A Bucket and a String and Other Happenings

It's supposed to snow tonight. And my mom is flying in tomorrow. Seems to always snow when we have people traveling to us. Hopefully she won't get stuck somewhere along the way!

Bode has been very creative lately. Sometimes it makes me crazy because he decides he wants to build something but can't do it on his own. He asks for help but then doesn't like my suggestions or he has in mind how he wants to do it and there's no way i can pull it off. He is his father's son. Wants some wood and a hammer and some nails. Maybe a saw or two. But yesterday he wanted to build a "pulley system" and we decided simply to tie some twine to a bucket. He went out on the playset in the backyard and found a way to connect it to something that let him drop it to the rocks, Keegen would load it with random items (rocks, toy trucks, dinosaurs), and then Bode would lift it up to the top and unload. They were outside at it for a couple of hours. What was really great was that this creativity occurred when Soren FINALLY decided to take a nap. A 3 1/2 hour nap. OH! The bathrooms i cleaned and the laundry i got done. It was incredible.

I probably should have chosen to shower, but, well, maybe tonight.

I decided to have the boys vaccinated for H1N1. Doug and I were considered "high risk," too, because we have a child under 6 months, so it was a family affair. The line was forever long but moved fast. After we stood in it for about 40 minutes, one of the organizer people saw that i had Soren in my pouch (and zipped inside my cardigan). She said, "If your baby is small enough to fit inside your sweater...," we could all go to the "special needs" line, which was inside and much shorter. Sweet! We thought. So we went. And stood. And didn't move. And we asked why we weren't moving. We saw the family that was in front of us in the other line go inside the building. We asked about moving back to where we were and were told our line would go much faster, that the other line wrapped around the inside of the building a bunch of times. So we continued to stand. We watched the family that was in front of us in the other line leave. NINETY MINUTES after they left, we were finally done. What a mess. Yes, our line was shorter, but there were only 4 nurses giving shots (as opposed to 26 in the other line). And they only had one nurse doing the paperwork review before you could get your shot. And she was very chatty and slow and FRUSTRATING! Horribly inefficient. Doug was ticked and let them know how horribly they screwed up. That a "special needs" line should not take so long. That the pregnant woman in front of us and the ancient couple behind us (who kept ramming us with their oxygen-tank-on-wheels) and the baby in the pouch, SHOULD NOT BE STANDING AROUND FOR 2+ HOURS with just 75 people in line, while 2,000 people got shots in the same amount of time! But. It's done. Phew.

Soren's been super-fussy during the day, but her night sleep is getting into a pattern. She is desperate to be in bed between 6 and 7pm and sleeps until 1 or 2am! Bliss! And then she's up again no later than 5. But man, a seven hour stretch? Love it.

One of my favorite books as a child was Little Toot, about a little tugboat. We now refer to Soren as Little Toot. She's got some serious tooting skills.

I'm doubting my ability to drop the remaining 10-15 pounds i have left. I eat, easily, a cup of semisweet chocolate morsels daily. Maybe two. Plus a lot of other junk. When i'm walking around the house bouncing a baby all day long i just grab crap and put it in my mouth. I realize the chocolate could be adding to Soren's fussiness and tootiness. But not eating chocolate? Not an option.

Doug's company started a reorganization this time last year. And on Friday, they announced that there will be another reorg. Which is confusing, because the initial reorg? Hasn't to my knowledge been completed. I never mentioned it on the blog but we've been planning to move back to DC this spring because of the reorg. Doug was put in a job in July that is based in Alexandria, VA. We were about to put our house on the market. And now, all relocation packages/plans are "on hold." SO. We will see what life brings.