I guess this means goodbye...

     It's actually been nice this semester to have a blog to rant about my feelings. I also appreciated reading other blogs and seeing what everyone was up to. I always thought I was a horrible writer and that I didn't have a creative bone in my body. I guess I just wasn't used to coming up with ideas on what to write about. Once you get started it's hard to stop coming up with ideas. Sometimes after I already had my blogs done for the week a better idea for a blog would pop into my head and I would be so irritated that I didn't think of that earlier. I also realized some weeks I would hit a mental block and have no clue about what to write. I used to hate any communications classes, but I rather enjoyed this one and looked forward to writing all my papers. The last research paper was difficult because I had to find really reliable sources, but it was still fun. It's so much better to write about topics you're actually interested in than having someone tell you what topic to write about. When I started this class my baby girl was barely smiling and now she is almost crawling. Time has gone by so fast and this semester has been very eventful. I liked all my classes and instructors this semester and really look forward to starting the program in the fall. I wanted to wish everyone else luck on their degrees and also tell everyone to hang in there because school will be over before we know it.
      I also wanted to give a little update on my family before the semester is over. My son randomly decided last week on Wednesday that he didn't want to wear diapers anymore. Since then he has done great and only has had a few accidents. So, that really has lowered the cost of diapers, thank God. My girl is about to crawl and right now can sit up all on her own. My husband's company he works for will have new owners on the eleventh of this month. And I will get to stay at home with my babies for the whole summer. So everything is going good for my family right now and we are so happy to get back to normalcy for a couple of months. Good luck everyone and I will miss reading all the blogs!    

Is tanning safe?

So, I just saw on the local news today that a 44 year old mother supposedly brought her little daughter tanning. The mother claims she never took her child tanning, but the girl had burns and told her teacher she went tanning with her mom. I found this story very disturbing. I go tanning myself, but would never let my daughter go until she's 18 and can make her own decisions. If tanning beds are used wrongly and excessively they can cause skin cancer. I usually go before summer because it's better to tan then to get sun burnt. It kind of gets my fair skin ready to be in the sun. There's no evidence showing if tanning beds are any safer than the sun, but tanning beds allow you to tan without getting pink. Here's a link of information on the tanning beds vs sunlight. TANNING This link is more alarming to me stating that having any tan means that you have some sort of skin cell damage. Any Tanning is Dangerous I know and understand the consequences of tanning, but I still feel that anything in moderation is okay. If anything weird were to happen like dark spots or weird skin growths I would definitely stop going. I also found a site that might be found interesting. It's a site where they claim this certain tanning bed actually makes you healthier. I'm not sure if I believe it, but I do find it interesting. Healthy Tanning Bed I've heard a saying once that if it's too good to be true then it probably is. I'm not writing this to scare anyone because I go tanning myself. I just want to bring up the fact that everything should be done in moderation and that children should never go tanning. That mom is crazy!

What to do???

Having children is great, but it's so difficult when it comes to finding childcare and getting a job that works with your available hours. My husband and I decided I would quit my job and pursue the career I've been wanting one year ago which has made money pretty tight. This summer I'm trying to find a way to make extra money so we can do something fun. The only problem with that is we have two kids and most daycare places charge twenty dollars a day for just one child. Having two would make that forty dollars a day! Let's say if I were to find a job that were minimum wage I would only take home twenty dollars for eight hours. This fact makes me feel very sorry for single mothers. I also thought about doing childcare work for the summer because usually you're own children get in free or they have a small fee. Then I think about the fact that I would have to quit as soon as school starts again. I can't have a job during school because the program is supposed to be very intense and I also have to keep my time open for clinicals. I'm really excited about the program, but I now see how hard it is to live on one income. On top of that my husband's company just got new owners so we are unsure if he will even be able to keep his job. It's been really stressful these last couple of weeks and I just want to cry. I know that it will all work out, but having even the least bit uncertainty can be disconcerting. I'm open to any ideas for stay at home moms making money. I just can't wait until I graduate two years from now. That will be the day. My husband and I have already made plans to move out to Florida once I'm done with school!

Parks

I love being outside. I acquired this love for nature when I was very little. Even in a snow storm I would talk my mom into letting me play outside on the front porch. Right now I have a schedule to where I can do anything during the day and just have night classes, this way I could stay home with the kids. It's finally Spring and the weather is mostly beautiful everyday. On the super nice days I like to take my kids on a walk to the park and let my 3 year old run around for a couple of hours playing on the equipment they have for kids. The only problem I noticed is that the parks in Carthage are not up to code on safety requirements. I understand that being in a recession cities don't have as much money to put toward leisure things, but I really want just one nice and safe park to bring my children. Schools here have good playgrounds, but by the time school is out I'm getting ready to leave for school myself. One estimate I found interesting is that 57 percent of injuries that occur on playgrounds are at parks or schools. Here's some more Playground safety facts. I wish I won the lottery so I could buy some safe equipment for the Carthage area. I'm constantly finding myself following close behind my son when he plays on the equipment out of fear something might happen. Not only that, but it seems to me most of the parks in Carthage are also rusted over, which if a child gets cut on the equipment it could cause them to get tetanus. I was looking online if there was any advice on how to get your city to make improvements on local parks and this is a very good site with so much information that was very helpful. Build A Park  I think I might actually take this project of improving our parks on.  This subject is very near and dear to my heart because I believe that play was the one thing that kept me happy as a child. Here is some play research that shows that play is vital to a child's happiness and health. Play Research I just really believe that communities need to start coming together to benefit our children.

Physics blows my mind!

Last semester I had finished my last math class needed to graduate, at least that's what I thought. So, for this Spring semester I enrolled in a couple of classes I didn't technically need to graduate because I had all my pre-reqs done. One of those classes was my physical science night class. The very first night of class I walk in to find the teacher passing out papers that were filled with math notes. He then went to the front of the room to introduce himself and tell us that he was going to do the math part of the class first to get it out of the way. What?!? A math class again? REALLY! I was beside myself and wanted to switch classes right away, but I'm no quitter and decided it will just strengthen my math skills. You know all those allegebra classes where everyone asks where we'll ever use this stuff...well, I found out majority of the stuff we learn in allegebra is used in physical science. I have learned so much from this class. What really blew my mind was when we were talking about liquid mechanics. I learned through bernouli's principle how airplanes can fly. I always really wondered how airplanes were lifted by such small wings. Well, it really has to do with the fact about the speed lessening the pressure so the plane can rise. Learning how our world works is so amazing to me and I'm so glad I took this class. I especially like the astronomy that I learned. Don't get me wrong, this class is very difficult, but I really enjoy what I've learned out of it. I've always like biology, but never took an interest in physical science until now. I think my teacher is just very good at explaining everything that I couldn't grasp before in my highschool classes. Also, being older now I see how blessed I am to have schooling and don't take it for granted like I did when I was younger. It's really amazing how well you can do when you really put your all into something. Just wanted to put it out there that if you want your mind blown with every class then you should take physical science. Beware because it isn't a class for the faint of heart. It is very difficult and you have to really put a lot of time into it.

Ready for Summer Break!

I've been getting so anxious for summer break. This was my first year back to college and it has been quite a ride. When I applied for the fall semester I didn't even know if I was capable of passing online classes, but I had to do online because I was pregnant last fall and didn't want to miss classes when I gave birth during midterms. I feel like this semester was even harder than the last though, mostly because of my physics class. The exams in that class are crazy and so far I've taken 5 out of 8. That means 3 left to go for the last 4 weeks. Last night I felt all the stress of everything that has been piled on before the close of the semester and I also felt that feeling of summer break being so close yet so far. This past year has been very eventful for me and my family and I can't wait to just focus on my kids during the summer. I look forward to playing in the sprinkler everyday and having Popsicles for a snack. I'm so thankful that summers aren't mandatory for school. At the same time I can't wait to start the program either. I'm so excited to see what the future holds for my family. We just need to hang in there for a couple more weeks. After the next couple weeks I've concluded that my daughter will probably start to crawl and by the end of the summer hopefully begin to walk. Just thinking about her growing and being able to be here to see her major milestones makes me the happiest person in the world. Right now I feel as if I have got the best of both worlds; getting to be an active mom and attending school. I want to wish everyone good luck on the exams that are inevitable at the end of the semester, I know they are usually the hardest.

So Close!

I'm not sure if any of you have really small kids or have ever dealt with them, but being the parent of a 3 year old is not for the faint at heart. He just turned 3 in March and has been starting to behave better, but you never know what's truly coming when they are just cute little babies. My oldest Josiah was one of the best babies I could have asked for. I could easily take him in public and he never fussed. He also listened when I said no to things. I felt like I was a great mom and that my son would only get better and better. DUM DUM DUM!!! Then came along his second birthday, it was like a switch was internally flipped from good baby to bad toddler. Really, ever since his second birthday he has tried my patience. He has talked back, gotten into things, and blatently ignored me so much this past year that I would be unable to count. And the very worst thing of all is the huge tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. I remember being a teenager and looking at kids who threw tantrums in the store and would think that they had little backbones and needed to punish their kids more. Now I know the truth as does every parent that has ever gone through the terrible twos. A tantrum has nothing to do with the parent and how they raise their child. It has to do more with how the child melts down and is incapable of calming his or herself. It's actually a very normal thing when a child doesn't know how to deal with their normal emotions. Here's a link I found that has a good explanation on the terrible twos and a couple of tips for parents. Terrible Twos Anyways, for the past month I have seen more improvement in my son's behavior than in the past year. I finally see the light out of this parenting dilemma of having a two year old. Along with his behavior slowly getting better, his speech and understanding has improved too. Yesterday we were pretending to be birds when I asked him to fly and he said he couldn't fly because it was too hard and he didn't have wings. I don't know where he learned that from, but it really made me realize how he has started to analyze things now. I think two year olds are so difficult because they can't communicate what they want and it frustrates them. I took Josiah to the park yesterday in Pittsburg, Kansas, where my sister lives and he listened so well the entire time and even helped me with his little cousin. And his cousin just turned two and he has just started driving his parents crazy. His cousin kept trying to run away and even tried to jump into the pond. It gave me a good reminder of how far my son has come. So for any parents who have a two year old right now, keep you head up, it will end and things will get better. Not saying that kids can't go through a rough patch in their threes because all children are different. There are some that actually continue bad behavior well into their threes. This is a site on the Terrible threes and what causes it. Terrible Threes I really hope Josiah continues in his improving and I look forward to him turning four because that's when he can start being involved in sports and fun activities. This blog wasn't meant to scare future parents because even though your child is difficult they still bring so much joy to your life and it's so worth it. I would obviously do it all over again because I had another baby who is now 6 months old. Being a parent teaches you what real love is. There are times when mothers need emotional support and here's a good site that helps mothers in need of support. Help for Mommies Being a mom is like being on a roller coaster ride of emotions ranging from Great to not so great, but most moms will tell you they wouldn't change a thing about motherhood or their child. Good luck for all future parents!