School, New Job, & Thyroid Issues!

First, SCHOOL IS OUT FOR THE SUMMER! I survived my second semester of college, my first semester going as a full-time student! I didn't make any A's this semester, I made all B's. But managing a 3.0 GPA with rambunctious baby C, I am still pretty darn proud of myself!!

I have made the extremely hard decision to transfer from the four-year university that I am attending to a two-year technical college. My last day on campus a week and a half ago was bittersweet. I love the campus life atmosphere, which is something I am going to be missing out on being my new college doesn't even have dorms! STC bought the Dental Hygiene program (finally decided on my major) from ASU to bring in more students and obviously it's working! Becoming a dental hygienist is my short-term goal. I will make another post in a bit about my long term goal! :)

I am now a working mama! And guess what? I'm so lucky I can bring my kiddo to work with me! My second cousin just had a sweet baby girl. Let's call her A. A was born 6 weeks early. She's still an itty bitty thing even though she's a month old! In a week or so, her mama has to go back to work and I have been hired as A's official Nanny. I underwent training for infant CPR, infant Heimlich Maneuver, side-feeding, and other special premie care! C is slowly getting used to me having all of my attention on her during her changings and feedings, and I think the adjustment will continue to go smoothly.

Here's the bad news! I have had the hives for over two months now. After the first month, I visited the doctor because it became a growing concern. It's controlled with Hydroxizine and Allegra, BUT if I miss one dose, I'm all itchy, bumpy, red, and streaky again! Thus, the doctor ordered blood work to be done. Well, it came back today. And it showed a thyroid abnormality. (Prayers for this mama, please!) They didn't say if I am producing too much or too little of the thyroid hormones, but if I could guess, it's too little. I looked up the symptoms today and the hives are listed as a rare symptom and I've been experiencing a few of the more common symptoms, also, like: weight gain, fatigue, arthritis (in my knees - since I was 11, seriously 😕 - and thumb - recently, since I've had C), heavy menstural periods, and difficulty in concentrating and remembering things. The fatigue is bad, y'all. Honestly, I thought it was just from having an energetic toddler. I guess most people feel rested after 10 hours of sleep, regardless of having a toddler. Being exhausted a few hours later is not normal! I knew something has been up recently, I just didn't know what. Do you know what else I didn't know? Pregnancy can screw up your thyroid!!! I sure know now!!!

C is 16 Months Old! And I'm *this* much closer to finishing my second semester in college

A whole entire 16 months ago, I held him for the first time. I mean, really HELD him. Not in my tummy, in my arms. He was so tiny and so squishy and I was not tiny, but I sure was squishy.  We have both come SO far. I often find myself wondering how in the hell we made it, but we sure did and we are going strong! He has taught me the true meaning of happiness and patience and he helped me discover the person God wanted me to be, and so so much more!  I have learned so much and so has my sweet boy. He waves hello to everyone he sees, and also waves bye-bye. He blows kisses and smiles the sweetest little smiles: a shy smile and an overly-excited smile. There's no in-between folks!  He talks all the time now, even though it's mostly a language that only he can understand. However, he can say a few words: hi, hey, bye, that, and HOT! Since he has been born, he's transitioned from breastmilk to formula, formula to solids, and now solids to only table foods! He's got eight little pearly whites and I'm almost positive he's currently working on more. A little strawberry-blonde curl has recently formed over his left ear and it's SO perfect. Yes, he's FINALLY getting hair! He is SO smart and SO curious and I love it. You can always see the wheels turning in his little head! He's got an attitude larger than a dinosaur and a personality of gold. Not to mention the fact that he flirts with every lady he sees! He runs faster than it looks like his little legs can go, and he runs EVERYWHERE. What is walking again?  And he grabs anything and everything that is in reach. He has recently learned to hit, is *that kid* that throws himself on the floor when he doesn't get what he wants, and thinks it's hilarious to bite toes and splash half of the bath water out of the tub. But you know what? I love every little inch of him and I wouldn't trade him for the world! Happy 16 Months big boy!!! Mama loves you forever and always! ❤️

Sidenote: I'm am completely done with my Psychology class for this semester. One down, three more to go! I only have three more small assignments for English, and then two tests on Thursday - one for Quantitative Skills & Reasoning and one for Political History of America. Then, I have two finals next week, and then a two and a half week break before my first ever summer semester begins! I'm feeling so many mixed emotions about that: good and bad! I could definitely use some prayers!!! 😘

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker and TWO MORE WEEKS OF SPRING SEMESTER!!!

        For the past week, continuing into this week and the next, I will be working my ass off. By this Friday, I have a reading response (no shorter than one page double-spaced) due on Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, two substantial responses to two of my classmates reading responses, an essay (5-6 pages) on the symbolism in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, and three psychology chapters to complete (she gives us like 5 a week so this is usual).

So of course now is the perfect time to start reading a book for my recreational entertainment!

That's right. I started a book of my own personal choosing for the first time in forever. *Queue Frozen's "For the First Time in Forever"*

This evening I began to read 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker, a lovely Christian Author and Speaker. (Sidenote: You should really check out her Facebook page here because she's actually really cool and is not that in-your-face-about-the-Bible annoying Christian.) I have been trying to straighten out my relationship with the Lord. As I strengthen the tie between myself and the Lord, I feel myself grow stronger. Let me tell you, I have never (and I mean NEVER) ventured into the Christian section of the bookstore. Because honestly are the books really interesting at all? I can tell you right now, yes, Yes, YES!

      Jen Hatmaker's book originally popped out to me because I recognized her name. Four die-hard Catholics on my Facebook page "like" Jen's page, which is actually why I recognized her name. Well, I picked up the book to see what it all was about: "Jesus, may there be less of me and my junk and more of You and Your kingdom" all through the number seven (Hatmaker 5). For thirty days in sets of seven, Jen (and sometimes her husband and children) eliminate excess in certain areas of their lives. One area was focused on spending, and my boyfriend and I were just talking about creating a strict budget to follow. Thus, I made my purchase! So far, I've only read through the first two months.

       Month One: Food, where Jen chose to eat nothing but chicken, spinach, whole wheat bread, eggs, sweet potatoes, apples, and avocados, only drinking water and only allowing seasoning with olive oil and salt and pepper - let me tell you, she got creative! Every time Jen would get sick of eating the things she chose to eat for the 30 day period, she would pray and would remind herself that she still has so much more to be thankful for.

       In chapter two, Month Two: Clothes, Jen chose seven articles of clothing. Here, underwear, a bra, and socks did not count. Because she had speaking events that month Jen was careful with her clothing selection. She chose two short sleeve t-shirts, one long sleeve t-shirt, a pair of jeans, a pair of sweatpants, and two pairs of shoes (one for daily wear and one for events, so technically she had more than seven, but due to circumstances, the flexibility had to budge slightly). Jen said she actually enjoyed this month because she isn't one to get fancy anyway.

At 2:30 AM, I am simply too exhausted to read another page in this fabulous book, but I cannot wait to continue reading tomorrow.

A Short Overview of the Past Almost-Year! :)

I'm going to go ahead and cover a large amount of material in this blog entry.

1) I am now receiving child support from C's father. Getting drunk on Spring Break is more important to him than seeing his son's 2nd Easter. He never sees him. He is always busy when I need him to watch C for a few hours. He never asks to see C. Long story, short - E and I still aren't on very great terms.

2) I am in a relationship with someone who is in LOVE with C. He is absolutely wonderful to us both. I will go ahead and call him CM because his first name starts with the same letter as C's ;)

3) I started running an eBay business with mine and C's old items because we've got so much junk hanging around. It's actually done extremely well and I made $300+ in the first 30 days of selling. :)

4) C turned the big O-N-E at the very tail-end of 2014. December 27th, to be exact. We had his birthday party two weeks late, though, due to so many family attendance conflicts. His Godparents got married on January 1st of this year, so all through December we had Bridal Showers and Rehearsals and Rehearsals Dinners, etc. Then, half of my family went on a cruise the week after the wedding. We finally were able to have it mid-Janurary. We still have his birthday banner up and I don't have the heart to take it down. We had a very small, simple get together with family and close friends. We got a cake and smash cake from Walmart. C cried when we put his hand in the smash cake.  We also bought pizza from Little Caesars, and thus C was introduced to his favorite food. :)

5) C was finally Baptized into the Catholic Church on March 21, 2015. C's dad did attend and did take part in the ceremony, although he looked kinda sloppy. He was there. That's what matter. C's Godparents are the sweetest things! His godfather is my cousin and his godmother is his wife. They just married as mentioned before, but have been together for seven years. They started a savings account for him. After the ceremony, we went to a local park to grill out and celebrate. C's dad didn't attend this part. We had hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, pasta salad, a pull apart cupcake cake in the shape of a cross made by the delicious Bakery up the street, chips, and soft drinks. C had fun eating, opening some lovely gifts, and chasing the ducks :)

6) YES! C can walk now. He began at 9 months, 5 days!

7) C is now almost 16 months. How has almost an entire year passed since I updated this blog? I need to get with the program!! C is such an intelligent little ham and he is just such a joy to have around! Most of the time, that is! ;) He can utter a few words, like: hot, hey, hi, mama, da (that), s'at? (what's that?), and oo-at (and he points...that means "look at that"). He wears 12-18, 18, and even some 24 months clothes. He is now in a 5.5-6 size shoe and sure knows how to use his feet to run all over the place! He is a curious little fellow and is into EVERYTHING. He likes real remote controls and plastic cups more than any toy I have ever purchased for him. He gives adorable open mouthed kisses and has eight pearly whites! We are completely off the bottle and have been since the day he hit a year old. We have pretty much been weaned from baby food to table foods since then, as well. He still LOVES his paci, and I am going to begin weaning him from it in two more months. Once he gets used to having the paci only during night-night time, we will begin potty training. Hopefully. Maybe not. ;)

8) I have two more weeks of my second semester of college and then in June I begin my first Summer course. This particular course will last 3 & 1/2 weeks and then I will begin another 3 & 1/2 week course a week after the first one finishes. A week after my summer courses are complete, I will be entering my fourth semester of college this Fall as a full time student with the smallest full-time course load allowed. Currently, I am still undecided, but I am considering being a teacher in elementary school. I still have another semester to figure out exactly what I want to Major in though.

9) Baby Fever is real and anyone who says any different is a liar. Multiple people on my Facebook friends list are expecting. One of my close friends is currently trying for #2 with her husband (they were just married yesterday!!) and she has been taking pregnancy tests every weekend for the past six weeks. Another friend of mine is getting married ASAP when her fiancé comes back from his deployment with the Navy and they have decided to start trying right after the wedding. I just keep telling myself patience is a virtue. I need a degree before I need baby #2! Four more years to go!!

10) Recently, I have really felt like I have found myself again. When I was with E, I was looking for love in all of the wrong places and it led me to a really dark spot in my life. I honestly think that God graced me with my beautiful child because He knew that is what I needed to become the person He wants me to be. Connor and I try to make it to church as much as possible. (CM would go with us, but he goes with a little old lady to her church every Sunday and that just makes me smile). I have started reading "Small Steps for Catholic Moms" by Danielle Bean and it just sets a wonderful mood for each day. CM and I have decided we want to take things slowly. I told him I wanted to wait to have sex until we marry, if we do. (A secret from me to you? I hope we do.) I explained I really needed to prove to myself that I am worth the wait and that I have self control. He was all for it and loved that I wanted to wait.

So there's an update on our lives. I definitely plan on keeping this updated more often! But now that it's 2 AM, I think it's time for me to call it a night!

And We Call This Segment: Baby DADDY Drama

Going all the way back to February, flying to the weekend after Valentine's Day, C's father, E, and I met for dinner. No, this wasn't one of the romantic types. This was strictly business. I beckoned him that night to speak with him about his fatherly dues. Yes, I'm talking child support. I told him that I would give him three months to prove to me that he was taking his responsibilities seriously by completely two very simple tasks each month: spending time with his son and texting me sometime during the last weekend of the month, asking what I might need for C. I have to admit, at first I wasn't being completely serious. Mainly because I truly felt that he might step up to the plate. However, he did not. He actually stepped even further from it.

At the beginning of May, E's mother, A, called me and asked if C and I could come visit. This was not out of the ordinary as she had done the same thing about two weeks ago, so I agreed to meet her wishes. A few days later, C and I took the 30 minute drive to her house and stayed for a few hours. HERE is where something out of the ordinary took place. A and I, along with C, had been in the living room talking and such for about thirty minutes, when all of the sudden A asks be to let E know that we have arrived. Hesitantly I stood and walked back to his bedroom. His door was cracked so I pushed it open a little more. He was sitting in his game chair, with a headset on, and a controller in his hands. He smiled and mouthed "Hey." I raised my eyebrows and whispered "Your mom wanted me to let you know we're here...so, we're here." He nodded and proceeded to play, while I walked back into the living room. A few moments later, he walked out of his room and sat in a chair parallel to mine. When A asked him if he wanted to hold C, he reluctantly did. For. Five. Minutes. FIVE. And then ventured back to his room for the other two and a half hours that we were there. Needless to say, I was royally pissed off. That was the first time he had done that. He normally stayed and played with C and held him, but no. Not this time.

This disconnection continued, every time A asked to see C, I would bring him over and E would be nowhere to be seen when I dropped him of and when I picked him up. Eventually, at the end of May, I told him I was filing for child support through the court system. His response was "ok" and I don't think he took me seriously. Well, I filed the next day. And they rang him on the phone, and I received a text from E. He wanted to meet for dinner. Why? To talk about all of this. By this point, I was done. I didn't want to talk. I had made my decision and I told him I refused to pull the papers. He still insisted on talking, so I told him he could make the drive to my house. I wasn't driving - he wants to talk, not me, right? Well he had football. So he was tired. We never talked.

Now to my point of rage. This past Monday, June 27th, also C's Half-Birthday, E and I were scheduled for court. My step-mother was babysitting C because children in the courtroom are extremely inappropriate. I was dressed to the nine's because, well, it was court. There was a group of about eight people total that they called into the courtroom. They gave each of us a quick form to fill out in order for our case to be called. Just as I was on the question before the last, I turn around because someone storms through the courtroom doors. E looked like he was concealing a smile. That couldn't be his - "Hello, I'm Mr. L and I will be representing Mr. W today. Sorry I'm late, parking was horrendous." ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME. I DIDN'T HAVE A LAWYER. Readers, this "lawyer" was a goof. I don't even know if I could vouch for the fact that he is ACTUALLY a LAWYER. First, he was late. LATE. LATE to COURT. Never are you supposed to be LATE TO COURT. That was the first unprofessional bell dinging in my head. Second, he was sweating. The dude had to have parked blocks away. THERE WAS A PARKING GARAGE FOR THE COURTHOUSE WITH A SIMPLE $3 FEE. And he's saying that working as an attorney, he can't afford that? B.S., that's what I call it.

Right when I hand my form to the caseworker she asks if my mother is outside the courtroom. I tell her she is and a few seconds later she returns with my mother. Apparently, no one knew I was seventeen, thus still a minor. My caseworker asks my mother and I to follow her into a room across the courtroom. When we got there she spoke, "Miss. Andrews, Mr. W and his attorney have asked for a DNA swab to confirm the paternity of your child." I'm pretty sure my mouth dropped to the floor. Not only did this D-Bag show up with an attorney but he was also claiming that our child MIGHT NOT be his! "This pisses me off." Were the words out of my mouth. "This is absolutely ridiculous. I've never been with anyone else. This is embarrassing. He's making it sound like I sleep around. And I don't!" The caseworker was extremely apologetic. "Honey, I understand. My son was a teen father, as well. And they're STUPID. Boys mature a lot slower than girls and there were MORE than a few times that I wanted to just SMACK him UPSIDE the head." I gave her a half smile. Really, I just wanted to cry. I was humiliated by the whole situation and I felt like C's father was trying to fight for the fact that he shouldn't have to help with C's finances. "Is the baby here with you today?" She asked softly. "No ma'am," I replied, "we almost brought him but we didn't think it would be appropriate. Could we possibly go get him?"

"About how long would that take?"

"Probably around an hour, round trip."

"I don't think you'll have time today, but the next time they swab with be on July 14th. You'll go to the place that you filed for child support and the baby will get swabbed there. Today, we are going to swab Mr. W."

"Okay," I replied, "Am I supposed to be represented by someone? Because I was told I would be. And he has an attorney, and it's not looking like I have one."

"You have every right to an attorney, if you would like one, you can get one. However, our public defender will most likely not take on a child support case."

I nodded my head. "So can we leave after this? Do I have to stay for anything else?"

"No ma'am, you can go." She said as she wrote up a subpoena for August 15th.

"Thank you," I said and walked out the room. E and Mr. L were chuckles about something and I walked straight past them. I'm sure they saw the steam rising from the top of my head. Outside the courtroom, E's mother asked if we were done, as if she had no clue as to what was going on. I know who paid for that attorney. I pointed to my mother and my father and said "WE are done." I proceeded to point to the courtroom, "HE is NOT. HE is taking a DNA test." I then turned to my dad and said, "I want a lawyer." He nodded his head and said, "Okay, we'll get you one." On the way home he called a lawyer we knew, and by the time we arrived back home he had given us a call back.

Basically, the lawyer we called said that E's lawyer took their money and ran because attorneys can't do a thing in a child support case. Everything done in a child support case can be done by the parents alone. All E had to do was request a DNA test. They didn't need to pay a lawyer to request one for him. Regardless, they wasted a pretty penny. First, because C is without a doubt his child and second, because they paid for a lawyer.

I just can't wait to see his mouth drop in court on August 15th when they read the results of the paternity test.

Sorry for the rant and all the Baby DADDY drama, I just wanted to update you all on our lives!

Here's an adorable Half-Birthday picture I took of C that evening to lighten your moods!! He was "smashing" the 1/2 Birthday cake I made him. It was half a cake! :-)

I know it looks like he ate a bunch, but in reality he hardy got anything into his mouth!

Pure Silk Raspberry Mist Shave Cream REVIEW

I was one of the lucky Influenster members who received the Vow VoxBox. One of the item inside the VoxBox was Pure Silk Raspberry Mist Shave Cream. I seriously cannot remember the last time I used shaving cream before I received this in the mail. And I seriously still haven't realized WHY I stopped using shaving cream. Before getting this VoxBox in the mail, I used regular soap to shave with. Afterwards, my legs were dry and ITCHY, and I always seemed to accumulate shave bumps. It was just AWFUL. Being summertime, it was a perfect opportunity to test out this shave cream. So, the night before we set off for a beach day, I ventured to the bathroom to try out my new free product! While I shaved, the razor seemed to glide so smoothly against my skin, despite the razor being used a good six or seven times prior to this experience. I got out the shower when I was finished, and I dried myself off. Out of habit, I opened the medicine cabinet to grab my body lotion and then realized that - "Hey! I don't need this!" My legs were moisturized and were not dry at all. And on to of that - they were SILKY smooth. I guess that why it is branded "Pure SILK."

#PureSilk