7 Quick Takes (43)

1

Such exciting news - I've set a date for my dissertation defense! If you think of it, please pray for me on September 15th as I try to convince my committee that my research was cool and I deserve three letters behind my name!

2

There are all sorts of silly requirements about the formatting of a dissertation. Specifically, there are all these details about page numbers - you start with Roman numerals and then switch to Arabic, but you don't have them on every single page, etc. I spent way too much time yesterday inserting section breaks (the only way I could figure out to do it in Word). Yucko.

Other than that, though, I should remark that I've been very pleased with doing the whole thing on Word. I know the cool people use more advanced kinds of word processing programs, but I don't know anything about those. By using the headings and stuff on Word, I was able to easily put everything together and create things like my table of contents with just a click of the mouse. I know there are prettier ways of doing it, but this worked for me! Here's a link to some tips on using Word for your dissertation.

3

We had a great visit back home last weekend! We went to a cloth diaper store in St. Louis as soon as we flew in. (You can imagine how excited my dad was about this errand.) I had the girl walk us through our options and we bought 6 extra-small BumGenius all-in-ones to start out with. Of course we'll need more than this, but I'm trying to figure out which online store to do my shopping with. I've heard good things about Kelly's Closet, Jillian's Drawers, and Nicki's Diapers. Do you have a favorite place to buy (new, AIO/pocket) cloth diapers online?

It's so tiny and cute!

4

While we were there, I also tried on some slings. I was given a Moby wrap, but wasn't really sure how to go about putting it on and wanted some first-hand help! I decided that it should work pretty well. (In other words, there was no reason for me to shell out twice as much for a Maya wrap, which I originally thought I had wanted.)

The practice baby I used was big and heavy though! I think it'll take a bit to get used to gently putting the baby in and out of it.

This is the wrong way to hold a baby.
Even if you are supporting its neck.

5

Another highlight of the trip was that my family all got to feel the baby kicking! My favorite was when my youngest brother got to feel it - he's never had any friends go through pregnancy, so this is all new and exciting to him!

Please ignore the fact that he's not wearing a shirt.

6

I don't have any pictures of the shower itself, because I sent my camera with my husband the scientist on their manly outing. He, my dad, my brothers, and my grandpa all went fishing while we ladies enjoyed the shower. Reports of how many fish they caught varied from 70 to 100. However, most of them were tiny and were thrown back, so they only ended up bringing home 11. That was just enough for a couple of tasty bites per person!

I told you they were little fish.

My grandpa and brother were in their element.

My dad shows off the catch.

7

This week I greatly restricted my Facebook privacy. When my mom said with a little disappointment in her voice that people know things about me before she does, I realized that just wouldn't work. (Not important things, of course - just that the dog made a mess again, for example.) So I went through and limited what most of my "friends" can see so that only my real friends can see things like my wall and photos.

The weird thing was, I kept several bloggers I've never met open to seeing everything, even when I restricted other people I've known my whole life. It's a strange world we live in. Or at least the one I reside in.

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Have a great weekend everyone!