Fall Semester

I haven't blogged all semester, and we are almost to Thanksgiving!

School has been going well. The beginning of the semester had a nice, slow start, and then we had 1 to 3 exams each week for like 6 weeks in a row. I usually feel like I'm just scraping by, somehow managing to finally get a solid grasp on the material the night before the exams. Let me tell you, there have been moments of divine inspiration and intervention in regards to my studies, and I am so grateful for that. I'm enjoying the material, and I'm really enjoying learning. Physical therapy is absolutely the right career for me. It's the perfect balance of academic problem-solving and personal interaction.

Spencer has been doing pretty well with school this semester, too. He has been passing all of his exams. We both know that next semester will require a lot more study time from him, and maybe he should be doing a bit more this semester, but he is loving the time he gets to spend with Melanie. He has the mornings off a couple days a week, so unless he has an exam coming up, he and Melanie get to play. He is the best at doing quality time. She is always giggling and happy when he is around, and he knows just how to get her riled up.

Melanie is doing great. She loves daycare, which is awesome for everyone. She also loves coming home. Some morning or afternoons she gets to be home with Spencer or I. Spencer's mom comes up about once a week to spend the day with her, and she really loves that. As soon as Grandma walks in the door, Melanie's finding her shoes and ready to go to the park or to the Discovery Museum. I love seeing their relationship grow, and we appreciate Mom's sacrifice driving all this way just to spend a couple of hours with Melanie.

Melanie is a yapper now. She loves books, and will take them to us or sit and read them to herself. Sometimes she'll read it to us, too. Her favorite is Fox in Socks, and she'll look through every single book in her book cubby until she finds it. When it gets to the tweedle beetle battle pages, she makes little "blaadablabbblob" sounds by flicking her tongue in and out of her mouth.

She's usually all smiles, but is beginning to be more protective of her things. At church last week another kid was picking up her stethoscope and bear (her two favorite toys), and she ran across the room yelling "MEMANIE! MEMANIE!" As in, that's Melanie's toy! Spencer said she said "mine" the other day, too, but I haven't heard that one yet. Overall she's still pretty good at sharing, but she's picking up a few things at daycare. :)

Melanie loves meat, especially sausage, baths, the children's museum, other kids, being chased, Mr. Bear, her teeny tiny baby doll, books, eating, people, walks, shoes, showing people her shoes, my shoes, putting her shoes on by herself, and finding her clothes and trying to put them on, even if she is already wearing clothes. She's happy and silly, and I can't get enough of her.

School is long some days, and I feel this overwhelming need to see my baby as I leave campus. I can't get to the car fast enough, and her smile when I get to the daycare or get home is priceless. I rarely do any schoolwork between coming home and Melanie's bedtime, but it's better that way. She goes to bed around 8 which leaves me 2 or 3 hours to do it. Lately, I have spent a lot of time thinking back to a year ago and comparing. I do sometimes miss those sweet, lazy, snuggly days with my tiny baby. But I don't miss the hard things about being home. It was easy to feel isolated and it was hard to see my own growth. I loved all the mom aspects of it, but I had a hard time with the individual aspects of it. This year, I feel like I've found a pretty good balance most weeks. I think I'm happier now than I was a year ago. I think I'm still being a great mom. Melanie is happy and healthy, and daycare is so great for her very outgoing personality. I'm grateful for this chance to be in school, working toward a career that I will love. I'm also looking forward to being done with school so I can be home more.

One really great thing this semester has been a bible study that some of the PT students do. I go most weeks, and I usually bring Melanie with me. I am so grateful for their examples of faith. It's nice to connect with others in that way, and it gives me a chance to socialize a little bit outside of schoolwork. In fact, I had some of the girls who go to bible study over last night. We had some yummy food and watched the women's session of general conference from September. I missed it back then, and still hadn't watched it. It was really fun and, of course, the conference was great!

That's about all for now. :)