Our house, In the middle of the street

February was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification. The definition of purification is the process of rendering something pure, i.e. clean of foreign elements and/or pollution. In Finnish, February is called helmikuu, meaning "month of the pearl"; when snow melts on tree branches, it forms droplets, and as these freeze again, they are like pearls of ice. We defiantly have ice! I am hoping all the ice we have now will soon melt and as it washes down the streets will purify us by taking with it the cares and worries of the previous year. Last year’s ice storm was the week of January 8th. The date is s readily available to me because that is the week my MBA classes started and my youngest came home at 8 weeks of age on an oxygen saturation monitor due to pneumonia and RSV. Needless to say that was a stressful week. I dropped my classes and neglected work to focus on my family and get my boy well. While we were out of power for a week or more we used generator power and three gas fireplaces to stay warm. The baby slept in a pack-n-play in our master closet to be close to us. I would monitor his saturation at feedings to avoid running the battery too quickly. Our oldest at the ripe age of 19 months was a trooper and played right along with our camping theme while running around the house with his Thomas flashlight.

This year’s storm is a little different. We purchased a new home recently, and although we had planned on moving next weekend, we moved this weekend. The family got involved and with all of the help we had we were able to move much faster than expected. We used various trucks and vehicles and the ever popular trailer (visit my post about the trailer). We would take a load and unload it at the new house and while I organized it, the team would go get another load. It was a great system that allowed us to get settle in within a couple of days. In the midst of the move I had a midterm due (I started taking classes again this term) but was able to easily take that with the support of the family. So we get settled in and Sunday night we hear the ice man cometh! We wake up Monday to the city being shut down and no school. Shortly after waking our power went out. So we take the boys to Nana’s house and check on the old house (that is still vacant because we haven’t sold it yet) and of course it has power and internet access! So we spent Monday and Tuesday in our pajama's at Nana’s. We played outside, played on the swings in the basement, played the drums, played pool, played in the bathtub, played hide and seek behind the curtains, played, played, played. By this time I am feeling disconnected and cranky and so are my children. We are all creatures of habit.




Although I complain about the inconveniences this storm has caused I count my blessings. We are all safe, and although we have a lot of yard cleanup, we have no damage to our homes. Although Beau has a case of Croup it certainly isn’t anything like last year. I am very excited about the new house. It has a pool, hot tub, and 1.5 acres. The boys will have a great time traipsing through the woods and having grand adventures looking for bugs and making forts. The youngest seems to like it too; put him anywhere and he will sleep his 12 hour night. Gannon, on the other hand is a bird of a different color. The candles cast wispy shadows on the walls that he calls “monsters”. The generator is loud and he says it sounds like a helicopter. He tried to turn on the lights this morning and in each room said “mommy, the batteries are out in this room too”. He has told us many times “Please, this is not our home”, “this is not your home 9pointing to me), your home (pointing to daddy), my home, or brother’s home”, “this is nobody’s home (making a karate kid wax on-wax of motion with his hands)”. It breaks my heart. Once we can get up the hill with four inches of ice to the old house we plan on taking him there to show him it is empty and it is nobodys home. It is hard to explain to a 2.5 year old that anywhere is home as long as we are together.





*Disclaimer about the video: my children are very fair skinned like their mama. Although we were outside for only a few minutes, their cheeks were very red. I am not abusing or neglecting them. Also, sorry for the poor lighting but that is what you get with limited power.