Back to School Dump

 I'm practicing my photography skills here...It's very difficult to afford pictures of the girls, so although I have a long way to go--years, in fact--I do think I'm improving slightly.  I just loved this pic because it is so them.  Jules is always sticking out her tongue and Laeah is always talking to Jules.  They are sisters and they love each other.

 We finally had Jules dedicated.  It only took 7 months...no biggie :/  Let's just say, it's good her dedication dress is a 6 mos. size, the same one I used for the other girls and the only size I could find when I bought it for Lovely 10 years ago.

Not the best pic of me, but we're both smiling :)  She's my girl and oh so adorable!  You really can't tell that I've lost any weight in this picture, but I guess that's because I didn't take many pics at all over the last few years (of myself that is). 

I went back to work this week, and I think it's going to be a fun semester.  I have a bunch of talkers in all of my classes, unlike last spring when I needed a break from teaching.  I'm teaching three classes, and I really enjoy it, although it's a lot of work grading research intensive essays.  It's difficult leaving the girls, but I do think Jules needs me to be gone a little bit--she cries when I walk past her and wants me sitting beside her when she plays on the floor.  She's in physical therapy now because she just doesn't want to crawl and hasn't built up her core or neck muscles in order to do so.  At first I didn't think she needed it, but I do see a difference now that she's had just two sessions.  Oh, and she waved at me for the first time today on purpose :) 

School is still iffy for my girls.  Lovely insists she wants to homeschool, although I'm sure she'd really miss her best friend (yes, they are best friends again).  I'm not thrilled with her class set-up at all--waaaay too much testing in my opinion--but I'm going to give it until Christmas and then see.  Meanwhile, Lovely is taking violin lessons, computer lessons, she has an audition for orchestra next week, and she plans on starting volleyball (which only lasts until fall break, so not too terribly long).  Wow.  I would have been lucky to get to do one of those things as a child.  

Snugglebug loves school and I think the newest best friend she made is a good influence, who--get this--used to homeschool.  However, Snugglebug keeps displaying patterns of laziness that we're working on overcoming.  She got two bad scores on tests lately because she didn't write enough detail, or any detail for that matter, so I made her rewrite her answer once she got home.  I'm hoping that was a lesson.  If this persists, I'm not sure how homeschool will go with her.  I keep secretly thinking, "You say you're going to homeschool, but you never will."  Hmm. There's good and bad to everything, and I'm trusting I'll know when I need/should pull them both out.  I can't really teach with Jules & Laeah, and three college courses, and S's business, and...the list goes on.  I pray every day S gets better work so that I can scale back on all I do, so I can refocus that energy elsewhere.  You can only imagine what my house must look like at this point. 

Lastly, I still haven't lost any more pounds, but I did lose 3/4 inches, making a grand total of 14 and 1/4 inches lost between my stomach, hips, thighs, and arms.  I'm pretty good with that.  I'm still concentrating on nursing, so I'm eating more foods that keep weight stable rather than shedding weight.  I also haven't figured out how to include exercise, which will help tremendously.  I'm hoping my hikes across campus at work will aide in this healthy adventure.  The downside to realizing what real food is, and how to eat healthy:  everytime I see S or grandma give my kids junk food, I can't help but think, "You're poisoning them!" And yet, I know I don't want them to feel deprived and go overboard on junk once they are older.  I feed them a healthy breakfast and dinner, and I don't buy candy/cookies/cake/ice cream/chips, so they only get that once their daddy or grandma gives it to them.  Lovely likes my healthy desserts as well :)