So, lately...

I am HORRIBLE at blogging! My goal for this summer is to get into a routine about it. It's hard! I am mostly just on facebook so I guess I don't want to keep up with a blog as well but I was talking to an old dear friend who keeps a blog and she was saying what a great keepsake a bound blog would be for Malie one day. And she's right. So I am going to try and keep up with it. Try to record daily or weekly activities and thoughts at least, and post pictures. When Malie was a baby, I took literally THOUSDANDS of pictures. Now....I maybe take one picture of her here and there. I took a few at her first dance competition. But my beautiful fancy camera gets very little use! I need to fix that.

SInce I won't be attending summer school this summer, I should have more time. Not that I'm taking the summer "off" -- I still plan on working. I finally have the potential for a career, I'm actually licensed in something. I'm a CPT-1, a certified phlebotomy technician. Level 1, which means all I do is draw blood and collect samples...I'll leave "samples" up to your imagination. Basically I don't do any of the exciting stuff, but it's a good job and when I was doing my externship at Redlands Community Hospital, I REALLY liked it!! I can't wait to get back out there. Here's to hoping, praying, wishing that there's a perfect position out there for me. However, working instead of school will be a huge weight off my mind. School has been getting more and more difficult as I get closer to applying to a nursing program. SO worth it and I love what I'm doing, I LOVE what I'm studying, but it's hard work and the pressure is intense at times. There's a lot of competition for very few spots. So taking a summer off is something I think I need -- especially since I only need one more class and my school is not offering it over the summer. Probably because not enough people are crazy enough to attempt to take microbiology at an accelerated rate. CRAZY!

I also have not been well...I had strep with scarlet fever and I didn't know it. It was finally caught in the first few days of April but I had had it for weeks, apparently and it progressed. I am trying to get better but it's hard when I don't have much time to rest. So I think taking the summer off of school will give me time to lay low for a little bit. I think. ;-) I do have a 4 year old. Who wants to do swim lessons and gymnastics and ride horses....yikes! I had a funky urinalysis last week so I had blood work done yesterday and hopefully will get all fixed up and feeling 100% soon. In the meantime -- I <3 ibuprofen and Vicodin. And my bed!

I lost my Grandpa on April 19th. That was very very hard. I know he was sick for quite sometime, yet it still felt like he went so fast. It just seemed like he'd still be around forever. I am sad that he's gone but I'm really sad that he didn't get to see me succeed. I sort of feel like I let him down and that gets to me. So...I'm hoping to pull off a "win" this semester and do well in my classes. It also gets to me to see my family so sad. It's such a hard time for my aunt, uncles, and especially my Grandma. That kills me. :-(

On a happier note...Malie's doing well. She starts kindergarten this fall. She's so funny and such a character. Sooooo dramatic. I love her to pieces but she is a handful. I am very excited because she will be exited out of special ed and will start her elementary school career in regular education with no special services. Her exit IEP is May 21st. Exciting day for us!! I was talking to one of her former aides who is the school psychologist at Malie's new school and she was saying how proud she was of the progress Malie made in her 2 years in her special ed class and how great she does now, that she really has no need for speech services anymore and that she thinks she will do great in regular ed. She also said I am doing great as her mom and that it helps that I'm very involved and on top of Malie's behavior -- that made me feel really good! This particular aide had been Malie's FAVORITE "teacher" so I was really glad to see that she is working at her new school -- Malie will be happy as well. She said the school is great and very family-oriented. That's about the 4th person who's told me that so I am happy!

Well that was a big update for now, hopefully I can keep this up!