Crazy Iowa Weather

It's been a while since I wrote anything.  Nothing exciting has happened, really.  My job is getting into the busier season, so I have been spending more time doing work whenever I can, whether that is during the day when Laurel decides she is able to play on her own or take a nap, or in the evenings when Scott is home.  Scott has been doing quite a bit of traveling for work, so I've also been single-momming it more than I like...I am so thankful to have a loving and faithful husband, and that I know that the single mom times will end and Scott will come home!  

We also celebrated our 4th anniversary on January 10.  My sister and family babysat Laurel, and we went out to eat, baby free!  After we finished eating, we weren't quite ready to get the kid, but there really isn't much to do in Pella on a Thursday night that does not involve eating.  So we went to Walmart.  What other romantic way would you want to spend your anniversary?

Laurel is growing like crazy.  She is getting better at crawling, and sometimes "monkey crawls" on her toes and hands instead of on her knees.  She can pull herself up to standing, and can walk around if you are holding her hands.  She has also learned all kinds of new noises, and chats a lot.

Laurel loves to look at books.  She likes to sit on our laps and read, but also likes to look at the books on her own.

Playing with Daddy

Laurel likes to stand next to this toy and press all the buttons.  It was blocking access to her other toys and books, so she crawled under it...and got stuck!

This has been a week of crazy Iowa winter weather.  Last Sunday we had rain and ice.  It was just on the verge of freezing, so the roads were slick!  

Ice on our bird feeder

The temps went up on Monday and Tuesday, but it stayed wet.  That meant FOG!  On Monday, I could barely even see the Casey's on the corner for most of the day.  Tuesday we had a thunderstorm in the morning, but it was not quite as foggy, which was good because Laurel and I drove to Des Moines for work!  It was 60 degrees in the morning, but we received a winter storm warning for Tuesday night...Whaaaaaaaa?

When I went to bed Tuesday night, it was still raining.  When I woke up, there was 6 inches of snow on the ground!  Scott is out of town for work this week, so I was left in a quandary...how does one shovel the sidewalk and shovel the cars out when your husband is gone, there are very strong winds, and you have a 9 month old?  I was hoping Laurel would take a nap, and I was going to bring the monitor out with me and do some shoveling...Laurel decided she would not sleep unless I was holding her.  However, the Tvedt family is wonderful, and Sam came over and scooped the walks this morning, and then I negotiated with Nate to have him come scoop the cars out.  Laurel enjoyed sitting by the door watching Nate shovel and checking out all the snow.