Halloween 2012

10:30 pm and Halloween chaos is still in my head. I don't remember it being this much work when I was a kid. Nathaniel has been having a significant amount of buyers remorse around things lately. He got the $1 plastic pumpkin at Target a couple weeks ago for trick-or-treating and chose the orange one to come home and decide he wanted a different color. He chose to be a fireman for Halloween (a bunch of costume pieces we already had around the house), then changed to want to be Bob the Builder (again a bunch of costume pieces we already had around). He ended up being a fireman briefly and then "Bob" for the rest of the night. We made it to about 8 houses and that was all he needed. 2 on my grandparents' block (well my grandparents' house and my aunt's house). 4 or 5 on my in-laws block and 2 on our block. Just enough for an excited and worn out 3 year old.

Andrew had a horrible night last night and he and Anthony ended up sleeping in the chair for several hours. This morning we put him in the one piece "little devil" costume as it was fitting for his attitude. He later transformed into "Luigi" alongside cousin "Mario". They were so stinking cute, but heaven forbid they both sit still for 30 seconds. Andrew was distracted enough by lots of excitement tonight with Halloween dressing up, pictures, and watching Grandpa D on Skype that he stood on his own without support several times for over a minute. He is going to be walking very soon and then we are really in trouble since he is already climbing everywhere.

Halloween has left me exhausted. Pictures below of my angels (who are now fast asleep). Nathaniel's spider costume is complete for his "Creation Day" party at preschool tomorrow. Hopefully he decides to wear it after all the work I put into it tonight. I will post more pictures in whatever he decides to wear tomorrow for creation day (spider or lady bug). Also I have a video of Nathaniel singing the Bob the Builder song that I'll try to upload soon. Happy Halloween and November soon.

Riding a Tricycle & Feeling So Proud

Nathaniel finally surpassed the 3 feet mark in October. At his endocrinologist appointment on Oct 5, 2012 he had finally reached 36.5 inches! It has been a long time coming. He has finally outgrown his 24 months and 2T pants in length, though some of the 3Ts are still a bit loose on the waist for him. His growth is going so well on the growth hormone that his daily dose has already increased to try to keep up with his pace. This is a really good thing!

Here is one of his proud moments recently ... He is now tall enough to reach the pedals on his tricycle and is so proud to be able to ride it on his own. (Side notes - this tricycle was a gift for my oldest cousin, Kevin, from our Betts grandparents over 35 years ago. My 3 Betts cousins, my 2 sisters and I, and our youngest cousin on the Betts side all rode this tricycle. Now Nathaniel is enjoying it as well. He learned to ride it on the 6th anniversary of my Grandma Betts's passing. A great day and way to remember her!)

OTD

I am in my third semester of my OTD (Occupational Therapy Doctorate) program and it is starting to get real. Each semester has been so time pertinent to the changes that were occurring within my work program. It has worked well considering that the program is a clinical doctorate program so all my practical work is done within my workplace environment on workplace topics and events.

These past few weeks I have been starting to delve into the realm of IRB (institutional review board) procedures and my long term doctoral project. It was a whirlwind of a week, but now I am finally coming back down to earth, my pulse and stress level are back to normal, and I am starting to feel like I can very soon become a real researcher. In many ways I still feel like I need a bit of "hand-holding" in all of this, but then I read an re-read and re-read processes and realize that I can do this. Never did I consider that I would ever move into the realm of actual research and being one of those "names" known in the MN OT realm. However, it is getting real. I am in the process of establishing a pilot project at work. An undertaking I would not have thought to attempt in years past, but confidence in doing curriculum writing at work the past 2 years and 2 1/2 OTD course under my belt have turned me into a different person. Hopefully this isn't the beginning to a career of insanity doing and writing up research, but maybe that can just be a full time gig and I can forget about all the paperwork in my current role ;).

Anyway, it amazes me that a year ago I was just starting to think about the potential to apply to this program. I was nearing the end of my pregnancy, crazy busy at work, and delving into potentially starting a doctoral program with a newborn in tow. How things have changed in a year! I'm actually doing it and with flying colors thus far. A year from now I will be preparing to submit my doctoral proposal for acceptance and 2 years from now if all goes well, you can all start calling me doctor ;).