The Blizzard of '13

Today marked the seven month birthday of the Wombats. It also marked a huge blizzard coming into town with a silly name. Winter storms get names now so that the older generation can wrinkle their nose at our silly storm named Nemo. In their day they just named the blizzard after the year. Nemo could never outdo The Blizzard of '78 even if technically we get more snow.


On Wednesday I returned home with this pizza from Roberta's in Brooklyn. Elliott was having a fit and we didn't really get a chance to eat it until last night when I returned home and Martin was having a fit. It took about three hours to calm him down after which we settled down and at the pizza as if we'd just been through the traumas of war.


I cracked open this Naughty Nurse from City Steam Brewery in hopes that she had some sort of pediatric experience. It turns out she didn't and about half way through enjoying this beer Martin woke up in a fit. He had a temperature and I ended up taking him to the doctor where he was diagnosed with RSV, a made up malady which apparently means he has a really bad cold.



After finally getting the sick guys to sleep they woke up this morning for about an hour and then took a three-and-a-half hour nap.


This unexpected event allowed me to do no fewer than fifteen loads of laundry as the snow started to pile up outside.


Before dinner I gave the guys a bath to allow them to steam a little. They had a grand old time in the bath and we even had a FaceTime with Nana and Grandpa where I was able to avoid them grabbing my phone and tossing it into the bath. I lucked out . . . this time.


Today was a roller coaster of shrieking and giggling. Apparently yesterday at day care they ladies there said that Martin wouldn't eat because every time they tried to feed him he started cracking up. They tried getting another woman to feed him but they ended up with the same results. Today was similar with both of them being pretty giggly then losing their minds as they realized snot was pouring uncontrollably out of their noses.


Tonight, in honor of seven months, I made mango for the babies. Like the peaches they were frozen and a bit acidic but the guys still seemed to like them quite a bit. Unfortunately they were so worked up they didn't really allow themselves to enjoy them as much as they could. We had to perform the rare dual-parent feeding where we both picked a baby and shoveled food into his face as fast as we possibly can. Even with this attention they still spent the fractions of seconds between spoonfuls screaming and spitting mango all over our glasses.

The Wombats' Favorite Foods (in descending order from favorite to least favorite)

1. Pears
   
2. Sweet Potato
   
3. Avocado
   
4. Mango^*
   
5. Peaches^*
   
6. Butternut Squash
   
7. Bananas
   
8. Carrot
   
9. Peas
   

^*Frozen and out of season. Will need to be ranked again when in season. After propping the guys in front of the news to watch the coverage of Winter Storm Nemo we had our dinner as the Wombats raced around the apartment in their walkers. I made this salad with radish, tomato, avocado, green onion, olive oil, salt, pepper, and lime juice. For dinner I made this chili with garlic, onion, pepper, ground beef, tomato, cumin, paprika, chili powder, hot sauce, and a touch of chocolate and peanut butter. I served it over white rice with shredded cheddar, green onion, radish, sour cream, and tomato. For beer I picked a beer that wasn't the most standard match for chili, this Canaster Winterscotch-Style Ale from KleinBrouwerij De Glazen Toren. This was a nice dark, Belgian ale with a very dry finish. I enjoyed it immensely in the thistle glass which Jen thinks is ridiculous.
For dessert we put out a loaf pan to collect snow from the blizzard then Jen made this Tier d'Erable. We boiled some maple syrup until soft ball stage then drizzled it over the packed snow in the pan. The result was a chewy maple sugar candy that was an amazing accompaniment to the remainder of the Canaster.

After hours Martin is still resisting sleep but it's been much easier than previous nights. That's an encouraging sign that the Wombats are beginning to feel better. I greatly look forward to returning to our pre-sickness routine and getting the guys to sleep before midnight. That should do great things for our quality of life.

But mostly for our quality of sleep.