Teething.

It is truly amazing how quickly time flies when you have a baby. I can not believe that it's already February and little Travis is 8 months old. Joey will be 13 in just 6 short months and my life is on a track that I am pleased with.

Little update (since I haven't written in a while). Travis is still sleeping through the night, usually asleep by 7:10PM and sleeps until 5:30 or 6:00 am. It's wonderful to get a full nights sleep and I have already forgotten how sleep deprived I was when he was still getting up 2-3 times a night. He's napping very regularly as well and this whole schedule thing is amazing. We do the same thing at the same time every day and he knows it. If I have an appointment and it takes us off schedule just a small amount, he's quite the bear.

He was an early teether with the two bottom teeth, got them in one day when he was 4 months old. Now that he is 8 months old, he's been working on the top two teeth for quite some time. I'd have to at least for the last month. Some days are worse than others and today is one of those days. The right tooth is through but he's working on the left one and I hate seeing him in so much pain. Why is it that teething doesn't affect some babies at all and some are down right horrid to deal with? I feel so bad for him that he's in pain, but hey, we all went through this in our life right? So, I know he'll be fine, it just sucks in the meantime.

School is going well for me this semester. I am taking a critical thinking class and also an ethics and criminal justice class. They kind of go hand in hand with one another and I am having fun exploring personal values, thoughts and ideas.

Running. I am running and officially training for a half-marathon. The half-marathon is on March 3 and I am seriously excited! I am running anywhere between 3-5 days a week and my overall health is amazing right now. I'm eating well, feeling well, looking well and have found happiness within myself.

I need to start writing more, I miss it and need to get back into a routine of doing so. Maybe this will be the start...

Just go to sleep!!

Another month already half over and I still can't tell you what day it is. I'm lucky if I am getting 6 hours of sleep at night, (that's a lot considering the average is 4-5). I'm exhausted, overwhelmed and just plain going insane.

I've started running again to help me clear my mind and get me out of the house. Most of the time it works, but on those days that 1/2 mile into the 3 mile run Travis starts screaming, it's not so therapeutic. I am proud that I have worked up to a 3 mile run as my regular workout, just wish I could go longer. 3 miles takes me about 30 minutes and that's about all Travis is good for.

Travis is two weeks away from being 4 months old and still is a horrible sleeper. I tried to "sleep train" him but it only seemed to make matters worse, so I have gone back to just living by his schedule. Not great, but better than he was when I was trying to force him to sleep when and where he didn't want to.

He is growing like a weed and learning new things each day. He has happily discovered his feet and toes and likes to play with them any chance he gets. He still isn't rolling over but I like to blame that slow development on his horrible first two months. He has rolled over from belly to back a few times, but nothing regular.

Joey has two weeks left of this first quarter in Junior High, hard to believe. He's doing well so far. He has all A's and one B. I am hoping that he can maintain those grades for the next couple of weeks and then continue with that next quarter as well. I'm not sure if he's into girls or not yet, I'd like to say "not" but he's 12. Is he really going to tell his momma everything? I doubt it.

I'm tired, I want a break and I can't wait for my trip to California in a few weeks....

Registry.

It's starting to feel more real now. This whole baby thing. I registered yesterday at Babies R Us and figured out pretty much everything I need and want for this little guy. It's more or less a list of things I'll need to buy before he arrives.

Little Honda has been kicking so much over the past day or so. I think it's just that he's getting bigger so I am feeling it more often, and it's the best feeling in the world! I love the little taps and jabs. I slept a little better last night, which was needed after the lack of sleep I got Monday night. My nausea was back and I actually got sick, which hasn't happened in a few months. It seemed more like it was brought on by my acid reflux, and it's wasn't pleasant.

I've officially dropped my spring semester classes. I just couldn't get the right mindset and I don't want to be stressing about that. I'd like to focus on family and the baby and getting ready for his arrival. The heaviest workload was going to be April-May and with my due date being May 29, with the possibility of a C-Section in the first week of May, I didn't want to chance it. I'll pick up a class in the Summer II session and if not there, definitely in the fall.

I shouldn't be doing this, but I'm going to finish watching this week's Bachelor episode, I know... I know...

Has it really been a month already?

I can't believe that I haven't written since September 1. Well, I take that back. I can believe it, I've been busy. Homework, being a mom, a wife and starting a new home business. Things have been great over the past few weeks and they are only going to start getting better.

I'm not looking forward to this Saturday, Joey will be leaving to go visit with his dad for two weeks. It's not that I don't want him to see his dad, because I believe he does need to see him, I just hate that when he comes home he's a different person and we have to draw out his real personality again. This weekend, watching him play football with Paul and swim in the pool only to end the night with cuddling up to me on the couch with a smile, really got to me.  I hope that whatever happens while he is gone doesn't affect that this time and he comes back just as happy as he is when he leaves.

My mid-term for Algebra is coming up soon, in two weeks. I've already started studying and I really want to do well so I can keep my 96% in that class. I'm enjoying my communications class, although at times I feel like I'm in marriage counseling the way it talks about listening and words and body language. I know I am taking a lot from it and here and there I think Paul's even paying attention too.

Joey has started football and has practice every Tues & Thur from 6-8pm. I'm really hoping that it helps to bring him out of his shell, and while I am extremely nervous about the whole thing, I am excited because he is the one who came to us asking if he could play. Major downside is he's missing 7 practices while he is gone visiting his dad and his first game. I'm sure he'll be sitting on the bench for a while when he gets back until he can get his tackling skills caught up to the rest of his team.

That's my rant for today, back to homework and errands...

Solving inequality systems & contemplating whether or not communication is intentional

When I signed up for this fall semester of school I had every intention of taking a full load of classes. I felt that I was ready to take on a huge work-load and thought it would be ok to spend hours upon hours doing homework. I was wrong. On the first day of classes, I dropped 2 of them. The two classes that I would have had to go to campus for and the two classes I was most excited about. I didn't drop them because I'm lazy or just didn't want to take them, (because, duh, I have to take them eventually) but I dropped them because I wanted to be able to focus more on the other two classes.

I struggle with math. Introduction to Algebra over the summer was hard for me, especially since I am basically teaching myself. This semester I am taking the next step up, which is Intermediate Algebra or what I'm thinking is the equivalent to "Algebra 2" that most high school sophomores take. Yes, I was one of them 16 years ago and here I am, 30 years old taking it at the college level. Should be interesting.

While I have always felt I was a good communicator I believe that after reading the first chapter in my Human Communication book, I was wrong. I hope to take a lot from this class, once I get over my fear of speaking about topics I have no clue on. It's another online course, which will consist of discussion board posting, weekly assignments and quizzes and of course, a speech. The speech won't be due until December, but I'm already terrified. Paul tells me that's ok, since one of the biggest known fears among people is, yup, public speaking.

Once October rolls around I will be also taking a Sociology class and possibly my next English class. (barf) I need to get it out-of-the-way, I'm just not ready to have someone pick apart every letter of what I write. I love my blog, it doesn't matter what kind of punctuation I have, I just write.

Life has been really good to us this past month. We have been happier than ever in our marriage and I can really feel us growing as a family. Joey turned 11 and is starting to show mannerisms of a "Pre-teen" and he's growing like a weed. His feet are bigger than mine and I'm just patiently waiting for that next growth spurt. His teacher has been great so far, and Joe seems to like him. He had a minor mishap a few weeks ago, throwing away his homework instead of bringing it home to Paul and I, so of course, to teach him a lesson (because that's what good parents do) we grounded him. It's not like he's had a whole lot taken away, just his freedom to play video games on the weekend and go on the computer. I'm hoping he will soon learn his lesson that it's better to just tell the truth than to try to hide it. I ALWAYS FIND OUT!

I heard a new Zac Brown Band song earlier this week and one of the lines has stuck with me... It's really what we've been telling ourselves the past couple of months and it brought tears to my eyes when I heard it sung...

"Roll the dice and have some faith." -Zac Brown Band/Alan Jackson