Retiring Sale and a Freebie!

well... I've debated on this post for quite some time now.... and I guess I came to the realization that it's time for me to close this chapter of my life. I'm not a sappy gal so I'll make this short and sweet -- T.H.A.N.K. Y.O.U. to ALLLLL of my friends, fans (<-- ok, that's sounds funny to actually write - LOL) and all of you dedicated blog readers (that checked in by the hundreds each week even though I haven't made a post in over 6 months! - Yes, I still checked my site meter and was amazed that I still had that much traffic - and then at the same time felt soooo guilty for not having anything new up week after week! my apologies...) Anyway, (going to be totally honest here - LOL) that my domain name at http://www.shandyvogtdesigns.com is up for renewal in just a couple of weeks and I've decided not to renew it... soooo... I've got my entire store on sale at 70% off! I realize I haven't designed anything new in forever (literally - LOL) but maybe if there's ever been something you thought would be fun to play with -- now's your chance to snag it up for cheap! And you guys KNOW I couldn't go out without giving a freebie! So... Enjoy one of my template sets as a farewell gift from me... enjoy!! Here's the Link to grab it....


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and then (just in case any of you are curious) how the twins are doing... they are doing great! We had a 2 week bout with the Rotavirus (which was sooo not fun!) but we are all healthy and happy now :) They love interacting with each other and giggle all the time (cutest thing ever!) They both are crawling and cruising around furniture (and can both climb the stairs - yikes!) they've both got 5 teeth and are the best little sleepers :) I have enjoyed them more than I could ever imagine! Here are a few photos from the other month (photos got put on the back burner once we all got sick... ) oh, and they're going to be 1 next month! I can't hardly even believe it!!!

this photo just cracks me up! LOVE their little faces in it! HEEEE!!!

and then 1 photo from yesterday... Aubrie was asleep so it's just of Lexi (but since they're identical... just pretend there's a second beauty in the photo - LOL)

aren't they the cutest little things!?

DNA results and a FREEBIE!

now.. please don't fall of your seats and cause some unwanted damage to your selves but I actually have a freebie! 1st one since like MARCH - LOL... but before I get to it... just wanted to share some sweet pics of my little girlies and give a quick update.
Aubrie: Has been sleeping through the night (6:00pm - 6:30am) for almost 2 months now! I love it! It's kinda sad when I put her down for the night and kiss her and say "ok.. I'll see you in the morning".. that's so long to not see her! LOL... but I love the downtime (of course after all the rest of the crew are in bed...) She has the most beautiful big brown eyes ever!! She startles easily and if Lexi is crying.. sometimes she'll do a sympathy cry with her. She loves her baths and splashing in the water and playing in her jumperoo and she's a big time smiler :)
Lexi: Goes to bed with her sister but let's me see her half way through (she gets up around 1:30ish for a bottle and then right back to sleep till 6:30am). She has been rolling over from back to tummy and tummy to back for about a month now (and no - Aubrie's showing no signs of wanting to move - LOL). She giggles and laughs all the time and babbles frequently :) She also loves playing in the exersaucer and jumperoo. She's still about a pound lighter than Aubrie (and still a bit taller - so it really emphasizes her being lighter...)
I absolutley LOVE being a twin mom! nothing is greater!! It has been the most fun ever and I love waking up to them each morning. They go on my daily walk w/ me at 6:50am and that gets them out of the house. They both take a LONG morning nap from 8:30am till noon or 12:30pm and then back down for an afternoon nap from 2-4pm and then to bed by 6pm - so I really am diggin' their current schedule.
ok.. so now onto the title of this post... their DNA test results (to determine if they're Identical or not). From the beginning (even being pregnant) we had assumed they were fraternal (they were in their own sacs, had seperate placentas, heredity (my grandma is a twin), my age, subsequent pregnancies, etc..) and when they were born they looked NOTHING alike! But as they grew and got older (around the 3 month mark) we started noticing that they looked VERY similar and people started asking if they were ID (of course I said "No"... just similiar looking fraternal twins)... I posted some pics of the girls at Twinstuff (I HIGHLY recommend this site for any other twin moms reading this!) and the consensus over there was thay they were Identical... so I decided to get them tested (test involved swabbing the inside of their cheeks and sending it into a lab in California - cost: $99) and we just got the results back this week. I don't know if I'm surprised or not - LOL... but the results came back that they are IDENTICAL GIRLS! Only 30% of all twins are ID and of that 30% less than 1/3 of them have seperate sacs and placentas (like mine did -- so overall only like 9% of all twins are like Aubrie and Lexi - being ID with seperate everything). Obviously regardless of how the test results came back - it wouldn't have changed anything - but it's sooooo wonderful to know what to tell people now when we get that #1 question ("Are they Identical?") and plus for their medical records, etc... So anyway, let me share some pics of my sweet little twincesses! Oh, BTW they are getting close to 5 months old! That's just pure crazy! Alright... now on to the FREEBIE! I needed a template that would hold lots of pictures (since I literally take like 100+ everyday! no joke.) and came across a fabulous design in the Aug/Sept. issue of scrapbooks ETC (page 98 by BARB WONG) and loved it! so I used it and afterwards thought some of you might like it as well... so here it is all packaged up for you :) It's a 2 pager and you'll find 3 PSD files in the download (one of each page seperately and one of them together). You can Download it here

birth to 3 month twins video

Hi everyone! wow... time sure does fly by these days - but in such a good way! The girls will be 3 months old tomorrow - GASP! It has been such a joyous experience to have them and it seems so natural for babies to come in pairs - LOL.
I know I haven't been very good at blogging... but I've been working on some different "projects" - one of which is the girls' 1st year video (I know - kind of early - but I decided to do it in 3 months increments so it wasn't such a big job at the end of the year...) Here's Part 1 (birth to 3 months) if you're interested in viewing.

Thanks for stopping by today :)
ps: I'll need to post some LO's I've done recentlyl - I've been bit by the scrapping bug again! and I forgot how much fun it is to actually scrap - LOL

Life with the Twins

So the girls are now 6 weeks old and I have loved EVERY minute of it! They are really the best little girls ever! They have never kept us up at night (thankfully!). they do get up about once a night to eat and then go right back to bed (they have both been known to go 7 hours at night - but a more "average" routine would be us feeding them when we go to bed (sometime around 11pm) and then they get up around 4am and then back to bed untill 8ish). they hardly ever cry and are such content little babies. I had my mom here for a few weeks and we had a lot of fun together and even attempted a road trip down to Utah to my cousins wedding in the LDS SLC Temple. They were great little travelers and were on their best behavior for meeting all my extended family. I'm posting several picctures (just 'cause I think they are soooo adorable!!) so I'll end now with a few tidbits....
Aubrie weighs 10lb 7oz
Lexi weighs 9lb 3 oz
We have gone through 25 cans of formula (YIKES!!)
and done roughly 500 dipaer changes (not counting the diapers I'm still changing for my 20 months old).
It really has been soooo much fun! I just love being a mom to 6 and these little girls bring such a wonderful spirit into our home. I haven't designed any - but wanted to close with a thank you to those of you who are still supporting me and purchasing my designs :)

the Birth Announcements we sent out (they are 3.5 weeks old in the pics)

the girls on their Blessing Day at church - 1 month old

6 weeks old - having the same expression - LOL
at their first Tea Party!
Snuggling in the stroller on our daily walk

sleeping soundly on the couch
3.5 weeks old

Introducing the TWINS!!

OK - so I wasn't so good at keeping everyone updated -- but here's the official welcoming post of the Vogt girls! Following is the condensed birth story....

So I was set to come in for an induction on Tuesday (April 29th) morning. At 5:45am I got a call from L&D saying that they were slammed throughout the night and didn't have a bed for me and to not come in - but to just wait for a call from them later on to see if they could get me in. I have to admit that I was quite bummed! I was like "NO! this can't be happening!".... but tried to still keep positive and think that hopefully later in the morning I'd get a call from them. Well..... things looked up at shortly after 7am they called and said that I could come in (hooray!). I had gone back to bed and we had sent grandma back home (she was going to be staying with our other boys) so I called her and then we started getting ready so by the time we actually got to the hospital and admitted it was almost 9am.

They got the IV all set up and the Dr.'s instructions were to start me on Pitocin and he would be in shortly to break my water. Before they hooked up the pit - the nurse was like "let's just check to see if you're doing anything" and I was actually at 6cm - so the Dr said not to do the Pit and we'd just see what happened. He got there about 10am and broke my water and wanted me to walk for 30-45 min to see if that brought on stronger contractions. Contractions started immediately and were just 2 minutes apart (and they were killing me!) I only made it walking for about 8 min. and then I went back to the room and asked for the epidural immediately... Got the epidural just before 11am and afterwards (around 11:30am) the nurse checked again and I was at 9cm. She called the Dr. and we started getting ready to head over to the OR. Baby A (Aubri) was Vertex and Baby B (Lexi) was Breech. I pushed one time and Aubri's head was out and with the second push the rest of her was out. The Dr. then went up to try and turn her - couldn't get her turned so grabbed her little legs and pulled her out (I pushed one time to help assist getting her out). Both cried immediately and everything went super fast!

Here are the stats:

Baby A:
Aubri Annabelle
12:20pm
8lb 2oz
20.5 inches

Baby B:
Alexa (Lexi) Fae
12:24pm
7lb 2oz
21.5 inches

As you can tell... they are both GOOD size (hooray!) and I have recovered soooooo well.
Here are a few more pics to enjoy :)


Here's a pic of me right before leaving for the hospital....

John in the OR right after they were born....

the girls and I (Aubrie on left, Lexi on the right) leaving the hospital...

the two little sweeties!

still pregnant!

I know it's so good for the girls to still be developing but I am READY to have them exit the womb! I am 37 weeks now and if they haven't debuted by next weekend - I think I'm going to give the go ahead to the Dr. to induce me (I am usually anti-inducing... but truthfully don't think I can physically handle being pregnant any longer than 1 more week!)
2 weeks ago - we got a little glimpse of the labor... I was really feeling back pain and regular contractions so we went to the hospital and went to the Triage unit to get checked -- turned out I was dilated to 4cm and contractions were every 5 min. So they admit me and get me all hooked up to the IV's and get the epidural on standby. I was kind of worried and kept telling dh "it's too early for them to come! they need another week or so!" He reassured me that if they were born, it was Heavenly Father's timeline and that everything would work out to be fine, etc... so I accepted the fact that the girls would be born at 35 weeks and then.... after progressing to 4.5cm dilated - labor stopped! After being monitored for an additional 8 hours (those L&D beds are sooooooooo uncomfy!!) I was sent home on bedrest until I hit 36 weeks. Knowing bedrest was only going to be for 5-6 days and I had an end in sight - I actually enjoyed it :) So, now I have been up and off of bedrest since last weekend and am just waiting for the labor signs to start back up (at my last appointment - I was still 4.5cm). I'm not too surprised though - the same thing happened with my last pregnancy - I went into labor and was dilated to a 5cm and then labor just stopped.... he was born 4 days later. My dh and I went for a walk last night and it was soooo painful! I kept telling him "this had better be doing something because this hurts so bad!" I have another appointment on Tuesday morning - so I'll know more then to report. Thanks for all of the well wishes and comments :)

Update

Just wanted to come on and give everyone an update (and also for those of you who religiously check in and haven't seen anything new for a VERY LONG time!).

First of all - I'm sure many of you are wondering if I've had the twins yet - and I'm happy to report that they're still with me developing and growing each day :) I'm just about 34 weeks and I'm expecting them to make their grand debut within the next 3-4 weeks. I promise I'll hop on and give the details of their arrival. Physically, things are going rather well.... I'm not HUGE by any means and most people wouldn't suspect that I'm carrying twins - although I really feel the ailments in the evening and will be glad once I can breathe again and get up off of the couch without assistance - LOL

Mentally and emotionally - I think I'm pretty much ready for the upcoming adventure (ok - without really knowing how it's going to be - I'm just ready to keep a positive attitude and take things day by day). We got the nursery all done up this week - we went with a monochromatic pink scheme with green accents for the decor. Here is the crib bedding I won on eBay - and I LOVE it! Isn't it just too cute?! It was for the full 9 piece coordinating set (brand new and I won it for $40.36!) Mama was happy - LOLI'll need to take a picture of the actual nursery all put together and post. I also need to pack my hospital bag (and since it's been over 10 years since I delivered in a hospital I had to do some research to find out what I should take - LOL). and on a final note - the names that we've been kicking around for the girls are.....

Lexi and Aubri :)

so that's about it for now - I'll try and do better and keeping you all updated :)

Freebie... Reveal...& a Winner!

Hi everyone! ok... last Thursday (Feb. 7) was my 1 year anniversary from my first designer freebie and I had planned on doing something fun to commemorate the date... BUT... my computer went bazerk and I had to take it in (turned out I had some bad RAM that was messing up everything!)... so I just got my computer back today and was excited to hop back on and blog :)
First of all... it's time (finally!) to reveal my February Grab Bag! Here's what was inside (and it's still available as a bundle pack for just $5): I also wanted to do something a little FUN -- so I went to all of the comments left on the last post and closed my eyes and scrolled down to "randomly" select a winner for a $20 Gift Certificate to my store - and the winner was JENN MURPHY! (I've emailed you the coupon code so go check your email :) I'm thinking I'll keep doing this periodically so don't forget to leave a comment if you want to be entered into my SURPRISE drawings - LOL

Last - here's a cute template for the taking -- enjoy!
Download here

Twirly Template Freebie

So DH and I went out on a shopping adventure for a twin stroller (that accomodates the infant carseats)... decided to come back home and do some research online - so no major purchase made yet... (and if any of you have personal experience.. it's welcomed!)
I just wanted to pop on and say THANKS to those of you have jumped on my Grab Bag this month :) Also - the 40% Storewide sale will only be in effect for a few more days.
For those of you who are going to be scrapping during the Super Bowl tomorrow - here's a template to help out :) Enjoy and thanks for all of the comments you guys have been leaving lately:)

Download here

Freebie and New Releases!

Hello, hello peeps! This is going to be short and sweet (just like me -LOL - actually I'm not that short so I guess that doesn't really apply...) anyway, I have some New Releases to share with you guys.... Pictures are better than words so have a peek below (pay special attention to the "Packages 4U" a.k.a. my February Grab Bag - I've put some hints on the preview of what you'll find inside - and all for just $2).... AND these (along with the rest of the designs in my Store are currently set at 40% OFF!) ok.. now for the freebie - it's a mighty grungy Valentine themed paper pack - this will only be a freebie for a limited time (it'll be going into my store next week - so pick it up while you can!) Download it here -- guess that's it for now. Thanks for stopping by today!

CT member spotlight

First of all - I TOTALLY loved reading all of your comments! It was fun to identify with others who shared in our excitement (and to hear from you other mothers of twins!) We had another ultrasound the other week and I asked the technician "Would you mind just confirming the gender again for me...." -- It was still showing 2 girls so I'm feeling more confident - LOL

ok.. but the real reason for this blog post was to give some props to one of my Swass Posse CT members (they REALLY work hard for me and I don't praise them enough!! so I thought I'd occassionally do a CT spotlight to highlight their awesome work and just so you can get to know them better as well) :) Since I didn't quite know which one to chose (since they are all so fabulous! I decided to just go alphabetically - LOL)... so this first CT spotlight is for BRITTNEY!

I feel so blessed to have her on my team! She really is a talented scrapper :) Not only is she a great scrapper - she is also a designer as well. You can check out her stuff (with links to her stores) at her blog.... http://brittishdesigns.blogspot.com/ - she's got some freebies available too - so check her out!

Here are some of my favorite LO's that she's created up with my designs (get ready for some inspiration!)....

Swass Template... Background paper from "Graphables" paper pack.....Solid Blue paper from "6th Street" paper pack........ Swirly Twirly Ribbons (some recoloring)...... Froggy sticker from "Fanciful" kit-.........Cardboard Cut-Outs with Glitter Outlines........ Star paper (recolored) from "Spangled Glory" Kit

Background paper (darkened) from "Intuition - Solids".......Orange paper from "Ledger-ables" paper pack......Cardbaord H (glitter added) from "Cardboard Characters"........Stars from "Add A Border"

Yellow paper from "LedgerAbles" paper pack ........Red paper (slightly recolored) clipped to frame from "Spangled Glory" kit ........ Brown paper from "6th Street" paper pack ....... Other clipped papers (some recoloring) from "5th Avenue" paper pack ........."Swass Leaves" brushes ....... Cardboard Photo Corners

now for a quick PSA: I've been hard at work the past few weeks and have some new designs that will be hitting the shelf on Friday! Be sure to check back then for all of the info (as well as a big ol' freebie paper pack!)

Double WHAT??! a Freebie & Reveal!

Alright all you faithful blog readers of mine (all 3 of you! LOL) I have been a bit MIA the last few weeks... But I have some juicy gossip to make up for it - ok, it's not really gossip since (1) it's about me and I'm the one telling you (2) it's true and (3) I'm excited to tell you all!.... So... My dh and I decided to take the plunge and find out the sex of the baby I'm carrying (mind you, we haven't done ultrasounds with the last 2 babies but since this is our last baby... my dh was dying to find out if he'd finally get a little girl!)... Alright, so on with the juice... the Saturday before Christmas we went in to get the ultrasound (hold on a minute.. my dh actually wrote up the blog entry at our family blog about it... and am thinking you might like a different "voice" to read for a change - LOL) so I've cut and pasted the blog entry that he wrote....

For some news of monumental proportions, hang on to your knickers and read on.
So Shandy and I went to the doctor on Saturday to get our first ultrasound of our new arrival. We wanted to see what the sex of the baby would be. We had decided that this would be our last child and so I was really anxious to see if we were finally going to add a little girl to the family.
Now these ultrasounds are never 100% positive however all indications point to the fact that they are girls.
That's right, girls. Plural. As in more than one. As in twins.
The nurse starts ultrasounding (is that a verb?) and after less than a minute he says, "Well, the first thing that I see is that there are two." I keep waiting for him to say that he's joking. Shandy and I look at each other. My left eyebrow raises like The Rock. I look at the Nurse in disbelief.
"Dude, serious?"
"Yup"
I believe that my first words after that were, "Holy Crap..." followed shortly by, "I guess we'll need to trade your van in on a bigger one."
So the dude starts going through all of the areas of the exam on the ultrasound. There's quite the laundry list of things he's got to look at. We determine that each baby is in it's own amniotic sack which is indicative of fraternal twins. It's 40 minutes before we find out the gender on Baby A. I'm thinking, So what's it going to be in our family? Six boys? Five boys, one girl? Four boys, two girls?
We end up discovering that both babies are girls. Both are about identical in size and are completely healthy and at the right stage of development.
Needless to say, Shandy and I are completely ecstatic. What a wonderful blessing. We look forward to the girls joining us with both great anticipation and a small measure of fear. Twins on top of four boys will be a tough job but we are up to it. I think we are still in a little bit of shock as we try to digest everything that will have to happen in the next few months. One thing is for sure: I need to get neutered here pretty soon.

So there you have it! I'm still in shock and I've known for almost 3 weeks! so with that fresh in our minds.. I came up with a Double Page LO in honor of the little babies that will be soon joining us! (Mid to end April for all of you inquiring minds!) You can Download it here

oh, I almost forgot!... I was going to reveal my grab bag from last month (yes, I know.. I'm a tad bit late... LOL) but for all of you who snatched this up for the bargain of $2.00 I sure hope you were pleased when yo unzipped everything! For the rest of you... all of the below products can be found at My Store with a 25% savings for the next few days :) ENJOY!