Lately

Snow day: take 2

We had our second snow day of the year, and this one was a bit more of a chore to get through.  It had been forcasted for days that we were to expect a winter storm beginning on Wednesday and lasting through Thursday night.  The game changer this time around was the ice.

Stuart, of course, works almost every day, and I was scheduled to be at work for a day shift on Thursday.  Typically, my mom watches James at our house while I work, but this week she was afraid of getting stuck in Durham, as she is a nurse herself and was scheduled to be at her hospital on Friday. I spent all week stressing over my upcoming shift and what to do with James, mostly because it is so hard to know if weather warnings are going to end up blown way out of proportion.  And I didn't want to end up doing something drastic like sending him away to Zebulon for nothing, OR sending him there and he get stuck there for a week!

In the end, it seemed like the only safe option was to take James out to my parents' house on Wednesday morning, and Stuart and I planned to drive into the hospital Wednesday night before the worst of the storm was supposed to hit, so I could at least be there Thursday morning for my shift. I dropped James off with my mom around noon, and as I pulled back into our neighborhood, it started snowing heavily at 12:45pm.  I quickly packed all of our bags (with extra food and made sure we had what we needed in the car) and woke Stuart a few hours early at 2pm.  He looked outside and decided to not even shower because there were already a few inches accumulating.  Here in NC, roads are not cleared until the day after a snow (if that!), and people drive really stupid in bad weather, so we knew that we needed to give ourselves plenty of time to make the 7 mile drive into the hospital.  We left by 2:45pm, and with Stuart's night shift to start at 5:30pm, we figured we would have plenty of time to get there early and settle in.

We heard from some friends and on the radio that it was best to avoid major highways because traffic was horrendous and everyone was trying to get home from work before 6pm, when the freezing rain was supposed to start (as we were trying to GO to work).  So we took back roads into Chapel Hill.  It was stop and go (mostly stop...) almost the entire way.  Cars were sliding off the road and into ditches at 5mph.  We got out of our car several times and helped push people who got stuck (and were blocking the road).

We finally arrived around 6:15pm I think, but we made it!  The hospital sits half way up the large hill that is "Chapel Hill," and of course as the snow accumulated and the ice started, any incline was absolutely the worst.  The main road running through campus up to the hospital is uphill all the way, and there were abandoned cars strewn all up and down it (dedicated healthcare workers, we presumed).  We got stuck at one point and were just spinning our wheels.  We had cat litter in the trunk to help regain traction, then these two college kids came up and started pushing us up the hill!  Classes at UNC had been cancelled, and so they made it their mission to make sure whoever was trying to get to the hospital could make it.  So thankful for them!  We made it all the way to the covered parking deck.

Even though it took us SO long to get to the hospital, Stuart and I had a lot of fun.  We don't have much time together when he is on his month of nights (like, 20 minutes a day maybe, with James).  Then, suddenly we had three hours together!  It was so good, and much needed quality time.  Once we arrived, Stuart jumped right in to work as I dropped my things off in his call room (thankful again for connections - it is the same spot we slept when James was in the NICU for a few days).  Then I went to check in on my floor and let them know I had arrived.  Turns out that only ONE night shift RN had come into work, and myself and one other guy scheduled to work Thursday AM had arrived.  So, we were going to have to staff the floor!  Every other nurse that was there had been there all day, and some had been there 2 or 3 days already.  So we took turns in 4 hour shifts, letting the ones who had been on all day get some rest, then we rested so that we would be fresh to work a 12-hour shift in the morning.  Major kudos to my two managers who drove in during the snow and stayed the night to help.  I work with good people, friends.

James, of course, was just nice and cozy in Zebulon having a grand time.  They never lost power (praise the Lord - that was my worst mama fear that he would freeze and I wouldn't be with him), and just had a few fun snow days!

Thursday morning the staffing situation continued, where we didn't really have anyone fresh to work, so we just powered through.  It kept snowing through the afternoon, and it was gorgeous outside.  I worked until 7pm on Thursday, and offered to work again the next morning because they were still a little short on staff.  I met Stuart for a romantic dinner date in the hospital cafeteria, then I crashed in the call room.

A highlight of the snowpocalypse: An attending MD heard that we were trying to figure out to get pizza delivered to our floor for the nursing staff (of course, no pizza guys were offering delivery!), so she left her safe and warm home nearby, bought us pizza, and delivered it to the hospital for us.  What a saint!

Friday morning I worked from 7-11am, when another nurse was able to come in and relieve me of my duties.  I ran to the car and flew home on the wet roads (it was like 55 degrees at this point, so a lot of the snow had melted into streams and there was no ice!), where my dad was waiting for me with my sweet James baby.  I was so happy to see my home.

Stuart is still at the hospital, so it was bittersweet to come home without him.  He plans to try to come home in the morning - when they're telling us to expect a little more snow!  I was so happy to snuggle and nap with this sweet boy this afternoon.  For dinner, we picked up some soup and cake at Foster's Market.  Happy Valentine's Day to us!

James: 14 months

Well, we are right on the verge of a potentially quite terrible winter storm (ice is the worst), and I am scheduled to work tomorrow.  I am currently packing James up and taking him out to my parents' house so that I can go sleep at the hospital to ensure that I am able to work tomorrow.  And my heart is sad about it.  It's rare, but significant times like this that I am challenged by my profession, that our duty calls us to leave our babies and go care for others in the midst of potential days of power outage and terribly unsafe travel conditions.  Who knows how long I'll have to stay at the hospital, or how long James will be stuck in Zebulon, or if either of us will have electricity and heat (well, I will at the hospital!).  Hopefully this will be one of those times that we prepared for the worst and it was overkill!  Nonetheless, we are celebrating 14 months by thinking of others much more than ourselves and praying for snow instead of ice!

All that is to say, I have kept notes over the past month, but there's no time today to expand them into coherent paragraphs.  I think there's enough here, though, to be able to look back and remember when he started turning on the dishwasher by himself (the last photo below: guilty!).  I'm so thankful for my sweet boy and love every little single thing about him.

 Says "Moo" for cow, "brrr" for elephant, growls for lion

Verbalizing more words like duck, sock, shoe, hat

Learned the sign for "help," and we're teaching him to do that instead of whining when he needs something.

Working on table manners: using a napkin to wipe his hands and face (though he usually wipes his ear instead of his mouth), placing his water cup back on the table instead of tossing it to the floor, using the signs for "more" and "thank you" consistently, saying a prayer before our meals (if I forget, he reminds me!), not throwing food off his tray if he is done, but instead signing "all done" (still working a lot on this one).

Pushes his little wooden push toy around (walking) and prefers if it has a passenger - stuffed Pooh, or his classical music toy playing like a car radio

Cruising around furniture! We don't have great cruising furniture (no coffee table or other short pieces like that, mostly chairs and a couch) but he makes it work.

Finally his front bottom right tooth popped through. He's been lopsided for 4 months! Also had a molar or two come through this month.  It's been our hardest season yet as far as teething... Lots of night and EARLY morning waking.  More teeth means he is able to chew better and prefers larger pieces of food that he can take little bites of like a big boy (only soft foods for now!).

Increased our diaper stash, consistently washing every 3rd day so that is nice! Also bought some new night time hemp flats to use for more absorption. Zero leaks since we started those, and better night time sleep!  Switched detergent to a specific detergent for diapers, no leaks and no rash since the switch.  Only $15 for 90 loads!

Still happily and consistently napping twice a day and sleeping 11-12 hours at night.  This boy likes his rest!

Playing with P\PAW

Pillow snuggles

James has started snuggling his face directly into a pillow and laughing. Sometimes he works to get my attention and then he will do it, which makes me think he's just trying to make his mama laugh.  It is hilarious and ridiculously cute.