Update on the Daycare Problem

So, I just wanted to give an update on my son and daycare. Obviously I made the decision to take him out of  the daycare where I found him playing in the road. I decided for the rest of the semester to have him home with me since most of my classes are online. I remember how stressed I was at the beginning of the semester with him, but it's actually better now. I have all my classes organized and know exactly what I need to do and when I need to get it done. So this week went surprisingly well even with the three exams I had to take. I also have a 5 month old daughter Kaitlyn, but she has always stayed at home with me since all she does is sleep anyways. It will be sad when I have to take them to daycare in the fall, but at least they will be together. I also have the slight chance that their granny might watch them. She kind of hinted the other week that she was thinking about quitting her job and watching them while I was in the respiratory program. If she does decide to I will be one happy mom! She is one of the best mother in laws I could ask for and if she would watch them I would have no worries whatsoever. Although, before I started college I did work and had to bring my son to a daycare since he was three weeks old. So, I can handle it if I do have to take them. It is just more stressful to trust someone that's not family with the most precious things in your life. I'm probably really paranoid, but I feel like all mothers feel guilty for leaving their babies with someone else. It's just in our blood to care about the well being of our children. You may say why not just stay home if it bothers you that much, but I need to do this for myself and my family. My husband just makes enough for us to get by, but when I graduate he will be able to go to college and we will be better off financially. I want my children to grow up being able to be invlolved in whatever sport they want or have that extra help when they go to college. I never cared about going to college until my children were born. Many things change when someone is counting on you for their future. I hope someday my kids will understand why I chose to go to school and I hope they will be proud of me for making that choice.

Don't Give Up Baby Payton!

I thought I had been through some really rough times when Noah and I were starting our family, but one week ago I found out I was very wrong. One week ago my best friend growing up was pregnant with her second child, she had a previous miscarriage around the same time I had one. Little did she know that she would be the small percentage to have her baby girl early. Actually, early is an understatement, her baby was born at 24 weeks old exactly. That the age when only 50% of the babies born survive. I was scared and worried for her, I knew she loved this baby more than anything else in the world. Premature Birth Information To doctors, 24 weeks is the age of viability. So if the baby were born just the day before it wouldn't have survived. It's even a miracle that Lauren found out she was in premature labor. The day she found out she put an pregnancy app on her phone and the information for the day was about when to call your doctor. She only had one of the symptoms, but decided to call just to be safe. The doctor was worried and immediately called her to come in to be checked. When she had gotten there she was 3 cm dilated and the sac was coming out. Lauren was promptly sent to the main hospital to be put on bed rest, but nothing could stop this little girl from coming into the world. Luckily the doctors were able to keep her inside for the night. At midnight she was exactly 24 weeks and then the baby came. I was constantly checking my facebook to see any updates, but the updates stopped. No one knew she had her baby and right after started to hemorrhage. In the morning she updated everyone she knew that she was okay and so was the baby. They both had a rough night, but they had survived. She named her girl Payton. Payton This is my friend's facebook page and it has several pictures of her baby girl. She is one week old and a day now! The doctors are very hopeful, but she's still in the critical time of survival. They said if she could survive one week then her chances are great. This little girl is a fighter. She's at the Freeman Nicu right now and I can't wait to see her in person. Before this I always thought premature babies were from moms drinking and doing drugs, but now I see someone perfectly normal and doing everything right can go into premature labor. Here are the signs, so if you know anyone pregnant you can pass the word and maybe save a life like the pregnancy app did for Lauren's baby.Signs of Premature Labor

The life of a Mom.

 Today is one of those days that really shows what it's like to be a mom. This day is special because it was errand day. That means I run as many errands that I can squeeze into one day. This morning I dropped my husband off to work in Joplin then right after drove straight to Neosho to pay our car bill. While I was driving to Neosho my 3 year old figured out how to unbuckle his carseat. I turned around when I heard him whispering to himself, that always means he's doing something he knows is bad. When I saw him sitting up in the seat I totally freaked out. I started yelling at him to get back into his seat while he was laughing at me. He knew I had no power because I was driving. For the first time I wished my son wasn't as smart as he is. Finally, when I threatened a spaken he jumped into his carseat and buckled himself up. That was the first incident of the day. After paying for the car we leave back to carthage. Josiah somehow got into his chex mix snacks and starting chewing them and spitting them out as far as they could go. Of course I tried to stop him, but there's only so much you can do while driving on the highway. I pulled into the carthage wal-mart for my next errand, oil change. When I opened the door to his sister's side she was covered in chewed up chex mix. I was extremely mad at this point because she's only 5 months old and could have choked on those little pieces. So, I get the kids and go inside to find that the oil change will take 2 hours. I really needed one so I agreed to wait...it was a BIG mistake. Found right beside the car garage area were the toys! As soon as Joey spotted them he went bazerk! He started screaming and crying the loudest I've ever heard him. This continued for 2 hours. When I went to pick up the car I was practically in tears. I go up to the register to find out that they hadn't even gotten to my car yet and it would take another 45 minutes. So I left crying. Then I came home fed the kids and went to lay Josiah down for his nap. When I layed him down he looked at me and smiled and said, "I love you mommy." At that moment everything was ok again. Just one moment with my kids in a hecktick day can change everything. All the stress just melted away as if it never happened. I love my kids. Oh and I want to reccomend some other places where you can get oil changes because wal-mart is the worst place to go. Speed Lube in Carthage If you live in Carthage it has way better service than wal-mart ever had. I also wanted to post some tips on stopping tantrums because I googled it as soon as I got home.Ways to avoid Temper Tantrums And lastly I wanted to give any other parents in my class some ideas to reduce daily stress.Great tips to relieve Stress! To sum it up, days can be filled with stress, but it's how you look at it that really makes the difference in your attitude.

Spring is in the Air!

So, I bet everyone has already noticed how everything has been sprouting especially early this year. To see the greenery come back has made me so especially happy this year. It also means warm weather! Anyone who knows me knows that I can't stand the cold. I like it most when its warm and breezy, which defines the majority of the weather during spring. It also means my daily walks starting up again, spring cleaning, playing outside in the kiddy pool with my children, and spring cleaning. With spring break coming up next week I'm going to start my spring cleaning a little earlier than usual, which I'm so excited about. I love getting rid of all the clutter and simplifying my life. With two kids now the clutter has grown to the point of overflowing closets. You know, like the closet that when you open it you fear a mini avalanche. This spring cleaning will definitely be the most labor intensive yet for sure. I think this year calls for a rummage sale. We have a full garage of things we don't want and like I said full closets. So we'll need to definitely purge some things to make room. It's not that we're hoarders it's just that we haven't had time in the past to do rummage sales. If we end up not having time this year we're definitely giving a lot of it away. I'm just ready for Spring and all that it offers! I think I'm going to go outside now and catch some rays. Peace Out! 

Birth Control Sucks

So, after I had my daughter my husband and I decided we were done having children. He was going to get a vasectomy until they took away his insurance at work. He works for a small business and they are doing very badly right now. Vasectomy Info It was nice of my husband to offer to do something that sounds so scary, but he felt like I had already been through enough. But after he lost his insurance we had to decide what form of birth control to use. I had the Mirena before and I didn't really like it. It didn't effect my emotions, but it was scary to think that it might fall out of place or even get stuck. Mirena So, I had to make a decision on which drug seemed most effective. I have always had a problem with remembering to take pills and I couldn't risk getting pregnant so pills were out of the question. Then I came across a new type of birth control called implanon. It sounded so perfect. It works for three years and it just implanted in your arm right under the skin. Implanon So, I called my doctor to ask him if I could get that type of birth control under my insurance. He responded that he doesn't give his patients that type of birth control. What?!? Really? So, I went back to the drawing board. My last option that I felt would be most effective was the depo shot. It's a shot that you get every three months to prevent pregnancy. I've had to get two shots so far and it really emotionally sucks. I feel like it completely changed my temper. I used to be very even keeled and it took a lot to get me mad, but now its like I cry just with the weather report. Almost everything brings out some sort of emotion. I can't stand myself like this and I'm really starting to hate Noah's work for taking away his insurance. I would not recommend that anyone get the depo shot. It has horrible side effects. Besides the mood swings it has also given me insomnia. It's so hard for me to sleep at all. At least it keeps me awake while reading my government chapters. To sum it up, Birth Control Stinks! Okay, now I'll step off my soap box.

Irritated and Frustrated with Babysitters...

So, by my topic you can see that I'm not happy right now. I thought I found a wonderful babysitter that practiced good judgement. Now what I once thought is under question. Yesterday, when I went to pick up my son from his babysitter I decided to walk up to her house. While I was walking there I saw from a long ways off that Josiah was playing outside. Little did I know that he was playing outside with the supervision of a second grader. Yes, that's what I said, a second grader watching my now three year old son. I was livid and couldn't believe my eyes. I pay extra to bring him to her house rather than bringing him to a daycare. Isn't it common sense that I pay her to watch my child and not her son. All the possibilities went through my mind about what could have happened. Someone could have stole him, he could have got ran over by a car, or even a dog could have attacked him. Even after speaking to her I'm very scared about her judgement calls. If she thinks he's big enough to play outside without adult supervision, what other judgment calls does she make. So, I've been thinking of finding another babysitter. I know I should probably take my concerns to her, but my worry is that she will get upset and take it out on my son during the day. It's so frustrating not knowing what to do in this situation. The babysitter is such a nice lady and has a great family with wonderful kids. That's why I chose her in the first place. Maybe I'm being over sensitive and over thinking everything. I just hope I figure this out soon.

Ahhh! I'm on cloud 9 right now!

   So, you're probably wondering why I'm so happy today. First, it's super nice outside and I took my babies to the park to play this morning. The other reason why I'm happy is that I found out today I got in the 89th percentile on the hobet test! I've been trying so hard for my family to do good in my classes and get into the respiratory program and finding out this news has brought me one step closer to the program next fall. Here's an explanation of what the hobet test is.  HOBET  I feel like I could run a mile right now with all the energy I have. Anyways, here's the story behind why I'm so dedicated to becoming a respiratory therapist. When I was a little girl, just in first grade, I developed chronic asthma and on top of that had a low immune system. I was hospitalized with pneumonia one to two times a year. It got to the point where I knew the nurses' names in the children ward at St. Johns hospital. One year I was in very bad condition and I was scared and alone. My night respiratory therapist had to give me a breathing treatment every two hours. Breathing treatments are supposed to last way longer than that. This respiratory therapist was the reason why I wanted to become one. He was so nice and really cared, unlike the nurses who didn't even try to make conversation with me. I want to be like him. I want to be a light in someone's life and make that difference he made in mine. It's a scary thing to not breathe and I know I'll put my heart into making all my patients feel better. My big dream is to work at one of the cancer treatment centers, but I know that will probably be years down the road. Here's a page showing information about my dream work place. Cancer Treatment Centers of America Anyways, I just really wanted to write a post about how happy I am right now. I should now in the next couple of weeks if I made it into the program or not.Respiratory Therapist Overview