Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, Whatever You Want To Call It

It's been an interesting week, that's for sure! Snow started coming down around noon on Sunday and hasn't stopped. The Western WA area has been under all sorts of Winter Storm watches and warnings ever since. The first day or two was kind of nice because I had just gotten back from a week in Vegas at CES and enjoyed working from home. However, by Wednesday, we were all going stir crazy. We were sure that the temperatures would warm up, per the forecast, and by early afternoon today, we could head downtown and go into work. Not the case!!!

We woke up to Ice Storm Warnings. Then, the power went out around 8:30 a.m. Our neighbor came over to tell us that our gas fireplace works with D batteries so we got excited about getting some heat. Well, what do you know? The battery casing was corroded and useless! Brian was hell bent on getting us out of the house so he spent 20 minutes or so breaking layers of ice off my truck. After testing the roads, he felt confident we could find some food nearby and warm up. Well, he got the truck up the hill but didn't want to head back down it and get stuck, so off we went on a snowy adventure to get to the car. The roads were pretty bad and our gas light came on several minutes after driving. So, our next adventure entailed searching for a gas station that had gas. Let's just say there weren't many in the area. We headed a few miles down the interstate and finally found one. We stood in line for about 45 minutes waiting our turn!! I was getting really worried we were going to get to the front of the line and the gas would be gone. People were filling up many tanks of gas to take home (annoying!!!). They put a $50 gas limit for each transaction. We finally got gas and off we went to Bellevue in hopes the mall was open. It was, and we enjoyed a nice, warm meal at The Cheesecake Factory. The snow started to really pick up while we were there so Brian started calling hotels. We secured a room and headed back home to get clothes. At the bottom of our neighborhood, stop lights had power. We were hoping we had ours back on. Not the case. So after a quick pack-up, we headed back out to the hotel. The roads were continuing to get bad but we made it and now we're safe and sound!! All I can say is - What A Day...and I REALLY DISLIKE SNOW! I have no clue if we will be able to make it to work tomorrow. I know Ella is going crazy. She hasn't been in school for 2 weeks!! She really misses her friends. And, we miss our adult time, even if that means going to work.

 Morning iphone pics from our porch

 Yesterday, we walked down the street to Grandview park by our house. Above is a view from the park looking down at the lake behind the dog park. You can usually see the city of Bellevue in the distance but not yesterday:)

 Snow video for Dad:)

 My little snowman creation

 The big hill the kids and many adults were sledding down

 Otis not sure about all of this

 View of the park. Ella is out there swinging in the distance.

 

 Ella spent a lot of time reading to us

 On our walking adventure to the car this morning

Sitting in the gas line praying we would get some gas

Our area got about 8 inches of snow while others got over 18 and the mountains just got dumped. Some of you more experienced snow people might think this is all hilarious, but Seattle doesn't get much snow and we're just not prepared at all making roads quite challenging. Add ice to all of this and it's just no fun!

Let It Snow

It's snowing here...and won't stop!

 All Ella wanted to do was clear the snow off of everything...

 Our new casa covered in snow

 Making rather large snowballs!

Around the New House

Loves lotion

Trip to IKEA

Christmas 2011

We headed home the 21st for Christmas with our families. It was really nice being home and visiting with everyone. Saturday, we headed to Sean and Alicia's for Christmas with my Dad's family. The guys had fun shooting pool and playing table tennis while the girl's sat around and did what we do best, chit chatted.

Sunday morning, Santa came. Then we had Christmas with my parents before heading to Gran and Pop's. That evening, we headed to Brian's parents to wrap up the day. Ella got so many goodies. She's spoiled!! Oh, and Brian and Ella spoiled me with a new Macbook Air!

Monday was a nice day of rest and relaxation. Boy, we needed it after a crazy Christmas day!

Tuesday, Ella and I headed to Nashville to see my college girlfriends and all of their babies. I can't believe this was the first time I had seen any of the kids! Ivelisse's oldest is almost 3!!! That's how long it has been. We had a blast! Thank you Paige for allowing us to destroy your house for a few hours. It's so funny to look back at our college days together vs a house full of babies now!

Wednesday, Emily, Ella, and I went to Nikki and Walker's to meet sweet Ivy! The girls had so much fun playing and it was so good to catch up with Nikki and Walker.

If only we lived closer, we wouldn't miss out on so much!! Below is a slideshow of our week home. Enjoy!!

This free slideshow design customized with Smilebox

It's a...

Well, Ella was hoping for a girl, but it's a boy! On December 19th, Brian's wishes came true. He is no longer outnumbered by emotional girls:) In true Parent's Slack with Baby #2 style, we don't have any names picked out yet. But, below are some ultrasound pictures to tide you over until then.

Random Thoughts

- Ella is scared of Santa. We got her all dressed up in her new Christmas dress her Mimi and Big Daddy gave her, hopped in the car, and left for Santa's Workshop. No line = Yes! This will take 5 minutes. Oh no, Ella chickened out. So, we sat on the sidelines letting her "warm up." There was no warming up so after about 30 minutes, we threw our hands up and said "forget it, that's it" and went home empty handed. She cried in his lap last year and won't get near him with a 10 ft. pole this year. Sad to say but there will be no 2 year old Santa picture:( She looked so sweet, too.
- She loves Christmas this year. The displays, lights, music, all of it. Her favorite song is "Carol of the Bells." Good choice!

- Top 5 reasons I'm glad we're leaving W. Seattle/city life:

1. A 2 car garage. This is my last week to de-ice my windshield with a CD cover. Sunday was my last day to ever have to haul groceries off the street, down the sidewalk, and up flights of stairs. This is hopefully the last week I have to yell at some really rude people who drive down our street and have no manners for those of us who live on it (I yelled at a 70 year old yesterday b/c she was being a biatch)!

2. Friends. We will be closer to friends with kids. And, I hope our neighbors actually talk to us.

3. Less traffic. Traffic probably won't be much better but at least it will be moving 99% of the time. Cheers to leaving bumper to bumper standstill traffic. 

4. A playroom. Yes, it will be small but we finally don't have to share a den with Ella's toys.

5. More space. I was just telling Brian that it's going to be funny watching the movers unload what we feel are tons of boxes yet will probably look like nothing in a larger space. 

- Top 5 reasons I'm sad we're leaving W. Seattle:

1. Convenience. Living 1 block from restaurants, coffee shops, homemade pies, cupcakes, ice cream, ok, it's obvious I'm prego! We no longer will be able to walk to the grocery store, post office, dentist, etc. This will be an adjustment.

2. Alki Beach. Being a 5 minute drive to our weekend activity of heading to Alki Beach will be hard to not have. When something is 30 minutes away, you're not as likely to go. Hopefully, we'll come back every now and then over the summer.

3. Downtown. Having downtown shopping 10 minutes from the house will be a miss.

4. Waterviews. I'll miss our waterviews. Since we've lived here, we've always had one. Now, we're moving on to more mountainous views but nothing directly outside our window.

5. The townhouse. Yes, we're cramped, but I really do like this house. It's cute and cozy and we've had a lot of great memories here. And, it was Ella Grace's first home.

- Excited about decorating a new house. It's one of my favorite things. However, not excited about the costs associated with it. We did finally buy a King mattress set last week so that's fun! Just need a bed frame now:) And, new comforter!

- Did I mention I found all sorts of stuff in my closet while packing - 2 letters my Dad wrote me in college, 1 written 6 days after 9/11 talking about the devastation. A picture of me with my Mam-ma, Emily, and cousin Kaitlyn when we were little. A letter from Mam-ma on my 25th birthday - probably one of the last letters she was able to write me. All sorts of hilariously funny high school and college pictures. Wow! Every single wedding card we received. There were seriously hundreds - why have I held onto them for 5 years?! All my scrapbooking materials in my sorority bag. Let's just say other than letters and pictures, I dumped A LOT of stuff!

- Really excited about going home for Christmas. I know I sound like a broken record when I say this but seriously, I haven't been home in a year. I haven't seen my brother in 1 year. Or my grandmother. Or my grandfather. Or my cousins, aunts, and uncles. Or family friends. Or my high school and college friends. That's a long time people!!! And, I've only seen my Dad and Mom for a total of 4 days since last Dec. and my sister 2. And, I can't forget about Remy! Sad I can count all of this on less than 3 fingers! So, I'm thankful I get to visit everyone while I'm there.

- We find out the sex of this little babe on Monday. I'll be sure to share. I kind of think it's a boy. And, today I found out that my best friend, Nikki, is pregnant again. She is due July 7th. I know so many people due in May, June, July time frame it's crazy!

No picture updates as I haven't picked up my camera much lately. I've taken some cute videos of Ella but those will have to wait for another post.

See ya!

All Sorts of Stuff

I admit I'm pretty bad at blogging these days. After being in front of a computer all day, it's the last thing I open when I get home (unless I'm looking at house stuff:)). So, what have we been up to?

 

- Ella moved up to the Raccoon room (3 yr old room) at the end of October. She's now back with her love and "my best friend," Wesley. Things started out a bit rough because while Ella was left behind, Wesley became close to his friend, Sam. When Ella moved up, she wanted to play with Wesley and Days 1 and 2 he was quick to respond "Ella, I don't want to play with you!" Of course, this left Ella with her face in her hands crying (and kind of broke my heart when her teachers told me). They're all better now though. However, there is no such thing as 3 kids playing together so Ella is not afraid to tell us, her teachers, and even Sam "I don't like Sam," so we've been working on that!

- I keep a lot of her reports. Here are some quotes from a few of them.

•  "Ella was so excited when Wesley came this morning, but she did not like the hug Sam gave him."
• "Ella found the barn and lined the UNO Moo animals up along the shelf, then quickly put them back in the barn. Later Ella talked and texted on her cell phone while driving a car." - That's my girl!!
• "At nap time she was sad that her friend chose to sleep with Tigger and told me that "He (tigger) doesn't want to sleep with him (her friend, Maceo). In the end, she cuddled the polar bear at nap instead." I asked her about this and she was so dramatic even telling me that she cried and wiped her face off (motions and all).
• Today, her teacher told me that yesterday at snack time, Ella was finished and wanted to play with the toys behind the table. Her teachers kept telling her No, that she needed to wait until her friends were done eating but she kept pushing it sneaking her way closer to the toys. The teachers told her again and she stood up firm with her hands straight by her sides and said "No, I'm going home." The teachers said "ok, there's the door. Wave to Nicole on your way out." Haha! They said it was hilarious and both teachers turned their heads trying not to laugh. She's such a mess.

- Potty training. Have I mentioned how much I hate it?! Overall, Ella is doing really well but she does better at school. The biggest issue is that she refuses to poop in the potty. Her teachers say she won't go at school. And, at home, well, she's done a few things. 1) One night I caught her running up the stairs. She had switched her underwear for a pull-up and pooped in the pull up. Smart girl but really, just go to the potty. 2) She poops in her underwear and guess who has to clean it? Me! It makes me so mad! 3) Tonight, I caught her running into the bathroom and shutting the door. I asked her if she was going potty and she said no, she was pooping. She made it all the way to the bathroom to hide behind the door and poop in her underwear. I was pretty much fed up at this point and told her "Mommy is not happy" and that she has to start pooping in the potty. I hope she gets over this fear soon!

Some of her funny words include: 

- "scuse mes" for excuse me

- one night she told us "I get whatever I want." Honestly, Brian and I about died. We didn't find it funny at all and let her know that she doesn't get whatever she wants. I have no idea where she heard this.

- "it's sticking out" when referring to my tummy

- "we're going to check on brother and sister" when she went with us to hear the baby's heart beat last week

- "i have a baby in my tummy"

- "you have a froggie in your tummy"; that's what she called it at first

- "uh oh sketty o's"

And, saving the best for last. Steph and Chris came to visit us for Thanksgiving and one night, we were watching Horrible Bosses. At the very end, one of the characters says to his boss something like "shut the f$#k up." Well, all that we heard out of Ella's mouth was "F#$K UP." Brian and Chris just die out laughing. I cover my mouth laughing. And, Steph did the best of all - not laughing and telling the rest of us to just ignore it so we didn't egg any further bad behavior on. So, moral of the story - Ella is done watching movies with us! It was hilarious!

Just in the last week, her vocabulary has really expanded. She will tell us full stories including cause and effect, asking a million zillion questions, etc and sometimes, I'm in awe of how much she picks up on/learns at school. I'm so thankful for her great teachers because I have no teacher in me and other than manners, counting, songs, and ABCs, she learns what she knows at school.

We went to the doctor last week for our 14 wk appointment and heard the baby's heart beat. All was good - I'm actually gaining weight MUCH faster than I did the first time so the doc was happy (I wasn't and feel huge already) and the heart rate was a healthy 152. For comparison, Ella's was 157 at this point. We will know the sex on 12/19. No holding out for us as I HAVE to know. I hate surprises!

Let's just say the 2nd pregnancy is not so much fun. With the first, it's new and you know nothing so each week is a new adventure. 2nd time around, you know what's coming and it just makes me grumpy. I'm really worried about my back due to the lumbar disc bulge I have and these last few days have been rough - I feel like I'm in labor the way my back hurts. It sucks. So, yes, I want this to be over with ASAP but will have to deal with the pains because I want the babe to be healthy and stay comfy cozy in there as long as possible. And, yes, I'm already showing - 2 months earlier than I did with Ella. My eating habits are not very good so I've got to get my act together or I'm going to gain more than the 32 lbs I gained with Ms. Priss.

We are moving Jan 1 and I plan to start packing things up this weekend. We'd like to be ready to go before we head home on the 22nd (we have LOTS to do!!!). Because of the move, we didn't get a big real tree this year and I didn't pull out any decorations. Instead, Ella and I raided Target and ended up with a 4 ft tree with colorful ornaments and do dads coming out the tree.

 Ella loving the chocolate fountain at our Salty's Thanksgiving dinner