August 20, 2007

My year at-a-glance . . .

I feel like Jack has become a totally different kid over the last week . . . for better and for worse.

For better . . .
He's no longer just batting at objects in front of him. He's really beginning to grab on to things well. They usually go directly into his mouth. The other day, Jack was staring intently at an object hanging from the handle of his carrier. He kept moving his hand toward it to grab it, but missed. Someone came up and began shaking the toy. His eyes got wide and his hands dropped back to his sides. I could just see him thinking, "I'm doing it! I'm moving the toy with my mind!" Crazy kid. He's also holding his head up really well and when I pull him from a laying down position to a sitting position by his arms, his head doesn't hang back at all. He's talking A LOT and we have dozens of pretend conversations every day . . . and we love it.

For worse . . .
He's gone back to waking up twice each night. What happened to the 8 hour stretches? Is he going through a growth spurt? If this kid goes through any more growth spurts, he'll be too heavy to hold by the time he's 9 months old! Also, he has two times during the day in which he fusses and cannot be consoled. It's frustrating because we can't figure out what's causing it. I suspect teething, because when I put a finger in his mouth he just gums it. It also seems as though he's spitting up a lot more than usual. Every shirt that fits me has spit up stains on it. Par for the course, I suppose.



I've taken on some more (temporary) responsibility at camp and I think I might be getting myself into more than I bargained for. Kyle was at home with Jack all day and it was killing me that I couldn't be with him. I really do think these new responsibilities will only be stressful for a few weeks until I get the hang of things. At least that's what I'm hoping. I'm excited about the things I'm doing there, but I had looked forward all summer to being home with Jack more. I hope that once I get settled in, I'll be able to still do that.

It occurred to me this week that I have to go back to writing my thesis too. The summer was a nice little break from that, but I'm dreading having to get back into it. Do I really need a master's degree? If I hadn't put so much money into it, I probably wouldn't be as motivated to finish it. I hate it that this degree takes so much time and effort when so many other programs (resulting in degrees that will actually get you higher paying jobs) don't require any sort of thesis. How is this fair? When I look back at how much I've learned though, I do think that makes it worth it. It's just this stupid paper . . .

The advice given to me about all I have to accomplish this year was to take it on like I'd eat an elephant . . . one bite at a time. First of all, I'd never eat an elephant. Second of all, I feel as though the tasks that lie ahead of me this year are more comparable to being blindfolded and told to find an elephant somewhere within a 300 mile radius of where I am now, and then eat it.

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