SNOW DAY(s)

This was not supposed to happen.

We got snow. We've got about 4 inches of the white stuff in our backyard, with more on the way tonight. WTF?!?!?!? I thought we left this for good when we left the east coast. Come ON!

Everyone said when we moved out here, "Ohhhhh. We don't get snow out here. If we do, the most we get is, like, an inch. Mostly we get ice events. No biggie." Welllll, what happened?

This all started on Sunday afternoon with cute little innocent flurries. The forecast was for an inch. Monday came and it slowed down. Then in the afternoon we got hit with a whammy. Big bands of snow kept hitting dropping a couple of inches in an hour or two.

It is pretty laughable, really. This area is TOTALLY unprepared for this type of weather. Practically all of western Washington was shut down by about 4 inches of snow.

Let me put it this way. I was watching the news the other day and the forecast was for more snow. They did the standard "getting ready for the snow" report that they do every couple of days back in New England. The difference was this comment, "Seattle DOT is busy getting ready for the approaching snow storm. There are about a dozen or so plows that need to be fueled up and adjusted."

A DOZEN. A DOZEN plows for an entire metropolitan area. That is friggin' hilarious. I think, when we lived back east, we had about a dozen plows on our street alone. HA!!

You shoulda seen the traffic Monday night during the worst of it. It took some people 9 to 10 hours to drive 15 miles. People just abandoned their cars on the side of the road and walked home because it was faster. I don't think I have ever seen anything like this.

Our street. Unplowed. There is about an inch or so of ice coating it now. The sun came out for a while, just enough to start the melting process. Then at night it got frigid cold and everything froze. I can hear someone outside right now trying to move their car. Nope, dude. It ain't goin' anywhere. Spin, spin, spin.

They actually shut down the Evil Empire yesterday because of the ice. They told people to stay home. Huzbend, wisely, chose to work from home on Monday after he saw the forecast. He's been working at home all week. That's how ridiculous the roads are here.

Another funny thing. We were the ONLY ones in the neighborhood that had a snow shovel. That is just downright weird.

We've been held captive in our house for 3 days due to a measly little 4 inches of snow. Who woulda thunk it?

Gobble Gobble!!!

Happy Turkey Day!!!

This was our first Turkey Day in the Northwest. It was funny. It was exactly the same weather here as it was back east. Cold and rainy.

It was weird to have to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on tape and not live. I mean, we were watching it and it was already over. So, the people back east have a 3-hour head start on the holiday shopping season. It just doesn't seem fair.

Huzbend's Mom and Dad (GMaC & GPaC) were here for a visit and a good time was had by all. GMaC brought K.T. some cute new clothes. Is this not the cutest thing you have EVER seen?

It was also K.T.'s first Turkey Day. I really can't tell if she enjoyed it. She actually slept through most of it. Can tryptophan be passed through breast milk?

She DID enjoy putting on a Thanksgiving fashion show courtesy of Auntie Swims-with-Dolphins and Uncle Lil' Bro. She was decked out in Turkey goodness.

Huzbend decided to try something a little different with the turkey this year. He decided to try 'brining' it. This is when you take the turkey and soak it overnight in a salt water bath. The salt water also contains herbs and aromatics. I have to say that it was the most succulent turkey we think we had ever tasted. You know how you always have to put salt on turkey to get it to have some sort of taste? Well, that was totally not needed this time around. I think we might be doing this from now on.

I, again, made my candied yams. I just can't seem to be consistent with the quality. Last year, they were perfect. This year, not so good. Oh well. One of these years I'll get it right. I have to say that they will never be as good as my Mom's. I think it was because my heart just wasn't in it this year.

It was good to have GMaC and GPaC here. They sorta took the focus off of the fact that we are now all the way across the country from our families. I really missed my family. I called to say hi, but I kept wishing that we could just drive down and get some hugs. Just being SOOOOO far away and having K.T. and all. I don't know. It just doesn't seem like the holiday season for some reason. Sigh. I'm sure it will get better with time. In the meantime, X's and O's to you all! We miss you lots!

On a brighter note, K.T. has made some significant jumps in the past week. During "Tummy Time" she can lift her head off of the floor using her arm strength. She can almost look straight forward from a belly position. A week ago, she couldn't even get her head off the floor. She is so close to pushing up with both arms. If she can just get her legs in on the action, she might be able to turn over.

And FINALLY, K.T. has found her thumb. Yesterday, she was fussing. I turned away to grab her binky and suddenly, she stopped. I turned back and this is what I saw.....

I get a Wii, you cannot find. Great success!

In celebration of K.T.'s 3-month, we went to the movies again.

This time we saw Borat. Unlike last time, we were not the only ones in the theatre. There were probably a dozen or so other babies.

When we got there, K.T. was sleeping soundly in her carriage. As soon as the previews started, she woke up dazed and confused. Immediately, she began to give me the "I'm scared Mommy. Pick me up." pout. It's the cutest and yet the most pathetic look you can imagine. So, I picked her up.

By this time a preview of Casino Royale popped up on the screen. 007 began shooting and exploding his way through the preview. K.T. was having none of it and quickly decided that she was going to ball her eyes out. The next preview was just as loud.

But then a funny thing happened. Borat started and she instantly calmed down. I'm not sure if it was Borat himself (he's pretty funny looking) or the funky Eastern Block-type polka music they were playing. She watched the whole movie and even laughed at one point.

I thought Borat was hilarious. But, that's my kinda thing. I'm into that in-your-face type of comedy. Putting people in akward positions and seeing how they react.

It's kinda like the sitcom 'The Office' on NBC. 'The Office' is actually the USA version of the British hit named, um, 'The Office'. There is no laugh track and people find themselves in awkward yet hysterical situations. Usually, these situations have to do with crossing boundaries of what is polite and acceptable. Borat's version of comedy is kinda like that, but R-rated. There is also lots of male nudity. Not so nice male nudity. You have been warned.

Saturday we made our weekly trip to REI to buy yet more cycling gear. This time Huzbend's waterproof gloves ripped. So, he needed a new pair. He also got himself a kick-butt waterproof jacket. Sigh. This makes Huzbend happy though. So, I cannot complain too much. It's also nice to have him walking around everyday in his spandex outfits. Did I say that out loud? Oooops.

About Thursday of last week, Huzbend decided that, yes, he did want a Nintendo Wii. He always does this. Waits until the last minute to decide that he wants these high demand video game consoles. Last time it was the Xbox 360. I shoulda learned my lesson. But NOOOOOO, stupid me, I thought that he really would wait to see what all the hype was about. So, I didn't preorder one.

One of the local stores, Fred Meyer, was going to start selling them at 12:01am Sunday. As we were driving around Saturday afternoon, Huzbend and I made a bet. I said that there would be people waiting in line and he said, "No way, dude". I was right. Nya-nya-nya-nyaaaaaaaaa-nya! He had to make dinner AND do the dishes.

Huzbend decided that he would go out to our local Fred Meyer store at 11:30 to see if he could get one. No luck. The line was about 60 people long and they had already allocated all their machines to the people in line.

Sunday morning rolled around. K.T. woke up at 7am for her feeding. After doing my motherly duty, I decided to see if I could save the day. I got myself out of bed and drove off to the local Target store that was opening at 8am. I got there at about 7:45 and got myself in line. I stood there, in the rain, for about 10 minutes before I overheard someone talking about 'tickets'. I asked the guy if they had already allocated the units. He said yes. Dammit! I decided to drive down the street to the Toys 'R Us to see if that was a possibility. Toys 'R Us had tents out front. I figured it was a lost cause. I decided to give it one more try at the local Best Buy.

Best Buy had a line that snaked its way around the corner of the building. I pulled up and rolled down my passenger side window. There was this big kid standing on the side walk near the front of the line. He had glasses and a winter hat with a puff ball on top. He was wearing baggy jeans and Converse sneakers. He was also completely soaked. He must have been there overnight.

"Hey! Did they already allocate all the Wii's?" I screamed over the pouring rain.

"They're handin' out the tickets right now! Hurry up! You could still get one!" He yelled back.

I damn near hit 80 mph pulling into the nearest parking spot. I threw the truck in park, hopped out and ran towards the back of the line as fast as I could. It's a good thing I'm back on the treadmill. It guaranteed that I could outrun any other nerds that might have been making a run for it.

I found the guy with the magic tickets. I saw that he had two left.

"I need one! I need one!", I yelled at him, slightly out of breath.

"Here you go! Luck is on your side today."

I got Number 83 out of 84.

I had to wait until 9am for the store to open. So, I decided to go back to Target to get other shopping done. On the way back to the truck, I saw the nerdy kid that told me to hurry. He asked me if I had gotten one.

"Yep! Thanks to you, dude. Hug. You rock, man!" I gave the big kid with the glasses a hug. He did rock.

I got back to Best Buy at about 10 minutes to 9 to wait in line. At 9am they opened the door and there was a mad dash to this table that they had set up with all the games and accessories that were available. I almost got trampled. By the time I got to the table it was cleaned of anything worth getting. Then some guy that worked there said, "We have more at the back of the store in the video game department". Soooooo, all these big guys went running back there. I got stuck in a sea of nerdity as I went to try to get another controller. No luck. Gone-so.

Oh well. At least I ended up with a system, which I must say is completely awesome. If you don't know what the Wii does, I'll try and explain. Instead of using a controller to play the games, many of them use a 'remote control'.

For example, you can play baseball. You take the 'remote' and hold it like a bat. The character on screen pitches the ball to you and you swing the 'remote' like a bat and it hits the ball. Hope you can picture that. They also have golf, tennis, bowling, and boxing. There are also many other games that use the 'remote'. Like, Legend of Zelda. In that game you can use the 'remote' as your sword and another remote control called a 'nunchuck' as your sheild. So you are actually fighting in real life AND in the game as the same time.

We loves the Nintendo Wii! Is nice!

High five!

Happy Three Months to me!

Howdy folks!

Three months. Wow.

I thought that I had accomplished a lot at my two month birthday. I think I've broken my own record.

Let's see.

Well, as you can see from the picture above, I've learned how to drive.

Just kiddin' people. I can actually grab onto things now. How about that? Who knew these balled up little appendages of mine actually had a purpose? Wonders never cease.

This cool new skill has come in handy for all sorts of things.

I can now eat all of my friends. Here's a nice pic of me munching on Cheeky Monkey.

Mommy doesn't even HAVE to do the peek-a-boo thing. I can do it myself! Totally self sufficient, I am. Okay, except eating. And diaper changing. And moving. Ahhhh, forget it.

You know what else fingers are good for? Sucking! That's right. I can occupy a full hour just trying to eat my fingers. I just can't help myself.

My hands can also protect me from tackles. Yes, that's right. Tackles. My friends get antsy sitting around in the bassinet all day. Mommy will walk away and then 'BOOM' they'll try and mess me up. I'm ready for 'em though. They gotta get up pretty early in the morning to get me. Okay, so, Dolly got me this one time. It was just ONE TIME!!

There were also a few more firsts.

I took my first bath in what Mommy calls my "Big Girl Bathtub". Sorry, but no pics of that. I'm a nice girl.

I also got this totally awesome mobile on my crib. Beats the heck out of the lame safari mobile. That thing only spun one way and played the same boring-ass song. Mommy and Daddy would have to come and wind the dumb thing up every 2 or 3 minutes. My sweet new mobile is a multi-colored wonder. It spins all over the place, plays classical music AND lights up. Did I also mention that it plays for TWENTY minutes straight? Oh. It rocks. Yes, it does.

Grandma and Auntie Onion Dip came by for a visit. Grandma taught me some new songs. Itsy Bitsy Spider is my favorite. It cracks me up every time. Silly spider, getting washed out the water spout. Good thing the sun comes and saves his butt. What a riot. He never gives up though. You gotta give him that. I also have another question, why does the baker man mark the cake with a 'B'? Weird.

My self-created language is coming along just nicely. I am very impressed with myself. I've added all sorts of new sounds. Gurgles, coos, giggles, squeals, lots more versions of Ah-GUUU. Now, I just have to work on the parents. They still don't understand a word I'm saying. Even my friends stare at me blankly when I talk to them. I wonder why? Mommy says their stuffed. They don't talk. Hmmm.

I've learned how to post to youtube.com. Here's some vid of me in action. Hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it

So, that is just a taste of what I've learned this month. More to come I'm sure. I can't wait.

Later, dudes!

Bicicletta Bella

Remember that new workout implement that I mentioned in my last post?

Well, here it is.......

We got me a road bike. Figured it was about time. All my big talk about the Tour de France and I don't even ride. Can you say, "Wannabe"? Plus, why let Huzbend have all the fun?

I was sooooo nervous when I test rode it outside of the store. This is not your average bike. Nothin' at all like a mountain bike, and nothin' like your everday average 10 speed.

This things got ballz. You can feel it. She's just waiting for you to take off at light speed. This bike was built to go FAST.

It's been a long time since I rode a bike. I had a bike accident back in high school that scarred me for life. I was riding my bike around the neighborhood when me and a friend spotted a marsh fire in the distance. We decided to check it out. I began to pedal very fast while standing up and the chain came off my bike. My feet slipped off the pedals and I implanted myself on the bar. It hurt. A LOT. I had to go to the hospital because I was bleeding and passed out. Since that day, I have NEVER trusted a bike again. I am always wary that the chain will come off at the wrong moment.

So, understandably, I was a bit wobbly when I got on it the first time. I actually had to get a rolling start by pushing off the curb. What a loser I am. I was scared. Of a bike. It was awkward and I kept saying to myself, "I'm never gonna ride this thing. Why am I doing this?" I felt like such a chicken shit.

It's a good thing Huzbend convinced me to give it a second chance. I felt much more comfortable. I was changing gears and getting up to speed. I was sold. We bought the bike. Ka-ching! We bought me some biking shorts. Ka-ching! We bought me some cycling gloves. Ka-ching! We bought me some cycling click-in pedals w/ shoes. Dammmmmnnnn. This stuff adds up.

So, Bella, as I like to call her, is set up in our gym on Huzbend's indoor trainer. I've been doing these DVD workouts called "Spinervals" with a dude named Coach Troy. Man, he kicks my ass EVERY time. The cool thing with the click-in pedals/shoes are that you can push down AND pull up on every spin. Makes for twice the workout that way. My legs are screaming when I'm done.

Another super-awesome thing is, with the click-in shoes, my feet will NEVER slip off the pedals. They are stuck there, no matter what.

Okay. That said, here is the downside to the click-in shoes. You gotta be able to click out when you want to. This takes a lot of practice. While this does not pose a problem indoors on a trainer where I can take my time pulling out of them, it's a whole different story on the road. It's almost guaranteed there are going to be many, and I mean MANY, times when I can't get my feet out and fall over sideways. How embarrassing. Everyone will know for sure that I am the ultimate cycling noob.

The plan is to take Katie for rides next spring. Huzbend will pull her along in a baby carrier and I can follow on my bike. We can do family picnics and stuff. There are a lot of bike trails around here. I'm excited about that.

After that, I will compete in and win the 2007 Tour de France.

But seriously, folks, the ultimate goal for me is to just get out on the road and ride. That, in itself, will be an accomplishment.

An Update

Hi there.

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. Things around here have been crazy. I'm trying to get some work done for my old company and I had a dentist appt. last Thursday. You know. Things like that.

I'm just going to update you all on some things that I have left hanging. If I forgot anything, just shoot me an email and let me know.

I'm gonna pump YOU up:
Baybee Katie has been nice enough to take predictable 3-4 hour naps every day. Usually, I just wait for her to fall asleep in her swing and then I am free to excercise to my hearts content. I was riding the stationary/spin bike and I even started running on the treadmill again. Boy, am I out of shape. My legs were killing me after running for 20 minutes at a 13 minute mile pace. Damn. To kick up the intensity, we went out and bought me a new workout tool. But, sorry folks, I am going to leave that for another entry. To date, and it has been about 4 weeks, I've only dropped, like, 2 or 3 pounds. How weak.

I hate 'dem meeses to pieces:
Mr. Terminix came back to check the traps that they had set around the crawl space. They caught ONE lone mouse. It must have been the one wreaking havoc in our kitchen. Poor little dude. Oh well. He said that there was no evidence of rats down there. He also said that since they caught a mouse there probably were no rats. Rats kill mice. Hmmph. Good riddance.

Echo, Echo...:
The doc called last week with the 'results' of Katie's echocardiogram. She started off by saying, "She must have moved around a lot, huh?" Um. No. She slept through most of it. Annnnnywayyyyys. The doc said that the experts did not find any significant heart defects. They didn't really see anything. The sound is most likely coming from a small hole between the two upper chambers of the heart and should close up as she gets older. Same diagnosis as huzbend when he was small. Go figure.

K.T.:
Katie is a crayzee baybee. She is full of smiles nowadays. She loves to play shy too. She'll smile at you and then turn away as if she is saying to herself, "Awwww. Shucks." She coos, laughs, giggles, and squeals with delight. She has also taken to talking to everything in sight whether it be to Mommy, Daddy, The Musical Bugs, Bubba Betty, Dolly (aka WideAss Wendy - huzbends name for her), Cheeky Monkey (& Chicken Leg), Giggle Puppy, GunShot Monkey, GlowBug, Bruce the Lion, or just the wall. Maybe one day I should introduce you to all her friends. They are quite the motley crew.

'To Binky':
We've been using the binky to great success. Besides the binky, she has gained control of her unruly hands and can now insert them into her mouth at will. Still can't find her thumb though. I use the binky only when she either A)seems to want to suck on something for comfort and is getting frustrated with her hands or B)is about ready to fall asleep. She can actually let the binky fall out of her mouth without waking herself up. Hooray.

Cradle Crap:
Is now officially gonzo. Yep. Since she started with the flakes, moms have been telling me the following, "Rub some kind of oil onto her scalp. It can be baby oil, veggie oil, olive oil - just some kinda oil. This will soften up the scales and then you should be able to use a soft bristle comb to get them off." I tried this technique to no avail. The scales/flakes would not come off. I figured out what my issue was. I wasn't leaving the oil on long enough to soften them. Duh. So, yesterday, I dumped half a bottle of baby oil on her scalp and let it sit on there during bath time. Afterwards, I got a comb and was able to scrape all the scales off. Problem is that with the scales came half of her hair. She is now almost bald. But, at least the scales are gone. Her acne is gone too. She is one cute lookin' baby, if I do say so myself.

Breast milk vs. Formula:
Katie and I have gotten rather good at the breastfeeding thing. We only use formula once a day now and that is at night. I find that I need to catch a boob-break. I'd say that it took us between 6 and 8 weeks to get into the swing of things. Let me tell you, those 6 to 8 weeks were sheer hell. I'm not gonna sugar coat it. It was NOT fun and it was a lot of hard work. It was even very painfull at times. But, we worked through it and I'd say things are going okay. It does sometimes seem that I just can't keep up with her demand though. I'm still pumping at night (when she gets her formula), so we can use that to supplement her during the day if I find that I just don't have enough. There are times when I find myself thinking that breastfeeding is a chore that I have to do. There are other times that I relish the special time with Katie. It's a mixed bag. It seems to coincide with what Katie's mood is at the time. If she is really fussy and just doesn't seem happily satisfied at the end, I feel kinda gipped. There are other times when she is very content and even smiles and tries to talk while feeding. She'll look up at me with her big blue eyes as if to say, "Gee Mommy. You make a great cow. Thanks for the milk."

Happy, Happy, Happy Halllloweeeen:
I did get Trick-or-Treaters. I also got rid of all my candy. Yay! Most of the kids that came to the door were older kids. I guess the youngsters go to the local church function. Bummer. That means all the houses near me were dark, 'cause they are all church goers. I also got word from Auntie Onion Dip that peanut butter cups ARE the #1 selling candy for Halloween (as well as Reeses Pieces). I knew it.

White & Nerdy:
I still am. So, quit askin'.