New Adventure: Running

I've begun to run. I started four days ago - today being the fourth. I've made it up to a mile now, but it's a slow, sad, pathetic, gasping mile. I really had to push myself today. I'm hurting in a lot of new places lol. And I kicked the couch with my pinkie toe and thought I broke it - so that really hurt and made the running a LOT harder to do, but I did it anyway. I'm hoping I pass a point where I stop nearly dying with each run. I'm sure I'll get there. But you know, it really feels good when I'm done running. I haven't run a mile since high school and now I'm doing it again. And I have a goal. What's my goal? I want to be in a shape. And even better than that, I want to be in shape for when we try to have baby #2 next year. I want to be in shape so I can have a better birth. I mean, Anna's was good in some ways. I came in at 3 1/2 cm and didn't feel any contractions. I sometimes wonder if I had gone into labor naturally if things would have been different. I wonder if Anna would have had time to rotate from that posterior position. I wonder if I would have thought, "I'm in labor!" and then when I got to the hospital, I would be like 5 or 6 cm. I would love that for the next one. Plus, I know that being in shape means a better birth. And I want another natural birth - this time no failed epidural - just no epidural at all. I know I can do it now. I have no doubts about what my body can achieve. I actually fear getting an episiotomy more than giving birth. I don't want to take pain meds after birth because of an episiotomy like I did with Anna - the pain meds caused complications that I talked about on this blog once upon a time. I'd like to avoid that altogether. And I'm hoping these changes make that difference. I don't want to be Miss Skinny America. I don't think I even need to lose weight. I was 118 last time I was weighed. I would like to have more muscle and less fat on my tush, though. ;) But really, my goal is to get in shape. If anything else like that happens, well... that's just the cherry on top. I actually have a workout partner now - a college friend. We start together on Sunday. I'm really excited about that! I think it should be fun. :)

Soccer Graduation

Anna graduated from Tot Soccer yesterday! She's done so well! The first couple of weeks she practically refused to kick the ball and hid behind the trees and gave up ten minutes into it. We thought we would have to quit, but she caught on and this last practice she didn't need me to hold her hand at all to keep playing and she dribbled... ACTUALLY DRIBBLED... the ball and participated in all of the games! At the end there's always goal time and she kicked TWO goals. Sometimes getting her to kick ONE is difficult. I'm very proud of her! My big girl! :)

Happy Oceanniversary!

Sandiversary? Oceanniversary? Anniverseary? :) Anyway, Paul and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary on the 19th and there was nothing I wanted more than to spend time with my family! We watched Toy Story 3 with Anna on the 18th - her first movie in a theater. We sat on the handicapped-accessible aisle and it was a good thing because Anna kept jumping up and walking around. She did a good job, though! And she loved it! Then on the 19th we went to Lincoln City, OR and spent time at the beach. It was a beautiful day and Anna had a great time running into the waves. Eventually she fell and laughed and then started diving into the waves and running from the waves. We had such a blast! On the 20th there was a Father's Day barbeque at my in-laws' house. It was a lot of fun and a perfect weekend. It went by too quickly, though. I miss living close to family. Paul and I graduate in 11 months and then we'll be able to move back home to Oregon. :)

Cheap Things To Do

I've been thinking of cheap things to do for fun this summer with Anna. Today I walked down to the waterfront with Anna until Paul got off from work. That was about a twenty-ish minute walk downhill with three hours at the beach. Hopefully that means Anna will sleep well tonight. Long story short, how can I entertain Anna this summer on a reallllllllllllllly tight budget? She gets so bored and ought to be in preschool. She's social and needs a lot of that socialization. So I guess we'll spend a lot of time at parks, the beach, and the McDonald's playplace. My mother in law gave me a nice list of things to do, so I might try them out. If you read this post, do you have any ideas? THING CHEAP OR FREE!!! ;)

Photoblog: Beach Day

It's been a while! And for a good reason, too. The semester has been a blur. It's finally summertime. My hubby pulled off straight As this semester. I had all As and a B+ (would've gotten that A if it wasn't for that one test...) Anyhow, today we went to the beach. The forecast says that today was one of the only non-rainy days for a while. Now the forecast predicts two sunny days in ten days. I really need summer already!!! If only we could bargain with God for sunshine. I guess, even if I could, I'd save those bargains for serious things, more important things. So, these are photos of our adventure today. Enjoy! :0)

About Preston

Preston is the little boy I was praying for. His little button is still on the sidebar. The family who was going to adopt him arrived in his home country and discovered that he had already been adopted by a family in his country. I'm still glad he's being adopted and it'll be an easier transition in his own country, I guess. The family will be adopting instead a beautiful little girl named Lizzy, also with dwarfism. I'm happy for that family! :D

New Photos

My beautiful girl! I made her a tutu and a headband for Easter. She danced and danced and modeled and gussied for the camera. She's so silly and sweet! She's excited about preschool next fall. Hopefully she gets in! :)

I won a contest a Fox.com/bones and got this in the mail today: A signed Season 4 DVD (signed by TJ Thyne AKA Dr. Hodgins), a photo, and a pen shaped like a femur. haha It's great! Totally made my day! :)

It's March!

At the beginning of May, it'll mark one year until we're OUTTA HERE! One year until Paul and I have our bachelors degrees in hand and one year until we are back in Oregon and amongst family. Visiting Oregon this last time really, I think, made us more homesick. *sigh* Plus, we've had issues with our financial aid--thankfully that looks like it'll be taken care of. It's so difficult with no outside support--no parents to cosign loans--no ability to do those things for ourselves. But we persevere. We want better lives for our kids. :)

Oh, and in case you didn't hear yet... Bones returns April 1st on Fox (Fringe airs directly after). Had to plug my fave show. :)

Well, Anna's napping for the first time IN THREE DAYS, so I'm going to do some ME STUFF. Watch a movie? An episode of SVU? The world is my oyster!

Gorgeous Spring-ish Days Here! ( Pics!)

The weather has been unbelievable here! Absolutely incredible! I'll share some pictures for you to gawk at! It's been in the high fifties (Fahrenheit) over here and so sunny!!! :) We have been to the waterfront and on walks! Gorgeous!

That's Interesting...

My background is all screwy. :/ I guess the photobucket bandwidth has been exceeded. My blog was designed by someone else.

First Ice Skating Adventure!

Today Anna and I went ice skating with my sister Jen's Girl Scout troop! It was a lot of fun, but it was very exhausting for me since Anna could barely stand by herself for more than a half a minute and I had to use all of my bodily strength to keep her upright. She may be three, but she wanted to be one of the big girls and skate across the ice like a pro. I took a three hour nap after coming home! haha :D It was so much fun, though!

My Little Shirley Temple

The cutest thing I saw Anna do today was to copy the first scene of Shirley Temple's Bright Eyes. As cars passed, she stuck her little thumb out to hitch hike. As they passed by, she'd continue to walk with her hands in her pockets. LOL! You can see that first scene a few minutes in here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq4hnQMjaDM

Preston's Going Home!

Candace just posted on my blog (I wish I knew more about her) that Preston is being adopted by her and her husband! I read the comment on my blog and immediately started crying! Thank you, Jesus! This little sweetie just stole my heart from day one! I'm so glad that he stole someone else's heart! :)

Candace, please keep me updated. If you blog, can I have your URL?

Thanks!!!

Mutterings of a Tired Undergrad

Maybe I should title these posts after I write them. Sometimes I just write and have no real direction to go and I just GO there. We're doing fine. We've had some major hurdles concerning our financial aid that aren't really taken care of yet. :| I think Paul is just as stressed as I am. Today and yesterday we have argued way more often than we usually do. We actually don't argue too often, but I think we're just feeling this awful stress. I wish with all of my heart we could afford some sort of vacation. There are major drawbacks to going to college, sure, but I think that the benefits will outweigh the drawbacks. Right now there are days we just don't believe it. But logically thinking, we'll be able to afford more vacations post-Bachelor's than sans Bachelor's. Plus we'll be getting our MAs. I just need to take a breath. It sure would be nice to have a break, though.

As far as my education is going, I am immensely enjoying the psychology program! I love looking forward to my classes! I'm just afraid that my psych classes will keep having coinciding tests--ugh. The good news on that front is that I got a 98% on one of those tests and the next test I'm not sure yet. We'll get those results back next week. I think I'll be lucky to get a B. I was exhausted and my brain was mush by the time that second test came along and I struggled through it. I'm hoping I'm being my usual self--thinking that I did worse than I actually did. We'll see.

I think I'm going to take this time to sigh and hem and haw until I go to bed at around 3. Good-night.

I'm Back!

Well... let's see how to start today's blog! I'm sitting here just before midnight with class starting tomorrow at 8... STATISTICS! That's not too bad of a class. I just need to get to bed in time to keep from being really tired on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Today was kind of a terrible day emotionally. I'm not even sure why. I guess there are a lot of things stressing me. Money is one of them. We could always use more. Especially when you and your husband are students. I'm hoping to work this summer and at least have some fun with my family over the summer months. I haven't worked since before Anna was born, so that'll be new.

Another one is baby stuff. This is something I haven't been saying out loud too often, but EVERYONE is getting pregnant! I guess my biological clock is ticking away again. Either that, or perhaps I'm just feeling out of the loop. Anna is 3 now and I feel like I can't give her the attention (and fun!) that she desires. For that reason, I can't wait for her to start preschool. That'll be next autumn. We're hoping to get her into a sport this spring. We missed the deadline for Little Tumblers :( so perhaps soccer? Hopefully we'll get our returns soon!

Another one is thinking about our Master's (is there an apostrophe???) Degrees. Paul is looking at school in California... working for NBC Universal and going through their MA program there. That'll be fun, but impossible with a new baby. So... Anna might be eight before she gets a sibling. I guess that isn't too bad. At least eight year olds are self reliant.

Classes are going great. I love and adore my psychology classes. I can't get enough of them. This is the right fit for me!

I'll add a picture of Princess Day. Anna and I played in my wedding dress. She loved it! She said she was a princess! So, it was dubbed Princess Day!