Many of you know that I have always liked the name Pepe’ for a boy.  Many of you have also laughed at this.  I get a lot of, “…like the skunk?”  For years I have heard how no one would ever name their child Pepe’.  My mom even asked a waiter once what he thought of the name, just to prove to me that absolutely no one likes it.   Nate isn’t the biggest fan (that is putting it mildly) but I’m still working on it.  I just wanted to post proof to you all that SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE actually did name their child Pepe’.  This is a picture from a friend of a friend’s blog.  It is a picture of her little boy’s room…and his name is Pepe’.   HA!!

okay, okay - so the baby’s real name is Jose, and Pepe’ is just his nickname.  And he’s of Spanish decent, so I suppose it makes a little more sense for THEM to call their baby Pepe’ rather than me and Nate to call our big ol’ white baby Pepe’ - but still…

We went on a field trip to Jaquemine Farms pumkin patch with Magei’s and Sam’s school last week.  Magei was an old pro, having remembered the trip from last year, and Sam had a blast trying to eat the corn kernals from the corn box (like a sand box, but filled with dried corn kernals.)

The normal routine when the kids and I get home at the end of the day is for me to let Magei out of her car seat, hand her her backback and then she goes up to the front door to wait for me while I unstrap Sam and get his stuff gathered up.  On this particular day, I unstrapped Sam and looked ahead to the house and couldn’t see Magei.  I couldn’t hear anything.  I checked the mailbox, and she hadn’t gone over there.  I walked around to the other side of the car, and there she was…lying in the driveway, asleep, using her backpack for a pillow.

When Magei moved up into the pre-school classroom at school, naps became optional.  Although everyone else in her class still takes a nap, I told her teacher that I wanted her nap cut out.  She was taking a 2-3 hour nap during the day, not going to sleep until 8:30-9:00 at night because she wasn’t tired, and then I literally had to drag her out of bed in the morning at 6:00.  So, since we’ve cut out the naps, she’s going to bed at 7:30 again, falling immediately to sleep, and waking up fresh as a daisy at 6:15.  This new routine is working out perfectly…except for the fact that she is falling asleep in the driveway…

there is a movie theater here that has .50 cent movie night on monday nights.  we went and saw ratatouille with our good friends, the beazers, and i’d have to say it was worth $1.50…and actually, we made magei use her allowance to pay her own way - so even better!  here is a pictue of her at the movies with one of her bff’s.  i stole this picture off the beazer’s blog…thanks!

some more pictues from my archive folder…my coworkers were so nice to throw me a baby shower the day before i left on maternity leave.  i got so much great stuff!!  and as you can see, at nine months pregnant, i basically took the liberty to wear whatever i wanted to work. 

i came accross this picture today while cleaning out my archive email folder.  how nice it is to have such great friends here in ohio!!

in honor of boss’s day, i would just like give a shout out to my boss, Don.  he’s such a good boss, and it is great to work for him.  thanks, nate, for going to kroger last night to get jelly bellys for me to give to him.  Don really appreciated my thoughtfulness.

okay, mr. harry connick, jr. - there will always be a special place in my heart for you, but it’s time you knew the truth…i have a crush on josh groban.  there.  i said it.  it’s nice to have that out in the open.

 nate, on the other hand, has known for years.  as i’ve always told him, i loved josh before i loved nate.  i saw him in concert last february with my great friend, ruth, and we seriously contemplated becoming groupies and following him around the country.  however, there is a fine line between dedicated fan and stage 5 stalker.  i have decided not to cross that line…yet.  i make no promises once the kids are grown and on their own.

josh just released a new christmas cd, which is awesome.  he even has a duet with the mormon tabernacle chior.  unfortunately, they didn’t include “o holy night” which is one of my favorites of his, but still, it is a great christmas album!

For about a year now I have known that I wanted to specialize in Prosthodontics.  Back in March, I realized that I wanted to do my prosthodontic (”pros”) training here at OSU.  I felt good enough about my chances to get in that we bought a house with the plans to stay here an additional 3 years after dental school is over.  We kept thinking that if I got in, then we made a smart decision to buy our house so early.  But if I didn’t get in, then that would make us complete idiots buying a house that we would only have for about a year.

Today was my interview and I am happy to say that it turns out we’re not idiots after all.  After a day long interview process, I was offered a position at my closing interview.  I am excited and feel honored to be part of this program.

And for all of you saying, “what the heck is a prosthodontist?” I will try to explain it simply.  Prosthodontics is the area of dentistry that specializes in fixed and removable prosthetics.  That means a lot of crowns, bridges, implants, dentures, and partials.  As a prosthodontist, your patients are referred from general dentists…sometimes because the dentist doesn’t like making dentures, but more often because the case is complex.  We receive extensive training in managing complex cases that require treatment plans ranging from demanding esthetic cases involving crowns and veneers to full mouth rehabilitations requiring multiple prostheses.

thanks mom (and darren, too!) for the birthday card with $$…i even got $1 to grow on!  and as always, any occasion calls for a present for magei - even someone else’s birthday.  so we appreciate the down payment on her allowance.  and after thinking about it, there’s no need to feel bad for not including $.30 for nate…as i recall, he actually borrowed $2 from the bit of loot you sent magei for her birthday in february.  it’s been hanging on the fridge while she decides what to buy, staring nate right in the face, tempting him - until one day the paper seductrus proved too much and he had to use magei’s $2 to buy a snack from the school vending machine.  i would say that nate owes magei, except for the fact that she totally stole the TWO bags of candy you sent him in our last package…poor guy didn’t even get one bite.  he just came home to a cardboard box full of crumpled candy wrappers.

love,

laura