What will I do?

Beginning Sunday night… we will be without the internet and cable until Friday. Ugh, what is a girl to do?! Actually, I lied, we will have both the internet and cable… at our old place. But a lot of good that will do us. I won’t be coming back to our old place with nothing there to watch cable TV or get access to the internet. I do have access to the internet at work, so it won’t be a totally sucky week of no blogging or getting keeping with my favorite blogs. I’ll just stay a little while longer and do it there. And we have movies at home and keep your fingers crossed local channels.

Honestly though, as much as I am probably going to miss it, it will give me the much needed time away from it that I’ve been wanting. I just get sucked in during the later hours at night. Guess it will give me some reading time and time to put things away.

Speaking of our new place, well when wasn’t I, hehe… we got to finally go back today and walk through it ourselves. It was great being able to imagine our furniture in there. The place is older than our current place, but it really did feel GREAT being in there. I am SO excited! After going back today and taking our time to go through each room and check everything out I am feeling even more elated about the decision to move. I mean, both Jay and I thought about it a lot before we actually decided to go through with it and even though I was happy with the decision, I still had reservations and now those reservations are all but gone.

So, if you don’t see me for a few days, don’t worry… I WILL be back at some point hopefully next week and be elated with the fact that I am probably outside riding the new bike trails with the little guy (because the seven day forecast is looking pretty good right now)!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Weight Plans and Bee Adventures

I've always had a pretty positive self image of myself, in fact (for the most part) I still do. This may be because I have never been overweight and the way that I was raised. However, I have definitely packed on some pounds in the last four years. Most people would probably disagree with me and say that I look fine etc etc etc and really, I do look fine. I am probably at my ideal weight for my height, age, and whatever else they measure/use as a statistic for that. The thing is... I am out of shape! I am SO out of shape. I know that I don't need to lose any weight, but I want to get into better shape. But I'm not kidding anyone if I say that I wouldn't like to lose some weight. Fit into my clothes better and that doesn't mean going out and getting bigger sizes. Or gain muscle mass so my weight stays the same, but the body shrinks, lol!

I want to be more active on a personal level and I want to be more active as a family. Our new house comes equip with a biking/walking trail pretty much right next to it and I want to take full advantage of it as much as we can this summer! I want nightly walks or bike rides as a family. I understand that Jay works hard all day, but he needs to be more active/healthier as well. If I have packed on just a few pounds, he has packed on just that much more and with him it is evident. I don't want to sit here and say that he has gotten fat because he hasn't. As a family (or more so adults) we have gotten less healthy in our eating habits and physical activity. Definitely Ayden keeps us on our toes a lot, but I'll admit it... I am lazy!

Jay was in sports all year round in high school and that kept him in tip top shape. And personally while he was wrestling, he was probably TOO skinny for his body shape. But that is what wrestling is all about... making weight, making weight to the extremes! So after wrestling ended (well sports all together with graduation) and he was able to eat what he wanted when he wanted he did (and still does). He got up to what I would probably consider his ideal weight, but then kept up those eating habits. Without those sports, he doesn't exercise. I don't want to seem him go on some extreme diet to lose weight or exercise 24/7... I just want us to be active together as a family and for FREE, lol! We've talked about getting a membership to the Y, but that costs money and why do that if we can do stuff for free and together? I want us both to get into better shape and just feel healthier about ourselves. And what better time to start that than at the beginning of a month.

Ha, like we need anything else besides moving to keep us busy, right?

So, I have decided that I am going to start myself on Monday the 1st and suggest to Jay that we start being active as a family. I won't suggest anything more than that because I don't want him to feel like I am pressuring him about his weight or anything. I love him as he is (okay maybe it doesn't seem like that with all that I am talking about here), but I hope you get the point about what I mean. And if not, then stop reading...

I have decided to try the Special K two week challenge. I've also decided to hop back on my elliptical (which has been collecting dust for the past couple of months in our bedroom) with the new space that we will have for it at the new house and even pop in a workout DVD. I am going to weigh myself at the beginning of the two weeks and then again at the end. However, the number isn't what matters to me, its how the clothes fit that will determine my progress. With no school work to keep me busy, I have plenty of time at night to work out and figured I could get up a little earlier in the morning and do it as well. What is getting up at 7 or 7:30 during the week... totally not bad, right? Anything that doesn't start with a 6 is okay with me, lol!

So, I’m going to try my luck with The FIRM DVD and some small free weights as well as dusting off my elliptical and trying out the Special K challenge. Motivation… I need you more than ever! Actually, I am really motivated right now, just might not be so much after the first day, ha! Stay positive Ashley… stay positive!

I've just been feeling pretty icky about the personal decisions that I have been making during the past two weeks that I have been out of school. I feel like I am already wasting the summer away and don't want to do that. Especially since it will be my last summer 'off' because we have class and clinic during the summer for grad school. And I am definitely a planner... I love to plan things, its just the follow through that I sometimes have issues with (well at least when it comes to getting off my lazy bum). Seriously though, I'd rather read the day away than do pretty much anything active, lol. That is just me though.

I am also hoping to get some scrapbooking done this summer for Ayden's scrapbook. I have been adding to it over the years, but really haven't done anything since his last birthday and all of those pages were all digital. I want to add a bunch from the last year to his book and have them be actual pages. That is my other main goal for the summer. Speaking of scrapbook pages, does anyone know of a good place to get 12x12 prints? I think you can get them from Costco, however we do not have one close to us. I am assuming you might be able to order them online, but they are about $3 a page. Does anyone know of anything cheaper? I have 20+ pages I would like printed.

Ayden and I went to the library this afternoon after his 4K class and got some good books for bedtime reading. We had quite the adventure on our ride home… a ride that should have taken about 10 minutes and ended up taking probably at least 20.

With the nice weather we had this afternoon, I of course was driving around with my windows down. First, keeps the car cooler and secondly, my air conditioning doesn’t work so it was sort of a must, haha. Well, as my luck would have it, about half way home a bee flew into the window. If I haven’t said it before, I’ll say it now… I am seriously afraid of bees/wasps/anything with a stinger. I don’t know why, just am! Ugh, so a bee is flying around in my car! I pull into the nearest parking lot and vacate the car (Ayden too) and manage to kill said bee with my long handled ice scraper. Yeah! Dead bee! Ready to finish our trip home. It was at that point that Ayden suggested we roll up our windows. I told him that we could leave them down because bees don’t usually fly into people’s cars and it wouldn’t happen again. I mean have you ever had a bee fly into your car while you were driving?

So, not even a minute later we are driving along when ANOTHER bee ends up in the car!!! And this one was no ordinary bee… it was one of those HUGE HAIRY BUMBLEBEES!!! The first bee Ayden didn’t really notice and was fine, this one he did and he was FREAKING out! And of course the bee was in the back by him. I could see the terror in his eyes and felt so bad for him. I was praying he would just stay seated and not unbuckle himself and try climbing into the front seat while I was driving. At this point I was on a main road and took the nearest turn I could find, only to get stuck behind another car that was trying to turn. Time was going in slow motion as my little guy was having an anxiety attack! Okay, so I manage to get on a side road and pull over. Both Ayden and I are out of the car in seconds. Did I mention this sucker was monstrous!

Like seriously bigger than this super ugly looking thing! Remember, I’m a bee hater! Gives me the shivers just thinking about it!

 

We are out of the car and I start the hunt to kill the sucker! After about five minutes of poking around in my car with my long handled ice scraper at every spot I could think of that the bee might be, I concluded that either it was hiding very well or it had escaped the wrath of Ashley.

Ayden and I tentatively re-entered the car and closed the windows for the rest of the ride home. We made it home in a sweltering car bee free, however I think I have officially scared Ayden off of EVER riding with open windows again. Ugh, and my car gets super hot in the summer! I’ll have to work on that one.

But seriously… what are the chances that we get bee attacked twice in one day… in one drive at that! We survived! Ayden was not too happy when I told him that we would probably see a lot more bees during the summer because they liked warm weather.

On a brighter note, or maybe just less scary (at least to me) we get the keys to our new place tomorrow! We can start moving our stuff in on Sunday afternoon because the carpets are being cleaned Saturday afternoon. Exciting exciting… pray for good weather!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Going Blind

I have had bad eyes since I was young… very young! I’ve had glasses since I was THREE! That’s young (at least to me)! So… I’m used to not being able to see. Okay maybe not, because of having glasses I have been able to see. I got contacts in high school and did those for a few years, but after moving to Point, I just sort of gave up on them. They were never my favorite thing and even when I did have them I never wore them religiously. Maybe it was the type that I had or what not. I had astigmatism and there for my contacts were a little heavier/thicker/whatever you want to call it than most. I got special ones, lol! Anyways, I’ve always had a pretty up to date pair of glasses around that I could wear when I needed. And even without my contacts or glasses on I could see pretty well. I may not have had (or currently have) perfect vision, but it was good enough to see what I needed to see and to pass the drivers test without the aid of glasses.

But… during the past year I have noticed that my eyes seem to be getting worse. I spend too much time staring at a computer screen throughout the day and I’m sure its a mix of not consistently wearing some sort of correction and genes. I wear my glasses more often and find that I can no longer read the TV guide channel on the TV when it is dark in the room. My vision gets worse when it is dark out, as I’m sure happens to a lot of people.

So, I’m not going blind, but my eyes are definitely worse. When I got my new prescription about a year and a half ago now (still love my current glasses) the doctor did not mention astigmatism whatsoever so I’m inclined to believe that it is gone. I know that my old eye doctor said that there might come a point when I no longer had it. Given my current lackage of being able to see as well as I would like as of lately, I’ve started to consider getting contacts again. I think that being able to get the regular kind might make them more manageable, as well as being older. I talked to Jay and told him that when we were done moving and settled in and what not, I am thinking about going to the eye doctor for a check up and possibly look into get contacts. I would love to be able to see awesomely ALL of the time and not have to wear my glasses constantly. Although I do love my glasses, a full day of wearing them tends to give me a headache because they sometimes get a little too tight behind the ears. I know that this is something that they could probably fix and they did a little bit when I got them, however when the lady was first fitting my glasses she tried bending them out a bit and broke them in half and I was lucky they had another pair in stock to put the lenses in right away. That is my current contemplation. We’ll see.

I stopped by the library today and picked up a book to read while I have some down time before the big move that might not even be happening this weekend.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Baby Names

While we were at soccer on Saturday (which by the way... we got rained on for the majority of it) one of the parents was calling out her daughter's name. The name was Katelyn (maybe possibly quite probably spelled differently) and Jay looked at me and said... 'I like that name, maybe we could use it for one of our next kids.' I looked at him and was like, glad you liked that name, but sorry hun its already taken. He was like, by who? I was like, duh Shaun and Amanda's little girl. He was like, oh yeah, darn! So, I don't know if there is some sort of unwritten rule that people aren't supposed to use names twice in a family etc etc, and even if there was, I'm not a natural follower of rules like that. Anyways, although I do like the name Katelyn (Caitlyn for Amanda's little girl), I personally would prefer to pick something different.

But that really surprised me that Jay would bring something up like that. Of course we have talked about having more kids, but naturally both say that it is not the right time. Okay, so it is more me saying that it is not the right time. I KNOW that Jay wants more kids ASAP... weird, right? Thinking it would be me more so than him, but in any case, he does bad! And what do I think? I think it's GREAT! I don't know about other men, husbands, etc... but in my general opinion, isn't it usually the women who are ready first? In any case... he is an amazing father.

So back to the names... after we established that there was already a Katelyn, I told him the names that I liked in the event we had more children together. I really liked the names that I had picked out, however he didn't! I didn't like any of them. Well really I only had three (2 girl names and 1 boy name) and he told me some that I didn't like either. I was all for pushing my names, but he didn't think so hot of that, lol!

Well, this was on Saturday and during the past few days he has sort of been throwing around some more names. Like seriously, he is all for this and I'm loving that he has an opinion on it one way or another. When it came to picking Ayden's name... I sort of did that on my own and he said he liked it. And then of course he got to pick the middle name. Then yesterday while we were in the checkout lane at Walmart he saw a name he liked and suggested it to me and surprisingly enough... I liked it too. Now the reason behind why he likes it is such a GUY reason, but nonetheless, we agree on a name and then last night he offered up a boys name and I liked that as well and I offered up another boys name and he liked it.

If the time comes that we are blessed to have another child/ren we might pull those names out of reserve or we might go delve into the baby name book... either way I'm excited that he's excited about the possiblity of our future! For now... I'll just keep those names in my/our heads and dream about their possibilties. Baby naming... so fun!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Memorial Day Weekend

It has been a beautiful weekend! The sun has been shining like none other and this is definitely the time of the year that I like best! Warm weather, great sunshine, and relaxation. I don’t know what it is about the summer for me, but it definitely brings a sort of happiness around me. Hope lots of other people feel like that too… or maybe I am just crazy!

I keep forgetting that today is Monday and then about half way through the day I was all ready to write my Not Me’s for tomorrow when I realized that today was Monday and I was behind already and should have written them last night. And then I realized that MckMama wasn’t doing her weekly rendition of it and decided that I might as well take the week off too. Not that I couldn’t take every week off if I wanted to because Not Me Monday is by no means mandatory, but who in their right mind would not want to play along? Yeah that is what I thought! Lol!

Back to my wonderful weekend! Saturday was a lazy day for us… we spent some time outside and packed some inside. It has definitely been nice to elongate the packing process, even with the organized mess that my house is in right now. I don’t feel any pressure to get stuff done and I’m still almost fully sane with boxes all over the place. I have to say the only things that really need to be packed yet are the kitchen things that we are still using, clothes for everyone, and a few odds and ends. Most of Ayden’s toys are already in bins so they will be easy to move and everything else that we do not use on a daily basis has been packed in boxes already. I think for the most part this will be a fairly easy move because we will be moving just boxes and not things floating around. At least I am keeping my fingers crossed for an easy move.

Sunday I went to go visit my best friend in the hospital. She had been in the hospital since Wednesday with a stomach parasite. Before they finally admitted her, she had been to the ER five times and they kept telling her it was a stomach flu virus… apparently not. Anyways, Jay didn’t care if I went to go see her so I made a day out of it. She lives almost two hours away, otherwise I would have gone to see her before Sunday. Also, she wasn’t in serious condition or anything. Well, as it turned out I got there just as she was getting discharged! How great was that!

Her parents own a carnival and happened to be in the town ten minutes over and we decided to go visit them. She was supposed to help them work, however due to the illness she wasn’t able to so we just visited with them. It was a very fun time and I got SO sunburnt! I did not even think to put on sunscreen because I wasn’t anticipating being out in the sun. And then after hanging out the carnival we took her godson with us and hit up HuHot for supper and it was so yummy (like usual) and this time I so went back for seconds because I wanted to get my moneys worth. And for it being a Sunday night and Memorial Day weekend, it was SO not busy which was the BEST part… especially with a 2 year old. And her godson was SO well behaved!

Today was another relaxing day which was great. Ready for the week tomorrow and happy it is already Tuesday!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Before and After

Praise MckMama for giving away the secret to the holy grail as she so termed it. THANKS MCKMAMA times a million!!! The secret to the blurry background is out! Well, I’m sure many super duber photogs out there knew long before I did not to create this splendid blurry background, but I didn’t. And unfortunately I have yet to get my hands on a digital SLR camera so I am limited to what my Photoshop Elements can do… however I am not disappointed. Have fun taking a look at what I’ve tried thus far!

Before

After

 

Before

After (with color enhancement as well)

 

BeforeAfter (with color enhancement as well)

 

Before After

 

Before (my friend’s godson)  After

 

Before

After

 

Before (my best friend and I)After

Hope you enjoyed!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Photo Fun

I was playing around with my camera this afternoon and its different settings… and then used Photoshop to make some collages… enjoy!

  

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Here comes the weekend!

I am so looking forward to this weekend, but there really isn’t any reason behind it, just the fact that it is the weekend and we get to stay home and the weather is going to be nice out. And… we have soccer tomorrow and it is supposed to be warm out, or at least warmer than last week. I’m a little disappointed though because Ayden has this week and next week of soccer left and they’ve only had two games so far. That means they will be having only four games this season and I paid for seven weeks of it. Talk about getting jewed, lol! Ah, oh well, he still has fun!

Jay got done with work super early today… 11am. Only because he worked late every other night this week and his employer will not let him work overtime. His manager would all but love it because they could get more work done, but the owner does not want to pay for it, so 40 hours it is and that was 11am this morning. Nice to have him home early, but we really didn’t do anything all afternoon.

I was kind of disappointed with Jay when I got home from work. I kind of expected that he would get the dishes done and pack up a few things while I was gone, but I got home and where do you think I found him… no where else but on the computer with nothing done. And he even put off doing the dishes last night because he said that he was going to do them when he got home from work early today. I was pretty disappointed because there was stuff that could definitely have been done, but I didn’t say anything to him. I just feel like I shouldn’t always be the one telling him to do things, but that he should just realize that they need to get done and do them. The slow cooker has been sitting on the counter the ENTIRE week filled with water and hasn’t been washed from my party yet. He is a big boy and should be able to do stuff without me having to make a list. I mean how hard is it to sweep the floor when you notice that it is pretty dirty?

I hate to nag the guy and I realize he does work all day and I can do some of the stuff, and I do, but I also think that he should take a hand in some of the housework. I don’t mind taking care of most of it, but I shouldn’t have to do ALL of it, nor should I have to constantly nag him on his fair share of it either. Just a little bit of venting.

But we’ve decided that tomorrow will be a cleaning/more packing type of day. We still have all of next week to stay here (for sure) and although we can for sure move stuff on the 1st (we, or should I say I am keeping my fingers crossed that we just might be able to move some stuff in next weekend, even though it technically isn’t the first, but I am also being realistic about it as well) but the first is a Monday and I don’t want to move everything on a Monday so we very well might be at least sleeping here (our current place) for another two weeks. And then there is the matter of getting our dish network and internet transferred to the new place and that is always fun, right? Or not! I am trying to stay positive that we might be able to get rid of Charter because they really SUCK! I know, it’s mean, but it’s true, they are expensive and have the WORST customer service and have screwed us over TWICE already!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Blahghgh…

Tuesday

I had a dentist appointment this morning... to which I was late to. I wrote down the time two weeks ago when they had to change it, but lost the sticky note. I rewrote the time when they called to remind me about my appointment last Friday, however still got the time wrong. I could have sworn that she told me 8:30am and not 8am, however I am mistaken. I got a call at about 8:10am wondering if I was going to be able to make it to my appointment. I was shocked! I've never missed an appointment like that before. Ayden and I shot out the door and headed to the dentist as quick as can be because they said that they would still be able to squeeze me in. Thank goodness because I really didn't want to have to reschedule it. Ayden was so good during the whole appointment. I was so thankful and happy that he acted like such a big boy! The hygienist was awesome as well! She told Ayden that he could come and see what they were doing to my teeth if something looked interesting and did he ever. He got right up in my face with the hygienist, it was too cute see the curiosity in his eyes! Future hygienist/dentist?!

After my almost missed appointment, we headed back home and I got some more 'cleaning' done. Or in other terms, taking boxes down and semi going through them before moving onto something else. I have been packing ADD these past two days. I start something and then move onto something else before finishing the first thing. After a little bit of that, Ayden and I headed outside to clean out my car. It wasn't as bad as Jay's truck, but it had enough garbage on the floor from Ayden and sand and rocks from this winter. Ayden got started with Jay's shopvac (which is very quiet might I add) and I took care of the garbage. He as a great helper! We also brought the boxes from the garage to the porch and taped most of them together in order to start filling them. We didn't get the filling them part yet though, lol!

Wednesday

Ugh, today was just very blah for me and it is kind of depressing to think so. I don’t know why… I mean we did get some stuff done, however I just feel like it was a waste of a day on my part. The morning was spent just lounging around the house. Ayden and I took a bike ride, but that was about it and it was so nice outside today. I did get some more boxes packed and took some out garbage/recycling that had accumulated. I also found an awesome book shelf by the dumpster that is now in our garage. It is the same as the current one that we have in our bedroom, however it is white. I could not pass it up. I mean it looks almost brand new (minus the layer of dust on it) and we can always use extra storage. If it turns out that we don’t need it at the new place, we can always get rid of it then. It didn’t cost us anything. Slowly the boxes are being packed. I’m trying to only pack things that we aren’t going to need in the next week. With all of the ‘disarray’ in my house I’m not actually going as crazy as I thought I might. It is no where near as organized as I would like it to be, but that is okay. I’m relishing the thought that I get to go through it all at the new place and organize it there. Lol, me and my OCD!

We have a hallway full of stuff for Jay’s aunt’s rummage sale and I’m hoping that it goes, or at least some of it goes. Another week in this ‘mess’ and all will be good. I’m getting more and more excited.

I didn’t work today. By the time that I got there after dropping Ayden off at school everyone was gone for lunch and it was locked. Unfortunately after four years of working there I still don’t have a key to get let in. I could have went downstairs to see if the receptionist was there and if she could let me in, however my boss was off today and didn’t have anything for me to do so I would have only been there for about an hour anyways. No one missed me and I wasn’t about to wait around for someone to get back from lunch so I could go in and work for just a little bit. That is what tomorrow is for. I think that might be why I feel like today was some what of a waste.

I did finish the book that I started yesterday. It is the new book out in the Sookie Stackhouse series called Dead and Gone. It was a pretty good book, however I am thinking that there will be another one and now I just have to wait for that one to come out, lol.

I also think I feel kind of lost because I don’t have anything that NEEDS to be done. I'd gotten so used to the whole clinic thing and having something school related to do almost every night of the week and now I have all the time I want to spoil my little dude. I totally love the fact that I get to spend a lot more quality time with him, but it is also times like this where I wish he had a little brother or sister to play with because it would give him some child interaction while he is not at school this summer… and he will be spending a LOT of time one on one with mommy this summer. Not bad in any way, however I know that he will miss his friends.

He was telling me the other day that if I have another baby that it will be his brother or sister and then went on to explain to me that a boy would be a brother and a girl would be a sister. It was too cute, but I got sort of bummed knowing that that probably won’t happen for a few years yet. I wish I could have kids close in age to each other, but it is not in the cards for us right now and as kind of sad as that is, I am okay with it. I am okay with whatever it is the path that we are to go on and whatever happens. If we have lots of more children, then even better, and if not… I will be sad, but okay with it. Make sense?Right now, I am going to be the best mom that I can and work on getting my doctorate and supporting my family.

And then come some wedding planning down the road… at some point. I was talking to Jay’s (technically step great aunt- I think) aunt as I think of her at his cousin’s birthday party last weekend and she said that one of her favorite weddings was one where everyone brought a dish to pass. The food was so much better than the normal chicken or beef people have for weddings. I had heard something similar from my cousin a while back from a wedding that she had attended. It is something that I am considering more and more. I know that at this point I would like it to be outside and in the summer. Light dresses and bare feet, just fun… I want no stress, ha… is there such  a thing when it comes to weddings? I’ve also sort of been thinking about having the wedding ceremony as Jay’s parent’s house (his mom actually said something to Jay about it before we got engaged) by Adam’s garden. If I haven’t mentioned it before, Adam is Jay’s younger brother who is no longer with us. He went home almost five years ago and would love to incorporate that part of him in our wedding. And I think it would mean a lot to his parents and Jay himself, plus the garden really is beautiful. I don’t know, wedding is most likely a long way off so I am not going to worry about it right now. Just thoughts running through my head.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Not Me Monday

Better later than never right? If you haven’t already… head on over to MckMama’s after you get through reading my Not Me’s because she is the inspiration behind all of this. Props goes to MckMama for having such a wonderful idea… I mean who doesn’t like some free therapy every now and then!

I did not spend the majority of my time in the student lounge last week chatting it up with friends. I was there studying my butt off so I would definitely ace my exams!

I did not freak out about my Hearing Science exam all of Monday and Tuesday and then by Wednesday just want it over. I would not wish for time to fast forward so I wouldn't have to sit through the exam and actually think.

I did not freak out when I couldn't even answer the first question on my Hearing Science test. I did not proceed to skip the first three pages and move on to the easy stuff first. I do not take almost every test like that.

I did not feel a wave of relief wash over me when walking out of my Hearing Science exam. I was not elated to be done! I am still not elated to be done.

I did not spend Thursday and Friday reading on my new swing while Ayden was at his last two days of daycare. I did not finish the book I started on Thursday... on Friday afternoon. I do not love to read THAT much and never do!

I did not spend Saturday running around like a chicken with its head caught off trying to get things ready for the party. Okay, actually I didn't and was sitting down chilling out when my mom, sister, and grandma showed up. I was not super excited to graduate on Saturday. I did not freeze my toosh off during the ceremony and wish the speakers would just shut it and get on with things.

I did not have a great party and so much fun the entire weekend!

I did not enjoy watching Jay's cousin Quinn dig into his first birthday cake and reminisce about Ayden's first birthday. I did not almost go through my photograph cds in order to find the pictures from his first birthday to reminisce some more. I do not wish that time would slow down just a LITTLE bit!

I am not looking forward to moving in two weeks. My laundry room is not in disarray again... due to Jay not taking down some shelving already and patching up holes. I am not holding in an urge to pack everything this week and have nothing to live with for the week after that!

I am not starting a summer 'break'... I am not going to enjoy every second of it!!!

What did you you not do this past week?!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Busy Weekend

It has been a busy busy weekend for us, but a wonderful one at that! I am happy to be home and relaxing for the first time in almost 48 hours, but I also definitely like having something fun to do over the weekend as well. And I suppose that I was able to relax at home for a little while last night before falling deep asleep and getting up to leave this morning!

Saturday morning started out early, but not super early. I got up and made my cupcakes pretty early and Jay started to get some of the fruit together. It was one of the few times that we both were up BEFORE Ayden. Usually he is the one that is waking us up. I think he was surprised to wake up and see mom and dad up already. We didn’t do a lot of rushing around too early on Saturday morning, but pretty much had what we thought needed to get done by the time that my mom, sister, and grandma showed up at 10:45am. They were going to come watch Ayden play soccer.

I was a little disappointed with the weather on Saturday because it was SUPER windy and cold and I was afraid that graduation might be moved inside. Actually, after having it sit outside through the cold I kind of wish that they would have had it inside, but oh well! Next time, we (my mom and I) are going to make our weather request a little more specific than just no rain, lol!

Soccer was super cold and windy, but it was so much fun! I always love watching the little guy! This week they had the kinds running the whole field and using the big goals because the little goals were not staying up. The kids definitely got a work out! Ayden took the ball down the field twice and was almost able to score TWO goals! So proud of him! He also had quite the cheering section as my mom, sister, grandma, Jay’s parents, brother, and his grandparents showed up to watch. I think he was really happy to have so many people cheering him on!

After soccer, I had to rush back home to get my cap and gown and get to campus to meet with my friends to take some pictures. Lots of rushing around, but it was worth it. Ayden stayed with Jay and they got the rest of the food ready at the house with his parents. Jay actually had a lot more to do than he had originally thought, but I really wasn’t thinking about any of that. We caught my dad, brother, and godfather showing up as we were leaving so that was good. My brother stayed at the apartment while I led the way to the parking lot/campus. I headed off in one direction (with my mom, sister, and grandma) and sent my dad and godfather to find seats. My mom was going to take some pictures for me.

Found my friends and got some awesome pictures of us together! I was so happy that Leah had suggested us getting together before hand to do it! The first picture is me and my ComD girlies (minus one who had not gotten there yet). Me, Kristi, Leah, and Robin! I would not have made it through these last two years without them! We all have kids and can definitely related to each other and what everyone is going through! Robin will be continuing her education at Point next year, however Kristi and Leah will not. I will miss those girls, but will definitely stay in touch!

This next picture is one of more of my classmates. I know all of the girls and we get along, but we are not as close as my other friends. The whole ComD class is very close, but I think we all have our little close knit of friends within our class.

Closer view: Me, Ciera (the one who was missing from the first picture), Kayleigh, Kristen, Robin, Leah, Kristi, and Lesley!

One of just me! So disappointed that the weather was cold because I ended up wearing jeans and a sweatshirt over the super cute sundress that I originally was going to wear. Oh well, I’m sure I will get many other chances to wear it this summer!

The ceremony itself seemed to take forever. Well, I classify as taking over two hours as forever, especially since towards the end I was FREEZING! It was awesome to get my diploma and then I all I wanted to do was leave, lol! And honestly, they didn’t even give us our diplomas, they mail them to us. But I’m glad that I walked at the ceremony because there really isn’t anything like it.

My party went really good. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves which was the main objective, even though we had to stay inside for the majority of it. It did get a little warmer towards the end of the day, but even still. I got to talk to a lot of people, got some pictures taken, and just tried to enjoy myself. Our Wii was a major it which was kind of funny to watch. My mom took pictures with her camera and I had every intention of putting them on my computer before she left, however I totally forgot. And because she left for Denver this morning, I won’t be able to get them until probably Fridayish. I can’t wait to see them because I didn’t even look at them after she took them.

Many people stayed longer than I had expected which was pretty cool, since everyone that came lived over an hour a way. It was also nice not having to be the ones with the long drive ahead of them. We got to stay put and they all had to drive, lol. Usually, we are the ones at most family functions with the long drive after. So, say if someone wants to get home at like midnight, they can leave ten minutes before… but if we want to get home at midnight we have to leave at 10:30, oh well..

Ayden and Alexis relaxing towards the end of the party! They were trying to make super silly faces for me and I thought it was just too cute that they were laying together. They had SO much fun playing together last night! I love watching them interact and hope they stay close as they continue to grow up!

This morning was another early morning, but thanks to Ayden. I so thought that he was going to sleep in later than he did because of all the running around he did yesterday and then not going to bed until later last night, however he was up bright and early. That was okay though… we turned some cartoons on and mom slept for a little while longer. I needed that extra half hour and it felt really nice!

We headed out to Jay’s cousin’s birthday party by 9:30 to make it there by 11am and we arrived right on time! His cousin turned one and the party was super cute. He even had his own little birthday cake to dive into! I remember Ayden’s first birthday and stripping him down to his diaper to dig into his piece of cake the mess that we had to clean up afterwards, but thankfully for Ayden’s we had him outside in his high chair so it wasn’t as bad. Oh how time flies!

Ayden had lots of little playmates today and it was fun to watch him interact with them as well. He really opened up while we were there and was talking to almost everyone. And if you know Ayden, that doesn’t happen right away. I was really surprised, but also glad.

Jay’s aunt had some BEAUTIFUL tulips in her yard that I just HAD to take Ayden’s picture in front of. He is so cute and the flowers are SO pretty! Or at least I think so!

And now we are at home relaxing after a busy weekend! This week should be pretty relaxing. My first week of nothing to do besides going to work while Ayden is at 4K. It will be a slight schedule change for us since 4K does not start until 12:30. We will have all morning together and then lunch. I’m think about creating some sort of schedule for us so we just don’t sit watching TV all morning long. Like getting up and he can watch his usual cartoons while I get ready… eat breakfast together… then do some sort of craft or worksheet type thing… get some outside time in or playing together inside… and then lunch. Keep it similar to daycare. Really any sort of routine will be good and we all know the less TV the better because that is something we (my household) could stand to work on.

So, it’s off to get the little munchkin to bed and then work on my thank-yous from my party and then maybe get my Not Me’s ready for tomorrow.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

G-Day…

…is tomorrow! We went and did our big 'party' shopping spree last night and got everything except the soda/alcohol/fruit. I'd get no alcohol since I don't drink, but invariably someone would get here and then go buy some because we didn't have any. Oh well... their choice on what they want to do. Anyways, my house is still pretty much a disaster area that needs to be cleaned tonight. The Walmart bags from our shopping excursion and still laying on the kitchen floor from last night after putting the groceries away. I didn't have the ambition to pick them up then or this morning, lol. Talk about lazy, lol! But I did get the laundry room in order yesterday and all of the clothes folded and put away, minus the one load that is in the dryer right now. It's a small load though so that is okay. And while Ayden was taking a bath this morning I did clean off the bathroom counter. It needed a good scrub down. Pretty much all that needs to still get done is swiffering the bathroom floor and kitchen/dining room, cleaning Ayden's toys, and vacuuming the living room and hallway. I might let Ayden loose with the duster so it doesn't look like I never dust, but haven't really decided yet. I'm sure he would love to do that! He spent about ten minutes on the TV yesterday making sure it was extra clean, lol!

I'm having a hard time getting motivated though because the last few days it was studying for finals and then yesterday it was really nice outside and I started a new book. It is called Just Breathe and I picked it up from Walmart on Thursday night. Yes, that is right... I was at Walmart both Thursday night and last night. I'm a Walmart fiend... but do you blame me. At least on Thursday night I only got like a few things. So, I'm about halfway through my book already and wanting to finish it pretty bad. I am going to strive to finish it tonight because I will definitely not have time this weekend with graduation and a birthday party this weekend. Maybe late Sunday night, but I will probably be too tired to read anything. Plus reading in my new swing is so comfy!

I've gotten quite a few congratulations already from family members about this whole college thing and it really has gotten me thinking. Everyone keeps saying how proud of me they are for making it through college while having a child. It's not to say that they wouldn't be proud if I didn't have Ayden and was graduating, but it just seems like they are making it such a big deal. And maybe to them it is, but for me it isn't. College was my choice, or rather it was where I felt led. It's not as if I had any choice about bringing Ayden along for the ride. I did what I needed to in order to accomplish my goals. Although I am not graduating with honors like I would have liked, however in my defense (heck, I don't need to make a defense)... I am 0.05 points below for being able to graduate with the lowest honors (there are three levels: GPA of 3.5-3.74 = cum laude (honors) GPA of 3.75-3.89 = magna cum laude (high honors) GPA of 3.9-4.0 = summa cum laude (highest honors)... and my current GPA was 3.45) As well, this does not take into account your last semester GPA. But I did figure it out and in order to increase my GPA to 3.5, I would need all 'A's and only one 'A-' this semester and sorry, but I don't think I pulled that off. But I'm proud of myself for graduating with an 'A-/B+' average from college!

But, back to my point, I didn't have much of a choice when it came to going to college with or without Ayden... he was there no matter what! So, the first part of my journey may be over, but the 'fun' part is just going to start. I have come to realize that college is not for everyone. I used to think that people who didn't go to college would get no where in life (well not nowhere, but college was the 'right' path). Yes, I was arrogant like that, but it has occurred to me that of course college IS NOT for everyone. People can and do go in SO many directions with their life. The real thing is that as long as THEY are happy that is ALL that matters! And so many people do not go to college and are happier than many of the people who do. It is the right path for me, but not everyone and I realize that. There is an infinite amount of possibilities for everyone in the world.

My career aspirations before entering college were ones that needed a college degree. I wanted to be a forensic pathologist (or in layman’s terms: coroner) and well that meant the long haul. One year into the biology major and a chance class for extra credit that was called Introduction to Communicative Disorders and I knew that I had found a different calling. At first I had no idea about Audiology and didn’t really ‘get into’ it for another year or so. I thought a speech pathologist was my new route and then came the ear, lol! I’ve always been more into the medical aspect of things and things that can be quantified. Well, an SLP can quantify progress and such, but audiology is a little more medical and that is the extra draw for me. And wouldn’t you know that I pick the career that includes two more extra years of schooling versus the two for the masters SLP’s need. I just love going for the gusto. That’s the path I’ve been lead to… but that is just me. Everyone is DIFFERENT and just because I go to college doesn’t mean Ayden will want to and that is something that I will be okay with if/when that decision comes because I am his mom and only want what is best for him, however want what he wants as well. Does that make sense? As a parent we want what is best for our children, but we also have to realize that sometimes what we think is best is something that they don’t want. Being a parent is so hard yet so rewarding and I can only pray that everyone who wants to experience it gets to in one shape or another.

Okay, I’m off to try and upload a video I took of Ayden last week. I tried to last night, but it wasn’t working. Wish me luck because it is super cute and I want to share it with everyone.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

UPDATE: The song uploaded, but is the post before this one! Enjoy!

Mother's Day Song

Ayden and his preschool class learned the cutest song for Mother's Day and sang it to all of the moms at the tea party last week. I was almost in tears listening to my little guy sing with the rest of his class. It was the cutest thing... so when I heard him singing it after his bath the other day... I just HAD to get it on film. Hope you enjoy!

Can I say it... do I dare shout it?!

I AM DONE DONE DONE!!! I am more done than I'm sure anyone really wants to hear about... but dear blog readers... I will say it again and again and again... I AM DONE DONE DONE!!! My hearing science final, well just as bad as said previous hearing science exam! And you wouldn't believe the amount of studying that I put in for this test. This test that we were alotted two hours to take, this test that was comprehensive/cummulative/whatever you want to call it all of the semester information crammed onto one test, and I spent an hour and a half on it. I am a fast test taker most of the time, but when it comes to these exams, I am usually one of the first people done and we are almost out of time at that point. An hour and a half for ONE test... that is a little ridiculous if you ask me, but that is what it took. I think I was about the third or fourth one done. I am sure that there is a majority of the class still taking it with about five minutes left. Oh the relief that they will feel once they leave that classroom. I am only moderately concerned about the outcome of that test. I am pretty sure that he will curve it. I do not know if we will find out our exact grade for that test, but our final grade will be in by the end of the next week. Hoping for at least a 'B', wishing for an 'A'.

And do you want to know the other great news that I found out today... GRADUATION WILL BE OUTSIDE! That is right... OUTSIDE! The weather for Saturday isn't looking very warm, but at least it will not be rainy like it was for my high school graduation. Still kind of bites because I could use some warm weather for my get together afterwards, but I'm sure we can half congragate inside and half congragate outside. I might need to find something else to wear to keep me warmer, but I suppose that is an even trade off for having graduation outside. Oh how exciting!

Tonight I am going to fold like a gazillion loads of laundry that need to be folded and put away and we are going to do some grocery shopping for the party. However, before that I need to make out a list of what we need to get. That shouldn't be too terribly difficult since I already have a list of what I want to make for the party. Just need to take it off of that. It will be SO nice to not have to worry about anything school related for the next couple of months. Oh so nice!!!

Next up... moving!!! My mom thought she might be able to get me some boxes from Walmart which would be really nice. I hate moving without boxes and refuse to move like we did the last time. I mean it was half way decent, but it was a crappy wet weekend and by the time we had everything moved into our new place we could hardly move from one side of the apartment to the other. Ugh, I am not a good organized mover, only a good organized unpacker and put awayer, lol!

It's off to the dentist now to give them my new insurance information. Or rather, my mom's new insurance information. I have a dentist appointment next Tuesday. I really don't mind going to the dentist. They always tell me to floss, however I've been told that since like FOREVER. I really need to get Ayden into the dentist pretty soon. Kids usually start losing their baby teeth around 5 or 6 and it would probably look better if I get him into the dentist before that. However, when you don't have your own dental insurance and visits are like $80 or more a pop plus xrays... it can get quite expensive and well we don't really have the kind of money for that stuff. I know dentist visits are relatively important, but right now being able to afford daycare has been one of our top priorities thus far.

CIAO! LOVE ME!

One down… one to go!

I had my first of two (in class) finals today. I took my music one online a few weeks ago. I feel like I didn’t do anything all day besides study, well actually that is pretty much all I did do and it is kind of a bummer, lol! Studying all day long, never fun, and you know what… it is my plan for tomorrow as well.

I started out at work for a bit this morning. Then it was off to the student lounge where I met up with some classmates for about two hours of studying some social gerontology stuff. After those two hours, it was an hour in the room next door going over our old hearing science tests in preparation for the exam on Wednesday. Those two previous tests brought back many memories, and not very pleasant ones if I do say so myself. But I did go pretty good on the second test so much of that I did not need to recopy. I felt so bad for my friend who was there studying. She had a tooth pulled/extracted/some jaw ground out just that morning. Anyone who has had their wisdom teeth extracted knows the pain I’m talking about. Well… she was there (bleeding gums and gauze) taking notes. She had yet to take any pain medication when I saw her, mostly because she had to drive home. I wish we could have taken the tests home so she wouldn’t have had to endure that kind of pain. I was keeping an eye on her though because I didn’t want her to pass out or anything. When I left later she was still doing good!

After going over those hearing science tests, it was back to another 45 minutes of social gerontology studying and then 15 minutes of anything BUT studying! My classmates and I had had enough, lol! Needless to say the test went pretty well. I can’t imagine that I got a 100%, but I cannot imagine that I failed it either. I guess only time will tell, right? And so one done!

I am going into work early tomorrow before Jay leaves for his exam. Then I need to high tail it home so Jay can leave and I can get Ayden to school and then it’s back to the student lounge for hearing science studying!!! A few of my classmates will be there from about 10-2pm… I plan on attending, but don’t think I will be able to study for THAT long! I have a meeting at 1:30 with my supervisor to go over my hours and then I am going to another friend’s house to get some more studying done. She can’t make the lounge study group, and some extra study time won’t hurt me. Most likely I will forgo any studying then tomorrow night and do a little bit on Wednesday morning before the exam. Either way, I’m so ready to be done done done!!!

I am in the midst of doing some laundry right now. We had a TON that needed to be done and well, it is not my favorite chore. Actually, it probably does rank pretty high on my list, but I’m kind of brain drained tonight. Who’d blame me? Jay and I kind of got into it about cleaning tonight. I don’t know if he was serious with his statements, but I sure was with mine. From my perspective, unless I say something, nothing gets cleaned. Papers and soda bottles everywhere, messy living, dishes not done, floor not swept. He told me that he works all day so I should do the stuff around the house. I don’t think so buddy! Where I do agree with the fact that because he does work harder than me during the day (at least when he is working full time in the summer), I should do more of the stuff at home. It is only fair, however, I refuse to pick up the stuff that he gets out and LEAVES out FOREVER! I don’t mind picking up the toys, tidying the bedroom, vacuuming, etc… but I do mind him not offering to help, asking what he can do to help, just sitting around when he sees I’m cleaning. I mind him keeping his ‘computer area’ a mess when everything else is clean, I mind him leaving his clothes in a pile on the floor when there is nothing else on the floor, I mind the fact that he doesn’t seem to care about any of it either. I know I’m picky, I know I’m a little bit OCD when it comes to things being in their place and clean, but I can tolerate that lived in feeling, its just when it gets a little TOO lived in… if that makes any sense? Probably not. It’s probably just the tenseness that I’m feeling because it’s finals week and I am realizing just how much cleaning I feel needs to be done before my party this weekend.

I think the rest of tonight leaves me with lounging in bed and watching some nonsense TV and falling asleep early because I did not go to bed early last night like I had originally wanted to, unless someone out there thinks 11pm is early. I certainly don’t, lol!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Not Me Monday

Before after you get through my awesome list of ‘Not Me’s’ be sure to head over to MckMama’s (the brains behind this totally cool thing so many know as NOT ME MONDAY) and check out her list and everyone else that has linked with Mr. Linky! You’ll be glad you did!

Without further ado… what did I SO not do last week?

I did not almost start hyperventilating when I was doing my aud practicum because I am always super confident with what I am doing. I did not do my aud practicum on a friend who I am not totally comfortable with so there was absolutely no reason for me to get so nervous. I was not being watched by my supervisor who was not going to give me a grade. As I was administering the pure tones test I was not concerned about how I would give the speech test if I could not breathe. I did not calm down about half way through and end up getting a great grade! I am not glad to be done with it! Not at all!

I did not have a super great poster presentation. I was not glad to be done and over with that as well. I am not looking forward to a good grade that will definitely help boost my overall grade. I did not get my last hearing science test back… our teacher did not have to add 29 points to everyone’s test because we all did not do that bad. That test was not hard in the least! I was not relieved to see an ‘A’ after the addition of the 29 points. I do not think that I just might be able to pull out an ‘A’ in that class after all.

I did not go with my mom to get her new tattoo this weekend. We did not get lost on the way there. That totally was the only time we got lost on Saturday! We (my mom, sister, and I) did not have a great time together! I do not want another tattoo already!

I did not get a patio swing for Mother’s Day from my guys. I am not in love with them and my new swing. I can so wait until we move because I do not want to use said swing in our new yard!

I am looking forward to my finals this week with everything ounce of being I have. I studied for hours this weekend and feel completely comfortable with all of the knowledge that I have acquired throughout the semester!

I am not wishing for Wednesday afternoon already so I can be done with finals. I do not have ideas floating in my head for a crafty idea. I hate being crafty and never do crafty things. I am not excited to graduate on Saturday. I am not praying for decent weather and have not already checked the weather for Saturday last night and this morning. It did not change and I am not happy about it. I am not keeping my fingers crossed for sunshine!

I am not off to study some more… do not wish me luck on my finals!

What did you not do this past week?

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Mother's Day

It's been a great mother's day thus far... although I haven't really done much, expect smooch on my little guy every chance that he will let me. And not to worry, he's been smooching on me just as much, so I will definitely take it. That doesn't happen all that often and I'm assuming less and less as he gets older. I'll take what I can get, right? Lol!

I'm about ready to head home for a good nights sleep. Friday night on a slightly less than comfortable couch and last night in a slightly more comfortable bed (yet not my own) has left me craving for some sleep. And the funny this is that I got less sleep this weekend than I normally do during the week. Aren't weekends supposed to be for sleeping in? That's what I thought!

I have yet to study for my exams. I am just SO not in the mood for that. Who wants to study Social Gerontology on Mother's Day? Didn't think so... so the studying will most likely hold off until tomorrow morning because that is the only time I will have left before the exam. I plan on working for a little while tomorrow morning, then studying for my sociology test and then heading off to review my hearing science tests. It hit me yesterday that after Wednesday I will be 'free' again until September. Another year successfully gone through! Yeah! However, that also means I need to get my head in the game for moving!

Yesterday, I went with my mom to get her new tattoo and I must say that it turned out awesome! My sister came along as well and she has caught the tattoo fever once again as well! I'd love to get another one right away like I said, but most likley won't! Anyways, it was a good time... even though we did get 'lost'. I ended up having to call Jay in the morning so he could look up directions for me because my mom's internet wasn't working and well I wasn't thinking that it just might not work when I needed it. He so kindly looked up the directions and I wrote them down, however three women navigating... we got lost. On the bright side we did arrive just on time, just from a different direction than we had anticipated. We ate at Culvers afterwards and it was super yummy (even though we were all too full for any of their delicious custard!) and then found a stellar deal on bras at Walmart. And by stellar... I mean super awesome! Any women knows that a good bra costs anywhere from like $7+... and if we are talking Victoria Secret probably $30+ (however I'm WAY too cheap to shop there for bras, well mostly anything in that store) anyways, we found bras on sale for... $1!!!!! Not super luxurious bras (i.e. fancy dancy VS bras), but definitely worth buying! Not that you care about my steal on bras, but I was excited... still am, lol!

But did you know what Walmart does not have? That's right, Walmart does not have all. They do NOT have purple streamers. What kind of store has like every other color of streamers, but not purple? Walmart! I think that the dollar store has purple ones, but I'll have to be sure sometime this week. Plus the dollar store is a cheaper. I need purple and yellow for my party decorations, you know the few that I will actually put up. Still hoping for good weather as well!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Goodbye Undergrad Class… FOREVER!!!

Today marks my last undergrad class…EVER! Oh and I am so excited because that means NO MORE HEARING SCIENCE! I cannot wait to get this class done and over with, what a relief it will be. Oh, and remember that horrible hearing science test that I had to take about two weeks ago. Well, we got our results back and the professor ended up adding 29 points to everyone’s test meaning I got an ‘A’! I am not brave enough to figure out my score without the extra 29 points, but I don’t really want to know it either. I am happy that he understood that the test was difficult and that he will have to make some changes on it for next year and even happier that he added those extra points. I just might come out with an ‘A’ in the class now! Just need to study for the final, which isn’t until next Wednesday.

Tonight after Jay gets home I am going to head to my mom’s house. I am going with her tomorrow morning when she gets her new tattoo. It is my mother’s day gift to her! She is super excited, as am I. However it is tempting me because tattoos are addicting, lol! Nah, I’m not ready for another one already. I am content and feel ‘balanced’ with what I do have on me, as weird as that may sound. Some people may wonder why at the age of 22 I already have three tattoos. Three tattoos that I am going to have to live with for the REST of my life. But it’s not so much as having to ‘live’ with them as them being a part of who I am. The angel on my back is for Ayden and it is not something that I can see without a mirror so even if at one point I was upset that I got it, it’s not as if I have to see it everyday. I’d say most of the time I forget its even there. I think the one on my wrist is one that many people would probably see as a problem because it is so just there. It means ‘persistence’ and keeps me believing that I can accomplish ANYTHING as long as I have persistence. I LOVE IT! And the newest one on my foot says ‘Believe’ with Ayden’s footprints. ‘Believe’ is also such a strong point in my life and keeping me going. Believing in so many things! Staying positive! I don’t know what my future will hold, but I’d like to think that I will be forever happy with the decisions to get my tattoos.

Anyways, it will be nice to ‘hang’ out with my mom and sister tonight for a while without having to keep an eye on Ayden as well. Jay and Ayden will be staying in Point until after soccer tomorrow and then coming to join me for the weekend. We will spend Sunday at his parent’s house celebrating Mother’s Day with the rest of his mom’s side of the family.

I will hopefully start studying Sunday night for my final on Monday in my sociology class. Usually these tests are not too hard, although I did not do as well as I would have liked on the previous one. I am so glad to be done with that class because it really was not my thing. I have a few errands to run today… not really in the mood to do them, but I suppose that they need to get done at some point so I might I as well do them. I just need to decide if I want to do them this morning or wait until after I pick Ayden up from school. I am leaning more towards waiting because then it will make the afternoon time go faster.

I also still need to fill out the rest of the information regarding the before/after school program for Ayden, but I was waiting for some new from our case worker yet. I did get some news yesterday, but not quite was I was looking for. I think I will get that finished up next week for sure. And then there the rest of the paper work that I need to get filled out for grad school in the fall, although I don’t think any of that stuff is due until the end of July (I think) and there really isn’t all that much to fill out. Just waiting until afternoon next Wednesday when I am completely done with undergrad school.

After that… it is cleaning and getting ready for the party on Saturday! Although I am getting a little irritated at people. I sent out the invitations two weeks ago with a request to RSVP with not only my phone number, but also my email address… only ONE couple has RSVP’d that I didn’t already know was planning on coming BEFORE I sent the invites out. Oh wait, sorry… two have! Unless everyone plans to let me know the day before, I think they should really get on that. I’m sure that there have been times where I have not RSVP’d and gone, but really… Does that mean no one else is planning on coming? I mean, I am not having this all out big celebration, but there is a big difference in the amount of food you need if only ten people are coming versus twenty, right? Okay, I will chill… I know I need to.

Okay… I’m most likely going to be gone for the whole weekend so HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

And this… and that…

Lets talk about the list of things Ashley has to do before next fall and the list of things that she wants to get done by the end of the week that don’t need to be completed until next fall… they are one in the same!

We had Ayden’s IEP (individual education plan) meeting today regarding his speech (more on that later) which brought up something I hadn’t even considered until today. Sometime last week I let Ayden’s daycare director know of our intentions to take Ayden out of daycare in mid June. Not for anything other than to save money, however when I made his schedule for his remaining time at daycare, I did not take into account that he still has ‘school’ until June 10th. I sort of figured I could switch his schedule when I was done and thus was planning on it. Whoops… Ayden still has afternoon 4K even though I will have graduated. He can’t very well attend afternoon 4K from 8:30am-12:30pm, now can he? Didn’t think so! I realized this during the meeting when we were discussing therapy times. And you know what that means… I have to reschedule the whole first half of the summer.

This means talking to the daycare director tomorrow and letting her know that Ayden’s last day of daycare will be next Friday. Well, we are supposed to give two weeks notice, and obviously it will not be two weeks notice. I already paid $200 for the month of May (we still haven’t received our actual bill yet) and believe this will cover our portion of Ayden’s actual attendance. I will figured that out tomorrow. After making sure this is okay with his director (financial wise), I can pull him out whenever I see fit attendance wise, I need to email our case worker regarding our child care assistance and all of those changes. And that is not the only thing I need to talk to her about. I also added in things about next fall and assistance and so on and so forth (too long and confusing to explain here). She is really going to love me now because I just emailed her about two weeks ago regarding summer etc…

And then I need to get back to the YMCA sign Ayden up for the Great Escape program, but not before I make it to the Bliss Center and provide verification of our address change this summer so that Ayden can officially be transferred from Washington Elementary to (not McKinley) McDill Elementary. I spoke with the education center this afternoon and they said we could transfer Ayden to McKinley for the summer school program, but that the kindergarten class was already full and he would be attending McDill Elementary for kindergarten. Most likely he will be transferred back to his home school (McKinley) for first grade because they like to keep students at their home school. Now that I got the school part sorted out, I need to get the before and after school care part sorted out and then inform the speech coordinator that he will not be attending McKinley in the fall like I thought.

Speaking of that, the IEP meeting went really well this afternoon. The one grad student did a great job explaining everything to me, even though I knew most of how the form would go. I was surprised by some of the things that they found, but also relieved that Ayden will now be getting some help. I thought it was funny that Jay said when we got home that he didn’t understand a thing they were talking about. I suppose that it was easy for me to understand because I’ve been immersed in that sort of stuff for the past four years and he hasn’t. In any case, they laid out the goals/objectives they had for Ayden over the next year and I was very glad to have some sort of foundation to go upon. Beginning in two weeks, Ayden will receive speech therapy for one hour each week (minus the summer) for the next year. Obviously that means about three sessions before the end of the school year, but at least they will have something started and might be able to help guide me to what I should work on with him this summer.

Once kindergarten starts he will resume therapy, most likely in a group session and probably two times a week for a half hour. I would prefer one on one sessions for 45 minutes each at the clinic, but that will not be the case. It is not that the school SLPs are not as good, but I’ve learned that one on one sessions are more productive and often times in school sessions not much happens and the real progress is at home. While parent/home carryover is the big thing with all therapy, for most children I think one on one would be more beneficial. Okay so maybe not, purely my opinion. In any case, I know that he will be getting help and in the long run improving his speech intelligibility is the big thing.

On a different note, I picked up my cap and gown this morning! How exciting is that! It makes it just that much more real! I even tried them on, even though the gown is like huge on me. Ah… I’M GRADUATING!!!

I also had my aud practical exam today which went really good. I was SO nervous throughout most of it, but managed to calm down towards the end. My supervisor is so great that I will miss having her as a supervisor in the fall since I most likely will not end up with her two semesters in a row, but it would be nice. We have one final meeting next week, but that is just to go over my hours and such.

Tomorrow is my poster presentation and I’m not nervous at all… right now. Ask me a few minutes before my presentation, lol!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Not Me Monday (is back)!!!

How exciting is it to have ‘Not Me Monday’ back?! And even better… how great is it that Stellan (and MckMama) is back home and doing loads better?! Pretty great, right? Yeah, I thought so!!!! Smiles times like a million!

So, get those Monday shoes/sandals/bare feet going and head over to MckMama’s and share in the greatness that so many know as ‘Not Me Monday’!

Time to get back in the groove and remember everything that I did not do this past week and let everyone else know about them!

First off… I did not sit with a group of classmates last Monday studying witching and moaning about our upcoming Hearing Science test. I did not take said test and walk out of the classroom with a pretty sour attitude towards that class. I did not joke with a fellow classmate that maybe we’ll get kicked out of the Aud program because we probably failed the test. I am not keeping my fingers crossed for a HUGE curve… wait… my whole class is not keeping their fingers crossed for a HUGE curve!

I did not have my last therapy session this week! I will not miss my little client and I was not smitten by the little card he made me that had his picture in. I will not keep that card forever and ever (well at least for a long time) and always remember him as my little speech guy! I am totally glad speech practicum is over and I will not miss it one little bit. Writing therapy plan after plan after plan and reflection after reflection is super easy (well it is now anyways, lol)!

We did not go look at a duplex this week and end up making another life changing decision. I did not struggle over said decision ALL Tuesday night and finally decide what we should do. We did not apply for, get accepted, and sign a new lease all this week! We are NOT moving in June! I am not excited whatsoever to be moving! I love packing! Insert sarcastic laugh here! But really… I do love the putting away and organizing part… I’m an organizational queen!

I did not go visit my friend in the hospital on Friday afternoon after she had her baby and totally get baby fever! I would never do something like that! I did not hold said baby and wish I could have another little one. I did not go home and proceed to dream about babies all night long! I am not glad that my cousin is having a baby in December so there will be another little one for me to swoon over. I do not think that my family and friends should keep having babies for me to swoon over so I don’t think about having another one!

And finally… I did not have a GREAT weekend at home with my two guys! Saturday did not bring Ayden’s first soccer game of the season, in which he did not play super great… Sunday did not bring great weather, a bike ride to the park, a trip to the driving range with Daddy, and a super fantastic supper of tinfoil potatoes!!!

What did you NOT do this past week? I know you are just dying to share!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

Looking Forward

Written Thursday night…

Two posts in one day definitely hasn’t been my forte lately, heck, sometimes I’m lucky if I post two times in one week, but I have the extra time tonight and guess what? I finished my music paper already tonight! It was three pages double spaced and it only needed to be two to three pages. I’m pretty sure that I just talked my way in circles for it and will suffice with at least a ‘B’ on the paper. Definitely not my best work, but it’s done and one more thing checked off my list.

I also got an email back from the clinic director that answered a lot of my questions which was good. From the tone of her email it seemed kind of ‘snappy’ but I doubt that was how she intended it. She is pretty nice and worked with me last semester so that was good. I know that she was just letting me know how it goes. Which is exactly what she is there for. I really wish that the program would find a fourth student, otherwise the three of us new grad students will have to split four clinic spots in the Spring next year, which means every three weeks, we will have clinic twice a week! As if one three hour block isn’t enough! Although, after all of the paperwork that we need to do with our speech clients, I cannot imagine it being all that bad. Who knows? Won’t know for sure until we actually have to do it.

I know one thing for sure that I will not miss… our neighbors loud music! Peace and quiet, can’t wait for it!

Written Saturday night…

First off, I cannot believe that I have been actively blogging for a year now. I say that because before this blog, I had started a new one about six months earlier, but never really stuck with it. I posted maybe just a handful of times. However, I was introduced into the world of blogging about six months prior to even that attempt. I had been semi actively following a few blogs for almost a year before I started by own. And then my cousin Amanda started a blog and I thought maybe it would be a good idea to try again. I have been a journaler for the past almost eight years (well pretty constantly throughout high school) and then here and there after Ayden was born, but nothing consistently until I started last year. And I’m so glad that I have because it has become a great outlet for me! I’ve always been a ‘writer’ of my feelings and it just feels natural to be able to get it all out again on a daily basis, even if I don’t have a world of followers. Sometimes it feels good to know that someone has stopped by my blog, but mostly I use this as a release (not that I don’t totally love the readers that I do have on a daily basis)!

Today was a good day! We had soccer this morning and it was Ayden’s first game of the season, since it was cancelled last year due to rain. It was exciting because I always love watching Ayden play. Hope you enjoy the pictures that I took!

Here is my soccer star before we left for the game and of course my silly little dude had to wear his shin guards on the OUTside of his pants. I didn’t really care because he was just excited to go to soccer!

Ayden is trying to get the ball! His team (Fire) played the team (Wizards) today and unfortunately team Fire lost 0-2 in the last five minutes of the game, but that was okay. His team really pulled it together as the game went on and I was really proud of them!

Action shot! Here is the super star going after the ball! He did great throughout the whole game and I cannot wait to see him play some more!

Waiting for the ball to be thrown in-bounds!

Being goalie! He did great and stopped three goals during his turn as goalie. It was awesome! I couldn’t stop beaming!

Yesterday I got to go and see my friend and her new baby! She is so adorable! Here is a look for yourself! The happy family, well minus the big sister, who was off with Grandma playing for a while! OMG, talk about baby fever! What a perfect family!

I got my fill of baby holding yesterday, or maybe not. I could probably have sat there all day long holding that new little one, but of course mommy and baby needed their rest, so my friends and I that went only stayed for a little while. I brought Ayden along and another friend brought her son and those two played very well with each other while we were visiting. Oh how I would love another little one! Someday! I’ll just have to have my friend over tons this summer so I can get my fill that way, lol!

We also went to sign our new lease today so it means we are OFFICIALLY moving! I am getting more and more excited about this and everything else. I found the school that Ayden will most likely be transferred too and discovered that he can be transferred to that school for his 4K program this summer as well which would be really nice because then he will already be used to the school come kindergarten. I need to call the education center on Monday. After we checked out a new park, we went to Lowes to check out some wood. We got the okay to build a sandbox in the back yard and I wanted to know how much it might cost. I didn’t want to build on it if would be hundreds of dollars. Jay thinks he should be able to build one with wood not totally $30 and then we need to get the sand. We calculated what the sand would cost coming from Lowes and it would probably be close to $70, but he thinks he might be able to get it cheaper from some place else. We’ll see! I also found a swing that I want to get for our back yard. Might be a graduation present to myself… haven’t decided yet. We also found some great trails that we can go biking on and different places we can explore after we move. I’m becoming more and more excited!!!

CIAO! LOVE ME!