Bonus Blog

Since I'm trying to catch everyone up to date so I can actually blog about the present, I have time today to blog about the cats (the past) and our present.

What I want to share with you is what it has been like staying in a hotel with a baby and a cabin fever husband for the past 5 days... yes I said 5 days and we are looking at 1 or 2 more.

We are at the Residence Inn Marriott (I wasn't going to use the name but since it is in the final picture there was no getting around it). The hotel isn't so bad - once we changed rooms. Our first room had that feeling of the long-neglected room. Our thermostat was broken so that you couldn't tell what temperature it was set at, someone had stolen the smoke detector, there was a large rip in the couch, and at 4am, when monkey woke up for a bottle, there was no hot water... none. So we moved to a room with a larger living area and we've been quite comfortable. As long as I get Brian out of the hotel at least once a day we've been good.

The biggest adjustment has been cooking. With a baby, eating lunch out has been easy - dinner is much more difficult. We've tried to keep his schedule as normal as possible (which means he really has no schedule) and this means he goes to bed around 8pm - this makes eating out difficult. So we've gotten in to the habit of eating a big lunch and smaller dinner.

When my parents were here we ordered dinner in. Cooking for 4 in this place would be a nightmare. But once it became Brian, monkey and I we went to cooking.

Here is my kitchen... all of it:


I have a good size refrigerator, a decent size microwave, 2 electric burners and an itty bitty sink (with a bottle drier brought from home sitting next to it). No oven, and 4 plates. Oh, and I have a dishwasher which I think is a complete waste of space since anyone can wash 4 dishes - but that is just me.

So, after I washed all the dishes (eww) and requested new pots (even more eww) I had to figure out what to make with no oven. The first night we had soup and grilled cheese - pretty yummy. Then we had pasta with microwavable meatballs. Not bad... but I missed my meatballs that need an oven to make. I also made egg sandwiches and bacon, coffee, and peanut butter and jelly. I'm actually pretty impressed with myself. I wouldn't call myself the galloping gourmet of he Residence Inn... but I got us fed.

Tonight we are doing Chinese (again) because it's late, we need to get up early, and I can't wash another pan in that sink. Tomorrow night probably scrambled eggs with bacon (we live on the wild side).


And... to set the record straight... this is NOT funny. My pain is not humorous (okay, a little bit, but that boy can grab). This is also a decent shot of our queen bed... I really miss my king.



















This, however, is SUPER funny... ahhh, my boys in front of our hotel... (have I mentioned yet that it's really cold here?)