So I've had a lot of people lately asking if we're having a baby soon or something, and also if/when I will be induced. So I thought I'd just write a little post to update everyone on what's going on.

I'm reading this great biography about Theodore Roosevelt. It's a really fascinating read. He was probably one of those people who is so hyper I probably couldn't stand him, but at the same time I do admire how hard he worked despite being so ill during his early years.

I found some long-sleeved shirts on clearance at Target and decided to try making them into short-sleeved shirts for Heidi. I've never tried this before and I haven't had very good luck sewing with knits in the past, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Yesterday I tried this tutorial for making short sleeves with little cuffs and it worked out really well! After cutting the sleeves short, I cut the hemmed ends of the long sleeves off and used those as the cuffs.

We had a great Relief Society activity with a guest who taught how to do CPR and the Heimlich maneuver, especially on little kids. A lot of the recommendations have changed since the last time I learned how to do them, plus I had forgotten some things, so it was great to learn again. It's nice to feel more confident about what to do if my kids start choking on something. Obviously I'd rather not have it happen, but it's nice to feel more prepared.

Ryan and I have been talking about this interesting study by Harvard. I've got to say I'm disappointed in Utah schools' performance. The results of the study suggest that the schools are not doing so great and the parents who have a good education are making up the difference, which works out fine for the middle and upper classes, but the kids who don't have well-educated parents don't do so well because they don't have the resources available at home to make up for what the schools are lacking.

I gave Kevin a haircut. It was definitely time. His hair is really thick and it took a really long time to get his hair down to a more manageable length. After I had gotten the top part short I took a look and realized that if the clippers died right then, he would have a perfect mullet. Fortunately the clippers did not die and he does not have a mullet. I do kind of wish I knew how to give him a longer boy haircut, because I liked the length, just not how scraggly it was getting around his ears and the back.

By the way, the dog's name is Helen. He (yes, he) has been making regular appearances at Kevin's reading lessons.

I know I've blogged before about Kevin's reading, but I'm so impressed with the progress he is making. I think we're up to Lesson 25 now, and he is reading two-sentence stories. The reading book is designed to help the child comprehend the stories as well as decode (sound out) the words, so with every story there is a picture. I have to work really hard to keep him from peeking at the picture before he has answered the comprehension questions. He gets impatient if he has to reread sentences to figure out what the story says, but we'll keep working on it. He also looks forward to doing the reading lessons because he likes having the one-on-one time with me. It's been very rewarding to teach him to read, even if it's challenging and frustrating sometimes. I decided early on that we are going to take this at his pace. If he is too distracted or won't cooperate then we just end the lesson early and try again the next day.

We picked about 25 lbs. of strawberries and made jam. We picked the perfect day to go picking. There was a storm coming in around lunchtime, so we hurried out in the morning in order to miss the rain, which meant it was nice and cool and the sun was covered by clouds, so the temperature was perfect! We are loving having homemade strawberry jam again. We ran out a couple of months ago and we made do with store-bought jam for a while, which really doesn't compare.

Ryan has been working very diligently on the garden. We are starting to see results.

The kids are a little obsessed with watching Let It Go from Disney's Frozen. They haven't actually seen the movie, but they enjoy this youtube video of the song.

: )

on development

In the past week or two Heidi has started potty training herself. It's mostly been a breeze. She does everything herself except that she needs a little help cleaning off the froggy potty. I don't have to remind her or sit with her or help with clothes or anything. A year ago I thought she was ready and I tried to potty train her, and it just didn't work. She wasn't quite ready to recognize and control her body's signals. Even three weeks ago I thought she'd be in diapers until she was four.

A week or so ago I thought I'd try to start working on handwriting with Kevin. I was going to start with writing his name and go from there. When we sat down I was expecting a bit of resistance because for a long time he has been very reluctant to even try writing letters himself. I've been worried sick for a year that he would have a really hard time in kindergarten because of his unwillingness to write. To my surprise, he did pretty well this time! After I showed him how to write the letters he took the pencil and gave it a try. Sure, he may need some work making his writing more neat, but at least he's trying, and that's all I want. I'm much less worried about his ability to do the writing activities in school now.

I think about these big accomplishments that my kids are making and I wish I could go back in time and tell myself not to stress and worry so much. I realize now that their brains will develop at their own rates, and when they are developmentally ready, they will write or potty train or whatever else. I mean, I've known that all along, but in the moment it was hard to remember it. At the time it was hard to remind myself that if they haven't figured something out yet it's not all my fault. Little kids are all so different and they reach milestones at different times.

I graduated!

Today was my graduation. I opted to not go get overheated at the general graduation ceremony, but the department of geological sciences had an open house and a brief graduation ceremony at my advisor's house which I've been looking forward to attending, so we all went to that. There was good food and cake and it was really hot, although that may partly be because I am very pregnant and my little space heater is running on high. I was sweating instantly, whereas it took about half an hour before Ryan said he was starting to sweat. We found out that there was a nice swing set hidden in the corner of the yard (most of the rest of the yard was a garden), and it turns out that it was very shady there and probably the nicest spot outside. The graduation ceremony was on the front lawn. All of the graduates were given a mug and a certificate as a gift. I didn't bother to buy a cap and gown, but I did wear a light blue shirt and I got to wear yellow ropes since I graduated with honors (no, I wasn't the only one not wearing a cap and gown). Oh, and we completely forgot the camera, so there are no pictures.

A lot of people have expressed their excitement for me and asked how it feels to be done. It's taken a while for it to register. There was one evening when Ryan and I were just watching random youtube videos and he turned and smiled at me and said, "Don't you have some studying to be doing?" I instinctively panicked before realizing that no, I didn't have to study. Then another night out of habit I almost asked Ryan if he could play with the kids so I could study for a while. But I'm getting used to it. It's also kind of hard to let myself feel "done" with school because I've felt for a long time that this is not the end--at some point I think I will be going back for a master's degree. I have no idea when. Probably not for several years.

The next thing people ask is if it's been nice to have all that extra time. Between the kids and getting ready for Baby I feel like there has been plenty to fill up the time. I did make a new skirt this week and I've had a little more time to read, but I feel like one way or another the time still gets filled. I've also been playing catch-up with housework, especially our bedroom. However, it's helpful that I don't also have the pressure of school stuff in the back of my mind. Especially when school responsibilities added up, I found it hard to even do the little things like putting just one thing away or folding a basket of laundry. Just knowing I had so much to do made it hard to get started on any of it. Now that I don't have tests and papers and homework weighing on me, it's a little easier to just get started on those little things. It also seems to be a lot easier to be patient with the kids. I'm a lot more inclined to respond to a spill with, "Oh, well, let's clean it up." Hopefully that effect will last.

I had a really interesting realization once we got home from the open house/graduation. I've made a lot of friends and gotten to know several of my professors, so I know there are a lot of people who are happy for me and who admire what I have accomplished at UNC, but at the same time I don't know that people will notice that much that I am gone. The department will keep doing what it's doing and other students will be the ones accomplishing things. But I looked at my kids and at Ryan and realized that it's different with my family. If I just decided I was done with them and moved on to something else, they would notice. There would be tremendous consequences. It was a reassurance to me that my choice to stay at home with the kids right now is the right thing to do. This is where I'm needed. It's not that earning my degree was selfish, because one of the top reasons I stuck with it was for the sake of my family. I wanted to be qualified to support the family if I need to, and I wanted to be an example to my kids. But I was reminded that the work I am doing at home is the highest priority right now, and I'm also very grateful that we followed the promptings of the Holy Ghost to start having children when we did even though we knew that it would make it difficult for me to finish my degree. My family has added a lot of meaning to my life that I don't think I could find as well in most jobs.

6 years

Yesterday I put our wedding anniversary on my Google calendar and set it up so that the calendar repeats it every year. I had to smile when I saw this:

Ends: Never.

There is no doubt in my mind that the family is central to Heavenly Father's plan and that if we are faithful we will be able to celebrate our marriage for all eternity.

this week's accomplishments

Monday was my last final, so I am done. I checked my grades a couple of days later and I actually did quite well. A month ago I felt so intimidated by all that I had to do. I could hardly believe I would accomplish it all. But I took it one thing at a time and in the end all of it got done.

Heidi peed in the Froggy Potty three times this week and was so excited she couldn't stop giggling. This was probably the first time since before her second birthday (almost a year ago), so I am thrilled. She is very familiar with the entire process and just needs to figure out her body signals, so all I am doing is letting her wear underwear if she wants to and giving her encouragement and help if she asks for it. With the baby coming soon, I'm not planning to put any pressure on her, but if she is interested and decides to potty train herself, I won't complain. I keep saying that I've never potty trained a child because both of my kids have done it themselves when they decided they wanted to (my attempts at potty training them before then were unsuccessful).

I helped clean the temple on Thursday. I told the brother in charge that I would be fine as long as I didn't have to bend down a lot (he didn't want to put me to work), so I got to vacuum both sealing rooms, the celestial room, the baptistry, and the waiting room area. I got really tired after vacuuming the big rugs in front, so I went home after that, but I was happy to get to help.

Ryan and I went on a real date. It was like a miracle. The Young Women did a babysitting night at the church as a fundraiser for Girl's Camp, so we dropped off both of the kids and then went out for dinner. After driving around trying to find a parking space near Franklin Street, we decided to just go to Ruby Tuesdays. They took us straight to a table and our food was ready pretty quickly. The interesting thing was that the waiter kept apologizing that it was taking so long. We both got bacon cheeseburgers and fries, plus the waiter brought us an extra plate of the complimentary biscuits because our food was "taking so long." It's been way too long since we went on a date, so it was really nice to be able to get away and just sit and talk. Kevin and Heidi apparently had a blast at the church with the Young Women.

Today Kevin did an entire reading lesson (Lesson 17). This is a big accomplishment because usually he will only sit through two or three of the tasks per day. I can tell he's getting more excited about being able to read words and stories. I'm amazed at how much he has already learned to do. He had his last day of preschool this week and is really excited to go to kindergarten. He also really, really wants to take apart Ryan's old computer and use it to build a memory scanner.

Kevin's second talk

In January, Kevin gave his second talk in Primary. He spoke loud and clear and did a great job. It was great to see how much more comfortable he was this year than he was giving his first talk last year. Here is what he said:

"Before we were born, we did not have bodies. We were spirits. Heavenly Father has a body. He gave us our bodies because bodies would help us become like Him. He sent Jesus Christ so we can repent and be resurrected. Because of Jesus Christ, we can go back to Heavenly Father again."

I wrote an honors thesis.

This is the last slide from the presentation I gave about my honors thesis at the Anadarko symposium a week and a half ago. It's a basic summary of my findings. The numbers are 87Sr/86Sr ratios from different sources in the Croatan National Forest. None of them are as high as the peat in the pocosin of the forest, which means that none of them are the source of the high ratios. We are hypothesizing that the source may be upwelling ground water that has been in contact with the basement rocks a couple thousand feet below the forest, or it may be deposition of atmospheric dust.

The presentation went really well. I did a practice run for my advisor and a few other students the day before, which gave me a good idea of what I needed to change (including making a lot of changes to my slide show) and what I wanted to say. My advisor said that he was pleasantly surprised because I'm such a mellow person that he didn't think I would be very animated when I was talking. If I can just get past the first few introductory sentences I usually get in the zone and I forget that I'm talking to a room full of people. I got a lot of compliments from people saying I seemed very calm and not at all nervous, especially since at one point in the middle of my presentation there were technical issues with the connection from the computer to the screen (which was ironic because the day before my advisor had promised that would not happen), and it didn't really faze me.

Ryan was really great to spend the entire day with the kids so I could be there for the entire symposium. It was interesting to see people's posters and presentations and learn about what other students have been working on, and I also enjoyed talking to professors and students who I haven't talked to for a while.

Giving the presentation helped me organize my thoughts more coherently, so after I had given the presentation I was able to go back to my thesis and fix a lot of the things I had felt uneasy about with my discussion section. I submitted the final draft on Friday, so it's all done! It's interesting to think how a couple of years ago I couldn't imagine myself writing a thesis, but it all happened gradually over the last couple of years.

Tomorrow is my last final, and after that I will be completely done! It still hasn't really registered that the end is finally here.