still good, still good.....

Life... is still good! Exhausting, but good. I found two grey hairs on my head tonight! While the kids were in the bath, and I swear they weren't there the last time I  - checked? I don't check, they just happened to be sticking out sticking up, begging to be pulled out. They might have something to do with the happenings of the last few days - here goes...

So, on Tuesday I made a game-time decision to drive to Toronto - Paul and Steph and Jimmy were in town, plus all of the other B-ville regulars (minus the Gramps-parents), and I was thinking that it'd be good to see everyone, have some company and get west before the library conference started (due to begin on Wednesday evening, running through Saturday). We left at 2:06, and by the time we hit the 417 (an hour's drive, more or less) we'd also hit a blizzard. I'm no pro at winter driving, but I do know that I do not want to be driving in white-out conditions (with the kids), with transport trucks flying by. It got better and then it got worse and I could barely see the tanker truck in front of me, so I got off in Kingston and found a hotel. I presented it to the kids as a super fun night in a hotel, yay for us! We get to stay in a hotel! They were both in good spirits, and I was just happy to not be behind the wheel; it was dark and snowing hard, and there were warnings to stay off the roads due to whiteouts and snow squalls (= "sudden moderately heavy snow fall with blowing snow and strong, gusty surface winds"). We stayed here, and it was great - for $139 we got a room with two beds, a fireplace, a hot buffet breakfast, parking, and free internet.

Great? Sleep not great. I knew it would be a bit of a rodeo getting everyone to sleep, and it surrrrre was. We were "in bed" around 9:00 (boy in one bed, girls in the other), and Hendrik's running commentary went something like this (oh if only, somehow, it had all been transcribed):

Hendrik: "mommy? mommy! It's 9:06. Oh! Mommy! Mommy? Mommy! Now it's 9:07! And do you see that? Look! Loooook it's a mouse! It's a pretend mouse! Where's it going? Mommy, you shouldn't talk when you're trying to sleep, Alana shouldn't talk when it's night-time."
me: "Hendrik, SHH. Alana isn't talking and it is night-time.... and you're talking. You shouldn't be talking. Sleep!"
Hendrik: "But I'm not talking! Alana's talking, she shouldn't be talking now, it's time to sleep. Mommy! Mommy? Mommy! Now it's 9:08! Wow. Look at the clock mommy. Do you see my face? Do you see my smile? It's this big! Mommy? Did you see? Did you see that? Mommy? Are you there? LOOK, ! it's nine oh NINE!"

and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Meanwhile Alana was doing bum-drops on the bed and I was trying not to fall asleep because I knew she'd fly off the bed and I probably wouldn't wake up and then I'd find her asleep under the bed or something. I tried corralling her, got a bloody lip (really), sang, told stories ("Mommy you shouldn't talk shh go to sleep" says Hendrik). Anyways, we finally did get some shut-eye and whatever, it was better than white-knuckling it on the 401.

The next morning the highways were closed (multiple accidents in both directions, including this one - 100 cars!), and conditions looked horrible, so we called my sister's ex's parents and paid them a visit. The padre insisted we stay there and I was so glad to have the company, a crib for Alana and a bed for Hendrik; it definitely saved some of my sanity (conversations with an adult! in person!) and made sleeping a lot more functional. On Thursday the roads were clear so we headed for home instead of Bowmanville; with more bad weather scheduled for the weekend, I figured I wouldn't want to chance a blizzard on the road again.

And here we are, Saturday, February. Since our return home on Thursday afternoon, we hit day one of Winterlude, paid Costco a visit, went to the library (where there was this: reading, I have to pee!, check out, pay unexpected fine, walk to car, hat is lost, back to library, find hat, get dressed, walk to car, I have to pee - !!!), Michael's, made Valentine's, put together an Ikea kiddie kitchen, and picked up a few essentials from the grocery store (milk, broccoli and coffee cream). The kids are great, but days are exhausting, and by the time they're in bed all I really want to do is check out. Shower, exercise, to-do lists - all of these things require a double-down effort, and more often than not, don't happen. Meh. I'll shower tonight, and exercise later (or not). To-do lists tomorrow night... and now, bed!