Letting Go ...

Sometimes in life I get hung up on how I want things to work out - especially pertaining to deadlines. A classic example is wanting to get everything taken care of before going out of town for a vacation - clean the house, weed the lawn, catch up with friends, write a will, update the budget - you know, basically anything that's been on my to-do list for the last 12 months.

Now is a time when I need to let go of the way I wanted things to be in the final months of my pregnancy. I will (probably) not be:
- designing the perfect baby room
- composing long love letters to my daughter to give to her at key moments throughout her life
- touring the hospital
- spending my evenings contemplating the joys of pregnancy or discussing the future with Chris
- taking time off work to "nest"
- exercising more than the minimum
- keeping up with the yard at all

Okay, so not all of those things were goals to start with. :) But you get the picture. I will be:
- working
- sleeping
- taking a few nights off a week to rest & enjoy myself, be healthy, and be with Chris
- drinking a little bit of coffee

The impetus for all this, you ask? Well my committee meeting went pretty well. We decided to change my dissertation from 4 parts (with a couple parts being kind of hastily done), to 3 parts (ideally spending more time on those couple of parts). I'm pretty happy with this, I would much rather do quality work than rush and cram to get more done that's not as thorough. The good news is now I can somewhat realistically aim to finish writing my dissertation before the baby comes. That is also the bad news, and why I have to give up on the idea of taking it easy at work the last few months.

I do feel that it's a little ridiculous to even be considering this time line with my dissertation. I finished my masters in August 2008. Three years is really quick to finish a PhD in my department. I think it's crazy. I think four years might be nicer, but my adviser seems to be in a hurry to get his students done with whatever they're working on. On the bright side, I can stick around and work for him for at least a little while after I finish and earn almost twice what I do now. Even though I'm not usually motivated by money (hence my decision to be a doctor of atmospheric science rather than a doctor of medicine), in this case I guess I kind of am.

In other news, I had my 30 week appointment today. The baby is measuring at the just-right size, and I am healthily weighing 15 pounds more than I ever have before. It seems that she and I are both healthy and growing!

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, here is a picture from Chris' first (& very hilly) half marathon - which he completed in the magnificent time of 2:02!