Grandma Sandholm is Here!

After arriving a day later than expected to avoid the second Denver snowstorm and having to wait for her luggage to arrive after it took the long route to Seattle via both Chicago and Denver, Grandma Sandholm finally made it to Seattle to meet Sullivan, her first grandchild. Sullivan has shown us that he has a little "Eddie Haskell" in him, turning into an angel whenever Grandma holds him, and fussing much more when Dad or Mom holds him. Little booger.

Sullivan also has shown Grandma his love of sleeping, having slept pretty much non-stop again today from 10:30 AM until 8:30 PM, getting up only because we were waking him to eat and change his diaper. I'm still not sure what his deal is, but apparently he likes to sleep through at least one day a week. I'll be sure to add this question to my list of things to check with his doctor to see if it is normal or not when we visit him in a couple of weeks.

Today we had a very lazy day and spent the afternoon watching Iowa play Texas at the Alamo Bowl. Well, I should say Gabe and Grandma Sandholm watched the game; I fell asleep for most of the third and fourth quarters, and woke up to see that we lost by two. Oh, well -- there is always next year, and we really squeaked into getting into a bowl game with our crap record, anyways, so I suppose we should be thankful that is was such a close game given how we ended the regular season!

The end of football season is always a little depressing -- we always look so forward to it each year, and it's a little like Christmas being over when the season ends. At least we still have the Sonics to watch in terms of sporting events, and then the Mariners will start up again, which means football will be just around the corner. Wow, I'm not sure if it's funny or pathetic that I chart the year by what sporting events we will be able to attend or watch on TV. I blame Gabe.

Sullivan's First Christmas

Sullivan celebrated his first Christmas yesterday. He chose Christmas Day as his day to literally sleep through the entire day, requiring us to wake him up to eat every three hours to ensure he didn't starve himself. We did manage to get a photo of him passed out with all of the great loot everyone sent him for his first Christmas. Nice haul, and he was never even conscious to enjoy it! Oh, well. There is always next year.

Needless to say, this trend of "all day sleeping" when he is not yet a teenager worried me to no end and resulted in two concerned phone calls -- one to the nurse's hotline, and the other to the doctor's office after hours service to see if he might be sick, hurt or what could be going on. Good news is that Sullivan is apparently absolutely fine, it's me -- his paranoid mother -- who has the problem. Oh, well. I would rather have it be that way than something wrong with Sullivan. As the doctor on-call told Gabe, "Babies just do weird things sometimes." Comforting.

With Sullivan's excitement for sleep yesterday, Gabe and I did take advantage of it and didn't get up until noon, opened presents around 1:45 PM, and had our Christmas dinner around 7:30 PM on TV trays while watching the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football. We didn't get out of our pajamas all day long, but that is pretty much par for the course for me lately, anyways -- but even Christmas didn't result in a change in habit there. :) Other than the frantic calls to nurses and doctors, it was a very low-key Christmas, but nice nonetheless. And we have plenty of ham, green bean casserole and scalloped corn to eat for a few more meals, so no cooking necessary in the near-term for us -- just microwaving!

We Don't Have to Live Like Refugee-ees

We're home! Gabe, Sullivan and I made it back home last night. Gabe called the Clampett's yesterday afternoon and they let us know that the power came back on around 7 AM PT on Sunday morning, and by the time we got home in the evening, the house was warm and toasty. We stayed at Hostel Hennessey to watch football in the afternoon and had our last communal dinner of fajitas and Spanish rice, and then made our pilgrimage back to Seattle and gave the Hennessey's a night free of middle of the night wake-up calls from little Mr. Sullivan. And I also found myself referring to the Hennessey's as "home" a couple of times, so it probably was best we left when we did! I was definitely making myself quite comfortable. :) The photo above is of the first night at Hostel Hennessey with all of the "refugees" -- the Folgedalen's and Sandholm's -- along with our littlest host, Alistair.

When we got home last night, we discovered that Jack and Jinxie survived the freeze-out just fine, and today Gabe fixed our garage door (we had to do some messing with it to get it to open without electricity, and then when we got home to use it when the power came back on, it would shut and then immediately re-open), and we also took the opportunity of having an empty refrigerator to completely clean it out, wash down the shelves and clean out all of the weird condiments we haven't finished or looked at in over a year. So, I guess we can thank the power outage for our newly cleaned refrigerator!

Tonight the Popelka's brought us over dinner and hung out for a bit. It's so fun to see Claire as compared to Sully -- Claire is crawling, going up stairs, pulling herself up to furniture and actually interactive and loves to play! Sully -- although very cute -- has picked today to turn into a grumpy little boy, so I spent most of the time while the Popelka's were here trying to feed him at various times to calm him down. I'm hopeful this crying thing is short-lived and he's just chronically hungry because he's going through a growth spurt that started today or something, but who knows. We'll see how things progress throughout the week. At least for the past four nights he's been letting us sleep in three-hour intervals -- we'll see if that pattern holds for tonight!

In Case You're Wondering, We're Still Refugees

The Sandholm's are now in Day 3 at Hostel Hennessey. We are trying to find out if our power is back on yet today so we can make the return home and stop our Kato Kaelin-esque lifestyle and let the Hennessey's get their normal routine back. Seattle City Light is REALLY making me frustrated, noting on their web site that:

"However, after the weekend, a small number of miscellaneous outages will remain, or trickle in, due to the severity of the wind damage. Unfortunately, some customers may be without power for 48-72 hours, and others could experience extended outages of up to four (4) days. They should plan accordingly."

i.e. If you live in the "ghetto" areas of Seattle (as we do), get used to being a mooch and turning your friend's home into a homeless shelter, get a hotel, or got to an actual makeshift Red Cross shelter in your local community center. Sigh.

I also hope the power turns back on soon so we don't have two little cat popsicles when we return -- Gabe and Seth went to our house yesterday to check on things, and Jack and Jinxie are hanging in there, and they got more food, water and their litter cleaned -- it just is going to be a test of their mettle to see if they can handle the cold. It was supposed to get down to 28 degrees last night, but they have lots of blankets they can burrow under, they have each other to huddle with, and they are both pretty fat, so they should be OK. But is still too bad for those little guys. I'm sure they will each have a thing or two to say to us once the power goes back on, and we will have to give them a little loving to make up for their current struggles.

The Sandholm Refugees

The Sandholm family are currently refugees staying at the Hennessey house. The Hennessey's graciously took us in yesterday afternoon, and we Sandholm's -- used to the Midwest timeframe for getting power back online -- came prepared to stay for a few hours and then return home to a house with full power and heat in the evening. Well, that didn't exactly pan out as hoped, and we called the Clampett's (the Clampett's are our neighbors across the street -- FYI, their last name really isn't Clampett, but I can explain more about that some other time) to see if the power was back on yet, and it wasn't. Our power went off on Thursday night during "the worst windstorm in the Seattle area since the Inaugural Day windstorm of '93," and it is now Saturday, for those of you keeping track, and our power still isn't on.

Seattle is the most ridiculous place when it comes to severe weather response, I swear. I understand that the severe weather situations are different here than in the Midwest, but it is so frustrating to not see power lines covered with an inch coating of ice, a foot of snow on the ground, or some other indication that a very severe storm has gone through to warrant more than 24 hours with no power. Granted, there are lots of trees and power lines down around the area, and I am very thankful that none of the power lines or trees by our house fell and that the only exposure I've had to seeing the damage is via the news coverage, but it's still odd to me how long it takes a city to get everything back online. Oh, well -- thank goodness for good friends like the Hennessey's who have power and the space for us!

In addition to the Sandholm's, the Folgedalen's were also refugees at Hostel Hennessey last night, so we just had a big 'ol sleepover. It was very exciting, aside from the fact that I personally had a breakdown about imposing on the Hennessey's, thinking I didn't have everything we needed (i.e. a change of clothes and toothbrushes), blah, blah blah...I blame it on hormones. And now I'm fine today, warm and actually sociable, although I am a bit scrounge-y, in need of a toothbrushing, shower and clean clothes. Gabe, Sullivan and I will be headed home here shortly to check on Jack and Jinxie, make sure no one broke into our house or garage, and get everything we need to return to the Hennessey's for another sleepover. We aren't confident that we have power yet, but are keeping track of things via Seattle City Light and the local news.

Sullivan Update: Four Days Old

Here is the link to Sully's album online -- I just did a camera dump, so there are lots of duplicate shots, some really blurry shots and almost none of the pictures has a caption or title, but I think you should pretty much be able to figure out who is whom. :)

Also, some fun facts about what is now cool after being home for a couple days as a new Mom:

• Bendy straws are awesome. These things are the best invention ever and make it easy to drink your beverage while your hands are full, in this case, with a Sully.
• The vacuum cleaner is a great baby soother. We now keep the vacuum cleaner is Sully's room. When he starts freaking out because he is really hungry, doesn't like getting his diaper changed, or just generally mad, we turn on the vacuum cleaner and he quiets right down. Research has shown that the noise level in the womb is louder than a vacuum cleaner with all the blood and fluids rushing around, so apparently a vacuum in a room is just like being in the womb.
• Gabe and I have never been so happy to see a dirty diaper. Sully didn't make a dirty diaper for 28 hours straight, but now he is nice and regular, and we give a little cheer everytime Sully has a poop- or pee-filled diaper. And he's already peed against the wall! That was an especially exciting time. :)

Sully also had his first doctor's appointment this morning, and everything is tracking along A-OK. He weighs the same as he did when he left the hospital (7 lbs. 6 oz.), so he hasn't lost anymore weight in the past two days, and he isn't jaundiced, although the doctor said it would be good if we could get him in some natural sunlight to amp up his vitamin D intake. That ought to be fun to try and do what with our living in Seattle and it being winter, but we did manage to get him in the sun for about 15 minutes today, and apparently gray light even works, so we'll work to get him in front of the windows as much as possible!

Introducing Sullivan Franklyn Sandholm

So, this is probably old news to many of you by now, but Sullivan Franklyn Sandholm is now here! He joined the world at 12:44 PM PT on Friday, December 8, 2006. He was 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long, so definitely not as big as the Brutus baby that we were expecting. :)

We made it home yesterday afternoon, and things are going pretty well. I'm still on the mend from a non-textbook like delivery...I'll spare you all the gory details, but bottom-line is that I lost a lot of blood and currently look like a vampire who hasn't had a victim in awhile. I'm working on getting my blood volume and blood count back up, so hopefully by the end of the week things will be better in that regard. The doctor is trying to keep me from getting a blood transfusion, but I really don't care if I get one or not -- I just want to get my energy back!

We also have been concerned about Sully over the past day -- he didn't provide us with anything interesting (anything at all, actually) in his diaper for over 28 hours. Things started to turn around today, but that was a bit concerning for awhile. He has his first "well-baby" check tomorrow morning, so the doctor should be able to help us determine what we need to do, what we really need to be concerned about and that sort of thing. Considering I've been doped up on lots of interesting drugs over the past few days, I wonder if any of those have affected Sully in any way...however, the doctors and nurses at the hospital knew I was trying to be a breast-feeding mom, so I'm sure (or at least hopeful) that they took that into consideration before piping all of these interesting meds into me through my wonderful IV.

So, anyways, enjoy the photos of our newest Sandholm and his parents (and yes, I'm the swollen, pale, tired looking one in the glamorous hospital robe -- just in case you were wondering)! If you are interested in seeing all of the pictures since his arrival, I'm currently uploading them, but will be sure to provide the link so you can check them out once they are done uploading (likely won't get that all sorted until tomorrow sometime).

Gabe's Company Christmas Party

We've spent the last couple of weekends getting into the holiday spirit and keeping ourselves busy waiting for Junior's arrival. This past weekend we went to Gabe's company holiday party at the Edgewater Hotel on the waterfront in downtown Seattle -- here's a photo of us at our table, and yes, I have two desserts in front of me. They were both pretty good, although I have had better creme brulee in my day. But I did manage to finish both of them, in case you were wondering. :) The other photo is of us before we left home for the party -- I suppose more of a "family" photo as there is a nice profile shot of Junior front and center.

On Sunday, the Hennessey's came over and we had a Christmas cookie baking extravaganza, but a bit scaled back one from last year. The "scaling back" part can likely be attributed to the fact that we were two men down, as the two "men" were firmly rooted into the couch watching football all afternoon while Kelly and I baked cookies -- including chocolate crinkles, peanut butter cookies with the Hershey's Kiss in the middle and gingersnaps-- and we also made Puppy Chow (or "Muddy Buddies" for those of you not hip to the Puppy Chow phenomena). And, to be fair, the "men" were also taking care of the "wee man" Alistair, so I guess they did have that going on as well.

At 5:30 PM the Seahawks game started, so Kelly and I then joined the guys to eat pizza and watch the game, so we didn't get to dipping pretzels and the peanut butter ritz sandwiches in almond bark, the last real treat-related project for the day. But both households have the supplies available to go ahead and get those treats made, so maybe that will be something Gabe and I can do this weekend, unless Junior decides to show up before then!

Snow in Seattle

So, I’ve been meaning to put up a post about the snow we’ve received in Seattle all week, especially since snow is such a rarity here and I am such a weather junkie and find all things weather-related exciting and interesting! I was trying to wait to put up a post until I could get a photo of our yard so you could SEE what I was talking about, but every time I wanted to take a photo of our snowy yard, it was dark outside. And, by Midwestern standards, the snow at our house wasn’t at ALL exciting – just an inch or two that really kept itself on the grass, trees and rooftops. We got the least of it for the area, though – check out the Hennessey’s! They live just north of Seattle, and they got enough snowfall to write home about (and the photos to prove it :)).

The weather for them was much more exciting than at our house – we were still able to make it into work every day, and the roads were just frosty or wet, depending on the temperature. The good news was that traffic was great, though, because a lot of people stayed home from work and school for most of the week, making our commute nice and quick! And we apparently broke all records for the wettest month ever in Seattle, and had almost every weather event that Seattle can have: flooding, wind storms, snow storms, and even sun. We’ll see how December shapes up!