Cross Roads

So it seems like forever since i have really been able to sit down and write a long update. I think everyone has been pretty busy in our day to day lives, summer plans, and just enjoying life. So i thought since it is 8am and i am awake and the kids are asleep i would take some time and update on how life has been going.


I have been doing well. I think i have come to a cross roads in my life where i am not sure exactly which way i want or am suppose to go. I want to go back to school, my best friend is moving away, my kids are growing up too fast, and i feel a little left behind.

Lets start with going back to school. I think this is the harder one for me. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I want to go back to school but at the same time i am still really unsure what i want to go for. Now most people wouldnt scold a 24 year old for not knowing what exactly they want but since i am not your avereage 24 year old i find myself in a hard spot. Maybe you guys can help me wade through this mess. I have 3 fields of interest each with their own difficulty in achieveing or following through with.

First i have a passion and desire to do photography. I love to take pictures! I take about 100 a day and never get tired of it. It makes me feel great when i know i am capturing a memory that will last forever. A little reminder of what was happening in that interval in our lives or the lives of my subject. We do have a collage that offers photography as a major but the biggest problem is how far can i take that degree. I have a family that needs my help financially (and God forbid something happen to my husband i would be the soul provider) and photography can be such an unpredictable field. I have watched and followed as several of you have persued dreams of your own company and watched how hard and how much struggle you have had. As much as i love it i just dont know if it is reasonable or responsible of me to choose this as my sole career.

Then we have Nursing which comes with its own difficulties. The biggest hurdle being that the 2 year program offered at our local college takes a lot of time. Essentially you have to be in class from 8 am to 8 pm 5 days a week the first year and then the second year when you start rounds from 6 am to 5 pm 6 days a week. Now this wouldnt be a problem if i didnt like my kids or had no desire to be in their life but since i kinda am fond of the little buggers i have a BIG problem missing so much of their life. Then there is also the problem of daycare and being able to afford it on just my husband's salary for 3 kids. If i am in class 12 hours a day there is no way i can get a job to be able to pay for the daycare cost that would come with being in school that long. It is like a catch 22. In order to get a better job making good money with excellent benifits i would have to suffer through 2 years of not seeing my kids and struggle hand to mouth since i wouldnt be able to work and that would stretch our paychecks to nothingness. I just dont know if it is worth it to me.

Then their is my last option. I would love nothing more than to go head first into the pool and get my Psychology degree. I dont mean just a bachelors either i mean full out doctors degree. Now this is a lot of time and a lot of money but it is spread out more and would leave me time to work as well as still having time with my kids. My classes would be in the mornings while the kids were at school leaving me only needing daycare for Sione'. I would be able to work several days a week to provide the daycare cost, and maybe even a little extra. The problem is that 1) the local college doesnt offer anything but a bachelors which means i would have to consider moving out of state to finish my degree, 2) it is a lot of school and would rack up a whole lot of debt on top of the debt i already have accumulated, and 3) i just dont know if i have the support {as far as my extended family} to accomplish this long haul.

So as you can see my crossroads is driving me insane. On top of it all Chelsie is moving at the first of the month to Charleston, SC. I am sad about this. Really really sad. Chels is more like my sister than a friend. We have been together for 8 years. Having each others backs through childbirth, death, break-ups,heart aches, make-ups, fights, hard times, and good. We are each others back bones and our kids are just like each others kids. I am going to miss my nieces and my boys will miss thier best friends. Jayden and Phabian have been together since they were concieved (yes we use to let them play together in the bellies lol). Phabian tells me all the time he is going to marry Jayden when he grows up and ya know what, i believe him. He loves that little girl more than any other friend.

Marcus and I plan on moving down there ourselves but that presents its own problems. Money, time, jobs, school, it is all difficult. Neither of us have fmaily there but it is a half way point between my family in Florida and our family in WV. I was born and raised here in WV and it isnt easy for me to just pick up life as i have always know it and move to a big new place where i know no one.

As of right now we have set a 2 year plan. In 2 years we plan on moving. We decided this because we want to test the waters. Starting next June i will be able to wokr full time only having to worry about daycare for one child (which as you already read brings its own complications with school and such). If we move to SC it would require both of us having a job to support us because the cost of living is higher and the income would be needed. So we want to test it out. Have a plan mapped out so to speak of how things would go once we moved. We also want time to get our credit scores together because once we decide to move we dont want to just rent anymore. We want to buy a house. We are at the stage in our lives, in our family where we want to settle down. We are ready to own a home and stop using someone elses. But that requires us to be able to first afford it and then be able to qualify for a loan. There are a lot of decisions to be made.

So what do you think? I need some outside input as everyone in my life is too close to the decisions being made to really give me uninfluenced advice. I just feel a little stuck. So many decisions to be made and what seems like not a lot of time ot make them.

Sione' - 7 Months Old

We are on the official count down to ONE!

I know i say this everytime but i really struggle with it. How can time have passed so fast. Just yesterday you got here, or so it seems. I miss those days of you wanting nothing more than to cuddle in my arms. Content to cuddle up on my breast and look into my eyes.

Gone are those days...la sigh!

Now you are off to the races. You have mastered the basic crawl and have moved on to the bear walk (on hands and feet moving with ease). You also are standing up supported with what ever you can manage to grab onto (who cares if it is sturdy or not). You can walk while holding on to things but still tend to trip over your own feet (or anything the size of a pea since your balance isnt that good yet).

You are eating more solid foods and less milk now. You tend to only eat around 3 to 4 8oz bottles a day with sippy cups of water after meals. You dont really like your sippy all that well and perfer to chew on it rather than drink from it. You are growing more and more fond of fruit but still prefer fresh over baby food. You still love peas but also have descovered the yumminess that is sweet potatoes. Your favorite baby food fruit is Gerber's peach cobbler (who can blame you it is yummy). As far as fresh fruit goes watermelon wins hands down.

You still have not managed to break your first tooth through and at this point mommy and daddy are praying you just wake up one morning with a mouth full so we can end this journey. It isnt that mommy doesnt like you little toothless grin, for that matter i love it, but you are so cranky and i feel like a tylenol/motrin pusher at this point.

As always you are the light inmy day. You have started venturing off to your borthers' room to play with them during the day. It gives mommy a breather but also makes me sad to think the time is coming too fast when you will prefer to play with them rather than me.

I love you my little bug. You will forever and always be my little joy filled monster.

Reflection on Reaction and Reflexes

Has anyone every noticed that your reflexes improve double fold when you became a parent?

Today i was sitting on the porch reading my book while the boys played in the yard and Sione' crawled around the porch. We do not have a proper gate yet and as of right now we have a storage container full of winter clothes and a footstool set side by side to keep little crawlers from tumbling down the 2 steps.

Well as i read my book i heard a little scratch noise and before i could even think about what i was doing i jumped up and managed to catch Sione' right before the footstool gave way and tumbled them both down the stairs. Apparently it did wonders for crawlers but standers not so much. When he tried to use it to pull himself up it started to slowly slip and thank God for my Mommy reflexes.

Another example would be a few weeks ago when i caught MJ right before he fell out of the trampoline. I was all the way across the lawn and saw it happening and ran. I didnt even think or have time to think for that matter. Not that it would have hurt him terrible but it would have probably knocked the breathe out of him.

So are your reflexes different since you have been a mom? Is it a mommy intuition thing?

Random Dozen

 
 
1. Would you rather host party or simply attend a party? Hosting is fun and i prefer it any day.

2. Tell us about the most memorable party you've been to. Probably the Valentine's Party i attened with my husband last year as we know know we concieved out son that night. I will never think about him without thinking about that party.


3. What is one thing you hope for in the after-life? I hope to be with my family who has already left us and especially my mom.


4. What do you enjoy most about sunshine? The feel of it on my skin. I love the warmth it gives off even if it is freezing outside.


5. When you attend a bridal/baby shower, do you prefer to bring your own gift or chip in with others to buy a larger gift? Bring my own but i often wait til after a baby shower to see what the mama to be still needs.


6. Would you rather have a FREE week of having your house cleaned or all of your meals cooked for you and your family? My house cleaned! I love to cook so i could handle that as long as someon eelse is cleaning it up lol.


7. What song describes your mood today? Mr. Roger's "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood"


8. What is something you received for your own bridal shower/wedding that you still own or use? (If you are not married, feel free to sub a gift you received a long time ago.) Lets see....a picture frame or towels would have to be it.


9. Your favorite flavor of ice cream is? Better Batter with marchino cherries and walnuts added in from Maggie Moo's....it is sooooooooooooooooooooo yummo!


10. When was the last time you felt "tested?" Oh god every day...ten minutes ago...3 seconds ago...i have 3 kids what can i say.


11. "[Fill in the blank] is a food that once I start eating I find really hard to stop." Chips, chocolate, cookies, ice cream...oh i know...Corned Beef...i can eat that til it makes me sick.


12. "-----" is the best motivation. My kids and my family. they can push me like nothing else.

Wordless Wednesday - A Day at the Park

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