Scot Vet- Blog and Journal

Photosplosion

2009-10-11T13:25:00.005+01:00

Alright, so when I say I'm going to put some pictures up in the next day or two, I usually mean in the next month or two. Same thing, really.

Here's some from Hosea's bday. The Very Hungry Caterpillar cake idea was shamelessly stolen from the internet, but it was fun to make in any event.

Hosea had a Very Hungry birthday bash at his Friday playgroup. I wasn't there to witness it, but I hear he had a good time!

"Guys! We forgot the lollipops! Nooooo"

Other than the cake, they had a bunch of foods from the book, like strawberries, plums, apples, etc. Awesome.

Meanwhile, I've been taking final year very seriously. Here's me and Merv being loopy on the last day of our pathology/epidemiology/vet public health/microbiology rotation.

Here's our final year group, looking fly in our jackets and lab coats.

Merv came with Matt and I to Hosea's birthday dinner. It was sushi. Hosea ate an entire plate of tuna sashimi.

Here's the man looking super tough.

Me and Hosea, playing with Matt's anniversary gift to me: a tiny tripod that fits in my purse! Adorable!

Hosea, running around on the grass being ~~cute~~ two.

Lastly, Edinburgh is so beautiful Matt and Hosea and I took this pic less than a 20 minute *walk* from our flat.

Yay, pictures!

Is this thing on?

2009-08-18T21:24:00.002+01:00

Yeah, that. Um, life is busy? I'm out all day? Matt's running around with a toddler? The cats's ate my homework?

These excuses are falling pretty flat, even to me. I'm trying to decide what this space will look like as I waltz gracefully (ha!) into final year.

Does anyone even stop by here anymore?

...On Slacking Off

2009-06-12T02:55:00.003+01:00

...Yep.

Hosea is 21 months old today. He's been learning how to "knuckle-bump" Ryan. Also, he loves life and his cats and baked beans and caramel ice cream, to name a few things.

I passed all my 4th year exams. I'm now a final year vet student! I have a jacket and everything. Woohoo! Next year is all rotations and externships and exams, oh my!

We're in Louisville, KY right now, staying with Ryan and Mere. They are so cool. We went on a brief tour of the seminary here, which was gorgeous. The town is bloody brilliant. We've gotten free beer, snacks, espresso, and pie so far, and it's only Thursday.

Next up is a week in Lexington, where I'm doing an externship. We'll be staying with Rachelle's parents. Woohoo! Also, Matt's taking HBP to North Carolina to visit Grandma Eileen for 3 days.

Then we're heading back to SoCal for 5 weeks. I'm working at the same awesome horse hospital I worked at last summer. We're living with the Souzas and Bowlings. It's going to rock.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last couple of months, for you non-facebook people:

Matt in Stirling, where he and I went for a daytrip.

Hosea being adorable in Dublin.

I have a lot to say (like, for instance, where all I've been in the last few months and what our plans are after/if I graduate and a list of the cute things Hosea says and does EVERY DAY), but I'm tired. I miss you guys, though.

Today's Song for Hosea

2009-04-28T13:53:00.002+01:00

Ireland pictures post soon, but right now here's my today song for Hosea:

Boys (Lesson One) by Jars of Clay

Lesson one, do not hide.
Lesson two, there are right ways to fight
and if you have questions we can talk through the night

So you know who you are and you know what you want
I've been where you're going, and it's not that far
it's too far to walk, but you don't have to run
you get there in time

Lesson three, you're not alone
Not since I saw you start breathing on your own
You can leave, you can run
This will still be your home

So you know who you are and you know what you want
I've been where you're going, and it's not that far
It's too far to walk, but you don't have to run
You get there in time, get there in time

In time, to wonder where the days have gone
In time, to be old enough to wish that you were young
When good things are unravelling, bad things come undone
If you weather love or lose your innocence

There will be liars and thieves who take from you
Not to undermine the consequence, but you are not what you do
And when you need it most: I have a 100 reasons why I love you

So you know who you are and you know what you want
I've been where you're going, and it's not that far
It's too far to walk, but you don't have to run
You get there in time

So you know who you are and you know what you want
I've been where you're going, and it's not that far
It's too far to walk, but you don't have to run
You get there in time, you get there in time

If you weather love or lose your innocence,
just remember
Lesson one

Maundy Thursday, 2009. Blogging Westward*

2009-04-09T20:20:00.002+01:00

"I look beyond the empty cross, forgetting what my life has cost..."

This Easter I find myself living in the midst of some frustrating, even heart-breaking contradictions. Rich coalesces with poor, kindness with arrogance, mercy with ruthless judgment. Encouragement is pushed up against rudeness, hope and despair.

Okay, so I've just been working at the equine hospital, but still. It's one of those places that really piles everything on top of everything else. It's been fun, though.

It does, however, makes me focus on the more serious contradictions that occur in my peri-Lent Christian life. If I am free in Christ, why do I live as on in chains? I am chained by my anxiety, my selfishness, my laziness. Despite being raised from the dead, I lay at the bottom of a deep grave, fully alive but unwilling to climb out. What presses on my beating heart? Doubt, pride, self-loathing. In the face of sweet salvation, I turn my head and walk in condemnation, cheapening the work of Christ by refusing to live in its reality. It's no' good, is it?

"Can I be the one to sacrifice, or grip the spear and watch the blood and water flow?"

My Lenten fast failed. What started at a faith-focusing challenge turned into a legalistic battle, into which temptation walked easily and I didn't even look back, like Lot's wife but in reverse. Maybe I should be turned into a pillar of sugar.

I'm glad my husband prays for me. I think I need the intercession.

*with apologies to Mr. Donne

Real Post in the Works

2009-03-22T06:53:00.000Z

But until then, here's this:

Everything awesome ever.

Operation Freedom Fries: An Update

2009-02-28T20:06:00.003Z

A while ago (in days, not posts) I told y'all about HB's newfound and super-annoying pickiness about food. At that time, he was eating only an extremely small handful of foods, enough so that it was a real struggle to find 3 meals and 2 snacks that were composed of different foods of which there was even a remote chance he'd eat. Not only was the list shrinking, it was not at all balanced in terms of proteins, carbs, fats, vitamins, etc. In fact, it was pretty much an All Crackers, All The Time diet with a few raisins.

Not Ideal.

Matt and I were increasingly frustrated/anxious/upset/pleading at mealtimes, which in turn made Hosea more recalcitrant/obnoxious/upset/screamy/inappetant. Something had to give, and it did.

Matt The Invincible came up with a list of possible foods to try with Hosea (basically, anything he had ever eaten before). We also discussed and agreed upon some general guidelines in terms of both food expectations and mealtime behaviours. We wanted to offer him at least two options at every meal. We wanted him to have closer to 5-a-day of fruit/veg (he was getting closer to 1-a-day. of raisins). We wanted there to be a clear understanding that the food he was offered at a particular sitting was It, and there was no "back-up cracker" if he didn't want it. Mostly, we said out loud and agreed with each other that he was NOT going to starve if he skipped a meal or 2, and that it was going to be okay with us if he refused the food we gave him (which may sound silly, but it is kinda hard not to take it personally when you cook something tasty up to have it unceremoniously dumped onto the floor).

It really had been a rousing success. HB has loved being introduced (or reacquainted) with a bunch of produce, has become more adventurous, and generally is less obnoxious at meals. Matt and I are less anxious about what we feed him (though we do still have to repeat a carb or something in the day). It isn't perfect, by any means, but we feel like we've gone from having That Kid to having a normal, slightly fussy toddler.

Here's tonight's meal as, in my opinion, a sign of how far we've come from the cracker-n-raisins of yestermonth:

On the plate, clockwise from top: red bell pepper, tofu cubes and strips, cucumber, yellow bell pepper, baby purple spring onions, and soba noodles with toasted sesame seeds. On the side is a cashew butter- soy- sesame dipping sauce.

He didn't like the sauce, but ate everything else on the plate with gusto. Yay!

(Incidentally, this was the dinner from which his was appropriated. Yummy, but needed more spiciness.)

As Hosea Would Say, "Bah!"

2009-02-25T16:48:00.003Z

Those three loaves of tasty, tasty sandwich bread were the fruit of my labor last Saturday morning. For the last two months or so, Jeni and I have been baking all of our bread, buying only tortillas and naan at the market. (We've made tortillas from scratch, which are amazing but take way too much effort, and just haven't gotten around to trying naan yet.)

I've also become an expert slicer. We freeze the loaves in halves of about 8 or 9 slices each. The bread can be toasted from frozen or left to thaw in the fridge. I think the process might actually improve the flavor. By the way, this is the recipe we use, tweaked a bit, of course.

Later in the day on Saturday we made these two loaves of challah for communion at church on Sunday. Jeni did the mixing and kneading and I did the braiding.

We ended up making these loaves longer than we usually do, and one of them didn't even fit on our baking stone. Instead it seeped off the side and baked into a sort of droopy tongue, pressed up against the door of the oven. Yeah, I cut that bit off Sunday morning.

...In Which I Apologise for My Apathy

2009-02-23T14:44:00.004Z

Yep, sorry about that. I'm a mom to a toddler, married to Matt, and trying to fit in an illicit yet steamy affair with vet school at the same time. I've been doing a lot of thinking about how to order my priorities, and blogging (at least for the next wee while) isn't high on the list. So. I'll update when I can, but no promises, and when I'm once again keeping my head above water, I'll pick up the pace a bit more.

In the meantime, what's up? Hosea just had his 17 month-day, and he's huge and cute. Staying true to the general Price February theme, he's been sick for weeks with this lame lingering virus thing. 1st, he had a high fever/lethargy/snotty nose. Last week, he got viral conjunctivitis (pinkeye), then on Saturday his eardrum ruptured due to a heretofore unknown ear infection. Special times, I tell you. Other than that, though, he's seriously awesome. He says things like "dog", "cat", "Theia", "duck", "flower", and "bus", can play along for most of Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and knows several animal sounds. One of the cutest and most recent things is that if I say "Hosea! Stick 'em up!" He'll fling both hands above his head. It's hard to believe that he's so, well, toddlerish. Today Matt took him for about a 1/2 mile walk (holding Matt's hand and yes, I did measure it out on Google Earth). So cute.

Matt's been sick, too. He had his viral illness for days last week, but seems to hav mostly recovered. He's still playing in 2 of 3 church bands as well as the occasional extra gig, and has acheived "master bread baker" status, since he can pull 3 loaves out of the oven before most people are done googling a recipe. He can also braid a 6-strand challah without breaking a sweat. Yep, he's gooooood.

As for me, we finished up our equine lectures last Friday, and today we started in on exotics. By 'we', I mean 'the class', since I am running a >102f fever and got less than 3 hours of sleep last night. I crawled my way to the practical (they take attendance there, sigh), then crawled back home into bed. Hence the blogging. I'm going to Ireland over Easter to work at a clinic that specialises in foal medicine during the breeding season. We'll also try to see a sight or two since, you know, we've never traveled outside of Scotland. We'll also hug everyone's favorite friendbest, who happened to have signed up to extern at the same clinic and who will overlap me by 2 days!!! YES!!!!! I'm also doing 2 weeks of equine stuff here over Easter, and taking the remaining week to study my butt off. You know what they say, "it's better to enter the kingdom of vet medicine with no butt than to have both cheeks and work as a dog whisperer".

Anyway, that's pretty much it. I think. I'm going to put another layer on since my hands are shaking too much to type anymore.

But before I go, pictures!

Hosea carefully regards Katzen.

We call this look "The Dr. Mike"

I got to straighten my hair for the 1st time in about a year when Matt took me to the church's Burns' Night supper. I even fit into my favorite black party dress! Woo!

Hosea pretty much lives in this backpack. We bought it for a couple of specific uses (hiking in the Hermitage, going into small shops) but we really use it almost exclusively now, unless he's walking next to us.

Boot Hands

2009-01-21T21:51:00.000Z

Believe it or not, the password is "scotland".

Boot Hands from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

Snow

2009-01-19T12:47:00.001Z

Snow from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

Lucky you! 2 videos in one day! This one doesn't need a password. Be sure to check out the other video in the post below, the password for that one is "scotland".

Baby Backpack (password is "scotland")

2009-01-19T07:20:00.001Z

Password is "scotland"

Baby Backpack from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

Password is "scotland"

File Under "Misc."

2009-01-01T21:49:00.002Z

--A.J. and Rachelle left yesterday. Boo. In mourning for our loss, we went to curry for lunch and drank some cheap and tasty white wine.

--Happy New Year! We forgot that everything in Scotland closes down for the big day, so we kinda had to scrounge for food. B-fast was stale bread, lunch was soup and rice, and dinner was a homemade pizza with sauteed spinach, onion, homemade tomato sauce, mozzerella, and this cheese. We live an extremely hard life.

--We have literally dozens of cute pictures and videos of the wee man, but uploading has not been a priority for me lately. Hopefully for y'all, I'll get on that soon.

--I do not go back to school for 11 days. Any ideas for toddler-friendly day trips in Scotland?

--Also, parents, any recommendations for child carriers? Matt and I can't seem to agree on one.

--Tomorrow, we are having dinner with the Burnses. I heart them.

-- I bought Matt a book for Christmas which I really extremely seriously want to read. It's all I can do to stop myself ripping it from his fingers. My current book is also fascinating, but really? There's no contest.

-- We're on the lookout for a new sourdough recipe. Any thoughts?

Christmas Morning

2008-12-27T21:00:00.000Z

Password as always is "scotland"

Christmas Morning from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

Recipes!

2008-12-19T20:48:00.002Z

I'm done! Whee! Now for 3 weeks of hanging with the Price, cooking, cleaning, and doing nothing!

In other news, here's a couple of recipes I've cooked up recently:

Dill Bread (inspired by Joy of Cooking)
1. Combine 2.25 tsp yeast and 0.5c warm water in a small bowl and let sit for awhile.
2. In a large bowl, combine 0.5c finely chopped onion, 3c bread flour, 3-4 tbsp chopped fresh dill, and 2 Tbsp sugar.
3. Dump yeasty water into flour bowl along with 1c cottage cheese and 1 egg. Stir until everything is in a bog doughy mass. Turn out onto lightly floured counter, set bowl up-side down over the top, and let rest 10 minutes.
4. Knead with floured hands, gradually adding in 1 tsp fine sea salt, for about 10 minutes, until it feels smooth, springy, and elastic. Add flour as you go along, but don't over-flour it (though it is pretty sticky).
5. Place in an oiled bowl, turn over once to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to rise 1-1.5 hours or until approximately doubled in volume.
6. Turn out and shape into a loaf whichever way works for you. Place in an oiled 9x5 pan, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise for an hour, until about doubled in volume.
7. Preheat oven to 350F. Brush the top of the loaf with melted butter and sprinkle a few dill seeds over it. Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden brown on top and hollow when tapped on the bottom (this took ~40 minutes in our crappy oven). Let cool completely before eating.

Brownies (still in my freezer for delicious snacking)- This is basically Deb's recipe, but I used 150g of 72% chocolate instead of baking chocolate, which I couldn't find. Awesome.

Rice pudding (I actually make this all the time but forgot to post the recipe)
2 cups leftover cooked white rice
3 cups milk (any kind) (sometimes I add a little extra milk at the end if it seems a little dry
1/4-1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
pinch nutmeg, optional

Combine cooked rice, milk, sugar (and a pinch of salt, if you want) in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and stir in the vanilla and raisins. Cook until just about all of the milk is absorbed (30-45 minutes, depending on how absorbent your rice is). Stir in cinnamon and/or nutmeg, if using. Serve warm..
Makes 3-6 servings.

Yum!

Also, I accidentally typed a billion vet words into this post, including Orf and ruminate. I took them out where I could, but please forgive the intrusion.

Hey!

2008-12-14T12:58:00.000Z

Hi guys! Just wanted to say thanks for all the emails and messages. I will get back to you ASAP, but I'm covering an ICU shift this weekend so it'll be a few days. Love you all!

Update

2008-12-11T16:42:00.001Z

Update in case you haven't heard the news through Twitter or Facebook: Jeni and I, and Hosea to a lesser extent, are really sick. Viral vomiting and diarrhea sick. Jeni and I got about 3 hours of sleep last night before everything started. I have been sick with a different bug since Sunday, so last night's dinner was the first real one I'd eaten in a while. As I write this I'm eating my first food in about 24 hours, a spoon full of honey. Jeni's not well enough to eat yet. The doctor came today to give her an anti nausea shot. Emma has taken Hosea for the day. He threw up on the bus back to their place but hasn't gotten any worse she says. That's the scoop.

Sometimes it feels like...

2008-12-10T09:27:00.001Z

...Hosea specifically chooses his actions so as to create in me maximum frustration and annoyance.

On Hosea (and the floor)

2008-11-30T21:36:00.002Z

Hosea used to be a very adventurous eater. He's munched sushi with abandon, loves sardines, preferred broccoli over chicken, and generally been up for tring anything. Pineapple? Sure, why not. Are you going to finish that curry? 'Cause if not, HB will take it. This summer, as we were feeding him a fish taco at Wahoo's, another couple remerked on his dining prowess, and we ust shrugged as if it were no big deal that Hosea was essentially a very small garbage disposal. When other parents complained that their kids would only eat pasta or toast or plain rice or whatever, I nodded sympathetically, but felt admittedly a little smug. "Oh," a small voice would say, "good thing you've kept Hosea on such a varied diet so he won't be a picky eater."

Right. Somehow, in the past couple of weeks, HBP has turned, by all accounts, into a Very Picky Eater. At first I thought it was the stomach bug; then I though maybe he was teething. Or tired. Or going through a growth or developmental spurt. Or blah blah etc. Now I just have no idea what's going on, except that there is a small list of things he will reliably eat:
-toast, with butter or cream cheese. Sometimes cashew butter will work, too.
- rice with butter and soy sauce. Never ever ever if it contains any tomato product or anything scented of poultry.
-rice pudding (recipe follows)
-oatmeal
-banana
-biscuits (i.e., rich tea or digestives)
-tuna or sardines with a little mayo
-mash
-*occasionally* black beans, mash, sausages, or other unexpected things, but will usually refuse them the next time they're offered.
-Nutella, crisps, ice cream, pumpkin pie, and any other thing that, for all intents and purposes, I will not allow to be a regular part of his diet.

In that last category I suppose I should include Thanksgiving leftovers. He absolutely devoured the stuffing, mash, craberry sauce, pie, gravy, creamed onions, cornbread, etc. Too bad that stuff is impossible to make on a regular basis.

Any ideas, folks? Is this a stage he's going through? How long should I expect it to last? 'Cause I am getting fed the heck up with my delicious home cooking ending up on the floor.

2008-11-28T21:46:00.002Z

10 Adults- Matt, Jeni, Rob, Emma, Ellen, Merv, Emily, Russ, Jessica, Tara
4 Kids- Emma, Isaiah,, Micaiah, Hosea

Roasted Turkey and Gravy
Stuffing with cornbread, sourdough, pecans, mushrooms, water chestnuts, etc.
Mash with Roasted Garlic, Double Cream and Rosemary
Fresh Sourdough
Cranberry-Lime Sauce
Creamed Onions
Cornbread Casserole
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Bean Casserole
--------
Variety of delicious drinks
--------

Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Banana Bread
Cranberry pudding with hard sauce
Fruit Salad

All in all, I'm making a note here: Huge Success!

Woo!

2008-11-24T21:22:00.001Z

Tonight's shout-out goes to Jessica from Napa and Tara from Connecticut. Yay! I like you guys!

Oh Boy

2008-11-21T21:40:00.002Z

It's been a helluva week, friends. Or two weeks. Two weeks ago Saturday, Hosea got sick with crazy explosive sadness. That lasted about a week (with a bath every day. sigh), then last Friday he finally started feeling (and pooping) more normal.

Then, on Saturday, he woke up with a cough. By Saturday night, it had turned into a raging fever which no Cal-Pol could conquer, and he slept in the bed with us most of the night since he woke up whimpering every 1/2 hour or so. Sunday we took him in to the urgent care, where the doc said "Yeah, he sure is sick. Hope he feels better; come back if he's moribund". We basically dosed him with every imaginable drug until today, when he seems (finally, hopefully) to be on the mend. Whew.

On top of that, Matt got sick Monday and Tuesday, and I pulled up the rear Wednesday and Thursday. Today, we all just pretty much took a day of rest. Fun times.

(Oh no, he's coughing and whimpering. Better go check on him.)

But, despite all the plague, some good has come of this week too. We've tried a few different recipes, which are always fun. I made Chicken Noodle Soup with some homemade stock, which was delicious and oh so easy. Matt made a lamb curry from this recipe, which was just okay (too rich with not enough flavour payoff). He also roasted a chicken stuffed with apples and onion, which was delicious and beautiful but cooked weirdly (temp said done while thigh leaked red juice).

Tonight we had a dinner party for our across the way neighbours and their adorable 15 month old son. I made this macaroni and cheese (now firmly supplanting the Joy of Cooking recipe I used previously), some green beans, brown'n'serve rolls (to time to make my own, alas) and a salad. Awesome! They brought a victoria sponge for pudding, which was delicious. All in all, good times. Then I did approximately 1,000 dishes, drank a large glass of wine, and am officially pooped.

G'night, all. I'll be a vet tomorrow, I hope.

Dough, a deer...

2008-10-31T21:39:00.002Z

Well, I can tell it's fall because the baking itch, while borderline compulsive all year round, becomes insurmountable. Studying? Family time? Errands? Student loans? Chores? None of these things are as important as getting my next baking fix. Sorry, floors.

Also about this time every year, I become fixated on certain foods. Last year it was soup; I seriously craved soup at every meal. Last night's soup was reheated in the morning, topped with a poached egg, and consumed as breakfast, and whatever was left was scooped into a tupperware and eaten cold with a plastic fork for lunch. It was pathetic. This year, I have a couple of obsessions to fiddle around with.

First, the wacky cake. Inspired by Homesick Texan's beautiful post, I've now made this twice in the last week. It's just so... easy. It's like cheating. Less than an hour from the time you say "I want chocolate cake", one is being driven to it's sweet demise by the forkful into your mouth. You don't even have a bowl to wash. The second time I made it, I subbed out 2 of the tablespoons of flour for 2 more of cocoa powder, and I'm not at all sorry. Next time, I'll use coffee instead of water. But even just as it's written, it's well wrth the um, 6 minutes of time it takes to prep the cake, and the 15 seconds it takes to sprinkle your slice with powdered sugar.

Secondly, I'm back into the bread world. After a ridiculously frustrating time trying to find (regular, plain, active dry) yeast in this fun-forsaken town, I resigned myself to using the Waitrose instant yeast. Then, in a brilliant stroke of inspiration, I phoned up the goodly folk at Falko Konditormeister, who "sold" (for uber-cheap) me some fresh yeast. I stirred a pinch of this, along with some flour and water and a tiny sprinkle of sugar, into a soft dough starter and let it hang out in the fridge until it rose hopefully to the top of the bowl, peeking through the foil as if it were just begging to come out and play.

Then, after pinching about a handful off of it to make into my long-term starter, I stirred the rest of it along with more flour and water and a leeetle salt into some pseudo-sourdough. I let it rise by the heater (and, for a couple of hours, in my lap), then shaped into two boules that rose again, were scored (not deeply enough, alas) and shoved in our oven. Now our house smells grood, like sourdough and fried chicken (dinner) and pumpkin seeds (hallowe'en). There are also two moderately loves round loaves of pseudo-sourdough bread sitting on the kitchen counter, a little dark on one side, a little under-risen (from the shallow scoring), but still soft and warm and fragrant in that special way that only fresh bread can be.

So if you want some fresh bread, head o'er this way. In the meantime, what's your most recent food obsession?

It's That Time Again...

2008-10-29T15:45:00.003Z

Photo dump time! Here are a few photos from the last week or so:

Me and the man playing guitar. Yeah, maybe we're bad parents for letting our kid stand on the furniture like that, but he doesn't fall off really all that often...

Besides, as you can see here, he's ridiculously cute.

The man with wearing a jester hat and wielding two remotes at some friends' house two weeks ago after church.

Passwurd for clime laddr plz.

Super tasty smashburgers, inspired by this video.

Yeah, we'll be making these again soon.

The man's shoes, pic courtesy of Jeni.

Two happy cats on our kitchen table.

Looking the other way, without flash.

The man standing up for a drink of juice. He can walk on his own for a few feet, and will push that walker toy behind him in the photo all around the house.

Eliminate back pain with the new and improved patented ergonomic Cat-Rest!

That's it for now. Adios!

Hey All

2008-10-26T19:40:00.003Z

Sorry the blog's gotten the shaft for the last couple of months. I'm busy, yes; studying, classes, and hanging with Matt and HB takes up most of my day. But it's more than that. I feel like I just don't have anything new to say. School is challenging. Baby is cute and tough. Husband is awesome. Baking is good. And so on.

So, I'll turn the content over to you, reader, if you're even still out there. What do you wish I'd post? More photo dumps? Recipes? Vet School stuff? Post-weaning thoughts on breastfeeding? I'm open to suggestions of any variety.

I miss you guys, Mary and K and Bianca and Miranda and Becky and Amy and Jess and Gretchen and Rachelle and Nana and all my bloggy friends (um, and everyone else I may have missed).

Yay! Back to dairy cow nutritional strategies and eating Wacky Cake!

Hosea's Weird

2008-10-16T11:38:00.001+01:00

(I thought Jeni had posted about this, but I guess not. Last Monday we got two cats, Theia and Katzen. Pics and vids coming soon!)

Hosea is pretty good about handing his sippy cup back to us when he's done drinking, but whenever Jeni and I are both around for his meals he'll chose to only give it to one or the other of us. Unfortunately, he usually chooses the person whose doing dishes or at the stove cooking rather than whoever is sitting in front of him to feed him. Yesterday at lunch Jeni wasn't around so I figured he'd be happy to hand his cup back to me. No such luck. He refused to relinquish the cup to me and instead brandished it at Katzen, demanding she take it. I think the episode left them both a little confused.

Photo Dump and a Recipe-ish!

2008-10-04T19:55:00.006+01:00

Geez, do I ever love this baby. He's been a big ol' grump lately, between the teeth (up to 8!), the vaccinations, and the wrestling with naps. But man, is he ever cute. He holds stuff up to his ear like a phone, saying "Hello" or "Hiiiiii", plays the djembe with abandon, and confidently climbs onto every single piece of furniture we own. He likes to climb onto the chair in his room and just stare out the window for minutes on end. This afternoon, Matt and I walked into the living room to see Hosea just standing there, dancing along to Dave Matthews like there was nothing more natural.

Here's the wee bairn showing off his style. We call it "trousers head man":

And here he is playing with all the fascinating toys in the creche at church. He's a total bulldozer there, standing on other kids and pushing everything over.

Here's a nice pic of my hus-man, showing off both his awesome dreads and his mad sweater skillz:

And, a bonus: Cooking With the Prices!

Sausage Gnocchi, M+J+HB-style.
This was inspired by AJ this summer, personalised with what was in our fridge/grocery store.

First, get some awesome sausages. We have a leg up on you US-bound folk on this one, since the Scots know how to make sausage like nobody else. Make do with the best dang sausage you can find. Cook sausage using your preferred method (we baked it). Chop up into eatable pieces (smaller than the ones shown in the picture, anyway).

While the sausages are cooking, saute some onion, garlic, and tomatoes in several glugs of olive oil with some herbs and a squeeze of tomato paste. add a little water if you need to. You know, until it looks about right. Set aside, covered.

Boil some water and cook the gnocchi until it floats. Make sure it's all out of the bag first, and don't put the bag into the water. Just the pasta. Okay, now drain the gnocchi but don't rinse it.

Return the tomato sauce to the heat, and when it's bubbling a little toss in about 2 cups of finely chopped kale. Let it cook for about 2 minutes, until it's wilted but still a bit crunchy.

Dump in the sausage and mix, then stir in the gnocchi. If you weren't cheap +/- broke, you'd top with grated Parmesan. We did not.

Here's the finished product:

Here's the baby's portion. He ate it all. With gusto.

I'll post another cute video in the next wee while, so keep an eye out!
Edit: Put it up in the post below!

p.s. We're all doing pretty well and school's going great so far. Matt's Bday is Monday! And we get the cats Monday! And house group is Monday! Everything exciting happens Monday!

Giggles McGiggleson

2008-10-04T18:45:00.000+01:00

It Worked!

2008-09-28T17:53:00.002+01:00

Thanks for your encouragement, commentariat. I found my ring today! It was lying on the carpet where it certainly had not been previously (a, because Matt and I had both looked there, and b, because it is a commonly walked path). YAYAYAY!!!!! I'm still married!!!

The Video!

2008-09-26T20:30:00.001+01:00

Alright, that took a touch longer than expected, so I put it in its own post. Sorry it's really long; I just couldn't edit out all of HBP's cute. The password is the same as always!

The New Flat! from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

Lost

2008-09-25T21:05:00.003+01:00

I can't say where I was when my wedding ring walked away, because I don't actually know. I slipped it into my trousers pocket Tuesday afternoon, just as I've done every time I've washed the dishes in the past 4 years, seven months and 28 days since we got engaged. Every time I've put my rings in my pockets (or almost, anyway) I've thought "this is a bad idea; they could fall out of your pocket and get lost". But you know what? It never has.

Something distracted me right after dishes had been washed, then another and another thing, until bedtime. I tossed my trousers in the dirty clothes and fell asleep. The next morning, I put on a skirt and shirt and went to school, the whole time cheerfully unaware of any absence on my left hand. About halfway through the morning, I realised I wasn't wearing my ring. I was a bit worried, but figured I'd grab it when I got home. However, when I got home and reached into my trousers pocket, there was no ring there. My wee band that I wear when I'm doing lab work was there (I've taken to wearing it on my right hand, so it had gone into my pocket with the other), but no beautiful diamond set.

Over the last few days, I've scoured the laundry pile and surrounding floor half a dozen times, the rest of the flat at least once, and tonight Matt CSI'd it as well, all to no avail. So if anyone wants to come over and look, I'm giving a freshly baked cake of his/her choice to the first person to find it.

Ah-Choo!

2008-09-24T20:02:00.003+01:00

Um, that'd be me sneezing at the dust that's gathered on ye olde blogge. Sorry about that. We're almost settled in to our new place; just need to finish sorting and cleaning (namely the bathroom), then figure out decorating. We also need to create a space for the two newest members of our family who will be arriving shortly. Thats right; we'll be the proud slaves to two lovely cats soon! We pick them up from the shelter next weekend, after they're spayed. They are so cute! Yay!!!!

Here's a picture of our street from my bus stop:

In this photo, I've cleverly placed an arrow pointing to our flat. Oh, I'm gooood:

Right. Anyway, I'll try to add a video to this post in a wee while, but it involves editing, so I may, as they say, balls it up. In the meantime, I leave you with the fact that our biggest fans sent us a birthdays gift that has made Matt and I continually laugh and shake our heads in wonderment all day:

Giraffes? Giraffes!

Wooooo!

2008-09-11T20:09:00.002+01:00

Yay, HBP turned 1 today! Our fave new coffee joint (Directly downstairs from us. Dangerdangerdanger!) gave him a jam cookie and a "baby cappucino" for free. SO cute. Um, we're bad parents and didn't take our camera, but I snapped a pic with my mobile that I'll try to figure out how to get up here. We also had lunch at the Yellow Cafe, an awesome Turkish place where literally every person in there was talking to, squeezing, and hugging Hosea. everyone. Including the two servers and 4 or 5 patrons who walked by. Hosea loved it.

All in all, we're settling in okay. Our landlord still hasn't given us all our furniture, but we're confident he will soon. ish. Tehn we'll finish unpacking and start cat-hunting!

We have... THE INTERNET. Whee! It was supposed to get here the 16th, but came today instead. Yay for the 'Net-addicted Price household!

If I owe you an email or address, it will arrive to you soon. Now off to hang up some laundry.

We're Back!

2008-09-08T11:17:00.002+01:00

No phone or internet for a wee while, but if you really need to reach us you can try (0)797 250 5246, which might work (if calling from the US, dial 011 44 797 2505 246).

Yay! Our flat is lovely, despite having a non-functional washer and only marginally functional shower and toilet. We'll work it out!

Also

2008-09-04T00:08:00.002+01:00

For Hosea's almost-1st birthday, we treated him to sushi.

I think he ate more than I did!

EDIT: Sorry Drew! Everyone, Andrew took the pics with his beautiful baby iPhone.

"Dut!"

2008-09-03T17:08:00.003+01:00

Here's the cute:

Sorry for the short video, the camera was full and shut off midway.

See you Scotland peeps in 50 hours!

Fourthaversary!

2008-08-28T18:39:00.002+01:00

-- Breakfast this morning at the corner diner: corned beef hash for me, cornbread pancakes for Matt, toast and grits for HBP. Yum!

-- Thanks to Kayla for wishing us a happy 4th (and, um, for reminding us that it's today)!

-- Hosea can now say duck ("Dut!"), A.J., Dada, hi, and Mama. Oh man, he's cute.

-- He can also climb onto the bed, which adds a whole new dimension of holy-moly to the day. He only knows how to get up, and seems to like getting down via the kamikaze route. Sheesh.

-- He can also stack objects and put them in containers. He can also wave hello, shake his head "no" (which he does *all* the time), sign "more" and "all done" and sometimes "food". He'll walk if you hold one hand, and run if you hold both. Seriously, Scotland peeps, you won't even recognise him.

-- One week!

--I love my family. A lot.

Alive!

2008-08-12T05:03:00.002+01:00

We are, seriously. We've been living at AJ and Rachelle's place right now, which has been so cool. They are an amazing couple. Hosea's big, and cute, and very bratty right now (The screaming phase). I did a month of work at a small animal emergency clinic, which was, well, not very satisfying. The vets and most of the techs were nice, but fairly boring work and one very rude tech made my life relatively miserable. Now I'm chillaxing and doing a couple of days a week at the equine hospital, which I adore.

We go home in less than a month, and I can't wait. To be living our own, normal, Price life in our own flat; to shake the car and walk again; to eat healthy meals and only go out to eat on special occasions or when studying; to know where everything is and should be. To start 4th year!

I'm accompanying Rachelle on a 2 week long trial at Curves. Today was our 1st day and we had a lot of fun! There's a Curves less than 2 miles from our flat in Edinburgh, so maybe I'll make that happen. We'll see.

How's by you all?

Um...

2008-07-23T22:36:00.002+01:00

I know you guys have gotten used to pretty much minutely updates (uh, not), but posting's going to get even slimmer. We've been kicked out of my parents' place unexpectedly, so we're kind of transient right now. We'll let you know when things settle down.

A Little Better

2008-07-17T04:34:00.001+01:00

I can at least stand today. And walk, ish. (The fact that I am only able to do those things with max-strength vicodin, muscle relaxants, and NSAIDS should tell me someting, but I am choosing to ignore it. Lalalalala, I can't hear you!)

To celebrate my standability, Matt and I went to buy mom flowers after a crappy day. Then, when the baby went to sleep, mom and I baked a sugar-free peach pie and two sugar-full peach cobblers with the abundant bountry from her tree. Seriously, anyone want peaches?

Back to Back

2008-07-15T00:28:00.001+01:00

Yep, my back is out again. This time, I somehow sprained it. Dump! Now I'm cracked out on muscle relaxants and vicodin. I'll let you know when I can pull my own trousers on.

Bullet the Blurred Sky

2008-07-06T15:15:00.002+01:00

--I finished my two week externship at the equine hospital in Somis. It was AWESOME. They me do a ton of stuff, I learned a lot, everyone was super nice, and I got to see some really neat stuff. They asked me to forgo the small animal placement to just stay with them for the rest of summer. I declined, but I'm going to work Saturdays there, I hope.
--The down side of an amazing externship is the exhaustion. left the house by 6:55 every morning, and I didn't get home until 6:45 almost every night. Man. Also, the staff and vets there have no concept of "breaks" or "sitting", so I am pooped. Hopefully the SA place will be a touch more relaxed.
--Matt's in North Carolina this weekend with our Grandma Eileen, since Papa Jim passed away earlier this week. Hosea's been missing him a lot. Me, too.
-- Speaking of the wee HB, he's seriously cute. Every morning, I walk into his room and he's standing in his cot smiling at me.
--Hosea, A.J., Rachelle, and I went to Chili My Soul to have lunch with none other than Bianca and Andrew! Man, I love those two. Hosea sampled two different chilis and pronounced them both delicious. Mindy, who's worked there for at least 7 years, recognised me, asked where Matt was, and *loved* the baby. I almost couldn't believe we hadn't been there in 2 years.
--I think B and A might have loved Hosea just a little, too; they both offered at least twice to "borrow" him for awhile.
--Due to aforementioned exhaustion, I was sorely tempted to take them up on it. Just for a month or two.
--Today is church, then possibly chillin with the Ings. Woo!

Drought or Flood

2008-06-22T22:11:00.002+01:00

In 17 years of calling this house "home", nobody in my family ever called an ambulance. Oh, we went to the hospital dozens of times, but we always drove ourselves or had someone take us (um, or walked). In fact, the only two times I ever remember emergency personnel coming here were (1) a couple of firetrucks when Cynthia, mom, and I set the kitchen on fire, and (2) a police car when my truck was stolen from the driveway.

But in the last week, we've had two paramedic teams here. Two. One was on Monday, when mom began experiencing extreme tachycardia (up to 160ish!) and chest pain. She spent the night in the hospital and came home with a diagnosis of "something to do with your thyroid...?". Then today, dad couldn't get out of bed due to dizzy, whirly faintyness. Yeah, I've been there. They did a bunch of bloods and a CT, and they sent him home with "something to do with your sinuses...?".

Geez oh man. There's still some Jeni's White Trash Lemon Drop punch in the fridge which is calling my name. It's 10:20 p.m. in Edinburgh right now, so that's okay, right?

Too Much Fun

2008-06-22T06:07:00.003+01:00

... to actually post anything! Sorry about that. The little man can now crawl very fast, pull himself up on anything, cruise around while holding onto stuff, get from a lying to sitting position, balance while sitting on his haunches, and take a step or two while just holding one of our hands instead of both. Man.

Here are some pictures:

Swimming with Daddy on a (very) hot summer morning.

Taking his breakfast on the back patio.

Riding the swings at Petit Park.

The most popular attraction at Sebastian's 7th birthday!

Also, Mary is married! And the wedding was beautiful! Yay! (No pictures, sorry. I was too busy.)

...um, that's all. I start work on Monday so I should have more goodies for you then. Oh! I passed everything, so I'm on my way to 4th year!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!!

Peace out. I'm friggin' tired.

We made it!

2008-06-06T15:02:00.003+01:00

We're here! Hosea is already in love with his grandma and Tasha, and he slept from 7 last night to 6 this morning with only a couple of wake-ups. Mom's house looks great, and HBP has his own room!

He was pretty good for the flights; he didn't really sleep, but he also didn't scream the *whole* time. He did nurse for about 2/3 of the time, but that was really okay by me.

He also learned to crawl! Mid- nappy change! On the floor of the terminal at Heathrow! Yeah, he's adorable.

That's all. I'm really friggum' tired and need breakfast.

Here we come!

2008-06-04T19:59:00.001+01:00

Hall Runner from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

See you at 6:45 tomorrow evening, California!

In The Top Ten Things You Don't Want To See...

2008-06-03T15:59:00.001+01:00

...on your online bank account transaction, I would say that $1000 dollars of fraudulent charges from a gas station in Jamaica is high on my list.

Man.

Now is the perfect time...

2008-06-02T22:01:00.001+01:00

... to panic!

Yeah, we're moving and cleaning and whatnot, and I was doing alright until about an hour ago. When I lost it. Now I'm convinced that we will never ever ever get our flat moved out and cleaned out and Priced out before, you know, September.

A Handful of Bullets

2008-05-29T19:41:00.002+01:00

-- I passed my cat and dog handling exam! Woo! Despite taking three tries to pill the dog. I think I won points when she asked me to sex the cat and I said, "It's either a female or a male with gynecomastia".

-- Did I mention that our new landlord said we could get a cat? I've been procrastinating by searching Edinburgh cat rescue sites. (Um, and reading several Agatha Christie novels. Darn Nelle.)

-- My last exam is tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. I feel under prepared, yet alarmingly apathetic. Hmmm...

-- I am beginning to be alarmed by the amount of things that need to happen before we leave:
1. Take exam
2. Bake cake for bridal shower. (Anti-terrorist chocolate cake with caramel sauce!)
3. Go to Bridal shower.
4. Move stuff out of our flat (which is only about 10% packed right now) on Saturday afternoon and possibly Sunday.
6. Pack and get everything ready to go.
5. Clean like banshees from Monday morning to Wednesday afternoon while semi-camping in our shell of a flat.
6. We fly out Thursday morning!

-Yeah, on that note, I think I'll go pack. Or study. Or maybe read another AC novel.

2008-05-26T19:03:00.002+01:00

Yesterday morning I drank a "grande sugar free vanilla skim iced latte" at Starbucks. Beck was singing "The Golden Age"; significantly better than the usual background noise there. I munched on some toasted fruit bread and read through pelvic fracture repair and hip dislocations. All told, it was not a bad morning, though I would have rather been reading the Agatha Christie novels Nelle lent me than Dr. Mosley's notes. For lunch, we met some friends for a picnic out in the Meadows on a gloriously sunny, though very windy day.

Today? Much less motivated. Think I'll head up to the Elephant House to see if I can divinate the future (or at least Friday's exam Qs).

More Fun

2008-05-22T18:42:00.000+01:00

More fun with the grocery bag. Password is "scotland" again.

Grocery Bag Swing from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

Toothsayer

2008-05-22T13:41:00.002+01:00

The general rule of thumb for teething is as follows:

first few days: slightly grumpy and warm. "Hmm, I wonder if he's teething."

next few days: slightly grumpier and less warm. "guess he wasn't... maybe he's growing/constipated/stressed/tired."

next few days: very grumpy, more warm. Gums swollen. "Oh, it IS teething. Here's a cold gel-thing."

Next few days: still very grumpy, gums look red and shiny. "Man, this tooth has to be coming in like, um, tomorrow. I hope"

Next few days: Steadfastly miserable (all of you), naps are contracted, Calpol flows freely. White dot grows under gum. "Geez, the poor guy. It's okay, it'll be out tomorrow."

Today: darkened spot on gums shows where it will come through aaaaaaannnnnyyyy second. Murder-suicide contemplated. Nursing lasts >30 minutes per session. All ready to collapse. Calpol dosed by the minute.

Yeah, it's been fun.

Lots of Videos!

2008-05-21T14:47:00.003+01:00

Everyone loves videos! Once again, the password on all of these videos is "scotland". You might remember this one from a really long time ago. Look how small he is!

Laundry from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

Here's the updated version:

Watching Laundry from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

Here's Hosea playing with some new toys he got today. Sometimes he takes a while to warm up to new toys, but he loved these wooden fruit and veg right away. You can't beat the satisfying "Clack!" of wooden toys.

Fruit and Veg from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

We bought them at Seesaw Toys, the shop where we bought Hosea's nappies as well. They just opened a new shop right down the street from the flat we're moving into at the end of the summer. We stumbled across it just yesterday while checking out our new neighborhood. The original shop is on the other side of town, so this will be much more convenient. While wandering around we also checked out the local Tesco grocery store and discovered that even though it looks smaller than the one we shop at now from the outside, it's actually a bit bigger with better selection. We're really looking forward to living in our new place.

Xtreme Child Rearing

2008-05-16T16:48:00.002+01:00

Baby carriers, Price-style.

Treading Water

2008-05-15T20:11:00.004+01:00

Physically: Much better, just a touch dizzy and cough-y.
Mentally: Drained-- got that "brain feels viscous and gritty, like jello mixed with sand" feeling
Emotionally: Exhausted and stressed at the amount of work left to do. Matt's even worse off. We need to get out of this flat and this country sooner than later. Anyone have vodka? Or chocolate?

Here are some cute pictures of HB. We love him, though he's a grumpy, non-napping wreck right now.

Showing off his UCD paraphernalia.

X-treme napping.

Whoa, noodles are so cool.

Mmmm, smoothie.

A package from Nana and Poppa! Hosea liked the box and the grapes best.

Mother's Day Recap

2008-05-12T20:11:00.002+01:00

I pretty much loved this Mother's Day-- low-key without feeling forgotten. Matt bought me flowers on Saturday, and mom, dad, and the Richmonds sent a card with some (British!) cash in it.

Today way a bad day. Through the stupidity of Lothian bus drivers (and, later, the Lothian bus system in general and then, finally, my stupidity) I wound up walking or jogging for well over 5 miles this morning. I had my dog and cat practical (which I don't even remember, other than it took me 3 tries to give the dog a pill and I was still trying to catch my breath from running to the ED&C home), then tried to study in the afternoon. I say "tried" because I was so disheartened from the morning that I was really having a hard time studying. After staring at the "principles of internal fixation" fracture repair lecture for over an hour, I went home.

When I confessed my depression and apathy to Matt, we brainstormed on ways to brighten me up. I was thinking about going to get a pedicure, but he had a better idea:

We gave Hosea to Emma and her kids for the afternoon (general love affair between the lot of them), and Matt and I went and spent my Mom's Day cash on dinner and drinks down at Ocean Terminal. We went to this "American-style" restaurant, shared a bacon jalapeno cheeseburger and hot wings, and split a bottle of wine. Then we went to a bar downstairs and Matt got a Manhattan and I got a (too sugary) vanilla martini. Yeah, for a woman whose sum total of drinking since before she got pregnant consists of less than tonights expenditure *combined*, I was feeling pretty tipsy by the time we headed back. That's the nice thing about not owning a car here: you just need to make it to the bus stop. :)

Anyway, I'm feeling a lot less down after having a splendid date with my wonderful husband. And I don't think it's just the wine. Yay!

The Plus Side- Roasted Flour Sablés

2008-05-10T18:38:00.003+01:00

I made cookies today! And they are (were) amazing!

I based my recipe on this one, except I subbed out whole wheat flour for 1/2 the all-purpose, and added 25g more butter (to counteract the "falling apart"-ness of hers). Here's the recipe I wound up with:

Whole Wheat Roasted Flour Sablés

- 150 g all-purpose flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat here)
- 75 g sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt flakes (fleur de sel, kosher salt, crushed Maldon... I used sea salt)
- 100g chilled unsalted butter, diced
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 to 3 tablespoons milk

Makes about 15-20.

Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Spread the flour evenly on a rimmed cookie sheet and put in the oven to toast for 15-20 minutes, until the house smells like delicious roasty flour, stirring the flour around every 5 minutes or so. (It may become lightly golden in places, but it should not change color overall.) Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the cookie sheet. This will take about an hour; if you, like me, cannot wait that long, put it in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour.

Combine the toasted flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add the diced butter and process until the mixture forms fine crumbs. Add the yolk and 1 tablespoon milk, and process in short pulses until the mixture clumps together when you squeeze it in your hand. If it is still too dry, add a little more milk. I used 2 tbsp milk.

(The dough can also be mixed by hand, using the tips of your fingers or a wire pastry blender. Handle the dough as lightly as you can.)

Line a baking sheet (one that fits in your fridge) with parchment paper. Take a small handful of the dough and squeeze it in your hand to form the shape you prefer -- either the simple "squeeze cookie" shape or a slightly flattened ball -- and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Chill for 1 hour, or 45 minutes if you seriously can't spend any more time chilling things while your house smells like you want to eat the friggum walls..

Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F). Slip into the oven and bake for 13-15 minutes, keeping a close eye on them, until they're golden at the edges. Let rest on the sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely. If, while they're cooling, you *must* eat one, I recommend waiting until they've been on the rack for at least 10 minutes, or they'll be too soft and not delicously crumbly.

Yay, cookies!

p.s. Chris, this is the soup recipe I used the other day, except I used homemade veggie stock and I put in 3 medium sized parsips, too. Yum!

Descent

2008-05-09T14:58:00.003+01:00

Guys, I wish I could tell you how much better I'm feeling. Unfortunately, I can't. I have apparently developed something called "labyrinthitis", which is making me feel seasick and nauseous all the time. It feels like the world is rotated just about 1-15 degrees from it's normal position. Yuck.

I passed my sheep handling exam (yay!), so now I have the dog/cat handling exam on Monday morning, then 4 more days of classes, then a week off, then Exam of Doom (tm), then I am 1/2way done with vet school!!!!!!

In the meantime, keep praying for us. Things are not so good here.

Live Blogging From The Flu- Redux

2008-05-05T11:20:00.003+01:00

Yeah, still sick. Have adorably squeaky non-voice. Fever down to 101ish.

I'm here at school until 4. Boo. Going to crack on into some Fossum 'Small Animal Surgery'.

Tesco pomegranate and blueberry popsicles are lovely. I dream of them often.

Laura came over yesterday to help with Hosea since Matt was at this church conference thingie. Instead of using the time to rest, we cleaned our bathroom. Then we made homemade veggie soup with tomato-basil pistou, which was absolutely delicious. Nelle came over to help with the soup (the eating part). Good times, but a little slim on the "rest and recover" bit.

Alright, seriously. Fossum time.

The Sickness

2008-05-02T21:34:00.001+01:00

Hey guys. Jeni's really sick as of last night. It seems like the flu even though flu season is past. It came on really suddenly and just wiped her out. Pray for her, ok?

Right

2008-04-30T21:05:00.002+01:00

In lieu of actual posting, but to assure all you'uns that we are still alive, I put up a few goodies on the Quotes page for the first time in, um, over a year.

The Aftermath

2008-04-21T20:18:00.003+01:00

21 April 2008 Vlog from guitarmatt on Vimeo.

Taking a cue from Andrew, this update on the Price household comes in video form. The password, to keep viewers restricted to readers of this blog, is "scotland".

And yes, putting in the dreads did indeed hurt. Not too much, just as much as pulling hair, but for hours on end. You end up with more emotional damage than physical, I think.

Also, you can't tell from the video, but Jeni is in a HUGE amount of pain, which if you know her usual pain tolerance is a big deal. Pray for her.

Right on Schedule...

2008-04-20T13:50:00.002+01:00

...all hell breaks loose. This will just be a quick rundown before I jump back into the fray. Yesterday through an oversight by someone at the school, Jeni found out about an exam she has tomorrow. Our little man has been sick for the last few days while we've been doing my dreads. Whatever he's got I caught, too. We suffered through it knowing that we'd get a break today. This morning as she was putting him down after his morning feed, Jeni's back went out and she dropped Hosea, thankfully only a few inches into his cot. She's in a lot of pain and can't pick him up, so my sick day's been scratched. Top it off with the facts that we're out of food, nearly out of toilet paper and that Hosea just dropped the two biggest poop-splosions of his life one immediately after the other. That pretty much sums up life right now.

I know a few Palmerston Place people have been reading this blog, so sorry that we weren't at church this morning. Feel free to leave comments if you like on any post, the party's open to everyone.

You all will have to wait a day or two for dread pics. I said I'd get some up once I felt like a real person again, and unfortunately that's going to take a little longer than I thought.

Dreadful

2008-04-17T14:26:00.013+01:00

Last edit: Friday, 10:42 p.m.

As Miranda pointed out in our last post, Matt's hair has reached critical mass. We're dreading today (um, and maybe tomorrow). So far, we're about 4 hours into it, and we have one test dread done and his hair about 40% sectioned off.

4:35 p.m. Edited to add:

Sectioning complete!
Jeni says: Daddy, I want another pony.
Matt says: Churned butter once or twice, living in an Amish paradise.

6:54 p.m. Edited to add:
Dinner, then 4 dreads done. Time to put the man to sleep...

8:40 p.m. Edited to add:
Hosea was/is really having a hard time tonight, but 4 more are done.

10:49 p.m. edited to add: Okay, we have 14 done. They look awesome! Matt thinks it's bedtime...

Friday, 2:51 p.m. 27 dreads done, about 14 to go. We can almost see the finish line!

Friday, 5:14 p.m. 34 dreads done, about 14 to go. Funny how that happens.

Friday, 7:04 p.m. 37 dreads done, about 11 to go (also: dinner eaten, baby fed, 'Seabiscuit' finished, 1st episode of '24' watched). Time to put Hosea to sleep!

Friday, 10:42 p.m. Done!!!!! We'll post pics tomorrow, after Matt can touch his head without cringing and I don't feel like I've been standing up for two days straight whilst running my hands through a sawmill.
(Also, three more episodes of '24' watched. Pretty good, but not as thrilling as people have led us to believe. )

A Realisation

2008-04-16T13:36:00.002+01:00

Our kid definitely eats better than we do. Today, I have made or am currently making:
-- Homemade veggie stock with carrots, onions, leeks, garlic, potatoes rutabaga, fresh herbs, and peppercorns
--Cheesy chicken and root veggie casserole
-- Braised beef stew (okay, this is for all of us)

Matt and I together have chopped nearly 5 pounds of veggies for this endeavour.

Last week, I made him "baby ratatouille" with courgette, sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, and tomato with fresh dill and grated cheese. For that same lunch I had an apple and two pieces of toast.

See where I'm going with this? On the plus side, Matt and I have eaten better with all the fresh fruit and veg in the house. On the minus side, our food budget is kinda, um, hurting.

All you parents, any delicous baby recipes we should know about, especially ones we can all eat?

Miscellaneous Cute

2008-04-15T20:53:00.004+01:00

Guys, you don't have to pretend I don't know: I am extremely biased. Even though he's in kind of a funny looking stage right now (a touch on the bulldog end of the spectrum, no?), I still think Hosea is ridiculously cute. I love almost everything about him (maybe not the fact that he pooped on the floor this afternoon), and he constantly finds new and creative ways to keep me cracking up and generally adoring him.

Take this week for example. He's doing much better now that we're back into the normal routine, thankfully. He's also started babbling, which actually turns me into a puddle of Jeni goo every time he says "Madagabamamanahaaaahaaabadada." Or things like that. Seriously, it's so cute! Matt pretends to retain dignity, but I see him crack under the weight of that much adorableness when nobody's looking. I promise I'll get a video of him soon.

Here are some pictures of our cute son, since I know you guys just can't get enough of him. At least, I know I can't.

Quick, look nonchalant!

Hosea wearing a Matt-wig, or "Whoa, how'd my arms get SO LONG?"

A quick snooze in Daddy's arms to round out a long day.

Matt loves his baby giraffe.

Guys, this polar bear's talking to me! Check it out! P.S. I can stand now.

Nice

2008-04-13T09:41:00.002+01:00

Okay, so normally I don't put non-us stuff on this blog, but Matt showed me this and it was WAY too funny.

see more crazy cat pics

Depths, Despair, Delivery, and other things that start with "D"

2008-04-11T13:31:00.004+01:00

Well, I won't sugar-coat it-- things have been dump-tacular here at Casa Price. Hosea stopped sleeping (for a myriad of reasons, but we think this is the main one), so Matt and I are exhausted. Also, he's not just not sleeping-- he's spending hours (many) of the day and night screaming and crying. Matt and I feel helpless and desperate, and have been spending time jumping down each other's throats as a result.
Hosea's gone from this:

To this:

Man, on man.

On the up side, lambing has been super fun. Here's a few shots of me and sheeps:

Also, Alisha's Sweet and Spunky onesies are so cute they make my head spin! Here's some of the out-takes:

Go here to see more of her wonderful stuff!

But seriously, pray for us. We all need it before I sell Hosea to the circus to pay off my student loans.

Yum!

2008-04-05T18:05:00.003+01:00

The ever-fabulous Laura (who also babysat for us and cleaned our kitchen last night) brought back a little bottle of saffron threads for us from her 3-week trip to Spain. Having never tried cooking with saffron, or even eating it (apart from the 39 cent "saffron rice" tubes we ate as kids), I was intrigued but a little worried. This stuff costs more per ounce than gold! The last thing I needed was to waste 1/2 a bottle on a recipe I'd ruin and wind up hating.

Lucking, my preccccious (i.e., the google food blog search) didn't fail me. I found this recipe, which we made tonight. Fast, easy, cheap (except the saffron) and DELICIOUS!!! Yay for successful adventures in cooking!

ETA: Oh no! Ellen informs me I didn't actually link to the recipe I tried. Here it is. (It, and it's myriad leftovers, were incredible.)

Lentil Soup with Saffron Yogurt

Footloose and Gallbladder Free

2008-04-01T20:38:00.005+01:00

Since I'm doing great and we're finally feeling somewhat normal again, here's a bunch of pictures to make up for the lack of recent posts.

First, the Souzas came for a day trip just before I went into hospital, which was fantastic if way too short. They're so cool. Here's a great pic Matt snapped of Adelaide in the Camera Obscura:

Here's one of Hosea getting into trouble in his cot. He gets into all sorts of strange positions, then cries until we come admire his skillz and/or get him unstuck:

Here's me and the man, getting a pre-bath snuggle:

And here's just a couple of the ten trillion I took of him playing on the floor with Jazzy's blankie:

Including this one, which clearly shows the "Seriously? Seriously." face that Auntie Kayla must have taught him over Christmas:

Still cute, in case y'all we're worried!

See? We're pretty good. We are pretty anxious about housing, I'm trying to muster energy to study, Hosea welcomed tooth 701 into the air, and Matt is stuck on a particular operation in Trauma Center, but otherwise we're hanging in there.

2 more months until summer madness!

...And the beat goes on

2008-03-29T11:04:00.003Z

Our son ate an apple for breakfast. One whole (peeled, cored, chopped, sauteed, spiced, pureed, mixed with whole milk) apple. I have to admit, it smelled pretty apple-butter-cinnamon-tastic; I had a hard time not just spreading it on my toast.

Woot.

Also, we got our onesies from Alisha today! Yay! We'll post pics as we can.

We have... Tickets!

2008-03-26T21:15:00.001Z

We arrive in L.A. on June 5th, and leave on September 4th. Whee!

(Still not sure about Spokane dates...)

Update!

2008-03-25T16:07:00.002Z

I had my surgery last night. It was an uncomplicated laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which went quickly and smoothly. I quizzed the anaesthesiologists of what their drugs and dosages were for induction and volatile maintenace of anaesthesia... they cracked up the whole time and told me I was rougher on them than med students. I recovered well and came home this afternoon.

Whee! The wonders of modern medicine; you can come home <24 hours after having an organ removed.

Between this and the c-section, I now have 5 scars on my belly. AJ, does this beat you or are we tied?

Hospital

2008-03-24T08:05:00.002Z

I was supposed to get this post up last night but in the midst of everything it didn't make it. Late Saturday night Jeni started feeling the same sort of pain coming on as when she had her first gallstone attack last week. She called the NHS and they wanted her to come in right away. So she went out and got on a bus to the hospital at 11:30 the night before Easter. They gave her some pain meds and kept her overnight. She was given two options: to wait in the hospital to see a surgeon and likely have her gall bladder removed in the next day or two, or to go home and set up an outpatient procedure sometime in the next several months. Since she had another attack just a week after the first one, even on the restricted diet meant to prevent attacks, she really only had one choice.

So Jeni spent Easter in the hospital waiting for a surgeon. A surgeon who never showed up. A surgeon who she's still waiting for today. In the meantime, after Saturday night's attack subsided Jeni hasn't needed any pain medication or fluids or anything. She's just sitting in the hospital, waiting. This week she was scheduled to work on the school's sheep farm to help out with lambing. That's obviously been canceled.

I'm at home with Hosea, Jeni's in the hospital waiting. well keep you updated as stuff (hopefully) happens.

Handmade

2008-03-21T20:33:00.002Z

Man, we are so danged blessed by our friends! Everyone has gotten Hosea some preposterously cute clothes, but a few are particularly special. For example:

--The results of the surprise baby shower that Bianca, Miranda, Claire, and Shelley threw us last summer (that we couldn't attend, boo, but they threw in our absence, yay) were a collection of hand-painted or written onesies declaring such truths as "Cute as a bug", "Over the moon", "Presby baby", and the like, with some truly gorgeous pictures. He still wears the 6-9 month ones, though we *really* have to stretch to get them on.

--The adorable and oh-so-classic "Frankenfish" onesie that Kayla found at the Davis Farmer's Market, which have gotten us more comments/admiration/expressions of envy than should be legal.

--The black electric guitar shirt and trousers that Nana got him, which truly unleash his inner rock band front man.

Now, we haven't received them yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that these are going to be added to the mix. Oh, the cuteness. Yay, Alisha!

Something new every day

2008-03-18T10:18:00.002Z

I learned a few new things yesterday:
--There are stomachaches and there are stomachaches.
--NHS 24, the after-hours health care hotline, is pretty good at telling you you're fine, but they are also pretty good at telling you you need to be seen by a doctor RIGHT NOW.
-- Aaron and Jo, a couple from church, are exceptionally good people who will drive you to the hospital, offer to stay with you there, go home, and pick you up later to take you back home, all in the midle of the night.
--The ER here is just as lame and depressing as the ER in the States.
--When you tell the nurse you're a vet student and she says, "Well what do you think your symptoms sound like? Vet students are usually good at diagnosing acute illness", she actually expects an answer.
--I was partway right. I did have pancreatitis (which I guessed) but I also have cholecystitis due to gallstones (which is not a common differential in dogs).
--If they are going to give you morphine, they really wish you would stay in the hospital.
-- If you tell them you're a mother of an infant, they will let you go home with strict and dire warnings to come back straight away if something gets worse.
--Opioids are goooood at pain relief. They do, however, make me feel like I'm sitting in a thick intoxicating mist all the time.
--Did I mention I have an exam tomorrow?

...and nobody even noticed

2008-03-16T19:48:00.002Z

This morning Matt was playing in the praise band, so Hosea and I were chillin' without him in the pew. Hosea was a touch fussy (see below's post) so I had him facing me, standing on my legs as I bounced him up and down.

Our minister was talking about the first Palm Sunday during the "welcome" blurb. He said something like "You can just picture it-- Jesus riding into Jerusalem as the children waved palm branches and the adults threw down their cloaks, everyone shouting 'Hosanna! Hosanna!"

At this point, Hosea jumped, swiveled around, and stared curiously at the minister. His expression very clearly said "You rang?"

Nobody even glanced at him. Or me, though I was shaking trying to keep from laughing out loud.

Man, our kid's gonna be disappointed when he learns people didn't shout "Hosea!" on Palm Sunday.

We have... TOOTH!!!

2008-03-16T18:37:00.001Z

Welcome to the world, number 401!

What's new?

2008-03-14T20:01:00.003Z

**Caution: Introspection ahead. Skip to bottom for a cute picture of our child**

Man, it feels like forever since I actually wrote anything of substance. I've been thinking about giving up on this bloggin' thing; I feel like I am crushingly shallow when I write anything (which is not even all that often). In the mean time, here's a post:
------------------------------------

"How are you?"

It's a phrase I, like all of you, hear a lot in my daily life. I hear it at least 1/2 dozen times a day from my vet school kindred, I hear it 2 or three times from Matthew, and I hear it about 20 times in a space of an hour and a half every Sunday morning. The baristas at the coffee shops I visit; the cashier at Tesco; the bank teller; the person sitting next to me on the bus; heck, even the guy selling "The Big Issue" on the sidewalk or the girl trying to get me to donate to Marie Curie. It seems strange sometimes that even the shallowest of interactions is often centered around such an in-depth question.

Oh, I know it's not that in-depth to the questioner. They usually want to hear "Fine" or "Pretty good" or the like. If it's a friend, they may want to hear "Well, the baby kept us up last night, but at least I made all my notecards for Endocrinology!" (I didn't yet, by the way.) Matt probably expects an answer that describes how my day up to that point has affected me, or something. But to me, at least, I sometimes stop and wonder: How am I doing?

And it's not an easy question to answer, because I really don't have the time for self-reflection. Except when I'm procrastinating from finishing these dang notecards, that is. I am, generally speaking, one hundred percent consumed with the daily business of living. Get up at 5 and feed Hosea. Wake up at 7ish to get dressed, eat breakfast, check email, make lunch, walk out the door by 8:10. Walk or run to the bus. Chat with my seatmate du jour on the way to the Bush. Go to lectures and practicals, staying more or less awake and trying to ration my food so I don't get too hungry. Go back into town by a variety of methods (shuttle bus, city bus, hitching a ride, teleportation, etc). Feed Hosea, then study for awhile, then feed him again. Play with him, eat dinner, put him to bed, hang out with Matt, fall exhaustedly asleep. Lather, rinse, repeat. It may not sound too intense, but it is for me-- I feel like my nose is about 2cm above water. Introspection is far down on my list of priorities, just below showering and just above cleaning our bathroom (Kayla, come back!).

But how am I? I think I'm alright. We're doing some fun stuff in school right now; I never thought I'd be this interested in small animal diseases, but it's fun (and novel!) to learn how to recognise, diagnose, and treat diseases. In animals. Whee! I feel more like I'm on the path to vet-dom every day, a thought which is alternately terrifying and exhilarating. I found one vet to work with this summer (an equine hospital about 30 minutes from Mom's house), and I'm working on two more. I'm looking forward to Easter break; I'm lambing for 2 weeks and working at a small animal hospital for 1, and relaxing/spending time with my boys/studying like a vet student in the last week.

Apart from school, I'm a little less sure. I've felt hypocrisy sneaking into my interactions with Matt lately-- I tell him that he needs to get out more and do things and interact with people while feeling jealous of my time with him. I'm not sure how to work around that. Any ideas?

I'm finally starting to feel like a mom in some ways. Tonight, Matt took off for 5 or 6 hours to hang out with high-school-aged kids via Scripture Union. I played with Hosea, let him hang out in his high chair while I made myself a (failed attempt at) dinner, gave him nakay tummy time while I ate said dinner, put him in jammies, read to him, and nursed him and put him to bed. Not once in any of that time did I wonder what I was doing, wish Matt was around to help, fear for Hosea's well-being, etc. We just... hung out. And it was grand. Except the dinner--when trying a new recipe, do not convince yourself that one of the three ingredients is probably not necessary. It is.

Spiritually, I'm in kind of a valley right now. It occurred to me the other day that I couldn't even remember the last time I had cracked open my Bible. I think Matt and I are going to try to read Scripture together more frequently. On Sundays, I'm in the creche with Hosea, so I don't hear the word read in Church, and I haven't gone to small groups in a long time because I need to nurse Hosea before he goes to bed or I can't make it 'til morning. I have Christian friends in school, but we don't, like, pray together before class, so it's not really fellowship. I know I should be taking more responsibility for my spiritual discipline, but it's, you know, hard and stuff. I can't even really pray right now, I'm so scattered.

And speaking of scattered, so is this post. I didn't really have anything in mind when I sat down to write it, just figured I'd give you guys more that the obligatory once-weekly picture update/bullets of randomness.

So how are you?
-----------------------------------

I call this picture "Childproofing". Note the dirty carpet, the tangle of wires by his right foot, the dangly chokey thing to his left, th important documents withing easy reach, and the sharp pokey-out thing on the drawers. Um, yeah. CPS would probably have words to say to us.

2008-03-08T21:03:00.013Z

One million pictures of Hosea in his new high chair, because he is one million cute!

Here's a peek at what the little man has been eating. We've made all his food ourselves so far in our food processor. He's had porridge, apples, bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, plums, broccoli, beef, chicken, avocado and I'm sure some other stuff I've forgotten about. He likes pretty much everything except chicken. He only likes chicken mixed with other stuff, like lots of broccoli and some garlic powder. Here's a pic of some beef and broc ready to go into the freezer to be pulled out for meals this next week:

Some people have said to us that they made some of their own baby food, but bought meats pre-made in jars because the idea of pureeing meat grossed them out. It doesn't bother us, and doing it ourselves we know it's real fresh meat, as opposed to who knows what is in those jars from who knows when.

Last but not least, if you'd like to read about some of the trials and tribulations of being a stay at home dad, check out my latest post at my personal blog: Macaroni and Awesome.

Some more random thoughts...

2008-02-24T17:16:00.002Z

--We had to buy some disposable nappies this week, since Hosea has a recalcitrant nappy rash. Man, those things are friggin' expensive. And weird. They're, like, bikini-shape. Not so good in the coverage department. Anyway, I'm looking forward to being back in the cloth nappy realm soon.

--Man, those teeth of his reeeealy want to come in. Seriously. He's a toasty, red-cheeked grump right now.

--Church stuff is really hard right now. We're not really happy where we are but don't know where we're supposed to be. How do you find a balance between being okay where you are and wanting to be in a place that suits you?

--Mom's sending us a care package. I'm really excited about it. I heart care packages.

--We have Hosea in a bigger fleecy bear. It's white, and was a gift from the shower our vet school friends threw us. It's cute, but a lot more awkward to put on him. Like, it only zips down one leg? He looks like a baby polar bear. Or the stay-puft marshmallow man.

--right now he's in a plaid onesie and khaki trousers. Except for the lack of an animal tie, this outfit makes him look an eerie amount like a baby Dr. Mike, for those who know him. I'll post pics later.

--Right now he's making really cute sounds as he pounds out a relatively steady rhythm on the djembe. He's totally going to be a drummer.

--Earlier today he was sitting on the kitchen floor, and he fell backward, knocking the side of his head on the chair leg before thunking the back of his head on the linoleum. Yep, I'm a bad mama.

--Despite the aforementioned thunking, he's really good at sitting on his own now. And really cute.

Random bullets from the trenches

2008-02-22T12:31:00.002Z

--We're all doing a little bit better. Matt's been super snotty, so he's been sleeping in the other room as not not wake Hosea with his snorting and blowing.

--As a result, I've been on the front line with Hosea, only waking Matt up when I get desperate. Man, I'd gotten WAY too used to just letting Matt deal with him overnight! I'm so, so tired right now.

--I think I can see a tooth in Hosea' s mouth. It just looks like a little white dot, right where tooth number 401 should be. If human dentition is numbered the same way as animal dentition.

--Hosea's now been binky-free for about 5 days. We took it away because he was just too dependent on it (and, to be honest, so were we). It's been hard, especially at night, but we think it'll be worth it in the long run. We think. But I am really tired right now.

--Did I mention I'm tired? Like really tired?

--I missed a lot of school this week. First because I was sick, and today because I set the alarm wrong and missed the bus. Boo.

Live blogging from the flu

2008-02-20T06:57:00.002Z

Jeni sick? Since last Wednesday.
Matt sick? Since yesterday.
Hosea sick? Since this morning.

If they're like me, they can expect high fevers, chills, stuffy head, sore throat, earache, and body aches.

Yay. Did I mention we're weaning him off the pacifier this week?

Pray for us!

Makin' Mischief- 5 Month Redux

2008-02-13T20:57:00.004Z

Here, apropos of nothing, are a couple of pics that demonstrate Hosea's 5 month skillz:

-helps with household chores

-Tests ground for solidity and strength

-embraces role as Captain Heartbreaker

-Provides a discerning palate for all purees/mashes

-Chief avocado tester

-Um, builds character?

- plays well with others

-Cute.

This Might Explain The Size

2008-02-06T16:57:00.000Z

Our son just ate 1/2 a mashed avocado. With gusto.

Well, we know he's a Price, since Matt and I fought to eat the other 1/2.

Making it Official

2008-02-06T14:42:00.000Z

This is what we'll be working on for the next few weeks. One upside of living in the middle of the capital of Scotland is that we're within walking distance of the U.S. embassy, which should make things a lot easier. Wish us luck!

P.S. Our original plan for this summer was to be back in the States for just a few weeks. Turns out we may be expanding our trip to a few months. We'll keep you updated as things develop.

P.P.S. 18 pounds 12 ounces as of today!!!

Photo Dump! Whee!

2008-02-05T21:34:00.000Z

Here's some pictures of the wee man:

Nah guys, I'm not really into a "look". I'm just a natural rock star.

Check out my playpen!

You're fired! But we're still cool, right?

Man guys, you should really taste some of this. Seriously.

Daddy's hair and I are having a contest to see who'll be taller by sumer. I'm winning so far.

I can flyyyyyyy! p.s. Yo.

Man, this toy is bigger than I am!

Yeah, that wee man. Cute, huh? You wanna take him for a week or 6 while we sleep?

So...

2008-02-04T20:04:00.000Z

Well, I won't lie to you. Things haven't been so hot at the Price house for the last couple of days. We'll have some cute pics to put up in a day or two which is a good thing, maybe they'll remind us that we do indeed have a cute kid and not just a screaming pouch of grouch.

Man O Man

2008-01-28T20:53:00.000Z

Sorry for the ridiculous lack of posting as of late. As Dani would say, I'm kind of going through the Mines of Moria right now. I'll write when I emerge.

Sorry, all. Hope to see you soon!

Lend a Hand!

2008-01-21T10:46:00.000Z

It's "Mommy Monday" over at A Charmed Life (www.acharmedlife.typepad.com), written by our blogger friend Debbie in Escondido, California. Today's post honors her own mother, who died two years ago today at the age of 53, of lung cancer. In her memory, Debbie has started the Debra Angelo Leave No Mom Behind Fund through the LUNGevity Foundation, and is in training to run the Boulder Backroads Marathon to benefit lung cancer research. She's asking for our help to get the word out. Please visit her blog to hear more of her mom's story, or check out her fundraising page at http://events.lungevity.org/goto/leavenomombehind.

Hello Out There!

2008-01-15T20:31:00.000Z

Hi guys! How the heck are y'all?

Sorry I've been pretty absent from the blog-lands lately. I've been feeling pretty ambivalent about the ol' blog, lately. It was supposed to be this cool resource for other American transplants over here, but I just don't really have the energy to make it actually useful. Also, my internet tolerance has been pretty low lately; the amount of time I can actually spend on the computer at any one time before getting really bored is about 10 minutes. I've been paper journaling a lot lately, which has been good.

Anyway, what's new at casa Price? The new semester started for me with a bang, consisting of a whole week of clinical neurology lectures, a massive head/chest cold, and 1 day of puking which I thought was the Norovirus, but thankfully was not. lost my wallet, which sucks like an underripe lemon.

Also, we did some fun cooking!

Here's a cheesecake that Nelle and Matt and I made, based on this recipe with the addition of a layer of chocolate chips at the, um, bottom of the cake. It was... ok. The inside was a touch underdone and the outer edge was burnt, but the middle 60 percent was pretty delicious.

Today, we made a potato, leek, and spinach soup based on this recipe, with the addition of some spinach (about 350 grams) as the leeks were sauteeing. I thought it was fantastic, but Matt said it gave his teeth the weird spinach feeling. So next time we make it (and there will be a next time) we'll just saute some spinach separately and put it on top of the cooked soup along with the creme fraiche.

Miranda gets here Thursday, and Adeline gets here a week from Friday! Yay!

To finish, here's a picture of my two favourite boys. They are so, so cool.

Hosea Insisted

2008-01-13T17:28:00.001Z

Dear Auntie Kayla,
For your birthday I pooped on Daddy's head.
Love,
Hosea
p.s. I didn't actually poop on his head. But I did roll over from back to front yesterday!

Happy Birthday, K!

Pillow Fight!

2008-01-11T20:25:00.000Z

Sittin' Up (Kinda)

2008-01-10T18:18:00.000Z

AeroGarden!

2008-01-04T18:19:00.000Z

Ok, so here's a really cool gift that Jeni's mom got for us for Christmas, an AeroGarden! We don't have a tv, but friends have said, "Hey, I've seen that thing on tv and thought it would be cool to have one, but I'd never be able to actually get one." Well, we've got one, suckers, and soon we'll be just swimming in freshly picked herbs. Whadya think of that, huh?

Actually, we had a bit of a problem when we first hooked up our AeroGarden, which runs on 110v and not 220v like we have in the UK. We thought, "We'll just plug it into our travel converter for the next few days until we can get a permanent one." The next morning went like this:

Jeni, sniffing the air: "Oh, I forgot that converter makes a funky ozone smell."
Matt: "Umm, it's melting."

Yeah. So the garden got put on hold for a week or two until today. Hopefully this beast won't melt!

We also hope our herbs will grow, since they got dunked with water for a few hours a week ago then dried out and now we're trying to start them again. It may be that we lost our first batch of seeds in this whole process, oh well.

To finish off the post, another pic of Jeni's new haircut!

Isn't she beautiful?

Snow Day

2008-01-03T21:30:00.000Z

All of our houseguests are gone. It's just the three of us until the 17th of January, when Miranda arrives.

In the meantime, we try to keep ourselves occupied. Today it snowed a good amount (as in, there was a thick enough coating to create some pretty hazardous slush once it melted). Here's a pic of Matt and Hosea when it first started snowing:

Also, I got my haircut today! It's short. I like it.

That's all for tonight!

We miss her already (especially Hosea)

2008-01-01T14:28:00.001Z

Kayla went home this morning! More pictures of her trip and the Peck/Sloan contingency and Christmas and other posts in the next couple of days.

The Party Continues

2007-12-29T11:45:00.000Z

The Pecks and the Sloan arrived on Thursday night! Yay!

But seriously, we'll do a real post soon. Seriously.

Kayla's Here!

2007-12-18T19:43:00.000Z

She and Hosea and I went for a walk in the Meadows today.\

All four of us went to Ikea. We got a Christmas tree and some meatballs and a billion candles.

That is all.

Allllllllllright.

2007-12-16T20:19:00.000Z

****Pictures of Hosea at the end****

Man, the last few weeks have been rough over here at Casa Price. I just finished finals on Friday, which went... meh. One went well, one went so-so, one went just terribly, and two went hilariously wrong. Oh, well. Resits, anyone?

Matt went pretty much off the deep end trying to help me study and keep Hosea alive, so our house is pretty much a wreck right now. Kayla's going to have her hands full! She gets here tomorrow and I could NOT be more excited. Yay!

In the midst of all this, Hosea turned 3 months! It's pretty weird/crazy/awesome that we've actually managed to keep him alive this long. He's doing pretty well, but it's been a little hard again these past two weeks. He had been eating really well (on both the bottle and the breast), but all of a sudden he's gotten really fussy breastfeeding. As a result, he's eating less, so he's growing much slower than he had been (as in, he moved from the 97th percentile to the 50th in one month). So we're just kinda holding out to see if he moves past his fussy stage or if we need to wean him.

Anyway, enough talking. Here's some pictures of the wee monster:

Um, so he's still a little small to be riding our shoulders, but he really likes wrapping his hands in Matt's hair, so it's all good.

He also likes "reading" his Safari Friends book. Especially the hippo and the zebra.

After seemingly mastering the art of rolling from prone to supine, he had stopped doing it. He's like, "guys, I am SO over this."

He has become enamored with going for walks/coffee house trips in the pram (stroller), which we do by wrapping him up in this fleecy hand-me-down from Rob and Emma. We call him the starfish when he's in it, for obvious reasons.

And here's the little starfish snoozing after a hard afternoon charming the waitress at Double Dutch, our favourite cafe.

Sorry for the extreme lack of content on my part recently. Just haven't felt like I've had anything to say that isn't "brain...melting...Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin......"

(if you click that link, you might be mildly offended. Same goes for this link.)