I have always known I wanted to further my formal education in one field or another and I was alway undecided in what exactly I wanted to do. I have a BA in Child Development and a minor in Marriage and Family Studies. My Major was chosen because I like psychology and I have taken a lot of those classes in the past but that just talks about people in general. I wanted to know more about Child psychology so I did Child Development. Seeing that that was the closest I could get to what I was wanting to learn about. Upon finishing my degree there weren't very many stimulating careers that I was qualified to do, or that I really had a passion or want to do. Other areas such as Nursing seemed more exciting as a career. But then my husband started a degree at BYU in provo and I explored some of their MA options for my self. The obvious glove MA that would fit what my education has led me to would be the Human Development degree, but again it would profit me little of what I would want to do unless I got a PhD so that I could teach about it. I NEVER foresee a PhD in my future because the thought of it just doesn't appeal in any way.
However I was doing some scripture study and it was probably in an general conference talk I learned that keeping a marriage alive and preventing divorce is one of the most important and noble endeavors one can do. That inspired me to want to keep marriages alive somehow. I learned a great deal about marriage and divorce during my minor. So I thought that being a marriage therapist would be a very rewarding career. BYU offers a MS in Marriage and Family Therapy. Its a two year program and is year round so it would start in the fall and basically end the end of summer 2 years later. Also one continually sees clients at the Comprehensive Clinic on BYU Campus through out the degree. The program requires a thesis which piggy backs onto an advisor's research and it seems very rigorous at the start and then has less credits taken slowly by the end of the program.
I got very excited about the prospect of starting my Master's degree next fall. I was a little late in my interest however, because I forgot that the GRE is a requirement also and I wouldn't make the application deadline with that alone to get the results to the school in time. Bummer. Well so Perry and I have been discussing the idea of me going to school. We definitely don't want him to be in school at the same time, we definitely can't start the degree until 2014 and Perry is 100% supportive of me going back to school and making sure we are here in Utah until I get it done. That will give him plenty of time to get some adjunct experience as well as the community service experience he needs to be seriously considered for a full time position somewhere.
So the plan is that I study and take the GRE this coming year and give my old professors ample time to submit letters of recommendation. Also I have time to retake the GRE if my score isn't how high I want it to be. Also I can start the degree in approximately 2 years and Carly will be 2 and easy to watch for a sitter, Grant will be 4 and a half and in preschool. And I definitely don't want to give birth to a baby during the program. So there may just be a 4 year gap between Carly and the next little one. Things may change and the age difference between my kids is really the only thing I'm not a fan of for the program. I really want to take my mom's advice and maybe wait about 3 years next time instead of 2 and a half. The reason BYUs program trumps all the others is that it was the first University to have the program and is considered the best. And it is obviously the most affordable program as well. So cheap and the best. What more could you ask for. I think the most ideal situation would be that Perry gets his adjunct experience and also gets his full time career here in Utah and then we can have all 4 children born and age 1 and up which will be in about 7 years. And then I can start the program after that point. That still seems too far away and too long to wait if he never gets a full time position here. But we would love to end up in the Utah Valley indefinitely because we love it!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Halloween/Fall Week
This week I felt very festive, and one of things that makes me feel alive in life is being festive in the seasons and holidays of each year. This last week I baked 3 pumpkin pies. It was slightly experimental because I used half crisco and half coconut oil for the crust. This happened because I didn't have enough crisco but next time it will all be coconut oil. It was delicious! Grant also discovered that he likes pumpkin pie too! Good. He better because it is Perry's and my favorite pie so it is only proper that he like it too, right? Just kidding, we don't force our opinions on Grant but it is nice to know he likes it too. Plus its really not that bad for you when I cut the sugar in half.
We have also been admiring the fall colors as of late. I want to remember to look at the beautiful trees as often as possible before the leaves die and fall off the trees. Our neighbors also gave us a ton of walnuts to crack open. It will be a lot of work but we don't eat walnuts often so I think the amount we will accumulate with last us a while in the freezer and then just add chopped walnuts here and there to recipes I enjoy. Its also getting to that point in the year where I can store my big winco bag of flour that I bought last year outside again. I will only buy the big 50 lb bag if it is freezing outside so that it doesn't go bad. We don't have enough freezer space for it inside yet and I use flour so often I don't want to run out every week.
Also this weekend on Friday I carved a pumpkin with Grant's help. Its our monster face pumpkin. We baked the seeds and ate them, and Grant painted another pumpkin. We did all this while listening to a strings version of "The Night Before Christmas", "This is Halloween".
Saturday we went over to Country Fest in Payson. We enjoyed the tractor hay ride, the petting farm, balloons, roping pretend cows, lawn mower races, and corn maze. Unfortunately I'm not sure where I put my camera so there are no photos of these adventures. But the nice thing about that was that we just purely enjoyed the time as a family without worrying about getting enough "memories" on camera. Sometimes you don't truly get to experience things when a camera is always clicking or taking video. Happy October! We will report on our little Toddler Halloween party after next week: Yet another thing to be festive. I just love Halloween time and Autumn. We will probably throw a little party every year. This year its more for me, next year Grant may understand the concept of Ghosts and monsters.
We have also been admiring the fall colors as of late. I want to remember to look at the beautiful trees as often as possible before the leaves die and fall off the trees. Our neighbors also gave us a ton of walnuts to crack open. It will be a lot of work but we don't eat walnuts often so I think the amount we will accumulate with last us a while in the freezer and then just add chopped walnuts here and there to recipes I enjoy. Its also getting to that point in the year where I can store my big winco bag of flour that I bought last year outside again. I will only buy the big 50 lb bag if it is freezing outside so that it doesn't go bad. We don't have enough freezer space for it inside yet and I use flour so often I don't want to run out every week.
Also this weekend on Friday I carved a pumpkin with Grant's help. Its our monster face pumpkin. We baked the seeds and ate them, and Grant painted another pumpkin. We did all this while listening to a strings version of "The Night Before Christmas", "This is Halloween".
Saturday we went over to Country Fest in Payson. We enjoyed the tractor hay ride, the petting farm, balloons, roping pretend cows, lawn mower races, and corn maze. Unfortunately I'm not sure where I put my camera so there are no photos of these adventures. But the nice thing about that was that we just purely enjoyed the time as a family without worrying about getting enough "memories" on camera. Sometimes you don't truly get to experience things when a camera is always clicking or taking video. Happy October! We will report on our little Toddler Halloween party after next week: Yet another thing to be festive. I just love Halloween time and Autumn. We will probably throw a little party every year. This year its more for me, next year Grant may understand the concept of Ghosts and monsters.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Baby Girl and Life Update
So obviously I haven't blogged much since Carly was born. It has been quite the roller coaster ride. Granted she is an easier and more predictable baby, it is still hard. Although I do believe I didn't really pay attention to Grant's tired cues when he was this young so he was probably overtired a lot but also had some reflux. Anyway, I decided I wouldn't blog unless I was on the high part of the roller coaster. I swear every half a week I'm either on one side or the other of the spectrum. So being a mom of a newborn and a toddler is hard, especially if you are trying to keep up with potty training. Its hard to help Grant go potty while nursing at the same time and both things are time sensitive you know! Either a screaming baby that is hungry or an accident of pee or poo. So as of late we are having Grant wear pull ups all the time and he general is going poo in the potty every time he needs to and basically never pee in the potty. I'm so disappointed because I was doing so good with him. Oh well. I guess I will really focus and get him potty trained once he is 3. Boys are always late at it anyway. Which makes me really want Carly either fully potty trained before baby number 3 or not even close which means the two of them will be really far apart or really close together. I haven't decided which.
So I tried some methods of "sleep training" for Carly that were supposed to help her sleep long times at night. None of them involved crying mind you, just constant comfort until they fell asleep, just not nursing or rocking to sleep. Well it totally threw her off and her nights were horrible! 1-2 hours of sleep stretches. Ugh! Then I decided I didn't care if she like its when I hold her and rock her to sleep. I mean come on, she's a baby and needs to feel loved and nurtured this early on anyway. So I let her nap on me or she falls asleep rocked to sleep and then put in her swing, or her best naps are in her car seat when we go somewhere and she stays asleep when we get him home for a while. So ever since I have relaxed about her sleeping she has too I think because she goes to bed at 8 or 9pm and I either dream feed her at 10 or not. Depends on my mood and tired level as it approaches that time. Then She wakes to nurse between 2am-5am. You know she is still young and a little unpredictable but if you do the math that is more than 2 hours of sleep, so success. Then sometimes the rest of her night is crappy, waking every hour or going 4 hours. I never know. Anyway, the unpredictability still drives me a little crazy but we are getting sleep here in the house.
Also Grant can get out of his bed and he can knock over his child gates, so in the morning he just comes out whenever, but I basically refuse to get out of bed if its before 7am for him. He sometimes comes and cuddles for a minute or two before telling me he wants breakfast. Anyway, during these times Carly is usually sleeping in until 9 and I keep thinking if she were my only child I would get sleep in, or if Grant were my only child, I would have been able to sleep 9 hours straight. Oh well. When they get old my sleeping will get better. It will dang it! At 6 months I will sleep train somehow. I remember that being the magic number for Grant and my sleep when he was little.
So Carly is about 2 months or 9.5 weeks old. She weighs 9lbs. 13 oz and is 23 inches tall. Weight is 25th percentile, height is 75th percentile. So a tall, lean girl. She is very happy too. Always smiling and cooing. The rewards of having a baby this age. She even takes formula if I don't feel like pumping for a date or outing where she has to stay home. She has horrible eczema also. I am finally able to treat it. But no soap for my children. Their skin just can't handle it.
I struggle to get all my chores done in a week but she does like to play on her activity mat or bouncer which gives me like 15 minute stretches to spend time with Grant or do a chore. So that's nice. Grant never wanted me to put him down. He would fuss until I picked him back up again. She just makes a weird hiccup noise when she is wondering where everyone went. No fussing though, unless she is tired.
I have been able to get showers in during the day but I'm still working on getting a good workout in. I haven't figured that one out yet. I just don't like working out unless my house is clean because working out is like my de-stresser but a cluttered house stresses me out so I can't reap the benefits if the house is a mess, unless I leave the house to work out. So anyway, here is some eye candy and videos for you all. These were all taken in the last week.
So I tried some methods of "sleep training" for Carly that were supposed to help her sleep long times at night. None of them involved crying mind you, just constant comfort until they fell asleep, just not nursing or rocking to sleep. Well it totally threw her off and her nights were horrible! 1-2 hours of sleep stretches. Ugh! Then I decided I didn't care if she like its when I hold her and rock her to sleep. I mean come on, she's a baby and needs to feel loved and nurtured this early on anyway. So I let her nap on me or she falls asleep rocked to sleep and then put in her swing, or her best naps are in her car seat when we go somewhere and she stays asleep when we get him home for a while. So ever since I have relaxed about her sleeping she has too I think because she goes to bed at 8 or 9pm and I either dream feed her at 10 or not. Depends on my mood and tired level as it approaches that time. Then She wakes to nurse between 2am-5am. You know she is still young and a little unpredictable but if you do the math that is more than 2 hours of sleep, so success. Then sometimes the rest of her night is crappy, waking every hour or going 4 hours. I never know. Anyway, the unpredictability still drives me a little crazy but we are getting sleep here in the house.
Also Grant can get out of his bed and he can knock over his child gates, so in the morning he just comes out whenever, but I basically refuse to get out of bed if its before 7am for him. He sometimes comes and cuddles for a minute or two before telling me he wants breakfast. Anyway, during these times Carly is usually sleeping in until 9 and I keep thinking if she were my only child I would get sleep in, or if Grant were my only child, I would have been able to sleep 9 hours straight. Oh well. When they get old my sleeping will get better. It will dang it! At 6 months I will sleep train somehow. I remember that being the magic number for Grant and my sleep when he was little.
So Carly is about 2 months or 9.5 weeks old. She weighs 9lbs. 13 oz and is 23 inches tall. Weight is 25th percentile, height is 75th percentile. So a tall, lean girl. She is very happy too. Always smiling and cooing. The rewards of having a baby this age. She even takes formula if I don't feel like pumping for a date or outing where she has to stay home. She has horrible eczema also. I am finally able to treat it. But no soap for my children. Their skin just can't handle it.
I struggle to get all my chores done in a week but she does like to play on her activity mat or bouncer which gives me like 15 minute stretches to spend time with Grant or do a chore. So that's nice. Grant never wanted me to put him down. He would fuss until I picked him back up again. She just makes a weird hiccup noise when she is wondering where everyone went. No fussing though, unless she is tired.
I have been able to get showers in during the day but I'm still working on getting a good workout in. I haven't figured that one out yet. I just don't like working out unless my house is clean because working out is like my de-stresser but a cluttered house stresses me out so I can't reap the benefits if the house is a mess, unless I leave the house to work out. So anyway, here is some eye candy and videos for you all. These were all taken in the last week.
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| Grant was innovative in bringing his blocks up the stairs. |
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| The neighbor's cat followed us to the park. |
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| General Conference naps. |
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| Pumpkin painting. |
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