Snow

Our second winter in Virginia brought more snow and cold than our first. Our second rental home on Palmer Drive is a little more exposed to the wind. But our hill and neighbor kids makes sledding fun; for thirty minutes at least until Jessica got too cold.

These pictures are from a mid-January storm (2013):

This winter Jessica was a little more interested in playing in the snow, rather than eating it. This picture is from late January:

In February, as I left the dentist's office one day, I discovered a flower blooming despite the cold winter weather. They're called Lenten Roses, or Hellebore.

The big fat snowflakes of this early March storm I think are beautiful too.

The biggest snowstorm brought about 6" in late March. 

Dave's 35 Birthday

For Dave's 35th birthday, he asked for a lathe (the spinning woodworking tool that makes spindles and pens.) I thought he wanted a canoe, now that we have room to store it, but no. (He thought I wanted a mattress for my birthday, but I opted for porch furniture instead. It's just easier to pick out your own present.)

He's smiling a lot in this picture because in the previous photo he held up the numbers "5" and "3" like he was turning 53, which gave me a genuine smile for the "35" picture.

We also got Dave some golf frisbees, which we played later as a family at Peak's View Park. We decided afterward it's too hard to play 18 holes carrying a toddler on your back in the steamy summer forest.

We also got the Wii game Mario Kart, which Dave grew up playing with his siblings on Nintendo.

Dave also got a peach tree, his favorite fruit. We harvest 6 small yummy peaches from it in July. The bugs and birds ate as many, and we lost another 20 immature peaches when I stuffed it in my PT cruiser to bring it home from the nursery. Happy Birthday to a great husband, a caring father, and a good provider.

It works!!!!!!

Parenthood is great!!! Jessica is a great baby, and she follows the all the baby rules. She's fussy? Swaddle and hold her tight. She opens her mouth for food? You feed her a bottle (and she wants it like clockwork). She's tired and wimpering? Give her a pacifier and rock her. It's easy, and it's just like everyone always says! We love it!

We got more sleep the 2nd & 3rd nights. She has to be held more or fed more frequently at night for her to stay content. We had a 2-minute panic while we figured out she only likes the hospital thin rubber nipples, not the Platex silicone ones. But she switched formulas fine. She hasn't had any poopy diapers since her newborn poo in the hospital, but acts fine & has wet everything twice now. We refined our feeding skills, she drinks 2 oz/feeding now, and she's not spitting up. She sighs in her sleep and melts our hearts. Easy! Wonderful!

Dave reading Chronicles of Narnia to his daughter.

Thursday we had our birthmom and her parents over for dinner and chocolate birthday cake, and had a great time. Good thing, because we found out that day our LDS social worker used generic placement papers, instead of Alabama ones, and she had to get the birthparents to resign all those relinquishment papers. Stressful mistake for them, inconvenient 7 hr trip for the worker, and makes us restart our week's wait all over again. Not pleased, but not surprised.

My sister Em & her husband & 2 boys came Thursday night and stayed a day. Five-year old Henry loved holding the baby, and Em brought presents, including little girl jellie shoes (like the ones I had in 1st grade).

We talked kids and jobs and ate great food and watched Snow White. We also walked around the Birmingham botanical gardens, which are picturesque, even in the winter.

The daffodills were up and the apricot tree was popping with blossoms. (We can't wait to come back in May for court finalization and see everything green.)