(no subject)
I'm regularly reading my Friends' Page on LJ but I'm hardly posting anything myself. Here's the quick update, in convenient bullet-point form, for anyone who is mildly interested:
- after many revised drafts of different chapters, I finished a full & complete draft of the dissertation to my committee. Yay! Looks like things are on track for a spring defense. Now I just have to wait, biting my nails, for my committee's instructions for revision before the final submission to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
- Isabella is a cute, cute, CUTE little cuddle monkey. After the mastitis thing, she settled into feeding regularly and feeding well. I love coming into her room after the night or after a nap and see her stretch her little arms up and smile at me. Riley loves her.
- Riley is basically potty-trained (although he's still working on doing #2s in the toilet and he still needs a diaper while sleeping). We discovered that if we just put him in underwear he knows when he has to go. The whole "wait until he can go a long time with a dry diaper thing" never worked because as soon as he has a diaper on he seems to lose all awareness of when he needs to go to the toilet. So we're happy to have him running around in his "big boy" underwear :)
- I'm starting to dance at restaurants again - and I fit back into my Bella costumes, which is awesome. Ah, breastfeeding does amazing things!
- I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but Rich has decided to extend his parental leave until the end of April. He's been home with me since Isabella was born, but since I wasn't able to defend in the fall he decided that he might as well take a longer leave. Since we probably won't have any more kids, this is precious time for him to spend with them. Riley LOVES having him around so much. Rich has been ragged a little by the guys at work about it, but he just lets it slide off his back. He's a good dad :)
- Because Rich is taking more leave, I was able to accept a doctoral teaching fellowship position in January - ie, I get to design and teach my own English 110 course. It will be a good experience to have and a good line on my CV. Riley will go back to Anna's in-home daycare with a couple other kids 2 days a week in January, once he's three - he keeps asking about Anna's house and I think he misses having that playtime with his friends.
- As I finish this update and look at the clock, I realize I've forgotten one little thing that has allowed me to write such an update unhindered - Isabella is now basically sleeping through the night. It's 8:30 and she's not up! Or at least she's not crying (she might be just lying there sucking on her hand). Feeding her around 11 or 11:30 (in her sleep) before we go to bed has really helped her consolidate her night's sleep, and now she often sleeps until 8. Riley usually is up between 7 and 8 but will often play in his room by himself for a while before coming out. Yay for sleeping kids!
Ok, time to feed our dog and get ready to take the kids into campus (Rich is painting the bathroom today). But first....I must add a few photos :)
- after many revised drafts of different chapters, I finished a full & complete draft of the dissertation to my committee. Yay! Looks like things are on track for a spring defense. Now I just have to wait, biting my nails, for my committee's instructions for revision before the final submission to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
- Isabella is a cute, cute, CUTE little cuddle monkey. After the mastitis thing, she settled into feeding regularly and feeding well. I love coming into her room after the night or after a nap and see her stretch her little arms up and smile at me. Riley loves her.
- Riley is basically potty-trained (although he's still working on doing #2s in the toilet and he still needs a diaper while sleeping). We discovered that if we just put him in underwear he knows when he has to go. The whole "wait until he can go a long time with a dry diaper thing" never worked because as soon as he has a diaper on he seems to lose all awareness of when he needs to go to the toilet. So we're happy to have him running around in his "big boy" underwear :)
- I'm starting to dance at restaurants again - and I fit back into my Bella costumes, which is awesome. Ah, breastfeeding does amazing things!
- I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but Rich has decided to extend his parental leave until the end of April. He's been home with me since Isabella was born, but since I wasn't able to defend in the fall he decided that he might as well take a longer leave. Since we probably won't have any more kids, this is precious time for him to spend with them. Riley LOVES having him around so much. Rich has been ragged a little by the guys at work about it, but he just lets it slide off his back. He's a good dad :)
- Because Rich is taking more leave, I was able to accept a doctoral teaching fellowship position in January - ie, I get to design and teach my own English 110 course. It will be a good experience to have and a good line on my CV. Riley will go back to Anna's in-home daycare with a couple other kids 2 days a week in January, once he's three - he keeps asking about Anna's house and I think he misses having that playtime with his friends.
- As I finish this update and look at the clock, I realize I've forgotten one little thing that has allowed me to write such an update unhindered - Isabella is now basically sleeping through the night. It's 8:30 and she's not up! Or at least she's not crying (she might be just lying there sucking on her hand). Feeding her around 11 or 11:30 (in her sleep) before we go to bed has really helped her consolidate her night's sleep, and now she often sleeps until 8. Riley usually is up between 7 and 8 but will often play in his room by himself for a while before coming out. Yay for sleeping kids!
Ok, time to feed our dog and get ready to take the kids into campus (Rich is painting the bathroom today). But first....I must add a few photos :)