Snow, Smiles and Sleep

Winter pulled into town this week, about a month ahead of schedule. It began on Sunday with a pretty but light snowfall that didn't accumulate to much. The kids enjoyed watching the snow fall, and Allie even seemed enchanted by it. When we got home from church, she stayed outside and wandered around the yard in her dress clothes with a big smile, gazing at the falling snowflakes.

It was all harmless until the phone rang at 5:09am on Monday morning. The school district wanted to alert us of a two-hour delay. So Silas had a few extra hours here in the morning before he headed off to school. Not a big deal...

When the phone rang at 5:09am on Tuesday morning, waking us up with yet another alert, it was quite a surprise––school closed! It hadn't even snowed yet; a storm was expected. At least it did end up accumulating about 4-5 inches, so it was worth closing school. But it caught me off guard. I admit, since Rowan came, I have not been keeping up with the news, and am only vaguely aware of the weather forecast. But I've learned my lesson...I will be checking the weather report faithfully for the rest of the winter!

The snow storm was particularly exciting for the kids, and they were anxious to get outside and play. It took approximately 45 minutes to get all their snow gear on, with lots of tugging and pulling and impatient children and a frustrated mommy...perhaps other parents can relate?

So out they went mid-morning, while it was still snowing, unable to contain their excitement. Allie came back about 10 minutes later, very cold, her excitement extinguished by the chilly temperature. She told me she didn't like the noise the snow made when she stepped on it.

Silas managed to find a mud puddle in the back field, and decided to stand it in for 5 minutes. I convinced him to come back to the yard, and he played a little longer, but also came in far too soon considering all the work it took to get him ready for snow play.

Anyway, besides dealing with snow, we've been busy getting ready for Christmas. Last weekend we decorated the tree, Nate made pizzelles with Rowan in the front carrier (quite a humorous sight), and he and I have been trying finish our online shopping (we get very excited when the UPS truck pulls up). Rowan has started smiling in the last two weeks, and this week it's been a little more predictable. Now we are preoccupied with getting him to smile...once you know it's possible, it's hard not to keep trying every time he looks our way. We're cooing and smiling and giggling and making silly faces and funny noises...and every once in a while he smiles. But it's good. More of a return than we got in the first 6 weeks.

We also had a breakthrough with Rowan's sleep, thanks to a program developed by "Moms on Call". I made a few seemingly minor changes to our routine, as the MOC suggest, and the very first night he slept from 9:15pm-2:30am, when I fed him, and then slept until 6:30am! A huge improvement! And all that changed was that I gave him a bath at 8:30, fed him at 9pm, and swaddled him. I never would have imagined it would work so well. Honestly, I think that it was a gift from God. He intervened, and Rowan slept. Yea!

A sleeping baby is a wonderful baby.

Rowan is eight weeks old now!

The kids "helped" with assembling the tree. 

Jen held Rowan and watched while the tree came together.

Decorations are fascinating to Silas and Allie,
who can't seem to keep from taking them off the tree
 despite our efforts to teach them otherwise.

The sibs hanging out.

Nate gamely trying to get a smile. 

Allie got her fill of snow in about 10 minutes.

Silas and Nate drove the snow blower together and cleared the driveways.

The Sick Hut Comes to Life

The Paines were hit hard by a virus that swept through the household over the last two weeks and took out every member of the family. This is very unusual in that Nate rarely gets sick. But we all had it––fever, congestion and cough. Allie and Jen are still dealing with a lingering cough, and poor Rowan, the last to get it, still has some stuffiness. Thankfully he did not get the other symptoms. Breastfeeding ought to be good for something.

You know it's bad when Allie starts calling music "mucus." Last night she repeatedly talked about the "mucus" she wanted to listen to as she put her CD into the player. Sheesh.

Silas was home from school last week for four days with the virus, and unfortunately this past week he already had off for Thanksgiving. He had a long, unexpected break that was made even more challenging because the rest of us were also sick.

Nate and Silas passed the time by baking several batches of cookies, making chicken and lentil soups, and baking our traditional Thanksgiving apple pie. Silas loves to help with cooking and baking, mostly doing the "dumping" and mixing work. Every day he'll haul out a bag of chocolate chips and ask to make cookies. Although it's fun to mix up a batch with him, it's not so great for our waste lines!

The good news is that God brought us through the sickness, and protected Rowan from the worst of it. We still had a good Thanksgiving, despite being sick. And Rowan is now six weeks old––hooray!

An invention that came out of our long sickness was the
"sick hut". Here is Allie resting in the the first of the sick huts.

Silas' sick hut was more like a secret hideaway.

An early morning game of hide-in-the-cube.

Nate and Silas made a batch of chicken soup, which was a very nice treat
for mommy. Silas has become quite the sous chef lately.

Despite being stuffy these past few days, Rowan
continues to do well and is growing fast!