Tidings from Home

Turns out I did make it home... I took a ton of pictures, but wanted to show only a few. Rachel got a bad cold, which she gave to Eric and I. John is sick today. I guess it could be worse. On Christmas night, John and I couldn't drive to visit my extended family, which is a family tradition. Instead we stayed home with the sick kids and put them to bed. I decided to do a load of laundry to help out. I went downstairs to the basement and... stepped in cold water. Turns out one of the valves stopped working for no reason, and my poor folks had to come home to that.

Here's hoping next year is less... exciting.

The tree- Before... and after.

Stockings... before and after.

I'll be home for Christmas?

John was supposed to stay home from work today, as the federal government is closed. Unfortunately, he had to go in. I was hoping to have the whole family together for a fun snow day.

After talking to my mom this morning (my parents live in rural Virginia), I found out that their roads are still not plowed and may not be plowed for awhile. I was supposed to leave for my parents' house tomorrow morning and be home for Christmas, with John driving down on Christmas Eve.

So not only am I home alone with the kids (and we're running out of milk), I may be here for days. And all this disappointment and depression before I've even drank my morning coffee.

Mondays suck.

Blizzard Pics

To give you an idea of how high the snow drifts were, I took this in our kitchen. The sliding glass door in the background leads out to our deck.

My son loves eating snow. Maybe I shouldn't let him, but as long as it's pure white I figure, what doesn't kill ya...

Our little Baby Bunting. This was Eric's old outfit. She has the cutest little pink snowsuit, but I found out today it has no little booties for her feet! Gotta find little boots for her...

Eric is the star of this shot, but I would like to point out the smooth, shoveled driveway that took us hours to clear.

And Eric would like you to note that his shovel played a part. :-)

Hope the roads are clear in a couple of days for safe holiday travel. Happy Holidays everyone!

We are THOSE neighbors

You know the ones that the whole neighborhood talks about because they do crazy things? Today I decided to put a couple extra things in the recycling bins. Unfortunately, I had taken them to the curb already. So there I am, dressed in my plaid flannel pajamas with Rachel in my arms, taking extra cardboard outside. It was 55 degrees, but windy. So I hurry back in to get a couple of empty baby food jars. I turn the doorknob.

And it's locked.

I had noticed Eric playing with the handle earlier today, so he must have unwittingly locked the door. While the deadbolt was unlocked, the door lock was not. So there I am, outside with a baby, and locked out of my house with my toddler asleep inside his room.

Thankfully, our kind next door neighbor was home. He let me in while I borrowed his phone to call John and ask him to come home and let me back in our house. Eric was upstairs in his room, having just gone down for his nap. He slept through the whole thing. Rachel had just eaten and had a clean diaper. So, all in all, it could have been much worse. Though I am definitely going to check the door-knob every time I go outside from now on. Or have the foresight to actually bring my keys instead of leaving them in the lock.

Makes me wonder (worry) about what adventure I could have tomorrow...

Eric's Day Out

Saturday in our house are starting to look like this:

-Get kids up, diapered, and fed. Rachel eats a ton, Eric nibbles a little breakfast, sucks down a tippy full of milk, then demands to watch Sesame Street.

-In the morning, I decide to run errands and take Eric with me. This works out well because John is still under the delusion that Rachel is the easier baby (hehe), and Eric gets to venture outside.

Today Eric and I went to Target and Whole Foods. I'm starting to teach him to hold my hand when he walks in public. He was great about this today, which was a pleasant surprise for me as Eric thinks it's hilarious to run away from us in the mall or outside of the house. Maybe it was the cars being so close that scared him into submission- I've tried to instill a healthy fear of automobiles from a young age.

Anyway, I have no life and nothing to really write about. If I were this woman, I would have the innate talent of turning the boring details of my life into witty posts. But they don't pay me and I don't have time anymore. Rachel is eating less and napping more. Unfortunately, she's choosing to nap only when Eric is awake. Working 12-14 hours every day is taking a toll on my humor. Not to mention my sanity.

Baby Fat

Yesterday I changed 11 dirty diapers, and 10 of them were Rachel's. That's right: 10 poopy diapers in ONE DAY. Days like yesterday I wish I worked full-time so someone else could change diapers all day.

But this morning was the pinnacle of my havung to ask myself- am I feeding my daughter too much? When we got back from the grocery store, I did my usual trick of leaving Eric in the car while dealing with Rachel. Since she was exhausted and needed a nap, I figured I could leave Eric and the groceries in the car, change her quickly, and then put her down.

You know where this is going... When I got her on the changing table, I saw that she had pooped THROUGH her outfit. Needless to say, it got all over the changing table. Then Rachel had to pee all over everything, so I had to strip her down and rush a naked baby through the house, upstairs, and into the bath. The entire time all I could think about was my poor son waiting in the car. I did not want him running around unsupervised while I was trying to deal with Rachel, but at times like this I wonder if he wouldn't be better off in the house.

After a 2 minute bath, I changed her and put her down. Then I had a choice- deal with cleaning up poop, groceries, or Eric?

For sanitary reasons, I chose the poop. I cleaned the changing table, took everything with crap on it down to the laundry room and soaked it in detergent.

Then I had to get the groceries. Eric loves to run outside so I couldn't get him out while unloading the car, as he might run into teh street. So I unload the groceries, but decide not to put away anything until I got him out. I felt guilty for leaving him in there for so long...

BIG mistale. Eric threw a giant tantrum while I was trying to put away the perishables. I even gave him some cans to put away, but nothing helped. And THIS is why Mommy leaves her toddler strapped into his carseat while she puts away the groceries, but I digress...

We have been feeding Rachel 4 bottles a day and solids inbetween. This schedule is what I have found in every baby book, but I swear it's too much food. She ends up drinking 28 ounces and eating at least 2 jars of food. Her weight is now 19 pounds and she's only 7 months old. Her thighs are bigger than my biceps.

She also vomits every day, and I'm wondering if I need to change this schedule around a bit. Today I gave her a bottle in the morning. Then when she woke up from her first nap, she got a bottle and some solids. And she seemed happier... She played more; she's napping better. I don't know. I keep trying to change her eating schedule, and just when everything seems to be going well, she'll wake up hungry in the middle of the night, which I don't have to tell you is a HUGE pile of suck for mom and dad (well, we think she's hungry. She could be teething or something... who knows?), or she ends up puking an hour after she eats.

If anyone has any advice, I would love to hear it.