Winter Strorm 2009

A sad Dave in front of our powerless house.

We've encountered more severe weather in our 3.5 years in Louisville than in the 20+ years we lived in the hurricane-prone state of Florida. I'll take rain and wind (and 80 degree temperatures) any day over what we've endured here in Kentucky.

Here's a brief recap of all the severe weather:

- September 2006: A torrential downpour flooded and totaled one of our cars.

- July 2008: We awoke to a jolting aftershock from an earthquake originating in Illinois. Nothing major, but seriously, an EARTHQUAKE!

- September 2008: Hurricane Ike sent powerful winds through Louisville, knocking out hundreds of trees and our electricity for 6 days.

- January 2009: A strong winter storm, complete with ice and inches of snow knocks out our power for 1 day...and counting...

Here are some more pictures of the latest disaster:

The fence around our neighboring park.

It's hard to see in this picture, but the I am measuring the distance from the top of the layer of ice to the tip of an icicle.

This is the view down our street. Pretty wild.

28 weeks

(Or 7 months for those of you who don't do weeks)


Dave and I figured it was about time to start documenting the growth of my belly - so here it is.

On my way to work this morning...

It was -1 degree.

Seriously, this was the actual temperature, not the "feels like" temperature.

I had to psyche myself up to go outside.

AND, Dave insisted that I warm up my car for FIVE minutes. It was the longest 5 minutes of my life (okay, it was actually only about 3 minutes... don't tell Dave... but it felt like 10 minutes).

I'm wearing long underwear right now. And, let me tell you, pregnancy plus 2 layers of pants is not my most flattering look. I have a love/hate (but mostly hate) relationship with long underwear. I mean, how are girls supposed to wear them unless we wear super-baggy pants? Right now I am wearing dress pants, and while they are not super-tight, they are also not meant to be worn with anything underneath, so the result is a bunched-up mess of highwater pants.

It's pretty gross. But at least I was warm. I mean, do I have any other option when it's -1 outside AND my husband demands that I warm up the car?

I'm reminding myself of all the reasons why I like it here in Louisville, but it's not quite as easy a task on a morning like this.

Even in a bad economy...

People want their chips.

And we in the Ainsworth family are thankful that they do. Dave was just hired by Frito-Lay to assist in getting people their chips. Basically, he picks bags of chips from various shelves and puts them into boxes to be shipped to stores.

It's even more glamorous than it sounds, if that's even possible. He gets to wear steep-toed boots (although they more closely resemble early 90s all-black Reeboks than boots), listen to loud pop music, and walk for miles in a chip-filled warehouse. Sometimes the boss even brings in bologna sandwiches for everyone.

It's a pretty sweet deal.

Seriously though, it's a great job for this time in our lives as we prepare to welcome our little boy in April. It pays really well, and the schedule works well with Dave's existing job. We are very thankful for the Lord's provision of this job and pray that we will be good stewards of the extra income.

It has also been sweet to witness my husband serve me and our growing family by taking his role as provider very seriously. If you know my husband, you know that boxing chips is about as far away from his ideal job as it gets, which is why his love for his family and desire to serve us is that much more evident through his working this job. He has not grumbled or complained once about not being able to take any classes this semester and working 45+ hours per week. In fact, if anyone has complained, it has certainly been me. I have been spoiled our whole marriage with both of us having off of work every evening and weekend. It has been and will continue to be an adjustment not having him home as much, but I guess I really have no excuse now to not have the house ready for a baby!

For those of you interested, I'll be posting a picture of Dave in his "steel-toed boots" in the near future. Stay tuned.