First Day of School

So, it has begun! School!

I have worked out my schedule so that I am on campus Monday, Wednesday, Friday with 4 classes between 12 pm- 4 pm.

12:00-12:50

Dramatic Literature (TMA 396) where we read plays and analyze them according to complicated literary theories such as structuralism, historicism, and post colonialism. Complicated, abstract, and it makes my brain hurt (kinda in a good way though) but I have to take it for my Theatre minor.

1:00-1:50

American Heritage (A HTG 100) a class that most people take in their freshman year. I heard so many horror stories about how hard the exams are that I have put it off my entire college career. However, it has finally caught up to me in my final semester- I can avoid it no longer! Drat!

2:00-2:50

Proclamation Principles and Scholarship (SFL 100). An entire class devoted to expounding on the principles in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." I'm really excited for this one- even though I have to memorize The Proclamation (609 words!) I'm really interested to learn about the social science that supports many of the principles in that document.

3:00-3:50

Parenting and Child Guidance (SFL 240). This is the class that I am taking to fulfill my last Major requirement. I wanted to take an Advanced Food Preparation course but, if you read my blog about Class Schedule Madness, you'll understand why I'm taking this one. Still, I really enjoyed the first two classes and am looking forward to learning more about a subject that will be so applicable in my life.

Then, outside of class I have a REL C 325 class, which is Doctrine and Covenants, part 2. I'm taking this online which is nice because is one less hour that I have to be on campus and Sander has to be baby-sat. I'm just going to have to be super diligent about keeping up with it.

All totaled, my classes equal 14.0 credits- a full-time schedule. To be honest, this past week was brutal. Balancing being a full-time student with being a full-time mom was enough to give me a headache and fill every spare moment that I had with homework. Hopefully, it will get better as I get in the routine and start trying to knock my assignments out.

Down time to blog, exercise or zone = sanity.

Casey has reminded me that this semester is going to be a marathon, not a sprint like spring and summer semesters, and I need to take things one day at a time. He's even helping out more at home with grocery shopping, folding laundry, and taking care of the baby so I can do homework. And he does all this without me having to ask him even once. :) Best Husband Ever. Especially because that is the only way I will survive this semester.

3 months, 1 week, and 6 days until I graduate. Boo-yah baby.

Class Schedule Madness: Part 2

Preparation

When I decided to take Fall semester off I made sure to put all my ducks in a row so that I would have no problems when I returned in Winter. I remembered when I got back from Texas and wanted to enroll from Spring/Summer, the Registration office told me that if I was gone for more than one semester I would have to reapply.

So I went to my scholarship page and deferred my Fall Scholarship. I made an appointment with my bishop and submitted an Ecclesiastical Endorsement for the Fall/Winter year. I submitted a Graduation Application for April 2011, and I received a Registration Priority Date for October 26, 2010-- today.

When I woke up this morning, I got out my laptop and signed into my Route Y account and began looking up the classes I needed to register for. When I click the Add button a little window pops up that SHOULD read, "REL C 325 has been added to your class schedule." Instead I get a evil window that says, "You are invalid to register for classes."

WHAT THE FRACK?

The Disaster

I call the admission office to find out what is going on. The student there tells me that I had to submit a deferment form if I planned on missing a semester, which I didn't do, so the system automatically kicked me out. The deadline to submit a deferment form was... October 1, 2010. NO WHERE in my search to get all my ducks in a row did I ever see any mention of this form. NO WHERE did it tell me, "If you are going to miss a Fall or Winter semester, you need to take the following steps: a . . . b . . . c . . ."

So the chick directs me to the website where I can print off the form to MAIL into BYU at which point she informs me that it can take up to three days to process, but because I missed the deadline, there is no guarantee that it will be accepted.

Remember that perfect schedule I had worked out so that I could take 14.0 credit hours and only be on campus for four hours, three days a week? Potentially down the toilet if I have to wait four days to register for my classes. IF they accept my form to let me register at all. No classes, no graduation in April 2011.

On top of it all, my fabulous baby who has been sleeping 4-6 hour stretches through the night woke me up every 2 hours last night.

The Breakdown

I had a breakdown.

The Solution

I called Casey and told him everything that was going on in between sobs. He was awesome and really supportive. He gave me just the advice I needed to get me going again. He said, "Tukataa (that's his Thai nickname for me, meaning 'little doll') you need to go down there and do what you do best. Talk to an administrator, not a student who can't do anything, and don't leave until they fix it for you. All they probably have to do is click a button and it will be fixed."

So I got up, quickly got ready, threw Sander in his car seat and headed down to campus to try to get the whole thing taken care of before the 11 AM Devotional when the entire campus goes on break. When I got there I skipped the student windows and went straight to the Registration Counselors Office. I talked to the receptionist and told her I needed to see someone and asked if anyone was available. She told me that I was not allowed to make a same day appointment so I would need to come back tomorrow. . .

uh, no.

I told her, "Dude, I live 45 minutes away. Isn't there anyone who can see me today? I can be here all day." So she said that she would go check with the counselor and see what she could do for me. And, lo and behold; God is good, God is great- my counselor's 10:00 appointment had cancelled on him and he could see me right away.

I went in and talked to him, a Mr. Selk, and told him my whole situation. He got online and entered some things into some form boxes, clicked a button and told me I could now register for classes. I was in there with him for no more than five minutes. A four day process was reduced down to five minutes. My buns were saved.

I went out of the building, got on my laptop and registered for all my classes except one which I need a permission code for. Luckily, I took a class from the professor about 5 years ago so I remembered him. I went to the Harris Fine Arts Center and asked for his e-mail and schedule to see if he might be around so I could talk to him before I left. Lo and behold; God is good, God is great- he had an office hour that hour and was in the building. I went down and waited outside his door for a little while as he had stepped out. Sander had been amazing through the whole process! He was so quiet and alert, just looking around at everything with only occasional outbursts. So I rewarded him by taking him out of his car seat and played with him while I waited. Dr. Hollingshaus came back not too much later and invited me into his office. We talked about the class, about life and my new baby. He was extremely congenial and inviting- taking the time to chat with me as a peer when he really didn't have to.

The class is going to be really hard and a lot of work. He said the 395 class should really be a 500 or 600 level class because of all the reading they do and because it is the same class they teach to their grad students. Yikes. He said they are, however, very generous in their grading; they grade more for effort than a right answer. So it will require a lot out of me, but the professor is cool and seems willing to help out students who want to learn.

Altogether, a potentially disastrous morning didn't turn out too badly. I have my ideal schedule, I have registered for all my classes (except the TMA 395 but Prof. Hollingshaus is going to e-mail me the code when he gets it) and my scholarship is still available for me. No doubt about it, being a student and a new mom is going to be difficult. But I think a degree is a worthy pursuit and I will rely on the Lord to help me get though it.

Class Schedule Madness

Now that I'm back in Utah I can finish my degree at school instead of doing awful online classes (yay!) in which I have to find the motivation to do the work and finish the class within a year (which, btw, I stink at. I took 2 classes in Texas and I had to pay a late fee to extend one of the classes-- it took me a year and a half to finish them both.)

Being able to be in a classroom with a teacher, peers and a syllabus with deadlines is definitely preferable to me. I have just 11 credits and one semester to go before I graduate! Or at least, that's what I thought. Upon closer inspection at my graduation plan I realized that I forgot about one 100 level, 3.0 credit class that is mandatory for my major. That brings the grand total of credits up to 14.0 turning this semester from fun, easy part-time student to stressful, time consuming, full-time student.

Being the top dog at BYU; AKA, a senior; I get to register for the classes I want first! My deadline is approaching-- Oct. 26-- and now I have a decision to make.

Scheduling Options

I am a mother now. Do I sacrifice the class that I really want to do for a schedule that requires less time on campus (and therefore fewer hours I would need to pay a babysitter to watch Sander) and allows me to go in later in the day? Or do I take the class I know I would really enjoy and am interested in and deal with the longer hours on campus, the 6:30 wake up on Mondays and the 5:30 wake up on Wednesdays and the higher babysitter fees?

The class I really want to do would require me to be in class from 9-3 on Monday, 8-3 on Wednesday and 12-3 on Fridays. These times I have listed have a class during every hour with no time to eat or pump my milk if I get too full except in the 10 minutes I have in between classes. On my longest day, even if I feed Sander right before I leave, that is 8 1/2 hours that Sander would be with a sitter and I would have to go without pumping. . . yikes.

The other class, with a bare minimum schedule, would only require me to be on campus from 12-4 MWF. That's only 5 1/2 hours on campus. This is also not including the extra time I have to be on campus to take exams and work on any group projects.

When I put it like that the choice seems obvious and yet a little part of me still rebels against it. The early class is an advanced cooking class (the 3rd level I will have taken where we actually get to run a restaurant on campus!) and the more I talk with Casey the more it seems like those skills would come in handy in our future career path. But it's much earlier in the day and requires two more hours on campus than the other alternative- a Parenting and Child Rearing class, that would also be interesting (probably), but not as fun. Going with the Parenting class I wouldn't have to leave to go onto campus until 11 a.m. which would be an advantage during the winter semester because it would give any snow that fell during the night a chance to melt, making the roads and the journey to campus much safer and faster.

Alternatively, I could still do the Parenting class but take a Latin Dance class in place of a religion class and instead do the religion class online. Then I would be on campus 11-4. But, that's still 6 1/2 hours I would have to go without pumping, 2.0 more credits tacked onto my schedule, bringing me to 16 credits, with more out of class hours that I would need to practice the dances with my partner.

*sigh*

I guess I know what I have to do. The most important thing is Sander. I want to be there to take care of him and not spend most of my days on campus and most of my nights ignoring him to get my homework done. The second most important thing in this is to get my degree. I've come too far to give up on it now. The parenting class will still be beneficial and interesting and has many more checks in the pros column than the cons. Choosing to become a mother will require sacrifice and I am willing to be responsible for the life I have created. I have a responsibility to his welfare and development first and foremost. And, to be honest, all he has to do is look at me with those beautiful blue eyes, flash that big gummy smile while he gurgles at me and suddenly, it doesn't feel like much of a sacrifice at all.