A Mommy Moment

I just had one of those moments where your heart melts and you know that being a mom has to be the absolute best thing in the entire world.

I was doing the dishes from lunch while Aidan was playing with some toys in the living room. As I finished, I needed to run upstairs for something. I walked past him and said, "Aidan, I need to go upstairs for a little bit. Do you want to come or do you want to stay here?" (Yeah, I know he probably doesn't understand that yet, but I figure that by saying stuff as if he does understand it, that's how he'll learn.)

But lo and behold, my kiddo turned to look at me with the hugest grin, as if he had understood every word I said, then race crawled over to me as if he couldn't bear to be out of my sight for even a second. He looked at me with an expression of just absolute adoration. For those 20 seconds, I was his favorite thing in the entire world.

Being a mom is the BEST!!!

Math Madness

Mike and I heard a trivia contest on the radio. The question was:

In the March Madness games, what are the odds of predicting the entire bracket correctly?

1 in 35,000

1 in 35,000,000 or

1 in 35,000,000,000

Mike and I (nerds that we are) sat and figured out that there are 63 games being played (32 the first round, then 16, then 8, then 4, then 2, then 1). Each game has 2 possible outcomes. So, 2 to the 63rd power should get you close to one of the answers. (We didn't have a calculator on us, so we didn't know exactly which one to pick, but we agreed up to that point.)

However, then Mike said that not all teams are evenly matched, so each game can't be a 50/50 shot. I said that there are still 2 possible outcomes and only 1 will be correct, so you still have a one out of 2 shot for guessing the game correctly. But Mike argues that especially in the first round of games, he thinks the better teams have more than a 1/2 chance of winning.

So, math friends, help us out. Is there a one in two chance of getting the correct outcome for each game, or are some games weighted due to the team's skill?

Flood Evacuation

We live right by the Des Moines River. With temperatures finally above freezing and an inordinate amount of snow this winter that is now melting, we knew the water level would rise. Our little family has never had a problem with flooding because the opposite bank is lower than ours, but Friday night I got a call from the County Emergency Services recommending that we evacuate. I was pretty scared, mainly because Mike was gone. It was a very scary feeling to be in charge of Aidan alone during an emergency! Luckily, we were fine. I packed our stuff and took Aidan to a friend's house. Then I met Mike as his flight came in from the airport, and we went to spend the night at that same friend's house.

We went back to our house the next day to see if the water had spilled on our side. It hadn't, but we got some pretty amazing pictures to show how close it came. This is the river with all the ice that broke up and jammed in our little bend of the river. As you can see, it destroyed many of the trees that line the bank.

The ice (and probably water) got all the way up to the houses on the other side of the bank. I sure hope they all listened to the warning and got out!
This shows how close the ice got to our road. This street is the only way to exit from our house, so if it flooded we would be trapped in our house until the water receded.

The ice spilled over in a few places, but the water didn't make it up.

The comparison show shows you how high up the river is - normally it's about 8 feet below the edge of the road, but now the ice was over Aidan's head!

This morning, the water suddenly seemed to be much lower, and all the ice was gone. We found out later that one of the flood gates at the dam downriver broke open, so all the blockage has moved farther south than our neck of the woods. We think this means we should be safe, even if the river does rise another 5 feet as predicted.

Thanks again to all who opened their home and prayed for our safety. I surely felt the power of your prayers! I'm so grateful that my little family is all together and safe!

Teeth!

Babes got his front teeth in, and now the teeth on either side of that are budding, too! This makes a total of 6... anybody else wonder if he'll have a full set before he turns 1?

When Aidan Grows Up....

It's official. I know what Aidan will be when he grows up.

When he's 8, he will be the boy on the playground that chases all of the girls.
When he's 18, he will be the young track star, like his dad.
When he's 28, he will be the town's ambulance chaser.

And how do I know all this? Because my kid's a chaser!

If I leave him in the bedroom and run to do something in the bathroom, it takes about 30 seconds before he's in the bathroom with me.

When I sweep or mop, I have to put him in his swing or he will chase the broom or mop.

When I vacuum, I regularly have to move him out of the way because he follows me around.

When I do laundry, he crawls back and forth from the laundry room to the living room as I unload the clothes and fold them.

When I do an exercise video at home, I have to be constantly moving around the living room because he comes after me, determined to untie my shoelaces!

And when I play with him, one of his favorite games ever is to chase me across the room.

It's official, folks - I have a chaser!

I've Got a Feeling...

You know that song by the Black Eyed Peas?



(The real video is not appropriate, so here's a spoof version about those people that are obsessed with changing their profile pictures.) Anyway, if you change the word "night" to "day," you have the line that's been running through my head all morning.

It could have something to do with the fact that my whole house is clean, scrubbed, dusted, vacuumed, and polished, plus all the laundry is washed, folded, and put away, and the menu and grocery list are all made. All of that at THE SAME TIME!!! (Which never happens around here. And if it happens regularly at your house, keep it to yourself so we can stay friends. :)

Who knows? But I think today really might be a good good day!