First Snow, Skiing Adventure

We spent the last week in Central Oregon on a ski vacation with some other families. It wasn't the most relaxing vacation since there were five kids under the age of 5 with us. But it was a lot of fun.

I had no idea it snowed so much in Central Oregon in the spring. We got at least 10 inches of snow during our stay there, more on the mountain. This was ESK's first exposure to the white, fluffy stuff. She loved it of course. She couldn't stop staring and saying, "Ooooohhhhh".

Cross-country Skiing
This was a sport I never had much interest in. Howevever, our host family were big fans, so when in Rome... It turned out to be a lot of fun. First, it is really relaxing with nothing but beautiful winter scenery and the "shuushing" sound of skis. Cross-country skiing was also a great workout. Not too difficult like running a marathon, but more akin to a low-impact aerobic workout.

I fell on my butt after thinking the skis were like regular alpine skis. But then I imagined myself on a NordicTrak and that actually worked!

The other neat thing was that we took ESK along with us. We buckled her into a sled, which we then strapped unto SK. She was a little fussy about it at first, but after awhile, she fell asleep and napped the entire time we were out. Here she is after a long cross-country ski run:



And here she is relaxing at the lodge with an apres ski drink (milk):


Alpine Skiing
We also got a chance to do the other kind of skiing, the regular downhill kind. I was especially excited to do this because I hadn't gone in several years. But turns out skiing is kinda like riding a bike. You don't forget the basics.

This was my first experience skiing on the West Coast. It was spectacular. I was knee deep in powdery snow on some of the runs and I felt like I was just bouncing around on the slope. I literally was letting out little yelps of joy like a loony on my way down the mountain. Luckily, there were very few people around to hear me.

It was also my first time skiing with the hubs, which made this a very special ski day. We dropped ESK off at the resort daycare and crossed our fingers. We hadn't had much luck with her in other daycare situations, but this day she cooperated! Woohoo!

By the way, ski gear is really unattractive. No matter what you wear, you manage to look fat and stumpy. See below.

Pretending

ESK woke up around midnight last night and wanted to play. As SK had surgery scheduled for the next day, I stayed up with her in bed and tried to entertain her.

She entertained me however. All of a sudden, she started using her pincer grasp to pick at things on our pillows. I didn't have my glasses on, so I squinted to see what she was doing. Turned out, she was pretending to eat! She would pick up "food" and then bring it to her mouth and make this munch/gulp sound. She did this over and over again. I even got her to feed me some "food".

This child-rearing thing is pretty fun!

Another Dream
Yes, another bad dream. This one happened right before I woke up this morning. It wasn't bad overall, but it ended horribly. SK and I were both facing the prospect of going to jail and we were talking about what we were going to do with ESK! Scary and upsetting!

Not What I Thought

So, during Xmas break while we were in PHL, we discussed this new birthday party fad for kids that kinda grossed me out. Apparently, there are salons for little girls that give them mani-pedis, make-up, dress up clothes, etc. I thought for sure this was an East Coast/big city phenomenon. People that I've met in Portland seemed too crunch-y, granola-y, to buy into this kinda thing.

Alas, it is NOT! I just saw an ad in some Portland family magazine for one of these salons.

So, it's made me rethink this idea. My initial reaction to this trend stems from the fact that I wasn't allowed to wear make-up and dress up until I was much, much older. My parents always used to say, "We don't want you to blossom to early!" Ha ha ha! But when I got older, it took me a long time to get used to the idea of dressing up, taking care of myself and wearing make-up. I'm still pretty bad at it.

I don't think I'll ban ESK or any other daughters (hopefully just girls will have interest in this kind of thing, although I hear little boys can be curious too) from experimenting with make-up or going to these kinds of parties. Maybe someday they'll be make-up artists, or stylists or something. Or maybe they'll just want to look more polished. I will draw the line somewhere, but I'll have to decided where that demarcation is when I get there.

But I just cross my fingers they won't like it too much and decide to pursue reading or playing sports or something. Hee hee!

Scary Dreams and Morning Routine

I've been having weird, vivid dreams lately. The one I had two nights ago was especially creepy. They aren't really scary in the super gross-out factor kinda way. Just spooky enough to give you a bad night's sleep.

Like most dreams, I can't really remember the details of the people in it, or the place we were in. But I remember vague feelings and atmospheres. Does that make sense? For instance, I remember this one woman was kinda evil, but there was a reason why she was evil, like she was a woman with a sad history. And that her evil was more of a bitter kind.

Anyway, I must totally sound like a nut. But last night I had a hard time falling asleep because I was afraid of having another bad dream.

I do believe that there is something stressing me out. Maybe it's the house hunt? Maybe it's my job stuff? I dunno. Luckily, I didn't have a bad dream last night.

But on the other side of sleep, is the morning. And these days, SK and I have a blissful a.m. routine. Usually we're awoken by little ESK babbling away in her crib. Sometimes she's crying, but that is increasingly rare.

One of us stumbles out of bed to her room and when we turn on the light and her eyes adjust to the brightness, she usually says, "Hi-eeyyyy". Or something that sounds a lot like "Hi".

Then she quickly roots around in her crib, looks for her stuffed bear and stands up waiting to be picked up. It's as if she's saying, "Okay, now I'm ready." We carry her back to our bed, where she plays for 15 minutes before her daddy has to get ready for work.

Farewell to The Wire
The series finale of The Wire aired on Sunday. We bid a sad farewell to all the characters we had grown to love, but the last episode didn't disappoint. The writers did a great job of wrapping up all the plot lines.

SK and I will miss recapping the show after each viewing and it also leaves us at a loss with what to watch now on TV. There is kinda this empty space in our lives. I know that sounds dramatic, but it's only a small empty space. Not a big hole in our heart or anything.

Stuck

Here's a series of pictures of ESK getting into trouble about a month ago. Now that she's more mobile, she loves exploring. But this time it backfired on her.

Here she is happily hanging out underneath her high chair:


And here she is trying to get out from underneath her chair:


And here she is starting to get upset now that she's realized she is stuck:


She started crying a few seconds after I took that last picture. And then I had to lift the entire high chair over her head because she couldn't figure how to get out herself. Poor thing.

Missing Dad

The hubs is away this weekend and so it's just me and the little peanut for the next couple days. A year ago when SK went away for the weekend and ESK was only a few months old, I thought I was going to die. But it's a whole lot easier now that ESK is a little older. Plus, sometimes I like to just eat a bowl of cereal for dinner. That's something I can't do when hubs is home.

Anyway, ESK is definitely her daddy's little girl. Last night as I was getting ready to put her to bed, we heard a door closing/opening from outside, probably a neighbor getting home/leaving. Elise suddenly got up and walked down the long, dark corridor to our front door. Halfway down, she stopped, dropped to her knees and started crying softly.

Apparently, she thought her daddy had come home and was expecting to see him round the corner. I fetched her and went about trying to distract her. But she went down the hall two more times, looking for her dad and crying. I finally put her down for bed, but she had a very good, hard cry before she finally fell asleep.

We're missing daddy for sure.