Name: Carrie

Occupation: I work as a nurse in a hospital doctor office.  It is a very demanding job but the passion to constantly care for people is something I can identify with.

All about Carrie:  I’m a single mom with two kids, Sam age 3 and Mary age 7.  I love spending all my free time with my kids, photography and animals.  We have 1 Lab named Elsie, a German Shepard Templeton, a turtle named Miss Piggy, and a fish named SpongeBob.  I think you can tell by our animal names that my kids love movie characters!  I work as a nurse and recently decided to go back to school online to get my Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Unitek College.   Juggling everything was tough the first few weeks, but now that we are adjusting to the new schedule things are going well!

Her typical day:  Our schedule has really changed at home since I made the decision to go back to school.  During the week a typical day starts for me around 4:00AM.  I need some alone time in the morning to get myself together for my day. I get up, put on some tea, turn on CNN for 15 minutes to see what is going on in the world, and by the time I am done with my tea my mom has already come over to watch the kids for me so I can take my morning run before work.  After my run I take my shower, get the kids up, bathed, dressed, and eating breakfast.  When I leave for work, my mom watches the kids for me and my sister comes over around 9:00AM to homeschool my daughter.  I get off work at 3:00 and head home for a ½ hour nap and then dinner with the kids and my mom and sister.  I will usually help Mary with any homework she has and play with Sam for a while after dinner taking the dogs for a walk.

By the time the evening news comes on I head in to my office where I am taking online classes and get to work on my courses.   My mom and sister both help me with the kids for a few hours after work until around 9:30 when we put them to bed and then I continue with my course a little while longer once my mom leaves.  Lights out at 11:30!”

Her challenges:  Being a single mom is tough.   While for some, being a mom can be a choice, for me I have to do two roles every day. Although I get plenty of  help from my family since I signed up for college, I find trying to mother two kids can be very challenging at times.

Taking time for herself:  Right now, the time I am taking for myself is the online classes that I am taking so I can get my bachelors degree in nursing.  Although yes I have a little time in the morning before I get the kids up, I made a decision to go back to school so I could better both their and my life.  I catch up on my sleep on the weekend.  When you are really passionate about something you make a way to get better at it and do more with it.

Advice for other working moms:  Time management is the key to being a supermom, super nurse and super student.    And don’t forget to cherish every moment you have with your kids.

Her favorite tool or resource to help stay organized:  A notebook, my computer and the cell phone!

Where she can be found online:  http://talesfromanursingstudent.wordpress.com/

Carrie has been working as a nurse for over 15 years.  Her passion for nursing and helping people has lead her back to school taking the accelerated rn to bsn degree.  In her spare time, you can find her blogging about her experiences, life, passions and how she juggles family, work, and schooling at Tales from a Nursing Student.