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The Honeymoon Is Over

Until recently I have had no problem leaving Koa alone with Caspian while I am in another room.  He has never shown any interest in hurting him or being too rough with him and I have been exceedingly grateful for that. 

A couple of days ago I was in the kitchen cooking and I saw that Koa was playing with one of our slipper pillows off of the couch in the living room.  Caspian was playing on the floor in his little baby gym and all was well.  A couple of minutes later I heard much comotion with the baby gym followed by loud Caspian screams.  I rushed in to see what had happened (even though I already knew!) and figured out Koa had thrown the pillow at Caspian.  Before I could even scold him for it, Koa was already on the ground appologizing to Caspian for the offense.  Apparently he thought Caspian was now old enough for pillow fights and could not quite conceptualize that Caspian would not feign injury and fall down like Koa does when you hit him with the pillow! 

For several minutes afterwards Koa was extra sweet and kept saying, "Mama, I want to hug him."  It was pretty funny.  Caspian recovered quickly and there was no reoccurance of the incident.  Although, I'm sure there will be more to come in the future.  Brother love.  It's a little different than brotherly love.

So Far, So Good...

Friday was kind of a big day for me (Zak).  As you may recall, the whole reason I earned by BA while in the Navy, then got out of the Navy early, then moved our family away from Hawaii (and the sunshine), then started here at Seminary, was so eventually I would go back into the Navy as a Chaplain.  This has no doubt been a rather long-term goal (around 4 years since I started my BA)!  However, yesterday I feel like I took one giant step forward down the path to eventual active duty chaplaincy.

I have been working with my Officer Recruiter for the past 7 months or so getting my application package ready to submit.  This package includes transcripts, resumes, a security background check, interviews, letters of recommendations, evaluations from back when I was in the Navy, and a Letter of Endorsement from the Churches of Christ (many, many thanks to all of you who helped me complete some of these things in one way or another!).  The last part of my application package is a physical fitness report, which cannot be done by a recruiter but by military medical personnel at a local MEPS office.  Anyone who has ever served in any branch of the military, officer or enlisted, active or reserves, even National Guard, has to go through MEPS.  I went through it the first time almost 10 years ago in Richmond, VA.  At MEPS I (along with about 40 other people [high schoolers!]) did an audio screening, a visual screening, I had blood drawn, I peed in a cup, I had a medical history review, and I had a physical fitness exam which included a bunch of balance and range-of-motion maneuvers (like the duck walk), and then they got my height and weight and body fat percentage.

It was my weight that had me concerned - I was way overweight when I got out of the Navy and I had to lose a bunch before the Navy would let me back in (they're not so strict if you're already in!).  So, as you know if you've been following my Twitters, I began eating healthier and exercising under the close supervision of my wife/personal trainer on December 17th of last year - just a little over 2 months ago.  I set a goal for myself of 200lbs by 15May09 which is the last day of this semester.  On Thursday the 19th, I hit 200lbs (200.4 to be exact).  And in just 2 months - less than half the time I gave myself!  The graph at the beginning of this post is the actual Excel Spreadsheet that I used to chart my progress - the blue line being my actual daily weight, the green line being an Excel calculated Trendline, and the red line being an Excel calculated weight-loss average.

Before I go any further, let me give all the credit and glory to God.  I, like I'm sure most of you, have struggled for years with losing weight, and have tried many different ways to get rid of it.  I honestly didn't do anything different or new this time around - based on historical evidence I should have lost interest and given up a long time ago.  However, only through a power greater than my own, I was able to maintain interest and drive and get to where I am now.  There's no way I could have given up drinking anything other than water for 2 whole months on my own.  There's no way I could have worked out around 6 nights a week every week for the past 2 months on my own.  There's no way I could have completely stopped eating outside our house for close to a month straight.  There's no way I could have taken as much coconut oil a day as I have since December 17th on my own.  I truly, truly believe that God has helped me lose these 20lbs as I slowly work my way towards becoming a Navy Chaplain.  So I give Him all the credit for my success.

So that's the good news - I lost enough weight by MEPS on Friday that I passed my physical and completed my officer application package.  Now we wait...  My recruiter says it may take a couple weeks to hear if the Navy Chaplain Corps (to whom my package was sent) accepts my application and will let me go in the Navy.  If they do, I'll become a Chaplain in the Navy Reserves for the next couple years until graduation of Seminary when I can apply to become active duty.  We'll keep praying that that wicket will also be passed through.

Oh, and my new weight goal is 180lbs by 15May09!  We'll see...

I Am A Huge Dork!

Yesterday we had our quiz on chapter 4 in Greek class.  First of all, let me just say that if you are tempted to study just a wee bit more during the prayer at the beginning of class, you haven't studied sufficiently.  Yes, that was me.  No, I didn't give in to the temptation, but it was there!

Secondly I need to reiterate (to myself) that I am not taking the class for credit! 

As soon as I was handed the quiz (Yes, a quiz, not even a test!) I started to get all nervous and shaky.  My heart was racing.  My palms started to sweat.  Between my shaky hands and the bumpy table surface you could barely read my handwriting!  I was a complete mess! 

Then the professor started saying, "OK, just a couple more minutes."  So, I was really panicked!  I just knew I was not going to be able to finish the test and I was going to have to leave something blank!  So, I rushed (just typing this makes me all nervous again!) and filled in blanks, and translated into English words that we haven't even learned yet! 

I finished.  And turned it in.  And then realized all of the things I had done incorrectly! 

Isn't this ridiculous?  I guess it's a good thing I'm not taking the class for credit.  I might have actually passed out right there in the middle of the test!

Fortunately, our other quizzes have not been so traumatic.  On most occasions I have felt much more prepared for class when the time came.  Holy moly, it's getting intense, though.  It is A LOT of information.  I think Zak is beating me by like 1/12 of a point so far.  I'm thinking when we get this next quiz back, though, his lead will be much more significant.  After all, he wasn't sweating during the test!  Maybe he studied during the prayer....

Ever Had One Of Those Days?

Some days are just double-thumb-suckin' kinds of days!  This child is going to need his own special recovery group! :)

May I Present...

I wanted to dispel the myth that we and the Cousers have made a bet to see who can go the longest without a haircut!  We are all just trying to keep our heads warm.  In addition to that, when the ol' budget gets slashed, I think you realize just how unnecessary a haircut really is. 

A couple of weeks ago, Zak broke down and actually paid someone to cut his hair since it was becoming a burden to wash and felt gross when he was working out.  This was his first "civilian" haircut in almost 10 years.  Unless you count the time I cut it with scissors and it took about three hours.  He got it cut just in time for his new driver's license picture!  This way his whole head was able to fit in the picture!

Today I finally broke down and cut Koa's for the second time since we moved here.  I officially removed any remaining sun-bleached curls.

May I present my handsome husband and cute little son and their much shorter tresses!

 

Caspian and I are still awaiting our first Portland haircut.  I'm not sure when that will happen for either of us! 

Caz is officially three months old now.  We had his three month check up last Friday.  He is still a chunk, but slowing down a bit.  He is only in the 75th percentile now, so he's down a chin, I guess.  His tummy is still not quite well, so Dr. Jen gave him a homeopathic remedy to see if we can get things going a bit.  We still think he is intolerant of dairy, so I am trying to avoid it as best I can.  I thought it was helping for a while, but now I'm not so sure.  We'll see how he does with the Lycopodium drops.

He is getting more animated all the time which is really fun to watch.  He imitates things we do and noises we make.  He likes to laugh with us.  When we laugh, he will laugh back.  Unfortunately it is hard to get a good picture of him smiling because when he does, it is a full-body smile and all of the wiggles make the pictures turn out blurry. 

He loves being naked just like Koa did.  He's not quite as dramatic as Koa about it, though.  He has only pulled the choking and gagging when we put his diaper on once or twice.  He starts to smile and coo the second we start to undo his sleeper for a diaper change and once we take his diaper off, it looks like his legs have taken leave from his body.  They just go crazy for the duration of the naked baby time! 

He's starting to become more and more active when we put him in his little jumper and more often than not he will be at the opposite end of the crib by the end of his nap.  Just today he started turning in a circle, too.  I'm afraid he's going to be crawling before we know it!

With the exception of this week, Caspian has been a great sleeper.  Several weeks ago he started sleeping from 10 PM to 10 AM with a feeding at 6 AM.  That has worked out great for all of us.  It has been helping me get up at 6 to do my Bible study before everyone else is up.  I think he must have had a growth spurt this week because he has been waking up earlier and eating more often during the day.  I think he is also getting where he would prefer to start his day at 6 instead of going back to bed.  I'm not ready to give that up, yet, though.  We'll see who gets their way on this one... :)

May I present my three month old thumb sucker...

 

 

And as a bonus, another Zak picture...