Moving forward

Even though Bloomsburg didn't call with the official offer yet (which is driving Paul crazy), it feels sooooooooo wonderful to not be in limbo any more. Two days ago I didn't know where we'd be living in four weeks. If you told me a year ago that Paul would be accepting a one year temporary contract, I would have been disappointed, but after facing the fear of not receiving any job offers, we are very grateful for a one year contract. The downsides of a one year contract are #1 that there won't be a break from applications and interviews and #2 we still can't really put down roots. At the age of 41, I am really ready to be settled and stop moving so much. I want to plant strawberry plants and blueberry bushes, for example. Hopefully he can start a tenure track job next fall, but for now we are celebrating one job offer and hopeful to receive the second one tomorrow (before Kutztown's noon deadline on Friday). I bought Paul a bucket of chicken at KFC after swimming lessons this morning, as that is something he really likes and we rarely buy. We're also going on a DATE on Sunday afternoon to celebrate. Over the past 14 months we've only gone on one date, and Oliver was with us for that one (in December).

I signed Nadia and Ian up for a 6 week preschool t-ball class at the YMCA that will start next Tuesday evening. I asked Nadia again which two sports she wanted to do in the fall, and she again said gymnastics and soccer, which means she'll be giving up ballet/tap. I am mailing the check for her soccer registration tomorrow. I looked at the gymnastics schedule, but I'm going to wait a few more days to sign them up for that in the hopes I can know what Paul's teaching schedule will be before I choose which class to sign them up for. I called CHOP to try to schedule Oliver's first urology appointment, but they won't accept our current insurance, and they wouldn't schedule the appointment for September since our Blue Shield insurance isn't active yet even though it will be active the end of August. Oi vey. I will call them back the end of August, and probably the first available appointment at that time will be in October or November. I want Dr. Canning (who did Ian's second surgery) to do Oliver's first (and hopefully only) surgery. I'm planning on calling the RE tomorrow to schedule the first appointment that will eventually culminate in the FET.

Although there are still many frustrating moments in terms of feeding Ian (like when I fed him a bean and chicken burrito tonight), we are making progress. After having a wowbutter and jelly sandwich for lunch almost every day for quite a few months, he's been asking for crackers (with peanut butter or cheese), yogurt, and a banana most of the time lately for lunch. It's a cinch for him to feed himself crackers, but I've been working on getting him to feed himself the yogurt and banana. I put a bib on him when he feeds himself the yogurt. Oliver feeds himself macaroni and cheese, a food Ian hasn't learned to eat yet.