Thankful Thursday

1. Paul submitted his dissertation today and completed various other paperwork and returned his keys to wrap things up at PSU! Yesterday he got up when I got up to nurse Oliver and spent a few hours working on his dissertation before he went to work. He did the same thing this morning, only he ended up not going to work. In addition to being grateful that he's done with his Ph.D., I am glad that he won't be needing to work on the computer in our bedroom at 5am tomorrow so I can get more sleep. I got less than 6 hours of sleep the past two nights between Oliver's 3am or 4am feeding, Paul having the lights on in our bedroom, and Ian getting up at 6:30am.

2. I am grateful that Paul's dad is so flexible as to the days and hours that Paul works. Not many employers would be this flexible! I've certainly never had a job that was this flexible. Although he shouldn't be taking more days off for his Ph.D., I am sure he'll be taking more days off this month for interviews.

3. It's a good thing Paul was able to be a FT student due to PSU and Bucknell giving him free tuition and paying him a stipend over the past 7 years. I worked full-time as a school principal while I completed my doctorate. That type of schedule would not have suited Paul.

4. Paul has four upcoming interviews! He has a phone interview tomorrow at 4:30pm, two phone interviews on Monday (9:45am and 4:30pm), and an in-person interview at Colgate on April 24. The school he is interviewing with at 9:45am said they would let him know later that day if he was selected for an in-person interview, and if he is selected, his interview will be on either April 19 or 22. Of the first batch of 17 applications, Paul only had one phone interview (which did not result in an in-person interview). Of the second batch of 20 applications, Paul was invited to participate in 6 interviews (at least two, which has been far more encouraging. We are still waiting to hear if he'll get any invitations from the most recent batch of application (9 more). It would be wonderful if we knew by the end of this month where we were moving this summer!

5. Nadia has such a voracious appetite for chapter books! Over the past week she has listened to unabridged readings of Heidi and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Now she's listening to The Wind in the Willows. I am almost done reading the kids Little House in the Big Woods. She picked out Ramona Forever and Pippi Longstocking as the next two that I will read to them (she's already listened to both of those on CD).

6. The highs are supposed to be in the 50's today and then in the 60's in a couple of days and then possibly up to 70 in about 5 days!!!!! Soccer practice will be far more comfortable to watch today, and this means far more trips to the playground, which hopefully means losing another ten pounds. Yahoo!!! Can you see why I'd like to move to North Carolina?

7. Nadia LOVED the ham and swiss pie I made for dinner last night with the leftover ham. She kept raving about how delicious it was. Any time I find a food one or both children enjoy for dinner, I feel like doing a happy dance!

8. We enjoyed the yummy chocolate peanut butter eggs that Millie brought us on Sunday. All this extra candy lying around though has done nothing for my weight loss goal (I assume..I haven't actually stepped on the scale in the past week), which is why I am planning on walking to the playground today and as many days as possible between now and our trip to Florida.

9. So far Ian hasn't had any allergic reactions. Every few days I give him a little something with milk in it (not baked) such as I've used skim milk in his cold cereal a few times or let him have some cheese and crackers a few times. He even had a yogurt once this week. I am not confident enough yet to go all out with his milk consumption, but I am thrilled that thus far he seems to have outgrown all his allergies. PTL!!! I also haven't been pushing the eggs beyond baked eggs, but that is no big deal in my opinion.

10. I found out yesterday that our neighbors (who moved to Oklahoma last June) are coming to visit in May!!! The kids and are are so excited!!