February = BRRRR!

So, February greeted us with ice, snow and freezing temperatures.  Not just freezing, but STINKIN' FREEZING temperatures.  Like high of 19, low of 8.  WHAT?  This IS Texas, right?  Weird. What kind of temperature is '8' anyway?  I mean, I know people live in places that get below zero and all, but... 8 degrees with negative windchill is kinda beyond belief 'round these parts.  Brrr.  And today, there are planned rolling blackouts all over the state of Texas to supposedly help conserve energy.  Geez, that's pretty serious! (Thankfully we were spared today, didn't lose power once!)

In a previous post, I said how happy I was that Michael did not catch the stomach bug.  Well, I spoke too soon because Sunday afternoon came, and Michael got hit with it.  Poor guy.  He managed to do his three hours at work that evening, then suffered through the nite and finally got some ralphing out of his system around 6am (about the time he was supposed to wake up and get to work).  Needless to say, no work for him Monday OR Tuesday.  Thankfully, his tummy is better, though he's still dealing with the chronic migraines and currently a nasty toothache.  He had a sleep study a week and a half ago to see if sleep apnea might be something causing the migraines, and he'll get the results in a week or so.  He's going to the dentist next week to get that tooth taken care of (he had an appointment for this past Monday, but he was sick, so it had to be postponed, geez).  Anyway, yeah... still all kinds of health issues going on... so the move to days was not an instant fix.  But, we're definitely still thankful for a day-time shift!

Callen has been a mess for days (weeks? months!?!).  That second top tooth is finally starting to peek through a teeny bit, so maybe once it finally emerges, he'll settle down.  But lately it's been a lot of clinginess, and crying his head off if you put him down (or pick him up, or talk to him, or don't talk to him... ok, pretty much just crying at any given moment).  I thought it was funny that one of the girls at church asked me on Sunday if he was ever unhappy ('cause he always seems so happy at church).  Ughhhh, seriously?  I feel like I've heard nothing but crying from him for a month!  He does have his precious, happy times though, and I am grateful for those, 'cause he is so sweet!  He's getting braver at cruising and standing up... he can almost stand without holding on, but I don't think he realizes it.  He's also babbling a lot, and a lot of it sounds pretty close to words.  I can't believe he's just one month shy of being a ONE YEAR OLD!  My goodness gracious, too fast, too fast!

Preston is doing good.  I post a lot of his school updates here, so there's not a whole lot more to add to those... we spend a lot of time on that stuff.  He also loves playing his Nintendo DS (like 3 times a week, for about 30 minutes each time, that's all I really allow him) and the Wii - we all like to dance and play Sports Resort.  He's doing so great on his reading.  The other day I was driving us to my Mom's and he was reading from a book about the United States, and he was sounding out and pronouncing some really big words with no problem.  So proud!  I've been trying to get him out in the backyard to play whenever possible (whenever it's not too cold), 'cause since we're at home most of the time, we start getting a little stir crazy... and a little tired of the sight of each other as well.  Haha!  He's taken an interest in watching old shows with Michael, like Knight Rider, The A-Team, Magnum PI, The Incredible Hulk.  It's really funny to see him get all excited and come running when he hears the Knight Rider theme song.  Ha!  And yesterday, we watched Groundhog Day with him (fast forwarding through one part only!).  It's nice to be able to watch things with him because he's getting old enough to follow the plot!

And me?  I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing.  Trying to keep up with a near-toddler and a 5-year-old is much more work than I could ever imagine.  But I love it (despite those moments when I run screaming from the room and lock myself in the bathroom... I... uh... yeah).  In my mind, I should be adjusted to this whole Stay-At-Home-Mom thing by now, but I don't really feel like I am.  It's all still rather foreign, even though it DOES seem to be getting easier.  I go through spurts where I get motivated to plan meals, do the couponing queen thing or get really excited and overeager about something for school.  I haven't really found the balance.  If I get too into school, I forget to figure out what's for dinner until it's dinner time.  If I spend time organizing coupons, I have to let something else slip.  Balance is hard work, and I haven't got it down... yet.  I just do my best to enjoy time with the kids, TRY to keep the house from falling completely apart (I'm still soooo not good at housework and cooking it's not even funny).  Another thing I keep letting slip is time with Michael.  It just doesn't happen.  By the time I get the kids to bed, it's time for us to sleep - there's no "us time."  So that's definitely something we need to work on.  Hopefully everyone will be feeling well, and things will get set in some sort of routine and we can figure it all out.  I dunno. 

Well, that blog started out as just a way to remember this crazy weather and turned into a full-blown family update.  So... there ya go!  Stay warm!!!

P.S. I forgot to mention something that happened yesterday, something that I've never experienced before in my entire life!  Our mailbox was frozen shut!  I couldn't believe it.  I had to scrape around the edges of the little door with my keys and a reward card, and though I was able to break off most of the ice, it was still frozen too solid for me to open.  I sent Michael down there and he was able to open it with a mighty tug (I loosened it for him! ahem!).  But, I thought that was really funny... all of the little doors on our street mailbox had water frozen around their edges so I'm sure we weren't the only ones who had trouble getting our mail yesterday!  And sadly... what we received wasn't even worth the effort.  Oh well.