So, I have been working ...still... on finding balance in my life. It's still been difficult to find time to work while also watching Will, but it's coming along slowly. Christian and I find that we have so many errands and chores to do on the weekends (that neither of us seem to be able to do when we're alone with Will), that the time just gets eaten up. That, and Christian and I crave our marital time... you know, time to connect and really talk- or just have fun together and go for a walk or rent a movie. Time together has always been a huge priority to us, which has been wonderful for our marriage... but maybe not so wonderful on other things (such as up-keep for the house, laundry, grocery shopping, dinner making... and the ever-important paper writing:). We manage to get that done... though, I guess you just learn to be content with knowing that you can be good at some things and mediocre (and sometimes in my case, really bad) at others. I just have to compete against the idea that I could possibly ever achieve the status of 'super mom'. In my mind I know it's not possible... I really do. But... well, as it is with any woman, I trick myself into believing that other women 'have it all together' and spend too much of my needed time wondering how I could possibly get better at time management or thinking that if I just get one more handy time-saving device I could rest easy and feel like everything will run smoothly. :) Ha. What fools we women are sometimes, right?
Well, other than finishing a significant portion of a research article I was working on, I have another personal success. I started Weight Watchers a couple months ago and have now lost about 10 lbs! :) Yeah! Those hundreds of milkshakes I drank during my pregnancy are starting to fall off. Now, only about 30 more lbs to go. :) And, I think I can do it by mid-March... we'll see. I'm just happy that I'm starting to fit into my 'bigger' clothes. It's not fun figuring out how many clothes in a larger size you should buy when you're really hoping that you won't stay in that size for long. I know some of you women know what I'm talking about.
Christian is so excited that his novel is being edited by my sister, K. She's talked about how she enjoys it and that makes us really happy, as it really isn't her preferred genre. For those of you who haven't heard about it, it's a sci-fi novel, written from a Christian perspective- which is hard to do! I think (... and of course I'm not bias) that it's a fascinating story that has great characters and action in it. He has a gifted imagination. We'll let you know if it gets picked up or anything... obviously. :) I've tried to convince Christian to blog about it here... we'll see if he takes me up on that.
Will is doing well. As mentioned before, he has begun to sit. It was actually on his six-month 'birthday' that he first started sitting unsupported for minutes (instead of seconds) at a time, and that was really fun to see. He still jumps in his jumper a lot and he still 'talks' a lot too (as in, "dada"... rare "mama"). His weight gain, like most babies this age, has begun to slow down and he is now over 21 lbs and is at a length of 28.5 ins. ... meaning, today I spent the afternoon switching out the car seats... Yeah! We reached the milestone of independent sitting before we had to switch them out. :) Oh, and I've begun feeding him solid food. I was reluctant at first, but it really is a bit fun to do. ... you were right, Tawnya!... He still needs practice, but it's so fun to see him reach his mouth for the spoon and see the dripple... oh, you'll see in the millions of photos we took of it! Other than that, developmentally I 've noticed that he's begun to cry when toys are taken away from him... oh, boy. Not sure quite how to handle that one... don't want him to expect to get his way, and yet... he's a baby and I can't expect him to understand why ... hmmm. Meantime, I try to give a sympathetic, ohhhh- look to communicate how sad I realize he is that the toy was taken away. OH!! and I almost forgot... he got his first tooth!! Yes, and we see the others on the horizon. How fun is that?! His cousin, Aidan, didn't get his first tooth until 14 months, so I was all set to wait that long, but they started coming... it's so cute. :)
Okay, enough talk. Let's get to those monthly photos.
First time feeder:
And, new sitter:
Just play time:
Relaxing time:
(he always gets the most inquisitive looks when the camera's on)
(before my haircut... got about 6-7 ins off!)
And, last but not least, a moment caught in time... someday I will look back fondly on how William was a wonderful companion in my last year or so of grad school. "You helped me finish," I'll say.
