Baby Lewis #2 (Weeks 12-14)

Date:
1/21/15

How far along?:

14 weeks, 4 days

My baby is the size of a:
Navel Orange
4.5 inches and about 2-3 ounces

Symptoms:
I'm doing very well! Emotionally I'm doing really well. I'm having trouble with sleep & insomnia, my midwife said that the last little bit of lingering blues may be resolved once I'm able to consistently get sleep on a normal schedule. We also talked about how since I've already struggled with some depression in the pregnancy that I would be more likely to face Postpartum Depression after the baby comes.
Morning sickness wise I'm doing really well! Far better than I ever did in my pregnancy with Coralie. I still occasionally throw up or have a bad day where I throw up several times that day but it looks like a trend is beginning of more good days than bad!

Weight Gain:

At my Midwife appointment a couple of days ago I was down 8.5 pounds over all and according to my home scales, I was actually up 2 pounds from my lowest weight so far in this pregnancy.

Gender:

20 week sono is scheduled for Feburary 25 so we'll know for sure then. John is quite convinced it's a girl after the heartbeat came in at 157 BMP. We were going to have the blood test drawn to learn the gender and test for several other genetic abnormalities etc but turns out that our less-than-delightful insurance won't cover that, so... I have better things to do with my money so we've opted out of that test.

Maternity Clothes:

Yes, and thanks to a very sweet lady in my church MOMs group who was getting rid of all her maternity clothes I actually own winter maternity clothes now! Before this, I only owned one long sleeved shirt and it's not my favorite. I was getting really tired of that dang red shirt!

Movement:
When my Midwife had the Doppler on, baby was thudding and thumping away in there moving all over the place! Since the appointment, I've been pretty confident I've felt baby move a couple of times! Right about 14 weeks and 5 or 6 days when I think I felt the first flutters/movement.

Sleep:
Not fantastic. Midwife has me taking half a Unisom at night. Last night was the first time I did this, it took me a while but I was still asleep two hours before I normally was!

Cravings/Aversions:
Eh. Food is a little icky to me. I'm eating way too much junk/processed food because I'm just not up to standing in the kitchen cooking. I have been eating a small bowl of pickles for the past few nights, but I've always loved pickles, it just isn't usual for me to eat quite so many so frequently.

 I miss:
Wine. I very rarely drink but while pregnant it is the forbidden fruit thing, it's all I want! I've also kind of been craving Monster energy drinks for the same reason. I had this exact thing happen when I was pregnant with Cora.

Best moment this week:
Hearing the heartbeat at the Midwife's appointment.
When we went to the Midwife Cora went along too (John was there to help corral her). She was being fidgety and a little noisy the whole visit up until my Midwife had the heartbeat on the Doppler. Cora was so quiet and interested in listening to her baby brother or sisters heart beat. It was the sweetest thing! She just sat in Johns arms with her mouth open slightly looking very interested in what was going on!  

Goals for the upcoming week:

I don't have any fun baby related goals right now. I'm trying to track down some information on our awful insurance and what it will or won't cover (we learned that it won't cover the blood test but we've already missed the window for some of the alternative tests, which insurance wouldn't have really covered much of either... so we're basically being forced to not do any testing or pay for it out of pocket). We've also decided that we're switching insurance plans in April when John's company offers open enrollment. Not ideal to change insurance over half way through a pregnancy but it's still the right choice for us in the long run. With all the junk that insurance isn't covering (we haven't heard back if they'll at all cover our birthing center, that's my current project) I've decided I'm all for home birth, we'd end up paying less, I'm perfectly happy with the idea of not having to leave home and ride in a bumpy van for 30 minutes while in labor. John however is less enthused at the idea of a home birth.
After we learn the gender, fun baby goals will arise!

Belly Pictures:


Past Pregnancy:

Here is my week 15 update from pregnancy with Cora.
From what I remember, I'm pretty much right on track with where I was last time.

Looking Back: Expectations vs Reality of Natural Birth in a Hospital

Looking back at my Natural Birth and Birth Plan, I'm very happy over all with everything and the outcome. When Susan, our Doula, met with me at 2 weeks postpartum she asked if I'd do a natural birth again? Without hesitation I replied "yes!".

Honestly, the day Baby Girl was born I was ready to do it again! Not in that moment, mind you. I was certainly still recovering but the effort was absolutely worth it and having a sweet baby in your arms at the end is the best prize in the world!  (Fair warning - if you're squeemish, this post probably isn't for you.)

Several things about the whole process of birth surprised me. In all honesty I was pretty delusional about what I would be like and what I would want in my labor/birth. Some of the things I packed for my Labor & Delivery bag for the hospital not only went unused, they were downright ridiculous when it came down to it. If I hadn't started the process at 4 cm dilated and had spent those first hours laboring 1-4 cm they may have been useful then, but by the time you're making it to 5-7 cm things like a head massager, gum, sleep eye mask, neck pillow, music & headphones to name a few were totally useless. I was glad however that I had packed multiple bags, I had a bag for L&D, a bag for postpartum that included clothes for John and a separate bag for Cora's things. This cut down on how much junk had to be drug into the hospital in the middle of labor and how much unnecessary stuff had to be in the postpartum hospital room.

I always imagined that we'd have these cute snap shots of us parking and walking into the hospital to deliver our daughter... umm no. The idea of stopping to take a picture on our way in the door of the hospital was idiotic (mind you I was at 7 cm)! My goal was to not have a contraction between the door of the van & making it to L&D. Surprisingly enough I made it! After my last contraction in the parking lot my next one was in front of the nurses asking idiotic questions at the L&D desk.

Speaking of idiotic questions, I have no clue why I had to fill out so much paperwork in pre-registration for the hospital because they ask SO many redundant questions that they should have on file. Annoying yes, but when they're asking questions and looking at you for responses when all your thought process can contain is how to breathe through the contraction and embrace the intensity it officially becomes idiotic! I highly recommend you have your husband in the room for these idiotic questions, despite all the paperwork I filled out they had me down as being RH negative (I'm not, they had the wrong blood type on file!). In the middle of contractions I was trying to tell them that yes I am "positive that my blood type is AB+", I even had John dig my Red Cross blood donation card out of my wallet and show it to them with my blood type. That was the only big mistake in all of that, everything else was small - they thought John's name was Mark or some other wrong name and their file showed that this was my 2nd child.

I'm such a vocal person. Sitting in a room and to not participate in an ongoing conversation is just not me at all. When I was in labor, I would hear the whispers between Susan and John or one of them and my nurse, Jessica. Several times I had some quip or comment that was just ready to come bubbling out of my mouth but each and every time I did speak it took such effort to leave my "quiet place" inside my mind I found myself resisting the instinct to speak more often than not. I was amazed at how unimportant the things outside my quiet place became to me. I was able to let go and simply exist from contraction to contraction. 

When we watched videos of labors I was mortified by the groans & moans I was hearing. I could not imagine sitting there and listening to myself moan through contractions for hours upon hours. I created this fantastic playlist with songs I knew well, uplifting Spiritual songs that I grew up with. I imagined myself thinking through the lyrics so I wouldn't focus on hearing myself moan. Reality - moaning wasn't really a reaction to pain, it was a way to work through the contraction. To emotionally work with my body as it labored. When I was in labor the quiet allowed me to completely concentrate on what was going on and to rest between contractions. Susan suggested music, remembering that I had expressed this concern in one of our prenatal visits, I declined the offer and recessed back into my own little quiet world.

I'm usually a pretty modest person. Everyone told me that by the time I'm about to deliver that I wouldn't care about my modesty anymore. I didn't really believe them and the very small part of me that really considered what they were saying to be true thought that while I may not care about my dignity and modesty at that moment, I would regret it later on and wish I had insisted on it in labor. I was wrong about this too.
I have a story about that...

When I was 34 weeks pregnant I made a trip to L&D for what I thought was preterm labor with Braxton Hicks and broken waters. Turns out I just peed my pants... but I was horribly mortified at the lack of modesty forced on me by the on call doctor which shaped most of my expectations for labor. Making a long story short, nurse came in told me I was good to get dressed again. I changed clothes back into my jeans, OB on call comes in and wants to do a cervical exam just to be sure no dilation etc, I pull my pants off under the covers on the bed assuming she'll just pull them up creating a little tent of sorts protecting my modesty (I mean after all, I went to all that effort to take my pants off under the covers!). Nope, OB yanks the covers off, I'm sitting there stark naked from the waist down with a nurse, head nurse, a random someone I have no clue who she was that wandered into my room during this experience and a sono tech all watching and chatting away during my exam. I was really ticked off and marched myself into my Midwifes office at my next appointment insisting that I would wear my own clothes to labor/deliver & that was that. So now that you have some back story, back to what reality looked like in L&D...

When I arrived at the hospital in labor & the nurse (who hadn't yet read my birth plan) asked me to change into the hospital gown, I considered refusing but then the idea of possibly having to change later (when I was about to push per hospital policy) was so daunting I just agreed. Sure enough, hospital gowns are awful for modesty. My tooshy was showing to the entire world and I couldn't give a darn! My sweet nurse tried to keep it covered for me, but generally (in my mind, never verbalized) I'd rather her leave my toosh exposed because she was distracting me as she'd cover it. I delivered with my toosh hanging out facing the direction of the oh, roughly 20 people that flooded my room to watch "the lady that's doing it without meds" and nursery staff and I just didn't give a darn (and still don't today). In fact, my modesty was gone through that whole hospital stay, I am woefully lacking in pictures that I'm comfortable publishing here on the blog from the hospital stay because in most of them I'm topless! I couldn't figure out how to move my shirt out of the way to breastfeed and I had all these nurses and LC's helping, so shirtless was just easiest when it came time to feed.

Poop. It seems like every pregnant momma worries about pooping in delivery. While pregnant I really didn't give it much thought. On the occasion that it came up I just figured there's nothing you can do about it so why worry, I'd just deal with it if it happened. Well it did! In my quiet mental place I slightly cared, but not all that much. It started as I squatted bedside working to shift Cora's head to fix a lip of cervix that hadn't moved out of the way after they broke my waters. I used the energy to mention that "I feel like I'm going to poop", my nurse was very sweet about it and said that it's baby's head moving down that I was feeling but didn't confirm that yes indeed I was pooping on the floor. From John's account by the time I said this, I had already started (and pooped on his foot as he squatted behind me) and not two minutes later her head crowned & I experienced the ring of fire (about the only time I screamed out in labor, not as much from pain {though it burned like a not-so-nice word!} but from surprise!). (Details of that whole episode are in my Birth Story Part 3) If you're worried about this too, check out this article! They discuss how poop is normal & a good sign in labor - it's item #1 on the list!

Being a first time parent is like walking off a ledge into a pit of darkness... Okay so that's probably a bit dramatic, but you really don't know what to expect. Even though I'd planned out what I thought to be every single detail of my natural hospital birth and what I did and didn't want in newborn procedures etc, we were still completely blind-sided when Cora developed respiratory problems after birth. You never can be 100% prepared for everything. Now that I've done this once there are still things I'm unsure about for our second time around! For our second child we're planning to deliver at a Birth Center and I wonder how the different location will change my experiences in labor. Although we can't predict the future, I hope that this post will help you if you're planning an unmediated birth in a hospital! Please feel free to ask any questions!

Finish This Week 56

 

This week's prompt for Finish this with Nicole - My Thoughts on Chocolate

Oh goodness, where to start. Chocolate makes everything better! I'll take chocolate however I can get it, be it in a cookie or a spoonful of chocolate fudge icing straight from the jar in the refrigerator. In college my Aunt M would keep pieces of Dove Dark Chocolate in the freezer. On a bad night or after a busy day that was the perfect pick-me-up treat. 

Some of my favorite holiday treats are things dipped in chocolate. How can you beat chocolate covered strawberries for Valentines day or Chocolate covered popcorn and pretzels for, well any day!?!

Speaking of chocolate, if you have a Costco membership you have to get their chocolate cake for your next celebration or party. It is a chocoholic's heaven!

Summer Lovin'

All this warm weather we've been having has me thinking about summer! We've made it a point to be outside every day this week just to soak up some sun and warmth.

This summer I'm hoping to mark off a couple of our Texas Bucket List items. 

I don't think we'll make it out of the state as I will either be huge a huge preggo person or have just had a baby and will now have 2 children going everywhere with us.

The thing that will be lacking in our summer fun list is pretty much anything with water. My midwife insists that I don't swim in anything that isn't chlorinated. She doesn't particularly care that I actually now own a maternity swimsuit and would like to actually use it. ;)

This spring the first thing I'd like to do is go back to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. We went for our Babymoon Staycation while pregnant with Cora. There is a lot of walking involved and I waited too late in the pregnancy to manage that much walking. This time I'd like to plan ahead and go earlier in the pregnancy and earlier in the year. They have a beautiful Rose Garden area, well I assume it's beautiful because you could tell it could be beautiful but in August in Texas heat it was pretty much dead when we were there.

I'd also like to do some camping, maybe if we go before it's terribly warm I'll A) not be miserable and B) not miss swimming as much. Oh and by camping I mean either in a camper or cabin because I really can't imagine sleeping in a tent pregnant.

Right now I'm considering either Inks Lake State Park or Lake Meridian State Park.

Both seem to have pretty nice hiking options and pretty scenic views!

via

 What are your plans for this summer?

 Today I'm linking up with Amanda and Crystal for Texas Tuesday!

Happy Birthday Bestie!

Meeting Auntie Lauren

 

Happy Birthday to Lauren!

Thank you for being such an awesome friend & wonderful Auntie to Coralie!

 Check out those Auntie skills!

The Cost of a Baby in our Experience: The little Things

When we were expecting Cora, there were so many things that were uncertain. I think that's the case for most new parents. Everything in your world is changing and you have no point of reference to compare it to. One of the things we spent lots of time discussing and thinking about was what will this baby cost us? 

Many things contribute to the cost of having a child, from insurance benefits to your particular tastes in baby gear and clothes. Everyone will have different experiences & find different price points depending on your situation & location. Even though I can't guarantee you'll spend xyz, I figure this sure beats those articles you see online that scare the bejeezers out of you suggesting that you could spend upwards of a bazillion dollars in the baby's first year of life. Here are our real life experiences in the cost of having a baby.

Right off the bat, You should know, this won't be what you spend if you want a lot of brand new items for baby. The way I see it is... the baby will use this stuff for less than a year. And in some cases, a month or less! WHY buy new things when there are gently used items that are in perfect shape for 70% off or more???  ( I will also note, that we did make some splurges that in all honesty are totally unnecessary or there was a cheaper way to get what we were buying at full price.)


The first thing we bought was prenatal books. We went to our local second hand book store and loaded up. In the end we compiled a library of 12 great books and the total cost was roughly $60.00 In retrospect - this was a totally unnecessary expense that I wouldn't make again - there is just so much information out there on the internet that I ended up using more than my books. BUT, if you want the books, they're out there & you can find them a lot cheaper than we did!

    Anything & Everything -  I quickly learned about the wonderful world of Just Between Friends sales. If you haven't been to a JBF sale before and you want to have a baby on a budget... GO! Well worth your time and money!! (check it out if you have older children too! They really do have anything & Everything!)

At the first JBF sale I went to, I picked up several items totaling out at $71.00!! (Portable changing table with cover that will fold, Boppy pillow with cover, a baby carrier, a couple of toys, drawer & cabinet latches, space saving high chair, blankets, piddle pad, spoons and other baby kitchen supplies, a few basic onsies in gender neutral colors, passy holder, diaper bag, & a bath ducky that checks water temperature). When I got home, I did a few Google searches and found some of the bigger items I'd purchased - we had saved over $113.54!! And all of this stuff were things I would be buying at some point anyway!!

Before baby girl came we went to two more Just Between Friends sales (in neighboring towns) - for both of those sales, we spent a total of $50.00! (items included Boppy infant positioner with cover, kitchen items for feeding toddlers, table bumpers & child safety items for around the house, various clothing items, a diaper bag - new with tags on it, two more child carriers, Johnny Jump Up & a couple of stuffed animals.) I didn't do the comparison against what it would have been new this shopping trip, but that comes out to roughly $3.50 each if you break it down per item - obviously some were more than others, but killer deals all the same!


Clothes, clothes & more clothes - I know I will sound like a broken record here, but I can't preach it enough! It is so handy knowing people with kiddos, really it is a blessing! We got tons of hand-me-downs!! What we couldn't use (wrong season, etc.) we passed on to others. Cost? Free! If you don't have access to someone for hand-me-downs you should seriously visit your local consignment stores (ie Kid to Kid, Once Upon a Child etc). They always have great deals, but around here they often run deals - as in every single holiday, no matter how insignificant. Even 15% off of already deeply reduced prices makes for an amazing deal!
We bought some clothes for Baby Girl, because how could we resist?!? Other than her Texas Tech gear (which I'm so ashamed at how much we spent, I won't even tell you here - feel free to ask if you're really curious!) everything we personally bought was from second hand stores and a couple of garage sales some friends of friends were having. I didn't do an excellent job of keeping up with those receipts, but looking back at budgets it looks like we spent about $60.00 (keep in mind, that bought us roughly 20 - 30 outfits, coming out to about $2 and $3 each!!).
As time has passed and we've needed to expand Cora's wardrobe with the seasons, I've learned that while these resale shops can offer great deals, I still greatly prefer consignment sales like Just Between Friends! Towards the end of their sale days, they run 1/2 off days on most of their items. This is when we stock up on clothes! We will pop into the sale early on, pick up whatever big baby gear and items we need that will likely be gone by the end of the sale. If I'm looking for a particular item of clothing for her, I'll quickly look through the clothing sections (which are very big!) but we save most of our clothes shopping for half off days!

 Diaper pails! We decided to go with the Diaper Champ rather than the Diaper Genie. Reason? You can use regular trash-bags in the Diaper Champ - the Diaper Genie requires special bags, an added expense once baby comes. They retail for about $30, we bought ours for $10.75 in perfect condition from a local resale shop! {And if I'm being 100% honest, we bought another one for $10 at a garage sale to keep over at my Dad's house, obviously not an essential expense, but my point is - this was not a one time, can't ever find that great of a deal experience!} To save even more? A trashcan with a lid would work just fine! Really the key here with any system is to just take out the trash often!

Cora on the knock off Boppy.

Nursing Pillow - I had gotten a Boppy with a cover at a JBF sale ($10-$15 range), but I knew that I'd like another one to have in our bedroom (and my friend swears it is really handy in postpartum recovery to sit on!). If you're pregnant, I'm sure you get the promotional emails for free Nursing Covers, Nursing Pillows, Carseat Covers etc., you just pay shipping! It is a great deal, but just be warned... their Nursing Pillow is not exactly like a Boppy! It's smaller and not as wide and it's cover doesn't come off to wash. If you have larger hips, like me, then it is a tight fit to use it as it is intended. Was it worth $12.90 (the cost of shipping and handling) to get a nursing pillow? Yes! Just be aware it isn't identical to the Boppy.

Bottles - We picked up a gallon zip lock bag full of the bottles we chose (Platex Drop in System) at a consignment sale much like Just Between Friends for $5.00! There were 10 bottles in the bag, bringing the cost down to $.50 a bottle! We also got some drop in liners in a brand-new, unopened box for $1.00. This only left us needing to buy new nipples for these bottles (they had them at the sale, I would just prefer to buy this item new).

The total we spent on the items besides furniture, pack and plays etc for our first child; Roughly $300.00. Now that we're expecting baby #2, most of those items won't need to be purchased again. We're anticipating that our largest expense for this child (outside the cost of prenatal and birth...) will be clothes!

In the end, I can admit that I'm afraid to think of what the cost of some "smaller" items would have added up to without the generous gifts of friends and family. Crib sheets, blankets, Dreft detergent, bottle sterilizers, Bumpo seat & tray, nursing covers, carseat covers, diapers, wipes, bibs, shoes, clothing accessories, toys, burp rags - all of these are things we didn't have to buy but all of these things are items I see at JBF sales & resale shops all. the. time. My point? Don't buy new until you have to!! 

I have done my best to include all the items I can think of in this category - if you have a question, please feel free to ask! I would love to share any information we may have on finding these items at reasonable prices!

A Birthday 101 in 1001

** So, my birthday was actually several days ago (January 4), but I spent the 5 days prior to my birthday sleeping and coping with being sick and the same held true for my actual birthday. So, I've finally gotten around to finishing the post. My birthday post 2 weeks late!**

I am 26 years old today. It's kind of hard for me to believe that since last year I was so wrapped up in being a new Mommy to Cora it didn't even really register that I had a birthday! (the other mothers in my MOMs group say this is the same for them, some of them couldn't even tell you their age without doing math!)

In honor of my birthday today... I was torn between writing a new 101 in 1001 post or doing a 30 before 30 list. I decided that since starting today (January 4, 2015), I will finish on October 1, 2017 and then I can do a 30 before 30 list since that will give me 459 days to complete that task list.

My last 101 in 1001 & how I did completing it. (I'll apparently include links when Blogger decides it wants to work properly...)

PERSONAL

1. Participate in the 3 day Breast Cancer Walk
2. Participate in a CF research/fundraising event.
3. Complete 10 things on my Texas Bucket List
4. Take a Cake Decorating Class
5. Start a batch of Friendship Bread & share
6. Donate my hair to Locks of Love
7.  Read through Bible from Start to Finish
8. Go on a hand-held electronics fast for 1 week (no cell phone {except calls}, tablet, laptop)
9. Buy a new watch
10. Be in Graduate School
11. Treat myself to a Blow Out at the Dry Bar (maybe make it a girls day?!?)
12. Create/Have a house cleaning schedule and stick to it for one month
13. Read 10 new books
14. Read Lord of the Rings series (doesn't count toward completing task above)
15. Clean out my closet completely - if it is worn out, throw it out! If it doesn't fit, get rid of it!
16. Buy a hammock
17. Take flowers to my mothers grave.
18. Learn to French Braid hair (correctly)
19. Get pink couch reupholstered
20. Attend Women of Faith Conference
21. Try Lobster
22. Learn how to make good iced coffee at home
23. Cook for a new mom!
24. Buy a gun & learn to shoot it
25. Have a yard sale, clean out our junk & start cleaning out Dad's junk.
26. Change my passport to my married name.
27. Visit the thrift stores in Denton & find my favorite stores to meet our needs
28. Purchase a FitBit or similar device. 
29. Finish Cora's Baby Book
30. Do a year calendar for any future kiddos (to heck with this Baby Book thing!)
    
    RELATIONSHIPS
31. Celebrate John & my 4 year anniversary...
32. 5 year anniversary, and...
33. 6 year anniversary.
34. Surprise a friend with flowers!
35. Take John to the driving range
    
    HEALTH/FITNESS
36. Go to the dentist (when I'm not pregnant)
37. Update CPR certification
38. Buy 10 new Essential Oils and learn how to use them.
39. Donate blood at least twice
40. Give up Soda for at least 1 month
41. 1 month break from all fast food
42. Be able to do 100 consecutive pushups! 
43. Run a mile without walking, then...
44. Run a 5 K
    
    ENTERTAINING
45.  Host a party at our house, general dinner party
46.  Host a wine tasting party
47. Host a game watching party for Texas Tech (including using all my Tech house decor!)
    
    FAMILY
48. Establish a good bedtime routine for Coralie & stick to it! 
49. Take the family Bowling! 
50. Take John Ice Skating
51. Celebrate John's 30th birthday!
52. Take family to New Mexico or Colorado (to see the mountains)
53. Go to Vegas!
54. Host a Family Reunion for my Dad's side of the family
55. Have another kiddo, be pregnant or start adoption process
1. Baby #2 Due July 2015
56. Take Cora & Family to the State Fair (again)
57. Take Cora & Family to Six Flags
58. Take a Cruise (5 year anniversary!)
59.  Lake Day with the Family
60. Take a Trip to New York to see Johns Grandparents & to NYC
61.  Go to a Hot Air Balloon Festival
62. Adopt a dog for Cora/the Kids.
63. Send cookies to Joshua in Japan
64. Take family camping at Jellystone Park for a holiday celebration (Halloween or Christmas)
65.  Take family to Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.
66. Visit Dallas Arboretum for a fun seasonal event
67. Purchase bicycles for the rest of the family & go on a family bike ride.
68. Go camping at least once a year
69. Take family to Lake Meridian 
70. John & I tour Llano Estacado Winery in Lubbock
71. Update Wills, Living Wills and other pertinent documents.
72. Set up nursery for future children without buying the "nursery in a bag" thing - do it all piece-meal, preferably from Etsy!
73. Have pictures taken of Cora in my wedding dress
74. Get a couples massage with John
75. Keep cousins Rachel & Andrew for a weekend for my Aunt & Uncle
76. Enroll Cora in a Mothers Day Out Preschool program
77. Start a childrens Christmas Tree tradition & do 18 year ornament project with each kid.
78. For at least 1 week, no meals on the couch, eat at the table for all of them.
    
    FINANCES
79. Close out Capital One 360 savings account & open account with local Credit Union 
80. Budget for all 12 months in a row
81. Be 100% debt free (from student loans, van payment, credit cards & medical debt)
82. Have a 3 month emergency fund in savings
83. Contribute $5 for every task I complete on this list to my IRA.
    
    HOME
84. Have house plans made for building our house!
85. Plant at least 5 new trees
86. Plant garden on our new property
87. Fence the property & install gates
88. Build a wooden picnic table
89. Decorate Master Bedroom
90. Make cloth napkins & use them regularly
91. Create a Gallery Wall with things we already have that need a home/frame.
    
    DIY/PROJECTS
92. Set up sewing machine & make something!
93. Make/Buy 5 new Throw Pillows 
94. Complete 5 DIY Pinterest projects
95. Learn to knit or crochet
96. Create/Have someone make t-shirt quilt
    
    BLOG
97. Set up a Facebook page for my blog
98. Do blog redesign (that's been in the works for the better part of a year...)
99. Attend a blog conference
100. Blog about 75 of these goals & how I achieved them.
101. Create a 30 before 30 list to begin on Oct 2, 2017 and complete on my 30th birthday, January 4, 2019.