LOVE being Evelyn's mom; it is so fun to hang out with her all the time. Last night I was thinking about all the changes that have happened and everything she can do now.

-Last night she rolled over from her stomach to her back. I couldn't believe it! One second she was on her tummy and then *POP* right onto her back. She did it the first time by herself, then two more times she got half way and my brother gave her a little help.
-She smiles now; it's usually in the mornings when she's super happy.
-She babbles all the time. I love watching her interact with her cousins because it's like she's having a conversation with them. Her hands are waving around and she's 'oooing' and 'aaaing'.
-When she's in the right mood she will lift her head up and move it around while I'm holding her. She will also move it from side to side when she's on her tummy.
-Speaking of tummy time, yesterday she started doing this thing where she lifts her legs and her head at the same time, so cute.

I think Evelyn is sooo great (of course though, right? I'm her mom)! I can't wait to watch her change this next month.


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Anyone Else Twittering?

I just got an account...but still not sure how this whole twitter thing works. Here is my name

colorheart

so follow me/let me know your fun name.

Also, I am redoing my Etsy store! I got a new account and I'm calling the store colorheart (hence the twitter name). The name Kara Enterprises is significant to me because of a fantastic wedding gift I got from an amazing lady, but I'm going to keep that name with the gift and not my Etsy. I am excited to brainstorm a new image and photograph the paintings that I finished long ago.

An Experiment

Hello Everyone :)

If you are reading this drop me a little hello in the comment box! It will brighten my day to read all your messages.

Love
k

emails to m

excerpts to my love, during my travels:

The world seems impossible to cross until you get half way there and all you've missed is a sunset. There are strings connecting us from point to point. A women living in the counrtyside of the Czech Republic is from Newport Beach, that makes the world feel small. I feel myself moving along strings like a zipline. Quickly! From Prague to Berlin to Croatia to Amsterdam. I feel this tiny section of the world being woven together by me...

The quilted chartreuse hills in Šumava are wrapping around us. Let's lay on them and look at the clouds. Unlike anything we've ever seen, whiter than ice or an ipod, softer than down or cotton balls. They are so close to our faces moving at a rapid pace; our necks bend back trying to hold on to each one. What should we talk about now? Or can we even talk? We are in such awe at the beauty around us. There is so much beauty it could make you cry.There is so much beauty it could make you cry.

more photos here.

Happy Dad Day

Along with being Thanksgiving, today is also my dad's birthday. Happy birthday dad, from Kara, Mike and Evelyn!

The Explosion

Yesterday night I was changing Evelyn's poopy diaper and she let out a huge squirt of poo. It sailed 3 feet, all over the door frame, the carpet, her changing pad, dresser and pj's. No picture can ever do justice to the image in my mind of a straight yellowish stream flying through the air. But here are some images anyway.

Thank Yous

It's awesome how life can pan out to make me appreciate the little things. Like today I got to drive for the first time since October 8th. I loved the independence!

My mom came to help out when I had the preterm labor; who knew that I would end up needing her help so much. When I was on bed rest she kept me company, brought me food and cleaned my house. After some other sad events, it was so good to have her support. Then she got to be here to see the birth and help me through the initial emotions of having Evelyn in the NICU.

I've loved that Mike was able to take a week off work. It was s good healing time for both of us.

Even though Evelyn was born with pneumonia, I'm so glad that we have amazing technology and medicine to take care of her!

Last week, there were a lot more thankful things I wanted to write down. Hopefully I can remember more of them and keep this list growing.

We Love Our Baby!

Here are some more recent pictures of Evelyn. She is done with her antibiotics and her oxygen! Now all we need is to get her nursing and gaining weight. Yay!

This morning she ate so much that her stomach expanded 3 cm! She is yawning after a big meal.


Love this one :)

Updated update

Make that NEXT Friday...hopefully.

Time for an update

Our little girl is getting better each day and we are looking forward to taking her home on Friday. She was born with pneumonia, but luckily it wasn't too severe. She has been on high flow oxygen, not a ventilator (that's a good thing). The saddest part for me has been knowing how many times the nurses have had to poke her for an IV. Hers kept going bad every 12 hours and they would have to poke a couple times to redo it. She's had them in her hands, feet and head. There is something called a picc line that they tried at least three times. The illustration below explains it better than I can.It is good because once they get it in place they don't have to poke her again. Unfortunately none of the picc line attempts were successful. I know for sure they tried to do one in her arm, like the picture and also one in her head that threads down her neck. I hated hearing about them doing that stuff to her! Finally today they doctor did what's called a UV where they put a tube into her umbilical cord hole and thread it to her heart. This sorta worked, but they only got the tube to go in 4cm so she can't be moved around or else it could come out. SAD, we can't hold her anymore until Thursday.
Good news is her oxygen flow has been coming down. She has also been keeping down the milk that I've been pumping for her. That means they can decrease her IV fluids and increase the milk. The other happy thing is that she's been very pleasant throughout this whole thing and that gives me a lot of peace.
I'll add some more pictures soon.

Our Beautiful Evelyn

Evelyn Rushforth was born this morning at 11:50 am. She weighed 6 pounds 8 ounces and was 18 inches. It was an incredible experience and we are so happy!




You can see a few more pictures on facebook.

A Nice Sight

As I was looking out the window I saw Mike walking up to our house after work. He looked so good with the lighting, the blue sky and the trees. I asked him to stay there for a minute while I snapped a picture.

Baby Update

I had my doctor's appointment today and found out my plan of action. It's not really that much action though because it involves me staying on bed rest and contraction minimizing medicine. The good news is, I'm only on bed rest until the meds are gone, which is this Sunday (my 36 week mark)! It will be interesting to see what happens, if I go completely into labor right away, or what.
Also, I found out that I have been 80% effaced since I went to the hospital one week ago. Today I was 3 1/2 cm dilated. Crazy.

Autumn Leaves

Even though I am on bed rest, my mom and I figured it wouldn't hurt to go on a drive to see the colorful leaves. This is something I have been wanting to do so badly, especially since I got my new camera! So here are some of my favorite shots that I just took through the window.

Eventful Happenings

I tried updating this from mike's phone but for some reason it only let me type in the title box. So now I am on the computer. This is gonna be a pretty detailed novel...

Here is the story. On Wednesday I started getting too many Braxton Hicks contractions. I'd been sitting for a while so I decided to go to the grocery store to walk around and see if they'd stop from the change in activity. That didn't help. I came home drank a ton of water and lay down to monitor them. They were coming every 2 minutes and lasting 60 seconds each!

After an hour they hadn't chilled so I called my doctor and she told me to keep taking it easy and if they don't taper off in 3 hours go into labor and delivery. Two hours later they were coming only a minute apart (and two of them were spaced out only 12 seconds)! I knew I really shouldn't wait much longer so I had my friends Bruce and Jackie take me to the hospital. Mike was flying with his student at the time (around 6:30pm).

The nurse got me all hooked up to the monitors and gave me some terbutaline to try and slow the contractions (mike was here by this time and my friends had gone home). She also checked my cervix and I was at 3cm, ah! 15 minutes later they gave me more of the medicine and checked me again and I had gotten even a little more dilated. I was supposed to get a 3rd dose of the terbutaline but my pulse was too high (120), plus I don't think it was working all that well. So they gave me some morphine in hopes that it would relax my body and uterus and put me to sleep. They also gave me this steroid to help the baby's lungs develop super fast in case she was going to come early.

Oh man, I had the worst reaction to the morphine! I got super lightheaded, nauseous, ringing ears and all sweaty! I couldn't even open my eyes. The nurse tried to get an IV in me but the first vein she accidentally went all the way through both sides (mike said it was sick)! I have difficult veins to poke so when she tried the back of my hand the vein was rolling all over the place, but with the help of another nurse they finally got it. The IV helped a ton and I felt better within 15 minutes. Unfortunately the medicine didn't help me to fall asleep so I had to get a sleeping pill and only got about 4 hours of rest that night.

At some point they had started me on this other drug, nifedipine, and it was actually working to help slow the contractions. So the next day they kept me going with that one and I just had to wait all day until 9:00pm so they could give me the second dose of steroids and check if I had dilated further. When the blessed time finally came I had not gotten bigger and so they said we could go home!

Now I am on bedrest and that medicine until 36 weeks or if the baby just comes on her own. I'm so glad she is still safe and sound in me :) I have actually been feeling well throughout this whole thing, even the contractions weren't painful (I'm telling you, it was the morphine that wrecked me for a second). And my mom is here, which is WONDERFUL! We've got only a week and a couple days till the 36 week mark, so I'll keep ya posted.

I liked last night

First of all, I took a nap in the afternoon. Naps are something I rarely do, but this one was perfect. It meant I couldn't go to the grocery store, but that is always ok with me (it's my least favorite errand, unless there is Trader Joe's, then it is my favorite errand). So I busted out some dinner with what we already had. It turned out great! Lemon pepper chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes with homemade gravy. The perfect meal for a chilly night.
Later Mike and I went to get treats. I got an oreo shake from burger supreme and he got an orange julius from the mall. Then we walked around the mall and mused about how sad the malls are in our area. We were even at the better of the two and it still felt like the Whittwood mall (haven't been there since I was like 12, but bleh).
Tomorrow we might drive to the autumn trees and take pictures. I am excited about that.

Latest Project

Check out the lamp I refinished yesterday here.

What's new?

Mike started his new job as a flight instructor! He has 4 students that he meets with at least 3 times a week. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday he usually goes flying 4 times each day! Here's Mike in his uniform at 7am :)


Mike and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary!!! We spent the day in Salt Lake, ate at Cheesecake Factory, watched 9, and went to a family reunion. It was awesome! Here is the one picture from that day (i know, totally random):


Over the weekend we attended a childbirth class. It was pretty brutal, from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm on Friday and 9 to 5 on Saturday. Mostly we just got freaked out by it.

Am I getting bigger? I think so because even certain maternity clothes aren't fitting quite right anymore.

Too Many Projects

I love doing projects. Whether it's refinishing furniture, wiring an old lamp or busting out some crafty thing. Today I was realizing how many projects I am working on at once. Let me just attempt to list them (this is purely for my own entertainment):

- futon cover
- a bunch of paintings for my website
- refinishing 3 chairs
- and a rocking chair
- and my dining room table including 2 leaves
- rewiring 2 lamps
- fixing up another lamp
- sewing pillowcases

Whew! That's a lot to do. Good thing I have plenty of time. It just gets a little harder as my belly grows. Today I spent a couple hours cutting upholstery fabric and man was that tiring! Anyway here is a funny belly shot I took using self timer:

San Clemente Beach Camping

Mike and I had the best vacation ever! My mom and sisters came to visit us in Utah for a week and then they drove us back to California for beach camping. Mike's parents and brother came to Utah at the same time as my family and so did Mike's sister and her three kids. It was great to see everyone! In California we got to spend more time with Mike's family and they threw a baby shower for us.
Here are a bunch of pictures from our beach experience.

This is my family, minus my brother is is on a mission in Portugal right now. I just want to point out the faces that my sisters are making. They are so funny.

Mike was taking pictures of my belly by the fire and after one of them my dad said, you might want to retake that. When we zoomed in we realized why. It looks like his head is coming out of my stomach!!

Smore's and a pretty sunset.

I found my name!


Hot :)


I love how Karlee posed for this one.

Mike and I spent a lot of time playing track ball. It was so fun!

Painted Plates

Check out this fun crafty activity! It's totally simple, all you need is:

-a plate (I got mine from the thrift store for 0.50 to 0.75 cents each)
-sticky mailing labels (I used an 8.5 x 11 full sheet transparent label from staples)
-pen or pencil
-scissors
-spray paint
-drop cloth or something to paint on

1) Clean the plate

2) Draw your design on the label. Make sure you draw on the front side so your design doesn't get flipped backwards when you stick it on the plate.

3) Cut out the design

4) Peel the adhesive and stick it on the plate in the way you like it


5) Set up your drop cloth and spray paint the plate with the color you like. Be sure to do a couple light coats so the paint doesn't pool. You don't need to cover the plate perfectly on the first coat.


6) Wait for the paint to dry. I used Rust-oleum Painters Touch from Home Depot because you only have to wait a couple minutes to re-coat and one hour until you can touch it.

7) When you feel like the paint is dry enough (2 hours to 24 hours later depending how patient you are) CAREFULLY peel stickers off the plate.
TIPS: use a safety pin to get right under the edge of the sticker then slowly move the pin along the edge. I had better luck peeling the stickers off when I waited a couple hours. On one plate I waited overnight and the paint was more brittle so it peeled off in places it wasn't supposed to. That could have been because I wasn't being as careful too so just be REALLY careful!


8) If you want extra protection add a coat of lacquer.

HAVE FUN!


p.s. we did this for an enrichment activity and all the girls had SUCH cute designs on their plates! i want to see everyone's, so post pictures on your blogs :)

My Cool Sista

Check out the picture that my mom just sent me on my cell phone. It's my sister on the front page of the newspaper! I love it!

Here is the link to a high quality picture

Sunday

Sunday is always a good day to update the blog.

Yesterday I got into a bad mood (I'm gonna blame it on the hormones) and Mike came to my rescue. After I dramatically flung myself onto the couch and began to freak, my awesome husband was right behind me to calm me down. He made me feel so much better! And then he drove over to Quizno's to get a HUGE sandwich that I could take to work. I really didn't want to go to the grocery store or make dinner that night, so it was such a happy thing when he did that. These are just a couple reasons I think he is the best.

Mike and I ordered our crib thanks to the generosity of his mom! It's supposed to be here this Friday and I can't wait to see! There is really no place to set it up yet, but you know how it is when you get something new, you just want to put it together and see the finished product.


I have been casually thinking about teaching some type of creative class since I came to Utah last year, but thanks to the motivating and inspiring ideas of Kaela it might actually happen now! How does a Refinishing Workshop sound? Pretty fun to me. I'm thinking early September. And just to add a little image to the idea, here are two chairs I've been working on.

Introducing Kara Enterprises

Here are a few of the wonderful pictures Kaela took of my watercolors. Please stop by my Etsy site to learn more about each painting! karaenterprises.etsy.com