Words of encouragement

So lots has gone on since my last post!

Lets start with Rex's therapy:
His biggest accomplishment to note is that he is now able to 100% sit up on his own! This was my main concern when I wanted to look into physical therapy and it was such a feeling of accomplishment for both him and us when he did it! It was very exciting! That happening made me feel even more so that we did the right thing with getting him physical therapy. He does it just the way his therapist taught him. He's also doing great with taking steps on his own. He cruises all around the living room with no problem. He pulls up great on his toy basket and is now pulling up on the couch with no problem. We're working more on generalizing pulling up, though. He has a hard time pulling up on anything other than those 2 pieces of furniture so that is our focus now. He also does great with walking from person to person but we're now going to work on boosting that confidence to go from objects that are further apart. If you're too far from him, he chickens out and sits. He's able to do quite a bit...he just needs that confidence. His walking is much more controlled now rather than flying forward on momentum without being able to slow down. He's still a booty scooter! I'm pretty sure he will never crawl as a way to get around, which is completely fine. To work on pulling up from sitting, we will have him reach for the object he is pulling up on to encourage the upward movement, then get him on his knees so that he can step up, one foot at a time, to standing. Getting on his knees is definitely his biggest challenge. He is not a fan of being on his knees at all!! I can tell he's getting the motions though. We just have to continue to encourage him!

Speaking of my booty scooter, Rex was in at baby crawling race at the Rockets game on March 2. We had an absolute blast!! From the get-go, Corey did not think Rex would even move for the race thinking he would be overcome with fear from the crowd and the noise. Our little man is quite the chicken when it comes to loud noises. He has never been a fan. So we got down to the service level where the court is and they had the mat laid out so that the babies could practice before actually going out on the court. Here is a picture:

At first, Rex would not move! So we thought, well, Corey must've been right! Then he went about half way and there was a bump in the mat so he stopped at that bump. At that point we were thinking and hoping he would at least go half way so people would see him scoot and we knew the crowd would love that. We were totally ok with him doing just that. We were fine with anything, really! We were just excited to be there! There were two other babies: a little black girl, a little black boy, and a little asian girl. The Asian girl was going everywhere on the mat but straight! The two black babies were smoking him, especially the little girl! We just knew for sure she was going to win. We let Rex cruise on the mat with the other babies for the rest of the time it was out. He was starting to enjoy scooting on it and even shook his head "no" when we tried to pick him up! So our hopes were getting brighter! Then it was show time! I was ridiculously excited. Really, annoyingly excited if you ask Corey! haha! They took the mat out and the crowd starts cheering. They introduced all of the families (which I did not even hear, by the way! It all happened so fast!) I just remember them saying "On your mark, get set, Go!" I pulled out the secret cup I had in my pocket to try to get him to come to me. When Corey first set him down, he fussed a little but then saw the cup and started scooting away! The two little black babies completely froze and did not move at all!! They were waaaay too intrigued by the lights and noise in the crowd! So it was a race between Rex and the little Asian girl! It was a pretty close race but she ended up beating him! I can't remember who said this afterwards but they said Rex better get used to being beat by Asians on many aspects! haha! jk :) I didn't see what was being shown on the big screens at all but the lady in charge told us they zoomed in quite a bit on Rex because he was the only scooter!! Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy were VERY proud of Rex!! I cannot wait to see the video the Rockets is supposed to be sending us in a few days. I will post as soon as I get it! We had an absolute blast and it's something we will never forget!! 

If you've made it this far, I really would appreciate any input you have on my next topic. I'm very seriously considering going back to school in the fall for a Masters degree in school counseling. I'm positive that that is the field that I want to pursue. I'm just very afraid to overload myself and more importantly, I'm afraid that achieving my goals of higher education will come at a high cost to my family in regards to losing time with them.  I've always been the type to do 5 million things at one time. I've never been a calm person who had nothing going on, even as a kid. It has worked fine before but I also did not have a husband and baby before. While this is a personal goal of mine and something I am determined to do, I feel that it is also something that I am doing for my family because the end result will be a higher paying career which ultimately benefits my family. Is it a selfish thing to do, though? That is what I'm confused about. Ideally, I would have gotten my Masters degree before I had children. Obviously, that was not God's plan for me and I would not change it for the world. I plan to take it slow, in order to not overload myself and also to lessen the time spent away from my family. If it takes 5 years, it takes 5 years. I'm fortunate to have summers off to enable me to focus more on my studies at that time too. I'm blessed to have a husband who is encouraging me to go after it and I am even more blessed to have a mother who is willing to help me so much. Lord, what would I do without that woman? So I know that it can be done. I just have to work on not feeling so guilty about spending less time with my Corey and Rex. I know, though, that things are only going to get more difficult and more busy as time goes on which is another reason to push myself to just do it! I guess I just need words of encouragement...just like Rex does with walking! Interesting how we all need words of encouragement whether it be to continue taking those baby steps or taking those big education steps!