Dirty 30

I have officially entered a new decade...YIKES!!! I can only hope the best is yet to come, but my 20's are going to be hard to beat. I don't think there will be as much life changes in my 30's, but I might have the best memories as I watch my girls grow into young ladies. Crazy to think that I will have a 10 and 12 year old to start the next decade!

In my 20's I...
-Had transferred to UND from Dickinson State, one of the best decisions I had made!
-Graduated from UND with a BS in Athletic training
-Accepted a GA position at Bemidji State
-Graduated from BSU with a MS in Education
-Got my first job at Breckenridge High School through then MeritCare, now Sanford
-Met a few Mr. Wrongs that lead me to MR RIGHT!!
-Got married on a gorgeous spring day in May
-Spent a lot of money on booze...but had a lot of fun doing it
-Went from being able to go out every night and stay out late to going to bed at 9:30/10:00
-Went from hangovers that last a day to hangovers that last a week
-Moved to Dickinson
-Moved to Grand Forks
-Moved to Bemidji
-Moved to West Fargo
-Moved to Fergus Falls
-Bought my first car and house in one day
-Sold our first house
-Built our dream house
-Gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Jade
-Gave birth to another adorable baby girl, Megan
-Hosted our first Thanksgiving
-Hosted our first Christmas (right after Jade was born so I really didn't do much)
-Got my first dog
-Learned how to hunt and fish
-Bought our first boat (Just a couple days before my 30th bday)
-Went to Mexico (first time out of the country besides Canada)
-Went to Jamaica
-Went to a Duke basketball game at Cameron Indoor in Durham
-Learned what it's like to love someone else more than words could ever say...3 times!
-"Retired" after almost 5 years of working to stay at home with 2 kids
-Was the Matron of Honor in my best friends wedding
-Was a bridesmaid, an usherette, and a reader in three other of my good friends weddings
-Had to say goodbye to some people I will never forget

I'm sure there are more big milestones I'm missing, but it's 5:30 in the morning and I can't think of any. I think I got the major ones. So here's to leaving the 20's behind and hoping my 30's can come close to comparing. Cheers!

The oldest picture I had on the computer. This is probably from Christmas break one year after I transferred to UND. 

My 22nd birthday, when Nate and I started dating.

Bought a dog...Duke!

My first and only deer so far. 1 for 4 is not a good statistic! However, I have only pulled the trigger once too so that's a great statistic!

Mexico for our honeymoon.

Duke basketball game

Pre-kiddo family

Started fishing, but won't bait my own hook yet.

Bought our first house together.

Happy couple inside our fist home.

Went to Jamaica

Became a family of 3!

Built and moved into our second home. I can't believe I didn't have a picture of the outside, but I don't so this inside picture is the next best thing. We still have a lot of work to do but it's home.

Gave birth to our second baby girl.

Became a Mommy of 2 of the cutest girls!

My cuties!

Big Sister = Big Helper

Our first family of 4 picture!

And then there were 4!

I am finally finding time to get a blog done! Life as we knew it is over and we have opened a new chapter. A chapter I wouldn't say we were ready for, but one that we embraced with open arms. On March 13, we welcomed Megan Grace into our family.

I began having contractions at about 4:30AM on the 12th, her due date! I thought we were going to deliver on her actual due date! As my luck would have it though, I would have to wait. This labor and delivery was so much easier than Jade was. Although I started having contractions 24 hours before delivery, They weren't real painful until about 8 o'clock or so the night before. I also didn't have consistent contractions all day. They were consistant until about 9:30AM and then I would have 1-2 each hour until about 6:00PM when they started coming back more consistently again. I attempted to sleep a little at home, but then decided to just go to the couch and read until our little one was ready to meet us. I went into our bedroom to wake up Nate around 11:30. We left the house around midnight and was admitted around 12:30. I had called my Mom around 8AM and asked her to come down. I told her it was no hurry as the contractions weren't strong, but they were there. She got here early afternoon. I had thought about sending her home with my contractions going away, but was glad she was here once I started having them again! We had no idea what we were going to do with Jade if my Mom wasn't here as we don't know many people in Fergus yet. I delivered just 4 hours after being admitted into the hospital. I was dilated around 5cm when I got there. I got an epidural that worked this time and would have another in a heart beat if I ever deliver again! My water broke on it's own about an hour after I got my epidural. The nurse called the MD after my water broke. By the time he got there, I felt ready to push and he agreed. He had the nurse prep me and get started. I only pushed through one contraction before she went to get the MD. I told them all I was going to be fast. I don't like messing around. From the time of my first push to calling in the doctor and getting him ready to delivery itself was 10 minutes! I think I pushed through 4 contractions is all. The epidural was amazing. I could tell when I was getting a contraction, but had to have Nate or the nurse tell me when it was over. Megan was born at 4:16AM.

Nate brought Jade up the next morning to meet her little sister. That is one memory I hope never fades! I was actually changing rooms when they got there because the birthing center was so full. I got to pick Jade up and show her Megan before we pushed the bassinet down the hall. Once we got in my new room, I asked if she wanted to sit with me and hold Megan. She said yes, so the three of us got to sit together. Jade gave a bunch of hugs and kisses and kept saying "baby," She continues to give Megan lots of love. There have been a few jealous moments for her, espcially when other people are around, which is to be expected. When it's just the 4 of us though, she does good. She loves wearing her big sister shirt too. She picks it out herself often.

Week 1-2 - adjustment weeks! I was lucky to get a shower in this week and was happy with one every other day. Nate just took Thursday/Friday off from work. Megan and I came home Friday. I had my Mom stay until Saturday. Mike and Jean came down to see us on Sunday and then my parents and grandparents came down on Monday. My Dad also visited while we were in the hospital. Megan ate every 2 hours all day and night, which means by the time I was done feeding and got back to bed, I only got to sleep for an hour. She slept fine on her own in the bassinet, which is different than Jade. I slept with Jade on the couch often the first couple weeks (I know you're not supposed to do that, but I needed the sleep!) Tuesday was our first day at home alone. I did fine, life is just much busier with two. I have to time when we go somewhere with when Megan is going to need to eat. I have to make sure Jade is occupied with something while I nurse Megan or she wants up on my lap too. I had to explain to Jade that I feed Jade and when I pump I'm putting milk away. She used to try to hook the pump up to herself and now she thinks she needs my nursing pillow to feed Minnie (or whoever) from her tummy. She is too interested in breast feeding!! I have to admit, it's weird having my 2-year old staring at me while I start nursing. Oh well, she won't remember that right?

Weeks 3-5- we are getting the hang of things! Jade is getting to be better and better with Megan. She thinks it's funny when I talk to Megan and has started to talk to her too. It's absolutely amazing to me to see how much Megan loves Jade already. She watches her when she can find her, she quits crying when you lay her next to Jade in bed... I think Megan knows Jade's voice just as well as mine. Truly amazing!

We are running out of things to do inside and can't wait to get outside more! I wish I would have found time to blog before this as I'm sure I had some funny stories to share, but hopefully I can start those now that I've figured out a time to blog in peace and quite!

Welcome Megan Grace Noland!

Early morning family picture minus our big girl.

Holding little sister for the first time.

Megan has gotton more kisses already than Nate and I have ever got!

Megan's gift to Jade. She loved it!

Megan's first day at home and Jade had to show her some of new things Megan got in the mail.

Red haired cutie!

Megan and Daddy time.

Big sister holding Jade all by herself! I know, I'm daring but she does great!

First bath at home.

Just hanging out.. "Mommy, Megan's holding Jade's hand!" Yes, we are working on talking in the 3rd person, 1st person is hard!

Home Sweet Home

We said goodbye to our home of almost 5 years on Wednesday, February 26. Had we not been in such a rush leaving, I might have shed a few tears. It was the first house Nate and I bought together. We brought our first puppy home to that house after almost a year of living there. It was also the home we started a family in and brought our first baby home to. We built a deck and fence and dog kennel, finished the basement, and bought big ticket items you need for a house: couch, snow blower, lawn mower, deck furniture, etc.

Because moving day was in the middle of the week, we rented a U-Haul the Saturday before we moved to move everything but what we thought we couldn't live without for 4 days. Tyler helped load the U-Haul Friday night and Saturday. My parents came down Saturday morning. Mike and Jean were supposed to help, but their Friday night flight back from Mexico conveniently got canceled until Sunday afternoon. :) (They were stranded in Denver, not Mexico). It would have been nice to have them there, but we managed without them. We loaded the U-Haul and 3 vehicles and drove to Fergus to unload everything into our basement. We thought we had a pretty full trip over, but in hindsight wished we would have taken more as moving day came and Nate and I had to take 2 trips to Fergus on moving day to get everything over. Haha! We thought we could get it all in one trip. Thankfully we have an amazing baby sitter who happened to have class canceled the morning we moved so we were able to take the trip back and forth without Jade! We hired someone to clean the upstairs of our house and left as the carpet cleaners got there. We stayed in a hotel in Fergus the night before closing. Jade got to go swimming and we got to relax for a night. Nate was so tired, he beat Jade to sleep that night.

Closing went smooth. We signed our life away, went to our fist doctor appointment in Fergus right after and finally got to show Jade "the new house" we had been telling her all about. She was excited to get all her toys back! She has made a smooth transition to the new house. I am now glad that we got her into her big bed at the old house so she knew it was hers. We have the crib up in the baby room and she hasn't even asked to get in it. She says "baby's crib." I know kids are resilient, but I was still nervous about all the change! She still asks where Mom and Dad's room is or where her room is because they aren't side by side anymore, but I think she really does like the house. She loves the basement since it's unfinished! She can ride her trike, play basketball, blow bubbles, drive her car, etc.

For me, the house is everything I had hoped it would be. I can't pick one thing that I like most about the house. I love the mudroom already. Our island has already stayed more clean than it did at the old house. We have a big bench with a shelving unit above it for all our coats, hats, mittens, bags, purses, etc. We have a drop zone for mail, keys, and whatever else we carry in that doesn't really have a place to go. The garage is huge and warm! Our kitchen is made to entertain! Our finishes turned out great. I wasn't sure I'd like the two tone on our island, but I love it and we've already had compliments. I love our flooring throughout the house. The master suite is amazing. It's so much bigger than what we had. Nate and I have our own spaces and it's really nice. Jade got to choose her room. She actually chose the smaller of the two rooms, but she seems to like it. She has a bunch of her toys in there to play with and when we were unloading on Thursday she just sat in there and played. I love the built-ins around the TV. I think it adds to our living room. We have tons of cabinet space in the kitchen and a huge pantry too! This house is truly amazing! I could go on and on about the little things of the house I like, but I won't bore anyone with those. All that's left now is the stone on the front of the house, the screened in porch and deck, picking a back-splash, and getting window coverings up, which get installed on Tuesday. We also have the whole basement to finish, but we are thinking about just getting the 2 bedrooms and bathroom done and leaving the unfinished portion for another winter so the kids can play down there for another winter on their outdoor toys. We will have a lot of work to do for landscaping too. One more thing I LOVE...our huge windows and view! I love this "country" living. It's quiet and peaceful.

Nate's "man cave." His 3 stall garage. I have to admit, it's nice to have a big 3-stall garage.

Mud room coming in from the garage. Drop zone straight ahead with 4 junk drawers. Then a door that leads to the laundry room

Mud room. Our version of a locker system.

Kitchen island. The back splash is a work in progress. I didn't want to pick tile for that yet. I wanted to see the counter tops and wood together first. This is coming in from the mud room.

Kitchen - obviously

Dining area and the door at the back leads to our bedroom.

Master bedroom. Again, a work in progress. I need to talk Nate into getting a bedroom set for us.

Closet before all the clothes got in on moving day.

Master closet after unload.

Master bathroom. Our bathroom is between the closet and bedroom.

A look at the master bath without anything moved in yet.

Opposite direction from the last pictures.

Looking out into the kitchen/living room from master bedroom. Our pantry is the door on the left in this picture.

Entry way and stairs to the basement

Another look of the living room/kitchen

Unfinished basement/Jade's play area

Current guest room...lots of privacy

Basement bathroom and another guest bedroom.

Basement setup for the next couple years.

Built-ins around the TV in living room.

A look at our counter tops and flooring. this is our island. We did the bottom granite throughout the kitchen and then did a different granite on the top tier of the island and also did that same granite in the bathrooms. Our floor is a laminate hickory. Love it all!

Megan's room. Still has some things to put on the walls and I am going to paint it this summer.

Megan's room...with my little helper.

Jade's big girl room. She loves her bed! We got it before we moved.

A little messy, but it's also a work in progress that needs some paint and things for the wall.

Home sweet home to our family of FOUR!!

I already caught multiple spelling errors...so I'm sorry if there are still more. I am sleep deprived with a newborn! Hope you all enjoy a small tour of our dream house! Come visit anytime!