Conclusion of my 30 31 Before 30 31!

Well, today is my 31st birthday, and I did it!  It's done!  My 30 Before 30 is complete.  Except I didn't finish by 30 and barely squeaked all the posts in under 31, so I added one to the list.  In my defense, #31 was a pretty big one :)

We just happened to be on a road yesterday with the number 31 :)

Here are all of the posts with the date I actually did them (many times long before I got around to blogging!):

1. Do a 30 Before 30 - January 21, 2011 - July 21, 2014
2. Clean files off of my old computer - January 30, 2011
3. Stay at a world-renowned hotel - March 5, 2011
4. Stop drinking pop (sort of) - July 2011
5. Take a road trip - August 2011
6. Buy a car that I love - August 2011, February 2014
7. Go on a horseback ride - August 4, 2011
8. Move to a new city - August 2011
9. Get a dog - September 11, 2011
10. Spend a day at a spa - November 2011
11. Make Thanksgivng dinner - November 24, 2011
12. Make a blanket out of Taylor's old T-Shirts - December 2011
13. Go a month without watching TV - April 2012
14. Travel to Europe - May 11 - 26, 2012
15. Do a mud run obstacle course race - June 2, 2012
16. Get a new hairdo - July 20, 2012
17. Buy myself an expensive piece of jewelry - August 28, 2012
18. Complete 12 half marathons - October 20, 2012
19. Read the Bible all the way through in one year - October 23, 2012
20. Go viral - December 2012
21. Snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef - January 1, 2013
22. Go to a Top 40 concert - February 13, 2013
23. Go on an international mission trip - March 2013
24. Buy a house - March 16, 2013
25. Get LASIK surgery - April 17, 2013
26. Take a class in something that interests me - May 2013
27. Be able to do 10 pushups - May 16, 2013
28. Take an amazing vacation - May 24 - June 24, 2013
29. Ride every roller coaster at Cedar Point in one day - July 14, 2013
30. Travel to San Francisco - August 30 - September 3, 2013
31. Have a baby! - July 2013/April 15, 2014

Introducing Eli David Smith - born April 15, 2014

If you care at all about me/my blog, I'm sure you already know this, but we had a son!  Eli David Smith was born on April 15, 2014 at 12:56am.  Here's the official announcement:

As any parent knows, it has been a whirlwind.  Eli turns 3 months tomorrow, and it's crazy how he has changed.  Here are answers to some common questions and some of my favorite tidbits:

• Eli now sleeps from about 10pm to 5am, eats, and goes back to sleep for a couple more hours.  I can't complain :)
• The first few weeks were tough and I definitely feel like I had the post-partum blues, but luckily they did not last and things are good now :)  
• Eli LOVES to stand, and I think he's going to be an early walker
• I love hearing him laugh and coo, so adorable (see videos below)
• Nashville has adjusted pretty well to not being an only child anymore
• Right now, Eli weighs about 15lbs.  At his 2-month check-up he was in the 88th percentile for height and the 78th for weight, so he's a big boy :)

And here are some photos and videos from throughout Eli's life so far.  We love him so much!

Professional photos taken less than 24 hours after birth :)

Eli's first Easter

A bunch of Eli and Nash strung together

Eli's first almost smile on Mothers Day :)

On his 2 month birthday

Some of my faves

Eli already took his first trip overseas, going to England to meet Aunt Kim and Uncle Will!

With Big Ben

Sleeping peacefully on the plane.

Probably the funniest baby video ever and I don't think I'm even biased!

Eli's newest tricks:

Talking

Playing with toys

Laughing:

Eli David Smith's Birth Story

Well, it's about time I get around to this post!  Eli will be three months old tomorrow :)  I actually wrote my birth story (and journal entries for the first month of Eli's life) a while ago, but I'm just getting around to posting it.  I apologize if this is monumentally boring to you, but documenting it is important to me so here it goes!

Sunday, April 13th was a beautiful night, and we went out to dinner at Frida Batidos in downtown Ann Arbor.  We sat outside with our friends and their 7 month old son.  When we stood up from dinner, I felt a small gush in my underwear.  I went inside to check out what it was and it was “bloody show” (not my water breaking).  Based on what our Doula, Cynthia, had told us, I knew that this was a sure sign that contractions would be starting soon.  When I told Taylor, the look on his face was priceless – it was go time.

We stopped at 7-Eleven on the way home to pick up some 5 hour energy and Gatorade and headed home at around 8pm.  When we got there, I texted Cynthia who said to get some rest since we might not be getting any sleep the rest of the night and to let her know once contractions started and had been going for an hour to give her an idea of length, spacing, intensity.

Contractions didn’t start until around 12:40am, and they were very mild.  They increased in intensity and frequency throughout the night and by 8am were over a minute long and intense enough that I could not talk through them.  I also started vomiting and was unable to keep down any of the liquids I was taking in.  We stayed in touch with Cinthia throughout the morning.  Taylor was absolutely amazing throughout all of this.  He stood by me during each contraction, timed them, and coached me to stay loose in my hands and neck rather than tensing up.  I expected that he might stop doing this once other people were around and able to step in, but he never stopped being my coach, even until the very end when Eli came out.

At around 2pm, Cynthia decided it was time for her to come and observe my labor, which she did from 2pm to 5:30 when, based on the timing of contractions and on her observation of my pain, we decided it was probably time to head to the hospital.  Riding to the hospital, I was on my hands and knees on the back seat with my head over the carseat and a bowl in the carseat in case I got sick.  Not exactly the image I had in my head of Taylor and I lovingly looking at each other and remarking how our lives would never be the same :)  We arrived at the hospital, went in to triage, and started to monitor baby and contractions.  At this point, the contractions “spaced out” which is apparently normal when changing environments.  When the midwife came in to check me, she asked questions about intensity, frequency, and by the look on her face, I could tell that she didn’t think I was in active enough labor to be at the hospital.  However, when she administered my first exam, she (and everyone else!) was shocked to find that I was already 9 cm dilated! She confirmed that my water hadn’t broken and the baby was in good position.

With Cynthia in Triage

In Triage

This earned me admission to a tub room, and we headed up to labor for the final 1cm.  After a couple of hours without feeling the urge to push, the midwife checked me again to find that I still had a little more to go and we decided she would rupture my membranes to try to get things moving.  Another hour and she did an exam to find that I was fully dilated.  Now all that was left was waiting for me to feel the urge to push.

We waited another hour or so and still nothing, so the midwife decided to “teach” me to push while applying pressure in the birth canal in hopes of getting things moving.  I pushed through a few contractions and while I still didn’t feel the “urge,” it was making progress.  Once they could see Eli’s head, they inserted a heart monitor under his skin because they were having trouble finding his heartbeat.

As he made it down the birth canal, they continued to “lose” his heartbeat on the monitor and as he was close to crowning, became concerned enough that the midwife recommended and administered an episiotomy.  Of course, this was not what we hoped for, but it did the trick and after a couple more contractions, Eli David Smith emerged at 12:56am weighing 8lbs, 3oz, screaming bloody murder and healthy as can be. When he emerged, the cord was wrapped around his neck and tied in a knot, which they said was probably the reason that they were having trouble finding his heartbeat and that I was having trouble pushing him out the last little bit.  However, none of that mattered because our son was here and we were so in love!

One of Eli's first pics :)

I was so happy that my sister was actually in town the weekend Eli was born.  We had joked that if he came a little early she could be there, but never expected it to happen :)  She and our friend Carole waited patiently at the hospital the whole time and were able to come in about an hour after Eli was born.  They even captured his birth and first cries (audio only!) on their phones, which is really cool to be able to hear.  Shortly after Taryn and Carole joined us, we FaceTimed with both sets of parents (at like 3am!) to introduce them to their new grandson :)  It was a beautiful experience.

Afterward, I felt pretty good besides being very tired.  They moved out new little family to a recovery room around 4am and for the first time we were alone with our boy.  Since we hadn't really slept the night before, we went to bed pretty much as soon as we were in there, and got a couple precious hours of sleep before the long line of nurses and doctors started.  At one point, Taylor woke me up because he thought Eli was hungry.  I swear,  I was in such a deep sleep that when I woke up it took me a while to figure out where I was and what had just happened!  We stayed one more night in the hospital to get past the 24 hour mark and were discharged on Eli's actual due date.  Overall I had a fantastic birth experience, I wouldn't change a thing!

30 Before 30: Ride every roller coaster at Cedar Point in one day

If you are from any state bordering Ohio, you no doubt grew up going to Cedar Point.  I LOVED Cedar Point as a kid/teenager.  I even had a season pass one summer.  I have many memories of spending summer days sweating profusely while waiting an inordinate amount of time to ride a 2-minute roller coaster.  For this 30 Before 30, we had to invest in something they didn't have when I was a kid, the Fast Pass.  Basically, it allows you to skip the lines and ride roller coasters much faster.  It is literally impossible to do what we did in a day without it, because lines for some rides can be hours long (seriously!).  Here are photos and stats of each coaster we rode: 

Mean Streak - Wooden Coaster
Year Built: 1991
Duration: 3 minutes 13 seconds
Top Speed: 65 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 161/155
Max Vertical Angel: 52
Claim to Fame: Was worlds tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster when it opened.  Longest roller coaster ride at Cedar Point.

Corkscrew - Sit-down Coaster
Year Built: 1976
Duration: 2 minutes 0 seconds
Top Speed: 48 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 85
Claim to Fame: When it was built, it was the first coaster in the world with three inversions.  Has had 30 million riders in its lifetime.

Magnum - Sit-down Coaster
Year Built: 1989
Duration: 2 minutes 0 seconds
Top Speed: 72 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 205/194.7
Max Vertical Angel: 60
Claim to Fame: I have a distinct memory of the first time my parents took me to Cedar Point and left my siblings at home (they were too young for roller coasters).  I was TERRIFIED the entire time in line for Magnum and still get scared riding it to this day.

Raptor - Inverted Coaster
Year Built: 1994
Duration: 2 minutes 16 seconds
Top Speed: 57 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 137/119
Max Vertical Angel: 45
Claim to Fame: Best ride at Cedar Point!  I once waited 2.5 hours in 90 degrees to ride this ride!

Top Thrill Dragster - Hydraulically Launched Thrill Coaster
Year Built: 2003
Duration: 30 seconds
Top Speed: 120 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 420/400
Max Vertical Angel: 90
Claim to Fame: Launched by hydraulics and hit 120 mph in 3.8 seconds!

maXair - Giant Frisbee
Year Built: 2005
Top Speed: 70 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 140
About: maXair is a "Giant Frisbee" "coaster," one of only two in existence.  It is basically a giant ring of riders facing out which swings 120 degrees back and forth.

GateKeeper - Wing Coaster
Year Built: 2013
Duration: 2 minutes 40 seconds
Top Speed: 67 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 170/164
Claim to Fame: Largest Wing Coaster in the world.  Riders are suspended on either side of the track.

Cedar Creek Mine Ride - Wooden Coaster
Year Built: 1969
Duration: 2 minutes 42 seconds
Top Speed: 42 mph
Max Height: 48 feet

Iron Dragon - Inverted Swinging Coaster
Year Built: 1987
Duration: 2 minutes 0 seconds
Top Speed: 40 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 76
Claim to Fame: One of my favorite rides in the park.

Maverick - Sit-down Launched Coaster
Year Built: 2007
Duration: 2 minutes 30 seconds
Top Speed: 70 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 105/100
Max Vertical Angel: 95
Claim to Fame: This was my first time riding Maverick (only coaster I hadn't written)

Gemini
Year Built: 1978
Duration: 2 minutes 20 seconds
Top Speed: 60 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 125.3/118
Max Vertical Angel: 55
Claim to Fame: Dueling trains run side-by-side throughout the ride.

Blue Streak
Year Built: 1964
Duration: 1 minute 45 seconds
Top Speed: 40mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 78/72
Max Vertical Angel: 52
Claim to Fame: First coaster at Cedar Point

Mantis - Stand-up Coaster
Year Built: 1996
Duration: 2 minutes 40 seconds
Top Speed: 60 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 145/137
Max Vertical Angel: 52
Claim to Fame: Only stand-up coaster at Cedar Point.  Gives a wicked headache!

Wicked Twister - Inverted Coaster
Year Built: 2002
Top Speed: 72 mph
Max Height/Drop in feet: 215/206
Max Vertical Angel: 90
Claim to Fame: Largest of its kind in the world.  Almost made me puke when I rode it last in our day.

What a fun day!!

30 Before 30: Get LASIK Surgery

[Sorry for the delay in posts.  Having a baby takes the blogging right out of you!  I promise to post about that soon, but in the meantime, here's a long-delayed 30 Before 30 post!]

I think this one might win for longest delayed blog on my 30 Before 30!  I am going to chalk it up to wanting to make sure it sticks before I blog it, haha :)  So I have always wanted to get LASIK surgery, but I knew that I needed to wait until my vision was stabilized.  I also knew that I wanted to use pre-tax dollars set aside to pay the several-thousand dollar cost.  So before the end of 2012, I went in to an optometrist in Ann Arbor for a vision-check and found out that I qualified from a vision-stabilization standpoint.  Then, I had to go to the actual Lasik place to make sure that my corneas were thick enough for laser-correction to fix my vision.  I went in in December and went through a series of tests on fancy-looking machines.  They dilated my eyes, puffed them with air, you name it.  At the end of the day, I passed all the tests and was deemed a candidate for LASIK!

I put it off a little, but in early 2013, I finally called and scheduled my surgery for April 17, 2013.  What's funny about that particular date is that it happens to be almost exactly a year before my due date with Eli (April 16, 2014).  A couple of weeks before my surgery, I went in for a re-check to make sure that I was still a candidate.  Then, I left to go visit my mom in Arizona for her 50th birthday.  While we were there, we decided that it would be great if she could be at our house for the surgery to help me out.  It also coincided nicely with our housewarming party on April 20th so we bought her a ticket (with miles!).

April 17th rolled around and my mom was in town.  We headed to TLC LASIK at around 11am.  I checked in and was asked to pay for the procedure.  It was around $2,500.  I first tried to use my credit card, but it was declined!  I had never made a purchase that expensive and I think it caused me to hit my credit limit (oops!).  Then, I tried to use my FSA money but since the charge was for more than my balance, that too was declined.  My mom ended up having to run to Taylor's school and bring back his AMEX to pay with.  Embarrassing!  After I paid, I sat down and waited for them to be able to see me.  The wait was quite long, so I planned to work right up until the procedure.  First, they called me in to check my eyes to make sure everything was still in good shape for the procedure (no new stigmatisms, etc.).  I passed the test and was sent out to wait some more.

They called me in for the procedure around 1pm.  The doctor was new to me (to that point I had only seen technicians.  He was really nice.  In the room there was also a nurse to assist the doctor. First they walked me through what to expect, then they got started.  First, they propped each eye open separately.  I was wide awake for the whole procedure, but did not feel any pain, just pressure.  Each eye lasted just a minute or two.  After the procedure was done, they covered my eyes and lead me to another room while they confirmed (via their machines, I suppose) that everything had gone well.  Then, they led me out to the waiting room where my mom was waiting and we headed out to the car.  I was able to open my eyes just a slit to see that my vision was perfect!  I was in no pain or anything, but I kept my eyes closed like they told me to :)

Straight from the office, we headed to Starbucks where my mom went in and got me an iced coffee.  Then, we went to Home Depot to pick up the cover for our new grill.  It was when we were in the parking lot at Home Depot (my eyes were closed and I wasn't "cheating" anymore) that my eyes started to feel VERY scratchy, itchy, and watery.  It was like a light switch switched and all of a sudden I was miserable.  After Home Depot, we headed home.  Our friend Randy came by shortly after we got home to drop off the grill (he had picked it up for us).  It was funny because I was still not able to open my eyes, so I had to thank him with my eyes closed!

I went in to our bedroom, shut the shades, and laid there with my eyes closed for several hours.  Slowly, the burning and itching started to wear off.  By late evening, I was feeling well enough to open my eyes a little bit.  The doctor said to limit my "open" time to an hour or so, which I did, but I have to say, it was AMAZING to be able to see so well!  I went to bed and when I woke up, I honestly did not even feel like I had had a procedure at all.  Besides the fact that I had to do these milky-white sticky drops twice a day for a few days and then sensitive eyes drops for a month, I couldn't even tell anything had happened.  I had to go back to the eye doctor for checkups at 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and one year, and each time, everything has looked great.  I go weeks without even thinking about my vision because it is perfect now and I never have to put in contacts or put on glasses.  It's one of the best things I have ever done, and I'm so glad I did it!