Natural Disaster

I'd love to be able to say that today's title is just another daily musing where I make a some kind of cute connection to our lives, but a hellish work and training week for the Swanson household has only gotten worse. It would be fantastic if I was referring to a tidal wave of poop or flood of drool, but this time its for real. I'm sure yesterday's winds caused a lot of headache for people; power outages, downed lines and branches were blown across the state. Jason however, was greeted as he pulled up the hill to our house with our neighbor's giant pine tree sprawled across our yard. It wasn't just the holly tree, fence, and shrubs that were ravaged. Our cute little home didn't make it out unscathed:( I'm a terrible judge of how big things are, but I'd have to say that the tree was at least 2 1/2 stories tall. It towered over both of our homes, and in the seven years we've been here, this happening has always been a lingering fear.

Our neighbor wasn't home and a good handful of people were milling around trying to figure out what to do as Jas pulled up. We've always been "neighborly" but its not like anyone had our phone numbers. I of course was in a meeting and ignored the phone when I saw it was Jas on the caller ID. Our daily phone conversations usually consist of "when are you going to be home" or "what do you want to do for dinner", not " a tree fell on our house"! I was standing in the hall outside my office when I called him back, and I'm not going to lie I did have to squat down to my knees when I got the news. Luckily the brunt of the damage was taken by the porch and not the main part of the house. If there was a hole ripped out of the roof over the living room or dining room, I'm not sure what my reaction would have been!

As I picked up Chase, Jas called the insurance company, took hundreds of pictures and video to document the damage, and started cutting some of the tree up with a neighbor and his chainsaw so there was even a path up to the porch. Since the tree is obviously still across our property we can only do a visual assessment of the damage. We don't know if there is structural damage to the porch, the overhang and roof(only 3mos old) are pretty beat up, we lost our gutter, at least one tree and shrub, our gate and a few panels of privacy fence. This is what we can see.

My first perspective of the damage was coming up from the bottom of the hill. This was opposite of what Jas saw from the other direction. For those of you who frequent this route to our house you know it well. I crawled up the street and slowed down just like all of the other drivers gawking as they drove past. In the current state of conditions as you drive up the street, you can no longer see our home. It just looks like a giant pine tree has swallowed it whole. It is truly incredible. After a few choice words and commenting on how it smelled like Christmas, I was able to take it all in.

So where do we go from here...its a process of course. Once the adjuster comes out we'll have more info. Thankfully we weren't home and no one was injured-it however, must have scared the living daylights out of Summer. I can't imagine the sound, but I can tell you that several things were knocked of shelves upstairs in the house. One side note for those of you who don't know...this is our second brush with a natural disaster. Three years ago we lost a brand-new(2 day old) car to a freak flood while I was visiting my grandparents in Jersey. That issue was on a much smaller scale when compared to this one, and I remember how much of a headache that process was!

We'll post more pics and keep people updated. After Chase's surprise arrival last year, I'd like to believe we can handle a lot. I know that its cliche-but really "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." We'll repair the damage, do some new landscaping in the spring, Jas hated the shrubs anyway:), and as with anything, add this chapter to the story of our lives...

No captions necessary

Duck Part Deux

So we tried the duck again...and it went much better this time! I only have the before pictures, because Jas wasn't home, and even though he suggested I try setting up the tripod with the video camera to document the experience, I already had my hands full. Plus our bathroom isn't exactly full of extra space, even if it is just the Gorilla tripod. This time I let Chase sit in the tub with some bath toys first, and it seemed to help tremendously. When it was time for the real bath there were no tears or shrieking. A few times he did throw a "stiff arm" to the side of the actual bath tub in a slight panic, but otherwise it seemed that the experience was tolerable. I think his preoccupation with trying to eat the book kept him a bit distracted!

Another video

Chase has been trying to crawl for a few weeks now. He is very good at getting up on all fours, but then face plants into the couch. While you may not be able to see him up on his hands and knees here its worth sharing.

Another Day, Another Brunch

My hat finally fits me better!

Mr. Rain's has wacky colors and gadgets everywhere-Chase loves it. A perfect restaurant to be on the top floor of the Visionary Art Museum.

You don't want my fingers in your mouth?

Or on your camera??

We headed back to Mr. Rain's for another Sunday brunch with family. This time Jas' family stopped by on their drive back up from a trip to D.C. for the holiday weekend. Chase got some more cute clothes and toys, and of course we got some more cute pics!!

Hanging Out

Here are a few pics from hanging around the house over the past few weeks. The first two were from when Chase was still a little under the weather, but like Jas said "How often do you have a clean tire in your living room?" I recently picked up a nail in one of my tires, and since we just put new ones on last year we only wanted to replace the one. Generally on all -wheel drive cars however you need to replace at least two, so instead we ordered my tire, had it shaved to the same tread as the others and delivered to the house. Complicated right?

I can't breathe out of my nose and you expect me to smile? Luckily I'm too stuffed up to realize this rubber stinks!

Playing with Daddy

Got my favorite toy now!

Bad Duck

Sorry it's been a few days, I caught Chase's cold and today is the first day I'm feeling a little better! Since he slept on my chest while he was sick I knew my catching his cold was inevitable. This week he got another Synagis shot(two actually), because of his weight 15 lbs. 80z. the nurses had to tag team and give him one in each leg. The shot is weight based and up until now he only needed the one giant shot, now he gets one big one and one little one! Poor little man!! We go for his 9 mo. checkup on the 28th( a little shy of 9 mos.), but mommy has the day off of work and I needed to squeeze it in. Stay tuned for all of the details from his appt.:)

Now, getting to the title of this post...let me start by saying we don't have pictures. The experience was terrible for Chase and through our laughing we had to make his first new tub time a brief one. Chase outgrew liking his infant-to-toddler tub I think because he wasn't comfortable leaning back and would get cold. So a while ago we decided to start taking him in the shower with us(I think I posted about this before), and he absolutely loved it. Since he's gotten a lot bigger and squirmier, showering is growing more difficult so I decided to get him the inflatable duck tub.

After numerous trips to Target, they finally had the duck in stock and I was excited to try it out with Chase. He seemed interested in the fact that the duck's bill quacks and he loved scratching his fingers on the vinyl to hear the sound it made. As soon as I put him in the thing he freaked out. Many of you know that Chase has always been a relatively quiet crier; even when completely pissed off at you he is significantly quieter than other babies. The other day however, I couldn't have predicted the shrill shrieking sounds that came out of his little body when he actually got inside the duck. Giant crocodile tears welled up in his eyes, he turned bright red, and screamed bloody murder during the entire expedited bath experience.

FYI-We will not be giving up on the duck. On our next attempt I may let him play with some toys in it first, and turn the shower on overhead so he can have somewhat of a transition. Its just like when we try to introduce anything new. Trial and error until it works. If he continues to detest the duck after a few more tries, we won't want him to develop and aversion to bathtime completely, and we'll of course try something else.

BTW, I know I've talked about it before, but people have way too much time posting on blogs and message boards their opinions on everything from the best butt cream to getting your kids to like bath time. You can drive yourself crazy looking up things on the internet. I am of course guilty of looking up suggestions and reviews on products on a regular basis. You get sucked in, and some of the things people say is absolutely ridiculous.

As a first time parent you need to figure it out. I know our parents made their fair share of mistakes with us(because they didn't have the internet right?), and Jas and I turned out fine:) One of our friends is due to have a baby next week, and her husband mentioned that he's already tired of getting unsolicited advance. Jas and I told him it only gets worse, suck it up, and nod your head. Any of you are welcome to chime in and leave a comment regarding our bath troubles, to be honest we may take it or leave it...Chase may ultimately learn to love his new tub on his own.

We're learning new things everyday!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day. Today Chase made Mommy a card, somewhat legible with a chocolate hand print and footprint!

Here are a few more random videos.

Chase this morning being a crazy man!



Chase's first snow experience.



Chase Xmas Eve morning being chatty.