A Dusting & The Aftermath

Wow, Veteran's Day was sooo last week! Apologies for the shortage here, we've been on vacation. We received a freak phone call (long story short) that led to a spontaneous trip to Botswana with the Research & …….okay, so nothing like that really happened. Admit, I had you. Sadly, instead we just blinked and, poof, a week went bye bye. Pretty typical really.

And what a week it has been! For starters we have received the first snow of the season. It wasn't much though, but it did accumulate a bit which sent our morning commutes into the proverbial snow bank. Personally, I will forever enjoy the first snowfall of the season. Every year since I moved here the first snow of the season screws up EVERYONE for at least a day or so. Nobody has a winter coat on yet. The county refuses to salt the roads in advance because, you guessed it, "it won't stick" (really, it will though, they just want to save a buck or two!) The best part though is everyone will forget how to drive. I don't just mean they will forget about coefficients of friction or to add extra time to their commute. I mean they will forget the BASICS! Traffic signals, ignored. Speed limits, non-existent. Factors of safety, none. Then, overpasses will freeze over, black ice rears its ugliness, and the end result it takes forever to get anywhere. It will clear up eventually and we as people will adjust, but what short memories we really do have! I mean, didn’t we just go through this less than a year ago?!

What else happened….oh, I know. Here's a funny story I like to call The Tale of The Daughter Who Thought Night Was Day. Ellena went to bed on Sunday night at a normal time for her, around 7:30 PM. We went to sleep probably before 10 (a miracle I know, but S had to be up at 3:20 AM to be to work by 5:00 AM). Yikes is right.

So there we are, all asleep when we hear a baby waking up over the monitor. It is approximately 10:30 PM. S gets up and feeds her, but comes back to sleep proclaiming "she's not asleep, but I need to be". "Fair enough" I remember thinking. I get up and attempt to put the baby back to sleep. Remember I am not as equipped at performing this task as the family mom, so I heat up a bottle and she drinks the whole thing. She is out now, so I place her in her crib and hit the hay. It is after 11:30. No problem. I wake up 20 minutes later to a baby who has just finished a really efficient nap, but wants to play now. Ohhhhhh-kay. So I go get her and bring her into the bed. Sometimes this will work and she will realize "Oh, I see. Everyone is sleeping here. I will sleep too." That doesn't work. To keep S asleep and to try to put E to sleep, I get up with her and we hit the living room and her toy mat. She is wide awake, kicking and playing. I have all of her toys in their "off" positions in order to minimize noise. Ultimately she falls asleep in my arms while I am playing video games. I know it sounds terrible, but I knew it usually transports her to nighty-night town, and eventually it did. The time was just after 2:00 AM.

I put E in her crib and I hit the hay only to have alarm go off an hour later. This was my "wake S up" alarm. The next thing I knew I woke up to my real alarm speaking out loud "S, wake up! S, wake up!" She was long gone and already at work!

No real point to this story I guess, but I would like to take this time to say we are grateful to have a daughter who sleeps well generally and also to thank God for giving us the energy and focus to make it through the next day, a working Monday (which is typically stacked against us anyway).

Ellena developments include the observation of a lot of short peach fuzz hair on her scalp. With winter here now, it looks like she is thickening up for the cold months to come!