October!

It's amazing to think that I haven't posted since June 1st! SO much has happened since then. An internship at a rehab hospital, beginning of a new school year, a little human began growing inside of me... Yay! I'm currently sixteen weeks pregnant and we find out if little baby Dots is a girl or a boy in less than 3 weeks. I've been really fortunate and have not experienced any of the major pregnancy symptoms you always hear about. No nausea, which is mainly what I'm referring to. Other than fatigue, it has been going really well. I'm patiently waiting to feel little baby flutters and kicks- I can't wait for that!!

I've started a little blog for baby here: http://littlebabydotson.blogspot.com/

There's not much there right now, mainly because I'm too tired to do a lot, much less design a blog, but I'm hoping it'll come around soon.

<3 p="p">

The "Speech Lady"

Yesterday was my last day of being called "the speech lady" in the halls of my school. I've also heard "Mrs. Speech" and "That speech teacher" :) It has been a wonderful year. I learned a LOT and look forward to what God has in store for the future.

On Monday I start my first internship in a rehab hospital :) I'm excited! I can't believe it's already here. This time last year, I was in Denton for our "Kick-Off" week for this grad program. Imagine about 120 anxious, scared, excited grad students attending class all day and getting delusional from studying in the dorms for all hours of the night. At the end of that week, we had 3 final exams back to back on a Friday. It seems to have become a tradition for "Region 20" (the San Antonio group of girls) to take finals and go grab a margarita and Mexican food to celebrate being finished with another semester. For the summer and fall, there was a sense of excitement for all of us making it through. This past Spring semester.... we were all dead tired. Only 4 of us went and we were just plain exhausted. It's funny how the emotions have changed with the passing of each semester. While I'm excited about this summer, I don't know what to expect. I have thought "I can definitely work in a hospital," but I have loved my kiddos in the school. Every place is different though, and I welcome what this summer will bring.

In a year, I will be a "graduate" (we walk the stage in May, but finish classes in August). It is hard to believe how quickly this past year has flown by. God is good.

Banana Nut Procrastination

My morning started with this goodness. Banana nut bread is. SO. YUMMY. Although it was created out of motivation procrastination, it turned out to be a nice treat to begin the day with. Life has been crazy lately. This semester has been THE semester so many people before me have warned me of.... I was kind of wondering why I thought grad school "wasn't too bad", but man, now I know. Many tears have been cried lately, and lots of questioning of myself. "Can I do this?... Do I want it this bad?... How do I do this?" They have all been thought many times. Fortunately, I have an endless support system that remind me that God wouldn't have me here if I wasn't supposed to be. That is all that keeps me going. And lots of prayer. While my laundry pile has been growing very quickly, I know I am putting my all into this.

So today I spent the day at my favorite coffee shop reading chapters and taking quizzes. I am done with my quizzes for this semester for my Dysphagia class. Yay!! I have never been so happy to have something off of my list. I have a couple more assignments to finish tomorrow after church, and then it's study time. Finals are in a little over a week, and I need to do reeeally well on one in particular. All I can do is try my best. 

This is probably all I will post until finals are finished. "See" you when I cross that hurdle!

Live, Breathe, Eat...? speech

So it seems that I have barely any time to update this old blog... or I have nothing to blog about! My classes started again back in January and life has been pretty busy since then. Just look at my laundry pile, and you would know! ;) I am taking Dysphagia and Neuro II this semester. I LOVE Neuro II (who knew?), but Dysphagia is another story. Right now it's a bit boring and I'm just trying to understand it all while somehow maintaining an interest. Neuro II is AWESOME - I love learning about different aphasias and treatment plans.

Aside from that, I haven't been up to much else! I'm still loving my job at the school and the kids I see every day. I got my summer hospital placement at Global Rehab Hospital and can't wait to begin there! My supervisor told me there is a diverse caseload- TBI, stroke, dementia, dysphagia, etc. Everything I'm learning about all in one building. I'm sure I will have plenty to update on when I'm there.

Just wanted to give a quick update.... guess speech is a big part of my life now! ;)

His light overcomes

"The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim 2:19)

"You may be sighing and groaning because of inbred sin and mourning over your darkness, yet the Lord sees light in your heart, for He has put it there....The light within is the dawn of the eternal day." -Charles Spurgeon, Morning & Evening for January 5th (Evening Reading)

As I read this tonight, I felt comforted. I have been feeling very convicted lately of the "darkness" I have that comes with being human. I have become sad, upset with myself, and even angry at certain times at my own thoughts or actions, knowing that it is not what God has called me to. "Yet the Lord sees light in your heat, for He has put it there"-- I remember when I was about 14, and in youth group, I would thing that my "problems" in my life were not big- I did not commit big sins, and therefore I was fine. Everything was dandy-- I learned that this way of thinking is much more dangerous that being convicted of even the "smallest" sin. I have also learned that I can not let my sin discourage me from seeking His face.

"Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually." - Psalm 105:4
There have been times when I let my weakness overpower me and prevent me from seeking the Lord's strength. I am definitely a work in progress (aren't we all?), but His strength renews me. I am thankful for a God who knows me, and for the eternal day I can look forward to.

***P.S.***
I changed the look of my blog- the header is one I have been searching for! It was on my old blog from college, and I thought I had deleted it- lo and behold, I had it saved deep within my blogger accounts. So excited! It's been one of my favorite verses and I love the way it looks. :-)

Thankful

Today I am thankful for so many things :)

• A God who provides for and loves me. My joy is complete in Him.
• A wonderful husband who strives to please Him and shows me love in every moment. He makes me laugh, listens to me, and is my best friend.
• A church family that I am excited to grow with -- we are so thankful to have finally found our church home.
• Two crazy pugs who make me laugh all the time.
• A great graduate program that pushes me to my limit so I will be the best speech pathologist I can be.
• A supportive and loving family that I get to see and talk to so often.
• A fantastic school to work for and an amazing supervisor.
• Where God has taken me these past few years.... Five years ago I would have never imagined to be where I am, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
• Wonderful friends that I have, as spread out as we are, that still keep in touch and fill my life with joy.
• A great house that we continue to make more "home-y".
• Again, the love of my Father. He has blessed me so much.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 

Balance

This week has been crazy- I started it off with my first wreck, plus work, classes, and then trying to keep up with all the small things. I'd like to think that I'm a laid back person,   but really- it's just me avoiding the fact that there is sooooo much to do, and then when it does pile up, my super-stress compensates for all of the things I was previously ignoring. I think that was a run-on, and I'll be happy if anyone understands me.

Oddly enough, I feel myself on the brink of peace. That's a new feeling for me (being CLOSE to peace), but I know God is trying to calm me before I let all of these meaningless things bother me. And I am trying to listen. Not doing as well as I'd wanted on a midterm = keep pressing on. What good does stressing do? I'm trying to remember that.

It was a wreck...

Literally :( On  my way home from work today, I got in a car accident. It could have been much worse, but I have never felt so shaken up in my life. Right after it happened, my whole body started tingling, and I'm lucky that there were people around to help me and get my car out of the way of traffic.

I won't say much more, other than that I am thanking God for His protection of everyone there. I will go to bed tonight thankful for another day of life.

A quarter of a century! ;)

This weekend has been sooo much fun! I love that my hubs makes me feel so special all the time, but especially on my birthday. While at work on Friday, Russell called me to tell me we had a surprise date. Um, yes!! I love surprises, and I love dates :) We ended up at this cute little place called "Painting with a Twist". You can bring your own wine and you paint a painting with a bunch of other people in a class- it is sooo much fun, and I felt like an artist!

It was so much fun, and now our masterpieces are hanging in our room. What a great memory! I love it :)

On Saturday we went to the Magnolia Pancake Haus, and it was soooo yummy. I wish I had a picture of my yummy "Authentic Munchener Apfel Pfannekuchen".  It was the wonder of a pancake x 100! It was basically like tasting heaven!

That night we went to a comedy club. It was a first-time experience for both of us. We did get a few laughs in, but I can't say we'll do it again. Sometimes it was a little much, but overall we had a fantastic time! I am so lucky to have such a sweet husband. 

Here's to a good 25th year! :-)

Midterms, Schmidterms, and other fun things

Midterms... are... over!! Hallelujah! I am so happy about this. I only spent two weeks not cleaning my house, not doing laundry, etc. - It's time to get it together!! I know there is still a ton to do for school, but I am going to rejoice in this moment- I finished a major portion of this semester. Hopefully I did well!

There are lots of exciting things happening in our lives right now that I really wish I could announce on here, but alas. It shall wait. :) Here's a hint: I'm not pregnant ;) That's for my mom in case the word "announce" happens to cause anyone to jump to conclusions. God has been moving in our lives in ways I never thought would ever happen- I can't say much more, but I will say that His ways are best all the time. I am so thankful to know that the plan is all His! If you read this, please pray for us as we seek to glorify God in the next few steps regarding this decision. I will keep the blog 'posted' ;-)

The Power of the /S/! (A Speech Post)

So today I had a breakthrough moment with one of my articulation kiddos. It. was. awesome!!

I know most of you veteran SLP's out there probably think that articulation is the easiest area of speech, but for me, the easiest area is language, and I attribute that to my being an English major and teacher/tutor. To me, vocabulary, parts of speech, basic concepts, etc. are all fun and easy to plan creatively for my kids. I do not, of course, have a caseload of language kids, but do have quite a few artic kids. This is great, considering I need a wide variety of experience for when I'm no longer an assistant, but actually doing this stuff on my own, making my own decisions.

One of my kids struggles with making his /S/ sound. Of course he does "th" instead, but for about 8 weeks, I have never been able to help him understand tongue placement, or hear the difference between /s/ and /th/. I was getting discouraged because I heard many people say /S/ is their favorite sound to work with because it is so easy. I've tried using tongue depressors, the "big mouth" as a model, minimal pairs, etc. Well, my supervisor told me that she sometimes had luck when she explained that some people have a false tooth and their S kind of sounds like a loud whistle. Well, I modeled this and it was a huge success! He even heard himself say the /s/ clearly and wanted to look in the mirror so he could make sure his tongue wasn't touching in between his front teeth. He kept wanting to say /s/ words and got them all right multiple times!

Now, this may not be too exciting to many, but it was one of those moments when you know the kid "got it" and it was literally life changing for them. The big smile I got to see when he heard himself say the /S/ sound was the best part of my day. Absolutely priceless :-) I can't wait to see it again!

Neurology & Candied Pecans

So this weekend has been full of studying for my Neuro midterm, in addition to many other important things- like candied pecans! I don't know why, but I was definitely craving them as a mid-study snack tonight. So I got up and put some pecans, cinnamon, and sugar in a pan and wa-la. Yummy :)

Aside from that, I can tell you all about neural development, cerebral spinal fluid, etc., but I'm sure that's not exactly interesting- although it kind of is! ;) I guess I should get back to studying. Maybe I should call this my "October update"! Hopefully I'll get to blog more later in the week. 

Pinky, Pinky and the Brain Brain Brain Brain...

This amazingly funny video brings so much laughter to me because it is just such a cute way to study! Who can watch TOO much Pinky & the Brain?! And if you don't know who Pinky and the Brain are, we might not be able to talk until you watch a few Youtube videos of them. ;)

So, this week has gone by really quick! I think the beauty of being super busy is that long days don't feel as long as they are!In addition to full-time work at the school doing speech therapy (which I love!!), graduate classes started this week. This week was Neurology, and next week is Diagnostics. I should probably go and study for Neurology a bit before I go to bed because, yes, the human brain is very intricate! When I learn about it, I can't help but think of the miracle of life. Even our professor included "And because you are fearfully and wonderfully made..." into her lecture. I love that my professors are so passionate about what they do, and for helping others. It is truly a joy to "see" them via videoconferencing every week.

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Last weekend for labor day weekend, I went to Houston to visit my beautiful friend, Lauren, and her sweet new baby, Lily. It is SO crazy to me that we are all growing up and having BABIES (okay, so maybe I'm not all grown up yet because it may be a couple years!), and it was a true joy to get to meet one of my best friend's daughter. Here are some pics:

Isn't she cute? And she was a joy to be around. Such a sweet baby. Lauren is already a great mother.

Well, I guess I should go study the parts of the brain!! Hippocampus, hypothalamus, etc. Gotta love it! :)

Lovin' the new job

So summer is "over" and school is back in session! I'm sooo excited to be a part of my new school doing speech therapy. We have been doing lots of organizing, paper work, etc. It all sounds mundane, but my kids will start coming next week and I am so excited to meet all of them!

We haven't been doing much lately besides work. Russell is teaching 5th grade and even has a couple of my 4th graders from last year! Crazy, right? I'm so thankful that we both have the opportunity to educate these kids this year.

Can't write too much tonight because it's *gasp*, my bed time! I'm trying to get a lot of sleep and energy before grad school starts back up. Here's a peek at my decorated door for the speech room:

My hallway has a mural of the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree, so I decided to make a jungle theme this year. Can't wait to meet my little toucans ;)

Day 3 - 7 Day Slim Down

I woke up super late this morning (around 10), but still fit a good day in! I'm in no way following the 7 day slim down completely, but each food choice that I make has been a healthy one! I feel like this round of the slim down is more of a kick-start to eating healthy than anything else, but I feel great about it.

• This morning I did a 30 min jog/walk in my neighborhood and came back and had a protein pancake. I had a lot of batter left over, so tomorrow I'm using it for waffles. Can't wait! ;)
• For meal 2, I had a handful of blackberries. They were SO good.
• Meal 3: Chicken with veggies- yum!
• Meal 4 - accidentally skipped it :(
• Meal 5 - Was going to make a lean ground turkey salad, but my hubby wanted something "good". I ended up making it with whole wheat thin spaghetti in a small portion. I would usually eat 2-3 bowls, and ate a small one instead. 

I'm finding that this is a HUGE mental thing for me. I'm learning that I usually just eat when I feel the slightest bit BORED of all things. So I'm hoping that I'm getting rid of that habit. 

Great day! :-)

Day 2 - 7 Day Slim Down

Today was CRAZY!! I had so much going on from 6:45 AM to now - 1:16 AM. I. am. pooped. And then I remembered I had to blog :)

So I woke up to head over to my parent's for their garage sale. I made a good $3, but also got a $1 Belgian waffle maker. Heck yes! ;)

So I tried a Kombucha drink this morning with an apple sprinkled with Stevia. It was yummy, but not enough! So after 5 hours of garage sale-ing in this Texas heat, I drove home and made a quick salad.

This salad was much better than yesterday's! I sprinkled lemon juice on it instead of balsamic vinegar, Mrs. Dash lemon pepper, tomatoes, onion, and spinach leaves. It was great and I actually caught myself thinking, "Wow, this tastes good! I like healthy food?!" So progress is happening. I loved that.

After my salad, me and the hubs went to my school so I could show him my speech room. It was neat to show him where I will be. He wanted to grab lunch for himself an hour later before we went to his classroom, so I failed to stick to the diet plan completely because I got broccoli & cheese soup and a small sandwich from Quizno's. Big boo boo, but I'm learning that as long as I watch my portions and keep an eye on the ingredients, all that matters is I'm making better choices than the old junk-food loving Krista.

For my final meal, I had honey-glazed chicken with mixed veggies. Overall, I'm pretty proud of myself! I'm excited to be sticking to it.

I didn't do an "official" workout, but I plan on doubling up tomorrow. I did do a lot of moving furniture and stuff today, so that counts for something :-)

Sorry if this is a boring post of my ramblings about healthy eating, but I'm finding that I almost need to do this (even if no one reads it) to keep myself accountable. So...

Dear self,

Please stick to eating healthy tomorrow. Don't give in to breakfast tacos your grandma makes, or non-healthy butter-filled waffles your husband plans on making. Work out, because you know you won't regret it. This time next year, you will hopefully reach your goal of losing 15-20 pounds! :) You won't unless you're consistent. So keep going. :-)

Love,

Your very motivated self

Day 1 - 7 Day Slim Down

So this morning was the start of my 7 Day Slim Down from Tone It Up. It did not go nearly as well as I thought it would.... :(

7:30 A.M. - Wake up, did level 1 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. The whole time I was in an angry mood because I was too asleep and wanted to go running outside instead. Unfortunately, I did not feel like it was cool enough outside!

8:00 A.M. - Had an egg white & spinach scramble

8:45 - Headed to work to see my speech room and meet my principal and other co-workers. SO fun! Ended up staying until 3 though :(

3:30- First-time trip to a Farmer's Market. Loved it. Got tempeh thinking it would be good for my salad I wanted to eat sooo bad.

4:00 - Cooked tempeh, ate it, spat it out. Disgusting! I honestly thought it tasted like dog food smells. Sooo I made a protein shake instead with protein powder and almond milk.

6:30 - Dinner- Chicken breast chunks with bell pepper.

7:30 - Beach Bum workout from Tone it Up

8:00 - Chobani Greek yogurt w/cinnamon, black tea.

I felt hungry the whole day and had a loss of energy. My workouts were too simple and I know I'm not pushing myself enough. I reeeeeally want to lose some weight and get toned, but how can it happen if I can't be happy with what I eat? I'm hoping today was just an off day for me. Really hoping.

Here's to a better day tomorrow!

These summer days...

So today my hubs had his first day back at work. Kind of stinks. After 70+ days of summer vacation, you kind of get used to waking up whenever you want, lounging around, procrastinating from things you want to do, having no papers to grade, and.... well, you get the picture. Even though I spent most of my summer studying and doing projects for my first semester of grad school, I didn't really have a care in the world! But alas, work is starting again, and we are prepping for another great school year. I'm so thankful that my hubs has a good, solid job as a teacher (as those are hard to come by these days), and I was blessed with a job as a speech pathology assistant. We have so many things to thank the Lord for.

This past weekend, we decided to take a trip to the beach. It was our very first beach trip as a couple, and our very first "family vacation" with our pugs!! Oh boy, they were so cute. Here are some pics:

The pugs were so happy to be on a vacation with us. You could tell they really loved it. Here they are prepping for the beach!

Me and my baby :)

Fishing! 

He wanted to go fishing so bad... it was so fun getting to do that with him :)

Our beautiful morning view from the pier.

It was fun to go, but at the same time, oddly nice to be home? We are getting back into the groove of things, and I'm trying to get everything situated before next week when I start work. 

And now I'm blogging with two snorting pugs wrestling next to me as my hubby plays the piano in the other room. I wouldn't have it any other way :)

Morning Run and other things...

Running was so much better (and fun) this morning because I went to the park/lake by my house. There is something about a nice view to look at as you run that seems to make it a lot more therapeutic. I think the next few days I will be scoping out the perfect place to run because it was THAT much better. I usually just run in my neighborhood, but I don't like that I get to smell car fumes, ward off people's leash-less dogs, and receive awkward stares from people in their garage. A little weird.

These next few days are crazy because my finals are on Tuesday for 2 very tough classes. I will be so relieved when they are over, but I feel like I have a million things going on at once. I always used to say that I didn't have time to work out because I was so busy for school, but I'm finding that I NEED that time to take a breather from school, cleaning, errands, etc. It's just nice, and helps me to calm down for the rest of the day. Thank goodness I have finally found this peace with running, and that it is feeling like less and less of a chore!

Right now I am studying for my Language class, but find myself longing to be running again. Love that. :-)

Kitchen Progress

So our kitchen's new look has been a huge work in progress for the past year or so. We pretty much gave up on it after our first idea did not go as planned. Well, we reeeeally want to get it complete before this school year begins and so we can have the heart of our home back!

Here are some current updates for the kitchen:
--Bought and installed backsplash, just need to grout
--Began painting ugly maple 70's cabinet white, added crown molding to "modernize"
--Russell is now building our new(er) cabinet doors - the same cabinet doors with inset beadboard
--Bought knobs and pulls.... just need to finish painting cabinets

Need to do:
--Finish painting cabinets, install knobs and pulls
--Take down popcorn, texture ceiling
--Paint walls (our "sunrise" yellow color?)
--Grout backsplash
--Spray paint old hinges to match fixtures and knobs (nickel)

Whew! There's still a lot to do! Hopefully we will have this finished by next weekend. Pictures to come!! :-)