No Mo Snow

In St. Louis you could only pray to get a snow day with 3 inches of snow.  And likely, you won't get it, but your mom who teaches for the Special School District will, which only adds salt to the wound.  Even if you call the principal to ask...yes, I tried.  However, in St. Louis, I never knew an adult (other than my teacher mom) to get a snow day from work.  Well here in Seattle, 3 inches of snow gets you not 1, not 2, but 3 days off of work! Kind of incredible.  It sounds absurd, until you see the unplowed streets 2 days later.  And, if you've never visited us, if you saw the hill we live at the bottom of.  Here's what happened in our neighborhood when it snowed last year.

Anyways, so last week we hibernated.  It was kind of ridiculous, kind of amazing...and by Friday we were kind of over it, and by Sunday, there wasn't a trace of snow left.  The bad news was after completing one week successfully with the nanny, we pretty much had to start all over this week.  The good news (other than having a whole week at home with my boys) was that it actually made me pretty excited to go to work today!  Here's how we enjoyed the snow without ever leaving the house!

I feel really blessed with the transition back to work.  As I said earlier, it was kind of a bummer to have a huge break in establishing a new routine, but besides that, I feel really at peace.  I was pretty nervous to go back and leave Rory behind.  While I certainly miss my little man all day, it is really nice to be around other adults.  I am very thankful for the job I have and it just makes work not so much like work.  And when 5:00 comes around, I am the happiest one there running out the door to get Rory!

Rory is doing great.  Being a little on the paranoid side, we took Rory back to the doctor for the snot he has been battling since Christmas (he's still fine).  But, we got to weigh him and at 3 months (on the 21st) he weighs 12 lbs, 13 ounces!  Almost double what he weighed at birth!  He's carrying most of it in his cheeks these days.  

He's still working on his smiles.  We see a little more week by week, but in general he's still a pretty stoic guy.  But when he does smile, it is just so great!  He is extra smily in the morning which takes some of the pain out of getting out of bed.  Here's one he shot me this morning:

Oh, have you met Super-Baby?

We still meet every Wednesday with our PEPs group.  The snowmageddon last week canceled our meeting, but the week before was one of our best group pics (of Rory) yet.

Rory was "that guy" at the end of the party.

This past weekend our friend Tommy was in town.  While not the best week for him to do business in Seattle, we had a great time hanging out.  Most importantly, we taught him to play Settlers of Catan, and managed to play 2 nights in a row.  We're trying to teach Rory.

Tommy

Rory is helping his Uncle Derek.

Rory was back with Shauna today, and he did great!  I just can't say how blessed we are to have found her!  Here are some of the photos Shauna sent us of Rory's first week!

Fin feeding Rory!

That's Fin!

That's our tough guy!

Well, thanks for reading, as always!  Hope you all are well.  We love you!

Well, for all of you who were wondering, we survived Day 2!  

You know, it really does suck to have to go back to work.  I haven't been away from Rory for more than 4 hours in 11 weeks, and then to suddenly be away for 8 hours is kind of jarring.  Then, to wake up and have to do it again!  Man, is it really only Tuesday?!  (Putting all of my energy into the fact that a three day weekend is ahead.)

However, I will say that God has blessed us with the most ideal situation, considering.  Knowing that Rory is less than 5 minutes away from me all day long makes me feel close.  It makes me feel that at any second I could jump in my car and go snuggle him.  And even though I don't, it's so nice to know I can.

We also were blessed with an amazing woman to watch our kids.  Shauna is the mother of three.  Her oldest just had her first baby, Peyton, so Shauna just became a grandma!  Her youngest daughter is Hannah and is 18.  Hannah works at Starbucks in the mornings and goes to college in the evenings, so spends a lot of the days with her mom and the boys!  How lucky are we?!  But Shauna is amazing. It's as close to leaving Rory with a family member as we could get, without it actually being family.  I feel so lucky to have found her.  She is so calm and peaceful and there's never a doubt that Rory and Fin are completely loved.

Yesterday went really well.  Thankfully, Rory falls asleep whenever he hears the snap of his carseat into the car.  So in the morning when we arrive at Fin's house (Fin is Rory's new 6 month old friend) Rory is sound asleep.  This makes saying goodbye much easier for me.  

I thought I'd be really on top of things by trying to go to the gym after work yesterday - to get into the habit right away.  Well, I did it, but I regretted it because I didn't want to put Rory down for one second after work.  I practically ran out of work to go get him at 5:00.  

The change in schedule exhausted all three of us.  At 7:30, all three of us went down for a nap.  Rory and I got up around 9, then returned to bed for the night at 10.  This morning we all had to peel ourselves out of bed…well, we had to peel Rory.  I'm sure we'll get into the groove, but these first days are tough!

Shauna is most amazing because she sends us pictures all day long!  Here is Rory's first two days!

Rory and Hannah

Rory is very stoic.  Perhaps a philosopher.

I think Shauna is going to have her hands full with these 2!

He might be squeezing out a smile here.

Fin introducing Rory to his dog, Riley.

Back to Reality...

We're getting back to reality in a lot of respects here in the Rosenberger household:

1. Back from the midwest.

2. Holidays are over.

3. We're not getting any younger. (I just added a year to my number.)

4. Joe has a big test next weekend.

5. I officially go back to work full time on tomorrow.

For me, the last one is really the big pill to swallow...although as I say that, I think I am getting new wrinkles over the first four as well.

Rory had a wonderful first Christmas, and then celebrated by having his first cold.  Our time in the midwest was wonderful.  Also exhausting.  Worth it, but exhausting.  Rory caught the cold the day after Christmas. He was fussy, congested, coughing, snorting...it was wonderful.  Shortly after, I got it alongside an achy body and fever.  Joe battled a sore throat the whole trip.  It didn't slow us down,  but it did wear us out.

I did a rough count and figured out that Rory intimately met about 83 people while we were gone.  So, not too surprising that it ended with us sick and exhausted.  HOWEVER, we will NEVER complain about all of the love we have in our life from our midwest family and friends.  Our only regret is the limited time we had with some, and others who we didn't get to see at all.  Know that we thought of you all, and hope to see you on our next visit.

Here's some of the highlights:

Rory's first airplane ride!  He did great!

Rory LOVED his Great Grandma!

Hoping he didn't get confused with all of these women who look like his mom!

Our first family Christmas!

Four generations of the Carmody nose!

Both of mom's girls were home!

The clan!  All 25 of the cousins were there!

Aunt Lauren and Uncle Nathan love Rory!

2nd Christmas morning with Papa Vern!

The Dirnberger clan

Peyton & his rosy cheeks loved Rory (pronounced Lory)

I love this one.

The Maier cousins loving on Rory.