It's okay, I can reach it now

It seems JR knows how to think outside of the box.  He wanted to get a closer look at what was on top of the TV cabinet, and TJ happened to be in the right place at the right time.  And what did his champion parents do as TJ was yelling, "He's standing on me!  He's heavy!" We ran around looking for my camera.  Don't worry, we found it, actually, that was one of the things JR was reaching for on the cabinet.  

Let's not ignore JP climbing the tower of toys off to the side.  Apparently he didn't learn his lesson after falling off this same tower yesterday and giving himself quite the nasty knot on his forehead.  

Ah, evening chaos.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love to celebrate holidays, but I don't like to buy a ton of crap just for the sake of having something to open.  I also have a small stuffed animal addiction.  My Mom still has more than one garbage bag full of them in her attic.  TJ's bed is inhabited by more then a few stuffed animals.  I also think I have high standards in animals.  They have to be cute and they can't be made out of that crappy fur that falls apart when you touch it.  So one day I decided to make my own. 

For Valentine's Day, I wanted to make something that would involve a heart, but not be too girly.  So I sketched a heart and just stared at it for a little while.  Something made me turn it upside-down, and I knew they just had to be little monsters, because what little boy doesn't like monsters?! I've made enough of these that I knew what I was doing and what little extras I wanted to add, like arms and spikes, plus I've got some new fabric paint that I wanted to give a whirl - since my machine free-hand embroidery isn't the best and I wanted these to look great and go together pretty easily.

I think they came out great!  And so do they. =)

Library Bag

Here goes another Celebrate the BOY post.  I have a ton of those free advertising bags, and I've never had an inkling to actually carry them but I certainly won't throw them away, that would be wasteful.  My husband wishes I would be more "wasteful" but that's a whole nother post. I've seen those freezer paper stencils all over the blogosphere, and it's been filed away in the back of my head in my things-to-do list.

Then I saw another awesome made post on 1.19.2011 about book bags, and I was again motivated.  What better way to get rid of those pesky bags and try out some of that cool freezer paper stencils? Once I got my freezer paper TJ and I went through some coloring book line drawings and picked out the perfect one, one he liked and one I thought I'd be able to cut out with an exact-o knife without too much trouble.
Voila! What a great new use for a bag that's just been hanging out in the basement.  Now we have a great way to transport our mass amount of library books.
I am now addicted to freezer paper stencils.  I have a few witty t-shirts in the works for the twins, because really is anything cuter then a baby in a The Dude Abides t-shirt?  I have also made towel labels for everyone so I'm no longer trying to keep track of mine in our tiny bath room. I also plan on monogramming the boys' chenille blankets.  I wonder what else I can make?  I wish I had one of those Silhouette machines...

He's so proud =)

Celebrate the BOY

So over on Made By Rae and made, they are celebrating an awesome thing, BOYS! They are bringing an excellent point to light, there aren't a whole lot of sewing projects for boys...but there are!  You just have to think and their awesome site is putting out lots of fabolous ideas for things to make for BOYS!!  Seeing as how I now have three, I had to do my part of showing some fantastic things that you can make for BOYS!  I don't nearly have the artistic ability as many of these fine sewers, but I do manage to make some cute things just for my boys that they love, so I thought I'd start to share a few.

I follow a lot of fantastic crafting blogs.  They give me the inspiration I need to get out from in front of the TV and behind a sewing machine.  made is AMAZING!  I wish I had her creativity and her photography skills!!  On 11.30.2010 she posted a tutorial for a faux chenille baby blanket and it struck a chord with me.  I have always wanted to quilt, but there have been many things holding me back.  I cannot cut in a straight line, there's a lot of picking coordinating fabrics involved, I don't really have the space to lay it all out and I really can't even begin to look for someone to mail it out to "quilt" it for me.  But then I saw the made post and I knew that that was a quilt that I could make and it would rock!  I had yet to make anything for the twins - time and inspiration were holding me back. But I knew I wanted to make these for them ASAP.  Right after Christmas, Joann gift card in one hand, coupons in the other, off I went and bought everything I would need for two chenille blankets.  I had a lot of fun picking out boy-ish, and hopefully not to baby-ish, fabrics with the aim that I wanted them to get the long haul out of the blankets and since I bought 1 1/4 yard of fabric of each type I didn't have to worry about cutting straight lines!! 
JP and JR are color coded.  Any of you with twins probably understand, I needed something that didn't involve thought, that would allow me to tell them apart at 4am.  Since it worked so well when they were itty-bitties, I've just kept it going.  So JP uses the green clothes, bottles, toys, and now his new baby blanket.  JR is my blue boy and if you've every seen his eyes there really wasn't any question that blue is his color.  I figure it will work when they're older too, towels, backpacks, storage containers, they all can being in the assigned colors. 
They LOVE the blankets!  Sometimes I catch JR playing with the cut side like he holds on to the tags of everything.  I didn't think JP noticed it, until the other day I caught him stealing JRs too, I guess he likes it so much he wanted them both.  They both came out so beautifully I already have the fabric bought for two more special little boys' blankets.  I can't wait to get started!

Bottles

Why am I still holding bottles?  When TJ was 13-months old he was certainly holding his own bottle.  Neither, of the twins are even making an attempt to hold their own.  Remember, there are two of them and they no longer will wait patiently for the other to finish his bottle.  So there I stand, at every meal, stretched out to one and hunched over the other holding bottles.  The only way I was even able to get this shot was because JP didn't wake up when I came to get them for lunch.
Is hoping for just one of them to start holding a bottle really asking that much?!

Bon Jovi

I like to think that I have excellent taste in music.  A trait that I seem to have passed down to my children.  When TJ was little(er) his favorite song to walk around singing was Ring Of Fire by Johnny Cash.  Of course, in the beginning, the only part he could remember was, "Burn, Burn, Burn," and if you aren't a Johnny Cash fan it would remind you of a scene out of The Shinning.  J&J are displaying their love of fine music already.  This morning during breakfast they started to "Rock Out."  Thankfully, I've realized that they perform amusing stunts without warning and am always prepared with my camera to capture said stunt.  

Mealtimes are always amusing with the twins.  This afternoon I had my act together enough to actually sit down with them and eat my own lunch, I even had a magazine out, and was reading it!  And there lies my mistake.  

I thought I was paying attention to them; I surely would have noticed if, God forbid, one of them started choking, but I was still missing their favorite, silent game, "How much food can I drop on the floor without Mom noticing."  The rules of this game are simple, drop food, one item at a time, onto the floor, if you get caught, game over.  I'm sure when my Mother sees that I have posted a picture of farfalle all over my gross kitchen floor for all the inter-web to see, she is going to be aghast.  But this photo illustrates my very important point - I need a dog!  We used to have a dog, a beautiful, lovable, separation anxiety, seizure having, mutt, named Fiona.  When she was demonstrating her wonderful traits I could not have loved her more, but it has only been since her passing that I realize what her best trail of all was - She ate everything.  Never did I have to sweep when TJ was in his high chair, heck, she even kept the chair itself clean!  The twins' highchairs could not be grosser and with all this freezing weather I can't drag them outside and hose them off, so I'm left chipping dried banana and who knows what out of the crevices of the chairs whenever I can spare the time to be grossed out.  (Or when I catch one of the twins eating highchair leavins that I can't remember serving this week)  So in summation, I need a dog, and TL thinks I'm kidding when I keep saying some spring day he's going to come home from work and we're going to have one.

Feet

Baby Feet

JR was a big help today. We were heading out the door to the grocery store and JR was kind enough to hold each of his feet up for me to put his socks on. This, however, was his idea of a joke.  The twins' favorite thing to do is to rip their socks off and shake them at me.  It's their way of saying, "Look what I did, Mommy!"  But I'm the one that ends up looking like the terrible Mom who takes their babies out in the cold with no socks on!  It doesn't matter how big their socks are, I can put them in socks that go up to their knees, and I do, and they'll just keep working at that sock until it finally comes off in their hand and they are elated!

Babies with pants still on

TL doesn't help.  He's made JP's favorite game "shake the sock in my face" and it's a tried-and-true way to make JP crack up! I must admit, there are other things that they like to take off, so I guess I should be happy that, so far, socks are the only things they take off in public.  Today, after their alleged nap-time, I came into their room to see two, pant-less,  13-month olds, and boy were they excited about it!


In other news, JR has mastered his "Up" sign.  Ironic, I would have thought his first sign would about involved food like TJ's did.

The "Love Bug"

Speaking of TJ, I was a big sap today and bought a Hallmark Love Bug.  I figured, what better way to celebrate TJ's reading his first book then this little treat.  I did, however, have to explain to him that the bug was merely a holder for the goodies and that he would eventually be traveling to other family members to pass on treats to them for special things that they do.


Later, I was asking TJ about his day and he was telling me that he and his "buddies" play this game, "It doesn't really have a name...but there are these girls....and they chase us...and we like it."  He further went on to say, "They hate me the most because they all want to catch me."  I did explain, as tactfully as I good, that I don't think they would play with him is they hated him.  Oh, to be 5 again. =)

The Runaway Bunny

Today 5-year old TJ read ALL of The Runaway Bunny to JP and JR while I was putting away laundry!! They were really upset since lunch was late and they were overtired, so every though their bellys were full, they were in no mood for me being in there and preventing their snoozing, so I asked TJ to read to them.


"But Mom, I can't read."


"Fine, just pick a book out a tell them about it."


Next thing I knew he was actually reading! He needed my help on maybe 5 words for the whole thing! He even stopped to turn the book and show JP and JR the big color pictures. What a good big brother!!

Graduation

I had another blood test today.  For me, just as important as the last one.  Charleen told me that my level should go up by at least half.  1495 - what happened to up by half?! My levels are so high that I graduate to the upstairs office.  Bye bye Charlene, TJ and I was both miss you terribly!!

Miracles Do Happen!

We're pregnant!! 

They think it's twins!!

Whew!

So much has happened since my last post, and much of it was held back because I don't think I could have handled posting about another failure.  So I'm going to do my best to now sum up the last cycle.   

So I finally ovulated on April 24.  Excitement of all excitement!  Even my nurse was excited when she called to tell me the good news.  So that night I started my drug trial of Ganirelix Acetate.  In my past cycles and attempts, I had a lot of problems with uneven growth of my follicles.  I'd have a couple of gigantic ones and then some iddy biddies which is not good for the process.  So the idea here was that Ganirelix would replace the Lupron that did NOTHING for me (other than make me mad as a hatter), and it would also be used after the stimulation begins to keep the follicles under control.  So my ganirelix starts and after 5 days on it I get my period - let the stimulation begin.  So normal "Day 1" process, I call to report my period to the doctor, because really, doesn't everyone want to know?! They set my appointment up for the next day.  I'm assured that the Ganirelix really did its job because they cannot find my left ovary.  I was assured that this was good, but to me, since I'm already missing some important parts, I was a tad nervous.  After this appointment I was unstructured to begin my stimulation.  Since it's a drug trial, not only are all my drugs free, I have to use the specific ones they want me to use.  So for this go-around I used Follistim, replacing my Gonal-F.  Side note:  Follistim was cool since it came with a great carrying pouch; I preferred the ease of the Gonal-F being all pre-loaded.  Since it held more, pushing down my dose was much easier that the 5000 clicks it took Follistim to put out my dose. 

On May 1st, I also start my low dose HcG.  So I've got two shots in my belly a day, it's great! =)  Monday, May 4th is the big day.  The day I learn how my follicles are looking, and for the first time every, I'M TEXT BOOK!  I've been in this process since before Thanksgiving last year and this is the first time I'm text book!  It was a good day.  All my follicles are the same size and there are a bunch of them.  Things are going so well I don't have my next appointment till Wednesday - a big change from my going to the office 5 out of 7 days for my last cycle.  Wednesday’s appointment also when shockingly well, they didn't want to see me till Friday - amazing!  After that appointment I was instructed to start my Ganirelix again. 

Something you have to understand about all these drugs, they are time sensitive.  So when you take something, it usually has to be at the same time every day.  Well, when I got the call to start my Ganirelix, I had to take the drug immediately, except that I was in Hunting Park in Philly (apparently the ghetto) getting my hair cut.  So what did I do?  I shot up in the bathroom.  Yes, nothing makes you feel like you're doing something illegal than sneaking off to a tiny bathroom to shoot up your meds, but I digress.

Now by Friday's appointment things started to get a little hairy.  Not medically, but calendar wise.  You see, since everything was going to great there was a chance that my retrieval would be on Sunday, Mother's day.  Now, in theory, that would be great.  TL is home from work, and so is anyone else that could watch TJ while I get put out for them to do some egg pickin'.  Except that I had like a million and one things planned for Sunday!  I'm not saying that I wouldn't have cancelled all my plans and been happy to do so, but one of my million things planned for that day was brunch with my mother-in-law.  You may be thinking, what's the big deal; well this cycle was a secret.  No one knew when/if anything was going on, because if it didn't work again we did not want to go through the heart breaking procedure of not only ourselves having to deal with that it didn't work, but telling everyone it didn't.  So what outrageous lie was I going to tell her and everyone else I was eating with to get out of it?!? 

Of course, true to my usual style, I made a mountain out of a mole hill before I needed to.  Friday's appoint when great, they actually dialed back my Follistim dose - another first! My retrieval was set for Monday. 

I was instructed to take 1/2 cc of HcG at 8 pm on Saturday night.  The dosage was less than I took last time, so in order to make sure my body absorbed it, they played a very cruel joke on me.  I had to take a pregnancy test at 7am and it was supposed to come back positive.  Are you kidding me?!  I haven't seen a positive pregnancy test since Oct 2004, and you want me to do what?!  To ease my freak out I was informed that I could purchase my pregnancy test at the dollar store.  Yes, Ladies and gentlemen, you can buy pregnancy tests at the dollar store!  Do you have any idea how much money that fact could have saved me over the last two years?!  So I sent TL to buy me a pregnancy test at the dollar store, and sure enough found one.  Sunday morning I wake up at 6:55am and blindly stumble into the bathroom to pee.  Before I sit down, thankfully, it was before I sat down; I opened the dollar store pregnancy test.  Have I mentioned that I was not a big fan of chemistry in HS?  Apparently, the $7-8 price tag most pregnancy tests have, stems from the amazing technology of peeing on the stick.  You see, the dollar store version came with a dropper.  What?!  It's almost 7, what the hell am I supposed to do with that?!  I read the directions and I'm instructed to pee in a cup, and use the dropper to extract some of said pee.  I am then supposed to drop 3 drops of pee into the little circle on the test.  God help me!  So I follow the instructions and wait.  Well I don't actually wait.  I've seen tons of negative pregnancy tests, you can watch the pee spread through the test and once the "test" line turns and nothing else has turned, you're not pregnant.  And low and behold I wasn't pregnant.  Oh shit!  What the hell does that mean?!  At this point I'm thinking the dollar store pregnancy test is faulty - because, hello, it came from the dollar store.  So I retrieve the "good" pregnancy test that I have been saving to take when I knew I was pregnant.  That one has the pee on stick technology and yet another negative.  I taught my son a whole lot of bad words that morning.  The paperwork said that I was supposed to call the office and leave a message as to my result.  If the test came back negative, they would call me back and have me in to the office.  I was supposed to leave for the zoo for my big behind the scenes preview at 8:30 and I have to leave there at 11:15 to hopefully not me too late for my 11:30 brunch.  I have and hour and a half and I'm not wasting it by waiting for a phone call.  I call and leave my message, but rather than waiting for my call back I just head to the office.  I head right upstairs to where I usually have my blood tested and the door is locked - well isn't this just ducky!  I go downstairs and the weekend nurse, whom I don't really know well, sees me right away and asks what's wrong.  There are so many things going through my head at this point - How could a cycle that had gone PERFECTLY not end in a transfer?!  I tell her the test was negative, between tears, and she sits me down so she can make some phone calls.  She soon hears back from a doctor who informs us that I need to take another pee test and have my blood drawn.  Then there were going to just give me more HcG and the transfer would still be Monday, whew!  So I pee for the extremely nice nurse and she sets up my test - the EXACT same one that TL bought at the dollar store, btw!  While we're waiting for the result she starts to wrap my arm so she can draw blood.  She's about to stick the needle in when she leans over to look at the pregnancy test, "It's positive."  WHAT?!  What do you mean it's positive!?!?  I immediately call TL and tell him to dig through the bathroom garbage for my tests.  Sure enough the fancy pee on kind was positive, albeit with a very faint pink line, and the dollar store one, if you looked at it in the right light, was also positive.  Fourteen of the gray hairs on the left side of my head are from that morning.

My sister-in-law was kind enough to sleep over Sunday night, to stay with TJ for my procedure Monday morning.  We get to the office by 7, TL with his donation, and the retrieval is started at 8.  Everything goes well and I get to spend the napping.  We had decided to attempt to fertilize 3, just like last time. 

Tuesday they call bright and early to tell me that 2 of the 3 fertilized and of the other eggs, which the number escape me, 4 were frozen.  They monitor them for a couple of days, one was 4 cells by Wednesday the other 2, and my transfer was set for Thursday at 9:30.  My Mom came down Wednesday night to watch TJ- and take him to zoo school, but that's a WHOLE nother story.  TL and I got there at 9:15 and I had drank most of my liter of water by that point.  (Could someone please invent an ultrasound where you don't have to have a full bladder, please!!!)  The doctor didn't think I had enough of a full bladder and my transfer was a little delayed so I could chug, fun, let me tell you!

Not that this whole process isn't awesomely, technologically advanced, but they really flaunt it during the transfer.  This time, TL and I could to watch the whole thing on this huge flat panel over my head.  First the embryologist shows up the dish with our name in huge letters and then she pans down to our babies!!  Our actual babies! Yes, I have the picture.  Then we were shown the catheter suck up the babies.  On the ultrasound, we could see the catheter and where the deposit was made.  Then just to check that everything worked as planned, we are again directed to the flat screen to watch them flush the catheter so we know the babies were transferred.  All in all, very cool.

This transfer felt very different from my first.  I had no cramping and barely any discharge at all, I was hopeful, but I still have to wait until the Monday after Memorial Day to find out.  Let the time drag on...

I’m very close to the wonderful nurse that walked me though this entire process.  And over my time with the office I had learned that when it was bad news and doctor would call and when it was good news you'd get a nurse.  I knew that when I got my phone call that Tuesday afternoon all I would have to hear is the voice to know if I was pregnant or not.  My nurse, Charlene, didn't even get through saying all of my name before I started crying.  It was her so I must be pregnant, I was really pregnant!!

Normal HcG levels for a woman in the point of pregnancy that I was are anything over 50.  I was at 684.  What?!  Wait is that ectopic high? "No."  Twins?  Charlene proceeds to tell me that she could pussy foot around and tell me that they need to wait for the ultra sound, but yes, twins!  My god!

One Insightful Little Boy

The other day my son asked me, "Mommy, when I was with the angels before I was born, was I dead?" 

Side notes: 

      Months ago he wanted to know where he was before he was born.  Since it's not something I can really wrap my head around, I told him that the angels were watching him until his Daddy and I were ready to take care of him.  

     I also recently had a relative pass away, and we've never been the type of parents to dumb things down for the boy, and he's not really the kind of kid that will take the dumbed down version anyway.  So when my Aunt passed away - I hope when I'm 96 I have all my faculties till the end! - we explained him that she had died and it was time for her to go to be with Jesus.  He had a ton of questions and we talked about it a lot.  

    

So getting back to the other day, I explained to him again that they were only watching him until it was time for him to come to us.  Then he asked, "But what if you never had me?"  Holding back tears, I responded, "...I would have done anything to have you!"

...and that's when I realized that IVF was just my method of "anything" to get the rest of my babies from the angels.  It's amazing the things your little one can make appear so clearly. 

The Transfer That Wasn't

So February 12, I started the drug from hell, Lupron.  I've been on this before, the doctors actually said it went through me like water and didn't do what it was supposed to do.  However, since I was doing a cryo-cycle they said the drug was supposed to serve a different purpose.  I was on the drug till around the 13th of March.  That's a whole month on the worse drug I've ever been on.  Why, you ask?  Well the worst part of it is that you don't realize how bad you are while you're on it.  I felt like I was losing my mind.  I was so moody and sad and I couldn't stand to be around anyone.  But since the doctors said that the drug had no effect on me I never really put two and two together.  It wasn't until a week off the drug that I started feeling better, and happier that I realized that it was the drug making me loopy.

So why the hell drug?  On March 9th they were going to defrost my frozen eggs and fertilize them using ICIS.  However, my appointment on the 2nd didn't go well, so they pushed everything back a week.  (Just once I'd love to be on the schedule they put me on to start!) So, March 16th they defrosted 3 of my eggs and tried to fertilize them with ICIS.  I've only had two attempted fertilizations before and I didn't sleep a wink the night my babies were being created;  That night, I slept fine.  You see, the embryologist had called me earlier that day and told me that upon defrosting those first three eggs that he saw that they, "didn't look good."  He asked my permission to defrosting the other 2 eggs and try and ICIS them all.  I hesitatingly told him no, that we would continue as per our plan; defrost 3, try to fertilize them and if 1 or less fertilized, try again with the other two.  Whatever fertilized they would transfer to me, so we were a little leery to try and fertilize five and possibly have to transfer five; hence our plan.  My hopes were not hight.  

Well, all our planning was for naught.  The first three didn't fertilize and when they defrosted the other 2 the didn't survive so the didn't even bother to ICIS them.    A month of not being myself for nothing.

So here I am, waiting to start cycle, what are we up to, 1 complete and 2 almosts, so 2.1?  The good news is that this time I'm taking part in a drug trial, so part of my cost, for all the drugs, will be deferred.  But, as usual I'm not "typical".  I was supposed to start my new drug on March 10 to start the next cycle, but here I sit, waiting to ovulate.  The excitement of it all, right?  Seriously, just once, can't I be normal?!?  My doctor claims that all the drugs I've been on have really wrecked my cycle, and that there is no reason for me to worry.  Easy for them to say, right?  TJ will be 4 this July and I have the clock tick tick ticking away in my head.  My brother and I are 5 years apart, and I've always thought that we could have been closer it we were closer in age.  Not that we aren't close, but we were never in school together, and when he got interesting I went away to college.  UGH!  I just don't want my little boy to be 10 with a baby in the house!

Well I guess I'll let you all know when I ovulate, and maybe later this week I'll post about something happier, like all the cool stuff I've made later.  

Irritation

It's late and I really shouldn't be doing this right now.  But I really needed to get something off my chest.  When people think of IVF now, this is what they are going to think of.  

I have reached the point now where I am OK with doing IVF.  I was a result of fertility drug.  Never once have I every questioned whether or not I should be here.  My Mother did what she needed to do, albeit not as drastic as what I'm having to do, but still necessary.  For this women to cause other people to now look at me differently because of my choice, makes me sick.  Before, people were just uninformed by what was entailed in the process.  Now they are still uninformed, but they have this wacko's story to back-up their own misconceptions.  

I start the drugs tomorrow to begin my second IVF cycle.  We are using my own frozen oocytes this time, so the process will be a little easier on me, but we have less of a chance of it working.  I'm trying to take it one day at a time, but stories like this are making it almost impossible.

  

CPSIA Delayed!

At least there was some good news this week!

From the Etsy Blog:

Breaking News: The CPSIA Mandatory Testing & Certification Proposed 1 Year Suspension

We are so excited to announce that the Commission has voted for a "Stay of Enforcement of Certain Testing and Certification Requirements of CPSIA" — which means that they are proposing a 1 year suspension of the burden of lead testing and certification while they take more time to review the rules and plan enforcement!  All of your hard work is paying off (for the time being at least!).  You wouldn't have to pay to do the certification and testing, though you are still liable if your products are found to have lead. We are so pleased that artisans and vintage sellers got their voices heard. Your hard work is not over; we must continue to play a role in advocating for small business people throughout the coming year.

"The action taken today provides breathing space to get in place some of the rules needed for implementation, but it should not be viewed as a full solution to the many problems that have been raised." —U.S. Consumer product Safety Commission

You'll find the press release below:

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously (2-0) to issue a one year stay of enforcement for certain testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers of regulated products, including products intended for children 12 years old and younger. These requirements are part of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), which added certification and testing requirements for all products subject to CPSC standards or bans.

Significant to makers of children’s products, the vote by the Commission provides limited relief from the testing and certification requirements which go into effect on February 10, 2009 for new total lead content limits (600 ppm), phthalates limits for certain products (1000 ppm), and mandatory toy standards, among other things. Manufacturers and importers – large and small – of children’s products will not need to test or certify to these new requirements, but will need to meet the lead and phthalates limits, mandatory toy standards and other requirements.

The decision by the Commission gives the staff more time to finalize four proposed rules which could relieve certain materials and products from lead testing and to issue more guidance on when testing is required and how it is to be conducted.

The stay will remain in effect until February 10, 2010, at which time a Commission vote will be taken to terminate the stay.

The stay does not apply to:

• Four requirements for third-party testing and certification of certain children’s products subject to:

  • The ban on lead in paint and other surface coatings effective for products made after December 21, 2008;

  • The standards for full-size and non full-size cribs and pacifiers effective for products made after January 20, 2009;

  • The ban on small parts effective for products made after February 15, 2009; and

  • The limits on lead content of metal components of children’s jewelry effective for products made after March 23, 2009.

• Certification requirements applicable to ATV’s manufactured after April 13, 2009.

• Pre-CPSIA testing and certification requirements, including for: automatic residential garage door openers, bike helmets, candles with metal core wicks, lawnmowers, lighters, mattresses, and swimming pool slides; and

• Pool drain cover requirements of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool & Spa Safety Act.

The stay of enforcement provides some temporary, limited relief to the crafters, children’s garment manufacturers and toy makers who had been subject to the testing and certification required under the CPSIA. These businesses will not need to issue certificates based on testing of their products until additional decisions are issued by the Commission. However, all businesses, including, but not limited to, handmade toy and apparel makers, crafters and home-based small businesses, must still be sure that their products conform to all safety standards and similar requirements, including the lead and phthalates provisions of the CPSIA.

Handmade garment makers are cautioned to know whether the zippers, buttons and other fasteners they are using contain lead. Likewise, handmade toy manufacturers need to know whether their products, if using plastic or soft flexible vinyl, contain phthalates.

The stay of enforcement on testing and certification does not address thrift and second hand stores and small retailers because they are not required to test and certify products under the CPSIA. The products they sell, including those in inventory on February 10, 2009, must not contain more than 600 ppm lead in any accessible part. The Commission is aware that it is difficult to know whether a product meets the lead standard without testing and has issued guidance for these companies that can be found on our Web site.

The Commission trusts that State Attorneys General will respect the Commission's judgment that it is necessary to stay certain testing and certification requirements and will focus their own enforcement efforts on other provisions of the law, e.g. the sale of recalled products.

Please visit the CPSC Web site at www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html for more information on all of the efforts being made to successfully implement the CPSIA.

Negative - I don't know if I can go through it all again.  What if it's not meant to be?

Now We Play The Waiting Game...

Eh, the waiting game sucks, lets play Hungry Hungry Hippos.  

My transfer was last Wednesday and I don't get to take my office pregnancy until this Monday, so needless to say, anything I can do to keep my brain busy is a blessing.  Ever since I became a Mom I've been making things.  There's a cute Winnie the Pooh rug outside my son's room that I started years earlier, but I didn't finish until shortly after he was born, I guess you could say I had some free time on my hands.  It's evolved some since then.  I think since I don't work anymore my making things is my own way to contribute to the family in a way that's just for them.  I've made both my husband and son cross stitch Christmas stockings and have been in the process of making a tree skirt since last year that I'm hoping will be done by next Christmas.  I've also been making my family's Halloween costumes since we moved to Pa.  

With my new search for things too keep my brain busy, I've been on blogger.com a bunch thanks to all my blog feeds being here.  I got to read all that Threadbanger.com and BurdaStyle.com had to offer.  Those two fantastic website have led me to crafty bloggers by the tons.  [Not to ignore my two great friends whos blogs I also get to read, but we're talking about crafting here =) ] So I've been led to some great blogs like, Just Tutes, The Purl Bee, purse-onality, Kender Crafts, and Cotton Monster News.  All of these sites have really got my juicing flowing!  So although I've been making stuff for awhile, it's time to start blogging about it.  I've already blogged a little bit about the only Christmas presents I sewed this year.  I'm happy to report that not only did they fit the girls pretty good, but they loved them!

So with the Winter strongly with us, I've been pushing fleece to the max!  I don't know if you've ever tried to buy gloves or mittens for a three year old, but it's virtually impossible to find ones that actually fit.  So thanks to Just Tutes I made my son some awesome mittens, that I can actually get on him and he likes to wear!  But I just couldn't stop there.  For sometime I now I've been making my son monsters.  

   '

There really is no better toy than one that comes from your own sewing matching.  Well, he loves them so much it got me thinking, how about Monster mittens?  So on BurdaStyle I found a pattern for mittens, and me being me, I had to make test mittens first.  And as a semi first, I made them for me.

  

Good thing too, since they boys were a pain since they were so much smaller.  Unfortunately, the pictures don't do them any justice, and they look a little ragged at this point since my son has been enjoying wearing them so much, but he's constantly getting compliments on them, and if there's one thing my son likes, it having a reason to talk to people.

  

I should never have made myself the cammo mittens, because I started a, "what can I make for myself next?" kick.  

Christmas three years ago, I made my husband and two of his brothers, fleece pj pants.  Then I edited the pattern a little and made myself awesome Trix flannel pj pants.  So I knew the pattern was usable for me, and with the Eagles game coming up, I knocked these out in an evening.

Too bad the Eagles lost, but we won't talk about that.

And lastly, well most recent I guess, I found this great tutorial for glittens.  I luckily found some cool fleece at Jo-Ann's, and my new glittens were born.

  

  

I did things a little different than she did.  I made my thumb slits in the side seams so there would be more seam allowance to sew the thumbs back on with, and I handstiched my top piece to the bottom piece rather can cutting a slit in the mitten.  I also haven't really decided on my closure for keeping the top up, but I'm sure it'll come to me one of the days I'm wearing them.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I added a new monster to my son's posse!  I can't go making so much for myself without giving a little love to the boy.

  

Well I hope you enjoyed looking at all the stuff I've been making to keep myself busy as heck.  There's more to come, I promise! =)