A Documentary of some snow, some throwup and some blackbeans.

Ryan did make it home. At 1 a.m. after 9 hours on a bus. That amazing driver got everyone home. Needless to say, after the horrors of the commute the day before, Dada stayed home on Thursday. This picture from the next morning really does not capture the weird surreal feeling of the neighborhood. It looked like a giant octopus had landed over everything with its tentacles dangling creepily close to the windows. This makes it look normal and not that dire. It was dire. Also, Thursday had the nerve to be utterly anticlimactic. People spent upwards of 12 hours stuck out on the roads the night before and the next day, the world spun on. It felt like The Day After Tomorrow movie where everyone is trying to survive the next ice age. But apparently people still went to work, some never actually got stuck, and had normal commutes AND the roads were fine by 1 p.m.  

I got to sleep in. It was great. And Lei got to hang out with Dada, which was also great. I can not get over how amazing her scruffy little fresh-out-of-bed-head is. Totally edible. Mmm.

She was totally fascinated by the snow. I don't think the little we got before had that much of an impact, but this time, she was quite impressed.

 

She also somehow noticed how cold the windows were for the first time. Not sure how she missed that before. But that was apparently exciting too. 

Later that evening we took a short drive over to my moms. Outside was seriously cool. I have never seen snow cover the entire trunks of trees all down one side like they did with this wet stuff. The woods looked amazing. And I almost crashed 10 times trying to take pictures of it, but I never managed to quite get one. But I did get the sky. Oh the winter sky. The one part of winter that I have a hard time going without in the summer. Nothing is as clean and fresh. Crisp.

 

See? No? Well we all tried. (We being Ryan or Abi who I had gotten to try and grab the shot as I drove. I was practicing being a responsible driver.) Every time the super straight part of the woods appeared where everything looked like it had been painted with a ruler, we blurred or missed it. It was gorgeous and this is scraggly. But its still a bit nice looking I suppose. 

Saturday afternoon we went to Ryan's parents for lunch, and spent a great afternoon with about 30 of our friends/family from church. It was great, but by 7, the baby was ready to head home and I was feeling sliiiightly queasy. Thought I must have had something slightly off to eat, or that I was tired, so I went to bed. I slept an hour. Then I was up for the next 8 getting up close and personal with the pohtay and the trashcan. Every. 15. Minutes. Yep. 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Totally horrible. I was sure every time that "ok, that was the one. I am better now." But nope. I will spare you the details, but lets say that I deserve an "I am a survivor" sticker, or button, or like an award. Leilani woke up at about 1 and was not happy that Ryan was not bringing her to me. Screeeeeaming, gagging wails. So in between trips to the bathroom, I doused myself in hand sanitizer, prayed for mercy, and tried to nurse. Rough night. But we lived. Ryan left at 5 to find an open grocery, and returned with Pepto, gingerale, saltines, and a fruit smoothie. He was a hero. And I was struck with how familiar the whole sick on the couch with gingerale and saltines thing was. Pregnancy and the flu... Delightfully similar. 

Spent all of Sunday in bed, while Leilani had a lot of quality father daughter time. Discovered that my sister was having a grand time as well, and we spent the afternoon texting our grisly details and updates back and forth. Misery loves company. Ryan was great. He deserves a button/pin/award/sticker too. The next couple of days were long feeling, I was dizzy and bleh for a lot of them, but I am so thankful for the 24 hour flu as opposed to the regular one. Today I am mostly back to normal and happily eating again and watching the snow melt. And that Leilani and Ryan are healthy which is great. God is good. 

I will conclude with some pictures of Leilani's dinner on Sunday. Chipotle black beans are the best, especially when Daddy lets her eat them as recklessly as she wants. 

So. Cute.