Happy New Year!
So, the girls did pretty good New Years Eve, especially taking into account the chaos of the day. For one thing, the biggest storm of the year (2005) hit just before followed by a couple other smaller storms. Northern California was a mess! My sister, who works in Reno, couldn't get home to Tahoe as I-80 was closed down for 2 days due to rock and mud slides.
As I stood changing Tina's diaper, I heard a large crash from outside. Turns out the entire fence to the street behind us fell down with a giant wind gust. This unnerves my mother as now everyone passing by on their way to BART can not only look in, but stroll in, if they desired. What a mess! We got a call from my sister-in-law advising that the NYE party planned at her house was still on despite the fact that the storm had taken their power.
We got there just after 7 (1.5 hours after the girls' bedtime) and arrived at the still-darkened house lit up by an inviting fire and a dozen or so candles. The champagne wasn't so cold and all in the freezer was beginning to thaw (what a shame they visited Costco just a day before!!) We set up the Pack N' Play in the dark upstairs but enjoyed the cozy fire and I silently relished the fact that football and other distractions couldn't intrude on this "family time." The kidlets slept undisturbed upstairs for the most part.
PG&E called every 2 hours or so with postponed estimates on when the power would be restored. At one time, we were hopeful as not just one, but five different PG&E trucks loitered outside the house trying to fix the problem. After about 2 hours, they went home - or elsewhere. We joked we wouldn't know when midnight came because we had no clocks, but of course, everyone with a cell phone helped us solve that problem. The power finally came on just as we were leaving --- at 12:45 am!
New Years Resolutions?? Well, January 1st, Lullaby Lane is having a clearance sale. Time to start setting up our house as though we're going to live there. On the list: crib mattresses and car seats - the next size. And, although I'd planned on getting the smaller Britax Roundabout seats, the Marathons were on sale for the same price (about a $80 savings each!) and Paul thought the larger weight limit (40 lbs vs. 65 lbs) would be better for us. He also reassured me that my concern about having 2 Marathons not fitting in my backseat would be short-lived as he hoped to replace my '93 truck with nearly 200,000 miles with something more updated (I've never had a new car, so this would be nice).
The cribs, which we ordered back in September, should arrive and be ready for pick-up on Jan. 4th. Then, we'll have cribs, mattresses, handmade bumpers & quilts. If the babies can sleep well, perhaps I can, too! They are almost too big to share the Pack N' Play. Paul's almost ready to start painting the back of the house (we decided on Butter Yellow for the back 2 rooms). I resolve to do everything in my power to get this darned house ready for a family - and ready for me to entertain kidlets all day long. Let's hope it's a good year. May 2006 prove to be more settling that the year before it.
