6 weeks

rowan turned 6 weeks old last thursday. i'm a little late on the photos, but i challenge you to tell me that you don't want to just eat him up! how cute are those cheeks of his?

first project.....finished!

so i've been hinting around about these huge projects i have going for a children's hospital. i'm so excited to say that the first one shipped out of the office today! they're heading off to st. jude children's research hospital in tennessee.

here are some photos of just how large of a project it was for us!


here's one box filled with the finished product. there are 150 boxed sets in each one of the larger boxes.


and here are all 10 boxes filled with the finished boxed sets. (that's 1500 boxed sets total)


and here's the whole bunch waiting for the ups guy to come pick them up.


and inside each boxed set, you will find these 4 cards. (you can click on it to see a larger image) they're based on children's artwork from the hospital. (so i didn't draw the pictures, but just designed the product and produced it) they're lightly embellished with glitter and have matching envelopes. you get 8 cards per box, 2 of each design. they should be available on the st. jude website sometime soon. they also ordered individual cards (that i forgot to take pictures of before i sealed the boxes) which will be available in their gift shop. i'll try to post here when they're available online and hopefully you'll visit and purchase some to support the hospital. it's such a good cause and i'm super proud to be helping them raise money to keep their hospital running and continue saving lives.

autumn celebrations

the hubby's boss has an octoberfest party every year out at his farm. although it was 90º out, (what the heck is up with that?) we went to enjoy the day. they had a bouncy house (pictured above), clown, magician, music, wagon rides, horse riding, and lots and lots of free food and drinks. the little dude enjoyed himself thoroughly and we had to peel him out of the bouncy house.


here's the little dude on the wagon getting ready to go.


after the party, we went to pick up some pumpkins. the next day the little dude and the hubby carved a magnificent jack-o-lantern. the little dude said he wanted a "scary face rraaaarrrrrrr!" so that's what he got! he was so proud of it. too cute!


and a photo out front with it lit up at night.

there's a whole other story about the jack-o-lantern that i'll have to tell some other day when i have more time.

1 month

rowan turned 1 month old this past weekend. while i took some photos, it's been the week from hell and i haven't had a chance to post them. so here's one from our quick shoot. he has the deer-in-the-headlight look, but i guess you can't expect that much out of a 4 week old baby!

here are a few more recent ones that i like.

a post about feet

so yesterday the little dude wakes up from his nap and the hubby goes upstairs to get him. he notices that the little dude only has one sock on. so the following conversation takes place:

daddy: where's your other sock?
little dude: (pointing to his foot) right here daddy.
daddy: no, your other sock.
little dude: (pointing to his foot again) right here daddy.

upon further inspection, the little dude had taken his sock off of one foot and put it perfectly on top of the other one so that you couldn't even tell!! he had to come down and show me. and i of course had to take a picture.*

he did the same thing last night when we put him to bed for the night. i guess no more socks for the little dude!


and because we're talking feet, here's a photo of the little dude's new shoes. he's so excited about them and he calls them his new "cool shoes".....he also says they're pretty "shnazy"!

*pardon the illustrator outfit! i figured posting a picture of my kid in his bob the bu*lder tighty whities on the internet probably wasn't the most appropriate thing to do.

it's quite a change....

going from one kid to two. i am so completely exhausted. i forget just how rough the nights are with a newborn. baby r has decided that he doesn't like to sleep in his bassinet after about 3:00 a.m. the only way to get him to sleep is on my chest, in bed. needless to say, that doesn't lead to the best sleep for mommy.

plus, the little dude is sick. he's only had 1 cold in his nearly 3 years of life and of course he has to get one now.....with a 4 week old baby in the house! his little nose is just a faucet. i'm hoping that the worst is over and that the rest of us can escape without catching it. i can't imagine having a cold right now. i can hardly function as it is!

other than not sleeping, things are going well. baby r is a really good baby so far. he sleeps most of the day and doesn't really get fussy much. if he's awake he's usually pretty content.....as long as someone is holding him. he's no much for laying down on his own......much like his big brother used to be. hopefully that phase passes quickly.

business is super busy now. i'm working on those really, really, really huge custom projects i mentioned awhile ago. hopefully when they're finished i can post a link for all to see. i've had to hire on some additional help to get them all done. plus my contact at the children's hospital has been adding more and more projects to the list. i'm not complaining one bit. it's great money and a great cause that i'm happy to be supporting. i hope the relationship continues.

ok, off to get some work done so i can attempt to take a desperately needed nap today. it is so much harder getting one in with 2 kiddos! these are the times when i wish i had the luxury of maternity leave! (did i mention i did work from the hospital the day after giving birth? ah, yeah. fun times!)

2 weeks

our little munchkin is 2 weeks old today. we had our 2 week check-up today at which he weighed in at a hefty 8 pounds. that's 3 oz. more than his already impressive birth weight! everything else checked out ok and it looks like he's going to be one happy healthy little boy.

things are going well at home. he's a good eater and a decent sleeper. i wouldn't argue with being able to take a nap or two, but it's pretty tough with both boys and a business to run.

he looks very much like his big brother did.....just a little chubbier version, with more hair.

bestest big brother in the whole world

rowan has been with us for a week now and i have to boast about how great the little dude has been with him. i'm so proud of what a great big brother he's being. he's such a little helper.

he's super gentle with him and listens well when we tell him not to touch his eyes etc.

the first night in the hospital, just an hour or so after i had given birth, the little dude came to visit. all he said all night was "he's so cute!" "he's so cute!" "he's so cute!" it was the sweetest thing ever.

if he walks in the room and i'm not holding him, he says: "where's my baby brother at?" it's so funny.

he gives him hugs and kisses every night before bed.

he sings him "rock-a-bye-baby", "twinkle twinkle little star", and "you are my sunshine" when he's crying.

he helps change every diaper and throws them away for us.

he has to go "check him" whenever he cries in his cradle.

he goes to get his car seat whenever we're ready to go anywhere, and he puts it away when we get home.

after hearing so many horror stories about toddlers who rebel when their little siblings come home, i had prepared myself for some major temper tantrums/adjustment period. i have to say that we haven't had to deal with any of that. sure there have been a few breakdowns here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for a 2 1/2 year old. he's been such a good boy and i'm such a proud mamma. it has made my own adjustment period that much easier.

i love you little dude. thanks for being the bestest big brother in the whole world! you're the best!!

welcoming baby!

hi everyone! just wanted to give you a quick update! baby boy #2 was welcomed into the world thursday night! here are the stats and a photo! enjoy!

rowan emerson dunbar
born: august 30, 2007
5:28 p.m.
7 lbs. 13 oz.
19 1/2 inches long

mommy, daddy, little dude and baby are all doing splendid! we came home yesterday and are trying to adjust to life as a family of 4!

my little "coffee" drinker

my little dude has taken to drinking "coffee". it's a special treat that he only gets when grandma comes to visit. it's actually hot chocolate, but he thinks that because it comes in a mug it's coffee. he has his own mug and a special slurping technique that he uses just for this special drink....taught to him by grandma. i think it might possibly be his most favorite thing in the whole world.

p.s. i know it's not like me, but i've updated my blog with 3 separate posts today, so be sure to scroll down so you don't miss the rest!

37 weeks

i thought i should take another photo of my hugeness for all the world to see! hopefully this will be the last one!

baby's room

i've had the baby's room done for a couple weeks now but have been waiting for a sunny day to take some photos. since it doesn't seem like we're going to get one of those for awhile, i settled for taking pictures today. they're not the best, but they'll have to do.

i made all of the bedding, the curtains, and matching accessories. so here it is.....

false alarm

i ended up in the hospital again yesterday morning! i was up all night long with contractions. by 4:00 in the morning i couldn't lay there anymore because they were coming on so fast. so i got up and called the hospital and the dr. on call at about 5:30 or 6:00. they asked me to wait until 8:00 when my dr. got in so that i could go to the clinic and get checked there first. ugh....i wasn't sure if i could make it that long, but i hung in there and called as the clock turned to 8:00 exactly! i then found out that my dr. was actually in a meeting at the hospital and that she wouldn't be back to the clinic until at least 9:00!! so they sent me to the hospital and we monitored the contractions and the baby until she got out of her meeting and could come and check me.

of course after i arrived at the hospital my contractions slowed down quite a bit. i wasn't sure why as they had kept me up all. night. long. go figure. anyway, she checked me and i was only dialated to 1 and a half, and with my contractions slowing down she decided to send me home. she did want to check me for a bladder infection because sometimes that can cause contractions to worsen or come on early like mine had.

i went home and called the clinic later in the day to get my test results back. no infection, but it came back that i was dehydrated. dehydration is a major cause of contractions like mine too, so they told me to liquify and rest up for the day. after thinking about it, i think it may have been the dehyration that caused the whole episode. i was up all night not eating or drinking anything. then right before we went to the hospital, i had a little snack and a glass of milk. i'm wondering if that glass of milk is what caused the contractions to slow back down by the time we reached the hospital. it all makes sense now knowing that dehyration was probably the cause.

so lots of liquids for me now! it's definitely not my strong suit. i've never been a good drinker of my water.

i'm still alive....and pregnant

it seems like i'm saying it all the time, but man, where has the time gone? i can't believe it's been 18 days since i posted something! oops!

anyway, just wanted to check in and let anyone know whose actually still reading that i'm still alive....and more importantly, still pregnant. i'm now about 36 1/2 weeks, so i'm safe to have the baby anytime and not have to worry about being shipped down to milwaukee because our hospital doesn't have an icu for the baby if he needed it. chances are he'd be big and strong enough to manage without it.

i don't think i've mentioned it before, but we're also having some insurance issues with my hubby's new job, so if i don't have this baby before september 1st, it's going to cost us a fortune! i've been talking to the drs. and insurance about everything to try and figure it all out. i'm honestly at the point of not caring anymore. nobody can give me a straight answer, and the more people i talk to, the worse it gets. so starting august 25th or so, i'm going to start doing a ton of jumping jacks! :)

hopefully i'll be posting again soon with some new baby news!

my favorite kind of nuts

so after my rotton day yesterday, we decided to get out of the house and go out for an ice cream treat. we went to a certain place that mixes in your toppings of choice and mixes it together on a very cold stone. (hehe)

anyway, i ordered something with pecans in it and the guy behind the counter was very obviously new. when we got to the pecan part he just kind of stared at all the nuts in horror. he finally asked which ones were pecans and i helped him out. this was his response to me:

"sorry, i'm just not so great with my nuts!"

haha! that totally made my day! leave it to the ice cream guy to cheer me up!

stick a fork in me

i'm. so. done.

i'm beyond the ready-to-have-this-baby-point. the constant painful contractions are killing me. it's like being in labor all. day. long.

every. day.

it's way too hot.

i'm cranky all the time.

my back is killing me.

i have too much work to do for the business.

i have too many things i want to get done around the house.

wha. wha. wha.

and then i feel guilty for feeling this way because this baby is such a miracle for us. ugh. can't i just be done already?

a little scare

i ended up in the hospital yesterday afternoon. i was sitting at my computer working when i realized that my contractions were coming pretty frequently. (i've been having them for quite some time, so it's nothing new) they were coming so regularly that i decided to head over to the couch and kick back and relax for a little bit while i timed how far apart they were. it turns out they were coming pretty regularly....between 3 and 4 minutes apart. after watching them for about 45 minutes, i called my dr. and told her the situation. she asked me to come in right away to get checked out.

so i go to the clinic and while i wasn't really dialated that much, she suggested i go to the hospital to get some iv fluids and a shot of trabutaline/terbutaline (i can't seem to find the official spelling online) if needed.

i get to the hospital and they pump some major fluids in my arm and hook me up to all the monitors so they can monitor my contractions as well as the baby. even after pouring an entire bag of fluids in my arm, the contractions were still 3-4 minutes apart. so along came the shot of terbutaline. after more monitoring after the shot, they had slowed to 7 minutes apart. they still weren't satisfied, so along came another bag of fluids and another shot. after more monitoring, it showed that i had only had 1 or 2 contractions over the course of the final hour. at that point they were satisfied that they were slowed down enough to send me home. this all happened over about a 5 hour period.

that's the reader's digest version of the story. i'm trying to lay a little lower today. i'm still experiencing a lot of contractions, but hopefully it won't turn into anything like yesterday.

"new" goodies!

so they're not exactly "new", but i've finally gotten around to uploading our adorable magnets to shades of violet. they were actually released at the national stationery show this year and have been a hit ever since. they're available in oodles of ways and in 4 different themes: fruits, veggies, sweet treats, and little creatures. go check them out and let me know what you think!

business feature

my little business was featured in our local newspaper on sunday. right on the front page of the business section! i've copied and pasted below. (as well as hidden/changed some pertinent personal information)

Saying it with Greeting Cards
Local woman designs, sells greeting cards

By Nicole Strittmater
Press correspondent

Armed with glue, sparkles and beads, Lori Dunbar carefully bent over one of her signature greeting cards Tuesday to add the finishing touches.

Simplistic in design, the card featured a small graphic among a clean, white background. As she strategically applied the sparkles and beads to the graphic, the card was complete and ready for sale.

A graphic designer, Dunbar, 30, of [Wisconsin] is the owner and designer of Marzipan, Inc., a stationery business she created back in 2001 that sells an assortment of hand-made stationery, gift tags, thank you notes, announcement cards, greeting cards and more—all designed from her home.

Today, Dunbar has about 50 sales representatives working for her all over the country, and her designs can be found in 576 stores in the U.S., as well as some in Canada, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Bermuda and Central America.

When Dunbar sat back and thought about her nation-wide business success, she could only say three words.

"It's pretty cool," she said with a laugh.

But Dunbar said this wasn't something she ever thought she was going to have.

"I can't say that it was ever a goal really, but … now looking back, I definitely see that I've always had that little entrepreneur side of me."

Dunbar said Marzipan Inc. started almost by accident; she stumbled upon her interest for this arena of business while designing and creating her own wedding invitations in 2001.

"I just found that I loved the process of making it so much," Dunbar said. "I just loved everything about it."

So, Dunbar said she toyed with the idea of making wedding invitations professionally, but upon considering the limited cliental, she opted for a broader business: stationery.

That Christmas, she said she made each of her family members a pack of greeting cards to see what they thought, and the responses were unanimous.

"Everybody loved them," she said, adding that she soon took them to different stores to see if anyone was interested. "Everybody I took them to really liked them and started buying them, and stores started buying them."

From there, the business took flight.

Dunbar designs all of the items from her home and then sends them to a printing vendor, In Person, LLC, out of Milwaukee.

Once the printed products are shipped to her house, her assistant Genie [XXXXXX], 34, of [XXXXXX], with the occasional help from Dunbar, embellishes them. Two out-of-the-office employees in Wisconsin also help with the embellishment.

From there, samples are sent to the sales representatives, who present them to stores.

Sarah B Fine Stationery in Madison is one of 16 stores in Wisconsin carrying Dunbar's greeting cards.

As owner Jan Corradini recalled some of the designs, she said the cards do very well.

"We need to get more of them. That's how popular they are," Corradini said. "That's a great company … We love them. They're simple. They have a little bit of glitter which I love; they're kind of understated, but they're really nice."

Of the cities carrying the line in Wisconsin, Dunbar said unfortunately [XXXXXX] isn't one of them. She said the market just isn't there due to higher prices, ranging anywhere from $1.20 for a single gift tag to $16 for a boxed set of six magnets and six note cards.

The greeting cards, for example, go for $5 each, which is something she said many people in [XXXXXX] may not be willing to pay. Previously, she said a [XXXXXX] store sold her products, but never re-ordered, because there was no demand for them.

Whereas in California, her largest market, she said $5 seems like a deal.

California alone has about 10 sales representatives, and currently 156 stores carry the line.

"There are areas around the country that are obviously more densely populated with my products than others," Dunbar said.

But because her products can't be found everywhere, she said people in areas without her products would write to her. This presented her with a problem, since, being a wholesaler, it wasn't possible.

Dunbar found a way to fix that, though.

In 2006, after her success in the wholesale market, Marzipan Inc. partnered with Shades of Violet, LLC, an online retailer of stationery products produced by Marzipan Inc., to provide online sales. This is the only online retailer with the rights to sell Dunbar's products.

"It's nice to have it available to everybody," Dunbar said. "People who lived in areas who couldn't get my products now could."

[Genie] said she is having a great time being a part of the business.

"Oh, I think they're awesome. I can't wait for us to be huge, huge, huge!" she said with a laugh. "I wouldn't trade this job for anything."

Dunbar agreed.

"It's great, because it allows me to stay home," she said. And with her 2-year-old son, [little dude], at home and another one on the way, she said it's definitely nice to have a flexible schedule.

She said walking into a store and seeing her products for sale and knowing that people are buying them makes it all worth it.

"It's a pretty neat feeling."

slacker

i didn't realize it had been so long since i downloaded my pictures off of my camera! wow. here are some of the things we've been up to lately:


the little dude and daddy enjoying the view at the milwaukee county zoo a few weekends ago.


some "playing" bears.


building castles in the sand at the local beach on the fourth of july. (and by "building" i mean flinging sand around with his shovel)


we took the dude to a new waterpark in town. he's such a little chicken. he would stick his hand out to get wet, but that's about as far as he would go. he got pretty wet in the end, but still wouldn't actually run through the water.




and me in all my 30 week hugeness!