Last weekend we attempted to get to Ohio for the third time. We wanted to leave Thurs but there was a chance of snow that day so we pushed it until Fri. We left that morning around 9am and got to Cumberland without a problem. As we got to Cumberland, we heard that I-68 was closed and that there were blizzard conditions west of there. I have no idea what I was thinking but I guess I just didn’t believe the radio. I called Dad but he couldn’t see anything about 68 being closed. So when we got directed off of the highway, I made the executive decision that we would take Rt 40, which parallels 68. We ventured on and as we made our way up Savage Mountain, the snow started, got heavy and the road got covered quickly. Pigpen even commented that conditions really worsened in about a mile. But for some reason, I kept going. Soon, we got the an entrance to I-68 and I figured that the interstate had to be better than Rt 40 so we got on. But it was only 1 lane and you could barely see the pavement. There were people ahead of and behind me so I felt somewhat better that I wasn’t alone but it was amazing how bad conditions were. The wind was SO strong (Pigpen commented before all this that the wind would add 10 miles to the trip because of all the swerving he was doing). Conditions were whiteout. I quickly decided we needed to stop and I saw a sign for a Comfort Inn at a nearby exit. I took the next exit but quickly realized that was the wrong one so I had to get back on the interstate without really stopping and just hoping the snow wasn’t deep enough that I’d get stuck. We were in the Buick afterall. So I got off at the next exit, and pulled into the hotel. Ironically, it was across the street from the truck stop we stopped at 2 years ago when the Honda got a flat tire. James went to get us a room but came back shaking his head. I freaked out. I knew that James and I could live without a hotel room and sleep in the car but what about the baby? We had everything we needed for her food wise but I was really freaked. James said the lady mentioned another hotel down the road so I found it on the GPS, called and they amazingly had room. It was 3 miles down the interstate and I didn’t know if we could make it but I sure as hell was going to try. We couldn’t go east—we had seen the police close the road and there was a couple mile backup of cars just sitting on the highway. Our only choice was to go west. So we ventured out, made it to the exit, found the hotel and were lucky enough to get a room. We unpacked everything and I ran up to the gas station before it got TOO bad to get some food in case the restaurant, which was closing at 6pm that night, couldn’t open the next day or if we were stuck for longer than we thought. We had dinner that night before the restaurant closed and there were some people who had still been on the road but there were no more rooms. I was just really glad we got one. We watched some Olympics and had a quiet night watching the first snow in a really long time that James didn’t have to work in.
We were able to leave the next day and we got to Ohio around 3pm. We were pooped from our adventure but we had a nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa. We went to Grandpa’s church, College Hill Community Church, Cadence’s first dose of religion. It was a multi-racial church with a mix of African Americans, Hispanics and whites. Even the service was translated into Spanish. It was neat. Cadence was pretty well behaved—she had a bottle at the beginning of the service, sang a little bit during it and napped at the end. Grandpa enjoyed showing her off afterwards. We met Grandma for Skyline chili the next day before she flew off to Chicago and we enjoyed a quiet afternoon at home with Graeters for dessert that night. We left on Monday, around noon and it took about 9 ¾ hours to get home since we stopped a couple of times. Cadence did great on the drive home, only really getting fussy when she was hungry. Luckily she wasn’t mobile enough to get antsy about sitting in the seat too long.
She enjoyed meeting Grace and watching her walk around. She loved Grace’s laser pointer light and followed it almost as excitedly as the cat. Grandpa was the first person other than mommy and daddy to feed Cadence rice cereal and veggies, which she didn’t have a problem with coming from another person. Mommy and daddy liked having a babysitter, but didn’t like sleeping in the same room as the baby!
At this point, I have stopped pumping, as of about two weeks ago. I had gotten down to once a day during the Feb blizzard and it didn’t seem to make sense to keep doing it. I still have a little frozen milk that I will start using up. Cadence has taken well to formula and rice cereal and fruits and veggies. Yesterday, she started getting a little fussy about how much she eats—she hasn’t been finishing her bottles which is a little odd. Today she is over at Oma and Pop Pop’s so mommy and daddy can get some things done and apparently she didn’t take her full 2pm bottle for Oma either. Who knows what’s going on. If it continues, I’ll probably ask the doctor.
Her eczema just doesn’t get better. It did after we got the steroid cream but then got back again and it just comes and goes. The best it has looked was Wed morning after Pigpen gave her a bath Tues night. The back of her legs are definitely the worst and now its in the crook of her elbows too. She has developed hives (according to Judy at bells) on her chest and back that developed a day or two before our followup checkup for the eczema on Feb 22. We hadn’t changed anything like her formula and I changed the detergent from whatever we had from Costco to All dye and scent free which we happened to have (the doctor recommended it) but that was after the hives started. The doc recommended trying a hypoallergenic formula, which is mighty expensive but since her formula has never changed and the eczema started before her 4 month checkup when she was still exclusively on breastmilk, I don’t think that’s it. She doesn’t seem fussy b/c of the skin and doesn’t really seem to itch it except on her ankles sometimes and when she lays on her bed or changing pad, she moves her back around but it doesn’t seem to bother her a lot. The doc recommended a dermatologist appt around a month after we saw her so I made one but the hives seemed to get worse so I made one with a different doc this Tues. Maybe they will have some other answers? I wonder if we can test for allergies.
She is really sitting up very well, and you can walk away and trust she’ll still be sitting up when you get back. You still need to put something soft behind her to catch her but she doesn’t always need it. Its amazing how good she’s gotten in about 2 weeks!
All in all, she’s still a supremely happy baby! She smiles at everyone, rarely cries except when hungry and plays well by herself. No more teeth yet but everything still goes into the mouth. She LOVES her pink toddler spoon—that one always seems to entertain her these days.
Cute pic from a few days ago.
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