Cautiously Celebrating!

We are getting cautiously good news from the National Weather Service this morning. They think the river is in the process of cresting. This means that it could still go up a foot or so, but that would be significantly lower than the 43-foot possibility that we were all worried about. It is still important that the conditions "behave" with the storm forecast for Monday going south of us, the wind staying down (it would push the water more violently against the dikes), and the temperatures not warming up too quickly. Those are a lot of conditions to line up correctly, but at least we are getting good news! That feels much better than Thursday's grim news about the higher crest. It lets everyone take a deep breath at least.

New Identities

Miss Mouse, Baby Mouse, and I officially have new identities as "evacuees". Daddy made us leave this morning to come out to the lake (his parents' place). We talked about it last night when the National Weather Service narrowed their river crest forecast to 41 ft (the high end of what they had been predicting), and the city began scrambling to beef up the dikes that had been being constructed all week. He is particularly worried because the area is attempting to do in about 5 days what it took 3 weeks to do in 1997. Understandably that would leave more room for error in such a rush. It's amazing to see what has been done in such a short time and encouraging to witness how people work together so well and willingly. Neither one of us wanted to trust a quickly-constructed dike with Baby Mouse's life, though.

Our specific worries are if the dike would break at the park north of our house, if the lift stations would fail, or if the power would go off (Baby Mouse couldn't stand the cold for very long). The deciding factor for me, other than the fact that my husband wasn't giving me a whole lot of choice, was hearing a city official on the news explaining that if you cannot physically walk to a boat to evacuate when you need to, then you should get out now. Obviously we have two little ones that would have a hard time just taking off on their own to get to a boat.

It's very difficult for me to have left Mike at home....I just never thought of myself as one of the "women and children" to jump off the ship first; I'd rather stay and help with the fight! But, the little "mice" need to be cared for and need to be safe above all; I suppose choosing to be their mommy means I chose to "jump ship" first, as well. As I was whining about leaving him, Mike was adamant that "this is what men do. We go to war; we fight fires; we fight floods; we protect." Protect-away, love, just make sure to protect yourself...for your girls.

Hanging On...So Far...

We're still home and still dry. We got news today that the crest is predicted to go higher than they thought; well, it is predicted to be at the high end of what they were initially thinking. Daddy went to check out how high that would be up at the park north of our home. It will cover our entire playground up there along with all the buildings from the performing arts school. I suppose that isn't of too much concern to most people anymore since the school "officially" moved, but I think it is sad. We've been hearing huge trucks hauling clay/sand up to the golf course and to the road south of the park around the clock. It hasn't disturbed Miss Mouse's sleep (neither has her sister's night-time crying bouts, thank goodness) yet. We took a walk yesterday and looked at the area they are working on (not so close that we would get arrested, though!). It really is crazy to see, especially for this girl from Western ND! Fall rains, lots of snow, and spring rains/snowstorms are welcome out there, for the most part!

Daddy is talking about possibly sending us away. I don't like the idea, of course, because he won't be coming with and also because I'm not sure how many roads are actually still open and safe at this point. But I'm thankful we have a safe, comfortable, pleasant place to go (my in-laws) if we need to, and we certainly are both most concerned with the girls' safety above everything. As Daddy said today "Miss Mouse will think it is fun." I didn't respond with "Yes, but I won't" because I think I would have cried. Oh well. We're going to try to attend the prayer service at church tonight. He's preaching, and it sounded like the service might be on television (though it is hard to say which campus they'll be at).

No Wet Diapers....So Far....

And I'm not talking about actual baby diapers. We have multiple wet diapers each day here on little girls' bottoms, of course. Miss Mouse is still usually wet after her nap and in the morning (otherwise, she's doing very well thanks to a new game I found in a closet on the suggestion of my mother). However, yesterday when Daddy started work on the house, and Mommy had the radio on all day to "talk radio" (doesn't happen - ever), Miss Mouse was visibly worried.
Daddy explained: "You don't like having wet diapers do you?"
Miss Mouse: "Nooooo".
Daddy: "They aren't very comfortable, are they?"
Miss Mouse: "Noooo!"
Daddy: "Well, I'm helping the house so that it doesn't get a wet diaper".
She accepted it and relaxed. Last night we had to pray for our house not to get a wet diaper, though. Then we had to pray for Ellianna's and Alex's houses, too. And of course Grandma, Maggie (Daddy's parents' dog), Grandpa Dick, Grammy, Grandpa Bob, his cows (he doesn't have any, but we pray for them anyway), Auntie Steph, Auntie Laura, Louie (Laura's rabbit - Laura and Louie have a love/hate relationship, so perhaps he does need prayers!), Hubert, Daddy, Mommy, and Baby Mouse. Sometimes we pray for other friends or family, too. It just depends on who she's thinking of, I guess. Daddy discovered how well she could pray. I can't take credit for it!
I have the best intentions to post some baptism pictures (we're SO thankful we planned it when we did and didn't wait for this coming weekend! There is water over the roads all directions out of town....it would likely be difficult to get into, as well as out of, "Dodge" right now), but a busy little girl and an uncomfortable, though sweet and adorable, baby are making it rather difficult! Imagine that!

Still Digging Out

We are still digging out from under about 11 inches of snow here. We're also looking forward to this coming week with temperatures in the 40s. Miss Mouse and I have serious cases of spring fever! I think even Baby Mouse is in on the itch to get outside.

Baby Mouse will be baptized this weekend. It should be exciting for her older sister and hopefully not too traumatizing for Baby Mouse herself! It is probably good that Daddy gets to baptize her because Miss Mouse is not fond of people touching her baby. I took Baby Mouse to the chiropractor today, and Miss Mouse was very concerned through the whole appointment that we be sure to bring Baby Mouse home with us. I'm so thankful that she is concerned that way rather than wishing that we could leave Baby Mouse there!!

This past week has been a big, hectic one. Daddy had shoulder surgery last Thursday. Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Dick came to stay with Miss Mouse so that Baby Mouse and I could be at the hospital through the late morning and afternoon with Daddy. We're thankful that he didn't have to have as much work done as they thought he would (rather than having to fix tendons, they "just" scraped out a whole bunch of scar tissue caused by his accident - the surgeon told me it was like a bunch of gravel in his shoulder and that he really beat it up badly last fall in his bike accident), but it is going to be a long road ahead to get his full range of motion back. He hasn't been able to drive this week which has basically driven him crazy, depending on me to shuttle him around. I'm hoping the surgeon, at his follow-up appointment today, will say he can drive because I'm not sure how long I can keep him from just going ahead and doing it! He wasn't even supposed to be at work this week, but he was, of course. Men. They're so.....manly. Anyway, it has been great that he has been able to hold Baby Mouse and play with Miss Mouse, which we didn't expect that he would be able to do. So far things have gone much more smoothly than we thought they would, but we both are completely exhausted and glad that this week is done.

I'll post pictures from Sunday as soon as I have a chance.

The Secret Life of Squirrels

Miss Mouse has started telling me all about the squirrels in the yard. It used to be when they weren't visible, they were "sleeping". Now when they aren't visible, they are "squirrels, church, working". Squirrels are working at the church? "Yep," she answers definitively.

Baby Mouse has gone back to eating 10 minutes, one side, every few hours. Ugh. My body had much appreciated her switch to a 10 minute, each side, every 3 hour-schedule late last week. It doesn't so much appreciate this one-sided munching pattern. I'm concentrating on her being a teeny, tiny baby adjusting to the world yet, so I'm hopeful that she'll go back to the more functional pattern (for me, anyway!) soon. She's certainly having plenty of diapers, so there's no worry there, just an uncomfortable mommy, who will just deal with it :)