Top 5 role models in my life.

1. My mom: I look up to my mom for many reasons. She has always been not only my mom but also my father figure my whole life. She is my best friend in the whole world and I know I can talk to her about anything. We have had our differences but at the end of the day I will always love her. One day I hope to have the same relationship with my daughter.
2. My friend Kayla: Just like me Kayla had a baby young. Times were rough for her and her boyfriends relationship but they made it through it. They are now married and just celebrated their one year anniversary. I know that I will never be back together with my daughters father, but I hope to find the right guy and make it through the obsticles together.
3. My grandma: My grandpa died a couple of years ago now and it was the hardest thing for my grandma. Even though times were tough she tried her hardest to stay strong. Her plans her day around activities to keep her busy and keep her mind off of the negative things in life. I hope to be a strong woman like my grandma in life.
4. My stepdad: He came into my life when I was about 6 years old. He stepped up and took over the dad role. My dad has never really been in my life, so he fixed the missing part in my life. To this day he is still here for me. He treats and loves me no differently than he would if I was his own. I think its tough for a guy to come into a broken family and be able to step up and help out where things were once missing.
5. All single moms: Sometimes guys aren't so they seem to be and don't stick around once a baby is in the picture. I think it's amazing that woman can take control and make life work without having to rely on a man.

My Christmas List

I feel like since I have Madalynne people will just get me like basic supplies for her as my present. Some of the things that I want for myself include:

• New Laptop
• GPS for my car
• New tie blankie
• New curling iron
• Hair extensions
• Nail polish - All colors, especially pink :)
• Money to help towards my car payment
• Babysitter for New Years Eve
• Happy Holiday Season

None of these things honestly matter to me. I would really just like a non-drama filled Christmas, surrounded by friends and family. Surprises make me super nervous so the gifts that come along with Christmas aren't enjoyable to me. I usually know most of the things I am getting to reduce stress. I would be perfectly fine with no presents this year as long as Madalynne has a good first Christmas.

How I plan to get 130 hours this grading period.

This grading period I don't just want to make the required 130 hours. I only have 199 hours left before graduation. I've set a very high goal for myself that I want to have my remaining 199 hours completed by Friday, December 16th. My reasoning behind that date is because my 18th birthday is the following Monday and I would like to not have to come to school or work that day. I've made a plan of attack in order to try to fulfill my hopes.

1. English: Finish Grad Doc. to finish credit.
2. U.S. History: Get to 25% on semester E2020.
3. Government: Finish E2020s and court case researches.
4. Economy: Finish E2020s.
5. Art: Post 4-6 new posts to my blog.

Succeeding in all these would mean graduation. :)

Slept all night!

I had the best sleep last night. I haven't slept so good in almost 7 months. Madalynne decided she was going to be a big girl and sleep all by herself, in her own crib, from 9pm all the way until 7am this morning. I woke up so refreshed and happy. I hope she has over came her fear of the crib and will start sleeping like this more often!!

ALC

The ALC has helped lead me down a road of success. Before I came to the ALC I was failing many classes and behind on so much work due to morning sickness that comes along with being pregnant. There were some weeks that I couldn't go to school at all because I felt so terrible. On the days I tried to tough it out and go, I couldn't even focus in class. After missing almost two whole weeks of school I knew that I needed something to change or I was going to fail the whole school year and have to redo it. I decided that we should call and set up a meeting to talk with the ALC. The director was kind enough to schedule one and look at my options. He indicated that if I could get my current grades at the high school above a F he would be able to give me credit for the time spent in those classes. All I could think of is how great that was!!! I chose to come to the afternoon session so that I could sleep in a little and let the morning sickness pass, have a quick lunch, and head to school. I was so nervous the first day starting, I really didn't know what to expect. When I actually arrived at school the teachers were all so kind and welcoming. I had a fabulous experience the first day. They all helped me to understand what was expected and ideas about how to earn credit. Now that my daughter is born I would never even think about transferring back to the high school. The ALC offers the flexibility I need to be able to get Madalynne up and ready before I head out the door for school, without having to wake up at 5:30am. I love that you don't have homework that is due each day. Instead you can do your work on your own schedule as long as you are using good use of your time. The teachers are always more than happy to give you work for credit as long as you ask them. I have never found it hard to maintain at least 130 hours in a grading period. As of now I'm on track to graduate early. I know that I would have never been in this situation if it wasn't for the ALC and all the caring teachers there. I am so thankful that I chose to look into transferring. :)

Amazing Flat Iron

Who wouldn't want an mp3 built right in to their flat iron? This caught my eye and I'd completely buy it! I love listening to music while getting ready, with this you could have it all in one. Why didn't I think of this?

Yer & The Tiger

4 months

Baby Madalynne will be 4 months in only a couple of days. This weekend we started to feed her a single grain cereal in addition to formula. The doctor recommended cereal at 4 months to get her used to eat from a spoon so that she will know how for when she can eat baby food at 6 months. The first time seemed to be a failure, she didn't understand what was going on and just got frustrated and mad. After a couple of times it seems like she is starting to be more comfortable with the cereal and makes less of a mess each time we try. Starting her on cereal is beneficial to me as well as Madalynne, it helps her sleep through the night! :)

Messy Madalynne after eating rice cereal

Home Coming?

I am trying to decide whether or not to go to home coming this year. I took the night off work and am thinking I want to bring Madalynne with me so some of my friends can meet her. I'm nervous that it'll turn out being too cold for her if I go and I will have to turn around and just go home. I went online to look at a 10 day forcast. As of now it says it'll be 74 degrees and partly cloudy. http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/55042:4:US?role=
I still have no idea what I will end up deciding to do.

Homework isn't easy

This weekend is the last weekend before the grading period ends. I had planned to do a bunch of extra things to get in more hours in hopes of quickly knocking my hours further down. I had work Friday night so I had printed out things to do there. Things didn't work out as I had planned, work ended up being super busy so I didn't get things done there. I then had work Saturday morning, and once again it was too busy to take out homework. When I got home I wanted to work on things since now I felt like I was behind schedule. Madalynne wasn't feeling the best so she was very crabby and attached to me. I got some online classes done but that was about it. Trying to manage time for homework with a crabby, sick baby is not easy at all. I'm so greatful that my mom was home and willing to try to help out as much as she could!!

Bias Advertisement.

They are targeting women telling them basically if you don't start smoking these cigarettes, they will become fat and then a skinning woman, who does smoke, will catch your husband's eyes and steal him away. It's telling women that men are more into skinny women. This advertisement will make women believe smoking cigarette's is a positive thing. They don't tell you any of the negative things associated with smoking, like the long term causes that in the future will be worse than your weight. 

Finishing Up Credits

I really want to finish up all my hours before going on winter break. I know that I'm going to have to work really hard on getting extra hours. It's going to be tough trying to keep Madalynne happy and do lots of work each night. I'm hoping to get extra help watching her on the weekends and do most of my work then. My goal is to get at least 203 hours a grading period to graduate by winter break but I really want to make it happen!! :)

Alarm Clock

I usually don't have to set an actual alarm clock because Madalynne wakes up fairly early. She'll wake up around 5am to eat and then approximately every 3 hours after that. This morning I woke up and when I looked over at my clock it read 10:36am. I couldn't believe my eyes!! I needed to already be ready and out the door. I thought for sure I was going to be late for school. I'm not going to lie, I am very pleased that she decided to sleep in longer but now I know that I should set an actual alarm clock just in case.

Marriage Destination

Sometime in the future I hope to get married some place warm and beautiful! I haven't quite figured out where I would like it to be located but here are a couple options of mine.

Caribbean Islands

Puerto Rico

Key West

Goals to Succeed

I hope to do the best I can with my life in the near future. I need to succeed to give my daughter all the things she needs. I've set goals for myself to help make sure I'm always on top of what I want to get done.

1. Finish High School
2. Move out of my parents' house
3. Go onto College (even if it's close to home)
4. Graduate from College
5. Enroll in Medical School
6. While enrolled, have a part time job
7. Finish Medical School and get a full time job
8. Get married and expand the family
9. Move someplace warm
10. Travel to exotic destinations
11. BE HAPPY!

Making Time for Everyone

For the first month after having Madalynne I was off of work and school. All my time went toward her, since I had no other worries at the time. I went back to work in the beginning of July. It was hard having to leave for work knowing I wouldn't see her for 7 hours. Now it's September and I'm back in school. I wake up each morning, play with Madalynne, and then make sure we are both ready before I leave at 10:30am. That means on the days that I work after school I don't get to return home to see her until 7:30pm, that's 9 whole hours. Here are a couple of things I have to make time for in my busy schedule:

• Madalynne
• School
• Work
• Homework
• Family
• Friends
• Me

Those are just some examples of the things I try to squeeze in on an everyday basis. Having a baby definitely adds a lot of time and effort into life.

Friends

When I finally told everyone that I was expecting a baby I lost a lot of my friends. It was hard to deal with at first but then realized I needed real friends to be there for me no matter what. After Having Madalynne was a whole other story. The friends that stuck by my side were now fading because they don't understand that they need to be patient and wait for me to have free time available.

Being a Teen Mom

My due date was scheduled for June 21, 2011. I started having complications June 2nd and went into the hospital. At the hospital they took many tests to try and determine what was wrong. It turned out that I had developed preeclampsia. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001900/ They decided I would stay at the hospital and be induced Saturday, June 4th if nothing happened before then. Labor was the worst 12 hours of my life. I have never felt anything as painful as contractions. When I was finally dilated enough to get an epidural, the pain was eased and I could finally sleep. Soon after baby Madalynne was born. Everything seemed to be fine at first but then they had to rush her to the nursery to examine her more closely. She appeared to be having trouble breathing. I wasn't able to go to the nursery the first night to see Madalynne because my blood pressure was still too high and I needed to stay on magnesium. During her time in the nursery they had taken chest x-rays and discovered that Madalynne had a small pneumothorax. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001151/ Hearing that was the scariest thing ever. She had to stay in the incubator on oxygen, continue to have chest x-rays daily for the first 10 tens of her life. Finally the pneumothorax had resolved all on by itself and she was able to breathe in room level oxygen. Now I could actually take her home with me and enjoy the beginning stage of motherhood.

New Blog!

Hello Karla!! Thank you for showing the class how to set up our own blog and allowing us to get art credit for it! :)