New Profile Picture

I thought my blog needed a new profile picture.

It will be five years, on September 12th, that Tom and I have been married.  Five years from the day I took this picture.  Yup!  We were married in the San Antonio, Texas temple in the morning and had the reception that night back home which is about three hours South.  I was so happy!  We both were of course, we had just gotten married!  And we still are so happy and it's only been five years!  Getting out of the "honeymoon stage?"  Hope not!

Memorial Vacation

2013, Memorial Day weekend, we camped out at Huntsville State Park with my sister in law, her husband, another sister in law, her husband and four kids, his sister, her four kids and their parents.  Luckily we all had different sights.  We had a camp sight with just water, no electricity.

Our Camp Sight at Huntsville State Park

It was so much fun!  On our last day there, at breakfast, we told Evelyn that we would be going home to our kitty.  She started to cry because she thought that we had moved to the park.  It surprised us just how much she loved camping.  It was the first time she had ever taken a shower and she has been "going through the car wash" ever since.

I had been looking through a pictures folder and remembered that I wanted to make this post.  We didn't go this year because I was too pregnant.  We might go next year depending on how well Raven does with walking.  She will almost be a year old at that time.  We might even leave her with my parents so Evelyn can go camping again.  She was sad that she didn't get to go again this year but she was happy that the reason was because she was going to be a big sister very soon.

Me

I hope this is not a bad thing, but this picture sums me up nice. 

I hope this doesn't come across bad too; my husband found it and immediately thought of me.

I may be fatty, but hey I am cute!  I don't like my weight at all (I'm too embarrassed to mention the actual number) but that doesn't mean I don't think I'm cute.  I haven't always been big.  I was a little chunky, when I look back at pictures I just look like I was no more than 10 pounds over weight.  In high school, especially my senior year, I was fit.  I broke up with my boyfriend and went into work out mode.  If I ate out, I ate something grilled chicken and drank water or lemonade only.  I was in JROTC in high school and the summer between my junior and senior year I went to the "boot camp" we had in Texas for Army JROTCs.  In JROTC, we have physical challenges that we need to pass.  It's like the final for the class.  Depending on male or female, you need to do a certain amount of different physical activities to pass.  One of these tasks is to jump a wall.  I missed the wall every year but my senior year.  YAY!  It's a big deal for a girl.  It's harder for a girl.  Girls need to have the top of the wall hit below the breast line to make it over.  Boys only need to hit their chest to make it over.  It takes timing and practice, of course, for anyone that does it.

This whole week, the heat has hit 100* so I am not going walking.  I didn't loose the baby weight from having Evelyn and I most defiantly haven't lost the baby weight from Raven.  I planned on walking around the university after I drop off Tom at class but it has just been way too hot!  So when the weather is cooler in the morning without fail, I will walk for at least 30 minutes to get ready for Swimsuit Season 20-15!  (If I am able to get where I want to be in weight, which is 130 pounds, I will make a post about what I did and that post will have my start weight, which is what I weigh now.)  I have made this declaration before, but before I didn't already need to be at the university in the morning.  Just put Raven in the stroller and walk.  I need new shoes but I can do with what I have.

I have Zig Techs.  I like them a lot.  I always get a pain on my upper left thigh but when I wore those I had no problems at all.  The only problem about them is that the top of the shoe is fabric and it is ripped.  A lot.  I would wear bright socks to have it look a little crazy with the purple on the shoes already.  The soles of the shoes are still good, worn on the inside but I wore them almost everyday for a year.  That happens.  Just wish the fabric on top of the shoe didn't rip.  That's the only reason I need new tennis shoes.

Like I said before, August is a time for New (Academic) Year resolutions!

A Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

I have not said this directly.  I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

Yes,

I am a Mormon.

I'm not sure why I was not direct about it.  I think I wanted people to "find it" in my posts.  I like it when I find that in someone's blog, little things that link us that way.  This is no little thing indeed, but I hope you know what I mean.  I am extremely happy to be a member of this church.  I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father and my eldest brother, Jesus Christ because I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  My husband served a mission for our church.  My father served a mission for our church.  My brother comes home from his mission on Monday (YAY!).

I don't think anyone reads my blog.  According to the info on my dashboard, yeah, no one does.  I subscribed Tom myself so I would feel better about what I'm doing but I am going to write this as if I have a sold out audience.  I will speak (type/blog) boldly so someday another can hear me.  I'm doing this so at least one other person in the world can read my blog and feel comfort in knowing that they are not the only one going through what they are.

I am a Mormon.

I was born into the church and I grew to love it at a very young age.  It helped me choose whom I wanted to marry.  I was engaged before I met Tom.  This young man got baptized.  He said it was his own choice and he didn't do it for me but he stop going to church completely once we broke up.  You can conclude what you want.  When I was very young, I decided that I would only marry a man that served a mission.  It was very important to me.  A young man on a mission learns to solely serve others.  They learn who they are as a child of God and they give one of the greatest gifts to people; learning that you came from God, our Heavenly Father, and His plan of salvation.  I wanted that example for my children.  I wanted my kids to have a return missionary as a father.  That's why I made that decision, for my future children.  This young man told me he would not serve a mission and I almost gave in.  I almost married him.  I couldn't.  I decided along time ago that I would marry a return missionary and why was I going to change that?  For a young man?  If I had to change that to marry him, then he wasn't the one I was supposed to marry.  He wasn't meant to be the father of my children.

I told Tom that if he hadn't gone on a mission, I wouldn't have even dated him.  It's true.  I wouldn't have.  I didn't want to go through that again.  I love Tom very much but just because I love him, that doesn't make him the best for my children.  For those of you who are not married yet, decide who you will marry by think who this man will be for your future children.  It helps a lot when your heart and mind seem conflicted.  A return missionary is what I needed for my kids.

I am a Mormon.

I am a mother of two girls.  I am a wife to a wonderful man that sometimes acts like a kid and always acts as if his whole purpose is to love and provide for us; his family.  I am kind.  I am very talkative.  I have hope.  I try to love everyone because even when they are mean to me, if I am mean to them, I don't feel right.  The Spirit tells me it's wrong.  I am not perfect.  I get angry sometimes.  I sometimes don't clean the house.  I love my husband and I will always be faithful to him.  I am not a perfect parent.  I try to be patient.  I try to not yell at my oldest (the younger is a baby) who sometimes doesn't listen so she can do whatever she wants.  I am happy that I have the church.  I am happy we have a prophet that continues to guide us through Jesus Christ.

I am happy to be a Mormon.

Want to know more about Mormons?  Just curious?

Click here to learn more.

How I Feel About Tom Becoming a Doctor

This isn't a hard thing for me to think about.  Tom and I have been together for five years and seven months, we will have been married for five years on September 12th this year, and during this whole time, Tom has loved medicine.  He worked EMS for almost four and a half years and even though the hours were horrible and the pay was minimal, he loved working in medicine.  I am so happy that he is starting school to become a doctor.

I'm Happy

 Tom has taken a big risk here!  He quit his job and became a student.  Exclusively.  We seem to have the idea of "big risk, big reward" as a couple.  As long as we can survive financially, we will have big reward in the end.  I am happy that Tom has started to pursue what he really wants.  As I said before, he loves working in medicine and this is the first step into becoming financially successful in the medical field.  He worked EMS but that is financially lowest you can go in the medical field.  He loved working EMS but he knew he couldn't keep working it if we wanted to have more kids.

I'm Worried

Tom has ADD, dyslexia and dysgraphia which can make school work difficult.  He always did well with grades but he didn't need to study to do well which is not something he can do in college.  Especially with a Bio-Medical degree to earn.

Part of why Tom loved working EMS is because of the action.  He did mostly transports (taking patients to hospitals, nursing homes, doctor's appointments and dialysis, so not too much action there), but he also worked 911 for awhile.  I do worry that school may not have enough "action" for him but he does plan on continuing to be a volunteer firefighter.  In our very small town, volunteers firefighters are the only ones we have so they see all of it for every call.  With that, Tom should get his fill of "action."  He's working as a truck driver this whole year and he's done pretty good with just the fire call excitement.

I'm not really worried about this but Tom seems to have a concern.  This December, Tom will be 30.  He has a professor that is a year younger than him this semester.  He looks 20, really really on that, but he is 29.  I think it doesn't matter, but I'm not the one sitting in class surrounded by kids all ten years younger than me.

I'm Envious

Now this seems bad but I miss going to school so much.  I have no resentment towards Tom, I just wish I could also be going to school.  I wish that I can do more things that only I can do besides breast feed Raven.  I have always liked school, just about everything about it.  My "New Year" starts in August.  Shopping for notebooks, pens and binders are one of my favorite things to do.  I know that I'm going to need to hold myself back and try very hard not to do any of Tom's assignments.  I had to keep myself from organizing all his school things myself.  I know he needed to do that to help him transition from truck driver to student.

I'm Unsure About Myself

 So this blog is going to be a place where I can help others understand what you go through when you try to become a doctor (at the very least from the outsider's view with insider info) and what a family might go though when one of the parents are trying to become a doctor.  

When we knew for sure that Tom was starting school this year, I suddenly felt a panic, "What if I'm not what I'm supposed to be once he gets there?  I know what doctor's wives did mid century but what do they do now?!"

I was very unsure of myself.  I almost immediately Googled "what is expected of doctor's wives."  I found a blog with this post.  I felt better and now I have started to read the blog from the start.  Just like when you have a spouse that is in rescue (EMS, police, fire, etc.), you connect with others who have spouses in the field.  I went to school with two people that ended up getting married.  The husband worked EMS Fire and they had a little boy and she stayed home with him.  Very similar to us; Tom worked EMS (no Fire at the time) and I stayed at home with our Evelyn.  April, the wife, and I were in marching band together and in JROTC together and even in a JROTC team together, so we already had a bond, but when we learned that both our husband's were in EMS, we could vent about there schedules and how we try to pay for anything.  It was nice to be reminded that I wasn't the only one.  I know I'm not the only one having a husband start pre-med, but sometimes you do feel alone in uncharted territory, but what is great is that it turns out that these paths have been charted and can be found in blog form.  We will just have our own adventure, our own paths, our own mile markers to add to the world of pursuing ones dream of becoming a doctor and the spouses that follow them with children in tow.  I will be unsure for a while, I don't know how long, but I know that my insecurity in my ability to be a strength for Tom will diminish as I learn how to up lift him, when I learn how to help him feel better when he feels stressed by school and tests.  It will diminish when I meet other women as Tom does school, as we move for school.  I know it will all work out as long as we work hard.

So these are my feelings at the start of semester Fall 2014.  I plan on doing an update on these feelings once this semester is over.  I will go over each subcategory and update.

Best of luck to others who are starting this journey also.

Forgot This!

I forgot that I took a few pictures while we shopped for school supplies.  I didn't get very good ones since Evelyn wouldn't listen and look at the camera.

I love to buy school supplies!  I am a Lister.  I make list to plan what I need.  I listed all the prices of each product and came up with a subtotal.  All my numbers came from Wal-Mart.  We went to HEB (a love of mine you know!) to get food and passed through the school holiday aisle.  Everything was cheaper!  We still have to go to Wal-Mart for the mat and Play-Doh since out HEB didn't have that (later we found the mats under a pile of back packs that kids took off the racks).  We had a fun time, even though in the pictures it doesn't look like it.  Well, I'm not sure Tom was having fun.  He doesn't get excited with school supplies.  Plus this was when he was still having problems with the university accepting him.  More on that later though.

Enjoy these not so good but very special to me pictures!

Pre-School, Pre-Med, Pre-tty Stoked

That word play wasn't bad was it?

Evelyn is Starting School

Four years ago I was about to have a little girl.  My first child.  My first mini me.  And she really did come out as a mini me just as I look like my mom.  Maybe even more.  The first two months of a newborn are the longest.  Ever.  Then, they sleep through the night, roll over, giggle, laugh.  They army crawl, they pull themselves up to a table, they eat food, they walk, they talk and then... "Where did it all go?"

My baby is growing and it's shaking me.  When I first started school, when I was four, I wasn't afraid to go to school but now that Evelyn is the one going, I am terrified.  What if she doesn't make friends?  What if she has an accident and all the kids laugh at her?  What if she is scared?  What if she's not scared?  Should that worry me?  Does she have to be fearless about this?  Can't she just stay home longer?  Like it used to be?  Is this why more mothers are opting for home schooling?  You get to make sure that your kids don't get teased, that they have food they want to eat.  You guarantee that they have the teacher's (which is you) undivided attention at all times, you can keep her from all those kids that might teach her bad habits.  You can keep her from those kids that might laugh at her.  Those kids that might not like that she tells them when they do something bad.  Those kids that might push her down.  Those kids that might say hi to her.  Those kids that might have fun with her.  Those kids that might teach her about being a friend.  Those kids that might help her to know who she is.  Yes, you might be able to keep your kid from all that if you never let them go.

I know that mothers home school because of the quality of the local schools or more to say the lack thereof.  Sometimes.  I just wonder how much of it has more to do with us not being able to let go as parents.  What happens to these kids that don't get the full experience of school.  Do they become lost soul who wander once released into the wilds of university?  I fear for those kids who don't know who they are around different kinds of people because we do change with who is near us.  Do you act the same with your friends as you do your doctor?  I hope not.  Unless your doctor is a friend.  Even then, in the exam room, it's different.  You are different.  If you home school, don't have your children trapped inside the house.  If you home school your children, take then out with other home schooled children their ages on special field trips to get to know others so they don't miss out on getting to know others and getting to know themselves.

I know that this is just the very beginning of letting Evelyn make her own choices and trusting that she will be okay as long as she is guided by us, her parents.  It is so important for children to know who they are, that they are children of our Heavenly Father and that he wants them to succeed also and that He is there when they are afraid or unsure of anything.  I need to remember that too on Monday when I drop Evelyn off in her classroom.

Tom is Starting School

Since late April, my husband Tom has been trying to enroll in college.  The small town just South of us is a university town.  It has a university.  Truly!  I have completed two years of university there and we, as a family, had planned on me finishing my degree before Tom would start his.  Well, time went by and I dragged my feet way too much.  This year we decided that enough was enough.  It wasn't happening for me so it was now time for Tom to start school before he got too old to be a doctor.

Tom grew up with a PA father and (eventually) an RN mother.  He grew up hearing and learning about medicine from his dad and was so intrigued by it.  After graduating high school, he considered starting with criminal justice.  He attended three different community colleges as his family moved around the country.  A great and humbling event happened in his family and Tom knew that he needed to serve a mission for our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).  For Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Tom was sent to Ecuador for two years to proselyte.

After her served, he came home and moved almost immediately down here to Texas with his parents.  They went to Sturgis with his oldest sister, her husband and his brother and his brother's wife.  When they came back, Tom tried to get into Border Patrol but was told they were on a hiring freeze.  It happens at times.  We re-met while he was trying to get into Border Patrol.  We hung out a bit with the singles' group of our church, Young Single Adults (YSA), so when asked by the hiring agent whom he spent time with, he mentioned the few of us in YSA.  I received a call about her meeting me to ask questions about Tom.  The thing I remember from the interview the most is that when she asked if I thought Tom would be in any way a threat to our country, I chuckled thinking that was the dumbest question to be asked about him.

"No, I couldn't image that he ever would be."

I honestly couldn't and I barely knew him but for some reason I knew that I knew that about him.  I knew he could never hurt his country.

It was just after our first date when Tom was told they were on a hiring freeze.  He worked a Wal-Mart remodel then as a host at a Chinese restaurant owned by the husband of an RN his father worked with.  May of that year he spent in Aggie Land getting his EMT Basic.  He loved it.  Worked almost five years in EMS.  Medicine became a very large part of who his is.  He starts school on Monday and it still doesn't feel real.  I still am getting used to him not working EMS.  In Emergency, you work 24 hours or more at a time.  It's hard on a wife sometimes.  It's hard on the kids sometimes too.  Between EMS and school, Tom drove hot shots and eighteen wheelers.  Another job that keeps you away for days at a time.  He didn't go far most runs but much of the time he would be gone all day.  He was home more nights though.  I remember, when Tom was still working EMS, Evelyn would cry some nights because Daddy wasn't going to come home.  Even though he had the job before she was even born and Daddy working on an ambulance was all she knew, it was still hard for her to understand.  I'm getting off topic though.  And making myself cry too.

A new chapter starts in our life as Tom starts school again.  He has ADD and also has dyslexia and dysgraphia.  I'm not saying this myself, he was diagnosed with all three since he was a child.  It is difficult for him to focus without someone helping him to stay on task and even then he is still very good at school work.  Things around the house...eh.  A school assignment can take maybe an hour or two, clearing out the office and turning it into a play room...may take more than a week or two which means it will take months to do.  Looses focus for longer projects which shows that he has improved over time.  Either learning to compensate or grew out of some of it.

Tom will be starting with a pre-med degree; biology of medicine.  So this blog has now become about becoming a doctor's wife as well as being a mother, crafter and Texan.

The Gin, the Gin, the Gin is On Fire!

My husband is a volunteer firefighter.  In our small town, that's all we have.
We have no paid firefighters in our district.

The other day this week, a call came in at around 3:30 pm; "Attention fire personnel, we have a report of a fire at the cotton gin."   Tom gives me a look that says, 'I have to go and it's going to be bad.'

It was.

85 cotton modules burned.
About 1.2 million dollars were lost in this fire.

Tom came home at about 11:40 pm, he started to make food as I breastfed Raven and *beeeeeeeeeeeeeep*  "Attention all fire personnel, we have a report that the gin has set fire again."

30 bales of cotton lost.
About 1.5 million dollars were lost in these fires alone.

The cotton, let's say, in our jeans are treated cotton to be fire retardant, however, untreated cotton is very flammable.  When cotton is harvested the seeds are harvested also.  Pulled up right with the cotton.  These seed contain oils.  Oil heats up and catches the cotton on fire, farmers know this.  Sometimes you'll loose some of your harvest because of this.  Sadly, this was not what happened.

An oil field company were laying down pipe which was meant to be done months ago.  It didn't.  They had to extend their contract to finish the work.  While welding, sparks were fly and caught the cotton on fire.

So much can be lost when a job is not done when it should be.  One man can make so much disappear in almost an instant.  Please, learn from this.  Be aware of what is around you and how much your actions affect others.  Work efficiently and effectively.

Buying School Uniforms

Evelyn starts school for the very first time this year!

All the elementary schools in our close area wear uniforms.  For Evelyn she needs maroon polos and khaki bottoms.  I searched online for the best prices and also that they had the needed color.  Only half the stores that we could visit had the appropriate color.  Academy had the best prices for bottoms and tops.  I also found a maroon cardigan at Old Navy. 

We went to Academy and found not a single maroon polo in her size.   It went from size 4 youth to size medium juniors.  So we thought that we would just order them at the store.  I wasn't sure about the color.   It wasn't really maroon.  It was more plum than maroon.  So we didn't order them.  

We found a few pants her size.  A few in a regular straight leg and one in a skinny.  Evelyn looks much better in a skinny than a straight.  So we ordered five more skinny khakis in her size. 

After that we went to Old Navy and bought Evelyn the maroon cardigan.  She was able to button it easily on her own.  Something she learned to do just after turning two.  So happy to find it!   It was the only place that had a maroon cardigan that we could go to try on which was very important to me!

I enjoyed getting Evelyn's uniforms!   I love August!   School supplies!  New books!   New clothes!   Even if they are uniforms!   Yay for school time!   I am a school lover for sure!   Call me a geek but that only means I'm cool!  ;D   Geek is in!

Tips On School Uniforms

• Wait until you get an "acceptance letter" before you purchase anything
• Compare prices online before going out
• Buy enough for one week *plus one, it will save you on laundry days
• If you have a child still growing, if you can, buy a week's set of clothes one size up
• Get a color matching, and I mean the exact color, cardigan for the fall
• Remember that pants are easy to tailor in length and in the waist, it okay to go up a size and hem them
• Get elastic, if possible, for your kids 2nd grade and under
• Not the greatest in fashion but get a double sided belt, black and brown, to help save money
• Take tags off only one uniform set and wash for first day of school, if your child is going to a new school, to be sure that you purchased the right colors, styles required and to know if the clothes shrinks too much and you need to go up a size
• When you know you have them right, wash them all as directed
• #Purchase iron on sheets (you can get them at fabric stores or even Wal-Mart), and print labels with your child's name and a number to call and put them inside the clothes

I hope this was helpful!

Happy New School Year!

*This is a just incaser. This is the one you put in your younger kids' back pack and the older kids can leave it in a locker.  Older kids may not feel they need extra clothes like younger kids but you never know what chemistry experiment may ruin a shirt or even a busted pen.

#You can use Avery templets.  They are free!

The Snow has Been Harvested!

The Texas snow has been harvested!

About two years ago I wrote this post about "Texas snow."   I wanted to write another for this years harvest!

Above is pictured a cotton field.  This was taken about thirty minutes from our house.  I was a bit late on taking pictures so the fields all around our house were already harvested so I took this on our way to buy Evelyn's school uniforms.  More on that here.  

Cotton getting harvested.

The old way; modules.

The newer way; bales.  

 Cotton sometimes comes in bales now.  If you didn't know what they came in before this doesn't seem like a big deal.  The newer way is wrapped more and smaller in size.  That means you can loose less.   If you didn't know, harvested cotton can catch on fire from the inside out which makes them seem like they combust randomly at times. You can read about a recent fire at the cotton gin here.

This post isn't about fires but about 

Harvest Time. 

It's about a time when things get cleared out.

A time when weather will (hopefully) be changing. 

A time to pick at new things unknown.  

Evelyn was hesitant until I touched it myself. 

Every year, on December 31st, millions of people make new year resolutions.  I like to do the same in August.   August has always represent the start of a new school year which meant the start of a new life almost.   It has been over five years since I've been in school--college--but I still prefer an academic planner. 

This August starts a new beginning.  My husband, Tom, is returning to school.  Pre-med. 

 More on that here. 

My Cuties!

2.5 months old

4 years old

These girls are my minis! 

Two Months Old

Today Raven is two months old!

Today is also the first day Raven rolled over!    I didn't catch it the first time, but the third time, I did get on film.  Well, on iPad.

It's all down hill on a smashed cardboard box from here, speeding away too fast!   Evelyn starts her first year of school and I still feel like she is the baby in my arms.  Doesn't help that they look exactly the same.  Except for the eyes (Evelyn's are brown) and the size (Evelyn was born the size Raven is now), they look the same.  Crazy!