It snows here, have you heard?

It snows here. And that the the world's largest understatement! We, come to find out, moved our butts to the snow belt of the U.S. Why? Why? Why? Routinely, the Tug Hill area of New York, which is mercifully about 40 miles northeast of here (just far enough) is the single snowiest area of the country each winter. We don't live there, but we do live close enough that we don't escape much of the poundings.

In early December we literally had 8 days of almost nonstop snow falling, and at some seriously significant rates. Tim went outside at the beginning of the nonsense and took this picture. Keep in mind, that was at the beginning...a great deal more fell after that.


December in the area broke the record as the single snowiest December on record in Syracuse, NY with some where over 72 inches of snow. In a four day stretch, the records snow that we got 43.9 inches of snow....in one four day stretch. I no longer desire ever see that much snow again...not ever!


Noah is having a blast playing outside in all of this mess. He is fabulously "helpful" with the shoveling at least. The snow is mostly all lake effect snow, which is really light and fluffy. The only problem is that its sole function is to mess up the roads. Its too dry and fluffy for snowball fights, snowmen, or any of that normal New England snow fun. So we shovel it out of the way, more falls, later, rinse, repeat...and repeat...and repeat



As I said, Noah is loving it. He doesn't have to drive though. On the way to give my last final exam in the middle of December (meaning I absolutely HAD to be on campus), I hit absolute white-out conditions. Thankfully Noah was home with Tim that day and I didn't need to drop him off at daycare. I left home with an hour and a half to drive about 30 miles. I got there 5 minutes late for the exam and am thanking my stars that I made it there at all. That morning I prayed to higher beings I didn't even know I believed in!


And Noah still loves it!!


After almost 2 months of utter winter chaos we got smart and started piling up huge amounts of the snow from the driveway near the front in one big heap. After a few weeks of packing down, we finally had enough snow for a tunnel. Tim had a great time building it and Noah had more fun testing it out.


So, in sum, while Tim and I are lost in a miserable winter tundra, Noah is one VERY happy camper!


P.S. If anyone wants snow, come and get it! Oh and to top things off, our current temperature is -3! Jealous aren't you?

Brushing off the dust

It seems like it might be time to start writing here again. I am so out of touch though that I have lost the knack for picking topics to write about. As I mentioned a long while ago, I had an exceptionally busy first semester as a full-time professor....EXCEPTIONALLY busy! I have never worked that many hours per week in my life and if I never do it again, it will be too soon. Thankfully, I lived to tell about it and this coming semester (starting Jan 24th), I will be teaching the same classes again, which means no new course prepping for me! Coincidentally, for the following semester, the Fall of 2011, I will also be teaching the same classes again ALL ONLINE, hello working from home in my pajamas! Normally this sort of thing is reserved for more senior professors who are too lazy to come to campus, or those who have lots of grant money that allow them to avoid campus. I will have an equally good excuse, but of a very different nature! I will have a tiny newborn needing time to bond with Mommy at home! Yep, Tim and I were finally able to find a space in life to continue working on the family and are expecting a new little family member some where around July 21st. We are obviously beyond the moon excited, especially with the suburb timing of a summer arrival for the baby, which means I don't have to have an unpaid semester of absence, which is really more maternity leave than I would have wanted.

At this point, I am 13 weeks along and things seem to be going swimmingly, just as last time. I've had all of the necessary blood work and aside from failing my Vitamin D level test in an abysmal fashion (hello 17 of the normal 35!), but with some additional supplements until the snow stops falling and I can get some sunshine, I am right on track with everything else! I have had an ultrasound at 8 weeks and saw a sac with a little bean in it with a heartbeat of about 170 beats per minute (right on track for that gestational age) and heard the heartbeat on the doppler at my 11 week appointment a couple weeks ago. I am scheduled for the big ultrasound and the quad screen for genetic testing in about a month or so in the middle of February.

The first trimester has been just as uncomfortable and couch-napped filled as the last time around and as I type I am still praying to the all day sickness gods to cease and desist...like NOW!! The nausea started Thanksgiving night in spectacular fashion and has been relentless ever since. At 8 weeks I was prescribed Zofran for the nausea, which mostly works but gives me in exchange unrelenting headaches, an exchange I am willing to accept for now, but with any luck the medication won't be necessary in the next week or so once I am firmly settled into the second trimester.

Noah seems genuinely excited about being a big brother now, but the initial reaction was certainly concerning. When I told him that Mommy had a baby in her belly and that he was going to be a big brother, I was met with stunned silence. When asked if he wanted a baby brother or a baby sister, he said "No." Okay, then, this is going to go well. The level of enthusiasm was lackluster at best until I started ordering some newborn cloth diapering supplies, which coincidentally came with a free Noah sized diaper. Suddenly new Noah diapers and the thought of being able to help out Mommy and teach the new baby how to play and presto, we have a converted toddler who might actually be excited about this situation! Occasionally, Noah will ask if it time for the baby to come out yet, which he states will take place by "taking apart Mommy's belly and putting it right back together!," but he also seems to understand that the baby needs to get bigger and bigger before he or she is ready to come out. It will be really interesting to see how things progress as my belly gets bigger and more in his way.

There is definitely some belly there now, and I have had to switch all of my non-yoga pants to maternity for comfort (that and those belly bands truly are annoying and never stay where they belong for me).

Hopefully, its a smooth ride, a much easier semester, and I can keep everyone a bit more in the loop about our lives. For now, I'll watch the snow fall (big surprise given the Syracuse stats for the winter) and go find a snack to try and quell the nausea.