Grad School...again

So I was going to take some time and let Husby get his Master's done, but since he is now halfway through and I am feeling the pressure to get my Biology credentials completed, I applied to University of Maryland-College Park to pursue a Master's of Science in Chemical & Life Science (with an emphasis in Biology). Thankfully the program is predominantly online, except for the necessary laboratory experience (which I might have previously fulfilled between my undergrad work and my post-undergrad work at the Medical Entomology lab) and the scholarly paper (again may previously been fulfilled). It is a 30 credit program, so probably another 2 years down the road. Between the economy and the poor job market and sadly the deterioration of the Higher Education system here, I figure I might as well get ahead of the curve as soon as I can.

Stay tuned on updates as I hear if I have been officially accepted, and as we journey down this road with both of us in school. Thankfully my Spring schedule is super flexible and we have an awesome sitter now, so I should have time to concentrate on schoolwork and gradwork at work (and at home on some days B goes to the sitter "early").

And not that I want to lean too heavily on Husby's sister, but she will be moving this way in another month. She, too, will also be going to school, but I guess if Husby & I get in a pinch, she may be able to take B for a few. She would be the last option since I do not want her to feel we are using her for childcare, but I also think we will be able to handle B and our work (especially if I continue to keep my week open for homework).

Ramblings of a preggo at midnight...

With the countdown now getting to the low 60's, the reality of it all is beginning to set in. We still have a lot of things to make, purchase, or find for the nursery and Baby G. Thankfully, I have some really awesome, wise friends to turn to for advice, but my list of things to choose from is still pretty large. Lately, if I am not working on my Grad work and researching for those papers/discussions/etc., I am researching baby stuff. My list of things to research, you ask...well here it is...

Breast Pump: Medela Pump in Style Advanced or Medela Freestyle or another brand?
Numerous of my "bumpies" (and our lactation consultant) recommend the PISA and this is our first choice, but I like the hands-free ability of some of the other models. Our insurance covers it, so cost is not a major deal-breaker.
Guess I will just have to research which one I can get from the pharmacy and go from there.

Cloth Diapers:
I am not even sure where to begin on this tab since there are so many brands and everyone loves a different one. I think we will pick up a few different types and experiment to figure out which ones we like best...most likely we will stick with some AIO's, and insert liner type to make changes easier, but we shall see. I picked up some Gerber pre-folds to have on hand already and will fill in with the rest of the fluff in a few weeks.

Diaper Pail: Arm & Hammer Pail or Baby Trend Diaper Champ?
We are hybrid diapering for convenience, so we will still need a diaper pail for the disposables. Both are highly recommended, and can use their bags or even just regular trash bags...so which one to choose?

Activity Gym/ Tummy Time Mat: Fisher Price Ocean Wonders, Fisher Price Precious Planet, Infantino Tummy Time Surf Mat....
I think because we are both surf/beach nuts, we will go with the FP Ocean Wonders gym and the Tummy Time mat surfboard...but are there any other better versions?
 
Baby Carrier: BabyBjorn or Lillebaby
We are planning to get a sling for the beginning and then move to a more orthopedic carrier as well, but which is the best? Again depends on the person....as I think we like the Lillebaby the best and the Moby wrap the best (at least this week) ;)

Umbrella Stroller: Maclaren, Amycoe, First Years, Especially for Baby
I like the First Years the best, Husby likes the Especially for Baby one...and everyone recommends the other ones....which to choose? LOL


Bottles: Dr. Brown's, Playtex Ventaire, TommyTippee, etc.
Yea, so just like the cloth diapers, we are probably going to buy a starter pack of bottles of various brands and find out which ones work best...although I am pretty sure we will be siding with Dr. Brown's since everyone swears by them, but we shall see what Baby G likes.


So many choices.  If someone reads this and has more advice that may sway us, please, please, please feel free to leave a comment with your recommendations. It will definitely come down to the wire as to which to choose and your input may be helpful in choosing since we are not very picky. Guess when we do our next BRU trip in Otown, we will narrow and make our selections, but that still leaves me a week and half to change my mind 500 times...
At least we have finalized we are hybrid diapering (cloth and disposables), hybrid feeding (breast milk, supplemented with formula when needed, as well as, making our own solid foods and only occasionally using prepared foods), and I get to keep my part-time work schedule of teaching (aka hybrid mommying). And Baby G is sleeping in the PacknPlay basinnet in our room for the first few weeks and then transferring to his own crib due to its location.

Now, if we could decide on a name and finish organizing and preparing for Baby G's arrival, this preggo could sleep a little easier. The early contractions are definitely becoming more apparent, so our next appointment should be quite interesting, especially since we will be 32/33 weeks then.

Time is definitely flying by. Tonight we did our hospital tour and got some questions answered. I <3 our hospital since we will have a private L& D room with an unlimited visitor amount and a private recovery/post-partum room. Plus, the views are decent since it is the top floor of the hospital and the rules are tolerable. I can get a shower during labor, use water therapy, use a birthing ball and have music and watch movies throughout. I also was excited to hear I can have popsicles and maybe some other icy type things (depends on the OB), and Sonic is literally 2.5 minutes from the hospital (and opened late). Husby was happy to hear we have wireless and he can pop over to the gym since it is next door and the chairs are pull-out couches (although we hear not the comfiest) so he can hangout with my throughout. Baby G will be rooming with us and whenever he has somewhere to go, Husby is allowed to go with him, so that was a bit more reassuring.

The rest of this week is pretty quiet. I am hoping to get ahead on my next week's worth of assignments and write my second courses' project this week, since after this weekend it will be busy, busy, busy. Sunday starts our 5-week Childbrith classes (hope we get to graduate!), Monday Husby has another business trip (until Wednesday afternoon) and I have a Dr. Appt., Wednesday evening Husby's family arrives, Thursday is fishing, Friday we are lobster fishing and diving (well the boys are, Mom and I will probably just relax on the beach). Saturday we send the in-laws on their way to visit Husby's sister, then we go to Otown to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins, Chinese buffet and relaxing visit, then some BRU shopping, and then dinner and visit with my "sisters". Sunday is another class and maybe some bowling since league starts up again soon. Following Tuesday is our meeting with the Anesthesiologist (yes I am ok with some pain medicine and medical intervention). The rest of that week is the "calm before the storm" since the following week I go back to teaching and start my final grad class. Husby also starts Grad School within those 2 weeks (Thankfully his company is cover the tuition cost, but still we will have 2 whole months of overlap of Grad school and likely a baby in those 2 months). Labor Day weekend my mom visits and the rest of September is wait and see and keep teaching to keep busy. If my blogging gets sparse, at least you have a warning why, LOL. So much to think about and do in the next 60 days...hopefully it makes the time move by smoothly yet quickly.

New Term

Well it's back to the school grindstone, except this time I am taking two courses at once. This term and next term will be my doubling terms, that way I can graduate soon after Baby G arrives. This term is Research Methods and Adult Learners. So far, things are good, but I can definitely see this getting difficult as the term progresses. I also have picked up two more classes for the remainder of the semester by substituting 2 classes on Mondays. There are only three more weeks after this course and thankfully next week is Spring Break. This term's students have been quite a bunch. They are absolutely horrible in terms of preparing for their exams and labs, and then their excuses for why this miss lab class, do horrible on their exams, and so on. My department chair has nicknamed them the "privileged" class as they feel they are entitled to whatever they want...which includes retaking their exams if they do not do well, making up their missed exams (and labs) whenever they want, and that all exams should be curved if the class does not all get 80%'s. We (the faculty) disagree. Hopefully this summer will not be too bad, but I am not feeling very positive about it, so we shall see.Well sorry for the rant, but it was definitely needed. Now back to homework and bed soon.

February

So the whole pregnancy is beginning to sink in. I hope it is not all in vain, but my first ultrasound will be Monday (fingers crossed we see the heartbeat and development). Life in general is progressing well. Husby and I have been madly working on the house (some days I wish it was all done, but then I see the final product and am happy). We moved the office out of the bedroom across from the Master bedroom and to the back Florida room since that was unutilized space. Now we have that bedroom to convert to the baby's room. We pretty much have an idea of what we want in terms of furniture and we have our theme picked out. Hopefully we will be able to make it all work, but that is not a current project. After he finishes sanding and staining the desk, it will get installed and the remainder of the sewing/craft stuff will get evicted from the bedroom and the office area will be completed. Then it's the guest bathroom and Husby's idea of painting, blacksplash tiling and some minor cosmetic repairs to the room. After that is the baby's room and the kitchen probably close to the same time...depending on how much of a discount a friend of ours can get us on kitchen cabinets. We shall see since finances is important at this point. I sortof hope the kitchen gets done before the baby comes so we do not have a disaster with a newborn, but who knows. I also need the kitchen redone so I have cabinet and counter space....dreaming of my pantry cabinet/closet!

Since we may have a new arrival in the household, I started fully investigating my degree plan. I am halfway through and am going to start doubling up on my courses so I can (fingers crossed) have just one class (and be about halfway through) around my EDD. If I choose to walk, graduation is in Miami around Feb. 5th, 2011. So excited, although not sure I will want to do the whole graduation thing again, but once again we shall see.

Weekend

It was Homecoming for the Gators, but we were unable to secure tickets, so we watched it from home. I was supposed to do my homework, but I barely made it through the readings. I haven't been feeling well (dizzy, nauseous, sore and achy). The Gators won, but the game was very close. It seems both Arkansas and UF made some mistakes in their game plan, but both teams were good and the game was good overall (Husby was yelling at the screen whenever they made a bad plan or the zebras made a bad call). SEC is still one of the best conferences and that is obvious with the teams. Just my thought. Still not feeling well today, but we are off to bowling and dinner in a bit.

Grad School Blues...

Today I am singing the Grad School Blues. How in one day can I go from carefree and relaxed about my upcoming class to a complete mess and overwhelmed? Oh that's right because I decided to have 7 classes of students take an exam this week and my new semester of classes started and there are a gazillion things to do in 1 week for this class. I have 3 readings (1 is mandatory, 1 is "optional but important that you skim the key details" and 1 is a case study on Calif. Finance), a 3 pg. paper/discussion to write, a Self-Test, a weekly evaluation, a discussion of introductory value. Oh and I am *supposed* to start working on my Course Project that is due at the end of the semester. Where do I start?

To top it off, my students have come up with wonderful reasons for why they did not do well on their exams...complain, complain, complain. And then while I am lecturing, they interrupt to ask meaningless questions....just another day in the life of an underpaid, unappreciated teacher. :(

Tuesday Rambles

I am honestly losing my mind over keeping up with this blog and keeping everything organized. We have been super busy remodeling/decorating the house. Greene has been working nonstop on the Master Bathroom and this past weekend, we finally finished it! I found everything to decorate it between my local favorite haunts and Marshall's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Target, Ross and Home Goods over the weekend. And because of how detailed oriented (you may call it something else), we even hand-made our own reed diffuser and tray sets for each bathroom (pictures to follow if I ever find the cord to connect to the computer). My friend from back home comes to visit next week, so thankfully we finished the bathroom in the nick of time. Now the next projects are minor details like trim and then once we get through August and all our guests and visitors, we will deconstruct the guest bathroom to paint and do some minor detail tiling.

On side note, my shoulder is still messed up and I am still waiting for the Orthopedic Dr. for WC to decide what the next plan is. I am still having issues lifting anything and moving my shoulder without experiencing some pain, so who knows what is wrong at this point. I think I may need to look into WC lawyers and go to our family orthopedic doctor for a second opinion since this has lingered ALL SUMMER. Since we are already on the mention of doctors, today I have yet another lovely appointment with the OB/GYN specialist for my cysts. The recent BC medicine she gave me to help cycle me and reduce the risk of cyst ruptures does not seem to be working and I am beginning to fear the worse (why? because I always worry about everything). With the lack of cycles I was sort of hoping for the pink line, but none so far, which means it must be the PCOS rebounding against me. Even though we are not trying to get preggers at the moment (I need to finish my Master's) in case the 9 months are bad, I would rather know why my cycle is so wacky and I'm having all the pain.

We did, however discuss the future and try to make a time frame for when we want to have kids. Ok, I know you cannot have a schedule and expect your schedule to run fluidly with God's plan, but at least I can hope. So, I think we came to the conclusion we can start trying in a few more months, but we won't enlist any help until Summer 2010. *It is likely I will need to go back on the Met with another medicine to get my body to have normal cycles long enough to conceive, so that is what we mean by "enlisting help".* I wonder, can I still do some diving while I am pregnant? I lost this entire summer to my shoulder, not sure I want to lose another summer, prime dive season....this could be interesting.

School starts up in another 2 weeks. I am looking forward to going back to teaching in the classroom. I made my schedule so I will teach all day * night Wednesday, afternoon & evening Thursday and Friday morning for a total of 7 labs. I will work at the lab only on Mondays, Tuesdays and mornings on Thursday. I am itching to get back in the classroom since the lab has been so quiet lately, but I am also hesitant the schedule is a bit hectic and I still have all my Grad School work to keep up on.

Other than the above activities, life has been quiet and good. We've had some rough thunderstorms lately, but thankfully no H's. They may have named the first one yesterday, but it was so far away that it is not a concern at the moment. All the puppies are doing good. They are being their mischievous selves. Our gerbil passed away recently and I think Lucky took it the hardest. While we were cleaning out the cage and packing it up for storage in the shed, he kept whining and putting his nose in the tank in a search for Buddy, the gerbil. We moved the little turtles over to where Buddy's cage used to be, so occasionally he runs over to the tank and then sadly realizes it is no longer his gerbil friend.*There is no plan to get another gerbil...Buddy lived a long, wonderful 3 years and we are not planning to have a gerbil again until one of the kids ask for one* The fish tanks, turtles and dogs are more than enough to handle with school, work and home remodeling.

But it seems our house is still an animal shelter. We may (keyword: maybe, meaning if someone else does not step up) be getting another dog by default in the coming weeks. So as most of you know, we live on a pretty quiet street, with nice neighbors. Well there are a few houses for rent, one being the house next to us. So the last renters up and left one day leaving behind some things (a car, some of their kids toy's, and their puppy). We did not realize they had left the dog in the backyard, but there she sat for a week in the patio area of the house until the new renters moved in. We guess she is 6-8 months old and she is some mix of a pitbull and something else. Being that she is so young and super friendly (she loves to lick and give kisses, responds to us-she has escaped their backyard gate numerous times when they lived there, and is still a puppy and therefore trainable). She also plays well and seems infatuated with Lucky, so we will see how the next few weeks play out. The new renters do not want her, but they too do not want her sent to the pound, so who knows maybe they will fall in love with her and decide to keep her along with their other dog. The old renters have been called numerous times to come get her, but say they do not have room in their new home nor a kennel for her. The biggest issue about her, she is not house trained at all, :( but Greene thinks he can easily crate and house train her if we should adopt her in. Being that she is female and super affectionate and has run around in the backyard with our 3, I am not concerned with her pitbull genes being a problem...but if we adopt her, we will probably take her to a local vet to get her checked out and determine what her breed mix is.

I think that about sums it up. I have a few more things to catch up on, but I need to get back to work. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Weekend

So the advent calendar for Christmas is finally complete! I will to post a picture later in the week, but today my day is occupied with this paper for Grad school. Why did I ever agree to go back now? I am so exhausted of writing and discussing and reading....every week....read, write, discuss, repeat... :(

Two more weeks of this class and then on to the next one...9 classes to go!

Oh Happy Sunday!

Monday again?

So this weekend was wonderful. Friday, we both had the day off, so we went to Firkin and Kegler in Orlando with some of Greene's coworkers. First though we had to go to the mall to get my wedding rings cleaned, inspected and my engagement ring fixed. Seems I had a small chip in the stone and it was the yearly checkup. I also got to go to my favorite store (I will leave it unnamed, but if you know me, you know what store). We spent well over 5 hours at F & K and had a blast bowling, playing pool and eating some really awesome Apple Dumplings & Ice cream. Afterwards, we drove back to the coast and watched our Netflix movie (Midnight Meat Train). Worst movie ever unless you like super freaky, horror movies with odd plot lines. Saturday was spent at softball practice, errands and working on my school work. We had rented Seven Pounds (Will Smith) earlier in the week, so Saturday we finally watched it. Amazing movie! It definitely has an interesting plot, but overall amazing movie. The plot was well done and the acting was good. On Sunday (Easter), we decided to go back to Orlando to do some shopping and celebrate Greene's birthday. We were able to go to the Outlets and IKEA, but the malls were all closed for the holiday (even though we never saw a notice about it when we were at the other mall on Friday). I found a cute dress shirt and ultra cute heels at the Outlets and at IKEA we finally found the perfect canopy bed frame and a new chandelier light for over the kitchen table. We also went to lunch at BJ's. If you ever get the chance to eat at one of these restuarants do it. In celebration for Greene's birthday, the waitress bought a birthday Pizzookie! So bad for you, but so yummy! The food was great...perfect portion and fresh salads, sandwiches. Everything looked great and our food all tasted excellent....even my leftover sandwich the next day!
Today has been long, but very productive. Work was slow but it allowed me to get my work done for class and prepare for future week's work and my term project. Then I had a review session for some students and now on my way to the field to watch the softball game. Hope everyone has a good evening!

What have I done?

I still can't believe I have not blogged in over 2.5 months. I have completely neglected this thing, but then again I have barely had time to breathe. So here's a recap.
In February, I decided to go back for my Master's finally. Because of the time constraints of working and not being able to find an adequate program at a local college, I am trying an online program through Kaplan. I am pursuing a Master's in Higher Education with emphasis on teaching and instruction. Each "class" runs for 10 weeks, so it's like taking 2 classes a semester at a normal college. So far, things have been going well. It is a lot of writing and reading (big surprise!) but I am learning a lot and am enjoying the connections with the other students and faculty. I am still teaching at Indian River. I now have 5 classes a week that I teach and then this summer it will be 3 classes (meeting 2x a week...so really 6 classes). It is hectic, hence why I have dropped off the face of the Earth. Greene has kept himself busy with work, joined a softball league and bowling throughout the week when I am teaching night classes.

In March, we went on our vacation for our anniversary to Key West. We stayed at a quaint hotel called Banana Bay not too far from downtown. We did some scuba diving (I kept extremely sea sick, first time for everything I guess). The weather was awesome, so we got to explore Duval St. and ate at some nice restaurants. Our next vacation is to Pcola for his sister's graduation and Mother's Day. I definitely need a break and thankfully this trip falls when I am between semesters and classes.

Other than the big events, things have been pretty quiet. The doctor's visits have lessened (thankfully!), but still having a lot of issues. Now I am back on some BC that hopefully will return my cycle (but what I don't understand is they suspect my previous BC was the reason I am no longer cyclic, arg!). Still nothing on the food allergies front, excpet I have been super selective where I eat and what I eat and what not. No body wants to mess with this until the PCOS is under control, so for now it's a russian roulette on foods. When time allows, we have been working on the house...planted a garden in the front 3 weeks ago. The master bathroom is the next project on the list. We found some cute shower tiles and trim, and now we need to decide if we are going to look for new floor tiles or stick with the same tiles we have in the other bathroom...decisions I am not willing to make since my brain is fried.

I'm going to try to keep this thing going by putting aside a few minutes each day for it. We'll see how it goes.