We aren’t in near blizzard conditions like the Portland-metro area, but we seem to be having some kind of windstorm that is sooooooo noisy. Right now it’s just annoying but if it continues into the night it will be scary. I hate when it’s noisy in the middle of the night. Also, I worry that it will keep/wake Ali up. Yes, it’s not even quarter to seven and she is in bed. It has been one of those days.
The constant whining and incessant crying. Tony and I have basically been trading off as the others’ patience wears out. I have no idea how people with more than one kid, or single parents do it. I am so over toddlerhood at the moment. Can’t wait to head out on Monday so she can pester someone else for a change!! Plus just getting out of the house will be huge. We’ve been cooped up most of the week with none of the now normal activites like MOPS and the toddler art I’ve been taking Ali to each Monday.
We are having Christmas here tomorrow morning so that is a major bright spot. Our first at-home, as a family Christmas. It will be exciting to get up and have some presents under the tree. Last night Tony and I put together the kitchen we got for Ali and tonight he’s going to tackle the table and chairs Billie bought. Obviously these are big items that wouldn’t really travel well, thus Christmas on the 21st!
With many more to come.
Until then, here are some pictures of yesterday when we DID have some snow. Actually, for being mere feet from the beach this is a lot of snow. Also, we celebrated Tony’s birthday early since we will be travelling on his actualy b-day, Monday the 22nd.
Oh my. Well we do. And, living at the coast, most people here do. Well today I sat down to watch The View, which I’d DVRed and instead saw a message directing me here.
Basically our local ABC station, KATU, and DISH have been unable to come to terms and renew their contract. So, for the moment, NO ABC! How crazy is that? No View (a biggie for me), no Grey’s Anatomy. We don’t watch much else on the station and I’m glad it’s rerun season. Especially with our stormy weather though I have been skipping around the local news stations. Anyway, how very lame.
I called the General manager of KATU, John Tamerlano, like DISH encourages. Of course his mailbox was full, but eventually someone picked up. I’m not taking sides in this issue so I just said I wanted to support the cause (i.e. reaching an agreement) and re-iterate that I missed my programming and that I hope they can reach a compromise soon. I’m kind of sorry for the poor people being bombarded with calls. Same goes with the sponsors.
For KATU’s side click here. Notice they don’t mention the amount of their license fee. Makes it seems they may have something to hide. Hmmm.
After doing a bit more investigation this whole things seems to have gotten ugly pretty fast. Both sides are encouraging viewers to head for the competitiors (KOIN and KGW, cable and DIRECTV). As I remarked to Tony a few minutes ago, this whole issue seems to be a microcasm of what could be around the corner on a much larger level. It’s somewhat exhilerating. But still annoying.
It’s like the cruelest thing. As if brushing teeth wasn’t unappealing enough, I can tell it’s very painful for Ali where her cavity is. She cries whenever we get ready to brush, then calms down and is okay until I hit the spot. And she SCREAMS. And it kills me. I know the whole area isn’t getting brushed well because her lips are like steel doors closing and that doesn’t help the situation. I feel frustrated because it’s over a month until her consultation, not even the actual procedure! That is unscheduled so who knows when that will be. In the meantime, she’s developing an incredible aversion to tooth brushing. And it seems so avoidable. Poor kid should not have to be in pain.
Okay, let’s start with that. Again, a video. We’ve been having some fun with Tony’s new[ish] MacBook and hope you have too.
Yes, life as we know it is over. For the moment we just moved the changing table over and hope that buys us a little more time. Yes again, Ali is wearing a vest over her pjs. It’s cold here! Some randomness
Portland is getting another storm tomorrow. Of the snow and ice variety. Last I heard we are not which makes me both happy and sad.
Tony’s birthday is Monday! But we might be celebrating earlier. We are going to go to my parents’ on Tuesday and are planning to do our own Christmas beforehand. One reason being that one or two of Ali’s presents are too big to travel. It’s exciting that we get to get our festivities underway ahead of schedule!
Come Tuesday we will be gone for a long time. Like two weeks or more. Always a bit stressful. To say the least.
I am getting/am/am getting over being sick. Not sure which it is and it’s mostly just a sore throat and lethargy. I’ve napped three of the past four afternoons even though I’ve been getting an acceptable amount of sleep at night. I just crash. Hopefully it’s me fighting something off, meaning I’ve gotten as much as I’m gonna get.
We are looking at two more venues during out days in Portland next week. Will this search never end?!?
We did get some snow around here, enough for Ali to get out and experience it some. She liked it a lot and was not happy today when we wouldn’t let her out of the stroller. Today everything was mostly ice and she just can’t maneuver with that.
Outside our house.
Downtown, along Highway 101.
Stoked that we were going to the park.
Snow on the beach!
I have barely blogged about this, so I’m glad Tony and Ali are now vlogging (video-blogging for anyone unfamiliar). What a vocabulary this girl is developing! Not only is she a little parrot that can repeat just about anything, but I can’t even go through all the words she says on a daily basis. She’s even gettig to the point where she can kind of tell a little story. And coupling words together! Like "Hi Daddy, and "Bye tree." Also very into singing, her favorites are Rockabye Baby, in which she likes to substitute baby for daddy, elmo, Ali, Alyssa, etc. and Old MacDonald had a farm with she calls I-oh-ee or something along those lines.
Yeah, this is random. I’m kind of lost but glad to have gotten a blog out. Again, watch the video, this kid is crazy.
In one of the outtakes from the Santa video, there was a little part where Ali briefly, um, hid in her shirt — for lack of a better term. Well as we were watching some of her videos today (her new favorite activity), she cracked up at herself hiding. Then again. And again. And again. So we got it on camera.
Pay particular attention to one of her new words, "again", and the cameo from Ashley towards the end.
Talking about our visit with Santa last night. Ali still gets a little shy in front of the camera but I think she’s slowly warming up to it. Mostly she just loves to watch herself on the screen. I’m going to try to do more of these since she’s so talkative and smart and funny.
* Note: we still have power! Yay! It’s been pretty windy and VERY rainy but our electricity is holding strong. I think we’ll be over the worst of it in a few hours. And snow is forecasted for us on Sunday. Which is a delightful possibility if power is also to be in the equation.
Tonight Ali got to "meet" Santa. Rockaway Beach had a Santa come to town or a town party or something of that sort. Because, you know, it’s not like we can go see Santa at the mall out here. Anyway, Ali was stoked about it (kept saying "NaNa Hoohoo") until she got within arm’s reach. Totally expected. In fact, she did better than expected considering it didn’t even start until 6:30pm and she was seeing about 7pm, typical bedtime for her.
If you’re wondering where he heck this is, it’s at the firehouse where it was moved to once the storm was forecasted. Though, it begs the question, it was originally supposed to be on the wayside? At night? In December?!?! Really though, it was so cute. They gave all the kids teddy bears and bags of peanuts, an orange, candy canes, and taffy. Ah, small town.
On Wednesday Tony and Ali made some Christmas cookies. Here’s some documentation of that event:
Sigh. I really need to start grabbing my camera. A flash has become necessary on these dark and rather dreary days. Also, today I was finally able to upload some of our other Christmas photos. Obviously we did our favorites first, but see the rest here.
Here’s Ali’s first music video. For a few months now she’s been able to get up on the chair, turn on the keyboard, start the beat, and pound along, but in the past few days she’s added lyrics. Her two favorite songs to play are "Mommy" and "Elmo". Today it was the latter.
Pay particular attention to the a cappella intro and the outro which includes a snippet from her other hit, "Mommy".
Tomorrow a major storm is blowing in. High wind warning on the coast which practically gaurantees a power outtage. The question is when it will come back on. Please hope for us that it is soon! This house is 100% electric and beyond some candles we don’t have much. This means no lights, no way to cook anything, no way to keep freezer stuff frozen, no internet(!) or TV (duh, I know, but still worth mentioning), no hot water, no HEAT. Ughhhhh. Not a good situation if it’s more than a few hours in the best of times.
But this will not be the best of times. After wind Friday and part of Saturday some insanely cold arctic air is coming in that may bring snow down to the beach. Which means feet in the coast range (our only hope of heat if things get very dicey) and cold, cold temps. In the valley int’s going to be in the teens for a number of days and not reach above freezing for, like, five days. Not sure exactly what that means for us, except heat would be sorely missed I’m sure.
If you live somewhere cold/snowy, know that this is the coldest weather we’ve had in 4-5 years. It’s kind of a big deal.
Until then I’m trying to do as much internet-ing as I can (thank God online classes are done for the moment), laundry, run the dishwasher, etc. etc. In my mind I’m prepping for a day or more w/o power.
Recent Comments