checking in.

Well, my hiatus from blogging lasted a lot longer than I had initially thought.

There have been big, big, BIG changes for our family since I last sat at my computer to share anything with you all. Quickly, here are a few things that have kept us on our toes:

• Z changed jobs at Christmastime! 
• I started school!
• L has transitioned from mommy 24/7 to his grandmothers twice a week. 
• Stig is over 6 months old and about 65 pounds if I'd wager a guess.
• We've all battled a sickness I brought home.
• My dad's been away multiple times for many weeks on end. 
• My FIL suffered a new injury and is still undergoing chemotherapy.
• Z joined handbells at Church & started Bible study
• LENT: we've given up ALL fast-food and started exercising daily.

In addition, there have been a multitude of other "that's just life" occurrences that have kept us occupied over the last three months.

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In all honesty, I am not sure I will ever enter back into blogging the way I had before. I really did enjoy my time away, and I liked not having to worry about taking pictures of things because I had to blog them. Lightening up in that way has really allowed me to enjoy myself, put myself in the moment, and let things happen without my being so worried about posing and capturing this and that. Having said that, I never upload the pictures from my camera to my computer anymore, and I still haven't loaded all the Christmas ones. I might not have even picked up my camera in over two and a half months.

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As far as everything else goes?

Yes, Z is very happy in his new job. He is working with three other veterinarians at a high volume clinic that keeps him busy. His boss is an absolute dream and I have threatened on more than one occasion to kiss her on the mouth when we meet for the first time. Z misses some of his friends from the old clinic, but this move has really been for the best. He is a dedicated, enthusiastic practitioner and I'm happy to see him in a clinic where he feels that he is being put to the best use. We're all thankful for his new job and his great reputation in the vet community that allowed the move to be quick and easy. 

L has transitioned well into his new day-care style routine. He stays with my mom on Tuesdays and my MIL on Thursdays. We are a very blessed family in that we all truly love one another. I share news with my in-laws as quickly as I share it with my parents and I cannot even begin to gush enough about what a great treat it is to have all four of our parents so involved in our son's life. He loves, loves his grandparents and even is building a relationship with Z's grandmother that makes me so happy. Grandmother Dorothy is the sweetest woman on the planet and she truly adores her great-grandsons. We're glad L is able to have a relationship with her. 

-- as far as changes in my toddler: we're about to start potty training. I believe his involvement at school has been instrumental as he is now much more conscious of the "pee-pee potty" concept. He also is becoming more adept with the English language, we've found he doesn't really attempt words unless he can pronounce them adequately and enjoys putting sentences together. He is constantly asking to go to "Nanny and Papa's house" and he tells us with almost a timed precision that he "loves choo-choo trains." We're all very proud of him, he's showing great signs and his great-grandmother on my side and his grandmother, both highly educated educators (yes, dissect that sentence), are very impressed by his ability to recite the alphabet without having to sing it. I don't really know what this indicates, but I'm proud of the little guy. 

Now. To be utterly selfish, onto myself! I had major reservations about going back to college. I wasn't very excited when the start date drew near, but after two weeks I was completely enamored. I'm currently "on" Spring Break and even confessed to my mother yesterday that I really would rather go to class next week than take the time off. I hope it doesn't come across as haughty when I say I'm succeeding beyond my wildest expectations and am so extraordinarily happy with the feedback I'm getting. The former department head, a very renowned rhetorician, my current Rhetorical Theory professor, has completely changed the way I think and look at things when I'm writing and I can feel myself growing as a writer. My Caribbean Literature Senior Seminar professor, a founding co-editor of a renowned Caribbean literature publication, has encouraged me to look into Graduate studies and has invited me to take part in a Caribbean Literature Symposium this summer. This is a tremendous honor for an undergraduate student and I am thrilled to be a part of it. I am also taking Arthurian Literature and my professor in there is so intelligent, so learned in her field that it's almost scary. I have learned more in this semester than I feel I ever have before. 

In addition to learning about "Book A" and "Journal Article 3894," I have learned so much about myself these past few months. My Caribbean class in particular is very involved with understanding self-acceptance, self validation, interior versus exterior affirmation and the importance of self versus community and discussing these topics, dissecting them, has allowed me to really scrutinize myself. When I said in December I wasn't happy with my blog, I think the larger issue at hand was I wasn't happy within my own skin. I've made some pretty drastic changes, removed some lamentable entities from my life and am coming down much happier in the end. Knowing that I have the respect of my professors and my peers has really made me understand what I want to work for and where I need to be to be happy. Having said that, I'm very lucky to have a handful of very good, understating and patient friends who have been tremendously supportive and have celebrated my successes with me these past few months, making me feel like my decisions I've made recently have been absolutely on point. It's nice to know that whatever casualties there are in my personal life along the way, I have the support of my family and a few very precious friends who will still be there when I'm where I want to be.

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Well, that is really all I want to say for now. I find that I don't enjoy sitting down to write about "us" and "me" very much. This used to be my one space where I was sharing my writing publicly, but now that I have professors reading my work multiple times a week, I find that to be enough to satiate my need to have my writing "out there." As a matter of fact, while my toddler is occupied with my iPhone, I think I'll indulge a little and work on a couple of papers and reading assignments I have over break. I don't know what has changed for me, maybe it's maturity, maybe it's a drive to set an example for my son that I can be proud of, but I'm definitely a much better student now than I was before. I WANT to read, I WANT to do my work and I want to be in class every single day. It's really remarkable. And to be frank? I'm proud of myself. I'm proud of L and I'm proud of Z. 2012 has turned out to be the year that our family betters itself and I'm really looking forward to what the rest of the year has to offer. 

I'll check back in... but I can't promise it'll be before school lets out in May. Priorities and all that. Maybe next time, I'll even post pictures! If you're interested in the meantime, I do tweet with disgusting regularity. I even post pictures so you can see just how much my toddler has changed, or catch a glimpse of my new life as old-lady college student. You can find me HERE.