Freezing cold fun

We warm blooded southerners have had to adjust this week as we have reached single digits and not climbed out of below freezing for the past few days. I was blessed with a holiday Monday, a cancelled inservice Tuesday, class Wednesday (but church was cancelled), no school today, and I will round out the week with a teacher work day tomorrow.

I tried to warm up the other night with this delicious meal shown below.  Unfortunately, it sealed my fate on what I kind of already knew...I have pregnancy induced heartburn/reflux.  Tomato soup and a balsamic vinaigrette were a no-no.  Seems that meals like this although tasty,  make me sick for hours only to eventually come back up.  Bleh.

So, after talking with the doctor I have figured out some diet modifications, and since I am already trying to figure meal plans out for my pregnancy induced glucose issues anyway, I will just try to stay away from reflux triggers.

Great news is that my carpal tunnel, although not entirely gone, has not been near as bad as it was in December and January.  My theory is that it was worsened by the joint pain/swelling which can be caused by parvovirus and stick around for a while.  Go figure.

Back to the cold...It snowed and stuck in our neck of the woods, and I praised God for helping me get home safely on some slick-ish side roads.  

The inch or so on our driveway, seen below, proved to be an issue for my little Corolla which has awful traction in snow.

After three attempts with spin outs I patiently waited forbmy husband to get home with our 4-wheel drive Explorer.  He was only about 20 minutes behind me.

I took some pictures.

Our road

My sleeping boy, who had stubbornly not taken a nap for his Grammy.

I called my mom.  I Facebooked.  I waited.  Lest you think me lazy for not trekking the less than quarter mile to the house, I didn't think it wise for my 22 week pregnant self to try to carry my over 30 pound sleeping child up a slippery driveway in 20 degree weather.  Last thing I needed to do was fall.

My hero arrived! 

He tried to get my car up the hill and encountered the same issue.  We ended up chaining my car behind the Explorer, and with me in neutral, he drug my little blue useless in snow car up our driveway.  Plan B would have been to leave it in our yard at the bottom of the hill.  But, we made it!

My car got a bit of mud slung on it. Lol

Josh went to work this morning in the Explorer.  We probably got about 2 inches total.  He took a few pics.

Benjamin and I played in the snow once the weather climbed to a whopping 12 degrees.  The sun was melting the snow anyway though.

This was after a healthy breakfast for me, of course.  I had bacon and sharp cheddar with my eggs (which I did fully cook...).

Benjamin did a lot of exploring.  I was impressed he could move as well as he could considering how many layers I had on him.  Lol

He would stop and jump sometimes.

I somehow managed to get him still and looking at the camera long enough for a picture.

He loved walking around in the snow.  I hated that he couldn't stay out longer, but the wind chill and the temps. Sheesh.

I coaxed him into taking a picture with me.  He even smiled. Cutie.

For a moment...stinker.

We enjoyed our day together.  We love a good snow day. ;)

What's in a name?

So, I'll admit from the time we knew we were pregnant I had no idea of a name (male or female) for our second child.  Even after we found out a few weeks ago that he is going to be a boy, I really still had no idea.  I did know, however that I wanted him to at least have a first name that is Biblical.

The first inkling I had regarding his name was after we had the Parvovirus scare.  I went from fear and trembling (literally) praying before the Lord to do His will with our child (which let me tell you is terrifying when all you want to pray to the Lord is for your child to be completely healthy) to rejoicing in the Lord for His kindness and mercy in protecting our son.

In my joy the story of Hannah came to me, and her joy at having a child, and she named her son Samuel, "Asked of God; heard by God."  I knew God had heard our prayers (and still does), and it made me start to think, "Samuel....hmmmm...We could name him Samuel."

So, as Josh and I talked about names, we realized that Josh's dad, Richmond, whose mother was called Pat, had a father named Samuel.  So, we talked it over for a few weeks, and it seemed like a good fit. For his middle name, continuing the trend of family names, we decided on William.  My father's name is William, and he was named after his mother's brother...William.  Josh's dad, Richmond, whose father is Kenneth, had a father named William.

So, after thinking about it a few more days we decided to name our boy...

I am glad to report that he is still healthy and growing (these are from yesterday).

His face

Him hiding his face with his hands, which he seems to do a lot of during ultrasounds.

His foot

I should add that when I was a little girl my mom told me the story from I Samuel 3 when God kept calling Samuel's name, and Samuel would run to Eli thinking it was him calling.  My mom said that at the end of the story I almost tearfully told her, "If God called me, I would answer."  I've remembered that story through the years.

My prayer for both Benjamin and Samuel is that when God speaks to each of their hearts, that they  they each respond to Him, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.”