Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Before Baby Checklist

Does anyone else ever get the feeling that they were meant to be a Mom?
I KNOW that I'm supposed to be a Mom and I'm so excited for that day to come when Andrew and I bring a beautiful baby into this world.

While we aren't trying to have babies yet, I am super excited for that day to some day come.
Some days I just can't wait to be a mom, but other days I wonder if I'm ready and think of all the things I could/should do before we start a family.

One thing in my favor is the fact that I have a WONDERFUL husband that loves and supports me and who would love to start a family.
Andrew always mentions how he wants to be a dad and I know that he would be a fantastic daddy to our babies, but I can't seem to get over all the things we could do to our house and with our budget before we bring a baby into this world.
I want to bring a baby into the best environment possible and I seem to let my list of to-dos get bigger and bigger.

However, today is the day that I put my list in writing. I want to be able to work on my list and cross things off, however if I never write the list down, it will always get altered and get bigger, meaning that our ultimate goal of having a beautiful, healthy family will keep getting pushed back. Maybe it's the perfectionist in me, but I know that I need to attempt to bring my future babies into the best environment and plan as much as possible. So, here it is...my "Before Baby Checklist."

BEFORE BABY CHECKLIST
(in no particular order)
1. Create a realistic budget and follow it strictly, proving that we can live off of Andrew's paycheck alone.
2. Work hard to save as much money as possible and use my paychecks to pay for making our house into a home.
3. Become as healthy as possible.
4. Make our house into a home which includes:
-Getting rid of the nasty carpet that was in the house when we moved in-IN PROGRESS
-Getting a new washer and dryer that is in tip-top shape (babies require a lot of laundry)
-Getting a new couch because the one we have now is tore up from the floor up
-Redoing our bathroom (our babies need a nice tub to bathe in)
-Painting our front room and hallway-IN PROGRESS
-Making our back yard a nice place where our future kids can play in
5. Keep falling more and more in love with my husband each and every day so I can bring my babies into a happy and healthy environment-ALWAYS IN PROGRESS! :]

I know my list doesn't include a ton of things and the things I have listed aren't the most important things in the world. I also know that if I were to get pregnant I would be the happiest person on Earth. However, until then, I will work on the things I have listed above and when Andrew and I are both ready, we will move forward and start a family.

It's so amazing to see a lot of people we know having babies and raising their family and I look forward to the day that Andrew and I will bring a baby into the world.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Sweet Summer Time

HELLO SUMMER!
After the worst semester of my life, I am happy to say that I am enjoying Summer already and trying not to think of my three week Summer School class that starts tomorrow.

After finishing a HORRIBLE 6 HOUR FINAL EXAM (that I got an 88% on by the way) we got to go to Utah this weekend (Saturday morning instead of Friday night due to my exam) with our friends Meagan and Justin. It was JUST what I needed to kick off Summer and get me through this three week class. We spent all Saturday just relaxing, watching movies, playing outside, zip-lining, and doing whatever our hearts desired. I helped Meagan with some things for her sister-in-law's baby shower, we ate yummy food, and ended the night with a fire and smores. We basically just had a fun weekend getaway and did whatever we wanted, leaving reality behind.

Today we slept in and got ready to leave Paragonah. After making sure the house was clean, we said goodbye and Andrew drove us up to Brian Head to show me the ski resort. I was surprised at how much snow there was in May! It seemed to me like they could still take customers, there was so much snow. We drove all the way past the resort without realizing that the Cedar Breaks exit was closed (even though I read a sign stating so on the way up without thinking and putting two and two together haha). So we turned around and made the journey home back through Paragonah. It was a wonderful trip!

Once we reached good old Boulder City, we went to pick up Daisy and Duke from Andrew's parent's house. Duke was acting weird/hurt and we weren't comfortable with how he was acting so we took him to the vet right away. The doctor couldn't really find anything wrong with him, besides a lump where he had been vaccinated last week, so he just gave us some antibiotics and sent us on our way. Duke still acts like he is hurt but we are hoping he'll get better and back to his good old self soon.

Once we were back home again, we relaxed, ate some dinner, and watched a movie. Then we got down to business. With the help from a guy in our ward and Andrew's dad, Andrew got working on our TILE in the front room. YIPPEE! While he was working on that, I did the dishes, folded some laundry, and decided to organize our pantry. As a result, I found the ingredients to make a reduced fat banana cream pie and also got really organized. Then I gave both dogs a bath and ended the night by watching Khloe and Lamar.

I'd say this weekend was a HUGE success. Here are some pictures to prove it. :]


Andrew driving me through Brian Head!


Me and all the snow. Unfortunately, these are the only two pictures from our trip.






 I thought I had some picture of our living room before Andrew ripped everything out, but now I'm wondering if I took them without my memory card in my camera. So the above pictures are the "before tile" but "after ripping out old tile and gross carpet" pictures.




The pictures above are of Andrew in action...working hard to make our house even better!


 Lastly, this is where he left off for the night! YAY!
My only worry now is that the blue doesn't go well with the tile?! Eek. Now would be the time to make a decision because we are working from room to room so I need to decide now. What do you think?

While Andrew was being the hard working man, I decided to CLEAN!
I forgot to take a before picture, but here is our organized pantry.


Nice huh?
THEN I made a yummy pie:


 It's made with love! :] (If you can't tell, that's a heart, haha.)
And finally I gave our puppies baths:



 They weren't very happy, but at least they are clean!

As you can tell, we had a VERY productive day and a wonderful weekend. As you know from my weight loss journey, we are hoping to have babies in the future and Andrew and I were able to talk about that more today.

I REALLY want to be a stay at home mom and just picture myself being there for my babies through every step of their life. To do that though, we need to be able to be financially stable on Andrew's money alone. We talked about it more today and think it MAY be a possibility. So...for the next few months (or just indefinitely) we are going to do so and use my money for my school payments, savings, and for fixing up our house. I can't wait to see how this goes and hope we are able to do everything as planned. I'm super excited for our future together, for when we decide to try to have a baby, and for all the fun things we are doing to our house.

Life is good and I'm not going to let this Summer School class get me down.
I hope you are having a wonderful Summer so far as well and that you have fun things planned for your future!