Catch Up!

I have a lot of catch up on! Here's a little list for starters. I'll write proper blog posts...soon.

1. I passed my exam! It was a really good experience. More on that later.

2. I missed Eddie so much while studying! He was at daycare more than full time over the last 6 weeks. We skipped our weekly Tuesday afternoons off together in favor of studying. Because I spent weekends in the library, it meant that I really only hung out with him before and after school. And if you know anything about small children, you know that their personalities are different early and late in the day (more fussy, tired). I can't wait to get back into a schedule that lets us--just us--hang out during the daytime.3. So many people supported me throughout this process! Obviously, Dave was there by my side when I needed him to be--he took a week and a half off in order to take care of Eddie and me (I was "done" studying so we did get to hang out a bit, which was soooooooooooooo nice). Edward cleared his schedule in order to stay with me for a week prior to Dave's "term." My mom had her schedule cleared in order to come stay with Eddie after he was in bed, if I needed her to (she didn't end up needing to come). People all over the place were praying for me and sending me nice emails encouraging me and telling me I'd be in their thoughts and prayers. That was SUCH a booster for me!

5. Eddie is a talking MACHINE now. Sheesh, it seems like he can say practically anything. And he DOES--he talks NON STOP.

6. My family orchestrated my dad coming to Davis the day of my exam and surprising me at the restaurant where we were celebrating afterward. Ha! It was awesome! (And it boosted my confidence because he obviously knew in his heart that I would actually pass the exam, otherwise it would have been awkward for him to come all the way up here.)

7. The Schwinds moved the day after my exam. =( I'm so sad about that. John and I are in the same cohort at school (same starting class in our program). I remember him before Jessica moved to California to be with him. And I remember him telling me about his girl friend and how she was going to move here. Then I remember meeting this hot blond lady at one of our seminars--it was Jessica and she'd tagged along with John to school that day. She became a professor at a local university AND started at Davis as a Ph.D. student (she's quite a catch). Then we bonded over our dogs...and eventually over babies. And now they are gone--back to Georgia to live near Jessica's family. We couldn't go to their going away party because we were in Livermore at the time. They came to my exam celebration so I did get to hold each of the babies and say good bye.

8. Eddie turned two years old just two weeks before my exam. He's definitely not a baby anymore. My mom threw him an awesome party at a park we used to frequent at his age. It was really fun.