Study Session

Just to give a little background- I am 21 years old and a full time student at Iowa State University, as is my husband. We have one beautiful son, Gabriel Zechariah Sandoval, who is 13 1/2 months. My husband and I go to school Monday through Friday he works and I don't (yet, I have an interview tomorrow). Our life can be kind of crazy and stressful but as my cousin Beth says, "I'm moving in with you guys; I'll sleep in the laundry room, your house is just so homey! There's so much love!"

My wonderful sister in-law has agreed to be a live in nanny and watches our son from 10:30am until about 3:00 or 4:30pm everyday except the weekend. This gives me a chance to do some homework before I get home and see my son. Well, hypothetically. Sometimes I forget my lunch and come home right after class at 1:30 and don't start homework until 8:00pm....anyways. My favorite thing to do is find a semi-secluded cubicle desk at the library and dig into my homework! Considering I get an average of 4 hours of sleep with and baby intermission halfway through, my homework usually puts me to sleep.

This is what a typical study session looks like for me:

 Reading (there's a lot of reading as a History major).

 Taking notes on my reading.

 Going insane due to exhaustion.

Passing out on my books.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't take back anything. But having a toddler while in college definitely makes it more interesting (and by interesting I mean intense & difficult). Sometimes I hear other students complaining that they're so tired because they had to stay up until 5:00am studying last night- well maybe if you didn't procrastinate by going out to the bars, partying, or goofing off playing video games all weekend and actually focused on your school work you wouldn't have to do all the studying in one night! It just frustrates me that they actually have the time to focus more energy on studies and still have free time and they waste it (at least it's wasteful in my opinion to party or play video games).

When I have "free time" after I put Gabriel to bed I still have to do homework, make dinner, clean the house, and find time for my husband. Sometimes I wish I could just relax and watch TV with my hubby or read my Kindle.

But don't think I regret having my son a little earlier than planned :) I'm just ranting because I'm tired of hearing people complain and just tired in general. Having my son while in college makes me appreciate the little moments even more. Like when I bring him into the room to wake up my husband in the morning and the two of them lay in bed cuddling - would I even notice how precious that moment was if things weren't so hectic? If I always had time to relax after the house was clean and Gabe was in bed, would I be so thankful for it?

Anyways, even though my free time consist of studying and cleaning I wouldn't trade it for the world. My family may demand a lot of attention from me, but they are worth it and are my motivation to finish college strong. Thanks for listening to me rant :)