My garden, the best analogy to my life at the moment

Ok, it's been about two months since my last post. Life has been all sorts of crazy for me (which from some points of view is my normal speed). Mid-August I started another semester of graduate school, this time taking two classes instead of one, and I also started to teach another class at my school. Unlike the curriculum for the freshman, this one I or seniors and is a bit underdeveloped. My job is definitely harder this year than last year. In addition, I started volunteering for a political campaign. Technically, I am supposed to be an intern; however, I'm more like a canvassing pro. And on top of all that, I was also training (or trying to train) for Ragnar DC. So if being a teacher and student at the same time was not hard enough, I am also a long distance runner and volunteer. With so much  going on, I am surprised sometimes at the fact I can get some (but nowhere near all) things done.

One thing that has fallen to the way side was my vegetable garden. And though it looked quite haggard, it was productive! My messy little garden was very productive. Especially those tomato plants.

I hope that I am at least as productive as my garden, but my productivity and my garden's productivity are not really all that comparable. All i know is I've been crazy busy with life. And my garden has been going crazy producing tomatoes (I'm thinking some time to make a marinara sauce is in order).

P.S. Since I just finished running Ragnar this past weekend, that is one thing off the list. (I will post more about my post-Ragnar running plans later this week)

Babies and children everywhere, but I still don't want one (yet)

No lie, it's hard not to think of babies in my family right now. My sister just had her first little nugget a couple of weeks ago and my sister-in-law had her second little nugget two weeks prior. In the past month, two good friends announced they're pregnant. Also, given that the hubs and I spent time with family this weekend to welcome my nephew, the questions related to when I'm going to have my own little ones have come up. These also prompt me to remember past comments like "you would want to have kids soon, while you will have energy to enjoy them" and "you know, you said that about a year after you were married you would start trying to agave kids." This latter comment, I don't remember saying. 

Some times the "pressure" to start trying to have children gets annoying. I realize my parents and in-laws really want to have little grand babies around that they could spoil (since a grand puppy doesn't seem to fit the bill). My mom used to remind me that by the time she was my age she already had my siblings and me. Sometimes the "pressure" is internal; I am in my early 30's, and I don't want to be too old when I have my own. However, I am still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I'm still in flux. Between the current job and trying to prepare myself for a career transition, I doubt trying to bring a child into the craziness that is my life now would be a wise choice. But there have been plenty of people who have also been apted to remind me that as you get older it would harder to have the children. 

With all of this in mind, I could not have been any happier to have just finished Jean Twenge's article "How long can you wait to have a baby." (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/how-long-can-you-wait-to-have-a-baby/309374/?single_page=true) The things I got out of her article were 1) the information behind the "it gets harder to have a baby as you get older" is based on pre-20th century data and while it is true, it's not as severe as society would have you believe, and 2) when it comes to actually trying to conceive, the traditional family planning method will be the way to go since statistically there is no difference between women in their 20's and women in their 30's. Her biggest piece of advice is to "plan to have your last child by the time you turn 40". That is advice I would have no trouble listening to. 

There is no doubt that I want children, probably 2-3, but I know I'm not ready for them. I may be in my (early) 30's, but I'm still selfish. Perhaps I'll be ready in a couple of years, when my life is not in as much flux as it is now. Until then, my furry baby is all the child I need. 

     Puck, my furry baby, patiently waiting for a ball