Strep Throat!

So I have strep throat. Went to the doctor yesterday with a sore throat and a headache and no voice. My throat wasn't TOO bad, but since I've got the little ones, I figured I'd better get it checked out. I fully expected the doctor to come in and tell me that I didn't have strep and to go back to work, lol. But it was positive and I started antibotics. I can't hold the babies until tomorrow just to be safe, but I want to soooo badly! I miss my little hugs, kisses, and cuddles. I've pretty much been in bed since I got back from the doctor, but I have to get up in a little while and get dressed to go to the WIC office to take Tristan. I know what you are thinking - "BUT you are contaigous!" That is true, however, since I made the appt I have to be the one to take T to it. And I waited 2 and a half MONTHS for this appt. If I reschedule, I'll probably have to wait another couple of months. So I'm going. But Dex is going with me, I'm still not touching T. I wouldn't be so insistent on it, but I stopped breastfeeding when T turned 5 months old. I didn't realize how much it was stressing me out until I stopped. And, since T has been on formula, he sleeps through the night. Now, I still believe that breastmilk is the best thing for a baby, but mommy also needs to be happy. And I wasn't anymore. So I'm done. However, formula is freaking expensive! So I need WIC.

Other good news - Riley got approved for disability. So she now has Medicaid. I am so relieved. Now I don't have to stress about her physical and occupation therapy bills and all of her specialists visits. This has definitely been a great blessing. Not sure how much money we will be getting yet, but the biggest thing I wanted was the insurance. Our insurance isn't the worst in the world, but this is much better!

Hectic Life

So things have been pretty crazy around here with the addition of a new munchkin. I have made some progress in my jewelry making but not a ton. I have a website now but it's not completely finished. I have made 3-4 pieces of jewelry but I should be doing more. It's just been a massive change having two children instead of one. And things are only going to get more crazy. Tristan is rolling over now so he is starting to get mobile. YIKES!
Riley isn't napping at school and is being disruptive to the other kids. I don't know why she is acting like that. The only thing I can think is that they are letting her get away with it. She is pretty good here at home for the most part. And when she does misbehave, she gets in trouble. The only time she doesn't listen is when she doesn't think you are being serious or that you will follow through on punishment. I don't know what to tell them other than to make sure she knows you are being serious!

Dexter and I started p90x Tuesday and I am soooo sore. I feel like I have jelly legs some of the time and just want to lay in bed all day. But that's counterproductive! Right now, Tristan and I are cuddling in the bed while Dex takes Riley to therapy. I was going to go but I decided to be a lazy butt and stay home. I love that he lets me take time out and relax! He's so good to me and I can't believe we've been married for almost 4 years! I am also in shock that we have 2 kids. It's been 4 months, but it's still so shocking to me to think about the fact that I am a mom of 2. It feels like just yesterday that it was Riley being born. I am so sad that she is this big already! I'm trying to enjoy Tristan as a baby as much as possible. It very well may be the last time I get to experience that. Just typing that makes me sad, but I am not sure I want to go through pregnancy and having a baby with 2 other kids to look after. It's why I got an IUD (Mirena). I want the option to have a kid later without having to worry about daily pills or getting shots. I can have worry-free birthcontrol for 5 years. or if we decide to have another, I can take it out sooner. So far I LOVE IT! Haven't had a period since August and it's great.

Well, Tristan is getting fussy and it's time for him to eat and take his morning nap. I think I will join him in nap time!

Bad blogger

I've been a bad blogger, I haven't updated in forever. Tristan Micah Mason is here! He was born at 2:51pm on June 6,2010. He was 8lbs 15oz and was 21 inches long. I love him to death! My jewelry and writing ambitions may have to be postponed a little until he starts eating less frequently. Breastfeeding is going well but he eats every 2-3 hours so I don't have much time. Looking for an app for my iPhone to write, since I have a Brest Friend pillow and it allows me to feed him hands free. Will be back later with more, but Tristan is crying and duty calls:)

Updates....

So things have been so out of whack since coming to the hotel. #1, I got a nasty URI and was feeling pretty crummy for 2 weeks. I had to sleep sitting up and had horrible coughing fits that ended in vomiting. BTW, vomiting at 35-36 weeks preggo is NOT fun! Then I got better for a few days and caught a cold from Riley and was feeling crappy for another 4-5 days. I feel like I've been sick the whole month of May! On a side note, I got a labor inducing massage on Friday....it did NOTHING, but did feel very nice. I am still glad I got it, but also glad that I didn't get my hopes up too high. I get another U/S on Tuesday to measure baby's size and then Tuesday afternoon, providing he is looking good, I will be getting acupuncture to try and induce. I am soo sick of being pregnant it's not funny. Plus, I have a feeling he's pretty big. Last week at my appt, he started measuring big on the outside as well and my doctor just grinned and said he was a big boy....not what I wanted to hear. I'm sure tomorrow will take forever to get through since I'm so anxious for Tuesday and to see what he looks like in there and what he's measuring. I'm also really hoping the acupuncture works. Hopefully tomorrow will be my last day at work until July - I'm hoping I go into labor before my scheduled shift on Wednesday!

House Fire and Aftermath

I haven't posted in a few days, but things have been really crazy. On Thursday night, my house caught on fire. We found out on Friday that we would probably be out of the house for a minimum of 4 weeks (I'm due in 5 weeks). This weekend we just stayed at my mom's house while the insurance company got everything started and we figured out what type of hotel they would put us in. All of the stuff in our house has to be specially cleaned and all of the cloth toys/ stuffed animals have to be trashed since they can't be cleaned well. I've also had a cough that has become increasingly worse and I found out today was an upper respiratory infection and I need antibotics. Joy. I am so stressed out right now - I'm sick, I'm tired, and I can't even go home and curl up in my own bed. The insurance company did put us up in a nice hotel at least. It's pretty new, has 2 seperate rooms (so Riley can sleep before we want to sleep), a full hot breakfast, a drinks and appetizers time every evening, an indoor/outdoor pool, hot tub (I can't use it while preggo), and they allow dogs. It's definitely a lot better than I thought we'd be able to get them to pay for and I'm at least happy about that. My goals for starting writing and jewelry making were put on hold a little bit. I will definitely be working on the jewelry making while here, partially because there is a limited amount of things I can do here and I think it will distract me from thinking about our house. The writing will have to wait, all of my manuscripts have to be cleaned and sanatized since they were all boxed up in the attic (lots of smoke up there). I will write more later, but I am exhausted! Here's some pics of the damage:

Maternity Pictures and Distractions

Yesterday we had a maternity and family photo session. I was really anxious about how the pictures would turn out - partially because I felt very awkward having someone follow me around and partially because Riley was definitely not being the most cooperative. But they came out soo well. I'll post a few that Stacy put on her blog until I get the disk in...and then you may get to see more! 

So, those definitely turned out very well! On another note, I got a big distraction from my goals today - an xBox 360 with Final Fantasy XIII. The graphics are uh-may-zing! Something many people may not know about me is that I have an obsession with Final Fantasy. I have played almost all of the games all the way through and the only one I haven't played at all is XI, partially because it's an online game that definitely isn't the best of its kind. The problem is that Final Fantasy XIII is going to take a long time to play - 60+ hours. That's lots of time away from completing my goals. I'm going to try and ration myself...I can't play for hours on end (I played for 5 hours today :(...oops). I'm going to try and limit myself to an hour a day until my maternity leave. Then I can play a little bit more, lol. Tomorrow's chore: finishing my thank you cards from the baby shower....it's been almost 3 weeks and I need to get on it...

Getting started

Hi everyone out there in cyberspace! My name is Ashley and I am writing this blog to help motivate myself to fulfill my dreams for life and not give up on them. I am 22 years old and am married to a wonderful man named Dexter. I have a 2 year old little girl named Riley and am 34 weeks pregnant with a little boy who will be named Tristan. I was really stricken to write this blog listening to Pastor Steven at Elevation Church this past weekend. His sermon was about where dreams die and it got me really thinking about all of things I had planned for my life that never happened. I've let myself come up with a lot of excuses, but I am stopping this now. I have 2 immeadiate dreams that I wish to start on and another dream that I will be working on in the near future.

I want to start writing again. When I was in second grade I started writing short stories and found a passion. I loved to write. I took writing classes all through high school and have a collection of unfinished manuscripts just sitting in boxes. And when I say collection, I mean 30-40 notebooks full of short stories, half-finished novels and character sheets. I was convinced I'd be published by this point in my life. But I'm not...I'm not even close. I stopped writing shortly after graduating high and kept coming up with reasons not to write again. I have blamed everything from my pregnancies to having a baby around to working full time.

I want to make jewelry. I took a crafts class in high school where I learned some jewelry techniques and fell in love with jewelry making. It doesn't matter what medium - hemp, beading, fabrication, casting, metal stamping, you name it. I had found a couple of classes that I could take to learn more and had even found a place in the mountains that offered a two week crash course with unlimited supplies to work with. But I found an excuse not to go (I don't even remember what that excuse was now!) and stopped making things. I still made some here and there for gifts for people when I was short on cash, but nothing like I had planned to do.

My long term goal is to go back to school and get a degree. Ideally I would be able to support myself from writing and selling jewelry, but I know that may take a while and I'd like to have a back-up plan. The problem is I can't decide on what I want to do! Everything that is practical seems boring to me after a while. I want something that I can see myself doing for a long time, and can't seem to figure out anything other than writing or jewelry making. I thought about teaching (I got discouraged from all the budget cuts in my area), being a vet (I don't really want to go to 8 years of school), nursing (I'm not sure I want to do that forever), and anthropology/art history (but I'd really only want to work in a museum and that's hard to get into). As you can see, I have an excuse for everything. But I at least need to get started on some general education classes while I figure it out. I got a huge wake-up call the other day when I realized that most of the people I went to high school with are graduating college this year - and I haven't even started. It makes me so sad to think about and I need to get my butt in gear.

I need to do these things for me and for my children. I want to be an example to them and I want to show them how to live life to the fullest and be motivated. I want to be a good wife and a good mother, but also be successful in a career as well. So hopefully you will continue reading and leave feedback as you catch a glimpse into my life, and help me with my journey. I have a feeling this will not be easy, but I feel it's necessary for me to feel good about myself. I need to push myself and not be lazy. I can't let my dreams die before they have even begun.