Karen Comes to Tacoma

Karen arrived in town Monday December 15th for a visit. I picked her up at the airport Monday night and arrived home just in time to jump into bed as Louis was sleeping and I must sleep when he sleeps (at night at least!) The next morning I called Louis' doctor as I was concerned that he hadn't pooped in over 4 days. The doctor told me to bring him in so Karen, Louis and I went to my 6 week post-pardem doctors visit and then to Panera to kill some time before Louis' appointment. The doctor poked and prodded Louis before deciding that if we wanted to we could give him a suppository. He said that around one month of age it is normal for the frequency of pooping to decrease and sometimes it is dramatic. He also said that you don't want the baby to get used to a suppository and he needs to figure out how to go on his own. Karen and I were trying to keep a straight face at the thought of us giving Louis a suppository but we bought them anyway just in case we got desperate. Well, it was a good thing we DIDN'T give Louis the suppository as he had the biggest blowout I had ever seen that same evening. Of course he had to do it right as our Spicy Chicken Pizza came out of the oven. By the time I got his clothes off he had poop all over his legs, hair and face! Karen and I promptly put him in the bath tub. Let me tell you though, he was in the BEST mood all evening!!

The next day Karen and I went to the Tacoma Mall. Karen helped me find an outfit to wear for Christmas - I was bummed to find out earlier that day that none of my black pants fit anymore! We went to a Mexican Restaurant in Tacoma for lunch afterwords! When we got home the three of us watched a movie in order to work up an appetite for dinner. We went to dinner at the neighbors house who live behind us. They are from Iran and made us and awesome traditional dinner of kabobs and rice! We have gotten to know these neighbors well and they have 2 boys a 6 year old and a 1 year old and they have given Louis lots of clothes!

That night it started to snow and in the morning there was about 2 inches on the ground, but the snow had appeared to have stopped which was a relief as Karen had to leave this afternoon (Thursday). Mike, who works near the airport said that the weather was supposed to get bad again and that he was on his way home. He suggested I leave Louis at the neighbors until he could get home and I did just that. He also offered to drive Karen to the airport but it wasn't snowing here and I thought I would be fine. Well, It started snowing right before I got to the airport and it took me an hour just to get out of the airport! I was almost home (1 hr and 45 minutes later) and traffic came to a halt, in fact many cars were u-turning. I thought I would be smart and take the back roads. I realized this was an awful idea as I slid on the ice and bumped into a parked truck. There was no damage to the truck but my little Corolla just crumbled! I was so so made at myself. I dreaded making the phone call to Mike, just about as much as making the phone call to my dad after the last car accident I had about 7 years ago. Mike took it well and was glad I was okay. I had such a great time hanging out with Karen and it was great to have help with Louis (and Karen got some good mommy training in) - for someday when she had kids!

Since I didn't have car this weekend I was pretty much home bound, which is just as well as it started snowing Saturday afternoon and continued all day Sunday. We got over 6 inches of snow which is unheard of for this area. Mike, however, was in heaven and managed to make it to Crystal Mountain Saturday morning for some awesome skiing in fresh powder snow and was able to make it back home just as the snow started to fall Saturday evening.