Thirty

Me and my cute boy on my birthday!

So, I have officially entered a new decade of my life. Yup, I'm thirty. Typing that really freaks me out. I may be one of those people who decides to celebrate their 29th birthday multiple times...at least until my looks catch up to me. 

Nah, I suppose being thirty isn't that bad. After all, if Olivia Wilde can feel good about it, so can I. She actually makes some good points there. Mostly, it just feels surreal, like I should still be a kid or something. I don't feel like I always thought I would feel at this age. I remember when my mom turned thirty. Mostly because I spent the night of her big party puking my guts out in her bathroom, and my friend Jeffery's mom came in to take care of me. She gave me pepto bismol, which I then colored the toilet pink with. I was not a happy camper that night. And I was jealous that I couldn't sneak out to spy on the party.

Anyway. The past year and a half has been a bit of a whirlwind. I feel like my birthday kind of snuck up on me. Granted, I've been thinking about it for awhile. I just don't know that I was ready to leave my twenties behind. I thought I ought to do something monumental to bring on the new, more mature me. So I made a list of all the things I've put off doing for one reason or another, that I really want to get done. And I'm going to do them. All thirty of them. While I am thirty.

Thirty list 

1. Organize the millions of pictures that I've taken - especially over the last year.
2. Upload all the videos I've taken of Jesse (and figure out a system to keep them current). I'm working on that one, but too slowly. 
3. Camcorder DVD conversion - I have a bunch of old videos from my childhood and teenage years that I'd like to preserve.
4. Organize my external hard drive.
5. Scan mine and Luke's childhood scrapbooks.
6. Lose the excess 20 from my twenties (pounds, that is). More importantly, I just want to get fit, so I can feel good about my weight/size.
7. Take more self portraits. I love to take pictures, but when I don't feel I look my best, I tend to hide behind the camera. I want my little boy to have lots of pictures of me WITH him!
8. Get dressed more regularly (as much as I love staying in my PJ's all day).
9. Floss daily. Yes, I have worked in the dental field for most of my adult life. No, I don't floss on a regular basis. /hide
10. Clean out and organize my clothes. Um, I still have my maternity clothes hanging up in my closet...
11. Read to Jesse daily. He loves his books, but we kind of get caught in our daily routine, which doesn't always involve new and exciting books. Especially since he started eating all his books, so I put them out of reach. 
12. Sing more. Out loud. Even though that terrifies me. Lol!
13. Be more socially active (take advantage of my time in MBASA).
14. Read more books. This one I have actually been doing - Luke signed up for audible.com this summer while he was commuting, and has kept it active for me. I can get so much done while I listen to a good book!
15. Try more new recipes.
16. Start blogging again (both my personal and my food blog).
17. Journal consistently - weekly at least, if not more! There is so much going on in my life every day with this little guy! I don't want to forget it!
18. De-clutter my house. I am a bit of a pack rat, and now that my days are consumed by being a mom, it's starting to show!
19. Be ready to move (i.e., don't procrastinate!). Thankfully, I found this awesome set of tips, including a full checklist to make sure everything gets done in the right order. Totally taking advantage of it. Hopefully, the company Luke gets hired by will help us with the moving - either by sending movers, which a lot of these companies do, or at least compensating us for the cost. This'll be the first big move he and I do on our own! Yikes!!
20. Clean the floors more often. I am terrible at this! But I have become so conscious of it with a little guy who loves roaming around the house. I've been working on it already, but I could definitely be better!
21. Figure out some sort of housekeeping system, or at least start some weekly/monthly routine so I can focus on one task at a time, and not feel so overwhelmed all the time. 
22. Create a family yearbook. I have a couple of friends who have done this, and I love the idea! I REALLY want to do it. Even if I can't order the books until we have money, I want to get them made!
23. Learn more about personal finance. Luke took this class in business school, and the professor has put all his lectures and text online for public use. I wanted to do it at the same time as Luke was in the class, but just couldn't keep up. However, I really would like to understand it all better, so I'm going to at least watch the lectures. 
24. Brush/bathe the cat on a regular basis. My baby girl has been replaced by a more demanding baby, so I haven't really kept her as groomed as I would like to. She's starting to get old, and I don't want her to suffer from poor health as a result of bad hygiene. Oh the guilt!
25. Eat better. T'is the season, right? Ha! I have been following the cheap and easy diet these days, which doesn't always help me feel my best. I am going to change that! I'm also going to eat less sweets.
26. Be more positive. Easier said than done, right?!
27. Create a home emergency plan/72 hour kits.
28. Organize a meal plan system. I tend to get stuck in cooking ruts, but I love eating new food. I also get tired of eating the same thing day after day. I am terrible at structured meal planning, but I'd like to come up with something that will help me keep our meals exciting, our grocery trips few, and our budget in check. 
29. Get better at managing my time. I *thought* I was busy once upon a time when I didn't have a kid. Now I know better. I miss my free time. But I am also not the best at taking advantage of what time I do have. 
30. Pick back up an old hobby. I keep going back and forth between sewing and playing the piano. I would like to someday be good at both. I have easy access to everything I'd need for either. Just have to choose one (or both, if I get really ambitious!). 

So, here goes. I've actually been working on some of these since I started writing this list. But, I've got quite a lot of work cut out for me.

I suppose I'll have to follow up next year. Stay tuned...

Journal entry - October 22

Journal entry - October 22

Jesse is 9 months old now. I can hardly believe it! He is such a grown up little boy now, and so different from the baby he used to be.

I have finally finished recording Jesse's birth story. Luke and I were talking (because I had him read it), and it feels like that was a lifetime ago. It's crazy how much has happened since then, how much we have each changed. And at the same time, some of those memories are still so fresh. I think we both still have a lot of resentment toward the way things happened with getting Jesse here.

Jesse has got these funny little tendencies. He likes to look up at lights whenever we walk under them. He loves watching the fan in his room, especially when I've just turned it off and it's slowing down. Part of his nighttime ritual with Luke is to look at everything in the closet after we read Little Dinosaur. He likes to reach out for the hangers especially.

He has also started carrying things around in his mouth. He loves to chew on my nursing pads, and carries them like a little dog. He also carries around his puppy slipper and any socks he gets a hold of. I laugh, because it's so backward from the normal dog carrying socks and slippers around like chew toys.

He is so talkative and makes such cute and funny noises. He does his little "angry" breathing, but now he keeps his teeth clenched, and it's more of a spitty sound. He does a lot of spitty talking these days. He also clicks his tongue a lot, which is cute. If he sees me or Luke do it, he'll do it too..

He also likes to talk with his mouth full of food. He makes these bub bub sounds, and thinks it's hilarious when food comes out of his mouth. He also cracks up whenever anyone burps.

Journal entry - October 13

Journal entry - October 13

Jesse's had a harder time going to bed at night the past couple nights. He also wakes up 3 times most nights. I'm feeling like I'm not getting enough sleep, but it's been hard to try and go to bed when he does. I have so much to do, and it's not getting done.

Jesse is able to pull himself up to standing now without any help. He loves to use me as leverage, and once he's up, he'll bounce and dance and talk and try to get at anything within his reach. He also now sits up anytime he's awake in his crib. The other day, I had just laid him down for a nap. As soon as I moved my hands away, he rolled on to his stomach and pushed himself up. Once he was sitting, he woke up! It was really funny, other than him being too awake to fall back to sleep after that. 

He does this funny little thing where he will reach out to things he's interested in. He stretches his right arm out, with his hand open and his palm facing up or to the side. He looks like he's about to give a speech. It makes me and Luke laugh.

Milestone: First Laugh

Yeah, I'm getting ahead of myself with the video posting. I still haven't even gone through the rest of the videos on my camera or phone. But I really couldn't NOT share this one...

04-16 Jesse's First Laugh


LOVE!!!

Video Time

We seem to have accumulated quite a few videos of Jesse already! I thought I'd better get started on sharing them before he gets too big! Enjoy :)

2/10 - Party Rockin' with Dad


2/17 - Sleeping


2/17 - Sleeping Part 2


2/17 - Waking Up


2/19 - Talking with Mom


2/25 Talking


PS: Sorry about the video quality. Most of them were taken with my phone (yes, I'm turning into one of those...).

Anyway, I'll keep posting them as I get through them!

I think someone is tired...

Here's a funny picture that I took yesterday. I've been trying to be more aware of his sleepy cues, rather than just waiting for him to fall asleep, so we can establish better nap times. I think its working so far!
We are also trying a couple other things - having him sleep exclusively in his swing (which really seems to help keep him asleep) and if he's not upset, putting him in the swing sleepy but awake. I'm liking the results! Last night, he slept for 11 out of 14 hours, including two 4-hour sleeps. It was incredible!!!

Cute Boy Sleeping

Somebody fell asleep while nursing...and didn't realize that he wasn't still enjoying lunch.

(hoping this video thing works - if so, I will share many more!)

I don't deal well with change...

I am finally starting to accept the fact that if I want to keep up with my blogs, which I do, I'm going to have to do it from my rocking chair. I have resisted this so far because the whole blogging by phone concept seems so, I don't know, untraditional to me. I like the idea of sitting down and typing everything up, and being able to see it all in front of me on my computer screen. It's what I'm used to, its what I've always done, I like doing it that way and I don't want to change. Now I sound like my grandma...who won't even turn on the computer she was given by her tech savvy sons, by the way.
For now, I don't think I get the luxury of blogging the "old fashioned" way. At least not until my baby is not nursing 12 hours a day...or maybe sleeping more, allowing me to actually sleep more too, and not spend every waking hour in a daze, trying to nap every time he does, and going days without showers or clean dishes.
So, here goes nothing ;)

Jesse's birth - in pictures

Being a new parent has been completely overwhelming and time-consuming, to say the least. Even with a lot of help from my family, I have not been able to do much more than eat, sleep, and take care of this little guy. 

I plan on sharing our birth story...eventually. For now, here are some photos from the momentous occasion:

Meeting our baby.

Snuggling!

Hangin' with Dad.

So in love.

Leaving the hospital.

First night home!

Our Bundle of Joy

He's finally here!!!