Early Testers Beware

It sounds so wonderful, right? Being able to take a pregnancy test before you even miss your period! What's the downside you may ask? Well, I will tell you. Almost every woman will experience an early miscarriage at some point in her life...the thing is most of the time it may happen before she misses her period! If you wait until you are a full two weeks "late", and then get a positive pregnancy test, you would be considered six weeks pregnant. Now imagine the excitement you feel seeing a positive pregnancy test--so much emotions, right?! Now imagine getting that positive test before you missed your period--even better, right? Because now you can start taking prenatal vitamins, etc thus giving the baby that much more of a healthy start. So now you know you are pregnant and the next three days pass, everything still good! Four more days past, and now you can say you are four days "late". Pretty exciting, huh? Now at this point you have known you were pregnant for one full week--a lot of ideas and feelings and just joy, right!? Then it happens...you get your "period"....only it's four days later than expected...and not to mention, you ALREADY KNEW it was late due to PREGNANCY. So rather than wondering where the heck your period was, and then getting it a few days late thereby going on with your life none the wiser or sadder for that matter....you are now crushed. Devastated. Confused. Hurt, to say the least. Now you can't say you were 'just late'...you 'miscarried'.

So you can see the downside to testing early. Even if you 'think' you are pregnant because you're "late", you would be spared that heartache of miscarriage because you didn't actually see that test turn positive and then have the flurry of emotions along with it. My best advice is to wait until you are two full weeks "late", thus bettering your chances of it being a viable pregnancy. Keep in mind you can miscarry at any time during the pregnancy technically speaking, but your odds of it go down the farther along you get. Waiting two weeks won't mean you are "all clear", but at least you are spared the heartache of those very common early miscarriages that most women don't even notice!

What about me personally? I've gone through it. It is awful. If I suspect I may be pregnant, I will of course continue taking my vitamins and staying healthy, but I will not so much as buy a home pregnancy test until I am a full four weeks "late". If I get a positive at that time I would be 8 weeks pregnant, and the doctor would be able to see on ultrasound and/or hear on the Doppler if the baby's heart is beating. To me that is the best sign of a viable pregnancy. However, having gone through this mess more than I care to think about, I have resolved that the next time I am in the position of thinking I may be pregnant, I absolutely will not take a home pregnancy test until I am 8 weeks "late". Why 8 weeks? Because at 8 weeks over due, you are 12 weeks pregnant, thus marking the end of the first trimester. I won't let my heart get broken again over a pregnancy! I just can't take it!

So, if you must, go ahead and test early, but: "Tester Beware"! I wish you all the best of luck if you are in this situation, and I feel for any of you who have lost as I have.

Tightening the Money Belt

In effort to help save money and be able to buy our first home, I have begun to tighten the money belt! As it stands right now the hardest thing for me to give up is my Melaleuca membership. I love their products, especially Pre-Spot...Zoey's yet to have a stain it couldn't get out! The membership is only $12 a year and that's not the issue. My issue is the total cost of my product point commitment of 35 points per month! It comes to about $55 before tax and shipping...which will put it near $70! That is just too much for me to be comfortable with! Now, there products last longer and they are cheaper in price, however I don't need to buy them every month because they do last so long! In addition to that cut back, I have reduced our grocery bill by planning to have three whole chickens a week, which will give us three more nights using leftover chicken. If I am very careful, I should be able to pull off groceries right around $125 per week, which is great for a family of five! As for household items, I am already buying the 24 pack of Angel Soft tissue paper, which at our Wal*Mart costs about $6.00 (so it balances out to around $0.25 per roll), our shampoo and conditioners are usually the Suave brand so they are very inexpensive too! I wish I could say that the dollar stores are still the cheapest, but I have so far only found our local dollar stores to be the lowest price for milk and flour! But that is great because we need a lot of those items! I make homemade biscuits, and just recently pasta! I also made a homemade spaghetti sauce and though it tasted amazing, it is still cheaper to buy the $1.25 can from the store! All of my recipes have few ingredients, and are always simplified as much as possible.

I will post back with other thoughts on the subject, but for now I need to continue searching for more ways to cut back! *By the way, be looking for a 'surprise' post in about a week!*

Getting personal

So I know that I originally intended for this blog to be about my business, but to be honest, what fun is that for all my readers?? I feel that it is now time to start getting personal. I have a lot to say and need somewhere to say it! For starters you should know more about me, so here it is in a brief nutshell!

John and I have been married for over three years now. We got married exactly 8 months after meeting--we began dating the same day we officially met! He is the love of my life! We have three children, the oldest being from a prior relationship, not that it really matters! Dominic is now 7 years old, Drake is 2 and a half, and my little princess Zoey Anastasia will be turning 1 year old on August 8th! I stay at home with the kids and John works full time, although it doesn't feel like it's full time! His shifts are 12 hours long, 4 days on 4 days off and rotating between 7am-7pm and 7pm-7am.

Well, I have to get some more housework done, but don't worry! I'll be back tomorrow! :)

Blog Award

I received the One Lovely Blog Award from Diane Miller of The Shutterbug Eye Photography! She takes incredible photos, my favorites being of sunsets! These photos make for beautiful art in homes and offices anywhere! I am still in the process of figuring out how to put photos in my posts, so my apologies!! I will update this as I figure it out! LOL

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Accept the award, post in your blog together with the name of the person or people who gave it to you an a link to their blog.
2. Pass the award to other 15 blogs that you have newly discovered.
3. Contact the bloggers you award to let them know that they were chosen.
   

I gratefully accept such a wonderful award, and I will be passing it on to the following 15 people!
1. The Shopping Kiwi- http://shoppingkiwi.blogspot.com/
2. SimaG Jewelry- http://simagjewelry.blogspot.com/
3. Lamp Essentials- http://fragrancelampekits.blogspot.com/
4. Kikay Designs- http://kikaydesigns.blogspot.com/
5. PeanutsCreations Handmade Crochet- http://peanutscreations.blogspot.com/
6. Sanourra Designs- http://sanourradesigns.blogspot.com/
7. Jacqueline's Crafty Creations- http://jacquelinescraftycreations.blogspot.com/
8. Miss Val's Creations- http://missvalscreations.blogspot.com/
9. The L. Bryan- http://wowhinstyle.blogspot.com/
10. Heart Handmade- http://www.hearthandmadeblog.com/
11. Babygirl Boutique- http://babygirlboutique.blogspot.com/
12. All Animal Prints- http://www.allanimalprints.com/
13. Delightful Divas in Business-http://delightfuldivasinbusiness.blogspot.com/
14. Twice Babies Mom- http://momoftwicebabies.blogspot.com/
15. Gigi and Lulu- http://gigiandlulu.blogspot.com/

The Future

I have so much to do! I have new prints for the baby to toddler bibs coming, like orange flames, zebra print, and 'glam tattoo' (so adorable!). Once I get a good inventory of those set up, I will be adding a lot more things to my studio! The special needs/adult bibs will be next out! I am going to have a variety of fun prints for those, with everything from Elvis and OU to scrolls and animal prints! After those are made, my pocketed burp cloths will be the next group! Those will be about 7 inches wide and 18 inches long, with a 3 inch pocket on one side to catch the mess. I am still in the works about exactly how I want those to look, but I promise they will be adorable! I have recently decided to create newborn bibs, too! These will also be with snaps, and adjustable to two sizes! The reason that these are going to be a while in the making is that I don't have a newborn in the house anymore! ;) My brother-in-law and his wife are expecting in October, so I will have a model then! LOL And of course, I am still wanting to get some new photos up, but with three kids in the house and it being summer time, it's hard to get them to cooperate!

The future of Heart N Sew Designs looks great! By Thanksgiving, I will have at least 50 Baby-to-Toddler Bibs in stock, as well as at least 50 Adult Bibs, 50 Newborn Bibs, and 50 Burp Cloths! So as you can see, I am going to be busy busy busy!

Well, my boys are awake, so I'm off to do breakfast and some school work with them! Can't let their little brains take a vacation! :)

Advertising on this blog!

I am in the ongoing process of improving my blog, and promoting as much as possible! I follow back all of my followers! After some consideration, I have decided to offer some advertising options! Beginning with the simplest, we can link swap for free! What is this? You will have a link under my "Be Sure To Visit" section! This will be permanent, and all I am asking for is a link to my studio on your blog/site! The next option is a banner ad, beginning at $1.00 for 30 days, and so on from there! You can have a permanent banner ad for $5.00 as well!

**GET A FREE BANNER AD PERMANENTLY** Interested?? Thought you would be! :) If you would like to have a FREE banner ad permanently on my blog, just put my banner up on your site! See how this works?? Cross promotion--what a wonderful thing! ;)

For purchasing information, see the "Advertise Here" section on the right!

Send me an email to heart_and_sew_designs@yahoo.com to let me know what you'd like to do!

Ironing

I went ahead and ordered 250 business cards from vistaprint.com. I only had to pay the shipping, so it was a good deal! I have been trying to iron out all the twists, turns, and wrinkles in my business! First order of business, establish an inventory! Ideally I am planning on keeping at least 50 items ready to ship. Now to find the time for that! :o) I hope that in the next 30 days my business becomes more settled and structured! I am also trying to come up with more creative ways to promote myself here locally! Well, sorry for this post being short and not so "*s*t*u*n*n*i*n*g*"! I will make up for it when I don't have a baby on my lap! :)