OMG, he got his PE!

Nate has been waiting with baited breath to get the results of his professional engineering exam, which he took back in October. He didn't feel very confident after the test. It was a very tough exam, and a long day. The envelope from the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors came in this afternoon's mail, addressed to:

Nathan J. Slavik, PE

Nate got the mail. The envelope was on top. He proceeded to run into the house with Otis at his heels to share the good news! Will and Luke were napping, but Matt and I were here to give big hugs all around. I can't wait to buy Nate his first PE stamp!

We've really had a crazy year, full of very low lows and very high highs. So much uncertainty... passing this test means more stability for our family into the future.

This professional licensure is such an important thing in Nate's field of work. He spent so many days and nights studying while he was home with Matt. It is a true academic and professional acheivement and we're so proud of him! What a great way to start the new year!

Unplugged

Around 10pm on Christmas night, it started to snow here. We didn't think much of it, but when we awoke on Sunday morning, there was a whole lot of snow outside (5 inches or so... lots for us in central NC!). An "almost" white Christmas! We made breakfast and buttoned down to watch Toy Story 3. We started a bag of popcorn in the microwave and then...

...the power went out! At first we thought it might pop back on quickly, but that didn't happen. We made a call to the power company to report the outage and then tried to figure out what to do. No movie. No popcorn. Luke was not a happy camper. Somehow 3 year olds just don't understand the intricacies of the electric grid and the effect of lots of snow on power lines.

We started thinking longer term. We closed all the blinds and drapes to keep the (electric) heat in. We couldn't cook (electric stove) or take showers (electric water heater). What were we going to do if the power stayed out all day and it got dark out? I got our camping lantern out of the attic (thank goodness for the new firefly flashlight! the attic was dark!)... only to figure out that it is a rechargeable lantern. Meaning it doesn't take regular batteries. And it has to be charged in an electrical outlet for 15 hours before using.

Uh oh. No good. Clearly I have not been camping in a while with this lantern. We started looking for candles.

Thankfully the lights came back on after only an hour of being out (we did a little dance) so we never actually had to get to the real questions like "how many days can Will's feeding pump work on battery power?" and "will I survive with no internet?"

Around the same time, the snow stopped falling. In all the excitement of the moment, Matt decided to start crawling. Motivated by a toy a few feet away, he took about 3 clear movements forward before plopping back down on his behind. We grabbed cameras quickly, I "relocated" his toy to get him to crawl again, and we filmed it! Since that day, he's started to crawl a bit more, but nothing too consistent. He's also starting to pull up and is less wobbly on his legs.

Where has my baby gone? Maybe he can help me create an emergency plan so we'll be more prepared the next time we lose power!