By Marissa Tijerina
When it came to planning out my life, I didn’t include becoming a mom at the age of 21 while still attending college. The plan was to graduate high school, go to college, graduate college, get married, then start a family. I came up with this plan in the seventh grade with the help of my yearbook advisor. She would check in on me every year to see how the plan was coming along. The one year that she didn’t check in on me is the year that I got pregnant. I had my baby girl this summer, and still have until December before I graduate.
There are days that I find myself struggling to handle being a new mom and a senior in college, especially because my baby girl is very attached to me. I cannot put her down for more than 15 minutes without her crying her little lungs out. I cannot lay her down to sleep in her crib or her swing because she wakes up right away. I find myself having to rock her to sleep then just let her stay sleeping on my chest. Doing that makes it hard to get anything done during the day. If I don’t have my homework next to me as soon as she falls asleep, then I can’t do any homework until the next time she goes to sleep. There are days that I can’t get any work done until my boyfriend gets home from work. Those days aren’t easy, but I’m certainly not complaining.
When I first started college, I learned how to organize and plan everything out. I managed to fit all of my assignments and tests into my hectic schedule. I was able to juggle 16 credit hours, color guard, softball, homework, and studying for tests. Now that I have a three month old, it is not so easy making everything fit into a perfect schedule. I have to work off of the schedule that my baby creates. Between feedings, changings, and rocking her to sleep, I can squeeze in completing an assignment or two.
When I think back to my first semesters at ENMU, I remember thinking how impossible it was to get everything done and still maintain a social life. Those were the easy days. It amazes me how one little person could turn my world upside down in such a short amount of time. My baby changed my life plan around, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t complete my plan. I have more motivation now than I ever did before. I want to be able to show my baby that she can do anything she plans to do just like her mom did even if it is completely out of order.