Snow day

You know what's awesome about living in MN? Snow days. They're one of the few really great things about the long, snowy, freezing cold winter months that seem to go on forever. They're pretty rare (we're pretty good at taking care of the snow, or at least we used to be), but every so often, a huge snowstorm comes through overnight on a weeknight and the plows can't take care of it before buses are scheduled to come through and schools (and often, by extension, The Bakken) are closed for the day. Hello, free day!

You know what stinks about living in MN? Snow days...on a scheduled holiday. Presidents Day is the only holiday that Chason and I both have off work while daycare is still open, which means we get an entire day to ourselves with no kids. Last year, Jen decided a few weeks out to take that day as an additional holiday. This year, it snowed over a foot of snow, and since her street appears to be the last street on the plow route for the city of Minneapolis, cars couldn't get to her home and she closed for the day.

Don't get me wrong; I don't begrudge Jen taking a snow day. I also love my girls and ordinarily would have been happy to have an unexpected day home with them. But I also love my husband, and we had made plans to go to lunch and a movie which we were very much looking forward to.

Stupid Minnesota winters.

Anway, there's my requisite complaining. On to the more fun events of the past few weeks, starting with...snow! (What else is there?) Again, one of the good things about MN winters is that when you're a kid, at least, it's pretty fun to play in the snow. Cori, unfortunately, doesn't get to go out as often because even when she's bundled up nice and warm, it's not really good for her to be breathing in lots of that cold air. But we had some glorious weather last week in the 30s and 40s, so both girls had fun playing in the snow. Romelie did a great job of helping her dad shovel, and Cori graciously allowed me to make her into a snow angel. Not that she had much choice.

Let's see. I have started working out with a personal trainer. It sucks. It's not one-on-one (there's no way I could afford that, nor would I want that much attention/abuse), but we do a group boot camp twice a week at Ballys for an hour. I like that it makes me feel stronger afterwards. I hate how much it hurts during, and how I can't keep up with most of the other people in the class, and how I'm not really losing much weight because I can't cut calories until I'm done breastfeeding...but as I am reminded, even if I don't lose much weight in the next 9 months, I will be getting stronger if I work out, and that will make losing weight easier when the time comes. In the meantime, I'm selling all of my maternity clothes on ebay as we speak. Even though some still fit comfortably enough, I'm done with the fat pants, baby!

Other news...Diane was here this past week! She was in town for work, but we got to spend a few evenings with her during the work week, and then she stayed with us for the weekend. Actually, due to the snow, she was here a day longer than originally expected! We were so lucky to get to spend time with her, and she also gave us a night off to spend some time with friends. Thanks, Diane; can't wait to see you again soon!!

In Romelie news, my darling little angel threw her first really humiliating public tantrum. Folks, it was bad. Like, way worse than I could have imagined. I mean, I was wearing a swimsuit. Come on. So we went to Diane's hotel one night with the girls so they could go swimming. I'm in the pool with Romelie and she keeps having little crying fits over seemingly nothing. The final straw comes when she's sitting on the stairs in the pool and an older girl sits down next to her. She immediately cries and tells the girl to "go away." I tell her she needs to stop throwing a fit or we're getting out of the pool. She doesn't, so we do. Then the tantrum starts. There's no where I can put her in a time out (we're in an echo-y pool room, and there are maybe 10 other people there), so I take her around a corner to try to remove her from public eyes, if not ears, reduce stimulation, and try to help her calm down. Unfortunately, she's flailing so much I can't set her down (hard pool floor and all), so I have to hold her pretty tightly to keep her from hurting herself. So she starts screaming bloody murder, Ow, you're hurting, stop, ow! So now I'm worried that folks in the pool think I took her around the corner to spank her or something. So I take her out of the pool room, wearing only my swimsuit, past the fancy open area where dozens of adults are having happy hour. She's kicking and screaming the whole way; I literally clamped my hand over her mouth for a couple seconds because I didn't know what else to do. I take her screaming up the glass elevator, and only when we step out on the second floor can I get her to stop screaming and begin to calm down. Once we got in the room, she had her time out (which she cried throughout), and the only good part to this story is that we actually managed to have a good, productive discussion afterwards about her behavior/choices.

Wow, that was a long story. But seriously, that was so embarrassing. If it had happened in a grocery store, at the mall, or in any other public place, I would have taken her outside, put her in the car, and stayed there until she calmed down. But we're both in wet swimsuits and it's the middle of winter. Going outside is not an option. I don't spank my kids because I understand that it doesn't work as a discipline tool. But I came pretty close to dumping a cup of water over her head in that hotel room. If I hadn't been concerned about soaking the couch, I would have.

Also, Romelie is adorable. Here's her wearing one of my headbands Rambo-style. I love my child. She's three years old. This is what I have to remind myself in moments like the one above.

And finally, some Cori news. Well, milestone reached - she can roll from her back onto her tummy. Granted, she's done it once, but she's made many attempts, and she very easily rolls onto her side. She loves to grab onto things. I love watching her in her blue bouncy chair - she has a couple stuffed animals that dangle overhead, and she'll grab one in each hand. Sometimes she'll put her feet up there, too, so she's got a foot and hand on each animal. Pretty cute. She still spits up like a champion; I'm hoping solid food will help with that, though it's still a couple of months away. And my favorite part of every day happens when she wakes up in the morning. She starts babbling in her bassinet until I come in to get her. I turn the light on, and she blinks and rubs her eyes. I stand over her bed, blocking the light with my head, and then she opens her eyes. She focuses in on my face...and gives me the biggest smile ever. Sometimes she laughs. I love it. It makes 7:00 am on a Sunday so much more enjoyable.

And as you can see, I set her up for some pictures. She was surprisingly cooperative, though she got a little frustrated after making so many cute faces and me still refusing to pick her up (I wasn't done yet!). I set up a foot picture similar to Romelie's from when she was this age. Is it too early to be nostalgic?

I'll save stories about music class (every Tuesday) until the next blog. And Cori's got her 4-month well baby check up next week, so I'll be sure to post her stats (weight, height, etc.) Two more weeks until Houston!