Happy Pi Day!

Yea for Pi and pie! Today to celebrate we had dinner (and dessert) with Jeanne, Brad, Rachel, Madi, Cal and Katie. We had Cottage Pie for dinner.

Then for dessert we had Chocolate Buttermilk Pie, Sour Cherry Pie and Coconut Cream Pie. So good!

 

Then two little cousins had to take a bath. How do you get coconut in your ear?

Also Katie Mae smiled at me today...

 

So happy times, yes?

But oh last night...

It started off innocently enough, with Peanut doing some sort of half-nudie photo shoot

then moved onto soon-to-be-regretted tattoos

and finally moved onto the saddest event...

the 1st real haircut...

I'm not ashamed to say I cried. Since Ox was the one who actually held the clippers he did penance by cutting off his own hair (sorry no photos). 

Then came the moment that chills the blood. 

There she was, an innocent, madonna-like mother, laying (or is it lying? I can never remember) in bed, practically radiating love and peace, when she was set upon by the testosterone in the house. 

Held down by both her Cute-faced lovey and the fruit of her loins and tortured. They overwhelmed her. The small one sat on her chest and snuffled her chin and neck, the initiator grabbed at sides, waist, arms, legs. She was overcome. 

Eventually came the cry that she fears will become (at yet one more point in her life) her mantra, "LET ME UP OR I'M GOING TO PEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!".

Outnumbered.

Notes Without Opposible Thumbs

* The nurse came in with a pain pill prescription when discharging me. I asked if it could be safely taken while breast feeding. She left, came back with the answer, "Better save this as a last resort"...I'm guessing that means no???

* When my 4 am, left-handed rewrapping of my injury is more effective than the nurses I worry for ER care in this area.

* Ox braided my hair this morning. It looked better than normal. Is that awesome for him or embarrassing for me?

* Driving a manual car is surprisingly easy. Turning it on and off surprisingly difficult.

* Peanut seems unrepentant. Should I beat him more?

* I am grateful for awesome health insurance. It was only 3 stitches but our trip to the emergency room only cost $50 and even that came out of a tax-free flex-spending account.

* Ox went in late to work this morning to help get Peanut and I up and off to Institute class. My mother-in-law helped get Peanut in and out of the car at class. I am well taken care of.

* Hardest thing to do today? Pull the heavy feather duvet over Peanut and I for our nap. Succeeded in straining my injured squishy place and punching myself in the face.

* Threw out yesterday's black bean burgers. Instructed Ox in making new black bean burgers. Forgot to add garlic. Still delicious.

Best part of injury- not allowed to do dishes. Hmmm might be worth it.

PS Anyone who comments on how I can still manage to do dishes will be punched the next time I see them. Distance is not a factor; I have a long memory for punching.

We Have the Interwebs!!!

Yes, it has finally happen. snaiLs and Ox's have the interwebs in their very own house. We have limped/slimed our way into the modern age. Why, you ask, have we been without said interwebs? Were we morally opposed? Afraid of youthful hackers? Old and crotchety? Well I will tell you in a long, drawn out and probably uninteresting story, interspersed with pictures of my Peanut so you feel obligated to continue reading.

 A long, long time ago there was no 'Nut, just a snaiL and an Ox. It was a time of dates and a clean house and money for sushi. Why is this? Because both L and Ox were working of course! And what did each of them have available at their jobs? That's right...the interwebs! You're so smart! (Ok I'm sorry I'm in the nursery at church and it's possible the grown ups in the audience don't need this question/answer format laced with self-esteem boosting praise).



Anyway back to the story...L and Ox both had the interwebs at their grindstones. In fact, L spent a huge portion of her day communicating through emails, looking things up for helpless students, professors and administrators, and watching The Daily Show.



If something needed to be looked up/read/bought online/blogged about it could be done from the comforts of their office chairs and double monitors during the 40 - 50 hours a week they spent there. Why spend sushi money on home webs?


Fast forward. snaiLs and Ox's powers combine to form...Captain Pla...wait, no...what was it again???... Oh, yes...the Peanut!!! He is so little and good-smelling and nibbley. Mmmmm Peanut.



We move to where The School That Shall Not Be Named shafts good L with broken promises and fake concern. The choice: 50 hours/week with Peanut or without him. Easily decided. And so L joins the ranks of slightly crazy from lack of adult conversation stay home moms.



It is wonderful and delicious and better than she imagined. And yet, something is missing. Oh yes, the interwebs she has become so gloriously attached to.


Sadly:

(mentally interject visual aid of Need/Want of Home Interwebs increasing while Income Left Over After Food/Housing/Peanut Weekly Spa Treatments decreasing)


And so there are still no interwebs. L and the 'Nut survive at home without them. Ox still has access if necessary and board book reading, ball bouncing and dog chasing seem to fill the days. Ahhh a happy and uncomplicated time.


But one day Ox says it is time to treat L to a little glimpse into a world where, "Stop licking the baby" and "Don't eat dog food" are not the only words heard for miles. We pay to have the interwebs delivered to our house right after Christmas.



  
Murphy's Law is enacted.


And our story ends, in early February, with our heroes gaining the prize. Ahh it is beautiful to behold.

Warnings/Notes: All, Some or None of this story may or may not be true and has been embellished to the writers desire. Also this post contains Peanuts. Processed in a factory where Peanuts are processed.

It's a Test

OK so it's been way too long since I've blogged (no internet at home remember...) to actually catch up on everything going on with me, Ox and Peanut. However the birth experience was amazing so I've prepared a short exam to see how well you know what happened...(this picture to help remind you it was all worth it)

1. L has been in early labor (reasonably regular, mild/medium intensity contractions) all day. It is 8pm and she's exhausted. She...

• a. goes to bed immediately


• b. putters around getting things ready for the baby and is in bed by 9ish


• c. decides to make sure she's exhausted (so she can sleep through the contractions when they get worse) and stays up playing games until midnight

2. T/F In triage L is asked not only the same questions she came in weeks earlier to answer (about smoking, medical history etc) but is also asked if she is experiencing any pain (at this point she has been in labor for about 24 hours). The nurse does not find her sarcastic "yes" amusing.

3. Which of the following people were with L pretty much the entire time through labor and delivery (even though the hospital told her beforehand the max was 4 people):

• a. Ox


• b. L's Dad, Papa Shawn


• c. L's Sister, Wendy


• d. L's Sister, Hillary


• e. L's Friend, Amanda


• f. All of the above
  

4. Ox, as L's birth coach, was:

• a. distracted and bored


• b. scared and grossed out


• c. irritated and snappy


• d. amazing and supportive

5. While L labored those in the room performed which of the following services:

• a. getting water/ice/juice


• b. rubbing L's feet/back/side


• c. being back support to lean against


• d. letting L use them to brace her legs against during contractions


• e. all of the above

6a. T/F L did not allow any kind of pain medication during labor or delivery

6b. If 6a is T, which of the following did L do in the midst of labor pains:

• a. hit a nurse


• b. throw the water cup when offered to her for the 8,000th time


• c. scream "this is all your fault" or "we're never having sex again" at Ox


• d. ask for pain medication


• e. tell Ox she was tired and "it was his turn"


• f. stab someone with a needle for talking during a contraction

7. To allow for the possible emergency need of fluids or medications, L had:

• a. an IV


• b. a hep lock


• c. nothing

8. The shower in the birthing room was:

• a. relaxing


• b. warm


• c. like icy needles

9. T/F Instead of wearing a hospital gown, L wore her own dress from home. It has been washed and worn repeatedly since.

10. T/F After watching Peanut's birth, L's sisters and friend, Amanda, are all very excited to get pregnant.

Answers: 1. C 2. T 3. F 4. D 5. E 6a. T 6b. E (although f was threatened) 7. B 8. C 9. T 10. F!!! :)

ox gets the camera again...

First let me show you the last pic I took with the camera...

OSU on my way to work one morning. Beautiful.

Now here's what happens when Nate gets ahold of it...

yes this is our dogs on the couch- where they're not really supposed to be but it was so ugly to begin with I'm really not that worried.

Baby Hoss begging to be petted.

This is after I went to bed, by the way

My sweet Jesse

Hmmm...

Yep that's what he was focusing on...Doggy Porn!

Cub Scouts, Training and My Crazy Ox...

Well a few quick updates.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I work with the Cub Scouts (in the Wolf Den). They're so cute! I just finished my first year with them (I actually came in part way through this last year). I had 5 boys this last year, a couple of them with some extra needs. It's nice to have gotten to a comfortable point with them. At first I was really nervous; I am the oldest of 4 girls and NO boys. And honestly, 7 year old boys are a little gross. But overall they were great and I'm really grateful for the time I got to work with them. Here's some pics of me and 4 of the boys from last year.


Here's the scenery they made for our skit we did. They did awesome!


PS This year we just started I have 6 boys...oh the fun!

Next...

We'll most of you probably know I've been working at the same job since January of '07. Just this August they made my position permanent (I had been full-time temporary the whole time before). I now get benefits and leave time etc. Really nice!!! However it did mean I had to slow down my schooling again. It's crazy- I'm starting to feel like I'll never be done.

Anyway, even after all this time working here I still had to go to orientation. Luckily a co-worker, Kendall, also had to go- and he's worked here even longer than me but just got hired back as full-time permanent. Anyway it was pretty amazing I can tell you. Here's a pic of us before our brains melted from inactivity.


Last but not least, this is what happens when Nate gets a hold of my camera...

Baptism and the Garden

I was just looking through the photos on our camera and I can't believe I didn't post about these things already! I'm a slacker!!!

First, on June 6th Nate got to baptize 2 young men and their mother. These boys had been coming to our primary class for a couple of weeks before (although they're actually in young mens). Nate got to baptize all 3 of them and next Sunday will be giving one boy the priesthood. ***** Correction. Nate ended up confirming both boys to the Aaronic Priesthood. It was super cool!*** It was really amazing.


Victor, JoAnn, Clarence and Nate

Secondly, I harvested most of my sugar snap peas. I brought one to my coworker, Chris, and I tried to take a picture of it but it was really hard to get my camera to focus on it for some reason. Isn't it beautiful? We also have a yellow squash growing that is getting pretty big. YUM!

Nate is OLD!

Yes it's true. My lovey turns 27 tomorrow and I am still a young & spry 25. If he had more money he's practically be a sugar daddy. To celebrate we're going out for sushi tonight at the Sushi House and to see Iron Man. I'm so excited!!!

That's a cute that never goes away...


And to help explain 'why Nate is the way he is' we have one of the top videos from the year he was born (it's a wonder we aren't all permanently scarred):

the Ox

So I thought I'd post about my husband. He has many names he goes by: Nate, Ox, Bubba (ewww), the Great, and, as I like to call him, Cute. He is interested and involved in many things: work, church, Boy Scouts, choir, target shooting, lawn work, family, fix-it projects etc.

He does a really amazing job with the boys he works with in Boy Scouts and at church (we teach the 11-12 year olds). It could be he has a lot in common with them attitude-wise. :)
,
He works at Ditch Witch in electronics repair and testing. Ditch Witch is paying for him to go to electronics school and he is at the top of his class there.


He is one of the most service oriented people I know, always willing to help someone else out. He loves to work in the yard, especially mowing. He spent a good portion of last summer trying to convince me we "needed" a zero-turn radius mower. And of course he had the amazingly good sense to chase after me, even when I wasn't interested in the slightest. I guess we see who was victorious in the end. I love him.