Change...it is a coming!

No, Alyssa hasn't ceased to exist since she turned one. I have been purposefully trying to keep the amount of information I put on-line minimal as I was on the job market, and I didn't want to be sharing everything in a public format. But we are finally able to share all of our exciting news with you. There are three big changes that we're very excited to share with you...1. I have accepted a job at Grand Valley State University, which is outside of Grand Rapids, MI. It is a tenure-track position in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. I will be teaching a variety of upper-division courses in Spanish - language, linguistics, and foreign language methodologies. It really is a nice mix and I'm excited to be able to work with future foreign language teachers. One of the most exciting things about the position is the fact that there are a few immersion schools in the area (and several new ones opening), so I'll be able to get involved with that and also have some sites to conduct research. GVSU would be similar to an IUP (for those of you in Pennsylvania) or a Mankato (for those of you in Minnesota). You can check out its website at www.gvsu.edu.

The whole job search process has been long and grueling. It began in October with sending out about 20-25 application packets, then started with phone interviews in November and December, face-to-face interviews over Christmas at a conference in Philadelphia, and finally campus interviews during the past 6 weeks or so. The campus interviews were very intense, but enjoyable. The hardest part was the constant travel and being away from home. Between January 13 and February 15, I made 7 different trips - 6 for campus interviews and 1 for a conference. Aaron was amazing through all of it, supporting me and taking care of Alyssa. When I got home last week after the last interview, I was thinking of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz as I said "There's no place like home!"

So we're going to begin going through all of our "stuff"here at the house and deciding what to keep and what to sell or pitch. We'll also be preparing the house to sell and looking for a new home in Grand Rapids. We'll probably make a trip to MI in March so Aaron can check out the area and we can both get a better feel for the different neighborhoods and check out some houses!

With a new start in Grand Rapids, MI, comes the end to another chapter and exciting news #2!

2. I have set a date to defend my dissertation - May 4 at 10 am. It feels really good to know that the end of such a long process is drawing to a close and to have a date. It gives me a deadline that I have to meet. I have A LOT to do on the dissertation between now and then, but that is the big day! The first part of the defense is open to the public, so if you want to come, you're more than welcome, and the second part is closed - just me and my committee. Graduation is later that week - May 7 in the afternoon. So mark that on your calendar... you're all invited and we'd love to celebrate with you.3. Our last exciting news is not really news to some of you as I know word has been traveling, but I haven't made any public announcements, but we are expecting baby #2 in June!! That's right, Baby Menke (aka Alyssa) is going to be a big sister! I might have to check in to changing the name of the blog to Babies Menke - he he!

I'm now 24 weeks into the pregnancy, and everything is looking good. We've had 4 ultrasounds now, but I think we've had our last. Baby is nice and normal-sized, measuring right where he/she should for how far along I am in the pregnancy. Baby's heartbeat was at 162 this week, a little higher than the past few times which have been in the 150s. And I feel like baby is "lower" than Alyssa was - what all that means as far as whether it's a boy or a girl, we'll leave for you to decide. And yes, we are going to torture you again as we didn't find out whether baby is a boy or a girl. We've got a c-section scheduled for June 11 at 7 am, so we'll see if baby can hang on that long!

I'm posting a few pictures from the different ultrasounds here for you to see.

24 weeks, can you see the little fingers by the mouth?

12 weeks, 3D image - This is the whole baby (kind of in a sitting position), with legs at bottom going to left - check out the baby butt!

Baby is definitely active - moving around a good bit, I've been calling him/her a little soccer player and Aaron has been able to feel the kicks which is always exciting. Alyssa doesn't really know what's going on, and I'm not sure that she will until all of a sudden there's another little one in the house. She has (I think) noticed that mama's tummy is getting bigger though. She's learning the parts of her body, and she's quite intrigued by my belly.

As for Alyssa, she's doing well. She's had a couple of rounds of sickness, but she seems to be doing better now. She & Aaron traveled to Breezy Point with some friends in early January, and she got sick on the car ride home. We ended up in the ER that night with concerns about dehydration, but after some pedialyte she was feeling better (as you can tell from the pics below). She also had respiratory virus and double ear infection few weeks ago which meant her first round of antibiotics. She really liked the amoxicillin, and you could tell her it was time for medicine, and she'd run to the refrigerator, wait for you to open the door, take out the medicine, shake it and then hand it to you to measure it while she'd wait with her mouth open - too cute!

in the ER before Pedialyte

after Pedialyte - feeling better!

She's becoming quite a little helper - she loves to throw things in the garbage, help vacuum, water plants, put her dirty clothes in the hamper, etc. She still isn't saying much, but she lets you know what she wants. She will grab your finger and take you to what she wants. She loves to build with her legos, play with her farm animals, and read books. She continues to love music - dancing and smiling the minute she hears the music. She's started to feed herself using silverware, although her hands are still much more efficient. She's also developed her own personality and she knows exactly what she wants when it comes to her socks and shoes and food. She's got just enough hair on top to put a little pony tail on the top of her head (think BamBam and Pebbles from the Flintstones).

She had her 15 month check up this week, and she continues to grow taller, but her weight has slowed down a little (which my arms and back are thankful for!). She is now 24 lbs, 6 oz (70th percentile) and 32.25 inches tall (91st percentile)...her head of course is still big 19.25 inches around (99th percentile)!

She continues to bring a lot of laughter and joy to our lives. It's so funny to watch her sometimes and watch how she imitates us. Her newest thing is that if she's going to sit and read or play at night, she wants to have a blanket over her lap. I think this is my fault as I'm always sitting with a blanket over me. I'm going to include a few recent photos just to keep you up to date.

Aaron would probably yell at me if I didn't include his favorite Alyssa story from the past month. One night when we were all sitting in the living room playing, we could smell what we thought was a dirty diaper. So I looked down the back of Alyssa's pants into her diaper, but it was clean - just a toot! Alyssa then proceed to walk around to my backside, and pull out the back of my pants to check my diaper - little stinker! Aaron is still laughing about this episode!

I think that's all our news for now. We apologize for the gap in postings, but hope to blog a little more regularly now.