Almost DONE

I have a committee for my exams!

At the end of our coursework, we take our qualifying exams. If we pass our exams, we are considered "doctoral candidates" and allowed to do our dissertation. We have four exams -- one in theory, one in methods, and one in each of our concentration areas (for me this is health and media law). We also have an oral defense of our answers. I have had to find four professors to administer these exams, three from the journalism school and one from outside the journalism school. I had my last professor confirm this weekend, so I am ready to go this fall.

This fall.

Because I am DONE with classes in May!!!!!!! I may have said that on this blog before, I don't remember. This semester will one day come to an end and barring some sort of grade disaster, I will be finished.

All that is standing in my way of the end of course work is three classes with a full study each. I have been working on one tonight. I am hoping to get one done by April 1 for the AEJMC (conference) deadline. We'll see how that goes.

6 Months!

I suppose I should post this BEFORE he turns 7 Months!

Luke turned 6 months on the 12th. (Yeah, way behind.)

At 6 Months, Luke:
~ Started to CRAWL!!!! On his 6th month birthday, Luke started army crawling (he hasn't stopped since).
~ Was 20 lbs., 12 oz. at his 6th month appointment, and 27 inches long
~ Loves books
~ Likes being bounced and thrown in the air
~ Likes the ABC song
~ Is ticklish on his thighs and also laughs when you tickle his sides/armpits
~ Sits up very well on his own.
~ Likes to take our glasses off our faces.
~ Eats usually about 6 times a day.
~ I would report his sleep schedule, but it's all over the place!
~ Still has blue eyes, but are they turning? Hazel or Brown?





The tickle monster attacks!

Photo Dump

Lots of cute from the past week or two.




Silliness with Daddy. You can see that his face is scratched. Layla got excited the other day and ran into the living room. She jumped over him, but, well, she missed and stepped on his face. Ugh.






Kiddo loves cups.


Blue eyes STILL!!!!


Loves his exersaucer.








Layla has watched a lot of America's Next Top Model and she is trying to smize.


How many creatures can take up mommy's lap?

Again with the police and EMTs!

Last night I went downtown to pick up some thai food Hal and I ordered for dinner. I picked it up and went to my car. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, I saw a man lying on the ground. I figured that he probably just slipped on some ice and fell, and kept inching out of the parking lot.

I don't know why I stopped, but I decided to back up and check on him. I turned around and opened my window.

"Are you okay, sir?" I asked.

He looked up.

His face was COVERED in blood. I was like, holy crap.

He said, "Well, no."

I said, "Can I call the hospital for you."

He said, "Oh no, don't do that. I just need some help to the shelter over there." (We were very close to the homeless shelter, where this man lives. He was also a little disoriented, probably both from being drunk (he was) and from hitting his head so hard.

I told him I was going to call the police and I did. While I did that, a couple of others came up to see if we needed any help. A guy got him standing (although that was probably not the best idea. He was very unsteady on his feet and he was losing a lot of blood). The dispatcher said she'd be sending police shortly. She asked if he had been assaulted and if I could ask him what happened. It was around this time that I realized he was probably drunk, too, and I told her that he was pretty disoriented.

Luckily, a young woman who had medical training happened on the scene. Someone had paper towels in their car. I happened to have gloves in my car from my Robinson Scholar CPR kit! (Interestingly enough, the first aid kit I had in my car did not have gloves. Stupid first aid kit! And now I have to buy a new first aid kit because I put it on the top of my car during this and drove off. It flew off into the street. Sad.) She took my gloves and was applying direct pressure to his face. She made him sit on the bumper of a van that was next to him. She said he needed at least 6 stitches in his nose and he had lost at least a liter of blood. (This was kind of an ordeal -- he didn't want to sit and he wasn't steady on his feet.)

I flagged the police down when they arrived. They gave the guy two options -- he could either go to the hospital or jail (I'm assuming because of public intoxication). Wisely, the man chose the hospital. They were very nice to him, actually. They asked his name and determined from him that he hadn't been assaulted but just fell down. They said they hadn't dealt with him before.

One of the officers said, "And you're drunk. Did you know that when you drink, your blood thins and so you bleed easier?" The guy nodded. They asked him how much he had to drink that day. They said, "Now, we don't care, but we need to figure out how much you've had to drink so the doctors can help you." He (his name is John) said, "A couple." The police officer said, "Now don't lie to us, how much have you had to drink." John said, "A whole lot." They said ok.

The ambulance was on its way when the police thanked us and told us we could leave if we wanted (although the girl with the gloves stayed to help until the ambulance got there).

What a night. Seriously. Between this guy and the girl who locked the kid in the car in July -- I've been in a police/EMT situation twice in the last 6 months. Come on, Bloomington, shape up! :)

5 months!

I am way behind, but Luke turned 5 months on the 12th!





At 5 Months, Luke:
~ Still has dark blue gray eyes.
~ Rolls all over the room
~ Sometimes sleeps on his tummy (and sometimes he wakes us up because he wakes up on his tummy and is mad about it)
~ Makes all sorts of noises
~ Does raspberries
~ Chuckles when he sees us
~ Had some waking issues for a little while, but is now back to getting up between 6:30 and 8 (and then eating and sleeping for a little while longer).
~ Is enjoying oatmeal. Had had bananas, an avocado, and sweet potatoes. He usually gets some "real food" at about 9 and we start the bedtime routine at 10.
~ Loves cups
~ Will kick his legs up and down in the crib when we go to get him up
~ Loves "Baby Faces" the book (he will smile at all the babies) -- he also likes to be read to.
~ Likes "The Kitty Cat Dance" on YouTube
~ May be sprouting a tooth (he seems to have some rough spots in his mouth)

We met Santa!!!

We went to the mall today and we finally got to meet Santa! We tried to meet Santa Thanksgiving weekend with my mom, but we got all the way to the front of the line, and Monster had a meltdown. So we left vowing one day to return to see Santa.

Today was the day. We got to the mall thinking that Santa ate lunch from 1-2, but he eats lunch on Sunday from 2-3. So we arrived right around 2:15. We were able to walk around Target for a little bit and picked up a gift and then we were back at the FRONT of the Santa line at 2:30. We decided just to wait and we were the first people to see the big guy when he got back from lunch.

I will say that Luke was FANTASTIC this time. He started to stick his lip out near the end, but he was awesome and never actually did cry. His sparkly Santa hat got lots of attention and many people stopped to gush at him. One lady asked if he was 6 months and when I told her he was 4 months she laughed and said her boys were always bigger, too. Another lady in line had a baby 2 weeks younger than Luke and she looked like a newborn next to him! He's a monster child.



We also took a couple of pictures at home...

Thanksgiving

Look at what I have to deal with. These are some of my cousins (and my sister, who is on the left). They were apparently pretending to be a boy band?



And my sweet grandparents. My grandfather is a spitfire -- the day before, he climbed up on a chair in the unfinished side of his basement and, unfortunately, fell off. Luckily he was OK. My grandma had surgery last week for a cyst on her spine -- it was pressing in her nerve and causing her a LOT of pain. The surgery went well!