Total Randomness

Today's post has absolutely no cohesiveness, but hopefully you'll find it enjoyable nonetheless. I apologize in advance if it just sounds like I'm rambling :)

Food and Fitness: Lately, I've really been into reading food and nutrition blogs; it's become a new hobby of sorts! Having successfully made it through the difficult high school years where body image is a large issue, having discovered my love of cooking as I had to do it all on my own during college, and now being 'employed' as personal chef to our growing family, food has become hugely important to me. The health and nutrition of our family currently rests squarely on my shoulders, and realizing that the food we eat will impact our health, even our very lifespan, I have found it to be a daunting yet incredibly enjoyable task. For the most part, I make nearly everything from scratch and try my very best to feed our family a completely balanced diet on a daily basis. However, Ryan and I have talked about our need to increase our physical exercise, and we hope to tackle this need head-on over the next year or so. I hope to give you periodic updates (hopefully positive ones!) on our progress. Wish us luck!

Next, we finished our taxes for this year! Woohoo! What a mess that was, having our year split in half between two different states. Wisconsin is quite a bit pickier than Illinois in what they require you to input for their state taxes. What took us just a few hours last year took a few days this year. But, we're finally done, another tax season behind us!

Ryan's Summer Plans: Though we found out a few weeks ago, I think I failed to post that Ryan has secured a research position for this summer! We had hoped he would get a 12-week spot, and he only got a position for 8 weeks. Still, this is income we had not calculated in to our initial budget when we began medical school, so we are so thankful! One area of the budget we neglected to cover when we did our calculations was the application fees and travel accomodations when it comes time to apply to residency programs. This won't happen until Ryan's 4th year, but it will still be nice to have some extra money set aside for this purpose. And, because he got an 8-week position, he'll actually have a summer break (as opposed to working the whole summer with the 12-week), so we might get a little family vacation in as well! We're so thankful for the Lord's provision!

Next, here is an embarassing yet rather funny 'something' that happened the other night at our home: Ryan was lying on the living room floor studying, and he suddenly looked up at me, sitting on the couch reading, and said, "I just found a Nerd on the floor, and I ate it." I started laughing and said, "Don't worry, I did that earlier today too!" We both then started laughing at our mutual disfortune. You see, Abe received a Valentine care package from Ryan's parents, and it contained some Nerds. His little 2-year-old fingers must have had difficulty holding the teeny little candy pieces, because I've been finding them on the floor, sprinkled here and there. And yes, I confess, I've EATEN some of them! And my husband did the SAME THING!!! Is that a parent thing? Are there any other parents who do that sort of thing? I've yet to decide if it was because I really wanted the Nerd or because I was too lazy to do the alternative: take it to the kitchen and throw it in the garbage. I definitely wouldn't do it outside of my own home, nor even in my own home with many other foods either, but a little piece of candy? It seemed harmless enough!

Last, baby update!! I had my 39-week appointment today (that means just 1 more week!!!), and it went well. No additional "progress", but baby and mommy are both hanging in there. We discussed the option of induction versus going naturally, and my doctor is a big proponent of spontaneous labor rather than using drugs to coax it along. Ryan and I also are definitely hoping my body will go on its own (especially because we were induced last time with Abe). However, should I go all the way to 41 weeks, it puts us smack-dab in the middle of the week. This proves more difficult for family to make the trek up and is just two days before a huge exam for Ryan, followed by additional exams starting the next week. SO, we've decided that if I'm still pregnant by next Friday, the 24th (2 days after my due date), we will be induced that morning. I hope this doesn't have to happen! But we also think it's the best option given our circumstances.

Next post: our trip to the Children's Museum! Or, if I'm lucky, New Baby Boy post!! We'll have to see which comes first :) Thanks for reading my rambling!