Lindsey (she turned 5 months on Thursday) has been staring at us when we eat and trying to grab for food off of my plate. I've been putting her off because I really wanted to wait until she turned 6 months to start solids. Well today she grabbed a cookie out of Kaelyn's hand and started gumming at it. Of course I took it away and she gave me the look. I cooked up some sweet potato, whipped it in the blender and she gobbled some up. If I didn't know any better it would seem like someone has been feeding her for awhile now. She's never been away from me so I know that it isn't possible. She amazes me. Plus, she's only rolled over two or three times but she can sit up and keep her balance for a few minutes.

My boss is sending us on a cruise. The cruise departs on March 13th so we'll either leave on the 11th or 12th depending on which day has a better airfare. We'll probably stay someplace in Cocoa Beach until we leave for the cruise. We not only cruising, we're cruising in style. Our cabin has a balcony. I nearly peed my pants when I found out. It's perfect because I plan on having lots of time to relax and take naps with Lindsey or just sit and watch the water. Chad and Kaelyn have plans to play minigolf, rockclimb and ice skate. I better start packing soon.

I wouldn't doubt it if we lost our power during this storm. It is total white out conditions right now and the wind is blowing at hurricane strength. My mom is here with us as well as Chad's cousin, Sara. She's 14 years old, her mom had to go to work at the nursing home and her dad is out plowing. Tonight we made S'mores, played Scrabble Jr., ate spinach dip, watched Ella Enchanted and then ate some homemade rice pudding. Are you noticing the pattern? Lots of eating going on here.

Chad and my dad are headed to Pittsburgh for the game. It's one of the perks of working in this business. I'll admit I'm a little jealous. It's not that I wanted to go to the game. It's just that I miss the days when we could just hop in the car and go away for the weekend. Not that I want to leave my kids now but for some reason just knowing that I can't do those kinds of things and he can bothers me. They left at 4pm because of the blizzard that is headed this way. They'll drive for about 5 hours today and 5 hours tomorrow. My mom is staying at our house this weekend because I still have tons of work.

It's nice to own your own home but not when things go wrong. Our hot water heater has been leaking for awhile. Chad replaced it on Monday but nothing ever goes as planned. What he thought would take 3 hours ended up taking 10 hours and many trips to the hardware store. The next morning was when our furnace stopped working. Last night, while we were in bed talking he commented on how when he got home from work today he planned on doing nothing. Well, that didn't work out. When he got home he discovered the pipes on the kitchen sink were leaking bad enough to drip into the basement. Off to the hardware store he went. Now he's swearing under his breathe under the counter fixing the sink.

The girls started getting sick on Sunday. Lindsey's ears have started to drain but she has no signs of fever and she's acting pretty normal. Kaelyn just has the typical 5 year old snotty nose. I brought them in to see the chiropractor this morning and they each got an adjustment. I hope this does the trick.

Baby It's Cold Inside!
Yep, you guessed it. Our furnace decided to stop working in the middle of the night. Of course it just happened to be the coldest night of the winter yet. At 3:30am I woke and it felt a little chilly but I figured the furnace was just having a little trouble keeping up with the cold and wind. When Chad woke at 5:30am I asked him to turn the thermostat up a little. Um, no can't do that because it's not working, the radiators are stone cold. The technician came out but not soon enough. I had to bundle the kids. Is winter over yet?

I have no time to blog so I'll leave you with this cute picture.

Morale is at an all time low at Chad's work. He dreads stepping foot in there each day. On Jan 3rd they started enforcing a new rule in the workplace. Smokers are not allowed to smoke anyplace on the property, including outside. It wouldn't be so bad if they were allowed to leave the property during breaks and lunch but they aren't. If you receive a paid lunch (which they do) you are no allowed to leave the property. Chad doesn't smoke but he's feeling the impact of his co-workers being unable to smoke during working hours. On Friday, Chad said that one of his co-workers was having trouble getting by without a cigarette and his hands were shaking so badly. Chad's concern is that this man cannot focus on his job and his shaking could cause an industrial accident. Another co-worker has resorted to smoking in the janitors closet. He's either going to get fired once he gets caught or he'll end up causing a fire in that closet. If you're still smoking on your own time they've increased the cost of your health insurance. I'm sure that eventually they'll increase the cost of our insurance too. Afterall, we don't smoke but we are overweight.

My little dumpling weighs 14lbs 9oz. and she is 25in. long. Dr. G. was in agreement that all she needs right now is breastmilk, no solids. He gave me a pat on the back for sticking with breastfeeding. He even commented about how much he likes her Fuzzibunz. He said all the things that I wanted to hear. No wonder I have a crush on him. We're using the same delayed vaccination schedule that we used for Kaelyn.

My parents, sister and neice came over to enjoy dinner with us. They spent some time with the kids and my mom helped me clean up. Mani commented that it is nice that I have a good relationship with my mom. She's correct, I have a healthy loving relationship with both of my parents. The little dumpling just woke up crying so I'll post more about my parents later.

I finally had a chance to breathe today. Our biggest deadline is over now and now we have two smaller deadlines this month but it shouldn't be as bad. I hope! My mom has been so helpful with the girls. She comes over everyday to take care of Princess Kaelyn and Diva Lindsey. Yes, she's a diva. She needs constant attention or she gets quite pissed off. It's all about her!

My mom has been cooking for us but it's becomes difficult when there is no food in the house. I couldn't even send her to the grocery store because all that I had was my debit card. I guess I could have given her my pin number but I didn't want her to get arrested. I need her. Yesterday she convinced me to go to BJ's with her. My freezer is now packed with meats and other goodies. Mom can't come over to help tomorrow but she's marinading a roast for me to place in the oven tomorrow. She's so good to us.

I had my teeth cleaned today. They feel so smooth and I can't stop running my tongue over them. I'm a disgrace to my parents. I have 3 cavities. This is the first time in my life that I've had a cavitity. I am going at the end of Feb. to have one of them filled. I'm nervous so I'll have this one done first. Plus, I can't leave Lindsey for very long.

Tomorrow Lindsey goes for her 4 month checkup. I'm going to talk to the dr. about holding off on solids until she's 6 months old. I spoke with the Nurse Practicioner about it at last appt and she didn't seem to think the dr. would have any problems with it. Oh, and I'm so curious to see how much my little dumpling weighs.