Linus

Wednesday May 11, 2011, Linus Was Born. Here's the story, if you're interested.

First, let's remember that my babies usually come late. The due date was May 16, so I wasn't expecting to go into labor until the 20th or so. My last day teaching at the school was Friday May 6. After that baton was passed, my body seemed to slip into exhaustion and prep for labor. I rested for the next three days.

On Tuesday morning Ephraim went to my appointment with me. We saw Dr. Aguilera from Mexico who told me el trabajo could start en cualquier momento. In other words, anytime.

That afternoon we stocked up, packed up, and rested up. In the evening we put the kids to be, and alerted Damien next door to be "on call" just in case. I got comfortable, watched some Spiderman 3, and went to bed around 11. All night I had contractions every 8 minutes. Not sharp ones usually. Just steady. I got out the iPod stopwatch and hit "Lap" for every one. It wasn't a very good night. Doze... feel it mounting... click "Lap"... breathe... relax... doze...tightening... "Lap"... breathe, etc. They weren't getting any closer, and I wasn't terribly uncomfortable, so I let Ephraim sleep. I figured once I had the baby I could sleep all day in the hospital, but he would have to single parent the other three kids all day and night. He needed the rest.

I was kind of lonely during that long night. Fortunately I heard that familiar coughing and moist expectorant sound coming from the next room. Sure enough Isaac had gotten sick all over himself and his blankets. I showered him, changed the blankets, and settled him in bed. This happened two more times, so the time passed rather quickly with this distraction from my discomfort. And Isaac and I had a really nice talk about our family and his role as a big brother. But I don't know if he remembers any of it.

Around 5:15 am, I heard some roosters and thought it was about time to get the day started. Ephraim called the Webbs, a senior missionary couple who volunteered to help with the kids. Once I started moving around labor became more intense. When the Webbs came, we scooted off to the hospital, and after a brief but brutal labor he was born at 7:25 am. All white and creamy and puffy and warm. I was just amazed that I was done! That it was over. That I was myself again. And that I had a new baby to get to know.

He has fine features and a straight nose. Not the ski-jump nose the other kids had. Dark, fuzzy hair like newborn Ella and Isaac. And light hazel eyes. For now.

Now the name. Linus has been on our list since Ella. So were Owen and Isaac. We just liked it and couldn't think of any bad associations. Linus Pauling was a Nobel Prize winner and OSU graduate. Linus from Oceans 11 is a little insecure and a target for jokes, but he can swipe a Faberge egg, no prob, so that's pretty amazing. And Linus from Peanuts is by far the wisest and most sincere character despite his affinity for a blanket and thumb.

Ta'iala is Samoan for guide or leader. Literally, ta'i is to lead, and ala is the way. It's also the name of our school that I've been dedicated to for the whole pregnancy.

We're all doing fine. Adjusting. (Okay in reality, we're exhausted and hanging in there.) But we're also thrilled to have this sweet little one in our home.

El trabajo

My victory breakfast: scrambled eggs with veggies and toast, kokosamoa, banana mash with tapioca, and milk. Mmmm.

Here you bring your own pillow, blanket, and towel.

Good ol' LBJ

He's bundled up to protect him from the arctic air conditioning.

My victory Oreo milkshake from Carls Jr.

Due Date

Today's my due date, but I didn't have a baby today...because,
I HAD THE BABY LAST WEEK!

Meet Linus Ta'iala Temple born May 11 weighing 8 pounds.

We're doing great. More to come. (Info, not kids.)

What's Up

This is just going to be a random post of things going on.

I'm 37 weeks pregnant. Even sleep is becoming uncomfortable. But I'm still going and feeling good. I've started my weekly hospital visits. The last one took 3 hours. 2 hrs 45 minutes of waiting. 15 minutes with the doc. Must I go, really?

Last Wednesday my students planned a baby shower for me with Ms. Lita who's taking my afternoon classes now. I didn't get a picture, but it was really cute. When I walked in the room they had confetti, balloons, and wall decorations. We played games, ate snacks, and even opened a few presents. Can you imagine 10 year old boys at a baby shower? It's probably their first and last one. They were really cool about it, and I think it will help them transition into this last month when I'm on maternity leave.

A few weeks ago for Family Home Evening we picked up dinner made by the lovely Ali Pili (thanks!!) and went to eat at Sliding Rock. We enjoyed the sunset, the waves, and the bats, and remembered why we like living here.

Last weekend was Flag Day, or the commemoration of American Samoa being "adopted" by the United States. I always love watching the fautasi race. And watching the whole island get excited about their teams. This year the Satani from Nuuuli took first.

Isaac is becoming a gamer. I don't approve. We've had to reset the kids' password on the computer, and set limits on his iPod time. It's Ephraim's iPod, so Isaac only has access to it a few hours in the evening, but he's incredibly adept at whatever he does on it. And the computer games he plays are on pbskids.org, so it's not that bad. (His latest favorite is Kratt's Creatures. Hello, kickboxing kangaroos?) But when he wakes up and turns on the computer first thing without asking and feels entitled to it, we have to regulate.

He was quiet one afternoon and I found him here:

...playing Angry Birds sideways on the countertop.

School is great. Ta'iala Academy is nearing the end of its first year. Some people have asked me about it, and I wish we had a website, or a person with enough time and skills to create and maintain one. But we are on facebook.

Most days are really good. I leave thinking, what a lucky group we are. For example, on one random day each class did cool stuff:

Kindergarten- used microscopes to look at bugs

1-2nd grade - visited a parent's work at ...Pizza Hut! got the tour and free samples

3-4th grade - had a grandparent come to teach Maori culture: the Haka and stick tossing

5-6-7th grade - used still and video cameras, tripods, and a laptop to work on their anti-littering project

When people come together, great things are accomplished. Of course we have some tough days. Weeks. Etc. But we're moving forward.

Another one of my associations is Women's Community Action Program led by the amazing Ali Pili. I posted about it when we first started after the tsunami here and here. A lot has happened since then.

We have a great blog going now. Have a look! Check out the post about yours truly. (I wish it were all true.) My contributions are small, but I have fun. Every few weeks the ladies come to my house to record the audio portion of our puppet shows in Samoan on our computer. I've been learning more Samoan! And a few weeks ago I got to wear a huge clown costume and make a million balloon fish at a Nutrition Fair. It was great until my finger started getting sore from tying balloons. How do those guys do it? Professsionals, man.

That nose didn't last long.

Ephraim educated people about fish and I passed out fish. What a team.

This post is long enough. But I haven't mentioned much about Ephraim. He's good. He's been surfing more, that happens when Mike Jackson's on island. He found an Ultimate Frisbee group to join, but the "friendly" game gets injurious so he's off and on. And he's leaving for Hawaii tomorrow for a week with a long shopping list. If you're there give him a holla.

Enough about us. Fa soifua!

Happy Easter

We had a nice Easter weekend.

Thursday at school we had workshops about Samoan Easter traditions, crafts, eggs, and Earth Day followed by boisterous team games. (Indoors, it was pouring rain.)

Friday we were supposed to go to a playgroup Easter event, but I was too tired to go alone and Ephraim was out surfing, so we just didn't make it, and I took a really great nap.

On Saturday we started at Utulei Beach filming my school class. They're working on an Anti-Littering campaign, so we're creating a short film as well as public service announcements. If we had decent internet speed I'd upload it for you.

In the afternoon we went to the Primary Easter Activity, and had loads of fun. Usually my kids leave crying--scary Easter bunny person, too many big kids, empty baskets...stuff like that.

But this year there were no tears! Okay, almost. Owen cried a little when the EB came close.

But he soon got over it. He teamed up with his buddy Noah and his team, and they won the Senior Primary Egg contest!

And there were fun games and so many eggs we couldn't carry them all. So everyone had fun.

Today we had a lovely day at church. On the way home we were thinking about Easter dinner, and how we forgot to plan some elaborate menu. Good thing Hamburger Helper makes a great meal. I'm sure later in life we'll care more. There's more to Easter than food. We're thankful to the real reason for Easter, our Savior, and the promise we have of resurrection.

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!

Thanks ASTCA!

It never stops, does it? And it can't just be location, right?

Thursday we had a big storm. Around bedtime there was a crash of thunder so loud it sounded like two trucks had collided on our roof. Soon after that our internet didn't work. Friday we called the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority (ASTCA) to figure out what to do. The diagnostics showed the modem was fried. So Ephraim went and bought a new one that day.

The next day, Saturday morning we were excited to watch General Conference online (since taking all the kids to the church at 5 a.m. has not worked well for us in the past), and found to our dismay that not only did the internet not work, but we had no dial tone on the landline. And ASTCA closes on weekends. Arg.

So, we've waited patiently and today, Tuesday the guys came and restored communication. Thanks guys!

In the meantime, I've been thinking. Things break. Owen took my cellphone in the shower--broke. (My cellphone doesn't even get reception at my house anyway.) Owen pulled off a little cable inside our printer--kaput. At our school, the computer died (my guess is it's humidity-related), and the printer/copier is constantly out of ink with none to be found on island. I've just learned not to rely on these things.

And I'm trying to be grateful for what we have. Yesterday I was getting in the shower thinking sincerely, "Thank goodness we have running water!" Even if it's not drinkable. And our electricity is working, so I'm never without a fan; big relief.

Maybe we don't have a "normal" American life. But after catching up on my National Geographic reading, I'm realizing there are many more dire situations to be concerned about. Most of the world deals with issues beyond my scope.

So I'm not griping. I'm just mentioning. Things break. But we get along. (And don't bother praising my good attitude, usually I'm the biggest whiner about these things. Ask Ephraim.)

(This picture has nothing to do with the post. We just had a family photo shoot Sunday and I wanted to share.)