The Great Snowstorm of 2011

Even two inches of snow in Waco means cancelled schools, treacherous roads, and a widespread spirit of child-like glee.  My class was cancelled last Friday morning, so JB and I spent the morning introducing our dependents to the wonders of snow.  

Brazos couldn't get enough of the snow and ran like a crazy dog through the yard all morning.  Benjamin was, unfortunately, indifferent to this wonder of nature. Ok, he was probably cold, but I figured babies survive all winter in the New York (and Russia! Canada! Alaska!), Benjamin can brave a few minutes bundled up to see the snow in Texas.   He was fine.  It's been a week and he hasn't gotten sick yet. In fact, he hasn't gotten sick at all yet.  Ah, the wonders of breast milk.  

In other news, Benjamin has recently found his lungs in a new and not entirely pleasant way.  The screams generally follow a trajectory from happy, smiley, look-at-how-loud-I-can-be ma screams that gradually descend into I-need-you-NOW screams over the course of a few minutes.  THAT'S taken some getting used to.  

JB and I have finally had to come to terms with the fact that we have a morning baby.  For the last two weeks he has been pushing his bed time back earlier and earlier (from 9 to a record 7pm last night) and waking up earlier, usually around 6, full of smiles and laughter and ready to face the day.  If it weren't for the smiles, I think I would be resentful.  But there is something about a baby's face in the morning that causes me to forgive everything.  ... And I probably just need to go to bed earlier.  

Bundling Benjamin in his moby for a walk in the snow: 

I love this last one.  Mother and child.  

The weather is cold, I can hear faucets are dripping all over the house to prevent the pipes from freezing, the dog has cabin fever, and the baby has a tummy ache.  What a day.  Here's a picture from happier times--just last weekend in fact, when it was 75 degrees outside.  JB got some work done on the drainage works outside and B was happy in the wheel barrow for almost an hour, staring up at the sky and laughing at the sunshine.  [Whenever I think of the issues with drainage JB is trying to solve, I think of Middlemarch by George Elliot and the drainage works that fill out one of the novel's many interweaving plot-lines. I know it sounds dull, but it's actually not at all.  Read it.]

JB had fun wheeling him around a bit too.   I remember dad wheeling us all around the neighborhood when we were kids--a BIT older than Benjamin is right now--running us down the hills and spinning in circles.