Life is a Highway

Please excuse my lack of posting the last week… it is not for lack of material, but for lack of time and motivation. Our household has undergone a lot of changes in the past few weeks and decisions have been made and are currently under consideration that could change our lives a lot.

I have really been struggling with my night shift job despite the fact that I love the staff that I am surrounded by. Due to low census… we have been working with less nurses on night shift which puts a huge stress on the amount of work that needs done in a short 8 hour period. I have been doing my best to keep up with the demand. On a positive note, I am getting more experience in wound care which is great. I have been considering leaning toward wound care as a specialty, but right now the certification class is just not an option with a price tag just around $2600!!

On a similar note, I started back to school. After 2 semesters off, I decided it was time to go back. I am taking it slow with just one class this semester… A&P II.  Haha.. so it feels like a full work load when you add in the rest of the stuff going on in my life. After the first day, I am confident that I will be able to pass with a grade that I am proud of. I have several more classes and at least 5 semesters to go to reach my ultimate goal of a BSN… but I am considering the option of LPN-RN. Based on the recommendation of my supervisor and RN with an Associates degree will make as much as one with a BSN. She recommended that I go the BSN route if I plan to teach or go into management. It is a decision that I am thinking about.. but that is something that we will look more at down the road. I would love to be able to work PT down the road and still have a few more children and not completely struggle.

On to children…. I have been birth control free for a few weeks now. We were very sure going into it that we were ready for more kids. I will admit that I had 2nd thoughts for awhile and Heath and I were struggling with some personal things… but we have gotten past most of our issues and are currently working through others and we are committed to making this all work. With the loss of my grandparents in the past few weeks.. I was really struggling a the massive amount of stress. We are still not preventing pregnancy, but we are not actively trying.. we are just going to let the cards fall as they may.

We have also opted to not send Serenity to Pre-K this year.. that is a huge monthly fee that we just cannot afford each month. So much so that it would take away our ability to go out and participate in family activities on our days off. We really love outings with the kids and being able to different things. We have decided to adopt a nontraditional Pre-K homeschool system that will actually begin today. This decision originally tore me up inside. I felt like I was cheating Serenity of a right of passage… but finances really just do not make it easy. I keep telling myself that kindergarten is right around the corner and is free! Haha!!

As an attempt to deal with me stress… I turned to working out. I have not been very active lately with the different sleep schedule and the kids… and I have been struggling to deal with the stresses in my life. At first I kind of felt like I may have added one more thing to my plate, but  my body is starting to come around to the plan and the diet and exercise routine is starting to feel more natural. I have added a personal trainer to my routine for some time.. to get me started. I am hoping that having the trainer for 9 weeks will give me the results and boost that I need to keep doing it on my own. I have actually looked forward to going to the gym … and the kids have been good at the gym daycare for an hour 4 days a week.

We would really like to purchase our first home in 2011. We have been exploring our options and considering our debt vs income.. and it is my fear that we may have to wait to 2012 in a realistic sense. Income tax is right around the corner.. but so is Caeden’s 2nd birthday and the holiday season. We will not be putting as much toward our debt in the upcoming months as we have the rest of the year.. but it is still reasonable to believe that we will be completely out of credit card debt with our tax return this year. At the same time, this will not leave enough for a house down payment and other expenses that come with a new home purchase. Realistically, I think we should rent for another year.. but I DONT WANT TOO!!!

Moving back to the blog… man I am glad I got all of that off my mind and into writing. I have been behind on product reviews as promised to several sponsors and I promise to play catch up over the next 2 weeks. I have some plans for a fun Twilight swap as well as a  mini Halloween blog party, and event for Caeden’s 2nd birthday…. and possibly a super fun Cleveland ONLY event!!!!