Sweet Jane

Whenever someone asks me about Jane, the first words that come out of my mouth are, "She is such a sweet baby." It's so true. She is so loveable and darling. Unless she really needs something, she is very content, which makes her seem really easygoing. She does just roll with things, which is important, since we do need to get out every day for her brother (often during Jane's nap time), and also since Noah is often in her face giving her kisses or just pressing his face against hers.

Jane is terribly loveable. Part of what is endearing to me lately is that in the past couple of days she will sometimes break out in a huge grin when she sees me. Wouldn't that warm your heart? And, on top of that, for the first time last night, Noah told me "I love you" without being asked. He just snuggled up to me and said it. Love it!

Would you like to see some pictures and videos of sweet Jane? I thought you'd never ask.

Sweet sleeper

Noah gave Jane a "hat," which is the head from his penguin humidifier.
She's a little nonplussed about it.

Fist-Finding Frustration:

Sweet smiles during tummy time:

And I leave you with this:

Potty Training

You know your child is ready to potty train when . . .
. . . he can go into the bathroom and set everything up himself.
. . . he can actually say the words "potty train," although he is under the impression that it is a really interesting type of train.

I have been so intimidated by potty training. I think the timing has just been off for us. For a while, I thought I'd just do a little here and there--getting him used to the idea--until we moved, because from all I'd heard, big changes = big regression in potty training. But as it became apparent that our move was going to be pushed from April to June, I still didn't start wholeheartedly because I was so fatigued during this pregnancy. So here we are, almost in May, with a kid who is over two years old and is really ready to be potty trained and a mommy who is SO READY not to change any more toddler poopy diapers. But, believe it or not, I am still intimidated by the whole process, because it just takes incredible consistency, and I'm afraid I won't be able to set aside a couple of days by myself to be that consistent. (As in, asking him every five minutes if he's wet or dry, taking him to the bathroom every 15 minutes, etc.) I mean, Jane needs to eat sometimes, you know?! So at this point, I think I am going to wait until Nathan is done with his dissertation, and hopefully we can devote a whole day to potty training boot camp and really get this thing started.

So that's the story on that. Anybody have any advice? For the moms out there, what kind of potty training method did you use?

*Also, please see the post below and pray for Nathan to finish Ch. 3 today! He pulled an all-nighter and is still working.

What It's Like

In case you're wondering what life is like when you're finishing up a Ph.D., here are some snippets to give you a taste:

• For weeks, Nathan has been going into the office at about 9:00 and coming home at his usual time of 6:00. But he only stays about two hours before he heads back in, which is long enough to have dinner, play with Noah a little bit, and put Noah to bed. Typically, he then works until 12:00 or 1:00.
• However, there have been some nights when he comes home at 2:00, 3:00, or even 5:00 in the morning.
• Except for the night when he went out to the car to come home at 1:00 and found that the battery had died because the flashers had been on for a while. So he just went back inside and worked until about 5:00 before he went to sleep . . . on the floor, on the dog pillow, with his jacket wrapped around him! Just a touch pathetic, huh? (In case you're wondering, one of his office mates brings her dog to work most days.) He slept until about 9:00, when he went down to the car to meet some friends who were coming to give him a jump. And he got there just in time to see a campus cop giving him a ticket for being parked illegally. Ugh.
• The guy needs a haircut in the worst way, but he doesn't have time to go get one.
• He is getting tired and worn down enough that he actually SUBMITTED TO MY ADVICE TO TAKE A DAILY VITAMIN. This is huge, y'all. Nathan somehow believes that ingesting any kind of pill would mean that he is somehow unmanly, and I've been trying to get him to take a vitamin for years. The fact that he has finally agreed to take one really says something (even though he forgets it most days, unless I remind him).
• On the up side, it is so encouraging to periodically hear that Nathan's advisor likes what he is doing and is being encouraging. John has always been a great advisor (and we've heard some real horror stories), but to know that he approves of what Nathan is doing and to get good feedback at this crucial time is really great.

Want some specifics? Nathan's dissertation will be three chapters long. Each chapter is a paper that has been or will be published in a journal. The first chapter was completed a while ago; chapter two, which was finished recently, is the biggest and most significant, and it represents the most work; chapter three is interesting and good research, but it is not taking as long to complete, and this is what Nathan is working on finishing up right now. Hopefully, he will have all three chapters submitted to his committee by early next week. His private defense is scheduled for May 5.

Nathan would appreciate prayer for the following:

• That he finishes this third chapter quickly over this weekend. He still needs to complete the figures and do the writing.
• That the quality of his work is something he can be proud of.
  
• The stamina to work well and efficiently.
• I will add: his health and emotional well-being. He is doing fine, but I imagine that this amount of work over such a long period of time makes him susceptible to illness.

Whew! As you can see, we've been a busy family. Noah, Jane, and I have missed Nathan being around more, especially on the weekends. But this is only for a short while, and we're all hanging in there! Prayers would definitely be appreciated, though. Thanks!

*Additional note: We will have about 10 days off between when Nathan submits final versions of everything and when we will be packing up our apartment. We are really looking forward to some quality family time during that week and a half--please pray everyone stays well for that! Thanks.

The Last Two Days

So most of my posts lately have been very brief because life is busy! When you add a kid, I guess you can expect for things to get quite a bit more hectic, but the last two days have been real doozies. Here are some things that have happened:

- Nathan's grandpa has been very ill with congestive heart failure, but he seems to have rallied. Please pray for his health and also for the family.
- Noah was sick with some kind of 24-hour stomach bug and threw up all over the couch.
- I got stung in the finger by a yellow jacket.
- Noah fell into the vertical edge of a door and knocked his forehead pretty badly. It is frightening to see an enormous goose egg form on your child's head within five seconds of the injury. (The swelling has gone down, though, and he seems fine.)

Nathan has been working crazy hours, but he usually does find the time to come home for dinner and bedtime, which means he was here for both the head injury and the vomit aftermath. Although I'm sure this is not the homecoming he would like, I sure was glad to have an extra pair of hands for both of those episodes.

Granny

This is my Granny. Isn't she sweet?

My parents and Granny went out to see the bluebonnets recently, and they took this picture. Granny is the one of the "Jane's" after whom Jane was named--her name is Janette.

When You're Not Looking

This is what happens when you have an empty cat carrier lying around.
He totally could not get out and had to be lifted out the top.

This and That

My favorite part of the day is watching Jane stretch when she wakes up. She is so stinkin' cute. I remember loving to watch Noah do the same thing. It's so cute that their arms barely reach past the tops of their heads. Plus, the faces they make always make me smile.

My other favorite part of the day is picking Nathan up from work at 6:00. He hasn't always had time to come home at that time of day over the last few weeks, but lately he will ride home with us, stay for dinner and bedtime, then head back into the office. Not only am I thankful for the help at that crazy time of day, but it's also good to see him. He's been working a lot of late nights lately.

I started Weight Watchers last week. I waited until Jane was a month old, then I jumped in. After Noah was born, I waited four months for that amazing "I'm nursing and the weight just melted off!" phenomenon to happen to me, and it never did, so I determined that this time I would not wait for such a long time. I am pleased to report that I lost over two pounds in the first week! Technically, you're only supposed to lose a pound a week while you're nursing, but I think it's pretty normal to lose a little more quickly the first couple of weeks.

Speaking of pregnancy body issues, I had my six week postpartum checkup today, and I asked my doctor about this pooch (I hate that word--why did I use it?) on my stomach that never went away after Noah was born and is back again. She said that my fascia stretched out because I had big babies, and that it didn't snap back. She said that even if I weighed 100 lbs., it would still be there. Her point was that she didn't want me to feel bad if I don't look like a movie star after doing a million crunches, and she suggested I make my peace with it. Well, I am not sure what to think, but I will tell you that I am not exactly at peace with it. She told me most of that info last time, but I figured part of the problem is muscle separation and part will correct itself with weight loss, and that maybe, just maybe, she was wrong. Now I'm not so sure. Boo. Oh well; I will still do everything I can to make it better, and we'll see where that gets me. All I can do is all I can do.

At my OBGYN appointment today, my doctor and I also talked about the C-section and the fact that I just grow big babies. But you know what else she said? She said that because of the way I'm built, she didn't think that I could have even given birth to a seven pound baby! I said, "Nobody has ever told me that!" I mean, come on! My kids were 8 lbs. 11 oz. and 9 lbs. 2 oz., so evidently I didn't have a chance, and the real kicker is that several people over the years probably could have guessed this and never told me. She pointed out that they always want you to give labor a shot because they never know what could happen, but I really don't think having that information would have changed the way I went about things. I guess this just bothers me because I am a total information gatherer. I like to hoard all information and know every possible option before I make a decision (this is becoming especially apparent in the search for a place to live!). Anyway, I suppose it would not have changed the way things turned out; I just would have liked to have known beforehand.

On to more cheerful subjects: Noah has finally hit an explosion period for picking up language, and he is getting really good at putting words together in twos and threes. For example, here are some things he's said over the past few days: "pink tree," "big piece cake," and "sweet ice cream juice" (that's what he dubbed a Coke float).

Noah also needs a haircut! Wow, I wondered when the day would come that I would utter those words! It took over two years! It just took so long for that kiddo to get some hair! I wonder if Jane will be in the same boat.

Miss Jane is a pretty big girl. It's not that she's roly poly like a lot of babies; rather, she is very, very long (above the 95th percentile). This actually makes her look fairly skinny for a newborn, even though she's above the 50th percentile for weight. Anyway, because she's so long, no pants fit the poor girl. All the newborn sized pants fit around the waist but are super short. I don't think they make capris for newborns, but my child looks like she's wearing them. And when I try to put her in pants that are the next size up, they swallow her around her waist and legs. However, I guess it is the season for capri pants. . . .

It looks like Nathan will be scheduling his defense on Cinco de Mayo. We might have to throw a party afterwards. How appropriate that it would involve Tex-Mex.