Snow, Sherwin, and Sitar

January was so busy, we missed the opportunity to share some of our great adventures! On Inauguration Day, we woke to a pretty decent snowstorm. After breakfast, we bundled up and played in the yard for a bit. A snowplow came down our street, then we took our sleds over to our neighbor's house. Amelia(2) and Audrey (3) really enjoyed sledding. Thomas (1) was a little cold as he didn't have decent snow pants or boots. He'd only been walking for a few days, and I didn't realize he'd need them. After warming up with some snacks and lunch, the kids enjoyed watching the inauguration. Amelia loves pointing out Barack Obama on TV. Maybe she just likes saying his name because there are no S's in it.


Her vocabulary and expression are progressing at a faster rate than her articulation, so it is challenging at times to understand her. Some things that leave us scratching our heads:
-I need a poon.
-I'm cratching.
-my shleeshlack
-Where are my lippers?
-I want to ride in the doe-doe!
The weird words are: spoon, scratching, sleepsack, slippers, stroller...

Also in Jan. we had a friend's painting company over to repair a ton of drywall issues and paint all our ceilings. We decided that it would be best to get them to repaint the rooms that really needed it since our lives will not be slowing down for such activities in the next year. We got the bathrooms, family room, dining room, and kitchen repainted while we stayed at a friend's condo in downtown Chapel Hill. We were so thankful for Ashley and Joe's generosity to let us use their condo while they weren't there. It was SO nice. Leslie also participated in the huge kids consignment sale during that hectic week.

Finally, we attended the grand opening of Michael's favorite restaurant's new location. It was a huge celebration with Indian dancing and a free spectacular lunch buffet. The mayor of Durham did the ribbon cutting. We thought it was kinda funny he mentioned watching the building change every week when he took his Jag over to the carwash. The kids were quite patient for the lengthy ceremony and were glad when their friend Hannah and her family joined us at the table.

Grateful for above ground power lines

This evening at about 3:30am, we were awakened out of our sleep by a huge explosion and a small flash. I immediately assumed that a power transformer had exploded nearby or that there was a more serious problem at the gas station across the street. Leslie quickly got out of bed and called 911. We looked out the back door and saw that a car had flipped over and crashed into the phone pole at the corner of our backyard. The driver had gotten out and appeared to be unhurt. No one else was in the vehicle.

Firstly, thank you God for protecting the life of that driver. Secondly, thank you God for putting a phone pole there to prevent that car from careening into our backyard and possibly even doing damage to our car, fence, or house.

We're too wound up to fall back to sleep at the moment and are in our back room with the window open observing everything. Firefighters are examining the wreck to see if there is any gasoline leaking. I imagine a crew from Duke Energy will be along soon to check the pole for damage. A tow truck needs to flip the car back over and tow it away.

Too much excitement for a Sunday morning!

Edited to add: We believe the car belongs to a younger (than us) neighbor. The police told me the driver was arrested (we assume for DUI). Thomas coughed for an hour after the event until we put Vicks on him. The power trucks worked in our front yard for another 1.5 hours until Amelia woke up at 5:55. What a night.

Thomas weighs in

I took Thomas in for an unofficial weight/height check at the pediatrician's office today. He weighs 20 lb. 9 oz. (3rd percentile) and is 31 1/4 inches long (50th percentile). He continues to be long and lean.