School, Doctors and the Outdoors

Well, it's that time again...school is in session! Kenneth is starting his LAST year before he graduates with his BS in Mechanical Engineering. It is pretty ridiculous...after talking with his counselor he determined that he only needs to take 2 classes this semester and 1 class next semester. He is going to take an additional class this semester that will count towards his masters degree (he can take up to 6 grad level classes before he has graduated with his undergrad). I am SOO happy with how his schedule is working out because he will work T & Th only, and then he has school MWF until 11:30. Then the rest of the day he will be at home and can take care of Danny while I am working from home. LOVELY! I was really worried about how I would be able to get all my hours in at work...but this arrangement will help out so much!

As for Kenneth's work, it looks like he WILL be able to work full time with ATK as soon as he graduates!! The only problem is that as an intern (which he currently is) he can only work a total of 1000 hours before they would have to hire him on full time. He can't be hired full time until he has graduated, and because of how much he worked during the summer, he can only work 16 hours a week until his graduation in May. Thank goodness I'll still be working then! This whole situation will also be nice though because Kenneth would like to start doing photography professionally, and so, he will have a LOT more time to do that! We're excited!

As for an update on Danny, we went to the doctors yesterday and Danny (who is now 7 1/2 weeks old) is now up to 7lb 4oz! He is getting so big!! He is also 20.5 inches long. He is starting to outgrow some of his clothes! The only thing the doctor is still watching is his iron level. It is still a little low - nothing to worry about, but just watching. The doctor said that sometimes it takes 4-5 months for the iron level to regulate, so we'll just keep watching and see what it does.

Anyway, Danny is such a stinkin' cute little kid!! He is doing much better with his eating/sleeping schedule. He is starting to last a little longer in between his night feedings. He used to wake up every 3 hours, but now it is about every 4.5-5 hours. Kind of strange though...I feel more tired now than when I would wake up every 3 hours! Explain that for me!! He was starting to get used to being held when he would fall asleep, so I'm trying to fix that issue now. I do NOT want a baby who requires rocking and holding to fall asleep! It has led to some hard nights however, when I have to leave him crying for extended periods of time...but Kenneth keeps reminding me it will be for the best.

What else? I am happy to say that Kenneth and I have been able to still take advantage of the outdoors with Danny! We have already taken him on several hikes, and we've been able to go climbing a couple of times. We went last weekend with Stephanie and her boyfriend Justin (thanks for babysitting Alisha!!) and we sent climbing again with Stephanie last night. It was actually amazingly easy to take Danny with when we go climbing! He just slept in his car-seat the whole time, and we fed him a bottle when he was hungry. It was great! Apparently we need to do MORE climbing while he can stay in his car-seat!!

Here are some pictures from our recent hike on Mt. Olympus: