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| Us at Graduation dinner, 4 days from my due date! |
So....Tim and I both graduated! It has been a long time coming and I am so relieved. I have LOVED being in school, but trying to juggle our schedules, work, and studies whilst raising Oliver has been a HUGE challenge. When I got pregnant I considered the fact that I might not be able to graduate, because Oliver's needs would automatically have to come first, and since Tim needed to stay in school for the future, it would have been my responsibility to quit! We considered day care but quickly decided against it: too expensive, and we wanted to look after Oli ourselves. We arranged our class and work schedules so we could switch Oli in between us throughout the day, it worked pretty well our first 2 semesters as he was quite little and would sleep a lot in the push chair on campus. Arranging our schedules to fit exactly with each others: not easy! I also had to ask a LOT of people for help and so many of my friends helped me out during the day on campus with watching Oliver while I was in class.
Our second year with Oli and last year of school was a lot more of a challenge. Partly because I was also pregnant, and because Oli was bigger and wanted to run around and be a toddler, not be strapped in his push chair all day! It was difficult and tiring and to keep him entertained on campus and I felt bad for him but somehow we got through! We were really fortunate because I was able to stay full time the whole time instead of having to take less classes, which meant I wouldn't have graduated the same time as Tim. We were also fortunate in that Oliver has always been really good, and a great sleeper, his 12 hours at night gave us time to study and kept us sane during the day! We've all also been really healthy which could have presented huge challenges, in that every time Oli gt sick one of us had to miss class to stay home with him. I even managed to be able to do BYU Singers this last year, something I didn't think I'd be able to do after having Oliver.
So, we're done! The days of dragging Oliver around on campus between classes and trying to quickly study during his naps are over. I'm so grateful I was able to graduate and have a beautiful little boy and another one on the way! So I guess my message is: if you are determined and want something bad enough, willing to sacrifice, and ask for help, then you can do anything! Cheesy but true......
