SNOWMAGEDDON!

Yeah... I scoffed too when I heard Obama's label for this storm... however this really was a big snowstorm for the area, in fact the biggest in D.C.'s history. DC, VA and MD simply are not prepared budget wise or physically to handle this kind of snow. We had already used up most of our budget for plowing etc. in the aftermath of the December storm which dumped about 18 inches. We have had a great deal of fun finally having a "real" winter this year.... however with schools closing for nearly two weeks the fun started to wear off. Our biggest irk is how much people whine around here about snow and the lack of plowing. I want to grab a shovel, put it in their hands and shove them out the door and tell them to stop their whining and do something about it!!!! Today, 2 weeks after the storm, most of our street STILL has not even bothered to shovel their sidewalks and of course snowplows just don't come to areas like this. The day after the storm Billy and I cleared our walks and halfway across the street in front of our house.. Billy rallied up our immediate neighbors and we got a good amount cleared away. If everyone would have just spent an couple hours outside with a shovel, things would have been smooth sailing right at the get go.. ah well. Are we turning into a nation of whiners? Do you think the majority of people expect too much to be done for them? I am grateful my church places such strong emphasis on provident living and being self-sufficient. In the meantime, it looks like either we are going to have to shovel the walks in the rest of the neighborhood so our kids have a safe route to school or we are going to have to keep driving them or walking with them as the only snow free areas for most of the way are in the middle of the road. We did have a lot of melting happening today with the temps up to 44 degrees so it may not be an issue for too much longer. Anyhow.. jumping off my soapbox now and on with the pics!

DIG IN! This is after the first storm which dumped about 24 inches on us.


Good thing our Audi is black or we wouldn't have been able to find it!

Other side of the Audi...
Now THAT'S what I call snow!
Billy piled all the snow from the front of our house, our sidewalks and the neighbors driveway onto the side of our front lawn with visions of giant snow caves dancing in his head. Emma caught the vision and here she is day 2 helping Dad dig out.
The neighborhood kids all thought our cave was awesome! We had lots of visitors coming to hang out in it.

I couldn't convince Emma to leave the cave she worked so hard to help build... so I sent her lunch out to her.. here she is enjoying her food and visiting with friends.

Dad and Emma decided to give the cave the ultimate test by sleeping in it! Temp was 16 degrees outside that night but they weathered it pretty well. Both said their feet were cold but otherwise they enjoyed it. We have learned since that for future caves we should make the entrance lower than the floor of the cave to help keep heat in. We also need to make the walls a bit more smooth so the water runs down the sides instead of dripping on unsuspecting campers. Here are Emma and Dad ready to head out.
Billy is such a great Dad.. he really loves his girls and was even willing to watch "The tales of Peter Rabbit" on the laptop with Emma. Here they are all snuggled up and sort of warm.

The next night Mandi wanted to give the cave a shot..... Billy graciously complied and of course Emma jumped right in for round two. Here is Mandi getting settled in.


We had a blizzard hit overnight that night... it ended up dumping about 10 more inches on us. Billy and the girls were oblivious to the strong winds and the rain/snow. They said it was super quiet and comfortable in the cave. Sadly I did not get a picture of the cave the next morning or of the brave threesome emerging from their hideout... I panicked slightly when I woke up and peered outside. The blizzard was still in progress and there was no evidence there was a snow cave. With all the new snow, there was no path, no outline of an entrance or anything. It just looked like a large mound. and I started to worry that all the new snow might have plugged up all their sources for fresh air and ran downstairs on the VP to call Billy - dragged the poor tired guy out of his peaceful slumber to make sure everyone was still breathing and that there were no Mandi or Emma popsicles. I was very tempted to camp out there one night but I didn't think my little Xander would be too appreciative of the experience. Here's hoping we can get some good snow next year so I can give it a shot!

Xander!

I am long long overdue in posting pictures and information about Xander. This post will be all about our cute little guy from his speedy entrance last August until now.
I was actually at Gallaudet teaching a childbirth class when I went into labor. I mentioned to my class that I was having strong and consistent contractions (it was pretty hard to miss my enormous belly tensing and relaxing) and that it was a good example of "false labor (har har)." I was very determined to finish that series of childbirth classes, get our upstairs bathroom remodel finished and of course get my parents and sister here before the baby was born. Between my genes and Billy's genes, its not a suprise Xander had his own agenda. Once I finished class I had to walk across campus to get to my car. I passed a woman sitting on a bench, a large grandmotherly looking African-American. She took one look at me and said "Girly, you are having that baby tonight!" I laughed and said "Oh no, not tonight, I have far too much to do!" I was supposed to stop at the store and go over to a friends house to pick up a book on the way home. The contractions were working so hard, driving was a challenge. I dropped both errands and went straight home, hoping that if I ate and took a nap and prayed hard enough, the contractions would go away. The woman's statement really bugged at me... what would she know... someone who never met me and knew nothing of my life anyhow? After laying down for 2 hours, I got up... accepted that the contractions were not going to go away and we called my mom hoping that perhaps since our efforts failed, that she might be able to pull some strings up above and get this process put off a little longer. One thing we must all come to accept is that once that baby makes up his mind, there is nothing else you can do.
We had already informed our midwife that I was in labor. Billy suggested that perhaps we should have her come over and I scoffed at him... no way! I am just getting started here. Fortunately he is a very experienced childbirth coach. He read the signs and knew the baby was coming soon. With Emma's birth experience foremost in his head, he went ahead and called the midwife and birth assistant. They arrived just 45 minutes before Xander did. The girls were all asleep, we talked about maybe waking them up but decided to wait a bit longer which turned out to be a big mistake. Transition hit super hard and super fast. I told Billy to hurry and go upstairs to get the girls. Next thing I knew Xander was pushing himself down. This birth is the only time I actually could feel the baby pushing himself out. I yelled for Billy to forget it and get back down. Only Sam woke up enough to come down and see the birth. Our friend who was supposed to videotape the birth also arrived too late.. ah well. Billy caught the baby, we had a moment of worry as Xander took his time to start breathing but with with a bit of rubbing and a "Come on baby!" he coughed, let out a nice cry and pinked right up. He weighed 7lbs 5 oz. With Mandi and Lizzie weighing both weighing well over 8 lbs, its no wonder he popped right out.

Here he is checking out planet Earth right after his birth. He was very clean and didn't even need to be washed off.

Daddy holding his son for the first time. Xander has had to have his hands in his mouth constantly from the moment he was born.

Lizzie meets her little brother.

Mandi is delighted to have a boy in the house. She looks pretty good for it being 3am.

Emma LOVES holding babies. With both Lizzie and Xander she would sit for an hour, no problem and just hold them and give them lots of sisterly love.

Sam giving Xander a kiss. She took all of these pictures right after the birth which is why she isn't in very many of them.

Lizzie back for more...

And more... she couldn't get enough of that cute baby.

FEET! The boy really has a set of feet on him.. I have been used to tiny dainty feet... his are BIG but still very yummy!

My midwife Lisa, I really enjoyed having her. She was content to sit back and let us do our thing until she was needed. She was a good fit for us. This is 2 days post-partum.
My mom took the next flight out after his birth to come and help out. My Dad and sister followed soon after. It was so great to have them here. They are always a blast to have around and I dont know what I would have done without them! I know we have some great pics of everyone while they were here but I haven't been able to find the file... they will come later.

In October Xander took his first trip to CA. Billy's Gramma Emma was having a 90th birthday bash and the whole family was getting together. We decided it would be a great time for Xander and Lizzie to meet Gramma and for all of us to enjoy time with Billy's family. Here he is with Grandpa Kendrick

We had his blessing immediately following Gramma's birthday open house. Here we are all clean and spiffy.

Man of the hour.


It was wonderful to be able to have so many family members present at his blessing! Here he is with all the wonderful men who stood in the circle.

With Gramma and Daddy right after the open house/blessing. He adores Gramma... the minute he gets into her arms he either goes right to sleep or he laughs and talks like nobodies business.
Of course being in CA, we had to have some FUN! Here he is during his first visit to the beach. It was pretty chilly and very windy so I kept him snug and safe in the sling.

We also went to Disneyland! Here he is on his very first ride...Peter Pan.
Before flying home we nabbed the opportunity to see Gramma one last time. As usually Xander was totally enthralled.

Back on the plane heading home!

Hanging out with Lizzie. You can see he is pretty horrified to be plopped into a pink princess chair and trying to figure out which body part would get him out of there the fastest.
Monkeying around at the zoo...
Hmm Mom needs a haircut and a good shave ;)

The day he discovered his toes. Of course they went straight into the gaping hole we call his mouth... just like everything else. As you can see he is quite serious about those toes. He got really mad when I tried to get his clothes on again after the diaper change and thus was allowed to nibble his piggies for an extended period.

We caught him being very photogenic one day and got in some great shots... He is 4 months old here.

Stay tuned... more to come!