The Arctic Chill

It has been chilly here in St. Louis over the past few days. This morning it was 1 degree with the windchill outside. Inside our home it was a "cozy" 52 degrees. Cozy??! Not so much! Our heat had stopped working! Of course, it decided to stop working on some of the coldest days since we have lived here. The maintenance guys solved one part of the problem yesterday by fixing the main unit in the basement. However, heat was only coming out of 2 of the 8 registers in our house. Brrrr! So last night we just needed to buck up and bear it until they could come again today. Needless to say, Trev and I slept in sweats and sweatshirts with our down comforter, as well as two extra blankets over us to keep us warm. Baby Belle slept in her fleece sleeper and two thick blankets covering her. In addition to that, she was sporting a pair of mittens to keep her hands from turning purple and a hat to keep her head warm. What a trooper!

Temp in bottom right corner

The maintenance men came back today and worked for five straight hours and finally had success! All the registers are working again! Our heat is making its slow climb back to a normal temperature. It's quite exciting! It is almost at 62 degrees, woo hoo! Maybe I won't have to wear long underwear and three layers of shirts in my own home to keep warm. I am truly thankful that we have heat again. It did lead me to think about those who don't ever have heat in their homes, or who have no homes at all to shelter them from the cold. Remembering that kept me from complaining. We should all remember to keep them in our prayers and do all that we can to help them. May the Lord bless all of you today!

My, oh my daddy!

AB amazed at the stack of dad's books

I see you!

Jumpin' around

Belle tried out her Exersaucer for the first time over the weekend and loves it! She's even figured out how to turn herself by moving her feet around... kind of. Maybe its just a fluke! She likes to keep her hands right next to her in her little pouch instead of up near the toy. The downside of that is that when she sneezes she hits her face on her toy! Don't worry, it's a gentle hit and no tears are ever shed.

I would like to point out that the stack of books that Belle is looking at are Trev's books for this semester alone at seminary! So, he only has a little bit of reading to do over the next few months. ;) It is a good thing he loves what he is learning!

Bath time

Drying off after her bath

Seriously, can those cheeks
get any bigger!

Bumbo fun

This bright blue Bumbo chair was Belle's Christmas gift from us. She loves it! I tried to get a pic of her smiling, but of course, by the time the camera actually takes the picture she has stopped smiling or has turned away from the camera. Annabelle loves sitting up even though she doesn't quite have the strength to sit unsupported yet. In her Bumbo she can look all around her and not worry about toppling over onto her cute face! In this pic she is hanging out on the coffee table, but when we eat dinner we plop Belle and her bumbo chair right on the dinner table! It is quite fun to have her at eye level. :)

Belle attended her first movie a few days ago. We went with our friend Sarah to see Dreamgirls and Belle was asleep for about half the movie on mama (good girl). She then watched a little of the movie on my lap. I think she was mesmerized by the size of the screen! She even chuckled and smiled a few times. It was pretty funny.

Trev started his second semester of seminary today. He is taking five classes (yikes!) but is excited for all of them. He is learning from some amazing professors and is trying to soak it all in and learn from their wisdom. Praise the Lord for older wiser people to teach us silly youngins!

The beginning of the Maussketeers

Hello all! Welcome to the Mauss blog! Come visit us here to see pictures of our fam and hear about all of our fun adventures. From Trev's busy seminary life, to my daily motherhood happenings, to Belle's fun baby antics... you are in for a treat!