Bring IT On!

IT being my last day of clinic tomorrow morning! I am so ready to just go and get it over with… really really badly and I have this overwhelming feeling that it is all I am going to be dreaming about tonight no matter what I try and do so I don’t dream about it. I plan on going to be early because I slept craptasitcally last night and really would like a good night sleep before tomorrow morning… just might be nice, you know?

I don’t have to be in the clinic until 9am tomorrow, but should probably be in a little before that? I don’t know, I just have a hard time justifying being in at 7:30 when clinic doesn’t start until 9am, especially since whatever I have to do in the morning to get things ready takes at max a half hour. So get in at 7:30 and be done with everything by 8am and then sit around for an hour worrying about my practical exam? Not so much! But nevertheless, I will probably be in shortly after 7:30 to get everything up and running and start writing my report just to get ahead of the game. Sounds like a good plan to me! And to get out of the ABR that is scheduled at 9am with my second year and supervisor, I volunteered to go first with my practical… that and I really just wanted to get it over with so I wouldn’t be sitting there wondering and worrying about it the whole time.

In other news, thanks to staying on campus for three hours extra today that I really needed to because my second year had hearing aid duty and I really didn’t want to flake on her and go home because I was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to call me if anything came in… I stayed after I was done with work. I stayed and almost finished one lab that is due Friday, I stayed and not only started, but also finished a presentation that I have to due next Monday, I stayed and spent too much time getting bored. I’m not complaining about the lack of homework and projects that I have to do at the end of this semester because it is really relaxing, but there is just enough to keep me a little too busy to want to start my book over.

However, hopefully after tomorrow, I will feel a little more weight lifted off my shoulders with clinic being done and will be able to restart my Stephen King book that I bought a few weeks ago and never got into… hopefully! Because after clinic tomorrow, I will only have one or two questions on my lab to finish and then start studying for a final next week. Oh, I also have a small presentation to do for our clinic meeting on Thursday morning, but actually the other students have to answer the questions, I just have to read off a sheet of paper which is fine with me! I have the easy part! Not worried about that!

Speaking of wanting to get my book started… Jay just purchased the Kindle 2 for me to Christmas today! I’m so excited! And I would like to finish the book that I have sitting on my dresser before I download something new to try out the Kindle. And yes, I admit that I most likely will be ‘trying out’ my Kindle before Christmas… Jay and I are not really big on wrapping the gifts we get each other and waiting until the ‘day’ to open them. Mostly because they aren’t surprises and so it would be a waste of wrapping paper to wrap them and then wait. I suppose we could wait until Christmas, but well… we don’t. But we do for Ayden as obviously he doesn’t know what he is getting.

Well, most of the time he doesn’t know what he is getting. I’m such a ‘dumb’ mom this year because I put all of the presents that I bought so far in his closet thinking they would be fine in there for a day or two before I moved them to some place safe… stupid stupid move Ashley! Of course Ayden is going to find some reason that he needs to open his closet and then take that opportunity to go through the shopping bags in there to see what is in them and then question you about a few of the things that just might be for him. Of course he is! At least we have 25 days until Christmas… maybe he will forget by then! And of course I moved the presents now!

Here is the lovely Kindle 2 that I will be getting in the mail sometime next week! Merry Christmas to me! Can’t wait to get my hands on it! I’d wish for it to get here this weekend since Jay and Ayden will most likely be gone for most of it again, but I know that I wouldn’t get any of the studying done that I need to and/or read any of the book that is sitting lonely on my dresser right now. So, alas, despite me wanting it to come within the five days instead of nine days… next week sometime will most likely be perfect!

And here is the trailer to the movie Dear John… another of Nicholas Sparks books made into a movie. You know… The Notebook and Nights in Rodanthe. Both of which I loved, although I was slightly upset with the ending of Nights in Rodanthe just because well… it was sad! Anyways, I can’t remember well enough if I have read this book or not. I do not have it sitting downstairs among two other Nicholas Sparks books that I have yet to read (I really love his books!) which makes me believe that I haven’t read it yet. So, I’m thinking that that just might be the first book that I purchase with the Kindle and read. His books are usually really good and easy reads, not to mention sometimes tear jerkers. So yeah… anyways, this looks like a really good movie, not to mention that I think Channing Tatum is pretty easy on the eyes and I love the girl actress (sorry her name escapes me at this moment) in one movie which name also escapes me, ha! I’m so good, eh? Anyways, the girl actress is going to be in another movie coming out soon that looks good as well. Something about Romeo and Juliet…. chick flick to say the least. Hope you enjoy the trailer! I really did!

Other than school being done soon… I’d have to say that life is going pretty good for the most part. I’m relatively happy with everything that is going on. I know that things could be worse, but things could also be better. But I also know that I am more than grateful for everyone and everything in my life, so I need to be conscious of the days that things aren’t going exactly how I’d like them and appreciate what I do have because so many don’t even have that.

For now, I’m pretty stuck on that after tomorrow… I am clinic free for a MONTH AND A HALF! How great is that! Wish me luck with my practical exam! Time to get the little dude into bed!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Christmas Cards

It will be December in just a matter of days… so what does that mean? Christmas cards! Okay, so maybe Christmas is a few weeks away yet, but I couldn’t help myself. Actually, I’ve had our Christmas card done now for a few weeks. Pathetic, huh?! I was just really eager to get it done and I love it! What do you think? When I asked my mom she thought it should have pictures with snow in them, but well I’m hoping we don’t get accumulating snow until Christmas and it would just be too late to put my card together then, right? Probably not, but I like how the colors seem to coordinate as well. I have to admit that I did not come up with this all on my own, but did take some inspiration after looking around online a little bit. I think it turned out absolutely adorable!

The only thing that I’m not completely sure of is the whole ‘love, the hoerth’s’ since technically I’m not a Hoerth (yet)… In the past, I’ve signed the cards ‘love jay, ashley, and ayden’ but I didn’t want to take up the whole square with that and sort of like how it looks. My concession is that Jay and I have been together for years, are engaged, and at some point I will be a Hoerth… so is it that big of a deal? I don’t usually send out cards to anyone but close family, so its not like I’ll be sending a card to someone in the family that we don’t see very often and they will wonder when Jay and I ran off and got married and why they weren’t invited… at least I don’t think anyone that I plan on sending cards to will think that? I didn’t wonder about that until just now. Hmm… I might have to change it. I sent it to my mom when I made it to get her opinion on it and she didn’t say anything about it. And really I don’t care what people think about how I decide to sign our name.

Next you will find the Christmas cards that I have made through the past years, well actually, just two of them and then the pictures that I used. I love this first one! The setup could be better, but I did what I could with the camera I had and thought it turned out absolutely adorable!

I don’t think I made a Christmas card the next year (our first year in Point), but I did take a family picture! If I would have made a card, this is the picture that I most likely would have used! For Ayden’s third Christmas, I know I made a card and I found the picture that I used, but unfortunately I couldn’t find the actual card that I made up. Oh well… at least I remember the picture I used, hehe!

And for Ayden’s fourth Christmas, I used something similar to the following picture. Once again, unfortunately I could not find the card I made up, nor do I think this is the exact picture I used because it is kind of blurry. Anyways, our first real Christmas tree as a family and another Christmas picture down!Last year I found this awesome website where I could make my own Christmas cards for free just by plopping in my pictures! The website now makes you pay for using it which really sucks, but at least I got these cute cards out of it! The first year I made a variety of cards and honestly, they were pretty much slopped together! I don’t really care for all of the picture choices, but they looked cute enough at the time being and were free! And above you have these  years concoction!

 

It’s really no secret that I love being creative with stuff… I enjoy it way too much probably… oh well! Who’s going to stop me?!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Past Couple of Days

It’s Saturday and I’ve effectively done nothing ALL day long! It feels pretty great, but I also know that I have a lot that I could have gotten done. I have lots of laundry to do, presents that could be wrapped, homework that needs to be completed, dishes that I could do if I were being nice to Jay, but all I did was lay on the couch and watch movies and TV all day. And boy was it relaxing! I slept in AND took a nap! I’m hoping that I will be able to sleep tonight, but probably not, thus that is why I am hoping to get a start on the paper that I should be writing as I am writing this.

On Wednesday Ayden and I headed ‘home’ after he got done with school. I packed up the car before he was done and possibly didn’t forget anything which was good. We made it just as far as I would have liked before it got super dark. The driving was too bad given it was the day before Thanksgiving and we ended up on the worst part of the drive right around rush hour and it was dark and rainy out! Obviously I would have liked it to not be dark, not be raining, and not be driving there during rush hour, but we made it! It definitely wasn’t too horrible.

We headed straight to my mom’s house because I wanted to drop my computer off so her husband could look at it for me. We had supper there and played some games of Monopoly Deal and then headed off to Jay’s parents just before Criminal Minds was about to begin. That show recap should be a post in an of itself… UGH… HATED IT! But then again it was also so good. *Sidenote… totally watching Criminal Minds reruns on A&E right now! I hated that they killed of Hotchner’s wife and how they did it and was totally almost bawling watching it, but do understand that it makes for good show plots, you know? Ugh, hate those writers! Lol! But will still be watching it every week!

Thursday was Thanksgiving and we headed out early to my dad’s house so we could follow him to my aunt and uncle’s house, where they were having Thanksgiving. It was a great time! Ayden ran around with Mitchell and Alexis all afternoon! It’s great that they all get along so well and are at an age where constant supervision by someone is not necessary. Obviously, with enough adults around, someone is making sure they are behaving and playing safely, but it doesn’t require constant adult interference which gave me some time to catch up with family. It was a good time! We ended up leaving a little later than I thought that we would, but Jay was having fun playing cards and I didn’t care. I mean, it was his family that we were off to see next and if he wanted to spend an allotted amount of time with them, he should have had us leave earlier. Oh well!

Anyways, then we headed to his parent’s house for their Thanksgiving and only stayed for a little under two hours. Jay was all ready to go and hang out with my family and play cards with them. I was surprised that he wanted to leave so quickly, but I wasn’t going to argue with him about it. We were at my aunt and uncle’s house (on my mom’s side) from about 7-11pm and we had a good time there as well! Ayden was busy playing with more cousins and I was able to visit with family again. All in all it was a great day! Happy late Thanksgiving everyone!

Black Friday held lots of deals, although I don’t think I ended up with too many of them. I headed out with my friend to go shopping. We didn’t leave early at all and only headed out to Fond Du Lac (sp?)… We hit up Walmart where I was able to get quite a few things for people. Shopko left me with two new pair of news and a few more things for others. I mean who could pass up BoGo for these shoes?!

So… these are only one pair of the shoes that I got. The other pair is a brown and pink pair of sneakers that are super cute! These shoes are so soft and comfy and I don’t own any wedges yet so… love ‘em or hate ‘em… I’m in love, hehe!

After Shopko we left and went to Target where I picked up four new movies for a definite discount and two shirts for myself. That is all the Black Friday shopping we did together which was fine with me.

We headed back home and I picked up my computer from my mom’s house. Jim was able to get the virus that I had on off and installed some software that will help me check for them so hopefully I don’t get anymore! Keeping my fingers crossed and happy that there was only one and that it wasn’t too horrible, well didn’t screw up my computer all that bad.

Then I packed up my stuff from Jay’s parent’s house and headed back to Point all by my lonesome. I stopped at Mills Fleet Farm for a few more gifts and then went to Kohls and spent too much money on myself. Darn those 15% off coupons and the Kohls cash you get for spending money, haha! And then on the whim, I decided to go and see New Moon.

Originally I had thought I might just wait until it comes on DVD to see it because I didn’t feel the urge to go and really yesterday I didn’t feel the urge, but thought I would swing by the theater and see if it was playing and it was starting only about 20 minutes after I got there so I decided why not. I’m really glad that I did because it was good. Obviously I knew the story line because I read the book and they sort of had to follow the book, but I still thought it was good. Definitely better than the first one acting wise and flow wise and definitely upped my Twilight obsession again. Can’t wait for Eclipse to come out this summer and then Breaking Dawn. The last book was definitely my favorite and so I’m probably the most anxious for that one to come out!

Then I came home and chit chatted with my friend before heading to bed!

Tomorrow I’m thinking I’ll do the laundry, work on my paper, and relax a little more. Last week of clinic this week… OMG! One report to finish revising and one report to write and then get my hours all sorted out and I’m done for a month, wowsers! Two weeks of class left, well really just one week for my Instrumentation since we have our test the last week. We might have a study session though during the last class session and decide to have our test during the lab hour. Would prefer it not to be that way, but that is the way Madison wanted it last time and well we kind of have to defer to them which really sucks! And we have some presentations to do as well… two of them actually, but neither should really be bad which is good. End of the semester is fasting approaching which is good and scary.

Can’t sit here and think about it though, won’t make it come any faster or go any slower. Oh well!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Before meets After…

This is what I ‘get’ when I set up a sample photo shoot in my living room and try to take pictures of my cutie pie! He takes the camera from me and then instructs me on what to do. Its a fabulous picture if I don’t say so myself, right?! Haha! You gotta make the kid happy and make him happy I did. And then I realized that I, hey I think I look at least half way decent in this picture, why not try and ‘fix it up’ a bit and off I went… this is where before meets after… From good picture taken my the little dude, to even better picture amped up a bit. I rather enjoy it for the fact that many pictures of myself I don’t particularly care for and am not often in front of the camera, but more so behind it!

I’ve been running virus scans on my computer all night so far. I’m pretty sure I have some sort of trojan virus on it, but the checks I’m running will not get rid of it. I get a warning every time I start my computer and then run a check to get rid of it and then my computer says that everything is good, and then the next time I start it up, it says it is back. And this is the Windows Defender on my computer… the regular Webroot virus detector I have my computer didn’t even pick it up! So then Windows Defender pointed me to an even better scan on their website for free and so I ran that which took over an hour and it picked up something different and a few other things, well I think the virus was the same thing. It was able to fix the other things it picked up, but couldn’t get rid of the virus. UGH! So, at this point in time, I am running ANOTHER full scan with the Windows Defender to see if it picks up anything.

My mom’s husband is a computer whiz, so I am bringing my computer home this weekend for him to look at. I’m hoping that he can get whatever is on my computer off and that it isn’t anything too bad. I mean, everything is running normally, which I think is good?! But you never know with these things and I need this computer to last me for quite some time yet. Like four years some time! I have faith that he’ll be able to fix whatever is wrong, I’m just hoping it is not ten times worse than what I think it is.

So the whole possible, pretty much sure, virus thing on my computer sort of has be bumming tonight and the fact that I messed up on some clinic reports today. I mean, not like completely bad or anything, but bad enough that I feel stupid about it. First, I was revising a report I had written earlier and making the changes that my supervisor had done, or so I thought. So once I got done with those changes, I accidently saved over her copy instead of making a new name, AH! And then it turns out that I didn’t actually make any changes at all, but deleted what she changed and kept what I originally wrote, bigger AAAHHH! I felt so stupid about it! It isn’t a big deal, but I felt dumb and it was a stupid mistake. Oh well though! So I’m kind of bumming about that!

Jay left to go home already so he could go hunting tomorrow. His classes are cancelled and he doesn’t have to work. He told me today that they are pretty much looking for work at this point because the weather has been so nice that they have been able to get all of their fall clean-ups done and then some. I suppose that that is a good thing, but as much as I wouldn’t like it to snow at all this winter, we do need some snow because that is how we get the bulk of our income in the winter. I just pray that this year there are no snow storms on or around Christmas Eve or Christmas because Jay needs a year off of having to work on those days and being dead tired when we visit family.

I am ready for tomorrow to be over. I have one class and then a meeting and then work. I was contemplating going to see New Moon tonight before Jay left to go home, but then I was thinking about it and I might just wait until it comes out on DVD. I mean, I really want to see it, but don’t feel this overwhelming NEED to see it. I’d like to, but it is not on my top priority. You know?!

I need to pack my clothes tomorrow and then Ayden and I can leave for the rest of the week. I packed Ayden’s stuff tonight so it shouldn’t be too bad, I hope.

We have only one week of clinic left and during that time is my practical exam! AH! Am I ready for that?! I did a full eval today by myself and it went well, I think, lol! I didn’t horribly screw up so that was good. Always room for improvement so I am not going to say that I’m perfect, or maybe even better than good. I’m probably average for being a first year at this point. Works for me I guess!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Thanksgiving is on its way…

(Monday)… but not soon enough! Two more days of being on campus… UGH!I might have posted this picture before, but with Lightroom… I can’t get enough of this editing thing and I think what it did to this picture made it look all that much more dramatic! I mean, he had a dramatic look on his face to begin with, but add a little darkness in and it really starts to look pathetic! Ha! It is too cute!

Anyways… I have clinic tomorrow that I do not want to go to. We have a hearing aid consult first which I have yet to be a part of, so that should be interesting. Then we have a quick hearing aid check and then a hearing eval. It should go good and be relatively pain free, I hope, and then the rest of the afternoon is mine!

And Wednesday gets even better! One class and then I’m free and that class is at 8am so I’m free by 9am! However, I am meeting with the other first years to work on a project we have coming up and then I have to work for a little while, but I should be home by 1pm at the latest which is totally and completely awesome! Then it’s packing up and heading out! I hate packing though!

I haven’t decided if I am going Black Friday shopping this year. It used to be this big family thing ‘back in the day’, but everyone sort of started doing their own thing now. I’m definitely not one to attempt driving that day, so going alone is out of the question, my mom has to work that afternoon, so she probably isn’t going, and my sister is probably going with friends.

(Tuesday) Ugh, I’ve been bad at finishing my posts. Turns out I’ll be going Black Friday shopping after all. I asked one of my friends if she wanted to venture out with me. Mostly just to go as I don’t think that there is anything that I really need, but also I pretty much just wanted to hang out with her because we don’t get to see each other all that often either… that and she just got a really super cool new car that I’m dying to see and she is willing to drive! All the more better!

CIAO FOR NOW! LOVE ME!

4 ‘A’ Adventure

I started my last post and then totally forgot about finishing it… oops! And then I got busy with taking my friend’s pictures of her daughters and then started editing them and finishing my Hearing Science test (of which I think I am pretty much done with… super yeah!) and then had some friends over on Friday afternoon thru Saturday afternoon…

Hence the 4 ‘A’ Adventure!!! My friend Andrea and her son Austin drove up for a visit. We met on facebook thru a mutual friend and had yet to meet in person and thought that the boys would get along great! And get along great they did! They got along so great you’d think they were brothers the way they laughed one second and were tackling each other the next! It was too funny to watch! Austin is just about to turn five and super cute and adorable. He is so polite and says some of the funniest things!They got into town just after 4pm on Friday and our fun started there. It didn’t take long for the boys to warm up to each other. My normally shy Ayden was anything but and was talking up a storm to Andrea as soon as she set foot in the door. The boys set to playing Mario Kart on the Wii while Andrea and I chatted it up in the kitchen. She is one of the sweetest people I know! It was great to get to sit down and talk in real life instead of over the computer or the phone and watch the boys play together! We had some supper (mac ‘n cheese and dino shaped chicken nuggets) and played some Uno Spin before heading off to the Y for some swimming! We had gotten two free guest passes when we got our Y membership and they expired at the end of the December so I thought this would be a great time to use them since I didn’t for see anyone else coming to visit that we would use them with. And swim we did! We went down the water slide a few times, the boys had fun playing with the noodles and splashing each other, and Andrea and I could not stop laughing! It was a great night!After swimming we came home and played some more Mario Kart (Austin really loved it!) and had some ice cream before calling it a night at 10pm! The boys were getting crabby and both of them were asleep within five minutes of laying down, it was so cute! On Saturday we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast… YUM! And ventured off to show our new friends the ‘big blue park’ because really, you can’t come to Point and not go to the big blue park, especially when the weather was as nice as it was! We are getting spoiled, but I’ll take every nice day as long as mother nature keeps handing them out! The boys definitely wore themselves out running around the park and then we went to throw some sticks into the water. I think they probably threw a small tree in the water with all of the big branches they kept finding! It was definitely great fun to watch them together! One second they were playing so nicely and the next they were tearing off each other’s hats to see who could throw it the farthest! Ah… to be that young again!

After we got home, they played one more round of Mario Kart and then Andrea and Austin had to leave because Andrea had to work in the afternoon and they had over an hour drive home yet.

I know that Ayden has friends at school and he plays well with them, but it was nice to see him play with someone he was meeting for the first time that was his same age so well! I’ve seen him play with Alexis countless times, but he’s known her his whole life and I’ve seen him play with kids a little older and a little younger, but no one this close in age, and it was really great! And not to mention that us moms got some talk time in as well! Hehe!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Another Great Week

Written Wednesday… posted Saturday… just never got around to it when I wrote it…

Despite the fact that this week is seeming to take forever and that I am looking forward to next week where I only have class thru Wednesday morning… it has been a pretty good week!

I had a Hearing Assessment exam on Monday and I’m pleased to announce that I got a 100% on it, just like last time. I love this kind of material and soak it all in. I also found out that our Hearing Science exam due date was post poned until next Wednesday which was a great surprise. I need to work on that some more, but that is what this afternoon is for! I have about half of it done so that is a start, right?!

Clinic went really well this week too… we were done an hour early and managed to get all of our reports and summaries written up before our regular clinic slot was even over which was even better. I like being able to get all of that stuff done right away!

Because I had some free time on Tuesday, I went and got my tragus pierced. It was kind of a spur of the moment type thing. I thought about it on Monday night and told Jay that I wanted to get it done. I talked to two of my friends who have/had it done and one said it really didn’t hurt at all and one said it hurt so bad.

At first I didn’t think that I would be able to get it done until today. There are three tattoo/piercing shops downtown in Point. One had only mediocre ratings, one had really good ratings, and one at okay ratings. I read some not so good things about the first one and decided not to go there. The good one didn’t have their piercer in until today… well because I really wanted it done I told myself I would drive downtown and see if the okay place was open and you didn’t need an appointment. And it just so happens that it was. And to be honest, based on first impression of the place… probably somewhere I would go if I wanted a tattoo, looks wise. Looked very clean and professional like. Obviously, I would want to see some of the artists work before getting one done. For a piercing… looked like a fine place to me.

The piercer was very professional. He set up and called me back. I could smell the cleaning solution he used on the chair and everything was still packaged so I knew he was ‘doing it right’. He explained everything to me which was good and then proceeded with the piercing. Pain level… hardly anything. I was expecting at least something, to cringe or clench my fists really hard, but when he was done, I was like that was it?! Seriously, I have my belly button and nose pierced and didn’t think that either of those hurt really bad, so maybe I have an elevated pain threshold?! In any case, it’s great! I love it! Just a bit sore when touched, but that is to be expected I would assume. Taking care of it and glad I got it done! My first year friends might not be since they have to ‘work around it’ when doing impressions next semester, but we’ll survive.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Pictures for a Friend…

I did it again… one of my friends from school ‘conned’ me into taking some pictures for her of her six month old daughter… okay, so it didn’t take much more than just asking if I would do it before I jumped at the opportunity. Because well… it has definitely become one of my favorite hobbies and thanks to the post processing people can do on pictures today… they turned out really well I think, considering the lighting we had and the crabbies we ran into towards the end. Enjoy! I also had a few of her three year old daughter too… both adorable little girls!!! And because of the lighting issue, a lot of the pictures just looked better in a black and white coloring… some colored ones turned out today, but more yellowy than I would have liked… enjoy!

  CIAO! LOVE ME!

Hearing Assessment Exam

I totally rocked my hearing assessment exam today! We started at 7:30am, a half hour before class technically starts, and that extra half hour was definitely needed! I know of only one question that I will probably get a few points off. But there was some extra credit that I am pretty sure that I got correct. Like I said before, I’ll be happy with anything 90% or higher and I’m not worried about that!

And then in my Hearing Science class our professor told us that instead of our exams being due the Monday of next week, he was going to push them back until Wednesday which is completely awesome (except for the fact that it means I will procrastinate even more)!

Work was great today as well as it went really fast and I had lots to keep me busy which is always good…

I had hearing aid duty today as well, but I don’t think that anything came in because my second year didn’t call me. After work I left her a note and headed home. She had class pretty much all day on campus so I knew that if anything came in she would call me. Or at least I hope that she would.

Because nothing came in (that I know of) there is a high possibility that our last appointment tomorrow will be cancelled and we will be getting done with clinic uber early which is great! Or so I think, lol! And that means getting our summaries done quickly and then getting to work early and then coming home early… all on a Tuesday! Lol! Actually, if we do get done early, I will most likely stay and write up pre-reports for next week. That would be the smart thing to do and then work on my hearing science test.

I am for sure not working on it tonight like I should be because John and Kate Plus 8 is on (yes, I am probably one of the few who actually still watch it) and then I am crashing because I didn’t get to bed until after 11pm last night and then had to get up at 6am… and I have to get up at 6am tomorrow too for clinic! Ugh! I hope that I don’t dream about anything audiology related tonight though because that is all that I have been dreaming about lately and it really isn’t any fun! Ugh! Let me dream about something good please!

On Thursday I am going to my friend’s house to take some pictures of her girls for her. I am super excited! I hope that we can get some good ones. I have a few ideas, but I haven’t done any indoor pictures yet (other than a few of Ayden) and don’t want to disappoint. I am also hoping to be able to get together with some other friends this week as well!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Ayden’s Homework Box

New picture of me… I wish we had better lighting in our house so my ‘self portraits’ would turn out better… donning the lovely glasses in this one! Last night before going to my study group!

Lately we have been playing a lot of Uno Spin at our house. It is nice spin on the original Uno and it definitely helps with Ayden recognizing his numbers and how to play the game. And he does surprisingly well too!

And when we are not playing that… we are playing Monopoly Deal! Now this is really a super fun game. I definitely recommend it to everyone! It takes a little bit understand it, but once you do, it definitely gets easier and a lot of fun! And boy can things turn in the blink of an eye. The only down side is that with about four or more players, you don’t always have a winner and it doesn’t say how you choose a winner then.

This weekend I have done a lot of studying for my Hearing Assessment lab… don’t you love my notes?! I need a bigger binder already!

But what I really wanted to this weekend was to get into my new book… I started it earlier in the week and made it to page 20 and haven’t picked it up since. Boo!

 

 

 

 

 

It is over 1000 pages long… I can’t wait to get far enough into it that I am unable to put it down!

After Ayden’s parent teacher conference this week I decided that it was time to start a homework box. Something that we can work on a little bit each day after we get home from school. It’s not that Ayden is behind at all in school, but I want to give him the best chance!

 

In his homework box I have a clock/timer that lets us know that ‘we’ve’ worked long enough. I think that a half hour each day is plenty. I have some phonics flash cards, think-it-through books, a book for us to read, worksheets, stickers, etc… something fun to work on, but learn with at the same time!

And I’ve even included some incentive with some Bakugon cards. This will also work with the chore chart that we are going to start up again because when we did use that it went well, but we haven’t used it in a while and I think that it is about time to bring it back!

Alas, I should probably stop procrastinating and study a little more… although I am feeling relatively okay for this upcoming test, I think!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Parent Teacher Conferences

This week we had parent teacher conferences at Ayden’s school (as I’m sure a lot of parents did) and they went well. It wasn’t the first time that I had to attend a parent teacher conference because we went to one while Ayden was in pre-k as well and those went really well.

I had emailed Ayden’s speech language pathologist earlier in the week to see how Ayden was doing because I did not know if she would be meeting with us as well and that is the one area that I am most concerned about. Ayden doesn’t have speech delay by any means, but he does have problems with articulating a few sounds. The ones that they are currently working on in therapy are ‘k’ ‘g’ and ‘l’. And those are all later developing sounds to begin with.

His SLP got back to me and informed me that she would be meeting with us during our scheduled slot and I was excited to ask her how things were going, especially since I have had some training and lots of schooling for that. I mean, most of my classes in undergrad were geared towards speech and NOT audiology.

So, the meeting started out great. Ayden accompanied us because we have no babysitters here in Point. Oh well.. don’t care. And I didn’t think it would hurt him to have his teacher tell him how well he is doing. His SLP started off the meeting by saying that Ayden is definitely working hard. He had some fluency goals on his IEP and she said that if she didn’t have that in front of her she probably would have never noticed anything and that since it hasn’t been a problem since the start of the school year it isn’t something they are actively working on. She also said that he is starting to get his ‘k’s and ‘g’s but not consistently enough where she really wants me to work with him at home. Although I know that I could be working with him. I don’t want to turn his therapy time in school to therapy time at home though either so that he no longer wants to work hard at school. She also said that they are starting on the initial ‘l’. That sound is easier to teach because the kids can see it when you are producing it.

Ayden’s regular teacher had lots of good stuff to say about him as well. We need to work a little bit on the sounds that letters make, but she did say that since he is having trouble with articulation, that it is expected that he might not know the sounds of some letters. To me, I think it is just something that we need to work on a little bit and he will get it. He also needs to be able to count to 50 and when she tested him he made it to 29. Although he counted to 50 in the car on the way home from the Y right before his conference. It was kind of ironic really, ha! But other than that, she said he was a really good worker and is starting to come out of his shell a little more.

She told me a story about how one student approached her and told her that Ayden said something (I’m assuming something not very nice) and that she went to ask Ayden about it to see if the first student was telling the truth or not. Ayden pretty much shut down and started crying for me and she didn’t push him anymore. I’m assuming that he felt like he was in trouble and didn’t want to get punished and that is why he shut down. His pre-k teacher had told us that he sort of did the same thing last year when she would ask him what he said when other kids weren’t understand him. Hopefully it is something that he can get over, although I know that he would feel guilty if he got in trouble. Most likely he said something he wasn’t supposed to and then thought he was going to get in trouble. Other than that, he’s doing very well and often gets his work done right away and neatly for a kindergarten as well. Yeah Ayden!

I love my little guy!

CIAO! LOVE!

P.S. I was bored while on campus waiting for my next hearing eval so I re-did my blog… likey?! It’s becoming easier and easier now!

Hearing Evaluations

I’m sitting here… on campus… in the grad room… on a SATURDAY! Never before have I come to campus on a Saturday and actually stayed for more than a half hour of my own free volition! I had one Saturday final my first year here at Point, but that has been it. I’ve come in on occasion this semester for a quick thing on a Saturday or Sunday, but never have I actually stayed for more than that! And yet, here I am, in the grad room… on a SATURDAY! Aren’t the weekends for lounging around the house in pajamas having fun?!

But alas, school comes first, well when the little dude is gone, as he is the weekend. At first, I thought that since we were going to be home this weekend, it would be a good time to schedule these hearing evaluations that I have been talking your ear off about. No worries about fitting them in during the week, just do them this weekend when we have nothing else going on and Jay is available to watch Ayden. As it turned out, Jay wanted to go home for hunting and that he did… and he took the little dude with him. Well, he didn’t really have a choice. So with Ayden gone, I can work on everything school related, right?! If only I were so inclined.

I really didn’t have a choice but to come in for the hearing evaluations, but I’ve decided that that is the extent of school related stuff that I am going to do today. We were emailed our second hearing science exam yesterday afternoon and although I think it should be a little easier than the first one, I am in no mood to actually start looking for/typing up the answers. And I am meeting with Amy and Katie tonight to study for our exam on Monday so that is more school related stuff.

After I am done with these hearing evaluations, which won’t be for at least another two and a half hours because I have one coming in at noon and the one not coming in until 2pm, I am going to hit up a redbox and see if they have any good movies out and possibly get one or two to watch this afternoon while I wait for my study group to commence. Sound like a good idea to you? Because it sounds like a great idea to me! A super idea to lay on the couch and relax! Oh and have some left over manicotti for lunch (a late lunch/early supper) at that.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Success Story

I’ve been a bad blogger… I know. I want to write more, but I’ve been busy playing with the little guy and catching up on my sleep. It has been a LONG week and all I wanted to do every night after Ayden was in bed was to unwind with a little bit of TV and then crash! I’ve been asleep by 9pm almost every night this week and for me that is early. Although I am not a night owl staying up until midnight every night, I do consistently stay up until 10pm or later… just not this week. Oh well, I haven’t been overly stressed either that I’ve needed to sit down and just a lot off my chest. So although it has been a LONG week, it hasn’t been overly stressful like some long weeks can get and for that I am grateful!

I had clinic on both Tuesday and Thursday this week and both days went rather well I think. I did all of the speech audiometry on Thursday and I think it went well. It definitely wasn’t perfect by any means, but it wasn’t horrible horrible either and for doing all of it knowing that the supervisor that I like the least of the three was watching through the camera I think I was rather successful. In any case, I won’t have to do it again for another two weeks because we don’t have any evals until then. Well that isn’t necessarily true. I won’t have to do it again for clinic until that time, but I will have to do it seven times this weekend when I am doing hearing evals for the undergrad students. But for them I am not getting nervous at all for those.

Today I am ‘stuck’ on campus for the majority of the day because my second year has hearing aid duty. I thought I might as well finally take the day and stay here (in the grad room at this moment) with her in case something does come in and although I could be at home doing laundry, I’d probably also be sitting on the couch watching TV and not getting any studying done. Not that I’m getting a whole lot of studying done while I am blogging and on facebook either, but well I probably wouldn’t be blogging while I was at home either. So yeah…

I had an hour and a half study session this morning with the other first years with one of our professors for our test on Monday. I am feeling very confident about it. We only have three topics to know for the test… acoustic reflexes, speech audiometry, and masking. Don’t be fooled though because within those topics is a lot to know and it is getting it all straight that is the hard part. I think I finally have the masking stuff done, only after almost two weeks… but it feels good to know and understand something and then put it into effect for clinic as well! Our professor started asking us some stuff about reflexes and for a minute I had no idea what she was talking about. I had been concentrating so hard on masking that I pretty much lost all of the reflex stuff that I knew… but after a minute of quick review it all came back and I was answering the questions pretty confidently, lol… for the most part. I’m going with… lets stay positive and confident for this upcoming test. I’m not hoping for another 100% like the last test, but at least a 90% or better and I have no worries that I should be able to pull at least that off.

I got a call from my BFF today regarding an internship that she interviewed for this morning. She is hoping to work at a home for teenage mothers next semester as part of her schooling. This is something that she is really passionate about and I really hope that she gets the internship because I think that she could be a positive influence on these girls. Somehow during her interview the fact that she had a best friend who was pregnant in high school came up and that she is a ‘success’ story. Like you had to guess that that friend was me. Anyways, the lady she was interviewing with wondered if I might ever consider coming to speak with the girls at the home. When my friend asked me, of course I agreed to. I think it is a great idea.

After I got off the phone with my friend I was thinking about it a little more. I’m still more than willing to go and talk to these young women and share ‘my story’ with them if only to let them know that they can make it as well, but what kind of hit a nerve per say was the fact that I’m considered a success story. The fact is that teenage pregnancy is one of those things that people look at and think that the girl is screwed for life… there really is no way around it, but then the ones who do continue on with life in a ‘normal’ way are considered a success. It’s normal for any other teenager to graduate from high school and then go to college, but when you are talking about a teenage mother… well all of that is no longer normal, but a success. Why are these girls held to a different standard?

Maybe I don’t know what I’m saying or I’m not getting what I’m truly feeling out in the way that I want to or maybe I’m just not normal. But when I became pregnant, of course I thought that my life was ruined for a while, but then I became to realize that it only would be if I let it. So I did what everyone else in my senior class was doing, I went to class and graduated. And then I went to college. I had a baby, but I also didn’t let that interfere with how I wanted my life to play out. Obviously things are different with a child, but that stigma of being a teen parent is who you have to become. I don’t consider myself a success because I did what I had planned to do either way, go to college, graduate, and well then continue with college (maybe that second round of college wasn’t planned from the beginning, hehe), and continue on with my life. I didn’t end up pregnant and think, well should I follow the norm of what society says these girls end up like or be a ‘success’ and continue on with life. I won’t say everything was as easy as it would have been without a child, but for me, I didn’t know it any other way and did what I needed to in order to get the grades I wanted, to get where I wanted to be. I don’t know…

In any case, I’m excited to go some place and offer some teenage mothers some support and let them know that they don’t have to be the norm, that if they set their mind to it, they can achieve anything that they want to, their desires before they got pregnant. But they have to believe in themselves because if you don’t believe in yourself then you won’t get anywhere. Have faith in yourself!

Okay, enough about that… getting too serious for me and it’s Friday… Friday the 13th and a time for fun, not seriousness, hehe! I’m so ready for Ghost Whisperer tonight and Jay is making manicotti for supper and I cannot wait. Ayden probably won’t eat a whole lot of it because for some reason he doesn’t really like lasagna or manicotti, but that just means more for me! But just because I  know that he would prefer not to eat it doesn’t mean that he will have to eat at least some of it. I’m not a short order cook (most of the time) at our house and so if he doesn’t like what is made then he doesn’t get supper. Although most nights he is allowed to pick what the whole family eats.

Off to study some (maybe)!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Concentration!

I’m frustrated at this present moment… but looking at that silly face makes me just want to forget everything that I’m frustrated about and smile. I love the look of concentration Ayden gets on his face when he is hard at work. It is simply the cutest thing in the word if you ask me! He’s always stuck his tongue out a little bit when he is concentrating really hard. I’d love to see if he does the same thing at school as well! Maybe I’ll ask his teacher at our conference this week. That’s right… parent teacher conferences this week. Although it won’t be our first one since we met with Ayden’s pre-k teacher for conferences as well. I also have been meaning to email Ayden’s speech teacher to see how he is doing with that this semester as well, however it really hasn’t been on the top of my list.

So, back to my frustration! The first year grad students (the three of us) have to do hearing evaluations on 35 undergrad students. Fine… dandy, however we were not told about this until last week and have to do them in the next three weeks. I love the fact that we will be getting this extra practice because it will most undoubtedly add to our experience which I think is definitely beneficial, but these evals take about an hour a piece. So thats about 12 extra hours of stuff I need to fit into my schedule and it definitely sucks! And then to top it off, apparently the clinic supervisor got the impression that we thought it was too much for us and then asked the second years if they could help. Like that didn’t make it seem worse. Its not as if they don’t already have enough on their plates that they now have to help the incompetent first years finish these evals. Ugh! I’ve decided that unless they practically take them out of my hands, they don’t need to help. I don’t want to inconvenience them anymore.

And then to top it off… I brought Jay and Ayden to the clinic tonight so I could use Jay once again as a guinea pig for my lab. He is so gracious about letting me use him and its definitely great, however Ayden does not behave well while I am trying to do the testing and it just frustrates me because I’m supposed to be concentrating on something and then I have to make sure my son isn’t touching something he shouldn’t be all while trying to get the testing done at a decent pace so Jay doesn’t have to be subject to it for very long. Well to top it off, I was going through the test and the method that we were taught in class was just not working with him and I wasn’t getting the results that I should have been. It wasn’t his fault by any means as he can only hear what we can hear, but I didn’t know what to do and Ayden wasn’t behaving and it was definitely not going the way that I had anticipated. Ugh! It just irked me! I’m getting worked up again just thinking about it!

On a brighter note, I finished my book today. It was Summer by Karen Kingsbury. My cousin recommended the author to me and told me that she cried during a lot of her books. Oh great, just what I needed, a sappy book that was going to make me cry. And… it did just that! But it was a really good book and I’m glad that I read it and might even read more by that same author… after of course the newest Stephen King book that comes out tomorrow. I’m so stoked and am headed to the store to buy it as soon as I can tomorrow which probably won’t be until after Ayden gets off the bus because I don’t have much other free time during clinic days. Oh, but I’m so excited! I haven’t read any of his books in a good long time so bring on a good Stephen King novel, even if it is over 100 pages long!

And guess what! Tomorrow marks 10 days until the New Moon premiere! Yes… I am a Twilight lover at heart! If you’ve read the books you’d understand, ha! Although I don’t think I’ll be out for the midnight showing, I’m sure to see it sometime soon after its release… I mean it is supposed to be pretty good, but I don’t think that Jay will be accompanying me. Oh well, haha! That way I can oogle over Edward without worrying about making Jay jealous, hehe!

Today I was a guinea pig for the second years. They were running some sort of test… calorics, which is some sort of eye test and then put cold water and then hot water in your ears and make you dizzy and then ask you questions about all sorts of junk. It was weird, but interesting at the same time, if that makes any sense. I know that it is something that I will have to do next year so it was cool to kind of get a sneak peak at how it all works and such and actually experience it.

Oh and probably the BEST news of today! We (first years) found out that we will NOT have to take one class next semester that the second years and pretty much every year before us did. I’m super stoked. That means instead of being in class from 9am-12:20pm on Mondays… we will only have class from 9am-11:20! That cuts out a whole hour of class! Okay, I know what you might be thinking… an hour really isn’t that much, but yes for us it is! We couldn’t be happier! Ah, it was a great moment when we found that out!

Okay, off to have some ice cream and watch some TV before turning in for the night. Clinic in the morning… should be an interesting day, I think! I won’t have to do anything eval wise because it is all hearing aid and ABR stuff so I’m kind of excited about that prospect and then only having to write up two summaries. Hopefully Thursday goes that well too… need to write pre-reports up tomorrow sometime as well too! Oh the glories of being a first year grad student! Wouldn’t change it for the world though as after getting some writing out my frustration level has definitely decreased because I know in time all things will be fine again. They always are and always will be. I have faith. You get knocked down… but you need to get right back up again. Hey… remember that line from a song, hehe!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Retail Therapy

It’s been a few days since I last blogged, but I just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ve thought about doing it here and there, but then I get sidetracked with reading other blogs or facebook or looking at photography stuff and then when I am done with that, I don’t feel like I want to write anything and then instead go to bed. That and a whole lot of nothing interesting is going on right now. Well, I take that back… a few things have been going on, but they are too personal and I don’t feel like I want to put them on here. If this was something that no one was going to read I would pour my heart out because I just feel like it needs to be written, but by doing that I’d need to put a background story and everything because it is all just really confusing and ugly and who wants that anyways. So… I just won’t write about that.

But anyways… today is Thursday and I don’t have class OR clinic on Thursdays so after a short morning meeting and a bit of work, I went and did what most girls do best… retail therapy! It’s not like I needed any therapy today, but I figured since I had a 15% Kohls coupon, I might have well make use of it (seeing the last one I had was for 30% and I didn’t make use of that). And make use of it I did!

My goal was to find one or two sweaters that I could wear when it is cold in the clinic or the classrooms (which is like always). Sweaters that button up the front and are easy to slip over just about anything and I was lucky and found two that I liked and for a really good price as well!

I also had a pair of jeans in my hands and was considering a pair of shoes, but alas purchased neither. I didn’t really like any of the shoes that they happened to have in my size. Okay, so I liked them, but couldn’t justify buying them because I do own quite a few pair of shoes already. I’m no shoe-a-holic, but have enough I’d say. And I so would have bought the jeans, but then I found a necklace and bracelet that I really liked and wanted those more. The necklace is very similar to a locket in that you can put a picture in it, but it also has a cute design on the back that you can wear showing. The bracelet is simple and has the words love, hope, live, and believe on it (I think) and it just really called my name. So, I exited the store spending not too much which was nice!

I’m definitely not a fashionista by any means. The stores I frequent the most are Kohls, JCPenney’s, and ShopKo. I don’t by high end… in fact I have a hard time paying more than $40 for a pair of jeans! I don’t consider myself knowledgable on fashion what so ever, but don’t exactly veer off course with crazy purchases either. I buy what I like and mostly comfy. I love me some jeans a sweatshirt, but also don’t mind dressing up once a week for clinic either. That being said, I wouldn’t call my ‘dressy’ attire all that dressy either. It follows the guidelines, but once again, not high end stuff.

Now this really got me thinking… I’d say most of the time I only dress up completely when I have to for clinic or a special occasion like a wedding. I’ve started wearing more dressier shirts/sweaters with jeans, but that’s about it. And so… I was thinking about the holidays that I dress up for. Usually for Thanksgiving I’m a little dressier, Christmas, and maybe Easter… that’s about it. What makes these days ‘dress-up’ days? Other than the fact that my parents made me do it since I’ve been young? To me, nothing really. Why should my family that I get together with on those days love me any less or more if I’m dressed up or not. And really, it is not like everyone dresses up on these days as well. I’d say the one that most of my family dresses up on is Christmas. I’ve even ‘made’ Ayden dress up the last couple of years. I mean coordinating outfits look nice in the annual Christmas photo, right?! Sure, but does it really matter? Not to me!

So, this year I’ve decided that maybe I just won’t ‘dress up’ for the holidays. Just maybe I’ll let Ayden pick out his own clothes… even if they don’t match. Just maybe I’ll visit family in a hoody and jeans… because to me, its not the outfit I’m wearing that makes the day, its the family, the memories, the fun! Or just maybe I’ll find something really cute that I want to wear and do that. I haven’t decided yet because despite the fact that I don’t think its necessary in the least to dress up for things like that, sometimes I do feel nice doing it. So, we’ll see… in the mean time, I’ll stick to just having to dress up once a week for clinic, sounds good to me!

As far as how this week has been going… pretty good! We haven’t done a whole lot though. The weather has been pretty decent so we should have gotten out of the house a little more, but it gets dark so early now (really not like that… I mean REALLY not liking it) and enjoyed it, but oh well. I’m thinking about taking Ayden to the park today after he gets off the bus because today has probably been the best day so far this week weather wise. And then we might go to the library because I’m itching for another good book and I’ve been reading more and more to Ayden each night as well. We’ve started mini chapter books. The first one we read was…

and it has some pictures every few pages. It was about 60 pages long and took us two nights to read. Not bad at all I thought. I would stop every so often and ask Ayden questions about what was happening to see if he was paying attention and to my surprise he was listening really closely. I wasn’t sure if we should start these kind of books yet or stick to the shorter ones with more pictures, but he really liked it. I think it might have helped that it was about dinosaurs too. I have three more books about the Dinosaur Cove and then its off to find something else. I love curling up on the couch with a good book and love it even more when I can share my love of reading with Ayden!

Tomorrow I have a lab from 9-11 and then work and then… who really knows. No hearing aid duty, thats for sure though! The lab will probably run long since we will want to get most of it done which is fine with me so I might not have as much free time as I did today, but honestly I think I’d rather be busy that not busy if that makes any sense.

I had advising today for my classes next semester. We really don’t get to chose any classes since everything is pretty much laid out for us, but it is nice to be able to see what we are taking. One of our classes might get dropped and worked into the material of other classes which would be a total life saver. Okay, not really, but it would take out a two hour class on Mondays for us which would be really nice! If that happens, there is an online class that I am considering taking. Both Amy and Katie (the other first years) have already taken this course (it is educational psychology) thru the university. It is not something that I HAVE to take, but it is something that I HAVE to take if I want to be licensed to work in the schools. Since there are only THREE extra classes that I NEED to take to be able to work in the schools I thought it might be a good idea. I don’t really want to work in the schools, but it will give me the option to if I ever get in a pinch where those are the only jobs available. You know?!

Anyways, in order to take that class through our university you need to apply to the school of education and all that jazz and that is not something that I want to go through. So, this class is also available to take online through LSU for just under $300 including book prices. You can start it at anytime and are allowed 9 months to finish the work. From the webpage describing the class, there are 14 lessons that you have to complete which are basically chapter reviews, a midterm, and a final. No more than three lessons can be turned in during a seven day period, so obviously you can do everything the first week if you want, but you have to space out the submitting it portion. I have taken online courses before and have done well in them so I am thinking this will be the best option for me. I will most likely start it around Spring Break and finish by the end of the summer… hopefully! At least that is the plan now. One of the other two classes we all have completed already and the third one is worked into our course scheduling for the next three years so that is no problem.

I’m excited to get next semester started already! Don’t hold me to that though because I might just be wishing I hadn’t said that when it actually does start. And now, I don’t want to wish the next couple of months away, time goes too fast to begin with, ha!

Off to finish some laundry that I’ve been procrastinating on!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Sooner than thought?!

So, within the last couple of months I’ve had some friends have babies, become pregnant, get married, family get married, get pregnant, and/or have babies… it feels like I’m surrounded by it. And now I get why my one friend is so anxious for it all… because now I’m starting to get anxious for it.

When Jay and I got engaged I didn’t really see it as something big. We’ve been together for so long what did a ring on my finger really have to do with anything. Its not like we even went around announcing it… to me it really didn’t matter. It still really doesn’t. Per usual, we got (and still get) the almost seeming mandatory question of when the big day is. The norm is to usually decide this rather quickly after getting engaged… not the case for Jay and myself. We still don’t know, but sort of figured it would come after I am done with school. And at least for sure after Jay graduates and starts a stable job.

But the more I see my friends and family moving on with their lives and getting married and starting families, the more I want to do that. Okay, so obviously we have started our family already… see our lovely wonderful son Ayden, but oh how I want to add to it. How I want to give him brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters he is already asking about. Oh how I want to marry his father, a marriage that Ayden is already asking to happen.

My dear readers, I have the baby itch and I have it bad! And it sucks because as much as I want to have another child, I know it is something we will not try for or allow to happen anytime soon. TMI… sorry, you’ll deal. And I sit hear with one beautiful child already and my heart hurts for those who cannot have children, those who are trying/have been trying for so long and still haven’t gotten pregnant, and those who have been, but have lost the baby before getting to meet them. Those who can readily afford to have a child, but cannot… I feel like I shouldn’t even be wanting one because I’m not married, still in college, in large amounts of student debt, and already screwed up by getting pregnant in high school. Oh, please know that I have no regrets about having Ayden, but also know that you probably have a stigma against teenage pregnancies as well. Maybe I shouldn’t make assumptions about my readers opinions, but we all know that the truth is, there is and always will be that stigma out there and although I don’t advocate for girls to get pregnant in high school, having been through it, I can feel for them.

Yes, probably more cases are worse than others, in by that means many girls probably don’t continue on with their education, etc… but I don’t think the girls that do get enough credit for it. Okay, I’ve totally gone off topic here… I didn’t mean to head into that topic… back on track…

So… Jay and I have talked about getting married when I graduate, but now I’m wanting to sooner rather than later. Not like within the next year sooner, but maybe within the next two years?! I don’t know…

I think more than anything, I want to be done with this school thing and be able to concentrate on our family. Add to our family… share the love that I have for Ayden with other children. I already know I’m not stay at home mom material, at least not at this point, and thus I’ll always have my career, but I want to live the real life experience now, ha! Despite being on our own… we still aren’t living the real life thing because both Jay and I are in school still.

Ugh, so anyways, I just needed to get a few thoughts off my head. I went out and bought a ‘wedding planning’ book today and some of the stuff in it so funny. I must be one of those very nontraditional brides because my wedding won’t have half of the stuff it mentions. Ah, good ole crazy Ashley!

Oh, and then to top it off… somehow the whole name changing thing was brought up today and I told Jay that I was unsure if I wanted to change my name when we got married. I don’t have anything against his last name, and it sounds fine with my first name, but I sort of would like to be called Dr. my last name after going to school for so long versus Jay’s last name if we are married. Maybe by the time we get married I will want to change it, maybe he won’t care about whether I do or not, maybe I will do some sort of hyphen thing, or maybe who knows. But from his subtle reaction today, I got the distinct impression that he would like me to change it. Who knows…

Okay, off to eat supper!

CIAO! LOVE ME!