Ramblings

Couch to 5K & Weight

A few weeks ago I decided to start the Couch to 5K because it seemed easy enough and I had already been working on regularly enough on our treadmill in the basement. It went well for awhile, but then my right ankle really started to bother me. So I had my mom check it out and she recommended I just brace it when I run to strengthen the muscles. I haven't gotten a brace/bandage yet... so that's been on hold for about a week.

I'm also kind of following the "points" system for food to lose some weight. After I had the twins I dropped the weight pretty quickly and was back to my original clothing and such in less than the time it took for me to go back to school (so about 6 weeks) without trying. But then began the 16 hour days of home then school then the NICU then home again and in there began lots of bad eating. Pizza in the cafeteria, a snack on the way home, junk at school, etc and I put a bunch of the weight back on. Then I was home with Colby and it was easy to just snack at home for the next 5 months. So when I was back at school in April I felt huge and was just not too happy but kind of ignored it because I was busy with everything and had Colby to take care of. BUT then I was in my friend's wedding and I felt like a whale in the dress that was too many sizes bigger than I usually wear and feel comfortable in. Add in a million formal pictures and... well, you get the idea. I feel a lot better because I'm being much more careful about what I eat... so I'll either be back to my original size or smaller... or I'll be pregnant again. :) Either way is FINE by me!

Graduate Courses

So my THREE graduate courses start on Wednesday next week. They are all online which is a HUGE plus because I don't have to be away from Colby and I can do lots of my work on weekend nights and here-and-there when I have a minute.

As a Massachusetts teacher I have currently have an Initial license because I have a BS in Early Education from graduating in 2006. As a teacher with an Initial license, I have 5 years to get my Professional license... needed to get that is my Masters. I need to have it finished (technically) by August 2011. There's no way that's happening, though, so we'll worry about that later. I put off courses for a while too long and finally started in Spring 09. Since it's an online program, course offerings are limited and if you miss an offering, you have to wait awhile to have it offered again. AND on top of that, most classes have pre-reqs. So I took 2 courses in Spring 09 and one in Summer 09. THEN I didn't take anything in Fall 09 which made it impossible to take anything in Spring 10 because of the pre-reqs and so here I am, a year later finally able to take more classes!

I'm super nervous because I'm a bit of an over-achiever when it comes to school. I'll edit a paper 8 times and have 10 extra sources. I'll read a chapter 3 times and highlight just to make sure I don't miss anything. That makes me nervous because I know I won't have time to do that anymore. Most likely I'll have to write a paper, edit it once on the screen, and then submit. Maybe skim a chapter here and there. We'll see how that goes...

IVF

Our IVF should officially be starting in about a week. I'm currently on provera because my bloodwork revealed that nothing was happening. Once the cycle starts I'll go on my birth control pills and go from there. I'm super excited at the prospect of the IVF. But I am nervous that I'm an idiot for adding one more thing to my plate. But then I'm nervous that if I wait until everything settles down... well, who knows when things will work? Everything is just a huge unknown.

Colby

Colby gets bullet points...

- Colby is just over 13 months! Woohoo!

- He still just has his 4 teeth, but he's definitely working on more. (Hence the fact that he has already woken up 2 times tonight and it's only a little before 10pm)

-He has started to stand alone for short periods of time. He's so proud of himself when he does it- and he even stood and clapped for himself yesterday!

- We met with the family day care where Colby will be going 3 days a week. I'm so excited for him to be with other kiddos for a bit of time.

- His Early Intervention screening went awesome a few weeks ago. His self-help scored at 14 months. Social/cognitive were 13 months. Gross/fine motor were 11 months. And language was around 10 months, but even the screeners said it probably wasn't accurate because they can't take what we say into account for language- instead they had to hear the examples of everything and he was being super quiet while they were here. At that point he was being screened as 9 months, so it was all good.

- He LOVES eyeglasses, doors, the refrigerator, tv controllers, the phone... basically anything NOT meant to be a toy.

- He has a big head, but the rest of him in still peanut sized. He's still wearing 6-9 month clothing during the day. Pajamas are 12 months. His hats are 2T and up.

- He will finally hold his own bottle now.

- He still gets bottles a few times a day. Mostly we're on a straw cup, but I feel like he doesn't drink enough so the bottle ensures that he gets fluids.

- He LOVES to have his teeth brushed- though I think it's because the toothpaste tastes like candy.

- His favorite foods are green beans, carrots, strawberries, watermelon, macaroni, grilled cheese, and waffles. He much prefers to feed himself. He'll only eat chicken or turkey if it's the Stage 2 Gerber foods (sweet potatoes and turkey or apples and chicken). He won't touch beef.

Watching the neighbors...

Playing in his room. The PJs say "Little Brother". I can't wait til they can say "Big Brother" too!

Playing with Aloha.

Standing alone!