No time like snowtime

Its been snowing a lot. Its good stuff. Doobs likes to look out the window and be blinded by all the white. He LOVES to sit inside the car while I brush the snow off, revealing pieces of the sky to him with every swipe of snow that comes off the back window. He even laughs sometimes when he gets hit in the face with the cold as we step outside. He is a Minnesota baby.

And his snow hat.. It is so adorable. Makes me wish it was winter all year long, just so he could wear that cute hat. He looks so cozy in his carseat, and he's usually pretty happy in there. We give him a lap blanket, put on his cute little rugby hat and zip up the carseat cover. On really cold days, we top it off with a most ridiculous flair - baby mittens!

I hate baby mittens. I really do. Oliver doesn't much like them either. I call them his flippers because he just sort of bats at his face pathetically without his thumbs and fingers to suck on. I don't even know how much they really help anyway because they're always soaked with drool by the time we take them off.

I've been working on Florida prep this week. Its a lot of work to get everything set up before we leave. I needed to stop the mail, clean the house, get Oliver's vitamin D etc. Not to mention packing. It is a nightmare. I never thought I was bad at packing until I needed to pack another person's junk as well as my own. And Jared? Well, I don't even want to think about what he is going to pack. He has a throw-things-in-suitcase-with-45-seconds-to-spare approach. He leaves a lot of things behind that he needs, and brings along a lot of junk we don't. I am just going to squirrel myself away in another room while he packs so I don't witness that carnage. I've got enough of my own packing to worry about.

Last night I couldn't sleep because I was trying to mentally pack my suitcase. I am constantly torn between taking and leaving certain luxury items. For instance... I love MyBrestFriend pillow. It makes feeding him much more relaxing and lighter on my back. But do I bring it with us, knowing that it takes up half of a suitcase? I just can't justify the packing space it'd require, so I'm going to just suck it up and use pillows to nurse O for a few weeks.

My plans for Florida? Do nothing most of the time. Glitter some cards. Go for walks outside with the Doob. Play videogames with Jared.

Things I am going to take a vacation from:
1. Watching infomercials.
2. Infernal crib mobile.
3. Making spaghetti.
4. Deathtrap bathtub.

Finally I'll get a break from all of Jared's study madness. I know he's working hard and all but it kinda drives me nuts. Kinda. Kinda a lot.

Jared likes to study on the floor in the middle of the living room. I don't know why. Everytime I walk out into the living room after a study session, it looks like The Learning Tree has shed its leaves. Lined paper is everywhere, crumpled and scribbled with obscure mathematical equations. The fruits of The Learning Tree must surely be grape soda cans, because those seem to be scattered everywhere too. There have been times when I have been tempted to rake my living room. I'm not exagerrating.

But the worst part of Learning Tree messes? You can't clean them. Because DID YOU THROW AWAY THAT SHEET OF LOOSELEAF FROM LAST SEMESTER WITH ONE SINGLE NUMBER SCRIBBLED ONTO A CORNER OF IT!?

Well, you just caused Jared to get that problem wrong and he is now probably doomed to FLUNK EVERY COURSE HE IS AND EVER WILL TAKE! You had better save that piece of paper for the next century, in case somebody swipes the University's grade records and he has to prove all of the grades he earned back in 1996.

And its not just school papers. Dear Diary, I fear Jared is a hoarder. I think he'd turn into a hoarder of TLC reality show proportions if I'd let him. I feel kind of guilty about it, because I am magical cleaning elves are constantly purging small pieces of Jared's junk collection while he's not looking. Socks have holes in them? QUICK! Throw them away before Jared gets home. This box that the router came in... Well, it somehow ended up in the garbage. Those crazy elves! Don't they know someday we might desperately need the lid to the rubbermaid storage box we no longer have? Tomfoolery.

P.S. Jared, if you read this, it is the elves, not me.. I swear! Also, kittywampus really is a word and I didn't make it up.