Silly Mayans

JK. We're all still here. Yay!

Hail Storm

Friday evening was a bit rough on our house.  A really bad storm came through and ate up all the plant life.  Oh and our gutters.  Yay for being a home owner!  Actually, it is usually a great experience, but then something like this comes along and ruins my day.  It won't be an expensive repair since we have plastic gutters.  I'm more upset about the time to repair.  Travis will have to go to the store, get the materials and then take the time to cut them to fit, get the ladder out and put them up. 

Normally this wouldn't bother me very much but I'm feeling less and less productive lately.  Travis picked up the pace this weekend and really started to help me out around the house and with Mila preparations.  He is on-call at work this week and weekend, which means he won't be around very much as it is.  Meh, I guess that's life.

So, back to the storm!  I tried to leave work a little early Friday in hopes of missing the worst of the storm.  Sadly, it started raining on my walk out to the car.  It was only sprinkling, but the 60 mph winds made it feel like I was being stabbed by needles.  Walking is hard enough as it is, add head wind to that and life gets harder.  It was pouring by the time I reached Aiden's daycare.  I ran from my car to the building (killer on my lower back) and a mom was standing in the doorway with her two kids.

"Careful!" she said. 

Careful?  Because I might fall?  Or because the exercise might hurt me?  I feel horribly guilty all the time about my lack of physical activity.  I know several pregnant women who have exercised their entire pregnancy and they are just fine.  It just struck me as funny.

It was back to a sprinkle by the time I pulled off at our exit.  I had a flash back to after hurricane Ike when the trees were damaged.  There were so many green leaves strewn across the road that I couldn't tell where the road ended and yards began.  Travis got off early, so he was already home talking to our neighbor about the storm.  Aiden and I walked around the house assessing the damage.  All my large-leafed plants look like they were taken out by a shot gun.  I felt like with all the leaves and branches in our yard that there shouldn't be any left on the trees, but they actually don't look bad.  The only expense to us is replacing three gutter sections.  Though I don't think we'll be home free until we see how the roof handles the next rain.  It looks fine, but you never know.  Oh and the garage could use a fresh coat of paint.  Looks like someone went to town with a pellet gun on the siding.

Sorry in advance for the sideways/upside down photos.  I keep meaning to try loading them using another computer, but I either forget or don't have time.  So here they are if you're up for turning your head or flipping over your computer/phone.

Swiss cheese gutters

Everything was coated in green leaves

Aiden wanted to eat the hail.  I used to eat snow when I was little, but now that we live so close to a refinery, I said no.

Shot gun blasted

The culprits



Enjoying the Patio

We have had some nice weather lately, which is great because that means we really get to go out and enjoy the new patio!  I bought Aiden a bubble gun the other day.  It broke after a week, but I can't really expect much more out of a $3 toy...

A few bubbles here, a few bubbles there...



Blasting the BBQ pit lasted about 5 seconds before Daddy put a stop to it.



Aiden begged us to bring out his grill so he could make us food.

I'm really excited that our plants are starting to fill in for the year.  They get so sparse and ugly in the winter months.  Although I guess it's all better than going completely dormant like everything does in Illinois.  We already have giant dill plants and tons of peppers leftover in the veggie garden from last year.  There are even a couple tomato plants sprouting up on their own.  I guess that's what happens when you let a few fruits hit the ground.  We're not going to be able to make it to the nursery to purchase more plants for another couple weeks.  I'm hoping since we're getting them at a pre-grown status, it won't put us too far behind.  I'm crossing my fingers that everything grows better than it did in the drought last year!

Nutshell News

It's raining!  Perhaps we'll put a dent in our deficit?  Or maybe not.  We're about 25 inches under average rainfall for the year.  I just read that Lake Conroe (just north of Houston) is 8 feet below normal levels.

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I got a parking spot at work!  I didn't have one for a while because I figured it was a way to save our family $40 a month and it was the only exercise I got.  I had to walk about 5 blocks from my car to my building.  I am thoroughly ecstatic to have that 20 minutes back to my daily commute (10 minutes each way).  I was starting to feel guilty about never driving when we go out for lunch because my car was too far away.  When you have a 60-minute lunch, 20 minutes seems like a lot.

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I have had almost an entire week constipation free!  Get excited, people.  That's a big deal in Nikki's life.  I think it's a combination of not needing the Zofran for a while (let's hear another hoorah!) and incorporating dried apricots into my diet.  Whoever said prunes are good to keep the bowels moving had nothing on dried apricots.  Maybe a combination of both would be good if you're having serious problems. 

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Travis bought me an iPhone for Christmas and gave it to me a week early!  My cell phone is my alarm clock.  My last cell phone decided it was going to start draining the battery instead of charging it at night, leaving me without an alarm clock in the morning.  Since I don't have a car charger, that meant I only had an hour (tops) to charge my phone in the morning.  It would inevitably die before the end of the work day.  My other complaint with that phone was the touch screen didn't work well.  The iPhone has been SUCH an improvement in that department.  TOTALLY worth the cost.  Other perks:

• Apps like Word Feud, Kindle, Facebook and Pandora.
• Voice to text function (can be funny at times)
• Facetime (with Grandma Brenda and Travis)
• Instant weather and radar
• A camera app that is eating up my time, called TiltShift Generator, that takes photos like this:

That Christmas tree used to belong to our Grandma Rose.
Now it sits in Ariel's living room during the holidays.

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My mom and brother Alex are here!  They got in late Sunday night and went straight to Ariel's house.  They are staying with her until Christmas Eve.  Travis, Aiden and I are going over there for breakfast and spending a portion of the day there.  Then Mom and Alex are coming back with us that afternoon/evening.  Ariel and Robert have to work that night, so they won't be coming with us.  =(  But!  They will be over first thing in the morning to see what Santa brought Aiden.  I LOVE this holiday.

Apocalypse Now

I feel like there is mass chaos in my world right now. Here's a quick run down:

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  We are in the middle of a drought, which means there are burn bans.



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  Multiple power outages at the power plants in Texas City resulted in a shelter-in-place. That means there is so much pollution in the air that you are asked to stay in your house with the windows and doors closed, air off.



• 
  
  The main line of fresh water to the island has a leak. That has resulted in a water shortage for the island. No watering your yard, no washing your car and several of the labs at work had to close down due to low water pressure.



• 
  
  Yesterday, there was a water leak in the AC system at work. There was nothing but hot, humid air blowing through the buildings across campus. UTMB let us go home early because the condensation was building up on everything, resulting in a fall risk. It is much cooler today, but it's still a little humid.



• 
  
  Also yesterday, when I left work early, there was a collapse at a hotel they are currently taking down (with plans to rebuild). Hopefully the worker that was caught underneath the debris gets well.



• 
  
  There have been electrical outages across the island for the past day. Today, Aiden's daycare does not have electricity, so I have to take off from work and go get him. Travis has been struggling at work since they have limitations when the power is out.

Oh and Travis blew out a tire yesterday, so he's going to need at least one new tire. We'll probably get two though.

My mom said they have been dealing with nearly constant severe storms and tornadoes in Illinois. We've decided to meet on the coast in the case of an apocalypse. I'm getting the boat.

Annoyed

I do work on a timeline. If I start something at work on a Friday, I have to follow up on Monday. If I do it Thursday, then that means I have to come in over the weekend, which I would prefer NOT to do.

This wintry mix is putting me in quite the pickle. We are supposed to start something big at work tomorrow morning. BUT, Aiden's daycare just called to inform me they are closing early this afternoon and will also be closed all day tomorrow.

Taking this afternoon off, should not be difficult. I will get all my work done this morning so I can get out of here early. Tomorrow will be more of a problem. I'm going to see if Ariel will watch Aiden. But, what if the weather really is so bad that I shouldn't be on the roads? I have to drive over the causeway to get to the island, which is a really large bridge. Bridges usually form ice in this type of weather.

Ugh. Stupid pickle.

This area is not equipped for such weather. We don't have snow plows or salt trucks to deal with snow and ice. Also, all the plumbing at our house is exposed underneath in our "crawl space". That means pipes are easily frozen. I left the faucets dripping last night and also when I left the house this morning. I didn't do that the night before and nothing horrible happened, so hopefully we'll be okay.

Two of my friends had their pipes freeze Tuesday night. Then when I was walking out to my car I came across a house with water pouring out from underneath. When I looked under the house, it was a lake. No one was home when I knocked on the door, so I called Public Works to report the burst pipes. It was stopped when I walked by this morning.

Stay warm my friends! And enjoy this video.

Calgon, Take Me Away

Aiden seems to be doing much better in the anger department. It's still not okay, but at least he's not trying to pull off my skin every other minute. I made sure to spend lots of time on the floor with him last night, playing with toys. He was in a great mood the entire time. Maybe this is a sign he needs a live-in play buddy? Ha! Soon, but not just yet.

One of his canines has broken through the gums, so I'm hoping that's a huge culprit here. He hasn't been eating well for a week or so, but last night, he ate like we'd been starving him on purpose. It was awesome to see him happy to eat again. He's been sitting in a booster seat with us at the table for a couple days now. It's fun, but I worry about needing the seat when we have guests over. I'm thinking about switching his high chair into a regular seat, so we have all the seating possible.

I started giving him probiotics in his morning milk this weekend. I'm not sure that it is helping just yet, but I'm pretty sure it will take a while to balance out his natural flora. He's still pooping in the bath tub at every bath. (Although, I don't think I've mentioned that on here before.) Alexa pointed out that the warm bath water might be softening things up and relaxing him enough to let it go. Makes sense. But it would be great if he would stop doing that. It's gross and that means we have to deal with letting all the water out, cleaning the tub, then filling it back up. Gah.

It's cold. I know it's not as bad as up north, but it's cold. It was 26 degrees on my drive into work this morning. According to the weather channel, it was 20 degrees when I woke up, with a wind chill of 9. Just so you know, we are not equipped for such temperatures. Our water heater is in our unheated garage. That means it has to work extra to remain heated. Then the water has to flow through underground pipes and in the exposed pipes under our house. Needless to say, it takes several minutes for the water to warm up on the faucet side of things. We put a blanket on the water heater a year or so ago and I know that helps a bit.

This wind is a little ridiculous. I was grateful when Travis pointed out that our house was on the first block with electricity this morning. I guess the wind took out a bunch of power lines. Half of Galveston island is included in this. I was all excited to actually make it out the door on time this morning, and then I didn't have a flat tire. Yay! Only problem is that every stop light on the island has been turned into a 4-way stop. It took me forever to get from one side to the other.

Speaking of tires, Travis had me put on my repaired tire last night. So now I can change a tire with confidence! It wasn't that hard. I think my only problem will be getting the lug nuts off. It took a lot of jumping and kicking for me to get them loosened. Travis informed me that this was a good way to break off a lug nut stud. You win some, you lose some.

I heard Chicago has 13 inches of snow and counting. My mom is stranded at my aunt's house up there this week. (Fun place to be stuck!) My dad has 8 inches of snow so far and it's still falling from the sky. He went without power for a while, but that's back on so everything's coming back up to temp. My brother's got a snow day from school, but it sounds like the entire county is having a snow day. Stay warm folks!

So far this morning...

Aiden and I got out the door about 15 minutes late this morning. That quickly turned into an hour late.

As I was pulling my car out of the garage, I noticed that I had to press on the gas more than normal to get the car rolling into reverse. I didn't think too much about it and got on the interstate. I was getting up to speed with the rest of traffic and realized I was having some trouble controlling the car. It was raining so hard and the wind was so crazy, that I was unsure if it was the weather or my car acting up. After a couple miles, I bright yellow pick-up truck pulled up next to me, honking. I looked at him and he yelled something about my tire, so I quickly got off at the next exit.

Down here around Houston, we have these roads that line most interstates called feeders. I decided I would take the time to get onto a feeder in case my tire needed to be changed. There are much less cars driving on the feeders than there are on the actual interstate.

I hopped out of the car to check the damage, and sure enough, I had a flat tire. The rear driver's side tire was completely flat. It didn't explode or come apart. It was just flat. I called Travis to see if he could help me. I understand the basics of changing a car tire, but I don't have the confidence that I could get the lug nuts back on tight enough to drive on. That scares the crapola out of me.

Thankfully, Travis was able to come put on the spare for me. Unfortunately, the sky completely blacked over and was in the middle of a torrential down pour when he arrived. Of course that means the rain was flying almost horizontal to the ground, because Galveston never has a normal, light rainstorm. It's always the equivalent to a monsoon.

When Travis finally go to us, I got out of the car again to show him which tire it was and help him get the spare tire out. I was hoping to lessen the amount of time spent in the rain. He yelled to me over the rain to get back in the car so I wouldn't get too wet. It was too late. My butt was already soaked from the minute I spent out in the rain.

Turns out, I had a screw in my tire. Travis kept my tire so he can take it to get plugged today. Travis is saturated from the waist down and on his right arm (the side the wind was blowing into).

I had to stop at McDonald's and buy Aiden a crappy breakfast since he missed breakfast at the daycare. Then when I finally got into work, I forgot my umbrella and my delicious lunch that I was really excited about (chicken and hummus pita). I park five blocks from work, so it's not worth going back for. It wasn't raining by the time I got to work, so that's why I didn't think about the umbrella. Hopefully it's not raining when I get off this evening. I guess the lunch thing sort of works out since I am planning to meet Jenna for lunch at the cafeteria.

When I got on the elevator at work, another man got on the elevator with me. After the doors closed, there was a good 20-second pause before the elevator lurched upward. We both looked at each other, a little panicked, wondering if we were going to be one of the "lucky" ones to get stuck on this particular elevator. Thankfully, it moved on and I didn't have to add another catastrophe to my day.

These elevators still have not been repaired or replaced since the hurricane. The university got funding last year to do the necessary work, but for some reason it still hasn't happened. The guy on the elevator said something that helped brighten my day.

"Since the hurricane, my wife and I have conceived a baby, delivered the baby and now he can talk. And they still haven't fixed the broken elevators on campus?"

Thank you for cheering me up, Stranger.

The Wrath of Aiden

Eh, I'm so not in the mood to write right now. Aiden has been just plain mean for the 15 hours. He keeps getting into stuff he's not supposed to, that he KNOWS he's not supposed to, and then when I tell him 'no' he doesn't stop. So I squat down on his level so he's look at me and tell him 'no'. Then he reaches out and squeezes whatever he can get a hold of - my cheek, my arm, my neck, you name it. So, in timeout he goes. He understands the concept now, which is great. I asked the teachers at his daycare how they do it and I've been trying to reenact that. It has really helped. Until last night, that is. A couple times, I've had to sit with him because he keeps trying to crawl away. I tell him he has to sit down and I set him back down where he was. Then he hits me.

GAAAHHH!

He's not old enough for this yet, right? (I'm gonna have to read this book.) I'm hoping it goes away after a day back a school. Maybe he just needed to get away from me? Please let that be it.

I don't know how mothers in the north deal with being inside for months during the winter. I sort of have an idea because that's what summers are like here. But then again, we can usually swing heading out for a couple hours in the morning and that is better than not at all. It rained all day yesterday, so we decided to run to Walmart for Playdoh. That was the only time we got out of the house. Aiden usually gets cranky when we don't get out at all during the day. I think he thrives on sunlight and fresh air, like I do.

Today it is so heavy with fog outside, that I had to drive with my wipers on. I'm irritated that I wasted time curling my hair this morning. It wasn't foggy at home, so there is no way I could have planned for this.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be semi-warm during the morning, then rain like crazy. In the afternoon it's supposed to get to almost freezing temperatures. Wednesday calls for heavy winds. It's gonna be a GREAT week. I can feel it. At least I don't have to deal with the winter storm that's about to hit the midwest. That's worse, right?

Flailing Tube Men

My dad ended up getting home at 10am yesterday. He said the final count was 91 wrecks. He said that at one point, a truck was attempting to pull another truck out of the ditch, perpendicular to the road. That wouldn't be a big issue, except his chain was hidden in the snow. It wasn't until my dad was close enough to see the chain that he swerved out of the way. Close call! The storm he drove through all Sunday night hit his house on Saturday night, so now he's dealing with the snow again!

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Sunday morning I let Travis sleep in a little bit and got up with Aiden. We ate breakfast and then when Travis got up we played with his blocks.

I finally got dressed for the day and headed out to go grocery shopping. When I got back, Travis was just laying Aiden down for his nap. I ate lunch and then got to work on a Cheesy Tortilla Lasagna that we brought over to the Ramby's house that night for dinner. It's actually a vegetarian casserole, but I added hamburger meat that I cooked in taco seasoning since I was feeding the guys too.

Aiden woke up just as the casserole was coming out of the oven. We fed him his snack, then got on the road to the Ramby's. They just bought a game for the Wii called Just Dance. It's the sort of game that makes white people flail like idiots so the other white people can laugh at them. I say white people, because chances are that most other races have a better beat than the white folk. ;)

That game made us all very winded. I was quite impressed with Alexa's mom's ability to move. The only person with a better score was Travis and I have absolutely no idea how that is possible. Diana actually looked cute when she danced. Travis looked more like a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man.

If you'd like to see some photos, check out Alexa's blog. She got some funny ones.

We watched a little TV, ate dinner and just hung out. It was nice to see those guys again. It's been almost a month! That means that Skylar has practically doubled in size since I saw her last. Alexa always tells me that she has a problem with frequent spit-up. I can't imagine what she'd look like if she actually kept everything down. That girl has the most thigh rolls I've seen in a baby since Wednesday was little. LOL! I feel a little bad for her though because it's almost impossible to hold her without pinching her chub. Gah, seriously.