Icicles

Today I was driving to the mall on my lunch break to pick up some Christmas gifts for Leila's teachers. There are trees all along the roadway on the Oakdale Campus that are in that stage of life where they aren't baby trees, but they aren't huge full grown trees either. You can tell that they were hardy enough not to have their trunk bowed by the storm, and not old enough to be brought down by the weight of the ice, but they are most definitely not unscathed by the ice storm. They are covered in ice and each limb appears like a large fat arm that the poor tree just can't seem to lift above it's "waist," they just look wore out, but not ready to give in.
Today the sun is coming out, and hopefully the trees won't be such a depressing sight to see tomorrow. Some of the trees just look beautifully preserved in a shiny coat of ice. I will post a few of those pictures that I have stolen from various places online.
I was hoping to find a picture online that looked like these trees so I could show you, but none of them really look like the trees I am thinking of that line the street outside of my work.
Anyway, I feel like one of those trees. I am getting by, but I feel like I am carrying about 50 extra pounds, both literally and figuratively.

Here is a picture from the local paper of a farm in our area:


And here is our deck on Tuesday:


Some pretty ice pictures I found...




Cory has been out of town all week. It's a struggle, every time he is gone I spend a lot of time questioning my parenting abilities. I don't cope well with single parenthood, and work travel takes a huge toll on me. I am sure that it is because Cory is such a wonderful, involved father that when I go from 50% needed to 100% needed, I just can't handle it. So don't expect any siblings for Leila ANYTIME soon!

Now-Enough of my miserable weather analogies and on to the good stuff, the reason we all visit this blog! :)

Miss Leila...what can I say, she is a genius. I hate to brag (well, that isn't really true), but I will anyway. We decided to buy her a potty chair. Yes, we know she is only 19 months old, but she is always telling us when she is going to poop, so we decided, why the hell not! That potty chair had been in our bathroom less than 24 hours when she made her first deposit. On Tuesday when we were home bound together I only changed one diaper. ...the rest was potty chair city baby! Progress has since slowed, but I am not pushing it, I still had to brag on my girl a little bit.

She is as joyful as always and here are some pics to prove it:

Here she is drawing on Grandma day, and no, she didn't make that snow man! :)


putting her hair spray away after momma put in her "pretties"


And here she is on Tuesday, this is the face she gives me when I say, "Leila please smile so mommy can take your picture!"


Much love! Tricia