I celebrated my 30th birthday yesterday. It feels good to be 30. It feels especially good to be in a new decade, and one that isn’t shared with the memories, fun, and immaturity of my early-to-mid 20s.

I thought I’d share a list of 30 things I’ve learned in my 30 years.

1. It works out better when you take your time to make a big decision. Sometimes when things don’t happen immediately, there’s a good reason.

2. College was great, but there is a lot of life to live after college.

3. All those times I moved were just helping to broaden my circle of friends. And now I’m so very thankful to have friends all over the country.

4. A phone call with a far-away friend or with your parents can completely lift your spirits.

5. Being friendly, inclusive, and open-minded is always good. No one likes being the new girl, so helping someone not feel like the new girl will make her day. And you may even make a new friend.

 

6. When being asked to travel, always, always say yes.

7. When being asked to volunteer, really think it over and try to figure out if it will help or hurt your family.

8. Always remember that just because you think you know how to do it, someone else may have a better solution. This tid bit comes in really handy during motherhood.

9. Think really hard about the name you give your blog, if you choose to blog. You may not always want to write about wedding-related things.

10. When trying to make a decision, don’t ask the opinion of everyone you know. Instead, rely on a small group of people to offer trusted advice, and in the end, listen to what God is telling you to do.

11. We’re all working on different timelines. Some will get married years before others, some may have kids immediately, and some may choose to never have children. But don’t compare your life’s timeline to someone else’s and feel disappointed. God knows the plans He has for us all.

12. Learn how to balance your checkbook at an early age. And don’t get a credit card in college.

13. Kids are imaginative, hilarious, and they’re their own people. Dress them the way they want to dress, and let them have a few freedoms when they’re little. It’s fun to see their personalities come to life, and let them get their way when they feel passionately about something.

14. It’s exhausting (and expensive) to try to buy a new outfit for every occasion. Shop your closet.

 

15. Always travel with a small fan. It’s the perfect thing for white noise and hotels make it so hard to regulate your sleeping temperature.

16. Don’t make one of those lists entitled “My future husband must be/have/do…” There’s a very high probability that the love of your life and “the one” will be nothing like the imaginary man you created on paper.

17. Movie theater popcorn, Mexican food, and pizza don’t taste nearly as great without a Diet Coke.

 

18. Have dance parties in your house, and just let loose. It’s the perfect distraction during the “witching hour” when your babies are tiny and crying or when your toddler is so ready for Daddy to get home.

19. Be a good friend. Be trustworthy and keep your word. Be the kind of friend you want to have.

20. Don’t fool yourself into thinking your life is a romantic comedy. Perfection is boring. Enjoy the life you were blessed with and choose to be content. Your home may be messier and your cookies may be burned. Your wardrobe may not be as trendy and your car may be running on its last leg. It’s okay to stop comparing.

21. Being hospitable is really fun, and creating a beautiful home can be really fun. But cherishing your company and celebrating holidays with family is much more fun without the stress of having the perfect “welcome baskets.”

 

22. Tell your kids how much they’re loved, not how special they are. They’ll grow up knowing their parents adore them without feeling like they’re better than anyone else.

23. It’s okay not to do things the way you always thought you’d do them. You may take a different job or live in a different city. You may have kids at a young age or an older age than you always thought. You aren’t bound to your plan. You’re living God’s story and following His plan.

24. Life goes on. Try not to waste too much time worrying about little bumps in the road.

25. Watch old movies and don’t be afraid to admit that you never really liked Top Gun.

26. Allow yourself time to get sucked into mindless TV late at night. It may be a waste of time, but it’s nice to forget your responsibilities and to-do list for a while.

 

27. Reading is fun, and it’s the best conversation-starter.

28. When planning your wedding, if you want to have 12 bridesmaids, go ahead and have 12 bridesmaids. And if you don’t want to have any bridesmaids, that’s okay, too. It’s your day and you get to decide.

29. Find friends who love your children. You never know when you’ll have a middle-of-the-night emergency and you’ll need them to come to your rescue. (And love your friends’ kids, and offer to help!)

30. 30 is so much better than 20!

 

What would you add to this list?

When I first found out that Hudson would be a boy, I had some early plans for the nursery. I wanted it to be happy, bright, and gender neutral for the most part.

I wanted to focus on a lot of yellows, greens, some red and some blue. I found about five different fabrics and focused on decorating a nursery around those fabrics. My mom is a decorator and I felt so fortunate that she was able to help me plan and give me some great resources to find our furniture and choose colors.

We had an old antique pie safe that had been in our family for a long time. I decided to refinish it, remove the doors, and use it for storage and display shelves in the nursery. I love the way it turned out! We displayed books, frames, some keepsake gifts and a stack of folded baby blankets.

I decided to paint the walls a yummy buttery yellow. We loved the idea of painting vertical stripes on one of the walls. Fortunately, we hired a painter to do that job!

It took a long time to find the perfect rug. I searched for months and finally found one at a nice home furnishings store, but it was sold out. We happened to find it on eBay one day and we were so excited!

We ended up having the beddings and curtains custom made because I was kind of particular about what kind of “boy bedding” I wanted. We also found a comfortable glider and glider ottoman that we had recovered in fabric to match. Next to the chair, we had a small end table covered with a table cloth that matched the bedding. This was so great at bed time and middle of the night feedings. There’s a clock on that table, and a lamp and white noise machine. Instead of just a changing table, we decided to get a changing table top to go on top of a larger dresser. We needed as much storage as we could get and we also needed a changing table.

My favorite thing about the nursery is the art work that our dear family friend painted for us. She told us that she prayed for Hudson while she painted the art, and she also painted all of her prayers for him. If you look closely, you can see words like discernment, wisdom, friendship, faithfulness, etc. It makes me tear up every time I look at it.

On one of the walls, we put a picture of Todd, Boudreaux, and me from our engagement session. This is one of our favorite pictures and we wanted to have a picture of us in Hudson’s room.

When Hayes was born, we switched up the artwork so that his name is now on the wall, but everything else stayed the same. I loved being able to use all of our nursery furnishings and decor again for our second baby. Our nursery is still my favorite room in our house, and I’m so sad to leave it when we move from here. I feel like the nursery is the one room in the house where you can just decorate exactly how you want to and let your creativity flow!

How did you decorate your nursery? Did you want a bright nursery or a calm nursery? Did you have a theme?

Check out the Huggies Mommy Answers Facebook app and find more posts from bloggers sharing their experiences of motherhood on the Huggies page on BlogHer.com.

Any Sixteen Candles fans out there? I could quote that movie all day long. Hopefully you all know that’s what the title of this post is!

I had a few minutes for a quick post to let you all know what we’ve been up to lately. The boys don’t have school today because it’s… ahem… election day. (Did you vote?)

So here are some snip-its of what’s going on in the Carroll house right now!

Packing. Lots of packing. There are just nine more days until we walk out of our little house where we’ve grown our family.

House-hunting, offering, negotiating. And more house-hunting. And waiting.

Reading picture books and board books and big people books.

Doing my weekly Bible study.

Taking family photos with Millie Holloman for our Christmas cards. Millie posted this on Instagram the other night. She took a picture of us with her iPhone during the session. We love Millie and were so excited to see her again!

Planning the decorations for Holiday Market. (Coming up on November 28!)

Planning a trip to Kiawah for my 30th birthday.

Getting excited about seeing my mom this week as we celebrate my birthday.

Chasing and running and giggling. The boys are playing together more and more and it absolutely thrills me to hear them laugh together.

Singing “Never ever ever ever.” Yes, Hudson has become a Taylor Swift fan because he thinks her new song is just hilarious. He sings it whenever he hears it, and even requests it. (This is probably one of those things he’ll wish I never shared.)

and… Voting. I got up at 6:15 today and went to our voting location while Todd got the boys dressed for the day when they got up. I got there at 7:00 and was finished by 8:30. I was number 97 in our precinct. I love election day, the sense of patriotism and the sense of community that we have in our neighborhood.

I hope you’re all doing well. I’m apologizing in advance for the upcoming onslaught of Huggies posts. We’re nearing the end of that campaign and those posts are all scheduled to post within the next few weeks. Thanks for the grace, friends!

Before we had kids, our dogs, Boudreaux and Fiona, were everything to us. They were our little babies. We spent so much time doing fun things with them and we couldn’t wait to get home from work to see them every day.

When I was pregnant with Hudson, Fiona and Boudreaux never left my side. Fiona had puppies about a year before Hudson was born, so we felt like she was very much aware of what was going on.

As I prepared the nursery, I let Fiona and Boudreaux hang out in there if they wanted to. For the most part, they’d just sniff around and then go about their business. But one day I moved all of the stuffed animals into our study because we were painting. I walked by the study and found Fiona all nestled up in the baby’s stuffed animals.

Our labor and delivery nurse when Hudson was born, suggested we take one of the blankets that he had been wrapped in and let the dogs sniff the blanket to get used to the baby’s smell before we came home from the hospital. Todd brought the blanket home and showed it to the dogs a few hours before Hudson came home from the hospital.

We never had a single problem with either baby. Boudreaux and Fiona mostly ignored Hudson (and also Hayes) but would occasionally lie down beside him on the play mat or just sit near him. But they didn’t do a lot of sniffing or licking. It was just very sweet.

When I was waking up sometimes twice a night with Hudson in those first couple of months, I would sometimes get very lonely. A dark house in the middle of the night can be a little bit creepy. But every night when I’d tiptoe into Hudson’s room with a warm bottle, sweet little Fiona would be right behind me. She was our little companion during those feedings. She’d sit with me, loyally, while I fed, burped, changed, swaddled, and rocked sweet little Hudson.

I took this picture of her sitting in the nursery in the middle of the night. She had claimed Hudson’s little chair as her own and I could always count on her to be there with me every night.

As much as I didn’t want it to, having my babies did change how much time I had to give to my sweet dogs. I love them so much, and I’m glad that the boys are growing up and playing with them more.

To Todd’s credit, he still feels the exact same way about the dogs that he always has, but they’ve taken more of a backseat for me.

But when I stop to look at their little faces and try to forget about how the barking woke a baby, or how Boudreaux’s tail knocked someone over, I remember just how much I love them. I’m glad they’re with us and I’m so happy our boys get to grow up with two sweet dogs who love them.