Staying put for a while

We had a great time with the families. We spent a day and a half with E's fam. Tot's cousin is scheduled to be born tomorrow, so we had a chance to spend some last few hours with our niece, catch up with E's brother and sister-in-law, and relax with her dad. As always, we had a wonderful time.

We did have strange travels from E's hometown to mine. On the way, we got a call from my sister K telling us that she had locked herself out of the house and was going to be late in leaving. As luck would have it, we were about five minutes from her house on the highway, so we stopped by her place and helped her break in through a window. After that, we caravanned the rest of the way.

As we drove, the weather worsened. The snow was blowing and growing heavier. Traffic slowed somewhat, but not too significantly, until all of a sudden - 15 miles from my sister B's house, traffic came to a screeching halt... except that the roads were covered in ice and no one had realized it, so no one could actually stop. E was pumping the breaks and watching our rear view mirror as the driver behind us lost control of his vehicle and was coming at us sideways. As that was happening, I looked up and saw my sister across the highway pointing the wrong way. I was sure she had been hit, so I took off my seat belt ready to go and get her. E, who is absolutely amazing, remained calm. She yelled at me to stay in my seat while also getting our car into the grassy shoulder where we could get some traction and come to a stop. As we did, my sister waved and drove over to us. She was fine. We were fine. We spent the next 4 hours driving the remaining 15 miles, past accident after accident with fire trucks and ambulances passing us on the highway shoulder. I can attest that seeing someone you love in (what you perceive to be) danger is much worse than being in danger yourself. We were all very fortunate to escape unscathed. The totaled cars and rushing sirens proved that we were very lucky that day.

We had a very nice time with my family as well. (By the time we actually arrived, we had all recovered from being so shaken, and were just tired and ready to enjoy each other.) The weather kept my other sister and mom from showing up, but we had a nice time that evening with B, B's fam and K.

On Saturday we had a fantastic time at the shower. So many folks showed up, and all were incredibly generous. Clothes, gear, books and toys galore! Our son is going to be born into a large community of family and friends that love us and love him already. It was wonderful to feel that this weekend.

We left yesterday morning after breakfast and were happy to be home last night. We unpacked the car and started sorting all of the "loot"! Our nursery is full! We definitely need a bigger house! We were happy, too, to be home with the dog and be in our own bed. ahhh....

That was our last trek for quite some time. Other than taking a ride to a nearby state park, we are not likely to be doing any traveling until our little one makes his grand appearance. That's in about 6 weeks according to the due date. Um, OMG!!! The time is speeding up now. We are going to need every single weekend to get things done. We're looking at the end here, and it's coming up fast!