Who will win Round 1?

Rest assured: All fighting participants were closely supervised.

For the first time in….I’d guess 20 years, neither Josh nor I could stay awake until midnight. But we still had quite the New Year’s Eve day.

It started when we woke up around 5 am. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, which was nice and relaxing. Nora was doing just fine, crawling around on the floor at the gate. I know, I know, I can’t believe I was okay with it either. But it really is true.

Poor Nora’s had a bit of a cold and I think she was just worn out from all the festivities, but we were hopeful she’d do okay on the plane. (It was a morning flight after all- yippee!) I didn’t realize how exhausted she was. Just after take off, she burrowed herself between my arm and sweater and passed out in seconds. Josh and I stared at each other with hope. (This so did not happen on the last flight back to Seattle.) She slept for 40 minutes! It was a New Year’s Eve miracle!

After she woke up, I thought, “Great, she got a nap time in. She probably won’t fall asleep the rest of the flight.” Oh, me of little faith. My girl took another quick nap about an hour later. Then, in the middle of flipping through one of her books, she just leaned back onto me and closed her eyes. And took her third nap- she slept for an entire hour! I even got to sleep.

So yay for another good flight! She did get a little fussy towards the last hour, but not enough to draw too much attention. Oh, and I should mention that on both this flight and the one into Atlanta, we recognized a flight attendant from our Oh-No-We-Are-The-Parents-of-The-Screaming-Baby-on-the-Plane flight. And both said, “Oh yes, I do remember you guys.” They were nice about it, but still. Oh dears.

Thanks so much for everyone who prayed for our trip. We really appreciate it and are so thankful that the last two flights went so much better. Praise the Lord for the small things that make such a difference.

We landed around 11 am Seattle time. It was the weirdest feeling to drive home from the airport feeling like we had so much of the day ahead. Our day had started 7 hours ago. We woke up in Marietta and were in our Kirkland apartment by lunch time. (Local time, anyway.) The wonders of modern travel. I mean, we crossed the country in one morning. It took the pioneers on the Oregon Trail, what, six months to do that?

Nora was downright giddy when we walked down the hallway to our door. Remy wasn’t there; he was still at our AWESOME FRIENDS, THE SMITHS’ (YOU GUYS ARE WAY TOO GOOD TO US!!) house. So while there was no Remy to greet us, guess what was waiting for our arrival? The saddest, Charlie Brownest tree you ever did see. Aww…

And guess what else was waiting for us? Lots and lots of Christmas cards! Most people were still sending them out when we left. Opening them felt like a 2nd Christmas. I love this tradition. The Christmas cards will be displayed for awhile. The tree has got to go before it just keels over.

Then we had an afternoon that we didn’t really know how to fill. We ended up ordering pizza, getting some things unpacked, waiting on said pizza, catching up on Tivoed shows and taking turns holding Nora who was just about done.

Okay, fine, the truth is that I bent over to pick up my bag when I was standing next to the opened door of the taxi while I was holding Nora and when I stood back up, I didn’t realize how close the door was and she bumped her head and it was all my fault and she’d been doing so well and suddenly she was a train wreck and I felt sick about it. I admit it.
So while she was probably just tired and recovering from the busy day, she was pitiful, cranky, and not at all herself. I spent the afternoon reassuring myself that there was very little chance she had a concussion.

Josh went to pick up Remy around 5. When he made his grand entrance, Nora was absolutely thrilled. Her eyes lit up and she was so happy, she couldn’t do anything but sit, stare, and yell with pure delight. If we’d known she would be so excited, we would have documented it.

Nora was ready for bed around 6. Josh made it until about 6:15. He didn’t even make it to a bed, he just slept on the couch. I caught up on some Glee episodes- reruns I hadn’t seen yet, yay – and read until I could no longer form coherent thoughts. I fell asleep around 10.

However. I was awake at the stroke of midnight. I probably could have slept through the nearby fireworks, but Remy could not. It turns out that along with my phone’s low battery warning, Remy is terrified of the sound of small, planned explosions. He paced nervously around the bed and breathed on my face until I woke up to reassure him. So I did get to hear fireworks and the clock said it was exactly midnight. I didn’t miss New Year’s after all.

Hope you all had a great New Year’s celebration! Or at least that you were awake for it. =)

Today Lauren turns 27.

Also, today is the first birthday for our sweet little niece (and Nora’s cousin) Faith! They’re celebrating over here.

We are part of history this week. It’s the hottest it’s been in Seattle since 1891. Wednesday’s high was around 109. As you’ve probably heard from us, AC is very rarely installed in homes here. Normally, it’s much cooler during the summers and there’s only a few weeks when you’d miss the air conditioning. It’s been very interesting to see how people react to this heat. Everyone is talking about it, tweeting it, and updating Facebook statuses about it. We’re all a little obsessed.

Even as I write, our computers are having a hard time. I am on Josh’s work computer (shh, don’t tell) because my laptop’s space bar is off duty and the desktop keeps crashing. The technology can’t take it.

So our challenge and priority this week is to keep cool. On Monday, a friend invited us over to her condo’s pool and we stayed there for almost four hours. On Tuesday, Nora and I went to a lakeside beach with some ladies, then wandered around some of the local stores.

Wednesday was the projected peak of the heat, so we had a full day planned. A big chunk of time was devoted to shopping venues, since retail places do have air conditioning. Costco was the recipient of about an hour of our time and all I really needed to do was return a pillow. Once you braved the heat to get in, you want to stay for awhile.

Then we headed over to the library. There was gridlock in the parking lot as people fought for spaces. I say “fought,” but it was more like just waiting in line because hey, the cars have AC, too. So after 30 minutes of circling and stalking people who were heading back to their cars, we headed inside. One of the librarians announced that they were opening up another area to accommodate the growing crowds.

After two hours or so, Nora was getting a little antsy so we went to the biggest, coolest place I could imagine. Da da da daaaa- the mall! More craziness. The parking deck was almost completely full. We were able to get a covered space (victory! victory!) and followed the lines inside. All the chairs and waiting areas were packed with people trying to recover and regroup. The food court and all the coffee places were overflowing. And so many strollers! These poor kids were just so done and sleeping in all sorts of crazy positions. One lady was even pushing her dog around in one of those rented strollers. (I am so serious.)

We meandered and browsed and bought very little, just like most of the people there. Afterward, we met Josh at his air conditioned office building so Nora could take a break from the car seat and stretch out on the floor. All of us came home, checked on Remy to make sure he was alive (he was and is), refilled his water bowl, and went right back out to the nice, cool coffee shop downstairs.

Later, after we returned home, it happened.  Our huge fan that has been going almost nonstop, the fan that we move with us from room to room, the fan that has been so trusted… for no discernible reason whatsoever, fell off its perch and lost a blade. It still works, though it’s louder and moves across the floor if you don’t put it next to a wall. But it works!

The good news is that the worst is supposed to be over and it will begin to cool off starting today. I’m really proud of Nora. She hasn’t been having decent naps at all but still finds a way to smile and be sweet for us. We’ve also had some really thoughtful people include us in their plans to go to pools and beaches. Our community group even encouraged us to bring Remy along with us so he could roam in their shaded yard. We’re so grateful for these friends and the fact that we live in a country where being this uncomfortable isn’t the norm.

For now, the entire city is eagerly looking forward to our next rainfall. Isn’t it ironic?