This was the first picture we got of our little lady. At the time we called her our little gummy bear, thanks to the ultrasound technician.

She was born at home, our first and only home birth.  I really wish that I could have had all the babies at home but grateful for the one experience.  The birth was uncomplicated and all natural.  I called my midwife around 8 pm on the 18th of February to let her know that the contractions were finally feeling real and the baby was coming.  We went to sleep and around 4 am I woke back up and called my midwife again to let her know to make her way to the house. My midwife also caller her assistant.

I also called my mom to let her know to come over. The kids were fast asleep in their rooms and so we left them sleeping. By 4:30 my midwife, her assistant and my mom were at the house preparing everything for the delivery.  A little after everything was set up my water broke, something I had never experienced with the other babies.  The doctors at the hospital were always quick to pop the bag of water for me. The loud rubber band popping sound everyone says you hear when your water breaks, that is exactly what I heard. Followed of course by a gush of warm water.  Leyanna was born at 6:13 am, just before the sun rose. The kids woke up around 7 to a brand new baby sister. We weren’t able to find out the sex of the baby at the second ultrasound so we were all surprised, except Gabriel, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would have a baby sister. The look on his face when he met her for the first time was priceless.  It was like opening presents on Christmas morning.

Leyana was born at 10 pounds 1 ounce and 21 and 1/2 inches long. Had she been born in the hospital the doctors and nurses would have been quick to say that I had undetected gestational diabetes and would have put her through so many unnecessary tests. (This happened to Gabriel in the hospital and he was only 8 pounds 10 ounces).

I studied my heart out the entire pregnancy. There were times when I worried I wasn’t getting enough sleep, drinking enough water or getting enough exercise because I was glued to my study material and computer.  I knew that it was do or die time for the CPA exam. All of my friends on twitter continually encouraged me through my study time.  When I had taken my last exam, we were talking about the baby and the need for a custom onesie.  So I created a ‘My momma’s one hot CPA’ onesie for the baby. Since I didn’t know for sure if I was going to have a boy or a girl, I used black and grey to be on the safe side.

Fast forward 10 months and here is Leyana right before Christmas.

She is crawling everywhere, trying to keep up with her sister and brothers. She has even figured out how to climb up and down the one step we have in the house. She is also finally sharing a room with her big sister. It was tradition for me to move the babies cribs out of our room when they turned 6 months old. Knowing that Leyana was our last baby, I kept pushing back moving her out of the room.  Then one night last week it hit me, Naomi and Leyana are 9 years apart. By the time Leyana is 9 Naomi will be 18 and on her way to college. These girls don’t have a lot of time to spend together as kids. It was at that moment that I realized I had to stop being selfish and give Naomi and Leyana time to bond with each other.

Leyana has done great in big sisters room, she didn’t even skip a beat and is still sleeping through the night. I am still adjusting to an empty room but I know I made the right decision and will adjust.

*The picture of the sunrise was taken the morning Leyana was born, it will forever be known as Leyana’s sunrise. So beautiful, just like she is.

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2012

The year started at a fast pace for us. I sat for the last section of the CPA exam in January, anxiously awaited the passing score until the first week of February.  The day after the scores were released we had a baby shower for little Leyana, in which we were able to announce to our family & friends in attendance that my CPA study days were behind me. On February 14th I finished my ethics exam and submitted all the required documentation to the State Board.  Leyana was born on the 19th of February, our lives were forever changed.

In May I received my CPA certificate and was sworn in by the State Board.  I also returned to work that month. The return to work was not as easy a transition as I had thought. So much had changed at the office. I learned that an attempt was made to replace me while I was on maternity leave and the month of August was rocky, to say the least. I knew that it was time to make a career move, but I hadn’t taken the time to set new goals after passing the exam. So this was the time for some quick thinking.  I updated my Linkedin account, my resume and started networking.  The choice was either stay in the State Government sector or move into the public sector.

In October I accepted a position in the public sector. Leaving the State was a hard decision for me, I had met and worked with so many great people.  The work that we did on SHARE was not easy but rewarding.  I had worked so closely with the IT side of things, that moving into a purely accounting world was a challenge I was willing to take, I had just earned my CPA after all.

The move has been a very wise and rewarding one.  I have been able to work in a limited capacity on a handful of audits in the last two months, the experience I knew I needed to add to my resume.  I have also been able to teach my colleagues things from time to time.  The group works as a team and is willing to help each other along the way.  There are a couple of employees that are about to begin their CPA journey and I hope that my story will give them encouragement to stay the course.

 2013

Today begins the first day of the new year, a chance for a new start. 2012 was challenging and yet very rewarding, I pray that 2013 is even more rewarding for me and my family.  I usually don’t set new year’s resolutions because 1/3 of the way through the year I forget what it was I set out to do.  Instead I set long term goals, goals that will help further either myself or my family.  I have also learned that writing down those goals helps you to visualize what it is you want or desire for your life.  So some of the goals that I have set this year and in the coming years include:

- Complete the CGFM certification by June 2012.

- Stick to our financial budget.

- Take the kids on vacation this year (we haven’t taken a family vacation since 2009, can you guess why?)

- Grow and expand my knowledge in the accounting field to help propel the firm I work with to the next level.

- Organize myself & my family so that we have more free time to spend together.

- Post on my website more often.

- Get back into shape, I want my pre-baby body back (it’s been 10 years since I’ve seen that body).

I hope that everyone has written down some goals for 2013, if you haven’t now is the time to reflect back on 2012 and set some goals for 2013. Post your goals so that in a few months we can look back and see how we are doing!

Happy New Year!!!

Photo by: Tim Ebb via Flickr

The CPA exam was a wild and crazy ride. When I set out to take and pass the exams I thought 18 months was plenty of time to get the job done. For some, it probably is plenty of time, but not for this girl.  The exam taking journey began in August of 2009 and ended in January 2012. I took 3 exams in 2009, 4 exams in 2010, 7 exams in 2011 (this is where the determination really kicked in), and 1 exam in 2012. 15 attempts at the exam to have 4 passing scores, now that is crazy.  In my case I had 5 passing scores because BEC was the first exam I passed and lost.

Final Passing Moments

November 2009 – BEC *Lost credit

November 2010 – FAR

October 2011 – AUD

November 2011 – REG

January 2012 – BEC

Study Material

I began studying with Gleim material. This study material has everything you need in it.  Each exam is broken out into 20 study units, and they are jam packed with information.  So much information at the beginning that I put the study material away and moved to Becker.  My job purchased Becker for me and I had heard really great things about it.  I started out with the class attendance, but quickly realized that I wasn’t going to continue driving two hours to sit in a classroom while someone played a DVD for me. I switched to self study and passed BEC & FAR with Becker.  AUD was my nightmare section, it seems everyone has one of those. Thanks to all my friends on twitter and in #twudygroup I changed my study material once again.  This time I moved back to Gleim and supplemented with Roger CPA Review.  The combination of these two study materials, for me, got me passed the finish line.  Everyone learns and studies differently so in the end I had to figure out what would work for me.

The Final Exam Score

February 3, 2012 score release day and the day before GAAP Baby’s baby shower, was the most nerve raking day of my entire life!!! Hitting the refresh button umpteen times in hopes of a score returning & it being a passing score was torture.  I was the only one sitting in our home office, everyone else was in my bedroom.  When I say the passing score flash up on the screen I screamed like never before.  I scared the living daylights out of my poor family, running to get them while screaming, jumping up and down, and then crying like a crazy woman.  It’s a miracle the baby didn’t decide to make an early entrance because of the scene I had made.  We decided to announce to our families at the baby shower that I had passed, and I let my husband have the honors of telling the good, no GREAT, news to everyone.

Never give up

After almost three years of exam taking, I am living proof that it is possible to pass the CPA exam.  I passed three sections while pregnant, working full time & helping raise three other children.  It is really important to remain confident in yourself and your abilities while studying for the exam, those failing scores can be demoralizing.  Especially after all the time you have dedicated to studying and sacrifices made.  My kids couldn’t understand why mommy wasn’t going to watch Saturday morning cartoons or join them at their cousins birthday party, but at the end of the day they understand and are very proud of my accomplishments.  My oldest daughter is already talking about taking the exam when she gets older. So not only did I accomplish my high school dream, I started a spark for her dreams.  She may never actually take the exam, but at eight years old, she knows she can do anything she sets her mind to!!

So never give up, keep on moving forward for one day you will be looking back at where you were and realize that ANYTHING is possible!!!

While studying for the CPA exam a timeline and schedule is a must. Days and weeks pass so quickly that there is no other way to keep track of the material studied and what is left to review.  I set my schedule this window to complete three sections of the exam, first AUD, REG and then BEC. I took AUD on October 4th. Scheduled REG for November 7th and BEC for November 30th. With less then 2 weeks before the next exam I am starting to doubt the schedule I set.

REG

I have taken this section twice, first take my score was a 72 and the last take I got a 68.  When I started studying for this section again I thought that the material be refreshed in my memory rather quickly and the time for review would be plenty. I am finding out that this is not the case.  During my multiple choice question review my scores are anywhere between 60 and 70, with a few 75 to 80 sections.  I have made it half way through the material with Gleim up to this point.

Moving Forward

Having reached the half way mark in my pregnancy, I know that I need an adequate amount of sleep to sustain myself and the baby during the day. This is where the question comes in, do I make a change to my timeline?

I have already put in some really good study sessions on REG, so I know that this is the section I will be taking next, but does it HAVE to be on November 4th?  My NTS isn’t expiring on that day, in fact I have until January 7th to take the section without loosing my NTS fees.

I wanted to be able to enjoy the last few months of my pregnancy without having to worry about studying, so that is why I set my exams all for the final quarter of 2011.  My BEC NTS also expires on January 7th and I don’t loose my FAR credit until May 2012 (although I know that really isn’t that far away in CPA exam terms)

Plan 1

The first option is to stick with my original schedule and give it everything I’ve got. I won’t be able to take any time off during the work week for stuyding because I have to hold on tight to all the sick/annual time I have for when the baby is here and I’m on maternity leave.

Plan 2

Move REG and BEC back. This plan will give me the extra time I need to adequately study for REG.  I checked for seat availablilty in November for REG and there are plenty of test dates.  I have my eye on November 19th, mostly because it is a Saturday and the week before Thanksgiving. I would then schedule BEC for January 7th.  This would give me a hefty 7 weeks of study time for the section.

Decision Time

I have until next Saturday to decide what my plan of action will be before I will have to pay a $65 rescheduling fee with Prometric.  Rescheduling before that date I will pay $35. Both of which are worth the cost if I’m not properly prepared for the exam and end up failing.  I don’t have time or energy for anymore failed sections, I want and need to be done with the exam. I also don’t want to be studying while out on maternity leave. This will be our last baby and I want to enjoy and remember the time I get to spend with the newest addition to our family. I need the time to unwind and regroup, unplug from the crazy, fast passed life we live.

If you were in my shoes what would you do? Leave a comment of your ideas and thoughts, thanks!!

Second call to insurance

I made another call to the insurance company, again they referred me to the website. I told her that I had already called them all & none of them would deliver at home. She said that I could have my midwife turn in a pre-authorization form and see what the insurance says. My midwife instantly filled out the documents and faxed them over.  I waited for a month before calling the insurance company again.  They said they had not received any documents for me & then started to explain to me the entire process all over again.

I called my midwife again to let her know the insurance hadn’t received the documents. She drove back to her office and faxed the paperwork immediately.  She received a call from the insurance company the next day asking me to sign a waiver.  At my next appointment I signed the waiver and she already had a letter of approval.

Although the process was long, it was worth making multiple calls to my insurance company, being frustrated with being given the run around. I will be able to have my baby at home with a midwife and it will be fully covered by my insurance.

The exam itself didn’t make me feel like I didn’t know the material. I took my time on each question, read through them to make sure I knew the call of the question. I was confident, relaxed, and moved through the material. There was a question that was asked in the second and third testlet.  When I read through it the first time I remember not being 100% confident in how I should answer.  When it came up again in the last testlet, I thought it really strange that this would happen during the real exam.  When your using study material at your computer I have seen the same question being asked more then once, but never has this happened on the exam.  I took a break between the last set of multiple choice questions and the simulation.  This is where I usually need a 5 minute mental break to preapre myself .

Simulations

As I walked back into the test center I prayed one last prayer that my simulations would be manageable and I would be able to work through them.  Thankfully my prayers were answered. I had about an hour and a half to work through the simulations, so I took my time.  I answered every question in the simulation, of course there were a couple of things that I didn’t know or understand but it felt nothing like the last time I sat for the exam.

While reading through the research tab I read something that referred back to the two identical questions that I was asked in the multiple choice testlet.  While I was going through the questions I wrote down the call of the question & the two answer choices I felt best.  I immediately went back to my note paper to see what it said. I realized that I selected the incorrect answer while working through the multiple choice questions.

The Exit

When I left the exam I had no screaming and yelling, I didn’t even cry.  I was grateful to walk out of the exam feeling the way I did for once.  I was able to enjoy the rest of my day.  Now the wait begins…….

Photo by: Alex Franc Flickr

The Audit section of the exam is less then a week away, like I said before, time flies when you’re having fun.  I have reviewed each chapter of Becker and completed their multiple choice questions once.  I have also answered a 20 question quiz from each of Gleim’s study units. I would have loved to have two weeks for serious review, but life happens, and I have left myself with one week.

The Week Ahead

My plan is to work my weak sections of each chapter in both Becker and Gleim this week.  I will also answer a 20 question quiz of each of the Becker questions and work through all the simulations in Becker.  On the last attempt at audit, this is where my weakness was, the simulations.

Am I Prepared??

I don’t think anyone sitting for a section of the CPA exam every really feels like they are prepared for the exam.  I wish that I would have had a much more solid study schedule the last two and a half weeks.  Sometimes life takes hold and moves you in another direction.  I haven’t been able to study until the late night hours and then wake up extremely early to get back to studying.  My family also needed me over the last couple of weeks and I couldn’t ignore them.  Although I have had these recent obstacles, I will not let them defeat my determination.  It is what it is and I am ready to continue to move forward towards my goal.

I will study as much as a humanly can during the next week, solidifying any and all topics that I am struggling with.  I know that everything will start to fall into place.  During my reviews, my scores have been between 70 and 85, which is a good place to be with a week left to go.  So I know that I can only continue to work those scores a little bit higher everyday so that come exam day I have a solid grasp on the material and I am ready to knock out the simulations.

How do you handle the week before the exam?  What does your study schedule look like?

Photo by: Purrrrpl_Haze on Flickr

We live in a fairly small town, so the number of obstetricians available to me is small.  As most women probably do, I started the search out by asking the women I knew who delivered their babies.  Unfortunately, all the doctors that were recommended had already stopped delivering babies.  So I continued my search through the doctors available through my insurance company, this is how I choose my first doctor.  She was really great with my throughout the pregnancy, although she didn’t deliver my first daughter.

Baby number 2

When I got pregnant with my second there was no reason to look around for another doctor.  Three weeks before my son was due, my doctor took a leave of absence. The week before her leave of absence began she moved her clients and their charts to another doctors office.  When I went into my second appointment at the new office, the other doctor walked in and informed me that I could either move back to the previous office or stay with her.  With three weeks I decided there was no real point in moving back to the office, besides the new doctor already had my chart. She also turned out to be great.

Baby number three

Along comes baby number three, and so what is my natural instinct, that’s right stay right where I am.  This time I was not at all happy with my doctor.  She very rarely spent any time with me during an appointment and listened to the babies heart beat for all of three seconds every time I saw  her.  I didn’t change offices but I did stop seeing her for my appointments.  I scheduled every appointment with the midwife in her office and she was awesome!

Baby number four

When we found out that we were expecting baby number four I had no idea what I was going to do about a doctor.  I knew that I wouldn’t go to the doctor I had with my first and most of my second because she left me right before my second was born.  I also knew that I would not go back to the doctor that delivered baby number three because she no longer treated me like a person. So I was back to square one, talking with family and friends about their experiences with their doctors.  I decided that the only doctor left was a male doctor, an option I really had hoped not to have to pick.

Other options

That is when I started seriously talking with my husband about the option of having a midwife deliver this baby.  When I was pregnant with my first, I really would have loved to have a midwife and have the baby at home.  I was convinced that there were way too many unknowns for me to use a midwife, plus my insurance wouldn’t cover it.  This time around, my insurance did cover a midwife and home delivery, it was like a dream come true. The only problem is I didn’t think I knew anyone that had used a midwife, but I was wrong.

First meeting

I set up an appointment to meet with our midwife for the first time and my husband had 20 questions for her.  He has always been very concerned about mine and the babies safety during delivery.  I have told him over and over again that a midwife wouldn’t put me or the baby in jeopardy and if there was any reason to believe that we needed to be transported to a hospital, we would be.  I also tried to remind him that I was born at home, five weeks early & never had a need to go to the hospital.  The midwife was great with all of his questions, she answered every single one and really put him at ease.  When we walked out, he was ready to let my dream become a reality.

I am going to have my last baby at home, a dream come true!!

Photo by: Shira Golding on Flickr

My Study Schedule

This time around I am changing my study routine up a little bit, I just hope that it pays off in the end. None of my children enjoy it when I studyin the evenings away from the house but at the same time I can’t concentrate at home with everyone running around enjoying themselves.  I am reserving my evenings for my family, eating dinner, reading books, watching movies, playing games, simply put just spending quality time together.  The early morning routine will mean that bed time will come very early for me, I am going to need at a minimum of 7 hours of sleep a night.

I am also trying to avoid snacking while studying and drinking coffee/energy drinks to keep me awake while studying.  I know that I learned and retained the information from my last attempt at the exam, but I have to be better to my body this time around.

Exam Schedule

I have already scheduled the three exams I need to complete and they are………..

August 13 – Audit
October 15 – Regulation
November 30 – Business

I will have more than 6 weeks in between each exam.  Some may say that it’s too much time.  I have learned that for myself, rushing through the material in a short amount of time has not proved beneficial.  I need to continual repetition of material and question review for the information to ‘stick’.

Time is Ticking

Although I have  a month to prepare for my audit exam, I only have a month left to prepare for my audit exam.  The time goes by so quickly when you are studying and in the CPA ‘grove’.  I have worked through the first chapter of my Becker material and three study units of the Gleim material.  I will work on Chapter 2 and 3 over the weekend and next week, as well as the corresponding study units in Gleim. 

Good luck to all my twitter friends currently studying for the CPA exam, its seems that many of us have such similar schedules.  Just remember you are not alone, we will work through this challenge together!

Photo by: Elena Tercero

I scheduled a doctors appointment with my primary care doctor so that I could get an ‘official’ pregnancy test result.  Just as quickly as the result came up at home, the positive result showed up at the doctors office.  I talked with her at length about our options for doctors.  You would think, this being our fourth baby, that this would be a no brainer.  There are a limited number of obstetricians in Santa Fe and I truely wanted to have my last baby at home.  I didn’t have any recomendations for midwifew though, all my friends went the traditional way, so I needed to start getting advice from someone. 

First Ultrasound

My primary care doctor offered me an early ultrasound to date the pregnancy.  I don’t know of any mom that would turn down a peak in on your baby growing, to hear the babies heartbeat, and be in awe of God’s creation.

Babies first video

We also send an announcement to our parents and siblings. They are also as excited as we are to be adding on to our family.