The Home Stretch

Paul turned in his dissertation to all four members of his committee yesterday. His defense is just 13 days from today. The end is definitely in sight. He went into school two days this week because he received the article back from Analytical Chemistry. One reviewer said to publish it "as is" and the second said he needed to revise and resumbit. Unfortunately, the editor went with the second reviewer. Paul's advisor said he needed to resubmit before his defense. Neither Paul or his two co-authors agreed with the second reviewer. Paul had to figure out which revisions to make and write an explanation as to why he didn't make the other revisions. His advisor (one of the co-authors) thought he was right on target with his explanation. Paul will start working for his dad beginning on the 21st. Please keep praying for a teaching job for Paul for next fall.

On January 19 I want to go mattress shopping. I've always had trouble sleeping on our mattress while pregnant, but this time I'm still having trouble 5 months after giving birth. I rarely get any sleep after 5am because my back hurts so much. The pain has gotten so bad that I'm willing to splurge on a Tempurpedic matrress. It seems the wrong time for a big expenditure considering my employment is ending on January 27 and Paul doesn't have a permanent job yet, but sleep is very important. I can't catch up on my sleep because I can't get more than 7 hours of sleep due to the pain. Considering this mattress (that we've had for 12 years) has been doused with amniotic fluid twice and blood once (still can see the stains from May 30), I think it's time for a new one. I fell in love with the Tempurpedic ones at the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey in April. Those were comfortable even while pregnant! Of course our mattress is far better than the ones I slept on in the hospital. The labor beds (when I was on the 8th floor) were the worst. Oi vey. Those were not made to be slept on for multiple consecutive nights by an antepartum patient. If Paul had the time to spare, I'd go shopping asap, but I know he doesn't have the time to spare as this is the first year in our marriage that we didn't go on a date the week of his birthday. I was starting to line up a babysitter, and he told me not to bother. :(

We brought the high chair from the basement and had Oliver sit in it for the first time at dinner tonight. He was slumping over to one side or the other, but he was content. I want him to get used to sitting in that while we eat our meals as in four weeks I'll be introducing solid foods. I'm also hoping this might help him improve his sitting skills.

Another goal I had for Ian for 2013 (that wasn't on the list) was that he could wake up in a better mood. He always cries when he wakes up - whether he has a short or a long nap. Usually I'd hold him and comfort him and try to calm him down, but I decided enough was enough. As of yesterday he has to stop crying if he wants to come downstairs after his nap. I'm hoping that if I keep enforcing this that in the near future he'll break the habit of automatically bursting into tears when he wakes up from his nap although he's had this habit for more than a year so it might take a little while to break it.

All of these pictures were taken on Thursday. Nadia wrote "Happy Birthday Daddy" all by herself! This week she learned her last two letters - R and S. She can now write all 26 capital letters! She usually does a better job with "B" than she did for his card. The hardest one for her to learn was definitely "S."