right now Silas is...

-11 weeks old

-smiling socially

-getting better at tummy time (meaning he doesn't completely hate it anymore)

-loving baths

-sleeping a lot at night, not so much during the day

-interested in toys and bright colors

-figuring out how to reach up for hanging objects

-making lots of cute noises

-more into sucking on his fist/fingers than his paci

snow day

 ....it stuck!

Winter is a rarity here. We've learned in the last few days just how unprepared for snow we are. Our local power company has had to implement rolling blackouts to preserve enough electricity to keep the city going most of the time. They haven't been too bad; usually less than an hour long. Schools and city offices have been closed for three days, to conserve power. Our extreme weather usually comes in the summer, not the winter. It's been interesting.

We've had fun despite the inconveniences. I'm certainly grateful for some quality time with my family, and for the utilities I use (and waste) daily without thought. I feel motivated to put more thought into the resources I uses; to be more aware of them. And I'm more mindful these days of how nice it is to have a warm house, a well-insulated house even. I haven't been cold, even with the power out, because our house is so well insulated. These seemingly small things become huge when we go without them. 

It was fun trying to remember how to build a snowman. I haven't done that since I was a kid, and even then I think we spent most of our snow days sledding, building forts and having snowball fights, so I was never an expert snowman builder anyway....

 Nicky was a trooper, and stayed outdoors for most of the morning until he finally declared, "My whole self is cold!" and was taken inside to curl up with a blanket and PBS Kids, while Ricky and I finished the snowman.

Silas stayed snug and warm inside. Maybe he'll catch the next big snowstorm, in say, 10 years or so.

So, that's our Snowpocalypse 2011 story! It's supposed to be in the 60's by Monday....

snow!

During this last Christmas season, Nicky was convinced that he would wake up to snow on Christmas morning. He saw snow in every holiday book and movie, of course. Every morning, he would ask "Is it Christmas today?" and look out the window to check for snow. Unfortunately it doesn't snow much in the desert, and white Christmases are pretty rare.

But today he got his snow, and so far it's sticking. Here's hoping we'll wake up to a winter wonderland.

an afternoon at the park

reasons I like Ricky

• he says thank you every time I make food
• he has all the qualities that make a good Dad: he's fun, he's very consistent with discipline (more than me, I admit it), and at the end of the day a big softie
• he is always warm
• most mornings, there is coffee made when I get up because of him
• he is good at a lot of stuff (music, techy/nerdy stuff aka bringing home the bacon, latin dancing, conversations, including people in social situations, and he's dang smart)
• he would disagree with my use of the word "smart" because it doesn't really mean anything; he's dang intelligent then
• he's loyal and trustworthy, a good friend
• he's more honest than Abe
• he's a good taste-tester and food-seasoner

to be continued.....there are so many!

Nicky = cute

Today at lunchtime, as we were standing in line to order food, Nicky wanted to go sit at the table with his friend. We said he could, and as he ran after the friend he stopped, looked back and cracked a huge grin as he said, "I'm just going to borrow myself."

5 Things

1. Last night I was sitting in the Walgreen's parking lot listen to the radio. The host was talking about a new study (there's always a new study, but still...) that basically found that the constant checking of social networks for status updates, etc. is causing people to have shortened attention spans and brains that are similar to a baby's. This makes us live only in the moment, distracted by buzzing and noises and bright lights, just like an infant. Hmmm.....methinks I may be suffering from this problem. I need to read more books.

2. My first day back at work was Monday. It was a hectic day on the busiest floor of the hospital, but I think it went well for the most part. I was a little nervous about remembering passwords, and the charting system, but everything came back as I was doing it. I did feel painfully slow, however, in getting meds passed and checking in on people regularly. So much of my job is dealing with interruptions; the challenge becomes just getting the basics done before the shift ends. 

3. I was only able to pump milk once during the entire 13 hours I was there. Ouch. There is a breastfeeding room on the Labor & Delivery floor that's comfortable and private, which I'm so grateful for. I thought I would have to find an empty room or run out to the car. So now I know there's a good place to pump, it's just a huge challenge to leave the floor for 20 minutes to do so. I guess I could try to combine one session with lunch so maybe I can squeeze in two sessions.

4. I started the Couch to 5K running program last week. I've done two so far. It's a little hard to fit them in, even though it's only 30 minutes 3 times a week. I have to be ready to leave right when Ricky gets home from work, and I can barely finish before the sun goes down ( I guess I could run in the dark, but I'm a weenie about that). Anyway, I've decided to add running a 5K to my goal list for 2011.

5. Silas is settling into a nice schedule. He falls asleep around 7 pm, then really just wakes up 2-3 times to eat but other than that sleeps until 7-8 the next morning. It makes the evenings quite relaxed around here; that's probably when I get the most done.