A busy spring

It's been a very busy spring for Melissa and me here in Ann Arbor. For the past several months, I have been pushing hard to finish writing my dissertation, often working 10-12 hour days, six days a week. But it all paid off, as I successfully defended my Ph.D. on April 21, 2011. It was fantastic seeing Melissa, my parents, my in-laws, my sister-in-law Lynsey, and many other friends in the crowd as I presented some of the highlights of my research from the past six years. But it might have been even better feasting on burgers from Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger and cupcakes from The Cupcake Station to celebrate afterwards. :)

However, this news pretty much pales in comparison to what's been going on for my wonderful wife. While I've spent the past few months writing about fossil whales, Melissa's been busy growing a human! She's currently a little over 12 weeks pregnant, making our little Peanut scheduled to arrive around November 19 (give or take a few days). We got our first glimpse of Peanut (see below) and heard his/her little beating heart just two days before my defense--talk about a monumental week!

 

In general, Melissa has been doing ok, though for the past 5-6 weeks, she's been stricken with pretty bad morning/afternoon/evening/basically-all-the-time sickness. For a while, she couldn't seem to stomach anything (including crackers, soup, and even cupcakes!), but thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, she's been able to eat more as of late. Unfortunately, she's still feeling pretty crummy most of the time. We're hopeful that she'll start to feel better very soon. We just keep trying to remind ourselves that when we hold that little bundle of joy in our arms in the fall, it will all be worth it!

While spring has definitely been busy, summer doesn't look like it will offer us many breaks! My job as assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Olivet Nazarene University begins at the end of August, but we'll be sticking around Ann Arbor until the end of July. In the mean time, I'm teaching two spring term biology labs at UM, while Melissa will continue working for the Department of Anesthesia at the UM Hospital until the middle of July. We'll be heading out to Illinois to look for housing in about a month or so--hopefully we'll find a place that works for us and our soon-to-be growing family. Your thoughts and prayers and we navigate the weeks and months ahead would be greatly appreciated!