I woke up this morning with a baby attached to my breast, asleep next to me in bed, just like every morning this week. I slowly got up, trying not to wake her, got dressed, then carefully carried her downstairs.

“Happy birthday,” Aaron said to me as I walked into the living room.

Then it hit me. “Oh yeah, it is my birthday, isn’t it?”

“Did you forget?”

“Yeah.”

I guess after you hit 30, birthdays don’t register as much anymore. Or maybe it’s because I have a newborn, and therefore every day feels like the same day over again right now.

So yeah, today is my birthday. I’m 31. Feels a lot like 30.

It seems that, amid all the stress we’ve been going through lately (which is another post entirely, and will be coming, I promise), there is still good to be found. Not only am I now in the ranks of paid bloggers, but I also just found out that this fall I will be starting nursing school.

This has been in the works for over a year, and some of you may remember when I first started out on this journey. I’ve slowly been taking classes here and there, working on the prerequisites needed to even apply for the program. I finished those prerequisites this past fall, just in time to meet the deadline for applications to the online nursing program.

My local college offers an online program for those who already have a bachelor’s degree in something else, and are seeking a career change. All of the lecture is done online, and then labs and clinicals are scheduled for one day a week. The beauty of this is that it means I can still go to school without having to juggle crazy babysitting schedules, and without quitting my current job. I can find time in my schedule to commit to one day a week.

Getting into the program wasn’t a sure thing. They only offer admission to the program once a year, and there are roughly 50 spots available, when generally about 150-200 people apply. The three biggest factors for snagging a spot are your grades from your prerequisite classes, your grades from your first degree, and your scores on the Nurse Entrance Test. After that, there is also an essay that is considered as well. Luckily, I graduated with honors for my first degree, received nearly all A’s for my prerequisites (that damn Organic Chemistry class ended in a B), and scored high on the NET. Yet even with that, I still worried I might not get in.

The acceptance letter was such a welcome sight to see. Yes, I love writing and blogging, and will likely never give those up, but at the moment I can’t make a full living from them. And while my job as a student advisor is a personally rewarding job, it’s not that rewarding financially. I enjoy helping people, I enjoy making a difference, and nursing will give me the ability to do those things, all the while probably making more money part-time than any full-time job I’ve ever had paid.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not going into it just for the money. My mom is a medical technologist, and I grew up hanging out at the local hospital, so I know how hard nurses work. After having Cordy, I also came to admire the work of the nurses on the OB floors. But the money is a factor I must consider when it comes to providing for our family. Aaron wants to go back to school, also, and once I get through nursing school, he will have that opportunity.

We’ve already been discussing the possibility of me quitting my job in the fall, too. Writing three blogs (and looking for more to write), going to school part-time, raising two children, and working part-time outside the home may just be too much for me. The biggest time drain, with the least amount of myself invested, for all of those would be my job. If Aaron gets a raise (which he’s already due for, if they would ever complete his review), if we pay down our debt, and if I continue to find writing work, it is possible that I could quit. It’s certainly a goal worth aiming for.

So, what does all of this mean to you? Depending on how things go, it could mean a few things. First, I won’t be giving up blogging, as this is my one true outlet to turn to when I need to relax. It could mean that I’ll have a whole bunch of new school stories to share in the future (only the funny ones, of course). If the stories are boring, it could mean nothing – the status quo as I continue to do what I’m doing now. Or it could mean you’ll get an interesting glimpse of someone breaking down from too much stress, as all of the hats I’m juggling turn to stone and crash down on me. Let’s hope for one of the first two, shall we?

Did you ever have something you really wanted to tell all your friends, but you were sworn to secrecy even though you’re horrible at keeping secrets? That is exactly what I have been going through the past three months. But I can finally let the cat out of the bag, spill the beans, and unzip my lips as of today!

I’ve been cheating on this blog with another blog. The other blog is fancier with a big corporate backing to it, with a lot of flash and pizazz, so it’s easy to see how I was lured in. It all started with an e-mail out of the blue, asking me to submit writing samples to join the team. Soon I was signing non-disclosure forms and submitting all sorts of paperwork to a fax number in California, wondering if this was legit or if I was falling prey to some very elaborate Nigerian blog scam. Thankfully, it was legit.

And finally, later this week, you’ll be able to see the end results when the new website goes live on March 15. I’m one of the bloggers with the new Family.com. You know, that little website owned and run by The Mouse. I now work for The Mouse, and it is pretty friggin’ cool. You can see a preview of what the site will be like in this news article.

The site is very different for Disney. They generally have a lot of control over everything they publish, and with Family.com, they’re giving a lot more control to the community. Community members will have an active role in shaping the site: bloggers are writing their own takes on a variety of subjects, and the average visitor will be able to comment and rank articles and submit their own articles for the site as well. Right now, only the contributors have access to the site, but it’s already starting to feel comfy and cozy there.

It’s probably no surprise that I’m blogging in the Parenting section of the site. My new blog is called Cirque du Mommy. And before you get the chance to see the site, I’d just like to add: no, I didn’t pick my silly username, and please have some forgiveness on the picture. I’m pretty sure somewhere in my contract is the promise that I get to submit a new headshot once I’m no longer pregnant and puffy. But other than those two things, the site looks really spiffy.

And have no fears that I will be abandoning this little blog. My Disney blog is just one more piece of myself, and there is plenty of room in my heart for multiple blogs. Besides, since it is a family site, no swearing is allowed, and there are some topics I probably shouldn’t discuss over at the other site. I doubt my editors would enjoy reading about my killer hemorrhoid or my 90’s bangs. OK, they might enjoy reading those, but it’s probably not the content they’re really looking for.

So go check it out on March 15, when the beta site goes live to the public, and let me know what you think. Maybe even leave me a comment on my new blog, or check out some of the other bloggers there as well. Many of them are seasoned bloggers, and some you may have seen around the mommy/daddy blog circuit.