30 Things Before I'm 30!

So, Michelle over at Scrapfreak posted a link to a blog today where Elise Blaha posted her mini album of 25 things to do before she turned 25.  This reminded me that I also wanted to do a list of 30 things to do before I turn 30.  And, well 30 isn't so far away anymore!  So here it goes, this is my list of 30 things to do by January 15, 2012:

1. Get married


2. Earn a college degree

3. Own a home

4. plant a vegetable garden

5. learn to use a sewing machine

6. make a quilt

7. lose 15 lbs. and maintain it

8. buy a camper

9. read 10 books that I WANT to read (not for school)

10. learn how to make 15 new meals

11. scrap my wedding pictures

12. get a dog

13. train the new dog!

14. take a family vacation

15. join a moms group or scrap group

16. Take Julia to meet Bree, Mara, and GA friends

17. Go to GA to meet Baby Bree

18. update to a new camera (once I learn current camera!)

19. learn Photoshop in more detail

20. buy new living room furniture

21. create my "scraproom"

22. find a job I enjoy

23. restart my Disney movie collection

24. visit NYC

25. create a family budget-AND STICK TO IT!

26. make a handmade decor element for each room of my home

27. host and cook a major family meal (i.e. Thanksgiving or Christmas)

28. start holiday traditions for my family

29. make a doll for Julia

30. BLOG THIS-and keep it up to date!
 
Thanks Michelle for the push I needed to get this written down and get started!

Friday Fill-ins...

1. When it's quiet I enjoy it!  Quiet times are few and far between these days!


2. Julia has grown so much in what seems like a month.

3. My heart is full of love.

4. I can't believe it's already July.

5. In the town where I was born is where I still live.  Boring, right?

6. Lou is a great Daddy.  That is something I really love about my significant other / friend.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Julia taking a nap, tomorrow my plans include possibly going to the guys show and Sunday, I want to spend the day with my family celebrating the 4th of July!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

After nine long months, I am so happy to announce the arrival of my BABY GIRL, Julia Marie!  She was born April 28th at 4:54pm.

Julia Marie

April 28, 2010

4:54 pm

7 lbs. 14 oz.

20 in. long

So, here is how it went.  Tuesday night Lou and Matt went golfing and I was hanging out at home.  I decided I would take a nap while they were out and then I would make dinner.  Well, I layed down, but I wasn't able to nap because I had a lot of pressure in my back and started having contractions that were feeling different than the Braxton Hicks contractions that I had been getting used to.  So, I got up and started making tacos to try to ignore it.  I didn't want to get my hopes up!  When Lou got home, I told him I thought this was real this time, but I still wasn't too sure myself.  Well, the contractions kept going, but they weren't getting stronger or any closer together, so I figured it was just another false alarm.  I decided around midnight I would just go lay down and try to get some sleep.  I turned on the replay of the Tigers game and tried to go to bed.  By the time the game was done I knew it was real this time.  I was in labor!

We went to the hospital at about 4am.  I was thinking my contractions were about 10 minutes apart, but when I was hooked to the monitors I saw that they were in fact 5 minutes apart, I just didn't realize that I was having back labor too.  So, we were checked in and in a labor room by 6am.  My doctor broke my water around 8am and shortly after I decided to get my epidural.  After a couple hours my labor was not getting stonger, so they decided to give me Pitocin.  I was a bit worried since I know of a few people that had negative results with Pitocin, but it worked for me!  I was completely dialated and ready to push at about 3 pm, and our little girl made her way into the world at 4:54pm.  So, about 12 hours after arriving to the hospital!

We didn't know if we were having a boy or girl.  I thought through the whole pregnancy that I wanted a boy, but when I heard the doctor say "It's a Girl" I was so excited and couldn't imagine it any other way now!

Here are a few of the pictures my Mom took, I didn't really take any pictures in the hospital.  I have taken some since we got home yesterday, so I will upload and share some of those soon.

Julia and Daddy

Julia and Grandpa

Julia and Aunt Kacie

Julia and Aunt Andi

Julia and Aunt Stephanie

A Week in the Life-Day 5

No pictures for today!  I woke up with a stomach bug and spent 90% of my day in bed.  With the tv season ending, I didn't have much to watch from the Tivo, so I had to rely on Friday cable.  Let me just tell you, Friday tv SUCKS!  I did get out of bed for a bit to watch some basketball with Lou, but ended up getting blurry vision and a headache, so back to bed for me!  On a good note, 7 DAYS UNTIL I'M DUE!!!  While I am very excited to not be pregnant, I am also kind of nervous now that I am counting days rather than weeks!!!

A Week in the Life-Day 4

I spent the morning relaxing and doing some exam prep for my Psych class.  I also watched Zoe run around the house chasing every ball she could find.  And if you know how much Lou plays golf in the house, you know that she had plenty of balls laying around to chase!  She goes from one extreme to the other.  Either she's tearing through the house after something, or she's laying around and gets mad if you happen to disturb her while she is relaxing!

Today I did a lot of running around.  First I went through some of my clothes here, then I went to my parents house and went through some clothes.  I am trying to get rid of some of the clutter I have by getting rid of things I don't need.  I have a ton of clothes, but I really don't care for many of them and I know that I won't wear a lot of them after the baby, so it's time for them to go!

After that, Lou and I ran out to Babies R Us to exchange some things we got doubles of.  All I ended up buying instead was a cover for the changing table pad.  Nothing too exciting.

I then came home a scrapped some while Lou went golfing.  Then I tried making homemade sloppy joe sauce.  Matt Ford and Lou said it was good, so I guess it passed!

A Week in the Life-Day 3

Today I woke up WAYYY to early.  I was up and waiting for the 5am news to start.  Needless to say, I checked up on things online, grabbed a pop tart and milk for breakfast, and then went and layed back in bed trying to sleep.  Watched the news, then caught up on the rest of the shows on the Tivo.  Called good 'ol Marvin at 8, then went and took a little nap.

I woke back up around 11, and took care of bills and doing our budget for the week.  Got in the shower, got dressed and headed to my 38 week doctors appointment.  The worst part about going to the doctor every week now is that they just squeeze you in between appointments.  This usually means a lot of waiting.  Good thing I have Facebook and games on my phone!  Just a regular doctors visit.  Measuring right on schedule, heart rate is 134.  Dr. Edvenson did give me some scary news though, he said he guesses the baby is weighing in at the high end of 8 lbs. and if I go until my due date or over, the baby could reach 9 lbs!  Umm, lets hope he's over estimating!

After the doctors appointment, Lou and I came home and relaxed a bit until time for Burger Night at KofC.  We picked Annie up and went and grabbed burgers and fries.  Can't beat $3.50 burger baskets!  After that we went and hung out with Amy and the twins.  Grandma Terry got the girls a Cadillac Escalade Power Wheels and they have been wanting to show it to Lou-Lou.  The Power Wheels is so cool!  The baby will be getting one of these when it's old enough for sure! (Maybe not pink if it's a boy!)

Ashley drove first.  She was having a hard time keeping it on the sidewalk at first.  She was too busy watching what everyone else was doing instead of watching where she was going.  She got a little better on her second trip around the cul-de-sac.

Cassidy drove next.  She is a very confident driver, but got frustrated if she did go off road a bit!

We had a nice walk while the girls practiced driving.  Then we went back to play in the back yard and enjoy the nice weather.

We headed home around 8, I get tired so early these days!  It was time for me to just sit home and relax.  I am working on a mini album for the Scrapfreak May class.  The best thing about moving the guest bed into my scrap room is that I can sit on the bed with my feet up and scrap.  I think I could get used to this!  Although Lou informed me that the bed is supposed to be for him and Zoe to hang out on while they are in here with me, so I should keep it cleared off!

Headed to bed around midnight and watched tv for a bit.  I tried to read a book I have had laying around the house for a while, but I was too tired to concentrate, so I gave up and went to sleep!

A Week in The Life-Day 2

I know it's Wednesday already, but I am just getting around to blogging Tuesday!

The Winter 2010 semester in coming to an end this week, so I spent a lot of my day finishing up my online Psych class, and writing my final paper for my Social Work 103 class.  I have everything completed, now just need to take my exams on Monday, and I am done for the semester!

I also took a few breaks from school work to relax in bed and keep my feet up.  I had Braxton Hicks contractions all day, so just laying down and taking it easy was neccessary.  I have to say that I LOVE my Boppy pillow and Tivo more than a lot of things in life!  I caught up on First 48, Runaway Squad, and Intervention.  Not to mention the Season Finale and Reunion episode of 16 and Pregnant!  I know, I watch way too much reality TV.

Nothing really exciting to report for today. With all the excitement that is sure to come my way soon, I appreciate having the time to lay in bed and relax!