Life Changes

This are falling into place yet stressing me out all the same.

First off, we got our new apartment!! We have just over 2 weeks to get everything moved and utilities transferred and what not. 2 weeks is not a lot of time- in fact I'm really stressed about only having 2 weeks to get everything moved when Trav works and I have Sophia. I know we'll have help but in that little time-- I just hope we have enough. Once we are out of here and things start to empty here and fill there I will feel so so so much better.
I'm also looking at going to school for Phlebotomy. I would have to go for Medical Assistance but that could open doors for me to become a full time (or even part time) phlebotomist. It would keep in interested and it would be a HUGE financial benefit for our family. We could actually save for our wedding, a house, and all those other things in between.

I'm excited to move.
I'm excited for summer.
I'll be excited for school, should it work out.
I'm excited for Sophia to have a cleaner, healthier place to live and play.
I'm excited to have a landlord... not a slum lord.
There are many things to celebrate!!

We recently called our landlords about our closet because when you open the door you get punched in the face by a mold/mildew smell. He came over to look at it, said there was nothing wet (ok... obviously there is, mold needs wet to grow) and we are supposed to leave the door open for it to ventilate the closet. Yeah right!! I'm not opening that door so the entire house can fill with mold spores when I have a 9 month old in the house. Needless to say- they aren't going to do anything about it. It's our problem now.
However..
We went to look at a new apartment today downtown Grand Rapids. It's on Crescent St. the two closest cross streets are College and Michigan. It's kind of a fixer upper but it's much better then what we have now! They said we could paint whatever we want, whatever colors (BONUS!) and we fully intend to. It will not only make it nice, but more home-ish. We've already paid for May here so if all goes to plan we can start painting early May and slowly move our stuff so that by June we'll be moved and settled all at the same time. Oh, how wonderful that would be! We are also setting Sophia's swim class in stone this weekend. I think it will be so, so good for her.

I will feel like a huge weight will be off my shoulders if we get this new place. I will be more able to job search as I won't have to plan a time to drive to Grand Rapids, I can just get up and.... go. We won't have to worry anymore about our daughters immediate health as there won't be any mold to deal with. I don't know. It feels like everything is finally falling into place. :)

Swim away, swim away

I've decided to enroll Sophia and I in a parent child swim class. It will be good for me to get in the water and work off some of the extra baby weight I haven't been able to loose, and she loves the water. With my mom owning a pool, my dad having a huge fairly deep pond, and Travis' mom living on a lake..... more fitting reasons to do this. If, for whatever reason, she decides to plow into the water at any given time (which I plan to teach her not to), I want her to have a basic knowledge of what to do to keep herself afloat. Not to mention I don't know how to swim so it will be good for me too!

I think this is the first step to pulling myself out of this rut mentally and physically and it's a first step to teach Sophia a beneficial yet fun lesson.

I just need to find a bathing suit I feel comfortable in. HA! Maybe they'll let me use a wet suit.

9 months!!! And counting...

Officially, today, Sophia is 9 months already. How time flies. She is now pulling herself up to her feet, in fact I went in her room to get her out of her crib after her nap this afternoon to find her standing and freaking out in her crib. She can pull herself up and then panics because she doesn't know how to get back down. Great. So that means what.... in about a month she'll be walking? I'm so not ready.

We took her to Frederick Meijer Gardens the other day. She loved the butterflies, and it was our first noted family outing. It was really nice I wish we could afford to have more family outings like that. It made me re- realize how lucky I am to have a beautiful, happy, healthy daughter and a fiance that loves me. The picture up there is Sophia and Travis in the garden.

Happy Easter, everybody!! Enjoy the day and memories.

Decisions, decisions

Within the next year (revised):

We are looking to move. When you walk into our house it's like literally walking into a wall of mildew or mold and I can't for the life of me figure out where the smell is coming from. I honestly think it's the floor boards and the closet. If we leave for a day we can feel a difference in how we feel and breathe vs when we're at home. I'm tired of putting our health and Sophia's tiny lungs and respiratory system at risk living in mold. Unhealthy. We have enough health issues to worry about already.
We've decided when to get married. No, not an exact date, but we are going to shoot for next summer, that way we have an entire year to plan things out, save up some dough, and take our time so it's done right. This also helps me big time so I can continue my tests and cancer screenings as needed with help from the government I qualify for. When we get married I get no help and there is no way we can afford those tests out of pocket, they are crazy expensive.
We're shaving the cat. I'm so over his hair EVERYWHERE. He's long haired so there is long, white cat hair on everything (all of our furniture and what not is dark) and it's starting to drive me mad.

I don't know what else will pop up within the next year but those are our immediate goals.

It really puts a wrench in my chain when

people that didn't vote say stuff. I understand we're all allowed to have our own opinions but when it comes to the man that RUNS this country, and you chose not to place a vote for one or the other.... you really should watch what you say or just shut your mouth completely. There was a certain person I mentioned this to and s/he told me s/he didn't like either candidate therefore didn't place a vote. S/he didn't like their morals (okay, I understand this to a point), didn't like their religious views (isn't that why there's a separation of church and state?), didn't think either would impact the U.S. in a positive way (then why not pick the lesser of two evils?) and the list went on. Clearly I'm an Obama supporter- YES I VOTED FOR OBAMA. But by the same token, I clearly support his morals, ideals, plans, attempts (even the failed ones), and I fully support the fact that he sets religion aside and that in his first address as President that he listed believers, non believers and everyone in between. He tries to include EVERYBODY.
An open minded person with a solid plan is exactly who I want to front my country.

I don't know why that's been buggin me so bad lately. I see a lot of peoples statues and just comments in general that say things like "swing and miss Obama" and many other derogatory remarks as such and I'm thinking.... 1. there is a comma between miss and Obama. 2. Shut up! You didn't even vote so you don't have the right to bitch. Even had you voted for McCain/Palin I wouldn't be pitching such a fit. At least you voted and expressed your opinion and for that I commend each and every person that voted for McCain.


I'm freakin out today.