Oh, Yeah. SNOW.
If you are at all aware, you know that the East Coast had a massive snowstorm recently. If you live in the Washington, DC, area, you freaking lived it.
I should be able to write a clever post on the storm. And for the first few days of hunkering down and watching the snow accumulate, things were exciting and interesting and not totally terrible. ESPECIALLY compared with the the big fat snow storm of 2010, where I had a 6-day-old newborn.
"Hey!" I told Chris, on the snowy, snowy Saturday as our world got blanketed by white. "This storm is going WAY better than the 2010 storm!" Oh, I was positively chipper.
Let's compare. The 2016 storm had the following advantages over 2010.
In the end, we got 34 inches. The snow tapered off on Saturday evening. On Sunday, Chris borrowed a neighbor's snowblower, and I worked on shoveling off the front porch and stairs. The snow was too deep for Lorelei---I truly feared she'd sink over her head, so we cleared snow areas for her to play, and she stuck to the edges of snow. Charlotte made a snow cave, which was about a 4-day event. It was pretty cool.
Eventually the excitement faded. Chris and I both worked from home on Monday, and we were all starting to get surly. We'd been home since Friday. The girls were driving us nuts as we tried to complete various scheduled calls. It was stressful.
On Tuesday, Chris went into the office. Lorelei's daycare blessedly opened. School was still closed for Charlotte. So, I worked from home while she bugged me constantly. On the plus side, her crying right into the phone during a staff meeting, "Mommy, I'm sooooo hungry!" cued everybody to wrap it up.
School was closed for a total of 6 days, and trying to work during our busy season was stressful. Very stressful. It is nothing new that snow days coincide with our busy season, which is January through March. But it's really maddening, trying to mother and entertain and keep a trillion projects moving.
After one very rough morning with both girls, I told Chris that I had to have some back up. I was getting too behind at work, despite my very best efforts, and oh yeah, remember we have a birthday party to throw on Saturday for Charlotte?
So, on Thursday, he took Charlotte in to his work for the morning while I went to the office. He handed her off to me in Bethesda at lunch, and she came back to my office where she colored and tried to avoid talking to anyone she didn't know. Which was everyone.
She colored a picture of Strawberry Shortcake for my boss. Someone in Finance created a sheet of math problems for her. She used all the ink in my orange highlighter. And the guy who runs our mail room basically had a one-sided conversation with her for about 5 solid minutes.
There MAY have been some cheering at the bus stop on this past Monday morning, when all our little darlings climbed up the bus stairs and WENT TO SCHOOL.
It was a rough week for Charlotte, readjusting to routine and schedule. Me, I'm definitely breathing easier, having routine back in place and being able to gain ground at work without "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?" every 2 seconds.
In the meantime, last Saturday, we celebrated Charlotte's birthday with a big princess tea party. Done.
We've had an low-key weekend: errands, Lorelei's gymnastics, a birthday party for Charlotte's friend, church, Super Bowl. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Now, what have we been reading?
Despite it being February and not October, Lorelei has been super duper into Room on the Broom, which is actually a very nicely done little book, with patterns and rhythm and a dash of silly.
Charlotte and I are continuing to read Little House in the Big Woods and have also started Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, which is darling. She's also getting back into the Pinkalicious books but is mostly reading those to herself.
Moi, I just finished Wait for Me! by the Duchess of Devonshire, the last living Mitford sister, which was super interesting, even if the writing was a bit uninspired--though she had her moments of wit. I also finished A Mad, Wicked Folly, which is a YA book with a mostly original take on the British suffragettes. The writing was a tad long-winded at parts, but I overall enjoyed it. Before those, I finished The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry, which was a fantastically adorable spoof on all the classic children stories and fairy tales.
Currently, I'm reading Marie Kondo's Spark Joy BECAUSE I'M OBSESSED WITH DECLUTTERING AND ORGANIZATION and Ruby Holler for a MG read. I have some books to pick up at the library this weekend, so perhaps I'll read some grown-up fiction at some point.
I should be able to write a clever post on the storm. And for the first few days of hunkering down and watching the snow accumulate, things were exciting and interesting and not totally terrible. ESPECIALLY compared with the the big fat snow storm of 2010, where I had a 6-day-old newborn.
"Hey!" I told Chris, on the snowy, snowy Saturday as our world got blanketed by white. "This storm is going WAY better than the 2010 storm!" Oh, I was positively chipper.
Let's compare. The 2016 storm had the following advantages over 2010.
- I was not recovering from a gory birth.
- The house could easily reach temperatures ABOVE 58 degrees, unlike the shitty apartment of yore.
- I slept well.
- I did not have to factor in breastfeeding with my alcohol consumption.
- I now owned snow boots.
- Climbing over a tall snow drift did not give me the sensation I was giving birth all over again.
- To my knowledge, nobody's nipples in the house were bleeding. To boot, the sight of Charlotte's open mouth or her declaration that she was hungry did not make me cry, nor make me think, "Oh my dear lord, she wants to eat again! What have I done, bringing life into this world?!"
- Did I mention I slept well?
- I felt perfectly competent in my mothering.
- A fear of SIDS did not cross my mind even once. The girls snuggled in with me in our bed and I knew it was perfectly safe. Nobody would smother anybody.
- My offspring were verbal. This had its downsides, of course, but parental troubleshooting is a whole lot easier when said offspring can communicate in ways other than crying.
In the end, we got 34 inches. The snow tapered off on Saturday evening. On Sunday, Chris borrowed a neighbor's snowblower, and I worked on shoveling off the front porch and stairs. The snow was too deep for Lorelei---I truly feared she'd sink over her head, so we cleared snow areas for her to play, and she stuck to the edges of snow. Charlotte made a snow cave, which was about a 4-day event. It was pretty cool.
 |
| The girls. |
 |
| Lorelei. This should give some perspective. |
 |
| Charlotte trying to climb the snow wall. She didn't make it. |
 |
| My Lorelei! |
 |
| Our house. It sits atop a knoll, but this picture struck me because the house almost looks like like it's on a flat piece of land with all the snowdrifts. |
 |
| Our deck. The snow went above the level of the patio table. |
Eventually the excitement faded. Chris and I both worked from home on Monday, and we were all starting to get surly. We'd been home since Friday. The girls were driving us nuts as we tried to complete various scheduled calls. It was stressful.
On Tuesday, Chris went into the office. Lorelei's daycare blessedly opened. School was still closed for Charlotte. So, I worked from home while she bugged me constantly. On the plus side, her crying right into the phone during a staff meeting, "Mommy, I'm sooooo hungry!" cued everybody to wrap it up.
School was closed for a total of 6 days, and trying to work during our busy season was stressful. Very stressful. It is nothing new that snow days coincide with our busy season, which is January through March. But it's really maddening, trying to mother and entertain and keep a trillion projects moving.
After one very rough morning with both girls, I told Chris that I had to have some back up. I was getting too behind at work, despite my very best efforts, and oh yeah, remember we have a birthday party to throw on Saturday for Charlotte?
So, on Thursday, he took Charlotte in to his work for the morning while I went to the office. He handed her off to me in Bethesda at lunch, and she came back to my office where she colored and tried to avoid talking to anyone she didn't know. Which was everyone.
She colored a picture of Strawberry Shortcake for my boss. Someone in Finance created a sheet of math problems for her. She used all the ink in my orange highlighter. And the guy who runs our mail room basically had a one-sided conversation with her for about 5 solid minutes.
There MAY have been some cheering at the bus stop on this past Monday morning, when all our little darlings climbed up the bus stairs and WENT TO SCHOOL.
It was a rough week for Charlotte, readjusting to routine and schedule. Me, I'm definitely breathing easier, having routine back in place and being able to gain ground at work without "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?" every 2 seconds.
In the meantime, last Saturday, we celebrated Charlotte's birthday with a big princess tea party. Done.
We've had an low-key weekend: errands, Lorelei's gymnastics, a birthday party for Charlotte's friend, church, Super Bowl. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Now, what have we been reading?
Despite it being February and not October, Lorelei has been super duper into Room on the Broom, which is actually a very nicely done little book, with patterns and rhythm and a dash of silly.
Charlotte and I are continuing to read Little House in the Big Woods and have also started Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer, which is darling. She's also getting back into the Pinkalicious books but is mostly reading those to herself.
Moi, I just finished Wait for Me! by the Duchess of Devonshire, the last living Mitford sister, which was super interesting, even if the writing was a bit uninspired--though she had her moments of wit. I also finished A Mad, Wicked Folly, which is a YA book with a mostly original take on the British suffragettes. The writing was a tad long-winded at parts, but I overall enjoyed it. Before those, I finished The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry, which was a fantastically adorable spoof on all the classic children stories and fairy tales.
Currently, I'm reading Marie Kondo's Spark Joy BECAUSE I'M OBSESSED WITH DECLUTTERING AND ORGANIZATION and Ruby Holler for a MG read. I have some books to pick up at the library this weekend, so perhaps I'll read some grown-up fiction at some point.
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