So I am officially finished with my graduate degree! I had a final presentation today and then I left the University of Pittsburgh for the last time....and had a parking ticket! Of course!
It felt a little strange to leave and drive out of town. I almost teared up a little. It's just so nice to be done. Three long years have come to an end. I can remember going to my first class. I was excited and not sure if I would be able to do it. I've never been one for the class room setting. I really did well in grad school though. I got higher grades than ever before, I got published in an online magazine, I worked for two Hospice organizations and wrote a lot of papers. I feel good about all that I accomplished.
It took me so long to fill out the application to apply for grad school and lots of encouragement from friends to just do it! :) I'm glad I did.
I also had an interview with a Hospice program and should find out in a few days if I will be hired. This job would be huge for me in the long run. I never expected to get hired into a Hospice program right out of grad school. I feel like there is a good chance that I will be hired, but you never know.
We went to dinner tonight to celebrate! It was fun! Then we went to our favorite coffee shop and played a speed game of Monopoly and I dominated!
Well, I need to go rest up for our big vacation. We leave friday for Bryson City, NC to stay in a cabin with our friends Babs and Carrie. (Babs=Adam)
I am officially an MSW!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Norah!
We are having a girl!!! We just found out on Friday! We loved the ultrasound because she is so much bigger than the blob we saw a few months ago. We got to see her spine, head, eyes, nose, heart and the blood running through it, we saw her kick her legs out and move her head back and forth. The best part was that she stuck her tongue out!!!
Our technician is so great because she gets just as excited as we do and this is what she does all day long!
From the title you can guess that her name will be Norah. We have not picked a middle name yet. That's the harder part for us for some reason. The name Norah means honor, from what I found. That was not a driving force behind the name, we just really liked it!
I am definitely starting to feel her kick now. I think it was helpful to see her do it on the monitor. She is 11oz. and in the 50th percentile for weight and length.
We left for Coopers Rock, WV about 3 hours after we found out about Norah. We had planned a camping trip with our friend Damian who will be moving to California in a few short months. (Joshua will be posting pictures, I just don't have the patience right now to upload them.) It was actually nice to get away and I had busted my butt on one of my final papers Thursday night so that I could go camping and not worry about it.
It was nice to get home and take a shower and clean!!!! I think it's funny that people keep saying things about "nesting" in my pregnancy becasue to tell the truth I think I have been "nesting" since the day I was born!
Alright, I'm off to finish my paper.
Our technician is so great because she gets just as excited as we do and this is what she does all day long!
From the title you can guess that her name will be Norah. We have not picked a middle name yet. That's the harder part for us for some reason. The name Norah means honor, from what I found. That was not a driving force behind the name, we just really liked it!
I am definitely starting to feel her kick now. I think it was helpful to see her do it on the monitor. She is 11oz. and in the 50th percentile for weight and length.
We left for Coopers Rock, WV about 3 hours after we found out about Norah. We had planned a camping trip with our friend Damian who will be moving to California in a few short months. (Joshua will be posting pictures, I just don't have the patience right now to upload them.) It was actually nice to get away and I had busted my butt on one of my final papers Thursday night so that I could go camping and not worry about it.
It was nice to get home and take a shower and clean!!!! I think it's funny that people keep saying things about "nesting" in my pregnancy becasue to tell the truth I think I have been "nesting" since the day I was born!
Alright, I'm off to finish my paper.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Lots going on....
I've been really busy as I near the end of my grad program!!! I have a total of 5 more classes left. I will be finished with my very last grad class on July 25th and I will be done with my last day of Hospice (for my grad program) on August 9th! I can't wait! It's so close. I am supposed to be working on one of my final papers right now, but I'm too distracted.
I just talked to my sister Amanda who is also pregnant!!! She is 11 weeks! I'm so excited that we are pregnant at the same time! She lives in Utah though so we will not get to see each other too much, but we are making plans to fly out there with our little one about a month after she has hers!
We will find out next Friday at 8:30am if we are having a boy or a girl. We both want a boy, but we think it will be a girl. Not sure why, we just do. We will be excited either way! We already have names picked out for either.
Two days after my last class we are going on vacation with our good friends Babs (not a women, his last name is Babcock) and his wife Carrie. We will be staying in a cabin in the mountains of Bryson City, NC which is just a few miles away from the bottom of the Smoky Mountains. We will be spending a day touring The Biltmore Estate, the three of them will be going white water rafting one afternoon. I asked my doctor if I could go and I thought she was going to scream! She was funny! I figure there's no hurt in asking. I've been promised a slow canoe ride on a calm body of water!!! We will also spend a day in Cleveland, TN visiting the area where Babs and Joshua spent a summer at a pre-school camp teaching Bible lessons and chaperoning, "The Lions Den." They also want Carrie and I to eat some type of beef sandwich which they cannot stop talking about. It should be a nice time. I got a maternity bathing suit the other day for the trip!
I have been applying for some jobs as well. I have received one call back, but they are not sure if I have enough experience. I should hear back from them in a few days. We will see.
So, that's my update. I'm trying to find a picture, but I do not know what to put up. We will see.....
You might ask, why would she put a picture of elephants up? Well, that is going to be our nursery theme...boy or girl. We found a cute gender neutral crib set at Target that has little elephants and the main color is green with some brown. It's really cute! We are excited about it! The designer is Amy Coe.
Anyways, hope to hear from some of you!
I just talked to my sister Amanda who is also pregnant!!! She is 11 weeks! I'm so excited that we are pregnant at the same time! She lives in Utah though so we will not get to see each other too much, but we are making plans to fly out there with our little one about a month after she has hers!
We will find out next Friday at 8:30am if we are having a boy or a girl. We both want a boy, but we think it will be a girl. Not sure why, we just do. We will be excited either way! We already have names picked out for either.
Two days after my last class we are going on vacation with our good friends Babs (not a women, his last name is Babcock) and his wife Carrie. We will be staying in a cabin in the mountains of Bryson City, NC which is just a few miles away from the bottom of the Smoky Mountains. We will be spending a day touring The Biltmore Estate, the three of them will be going white water rafting one afternoon. I asked my doctor if I could go and I thought she was going to scream! She was funny! I figure there's no hurt in asking. I've been promised a slow canoe ride on a calm body of water!!! We will also spend a day in Cleveland, TN visiting the area where Babs and Joshua spent a summer at a pre-school camp teaching Bible lessons and chaperoning, "The Lions Den." They also want Carrie and I to eat some type of beef sandwich which they cannot stop talking about. It should be a nice time. I got a maternity bathing suit the other day for the trip!
I have been applying for some jobs as well. I have received one call back, but they are not sure if I have enough experience. I should hear back from them in a few days. We will see.
So, that's my update. I'm trying to find a picture, but I do not know what to put up. We will see.....
You might ask, why would she put a picture of elephants up? Well, that is going to be our nursery theme...boy or girl. We found a cute gender neutral crib set at Target that has little elephants and the main color is green with some brown. It's really cute! We are excited about it! The designer is Amy Coe.
Anyways, hope to hear from some of you!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Ellie!
This is my new niece Ellie! I got to take a nap like this with Cora when she was this small too! It's helpful to have another familly member who wants to sleep all of the time! It makes me feel normal!Our nephew Emmet will be here next weekend so all of the cousins will be together soon! It's fun to see our family grow!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Baby!
That's right! We are having a baby!
It's been a wild first trimester so far. We will officially be in the 2nd trimester on May 16th! I am very much looking forward to it. All I read and hear about is that the 2nd trimester is the best. The first trimester has really been very manageable for me. I have had no morning sickness at all which I am thankful for. The biggest thing is that I am so tired all of the time. I just do what needs to be done and then I need a nap. I feel lazy, but it's just what my body needs right now. I will be excited for the day that I wake up and feel energy!
We told the students before they left for summer break and they were all so excited. Of course our families were too! Students keep asking us where we are registered. They are funny!
Since my last post, I "walked" at my graduation ceremony for grad school. I will start my summer classes this coming tuesday and will officially be done on August 10th! I can't wait.
My internship with Hospice has been going really well. I suddenly turned a corner and am doing assessments on my own now and other staff are looking to me when they need things and families as well. It's nice to feel like you are grasping what you are supposed to be doing.
I surprised Joshua with an early birthday present today. I along with some family and his whole RA staff chipped in and got him an XBOX 360. He has been dreaming about getting this since the day that he heard about them. I wanted to give it to him early (his birthday is July 18th) because his summers are so much more open then during the school year when students are here. It was fun because all of his RA's hid in an empty room and one of the guys told him that they needed to check the room out so he opened the door and they all yelled, "SURPRISE!" I had wrapped the gift earlier and it was sitting on the bed. He was completely surprised and when he realized that it was an XBOX I think that he could not believe it. He always joked about getting one knowing that we could not afford it right now. He was so excited! It was really fun to see him open it. He really deserves it. He works his butt off during the school year and his hours are crazy. I was excited to be able to do this for him and have lots of help from others.
Well, it's senior week here on campus so we have been going to all kinds of dinners and parties and I'm exhausted. Off to bed.
It's been a wild first trimester so far. We will officially be in the 2nd trimester on May 16th! I am very much looking forward to it. All I read and hear about is that the 2nd trimester is the best. The first trimester has really been very manageable for me. I have had no morning sickness at all which I am thankful for. The biggest thing is that I am so tired all of the time. I just do what needs to be done and then I need a nap. I feel lazy, but it's just what my body needs right now. I will be excited for the day that I wake up and feel energy!
We told the students before they left for summer break and they were all so excited. Of course our families were too! Students keep asking us where we are registered. They are funny!
Since my last post, I "walked" at my graduation ceremony for grad school. I will start my summer classes this coming tuesday and will officially be done on August 10th! I can't wait.
My internship with Hospice has been going really well. I suddenly turned a corner and am doing assessments on my own now and other staff are looking to me when they need things and families as well. It's nice to feel like you are grasping what you are supposed to be doing.
I surprised Joshua with an early birthday present today. I along with some family and his whole RA staff chipped in and got him an XBOX 360. He has been dreaming about getting this since the day that he heard about them. I wanted to give it to him early (his birthday is July 18th) because his summers are so much more open then during the school year when students are here. It was fun because all of his RA's hid in an empty room and one of the guys told him that they needed to check the room out so he opened the door and they all yelled, "SURPRISE!" I had wrapped the gift earlier and it was sitting on the bed. He was completely surprised and when he realized that it was an XBOX I think that he could not believe it. He always joked about getting one knowing that we could not afford it right now. He was so excited! It was really fun to see him open it. He really deserves it. He works his butt off during the school year and his hours are crazy. I was excited to be able to do this for him and have lots of help from others.
Well, it's senior week here on campus so we have been going to all kinds of dinners and parties and I'm exhausted. Off to bed.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
The red pen...
Well, I got my public policy paper back today. This is the one I have been blogging about...the only thing that I have really been blogging about!
I love my public policy class. My professor is one of the best professors I have ever had! She is so smart and can really teach this subject so that it is interesting and you can understand what is going on and enjoy it!
When I was typing this paper, I felt like a fish out of water. I have never done a paper with footnotes before. I always use APA style, which I pride myself in knowing, but with my research all being governmental based, I was not sure if I was citing it correctly and really felt like my professor was going to think I was a loser after she read my paper. I really wanted my professor to respect me. She is just great! She knows our names and talks to us at conferences and just gets very excited about public policy.
Anyways, as I was driving to class today I was kicking myself for not having Joshua read over my paper and tell me what I should change or point out what doesn't make sense. I was fully prepared to have to take the class again because I knew I probably failed this project.
When she handed back the papers, I flipped to the back in search of the damn read pen score, the dreaded red pen and saw 99% circled!!!! I teared up because I was so shocked! I wanted to run to the front of the room and embrace my professor that I look up to so much...she has asthma though so lord knows I end up taking her to the emergency room and she would fail me for being crazy!
Here is what followed the 99%:
This is a well researched and well developed paper, Rachel. I'm glad you were able to interview with Senators Costa and Fontana even if you don't agree with their support of the proposed legislation---and I appreciate your own thoughtful analysis of the positives and negatives of this bill. This paper was a pleasure to read!
I really hope people do not think I am a jerk, but this kind of thing does not happen to me often. It's really encouraging when it comes from someone you really hold in regard.
Anyways, thanks for sharing in my excitement!
Friday, March 16, 2007
My paper
I finished my paper on the senate bill for the medical release of hospice inmates. A few people expressed interest in reading my paper when I was done, but to be honest, I have a hard time letting other people read my papers. I always have, so I thought I would share what I found and the conclusion that I came to.
Interviewing the senators unfortunately had to happen through e-mail because we got a ton of snow the day that I was supposed to meet with one of the senators and everything was cancelled. Also being gone in New Orleans 10 days did not help for having a flexible schedule.
After researching the bill I came to the conclusion that I do not support the senate bill. I think that the prison system should think through what it means to have inmates with life sentences because basically that is the same thing as "long-term care." They had to have known that inmates would get ill and die in the prisons. I think that correctional hospitals should have hospice wings or a certain amount of beds available. I strongly believe that it is the prisons responsibility to figure it out. I do not think that it is fair to the victims of the crimes or their familitesto have the inmates be released.
So, those are my thoughts on the whole issue. Feel free to comment.
Interviewing the senators unfortunately had to happen through e-mail because we got a ton of snow the day that I was supposed to meet with one of the senators and everything was cancelled. Also being gone in New Orleans 10 days did not help for having a flexible schedule.
After researching the bill I came to the conclusion that I do not support the senate bill. I think that the prison system should think through what it means to have inmates with life sentences because basically that is the same thing as "long-term care." They had to have known that inmates would get ill and die in the prisons. I think that correctional hospitals should have hospice wings or a certain amount of beds available. I strongly believe that it is the prisons responsibility to figure it out. I do not think that it is fair to the victims of the crimes or their familitesto have the inmates be released.
So, those are my thoughts on the whole issue. Feel free to comment.
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