Snowstorm 2012

**Note: shortly after I wrote the below post, our power went out so I wasn't able to upload the photos or post the blog.  Finally after almost 3 days the power came back on.  It was a brutal few days.  Thank goodness for the care and generosity of my parents who took us in.  I have never had a greater appreciation for electricity.  Happy to be back to normal!

View from the front of our house

It's hard to tell here, but the trees were encased in ice

Our backyard with probably about 6-8 inches of snow

 I have officially been stuck inside the house going on 4 days now.  The Seattle snow started this past Sunday and has been continuing off and on all week.  The major storm hit Wednesday morning and today we're dealing with an ice storm.  Seattle University, my work has been closed for 2 days now.  At first it was really fun and exciting.  I felt like a kid again hoping that school would be closed for the day.  Now the stir craziness is definitely starting to sink in. 

I think I've done every possible project here at home that I can think of.  And it's a bummer that our son isn't born yet because it would be so fun to go out and play with him in this!  I'm sure it would look a little weird to see a 32-year-old woman sledding down the hill by herself!

My brave husband has managed to make it in to work every day this week.  He's an amazing driver.  Plus George, our 4-Runner is incredible when it comes to driving in this stuff.  I feel bad that James hasn't gotten to enjoy a "snow day," but Boeing makes people take vacation days if they stay home.  He's so dedicated! 

Good thing I now have a good novel to read today.  I could really use some other ideas though of how to pass the day.  Help me out readers.....any suggestions??  Please put any ideas into the comments section.

Those of you in Seattle, stay safe and warm!!

Baby on the Brain

I can tell that winter has definitely set in.  Not as many events or things going on to blog about compared to the holidays.  Here we are in the January doldrums.  But today it's snowing and looks beautiful outside my window!  It feels great to be cozy and relaxed at home all day.

Although life social activities feel a bit calmer, the busy-ness of preparing for baby has definitely ramped up.  It feels as if the past 2 weeks or so all I've been focusing on or thinking about is preparing for this baby.  It's been really fun, but it's hard sometimes not to get overwhelmed and to feel unsure of if I'll really be able to do this.  Will I be able to handle this parent thing?  Friends have been very helpful with advice, but I always have to remind myself that our baby will have his own personality and we'll have our own style so we'll be figuring out our own techniques along the way. 

We've slowly started on the nursery.  Mostly right now it just has the gear we've acquired so far.  But we've been proud of the great deals we've gotten!  We found a brand new BOB stroller at Babies R Us for only $300!  It was already put together and everything.  We also found a great crib at Costco for about $400 including all the conversion parts to turn it into a toddler bed and eventually a full size bed down the road.  The dresser and nightstand have been ordered from Babies R Us and just yesterday we ordered our glider rocker chair.  So things are starting to come together.  But man--lots of decisions lately!  My wonderful husband is so great and already put the crib together in about 20 minutes (see below).  So far we're very happy with it!

This past weekend we worked on the registry.  Who knew that such a little person could need so much stuff!!  We looked like crazy people walking around Babies R Us trying out infant car seats, putting them in strollers to see how they fit and trying to navigate the multiple aisles.  We just stood in the bottle aisle with stares of bewilderment as we tried to figure out where to even begin.  And as we walked through the store I noticed lots of parents with newborns.  They looked like zombies who could barely put one foot in front of the other.  It was a good wake up call of where we'll be in about 4 months.  :)

All in all the process has been fun, but a bit daunting.  I guess it all comes with the territory.  I'm sure our friends who have kids are chuckling thinking "oh just wait...this is only the beginning!"  I think this week I'll take a break and try to get back to "normal" life for a little bit. 

Good job James!