Aleks is a doctor!

I'm finally catching up on the things that have been happening recently. First up is graduation. Aleks completed his doctorate in October, but couldn't participate in the graduation ceremony until May. We thought that it might be a bit anti-climatic for him to walk in the ceremony, but I felt that it was really important for him to do this.

We left early Saturday morning from Spokane and arrived in Hartford that evening. Graduation was from 10-2 on Sunday and then we flew back to Washington early Monday morning. Needless to say, with or without a 1 year old, it was a crazy trip.

Here's the outcome: it was so totally worth every bit of anxiety that we were facing. Aleks participating in graduation provided such a sense of pride and closure to all the hard work he did. I am so proud of the quality of his doctoral work and the timeliness in which he got it done, especially since he was in the first year of a new job and had a newborn at home.

There were two ceremonies that Aleks participated in. The first was the entire University of Hartford. It was outside and really long and really boring. We started out sitting in the sun, but quickly moved to the shade. Here's Maia before the ceremony began. She was learning to walk at this point and had run into the coffee table several times. Of course she would have to have bruises for all the pictures that would be taken!

Here is Aleks with his fellow Hartt School doctoral graduates walking in the first ceremony. I got choked up seeing him in his regalia.

Maia was such a trooper with her schedule being thrown off completely. She was so tired, but wouldn't/couldn't fall asleep. We spent a lot of time like this during the first ceremony.

The second ceremony was indoors and Maia finally fell asleep in my lap. I think this is first time that I can remember her doing this since she was 4 months old. I was so grateful that she was getting rest. There was a brass quintet that played and the audience clapped after every piece. You'll notice my hands covering her ears as they applauded.

Aleks got to sit on the stage for the entire second ceremony.

The woman who was hooding the doctoral candidates must have been just 5 feet tall. Aleks had to practically get on his knees in order for her to hood him. After the ceremony, Aleks told us that as he walked up, she whispered to herself "I can do this". Everyone was laughing, it was a really funny moment.

Aleks and his oldest daughter. What an accomplishment!