Week in Review

- On Sunday I was called to be the Relief Society secretary and released as a primary teacher. I was actually quite happy because we had just started a new year with new kids and some of the new kids were quite challenging. One boy would hit me one week and kiss me all over the next.
-I registered for my certification exam. The $500 fee has encouraged much studying. I plan to take it in April right before we go to Hawaii.
-I've lost 20.5 lbs and am 2.5 lbs away from my goal weight. Weight Watchers works.
-I read New Moon the second book of the Twilight trilogy. They are pretty entertaining books.
-Now I am starting a 3 day in a row stretch of work. Blah. We shall see how 3 days of little to no sleep works.

Cool Stuff

#1- We were right in middle of a tornado on Thursday. It was so cool. I was sitting down, feeding Jacob and Eli wanted me to come look out the window. All of the sudden we heard such loud thunder, it sounded like a train right outside our door. Then marble sized hail came pouring down. Within seconds the ground was white with big chunks of ice. We live on the second floor of our apartment complex and our little patio was quickly filling up with water. Eli had to brush all the water away quickly so we didn't get water in our living room. It was so weird. Then my mom called to ask if we were okay because I guess it was all over the news. Little did we know we had just been through an F-1, quarter mile wide tornado.
#2- I switched to Progressive for our auto insurance and our premium went from $1200/6 months to $542/6 months. How cool is that! We have had Allstate for the 3+ years we've been married because it was the cheapest at the time. Allstate boasts that drivers get discounts every 6 months they don't have an accident. Well, we never had an accident but our rates went up each year. I was fed up and now I am thrilled to save some $.
#3- Jacob had his 4 month appointment and is 13 lbs even, 42 inches. he is in the 25th percentile for height and weight and 50% for head circumference. We think he is a genius baby. He did quite well with his immunizations. I am so grateful for baby Tylenol.
#4- My mom came for the weekend and bought Jacob a new wardrobe for the next 6 months. Old Navy was having a huge sale. Thanks mom!

Back in the Saddle Again

We had such a fun holiday in Steamboat. It is hard to come back and get back to work.
One cool thing about Hayden, CO is Santa comes to every home that leaves their porch light on on Christmas Eve.
Jacob loves to stand up now (with a lot of help).
I worked on Monday and Tuesday night this week. I have to be gone from about 6pm-0730am. Although a new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) aka computer charting was instituted while i was on maternity leave, work went extremely well. Eli arranged his classes so he can be home with Jacob, except on Wednesday nights when he has his night class. Eli has fun getting to have man to man time with Jake. The nice thing is I only work part time and at the hospital we rotate working every other weekend, so I don't have to work again until Jan 18th. I will miss getting to be home with Jacob every minute, but I feel blessed for a job that is able to provide for our little family

Jacob's Travels

Jacob has had fun thus far in Colorado. We arrived last Saturday and have learned the beauty of bundled baby sleepy syndrome. Jacob has been able to do several things he hasn't done before. Swimming for the first time with dad.

Meeting his 5 week old cousin, Ellie.
Playing in the snow with his buddy, Boston.

Going on walks in the snow. (can you see him?)
Going shopping with Grandma.

The only problem is it is so dry here. The poor little buddy needs his nose suction several times a day with copious results. I wanted to post some photos from the ski hill, but just realized our camera was left at the resort. Hopefully they have a lost and found.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Developmental Assessment of The Jake

Developmental Milestones by the End of 3 Months

Movement

• Raises head and chest when lying on stomach- met
• Supports upper body with arms when lying on stomach- met
• Stretches legs out and kicks when lying on stomach or back- met
• Opens and shuts hands- met
• Pushes down on legs when feet are placed on a firm surface- met
• Brings hand to mouth- all the time
• Takes swipes at dangling objects with hands- yup
• Grasps and shakes hand toys- not so much yet
  

Visual

• Watches faces intently- especially mom
• Follows moving objects- especially mom
• Starts using hands and eyes in coordination- met
  

Hearing and Speech

• Smiles at the sound of your voice- oh yes
• Begins to babble- yes
• Begins to imitate some sounds- a little bit
• Turns head toward direction of sound- met
  

Social/Emotional

• Begins to develop a social smile- not too often yet
• Enjoys playing with other people, and may cry when playing stops- met by dad in particular
• Becomes more communicative and expressive with face and body- met more each day
• Imitates some movements and facial expressions- met by sticking tongue out when prompted
  

Yay for Jake! He is growing and developing so quickly. Parenthood is such fun experience thus far.

The Flood

No huge problems here in Vancouver (Clark County bottom left of map), but my in-laws live in Centralia (Lewis County, see map) where the major flooding is. Their home is fine. However, My brother-in-law's parents home has 2 feet of water. all carpeting and drywall will need replaced.
The LDS church has been turned into a shelter. The I-5 is still closed unfortunately as it is the main route from Seattle to Portland. We are hoping to go see my in-laws before we leave for Colorado(on the 15th), so hopefully the freeway will reopen soon.

This happened in 1996, but this is much worse I am told. The Centralia/Chehalis area is small, but growing. A new strip mall adjacent to a Walmart and Home Depot (the major shopping establishment) are all flooded. This is devastating for families as they are major employers and that it is so close to Christmas.

The part that disturbs me is the Local hospital, Providence Centralia Hospital is right next to the Chehalis River. It has been turned into an island, patients are still being brought in, either by Coast Guard helicopter crews or in National Guard troop-transport vehicles. Staff have to wade through knee-high water to get to work.

Apparently, half-mile in virtually every direction is under water, which would include our old house when we lived in Centralia.

I will let you know more when/if we make a trip up there.

Going green... sort of

It seems like everyone is doing it. I hear so much about it that if I don't "go green" I must obviously be a socially irresponsible person. Why do I feel guilty for using dispoable diapers, one of the most convenient invnetions of 20th century? Or ashamed of having all the lights on in my house? Evil for still getting my bills via the mail, even though I pay them online?
I am great at rationalizing my actions. First, I live in an apartment without a washer and dryer. I looked into cloth diapers, but I can't afford the initial small fortune it takes to acquire an adequate supply. I tried using washcloths instead of baby wipes, but Eli got sick of "poopy butt rags" (that I washed in the sink and hung to dry before taking them to launder) decorating our apartment. Next, Washington is extremely depressing this time of year. The constant rain and overcast gray sky easily leads to seasonal affective disorder. To prevent this, almost all my lights are on during the day. And finally, my superfluous paper consumption? If I don't get the bill in the mail, I forget to pay it.
So now you know my atrocities, I have to render my actions I know. However, I have started to separate cans, plastics, and glass out of the garbage and recycle them instead. I walk to the store when the weather is nice rather than drive (although a rare occasion recently). I wish I could say I drove a hybrid, but instead choose a car that gets 39mpg. And that is about it. I'll eventually do better.