I'm back, baby(s).

Alright.
So I want to come back to this even though I'm not sure how often I'll be able to.  When last I left you, I was on track with weight loss and had gotten accepted in graduate school.  Lala was getting to the point where she was becoming her own person, who could play for a little bit while I did something that didn't completely revolve around her. I was writing and reading.  I was in a really good place.

Source

And then something happened that really derailed me, in a lot of ways.
I got pregnant again.  The last post that I wrote, I was already pregnant but I didn't know yet.  I was really sick for almost two weeks, but besides simply feeling like crap, I didn't have any other symptoms.  I stopped losing weight.  I started to get really worried.  I hadn't yet gotten a period since Lala had been born and I was on birth control, so pregnancy didn't jump immediately to mind.  But, deep down, I had a feeling.
I took a pregnancy test and it was positive.
I can't fully describe how I felt.  I was devastated and terrified.  I walked out of the bathroom and looked at my husband.  I remember that my hands were shaking and cold.  I didn't have to say it out loud.  I burst into tears.  He held my shoulders but I didn't want to be embraced.  "What are we going to do?"
We had already started preparations to move.  I had been accepted to school and we were set to go.  I was finally experiencing more physical freedom than I had known from Lala but she was still breastfeeding.  I didn't think I could do the exhaustion and the physical symptoms of pregnancy and birth all over again, especially with a baby as young as Lala that I needed to take care of.
It was hard but my husband and I talked a lot and we decided that we were going to go ahead with the move and with school.  I really felt that I needed to go ahead.  I feel like I stalled on my career long enough, and I was really itching for intellectual challenge.
So we packed up and moved back to our alma mater into an expensive not-great apartment in an excellent location in the village and I went back to school.  With a lot of finangling, sooooo much help from our family and friends, a lot of understanding from my professors and a heady mix of determination, organization and insanity, I made it through my first two semesters, giving birth to Lala's sister Mimi a little more than halfway through my second semester.

Lala & Mimi

Now I'm getting ready for my last semester, taking a few summer courses and trying to get back into my groove.  I'm working out and trying to eat better; I'm almost back down to the weight I was when I got pregnant with Mimi (which was about fifteen down from the weight I seem to hover around when I don't pay attention).  I'm trying to get back into writing and read more (for me!).

Thus, this post.  I'm working on my own projects again, though I'm going to try to ease into a little.  Here we go!

Busy!

I got into graduate school!!!!
This of course means that I am super busy.  We need to get ready to move, we need to find jobs and a place to live, I'm still working and taking care of the baby.  Plus, it's summer, which means visits and trying to get some leisure in.
It's only going to get crazier!  I have decided to Camp NaNoWriMo next month.  Which may be a mistake, but I'm going to give it the good college try anyhow.  Before we get there, I'm going to try to write a few blog posts and schedule them for about once a week up through the middle of August.  I'll still be around; I've got lots to say.  But it'll be spotty.
Away!

Procrastination

I am procrastinating.  I need to get that under control.  Maybe this isn't the best place to talk about this.  Rather, this isn't the right time.
I am doing things that need to be done: I am starting to craft a budget to go back to school, I'm making a list of projects that need to be completed to move, I'm doing laundry and contemplating leaving the computer for a bit to get a workout in.  But I'm not doing what I should be doing, what currently tops the priority chart.  Namely, I am not writing my letter of intent for my grad application.
I find this type of writing incredibly daunting.  I don't like to write to praise myself.  I sort of find talking about why I want things difficult.  This is probably especially difficult since it was such a last minute decision on my part.  I had been mulling it over but I realize that I haven't really thought about it.
I need help!  I don't really know who to ask.  Perhaps I just need to really muscle through it.  Turn off my internet for a while and just write it.
Ahhhhh.
I need to learn from this experience.  I need lead time.  I don't work well under pressure.  At least, I distract myself constantly when under pressure.  I will learn this lesson.  I will take this lesson to grad school and try to never get in this spot with assignments.

BWWWAAAHHH

I wish I wasn't so socially awkward.  I need to scrounge up some recommendations for grad school but I'm nervous about asking people.  Especially since I need at least one focusing on my teaching performance and I did not keep up relationships with the people I worked with on my student teaching.  I honestly don't know how to keep in touch with people.  Grah.  I've had a message to my old boss open for a while that I'm not sure how to word or how to send.
Why am I so awkward?
I get physically twitchy trying to do this type of thing.  I'm super bent out of shape.  I need to relax.
Or eat a lot of cake.
Relaxing's probably better for me....

School: Grad-u-it, eventually grad-u-ate

I'm being trepidatious about applying to grad school.  (So much so that I distracted myself with an interesting defense of trepidatious as a word here. I vote yeah.  Or is it yay?)  I am applying to my alma mater.  I went on the website to see what I would have to do and discovered that the application deadline had been extended from April 1.  I should take it as a sign!  I need to get on this.  But I'm so nervous.
1! I hate rejection.  Who doesn't?  I am so scared that they're going to say no after I get my hopes up.  That my heart will be broken.
2!  I don't know if I can afford it.  Going back to school means moving and trying to negotiate a new living situation, a new work situation, books, childcare, food, tuition.  I can barely afford my life right now.  Let me add in school, the job that you pay.  I don't know if we can carry it.
3!  I don't know if I'm ready.  My brain feels totally dead lately.  I am having trouble just balancing some recreational reading and writing with my everyday life with Lala and Bard.  Can I really carry a course-load?   I want school to be successful.  Can I truly devote the time I need to do this correctly?
4!  A biggie!  I don't know that I know what I want to do.  When I apply it will be for literacy education.  I don't know if that's wise.  I like parts of teaching.  I love to write lesson plans (well, come up with the ideas for lessons).  I love working with kids, I love having a job that I can take home and mull over (and have that actually work out for me).  I love the hours and the kid-friendliness of the profession.  But I'm intimidated by parents, other teachers and staff, socially awkward in a way that hinders my progress.  Should I spend the money and time and effort to get this Master's if I'm not sure I want to pursue this profession?  Should I leave this profession behind when I haven't gotten a chance to really experience it, and what I have experienced I have loved?
The window for the application is open.
I am going to do it.  I can do it.
Right?
Right.
In other news, I am making fettuccine alfredo for dinner.  I'll post the recipe later.