School

So I said I would post about school at some point, so here it goes.

John and I had been talking about going back to school for quite a while now. In fact, I have wanted to go back to school ever since I had Hailey, but my ex-husband was totally NOT supportive of that. And then when I was divorced it was just too hard with a new baby and a 3 year old. So for the last 5 years that John and I have been married I have been trying to talk him into going back to school. I know how gifted he is in the OR, and he gets told that all the time by the surgeons he works with. He is certified in suturing, and the DR.'s let him do work for him all the time and tell him how immaculate his work is. I kept telling him how he was wasting his gift, and that people could be benefiting from it and so on. It has become a joke between us, because of that scripture that talks about the servant that buried his talent. I tell him that he is burying his talent, and that Heavenly Father is going to take it away because he 's not using it. He tells me the same thing about my singing. Haha!

So this past December we started talking about it seriously. We checked it out, and went over to UVU and decided to enroll. So this January we both started school, he in pre-med and me in pre-nursing. We decided to just go year round and get it over with, so that we could finish school as quickly as possible. At that point, I will be done with school and ready to get into the work field just as John is ready to start med school. Which would be perfect timing, because it would be impossible for him to work full time and do med school, and then residency. So our plan is for me to work nights (which I would prefer because I am more awake at night, and it pays more) and he will take classes during the day. At that point the only child not in school will be Hayden, unless we have our one more baby. (Yes, I know that people think that's crazy, but I also know there is one more baby waiting for us. I have seen him and I know his name. Enough said.) Anyway, we will make it work.

I am SUPER excited to finally be working towards my BSN!! I have wanted to do this my entire life. I even have an essay I wrote in 7th grade, and the whole thing is about how I wanted to be a nurse in the NICU with all the little babies. And today? Yep, still want to do the same thing. Yeah I still work on my singing. I am in talks with a band to be their lead singer, and I sang in Sacrament Meeting earlier this month. But I honestly don't believe that it is something that I will become famous for or anything, and being a NICU nurse has been a lifelong dream of mine. And if I can squeeze in singing gigs on the side, then even better. I have been working my butt off, and as of now I have straight A's. After I finish school. I plan on going back and getting my Masters (MSN). I tell everyone I know that if I can do it, so can they. I have friends who want to go back to school, but don't think they can do it. Well if I can be a mom of 7 kids under 12, and go to school full time and get all A's, then I know they can do it too.

Things That Make Me Go AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Sometimes I just want to scream. Like when I find out that the house we are living in (and totally LOVE) is not going to be our home for much longer, because the owner wants to sell it. We found out in February, but I am still irritated about it. We have looked at tons of houses on ksl and craigslist, but I haven't found anything that even made me want to make the effort to go look at. Why? Because I haven't seen one house that I like anywhere near as much as the house we're in. I keep hoping that the owner will change his mind. He had the house up for sale, but took it off the market when we moved in. We signed a lease until the end of May, and then agreed that we would re-evaluate at that point to decide if we wanted to sign a longer lease. What he failed to mention was the little fact that he might not want to re-lease the house, because he would really rather sell it than keep renting it. I love where we live. The house is old, but awesome. Perfect for our family of 9, with 4400 sq. ft. and 7 bedrooms, and a huge fenced yard. It's in a cul-de-sac, and right down the street from the elementary school. My kids love that because I let them walk, and they feel so grown up. Little do they know I'm the one really enjoying it because I don't have to pack up Amelia and Hayden to drive 20 ft. down the street to go get them. Our landlord says he wants to wait til closer to the end of our lease, and then discuss things then. I am hoping by then he will decide to let us stay.

Other things that want to make me scream? My husband. Well, I guess he's not a thing, but you know what I mean. Why? Because he decides maybe the fact that we can't stay in the house means we should try moving back to California. Never mind that I don't WANT to move back, I love Utah! Never mind that I just signed up for my second semester of school, and have my whole 2010-11 school year planned out so that I will be ready to apply to UVU's nursing program next spring. He tells me I can just transfer somewhere. Grrr! He has already applied at a couple places that will definitely want him, and is working on possibly going back to Kaiser - who would LOVE to get him back. Ugh! I feel like calling them and telling them to tell him they don't want him. Ok, not really. But I want to stay here. On one hand it would be nice. I miss my family, and I like the idea that maybe me and my mom could hang out and do stuff together while the kids were in school. Assuming that I could pry her out of bed before they got out. Haha! On the other hand, I love living in Utah. I really like how the church is all around. I like the school I am going to, and I don't want to transfer when I would most likely have to transfer to a community college because the Bay Area doesn't have any universities with open enrollment. I like being near my ex-husband's family. Even though I would love to be near my own family, I love getting to be near Dave and Sandy and all their family. I may be divorced from their son, but I love them and the rest of their family like they were my own, and I love getting to be around them and do stuff with them.

While I wait to see what we are going to end up doing, I have been looking at houses; both in the East Bay and in Utah. I feel discouraged about staying here because I haven't found anything and time is running out. It is really hard to find something that will work for a family this size. Also we have the issue with John's work, which prompted the search for a job in California in the first place. He works for a same day surgery center, and they haven't been very busy. That translates into John getting his hours cut. Last week he was cancelled twice. On his last paycheck he worked about 24 hours in a week, well below his regular 40+ hours. It is so frustrating. So he started looking for another job, and found one in CA, out in Novato that would be 5 12 hour shifts, and almost triple our income. So I guess I really can't complain, because it would be nice with 7 kids to not have to worry about money. I am just so tired of moving, and since I know that we are already going to have to move in 3 years for John to go to med school, I would rather not move until then. All I can say is, once we get the job/housing situation settled, I am SO signing a 3 year lease so I can finish school in one place before I have to move again. Also, I want the kids to be able to stay somewhere for more than a year. The older kids are in 3-5th grade, and they have never gone to the same school two years in a row! That is just insane! I just hope we get something figured out soon. I hate this being in limbo, waiting to figure out what we're going to do.

Cutest Boy Ever

I have the cutest baby boy alive. I swear I am not being biased. Every day when I snuggle and kiss him to death I think about how I have never seen a cuter boy in my entire life. Now, maybe this is partially due to the fact that he is my first (biological) boy, but I just can't get enough of him. I could hold, snuggle, kiss, squeeze him all day long and never get tired of it. John made fun of me when Hayden was a couple months old because I never put him down. Seriously. Unless I was in the shower or the bathroom, I held him probably every second of the first couple months of his life. I am getting better now. I have put him down long enough that he has learned to roll all over the place like a little tumbleweed. It is fun to watch, because he gets all the way across the room and then grins because he is so proud of himself. I love to hear him laugh, and coo, and babble, and I am working on brainwashing him to say "mama" instead of "dada" for his first word. Haha! My family and friends thought I was crazy when they found out that I was pregnant again, but little do they know he was planned. He was definitely no surprise. I just love this cute little monkey and I can't imagine my life without him!

Bored

I haven't written on here for a while, but there wasn't anything in particular that I wanted to say, so I thought I would sit down with Hailey and see what she wanted to blog about . . . .

Hailey's "Top 10 Things I Like" (in no particular order):

1. Playing dress-up with my sisters

2. School. I like learning and I love my teacher!

3. Hanging out with my family

4. The Fablehaven series (I am going to die before I ever get the 5th book from my mom!)

5. Drawing

6. Easter - I can't wait! It's almost here! Woo-hoo!

7. Shopping with my mom

8. Playing games, especially Scrabble

9. Birthdays - I like having my family over and I wish I didn't have to wait so long for my next one

10. Writing stories

It's About Time!

I have been really bad at keeping up on my blog, so I thought that I would just start from here, and update past stuff when I can get to it. The problem is that I get so far behind that it is intimidating to try and get everything caught up. So, let's see, what has happened lately. . .

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In December we were lucky enough to have my parents come and stay with us for a week. I love having them come to see me, and I wish that I could see them more often. I love living in Utah, but I miss them so much! We had so much fun while they were here. We also got to see Jacob, Natalie and cute little Preston. It was great to see them, and I can't wait til he and Hayden are big enough to play together. They will be such good friends.

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On January 4th Hailey turned 10. I can't believe that I am old enough to have a daughter that big! It was so fun. She wanted some boots called Lugz (knockoff Uggs). They were on the pricey side ($50), but it was the only thing she wanted. So John and I tricked her. John bought me a pair, and we pretended that he was buying me 2. But instead, we bought a pair for me and a pair for her too. When she opened them she totally freaked out. It was hilarious! Other than that I got her the Maggie Moon series (she is obsessed) and some lipgloss. I can't believe that my baby is growing up. She was the first one to make me a mommy and I love her so much. She is getting so big and I know that we will be close and have so much fun together.

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On January 6th, John and I both started our first semester back to school. We are both attending UVU full time. He is pre-med and I am pre-nursing. We are super excited to finally be doing what we have wanted to do, and we are doing it together. He got into a higher math class than me, but we are taking our other three classes together. We plan on doing that as long as we can, so that we can do our work together and help each other more easily. I am loving school, and getting straight A's. I will talk about it more in another post.

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After homeschooling the kids for the first semester of school, I enrolled them at the local elementary school in the middle of January. They got great teachers, are doing great, and are loving the fact that it is just down the street which means I let them walk there and back. We pulled all 3 boys back a grade, and they are doing WAY better! I am so glad that we did it, and only wish we had done it sooner. Now instead of Hailey and Austin being in the same grade, I have Camren and Brooklyn together (but not in the same class of course).

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Also, in January John and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. I know that our marriage has been far from perfect, and that my family and friends thought I was crazy to marry him, but I really love him and I am glad that we are a family. In the last year our marriage has become so much better. I know that we still have a lot of work to do, but that's what happens when 2 divorced single parents with 5 kids between them get married after a month of knowing eachother. There are bound to be issues. But we are committed and working on them, which gives us a heck of a leg up on my first marriage.

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In February I turned the big 3-0. I know that most people look at turning 30 with dread, but I was actually excited. I told John, now I'm a real grown-up. Haha! Plus, as I get older it doesn't sound so bad to say I have 7 kids. At least not until people find out how old they are. Oh well.

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On March 4, my cute little chub Hayden turned 6 months old. Boy how time flies! He is rolling all over the place, which is fun to watch but not so fun when it's the middle of the night and he wakes himself up. He is FINALLY starting to sleep through the night. I thought the day would never come. Of course there are still nights that he wakes up and ends up in bed with me, but I love it and I will enjoy it while it lasts. He is eating baby food and loving it. He is such a little vulture! I love watching him eat because it is so funny! He gets so into it, he starts bobbing all over the place and waving his arms in the air. I have to hold his hand (always the right hand) because he will get so worked up that he will stuff it in his mouth. Too cute. Today I was feeding him and IM'ing my friend Rebecca. I turned away from him for a minute, and when I turned back he had grabbed the bowl and spoon and was stuffing it in his face trying to feed himself. He was like, Mom! I am too hungry to wait for you to do it! I thought it was so funny. The only bad thing about him eating cereal is that he refuses to eat it if I make it with formula. With all 3 girls I used formula, but when I tried doing it with Hayden he acted like I was feeding him rat poison. I originally started him on cereal made with breast milk, but switched to formula because I was having to pump so much. He was totally horrified. At first I thought maybe he was screaming because his throat hurt since he had been sick with a cough, but then I made it with breast milk, just to see, and he inhaled it. Three bowls worth to be exact. So now I am back to pumping. Sigh. Oh well, at least he likes eating everything. It could be worse.

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We are currently living in Orem. I totally love the house we are living in. We originally signed a lease through the end of May (so as not to move twice in the same school year), but we totally love it here and now we hope that we can extend the lease at least for 3 years until we're done with the first round of school. After that John will be applying to med school, so you just go wherever you get in. I am really hoping that he will be able to get into the U so we can stay here. I love Utah, and I love where we live and I don't want to leave. The only thing that would make it more perfect would be if my parents lived right by me so I could see them every day.

I also love that my best friend since 16, Rebecca, lives maybe a mile away. It is nice to have a friend that lives so close that we can hang out all the time. She is getting ready to have her first baby in June, and I am super excited! I told her that her baby can marry Hayden and then we can be mothers in law, and share grandchildren. I think this is an excellent idea!

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Well, I better go. It is after 1am, and I have to get the kids ready in the morning. I will continue to post current stuff, and just try to update previous stuff as I can.