Let It Snow!

The last couple of days here have been full of fun and excitement. Monday night DH and I went to the Seahawks/Packers game. It was lots of fun, especially when it started snowing shortly before the game started. What we didn't realize was how it would impact our drive home (3 hrs!).

Needless to say no one went anywhere yesterday due to the ice and snow. Yes, we are wimps here. It doesn't snow often enough for people here to be used to driving in the snow.

Anyway, we took lots of pictures and I decided to make a little montage. I hope you enjoy it!

Oh, and yes, I did go to work today. The roads were better though people were still wary of ice and driving slowly. I have to go in tomorrow and work all morning at airpark. Can you say COLD?!

OK, on with the show...



A Snowy Day In Seattle

Happy Thanksgiving

So another Thanksgiving day has come and gone. This year was especially nice since we are here with my family and DH is home. We had a wonderfully relaxing day.

Reflecting on what I am grateful for has been an ongoing theme today (as you might expect). The short list is:

1) My family. I'm blessed with a wonderful DH and a happy and healthy DS. Remembering where my life was before I met DH is like remembering another person's story. I'm so grateful to him for all he has taught me. And my DS - well he's just the most perfect little boy (even when he's irritating me). Three years ago I was anxiously awaiting his arrival and today I was enjoying the sweetest kisses and hugs.

2) My extended family. I'm very lucky to have parents and sisters who are as great as mine.

3) The opportunity to work in a field I love. Not many people are able to change career paths as radically as I've done. I feel lucky to be able to have this chance.

4) My friends. I have wonderful IRL and on-line friends. You all keep me sane and provide me with endless hours of entertainment and love. For you I'm immensely grateful and I wish you peace, love and joy.

Coming Home

DH is coming home! He's on his way and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am. It's only for two weeks but I'll take it. I can't wait to see the look on DS's face when he sees his daddy tomorrow. I don't know what time he'll be home, exactly, but I'm anticipating it will be some time mid to late afternoon.

That means, of course, that I'll be scarce around here - if it's possible to be even more scarce than I already am.

Oh, and I did get the "thing" out of DS's car and yes, it was the tip of my thermometer. Sigh! I haven't gotten a replacement yet. I'll do that this weekend.

Excitement and fatigue are getting the best of me and I must get some sleep. But I want to let Jelly and Claire know I'm thinking of them. I know it's been a rough week for both of you and I hope you take good care of yourselves. ((((((((((Jelly)))))))))) and ((((((((((Claire)))))))))) headed your way.

Sabotage

OK, so I know DS is too little to really sabotage (on purpose) but I had to share this little tale for those of you on the TTC rollercoaster...

I've been very bad about temping this cycle and my chart is a mess. I was going to give up on the last couple of days. You know how it is, DH isn't home so no BDing, DS has been sick off and on the last couple weeks, etc.

So, this morning DS woke up soaked. Not sure if it was just sweat or an overly full pullup. I ended up stripping the bed to wash his sheets. Because DS was a little terror I decided to take him to the mall to the kids playground and do the laundry later. When we got home he was in desperate need for a nap but alas his bed wasn't made. The easiest solution was for him to nap in my bed.

Now, my thermometer is always on the rail right near my pillow so I can grab it when the alarm goes off. And my DS, as many people know, is a car fiend. He needs to have at least one car in bed with him and his bear Ojo. Today's naptime choice was a little Hot Wheels car.

DS was resisting his nap when all of a sudden I hear "Uh oh! I broke my car!" from the bedroom. I go in to find he'd gotten something stuck inside the car (through the window) and I couldn't get it out...Are you following the train of thought here?!

That's right - it is the tip of my thermometer! Grrrrr!!! I didn't discover it until just a few minutes ago when I went to record today's temp and noticed the tip was missing. Sigh!!! At least I get paid this week so I can get a(nother) new thermometer. And no, I still haven't gotten the tip out of the car.

Piss and Moan About Everything Club

I think I need to purchase a membership in said club. Seriously! This whole PMS thing just sucks. I've been in a foul mood the last couple of days and I hate it. Today I feel it settling in the way a cold chill settles into your body when you've spent a little too much time playing in the snow.

Of course the weather probably has something to do with it. It's been raining more than not for the last week. Now I remember why I moved to Arizona 8 years ago.

I did manage to get the invites for DS's birthday party written out and will get them put in the mail tomorrow (even though there's no mail service). Believe it or not, that was the hard part! I haven't written anything long hand like that in I don't know how long.

And, yes, I did delete the link for the board I mentioned yesterday.

Can't...Stop...Looking...

When I was pregnant I belonged to two online communities for women due the same time I was. I really enjoyed both groups for the most part. Of course, as we had our babies and they grew older we went from an "expecting club" to a "play group", and I reconnected with a third group of ladies who were TTC or had gotten pg (finally). All was well and good, more or less.

One of the play groups was merged with mommies and babies from a couple of other months and I continued to post, though not with as much regularity. And in the last year or so I've pretty much stopped posting there all together.

Right before I stopped posting one of the women on that particular board became pregnant. It's not that I begrudge her her fertility. Under any other circumstances I would have been happy for her - even though sad for myself and several other ladies I know who are having fertility issues. This particular woman already had 4 kids and was told with her last one that she should not have any more babies because it would be detrimental to her health (read you could die from this!) and yet there she was, pregnant with #5 and #6. Yup twins!

As it turned out she did lose one of the twins, unfortunately. She had the remaining baby a few weeks ago.

So, what does all this lead up to you might ask?

The stupid woman is actually considering risking another pregnancy! Augh!!!

I've got to stop lurking on that board. I find myself silently screaming at the posts on this subject, and a few others. I scream silently because DS is asleep in the next room;-) But somehow it's like watching an accident - I can't seem to turn away. Please, please please...someone make it STOP!!!

I suppose the best thing to do is to just delete the website bookmark from my favorites. That will remove the temptation of reading posts. I think I will, since most of the people I was "friends" with on that board no longer post, for what I'm assuming are many of the same reasons I no longer post (not just the pg woman "thing").

Making Plans

I've begun making firm plans for DS's birthday party. I put a deposit down on the "banquet room" at the Mexican restaurant near my dad's house. As I was figuring how many people we will be hosting I was shocked to realize there are almost 40 of us! And that's just family, no friends from school. There is no way we could fit that many people in my dad's house. And the way the weather's looking we won't be able to use the back yard. One of the hazards of a winter birthday in Seattle.

We are going to get appetizers and non-alcoholic drinks. If people want beer or margaritas they can order them separately.

I'm also having the cake made by a very good friend of ours. I've known this kid, yes he's still a kid to me though he's almost 20, for a number of years. He does a fabulous job.

We're going to get a pinata for the kids and put it on a pole. No, I'm not dumb enough to trust little kids with a stick in a restaurant, lol! They now make pinatas you "break" by pulling on a string. Very restaurant friendly!

I'm so excited about this party. It will be the first time we've been able to throw a real birthday party for him, rather than having one here and one there over the space of 2 weeks.

Realizations

It has come to my attention - at least I'm now willing to admit it - that my DS will be 3 years old in less than a month. Holy SHIT! When did that happen?! I'll wax poetic (in other words bore you) on this subject in a few weeks

Life has been so crazy lately. I'm really enjoying work, though I wish the hours were more and more steady.

Friday was a fun day. I kept DS home from school and we met my sister, nephew, and my cousin, her little boy and sister at the children's museum. It was so much fun! We played in all the areas and I got some great pictures. I need to download them from my camera and put them on our web site.

And it's now about two weeks til DH comes home. I can't begin to tell you how anxious I am to have him home. He tells me he will be going out on runs pretty much right up until he's scheduled to leave.

I was just looking at some of the pictures he sent us. He looks tired (duh!). But it's more than that. There was one picture in particular, of him on the range with his rifle, that caught my attention. It was like looking at a stranger really. He's a loving sensitive man, his hands are strong yet so gentle, and to see (I mean really see) him holding a weapon that can take someone's life. Well, it just seemed unreal to me that it was the same hands that hold me close at night, that comfort our son when he is crying, those same loving hands that I held on our wedding day. In the back of my mind I wonder what life will be like once he's home at the end of all this. It's just that you hear stories of how different the soldiers are when they return and I wonder if I'm up to the challenge of helping him readjust to the "normalcy" of every day life.