WHAT A WEEK!!!

Before I get into all things blizzard and Brady, I have to share that my best gal pal Jen gave birth to her first baby girl! Lani Satyana Blevins graced our world with her adorable, perfect presence on Monday, February 15th at 2:29 am. She weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. She has little frog legs and her mommy's dimple and beautiful dark blue eyes! Jen and her husband Doug asked/allowed me to be there with them and I couldn't have been happier. Everyone says child birth is either gross or beautiful, there's no in between; it just so happens that I agree with the latter. Witnessing baby Lani's birth was one of most absolutely amazing things I've been a part of in my 29 years on this planet. I think deep down inside I was still struggling with the fact that Brady was delivered via C-section, but being a part of Lani's birth has really helped me come to terms with what I went through. Maybe that's selfish of me, but I think I definitely walked out of that hospital with a little something for me. Thank you, Lani :-) And congratulations, Jen and Doug! You certainly have one accommodating, thoughtful child! From the day to the time to the way she decided to make her arrival--it was altogether perfect!

The blizzard of '10 has persisted! Zach didn't have school Monday - Thursday of last week, and there was a 2-hour delay on Friday. Unfortunately that meant today, President's Day, was no longer a holiday for Kiski, but some districts it still was. At this rate, there are schools who have been off for the same amount of time as their Christmas breaks! That's insane! And what's more is there is another weather advisory tonight; we may get up to 6 more inches of snow. A few local districts have already canceled (not Kiski...of course!), but if we get this predicted weather, I can't see Zach having school. That would be nice, too, because I have yet to recover from being awake almost 24 hours! It was definitely for a good cause, but this mommy is exhausted! (On that note, I'm opting not to proof read this post, so any and all errors shall be deemed acceptable based on said exhaustion. Thank you.)

I was re-reading my older posts and saw that I had mentioned I was taking Brady on a secret Valentine's day trip to get something special for Daddy. Well, that didn't happen! I still don't want to say what our plan was in case we end up doing it in the future, but I thought I should at least mention it in case some of you were wondering. I'm sure you're all exhaling now, right? :-)

As for baby Brady, Zach performed a "rudimentary weigh-in" and we think B is around 20 pounds. We'll know for sure after his next pediatrician visit on the 24th, but Zach is usually pretty close. In addition to his weight, he's definitely getting taller, stronger, and more agile. We let him practice standing up by leaning him up against the couch and he'll hold on for a minute before his legs collapse underneath him. He loves the view, though! He's also been using his and restaurant's high chairs; he's so well-behaved that we can actually take him out in public! As long as he has something he can shake, break, or drop, he's happy! He's rolling over like a mad man these days, too; I put him on a play mat and it's not two minutes before he's rolled off of it and over to something of interest. Lately, that something of interest has been one of the dogs. Luckily, they're very good with Brady! His newest obsession is their tails; any time a dog wags her tail, Brady squeals with excitement. Pretty much anything that makes noise or comes in contact with him floats his boat! He likes to play rough, which is indicated by the battle wounds on my face, and if my scalp could talk, it would be begging for mercy. But he's a boy, so what's a mom to do?!

We discovered that Brady is very ticklish on his back. We were trying to give him a baby massage to relax him when we realized that relaxing it was not! He laughs and squirms, so we now torture him. I don't think he minds, though :-) He's really starting to laugh a lot, like those deep belly laughs. I put my hair up in a high ponytail and shake it for him; he really gets a kick out of that. He especially likes it when I take it out of the ponytail and falls into his face. There goes that cute bob haircut I was considering; how can I take away one of Brady's favorite (FREE) toys?!

Despite the weather, Brady has been able to have some new experiences this past week. Like I said earlier, he's been to a few different local diners/restaurants with us where he's proved he's big enough to sit in a highchair. He's also gone to his first basketball game. Zach runs the clock for Kiski's home games, and so we went to see a game. We chose Senior Night so there was a lot of clapping and balloons and Brady was in heaven. The busier the better for this nosy guy! He did really well until he got hungry, but he was very good about drinking his bottle right there in the stands. I don't think he would have done that a few months ago, so I was happy to see that he was able to multi-task! It won't be long before I'm just handing him his own bottle--how crazy is that?!

Blizzards, Brady, and baby Blevins--that about sums up this post! I don't have any pics of Lani yet, but when I get'em, I'll share'em! Stay warm!!