Photo Shoot with a Toddler...Lessons Learned.

I learned a valuable lesson today about taking photos of toddlers. Roll with the punches and be flexible. I tried in vain to force this kid into the pose I wanted. I set up a back-drop...she ripped it down. I tried to get her to "pose" with her favorite stuffed animal...she threw him on the floor. I finally decided to give up the fight and play peek-a-boo with her with the covers on my bed. I got many good shots and best of all, I feel I captured the joy of toddler-hood! Lesson learned.

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Sometimes it just all WORKS!

Today was kinda stressful. I'm still icky-sicky and I had to nicely (while gritting my teeth) deal with some cranky scrapbookers. Then we went over to my in-laws where I cooked Chicken Adobo for 8 people and Ella was kind of an animal tonight. Not a totally sucky day, but not my favorite day either.

On the way home in the car I turned on the radio, a rarity with today's EMO-punk-whiney-anger-music filling the airwaves. Well, I turned right to a station playing "Our House" by Madness...a little gem from the 80s that holds a permanent place in my heart. As it ended I got ready to change the station...what were the odds of 2 great songs in a row? My hand left the button as "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by The Smiths came on next. Oh happy day!

And that's when I realized...sometimes the radio Gods smile down on the stressed pregnant mommies out there and tonight was my night. Oh the little things that bring such joy!

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Tinkering Ink website launch!

It's official. The TINKERING INK website is finally up and we are so proud of it! You can even go there to see our 5th line, called Noir Blanc, debuting at CHA which has been a secret until now! Go take a look around, browse our site and see the fun new products we have to offer, including thumbnails of each of our complete lines.

http://www.tinkeringink.com/

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"There's no one on earth who is you-er than YOU!" -Dr. Seuss

I have been really sick lately, but have decided not to chronical my woes on the BLOG. It can't ALL be a sob story! Instead enjoy this fun little peek into the Ahern family identities...

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 30 people with the name Matthew Ahern in the U.S.A.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with the name Emilie Ahern in the U.S.A.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 5 people with the name Ella Ahern in the U.S.A.

Aren't I the special one? And by "special" I mean the person with the least common name. Wanna play too? Click the link below...

How many have your name?

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CHA Preview: Tinkering Ink and a CONTEST!

TINKERING INK is pleased to show our BLOG readers the very first sneak peek of our 2 newest lines which will debut at the January CHA. Each line that you see is also available in DIGITAL form. We hope that YOU will be inspired by our products!

Leave comments on the online BLOG post and we will draw a name out of the entered comments and the winner will receive a FULL line of their choice of either our Perfectly Posh or Westminster line, complete with the coordinating alphabets, monograms and "finery", our new embellishments that are unlike anything on the market! If you are a digi-scrapper choose either of the lines in digital form!

The best part? Your prize will ship BEFORE the CHA so throw in your 2 cents and WIN! (Comments need to be left on Tuesday, Jan 23rd before midnight PST to be eligible)

Tinkering Ink BLOG

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In the loving arms of "Simple Scrapbooks"

For years "Photoshop" has been this big, scary world of unexplained "layers" and tools that I was afraid to step into. Recently I went to a class taught by the fabulous Mindy Bush, who is on the Tinkering Ink Design Team. Right before her class I ducked into a Photoshop for beginners class with a notebook, a pen and immense trepidation. All of the sudden it was all making sense! The layers, the lasso tool (which does NOT involve cattle in any way) and the marquis tool were no longer foreign to me.

(Cue the Hallelujah Chorus!)

Armed with my new weapons of knowledge, I received the new Tinkering Ink digital disks. Tinkering Ink has decided to offer their exact lines of paper in digital form...they're brilliant that way! I dove into the Westminster line and began scrapping my 2001 Humanitarian trip to Africa. It was pretty emotional for me to look through those pictures and remember the amazing experiences I had in Ghana. My life was never the same after I that trip.

I finished up my first digital layout and submitted it for publication to Simple Scrapbooks. I was a bit reluctant to send my first little digital scrapping baby off into the world of publication, but I heard on Saturday morning that it is being published! Hooray! For now my baby will stay safely in the loving arms of Simple Scrapbooks....and I couldn't trust anybody more. I LOVE that magazine! It's my fave.

I wish I could share it with you here, but it can't be shared when it's going to be published. You'll just have to wait until July!

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Preggie Belly Picture

Emilie at 30 weeks...

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Happy Birthday MATT!

Yesterday was my favorite day of the year...not because I love celebrating the life of my most wonderful Husband, but because we are the same age. I am 3 months older than he is and for those three winter months between September and January I am tortured. Partly by Matt (He likes to call me "Old Lady") and party because some sort of force of the Universe always has others asking us how old we are ONLY during those long 3 months when I am a digit older than Matt. UGH! So...here's to both parties in this marriage being 29!!!

We went out for dinner and on Saturday we are going to the Symphony to celebrate his birthday.

And now...my gushy feelings.

All I will say is this.

If one might believe that there is a perfect person out there for everyone...that we truly are seeking our other half who compliments us in every way, then Matt is my other half. I believe there are many people in the world that a certain individual could be successfully married to, but I can't imagine anyone being so well suited to me as Matt Ahern is. I feel truly blessed that I found him...or that he found me and we made it happen.

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Tinkering Ink Launch Party!

All Utah scrappers....check this out. We're throwing a party this Saturday at the 2 Heartland Paper Co. locations. You gotta be there!

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Random Musings

Ella Update:
Okay...the fevers raged on, but have broken now. During the past few days Ella has had a catheter, 3 blood draws and 1 shot. Mommy had 2 panic attacks complete with hyperventilation and accelerated pulse, prompting me to wonder, "Am I really cut out for this Mommy gig?"...too late for those thoughts I guess. While sick, Ella took to falling asleep in the oddest places (anywhere but her bed). Here's a pic I captured of her asleep on our basement stairs.

Matt Update:
Finished his first week of the new Semester at UofU Business school. He missed some from the illness drama. We are excited for the long weekend ahead. He has been rocking the South Beach diet since New Years Day and in the first week lost 5 lbs. He is really faithful to this diet and I am so proud of him for sticking with it.

Emilie Update:
As Communications Director of Tinkering Ink I have had an opportunity to really write again. If one could assign a talent as "God Given" I would say this is mine. It has always been in me and I didn't realize how long it had been since I really sat down and wrote (except for scrapping journaling) and then got to see my writing appreciated and needed.

It has felt really good.

I feel almost as if a piece of my spirit has come alive again and I hope I can remember this so I remind myself that my soul needs to write to be complete. I am a Mommy and a Wife and many things...but before I was any of those things I was a WRITER and that needs to be more a part of my life.

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Who needs insurance? I have Magic Shell.

The last few days have been insane! We're living through Ella's first real illness since leaving the NICU.

On Friday she seemed a bit cranky. I noticed one of her ears was looking a bit wet right before bed. Saturday morning she awoke with an ear filled with gunk and super-cranky. I took her to a clinic here in Clearfield and saw a total quack doctor. He scraped the gunk out of her ear, puncturing her eardrum in the process and then said, "I made her ear bleed, but it doesn't look like an ear infection. I still want you to give her... Prescription eardrops, Nose drops, Fever medication and Tylenol Cold for babies".

Sunday we were visiting in Logan and Ella was acting cranky and then lethargic. We noticed a rash on her chest and when we took her temperature it was almost 104. We rushed her to the ER where we saw a great doctor who looked into Ella's ears and told us the Saturday doctor sucked and not to give her any of the medications the he had suggested!

They drew Ella's blood, put her in the plastic taco thingies for chest x-rays, gave her Tylenol & Ibuprofen and some Pedia-lyte to drink. In our rush to get to the Emergency Room we did not grab our insurance card. When they asked me for the card I reached into my purse and produced a bottle of "Magic Shell". It didn't help with the billing process, but we did have a laugh.

A Mommy has got to be prepared.

What if I were lost in the forest...

holding a bowl of plain vanilla ice cream and a spoon?

What then?

Anyway, they concluded it was viral bronchitis and ordered switching Ibuprofen and Tylenol every 4 hours for the following 2 days.

Today was Matt's first day of his new semester in his Master's program. I was traumatized without him, especially with Ella being sick. This morning Ella seemed a bit better and then around 6pm she got a lot worse and the rash was back. Her fever was 103. We put her in a warm bath, gave her her dose of tylenol and waited. 30 minutes later she requested and ate a full 1&1/2 pieces of pizza. We will see our regular Pediatrician tomorrow for a follow up.

I am stressed like crazy and it's hard dealing with this and being so very pregnant at the same time. I feel emotionally and physically exhausted.

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Tiff and Em at 3:00 am

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A Day at the Museum

Yesterday we went to the Children's Tree House Museum in Ogden, Utah and WOW! I could not possible write the entire experience down. There was so much to see and do and every exhibit was interactive. We had storytime in King Arthur's castle, rubbed dinosaur fossils, played african drums, visited houses depicting countries around the world, climbed up the 3 story high tree, made crafts, and much much more! Each station had dress-up items, including the tree which had dress up like a bear or raccoon outfits for the kids.

It was a spectacular afternoon. And the best part? Total cost for 2 adults and 2 children? $6. Ella and I may start going every week sine it would only cost $3. There was so much wonderfulness that I decided we had to go with a slide show for the photos of this one!

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"Breech Baby, Breech Baby!"

I went to my 27 week doctor's appt today.

Ladies and gentlemen...
we have a breech baby!

Doctor Boheen is hoping this little chicken will turn around by birthing time, but we'll have to see. We had an ultrasound and still no glamour shot of the baby's face...little devil!

We are keeping a close watch on my blood pressure which has been climbing slowly. My feet are really starting to swell lately and I have been floating down the carpel tunnel of love for a week or two....my wrist braces really help.

All in all everything looks really good though and right now I am just focused on getting this kid to full term and hopefully not feet first!

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Movie Review "The Queen" PG-13

Today my in-laws and I went into Salt Lake City and saw "The Queen", a film documenting the week following Princess Diana's death and its effect on the British monarchy and it's advisors, newly appointed British Prime Minister Tony Blaire and the citizens of Great Britain. It looks closely at the existing royal protocol which the Queen planned on being upheld, but the British people demanded be broken.

The first thing I have to say, right off the bat, is that if Helen Mirran does NOT win an Oscar for this performance, I will lose faith in the entire entertainment world and may never watch a film again. In my lifetime I have seen a lot of footage of Queen Elisabeth II and as I watched this film I could have been no more convinced that it was the Queen than if she had acted the role herself. Her speech, mannerisms, posture, walking stance, everything was so exactly like the current queen of England that it was impossible to see "Helen Mirran" in this portrayal at all. The film contained a similarly spectacular portrayal of Tony Blair which was spot on, despite the fact that the actor did not look exactly like Tony. Prince Phillip was also very well played.

Secondly, the film was quite even handed and truly showed the struggle between holding true to the old traditions of monarchy and being forced to lay those traditions aside for the good of the British public. It seemed as though you might walk away from the film simply hating the British monarchy in general, but you don't. You come away with a much greater understanding of BOTH sides of this story...and that is what makes this film so winning.

The only thing I might say about the film that could be negative is the portrayal of Prince Charles and the Queen Mum (Elisabeth I) were not great, although that may have been accentuated by the stellar performances of the other actors involved. Also, some people will simply be un-interested in the actual story-line...although I found it completely captivating. Not all adults will find it interesting subject matter and certainly not many teens or younger will care to see it. Those who are not as interested in the story may find it quite slow moving.

I would definitely recommend this film to those who are interested in the British monarchy, Princess Diana or even just in the workings of political and human relationships in general.

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