December 2012

I can't believe we are at the end of another year!

Donnie completed all of his applications and sent them out last month. He Applied to 32 schools, but not all were hiring this year. He just wanted to get his info out there so they would be familiar with him down the road.

He applied to GA Tech and GA State, but everything else was out of state, one was even out of the country! At the beginning of December he went to Miami to a rookie conference. Basically people who are on the job market apply to attend, are given a time slot to make a presentation (dissertation, research interests, why I'm the guy for you...), and try to impress the hiring schools. Schools looking for new hires send delegations to check out the applicants. They can then set up private interviews with you to get a better feel of who you are, and tell you more about their program.

Not everyone gets interviews there, but Donnie had 9! He came back home with a few front runners: Pittsburgh, Florida, Iowa, GA Tech, Chapman; and some previous front runners fell down the list: Illinois and Cornell.

We find out next month who wants to interview him for a position, and in March, we'll finally know where we will be next year!

This year for Christmas, Bob and Brenda came out for a visit again. We spent a few days at Deidra's hanging out with all of them, but for the most part, Christmas was very low key and relaxing - the way it should be. We spent a lot of time, just the five of us, doing things around home. We went to LEGOLAND, Stone Mountain, movies, and rode The Pink Pig again.

It was a great year, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

November 2012

November flew by so quickly this year! Not knowing where we will be after Donnie graduates next Spring, we decided to take the kids to Disney World again. We went the week before Thanksgiving, and it was awesome!

We took a stroller for Charlotte, and I nursed her when ever Donnie and Jaxy would ride the "scary roller coasters." Sydney hung out with me as she is a little more cautious than her brother :) Each park had a special building for mothers and babies (rocking chairs, changing tables, high chairs, microwaves, restrooms...), but they were not always in the most convenient locations. We tried to plan our park mapping so that we would be around that area for feedings, but sometimes I would just sit down and feed her wherever!

Jaxon and Sydney had such a great time! They were big enough to ride almost all of the rides, and to sit through all of the shows too. Charlotte was a champ and just went a long with our craziness. We stayed at the Disney Resort at Port Orleans Riverside. It was really nice, and a big step up from All Star Movies.

Jaxon's favorite rides were The Hollywood Tower of Terror and the Tomorrowland Speedway. Sydney loved Buzz Lightyear and The People Mover. Jaxon rode Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Mt. Everest, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Star Wars with Donnie. He was so happy! Sydney refused to even think about any of those rides.

We went with the dining plan again, but instead of only quick service, we had one sit-down meal a day too.

We ate at a lot of yummy places - California Grill (Contemporary Resort), 1900 Park Fare: Cinderella's Royal Banquet (The Grand Floridian), Hollywood & Vine: Disney Jr. (Hollywood Studios), and Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: Disney Princess Dinner (Epcot). It was great having the character dining because they came to your table for photos and autographs, and we didn't have to stand in line in the parks for photo ops.

We spent six months convincing Jaxon that he had to eat his vegetables if he wanted to be tall enough for the scary rides at Disney, so now that it's over, I don't know how we can convince him broccoli is tasty!

On our way home from Disney, we decided to drive out to the coast to Cape Canaveral. We then headed up to spend two days in Savannah before making it home for Thanksgiving dinner.

October 2012

Another month has come and gone :). Donnie has been working nonstop to finish his dissertation and job applications. He finally had things at a point where he felt confident in his work and submitted all of his materials to start the application process. A lot of schools are hiring this year, which is nice, but Donnie really wants to work at a place that focuses more on research than teaching, and has a good resource system for his type of research: financial, behavioral accounting research.

He has chosen to apply to 30 schools, but not all of them are hiring this year, and the ones that are hiring are not necessarily hiring financial behavioral researchers. He said it is still good to get his name and face out there so that maybe down the road...

So that is what is going on in Donnie's world.

Sydney and Jaxon are loving school. Sydney's teacher calls her "The Mouth of the South" (playfully, I think). She says Sydney is such a good reader she has her work on the 2nd grade books. Jaxon is opening up more and more each day at school. He still will not dance during movement time, but when his teachers are not actively observing him, he is quite animated with the other kids. :) Ms. Vaughn said she wishes she could just listen in because she's sure it would be awesome.

Charlotte is growing and changing too - except for her hair. It is still short and crazy :) She looks just like Donnie!  She loves to watch people and observe what's happening around her. She always has an inquisitive look on her face which sometimes looks like she is giving dirty looks. That can be a little awkward :) She still hates her carseat, but she does a better job of sleeping in it while in the car, so she doesn't suffer too much :)

For Halloween this year, Jaxon wanted to be anything that had a sword as part of the costume, and Sydney wanted to have a costume with a wig and high heels. Who are these kids ? :) Jaxon ended up opting for the red ninja with one long sword (which magically keeps disappearing :)), and Sydney chose some sort of moonlight princess with a big puffy dress, jewelry, a wand, but no high heels. She did manage to find a black wig with a hot pink streak, so she went with that too. Charlotte was a little kitty. 

We missed the Halloween party at our church this year, but we had a great time trick or treating around our neighborhood. The kids came home with so much candy that we ended up donating a few pounds to a collection for soldiers overseas.

The best part of October was when we were able to see the Cougars beat up Ga Tech. This year BYU played in Atlanta, and Donnie, Jaxon, Charlotte, and I went to cheer on our team. Sydney was adamant that she would not attend, so she stayed with my parents, and Corey came along. It was such a great game! We sat with the Hansens, so Jaxy stayed pretty entertained too. The Cougars won 42-17, and we ate at the Varsity, so it was a pretty successful day.

September

This month went by way too fast! Charlotte is a chatterbox - which is really cute, but also seems to bring a lot of slobber with it :) She does such a great job holding her head up, and even likes tummy time - Sydney thought it was torture, and Jaxon just rolled over all of the time.

Sydney and Jaxy are making new friends at school, and are doing a great job getting up and ready in the morning. They have not been late a single day, and we are two months in :) This is a big improvement from last year!

We are starting to get back into our old habits - the zoo once a week, the library once a week, and Target only once a week :)

We celebrated Mom's 61st birthday ( Sydney, "We need to leave now Mom. We don't want to be late. We haven't done this in like a year, we should totally be on time." Umm once a year, that's kind of how birthdays work...)

We learned about cell phones - Jaxon called 911, three times, from an old phone that no longer has service or a sim card; who knew you could do that?

We learned about our bodies - Jaxon, "Dad when I grow up, I am going to have hair under my arms too! I will be just like you!" 

Sydney, after noticing she had a rash on her arm from an allergic reaction "Oh no! This is horrible! How am I supposed to live my life like this? I'll be ruined." Then after she is informed that it will go away when she takes the medicine, she calmly replies, "Oh yeah, you're right Mom. Where's the medicine?" She's training to star in a Spanish Soap Opera...

We all grew a little this month.

August

With the older kids in school, Charlotte and I have had plenty of time to work out our schedules. She started sleeping well through the night, and even going down at a decent time (midnight).

She doesn't like napping in her bed - she prefers her swing or a blanket on the couch. She also is not a fan of her car seat - especially when we are driving!

Jaxy and Sydney love to be around her - she can't get a break :) Jaxon sings to her when she cries ("Calm down, calm down, calm down little baby") and he likes to play with her feet and lick her hair - I know, it's gross, but her hair sticks up like a Mohawk, and Jaxon is fascinated by that.

The second week of August, we had Charlotte blessed at church. My grandmother, my parents, Jana and her family, Allison and her family, and Deidra and her family (minus Nnamdi) all attended. Donnie blessed her, and Dad, Ura, Jason Hansen, Nate Anderson, Marc Hinckley, and Bart Anderson stood in the circle. We have been blessed with so many wonderful friends here, I am really going to be sad when we move next year.

At the end of August Charlotte had her 2-month check up. She weighed 13lbs 13 oz and was 25 inches long. She is getting so big! 

School!

This year Sydney started 1st grade, and Jaxon started Pre-K. They were both excited for school to start. Jaxon really wants to be a big kid, so we were so excited when he was chosen in the lottery to attend the program at Sydney's school. They both go Monday through Friday from 7:55a.m. until 2:25p.m.

They see eachother at lunch, so Jaxy is pretty excited about that too. His teachers are Ms. Vaughn and Mr. McKinley. They are both really nice, and Jaxon is learning so much. He has also really come out of his shell. School has been such a great experience for him. He comes home every day with some new bump, scrape, or bruise, but proudly announces that he didn't even cry because he's tough!

So different from Sydney...the school nurse would call at least twice a week to say, "Sydney is fine, but she came to my office because she - was hit with a dodge ball, bumped into the wall, got a paper cut, scraped her knee -" and this is only a small list of the maladies she suffered at the hands of public school.

Sydney's teacher is Ms. Hamilton. She is nice, but tough. She told me that her class is full of babies (not in a mean-spirited way), but she is going to change that. I am glad too. I think it's important that kids are prepared and not pampered. They are capable of doing these things, they should be doing them :)

Sydney really likes her too. Sydney joined the running club this year at school. They meet every  Friday for an hour. Ms. Hamilton is one of the advisors, so they run together :)

Their favorite part of school though is they get to pack their lunches and pick out their own clothes (I have to approve everything though :))

She's here!

Sydney and Jaxon were both early (3 and 2 weeks, respectively), so of course Baby #3 would have to break tradition :) Charlotte was due June 14, but I started having contractions a few weeks before that...and had them until a couple of weeks after that date too :)

With Sydney and Jaxon, my first contraction came and a baby soon followed (7 1/2 hours later with Sydney, 4 hours later with Jaxon), so I was a little frustrated with the whole contractions for a month deal this time around. Every week at my check up I would ask my doctor if we were ready, and every week he would tell me to walk more.

Two things - first, I was still going to Zumba and Cardio Hip Hop twice a week until the end of May, and when I wasn't there, we were at Stone Mountain or the Zoo walking; second, at home I would rock and do squats every day. Obviously, I wasn't the hold out in this deal :)

Finally, I went in for my 42-week check up (no typo there). Nurse Tonya hooked me up to a machine to check contractions. After about an hour, Dr. Hadley came in to check things out and come up with a plan. He said I was having strong, steady contractions (duh!), but I was still only dilated to a 4 (we were going on week 4 like this). He decided to send me to the hospital anyway so we could start the induction.

Apparently everyone wanted to have a baby that day, because I wasn't in active labor, I kept getting pushed back in line, We checked in at the hospital at noon, but we were not taken to labor and delivery until 6p.m. At this point I had not eaten since dinner the previous night at 6p.m., so I was a little ornery :)

After getting set up, they started the IV drip, and at 7:30 the pitocin, and at 8:30 the epidural. I had steady contractions - really strong ones too - but still no labor. At 2:30a.m., Dr. Hadley and the interns came in for another visit. Dr. H decided to break my water, but said if nothing happened, we would go in for a C-section at 4a.m.

My parents and sisters had been at the hospital all day waiting with us, but finally left around 11p.m. My parents went back to our house to take care of Jaxon and Sydney (who had spent half the day with our friend Lindsey, and the other half with my grandmother). Thankfully, they were able to give Donnie a break and dinner, so he wasn't starving, only incredibly tired :)

Around 3:15a.m. I said, "Donnie, I feel a lot of pressure. Maybe you should get the nurse."

He replied, "That's good," and rolled back over on the couch.

I said, "No, I mean, like, I feel like her head is about to pop out!"

The nurse came in and checked. She was surprised that the baby's head was indeed popping out and told me not to push - or move - until the doctor came. Dr. H arrived, and took his sweet time setting up his stuff. We started pushing at 3:45a.m. and ten minutes later, Charlotte was born.

Charlotte weighed 10lbs 6 oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. She had dark hair and a cute little birth mark. As soon as the nurses took her, they started laughing. They had to send for different diapers because she was too big for the newborn ones they kept on the cart. They kept telling me I gave birth to a toddler - and it felt like she was in there long enough to be a toddler, so I wasn't surprised :)

Everyone was happy, healthy, and hungry!

We stayed in the hospital Tuesday, but Wednesday was Jaxy's birthday, so I begged and pleaded with the doctors to clear us to go home - they wanted us to stay until Thursday. Finally we reached a compromise, and we went home Wednesday night around 8. The only downside to all of this is that once again, Jaxon did not have a birthday party. BUT thanks to Grandma and Granddaddy, he did have presents, cupcakes, and ice cream.

Summer at a glance

The last few months have flown by way too quickly! Most of it was spent begging Baby Sister to get with the program and come (to no avail). The rest was spent at Stone Mountain and the Zoo hoping to walk Baby Sister into labor :) Of course the Summer would not be a complete without a Braves game  - or two - thrown in along the way!