... at least, that's what the news reports are calling the onslaught we survived last weekend. Southern Washington was hit very hard - first with snow, then rain, then gale-force winds.  Most of the rivers in the state were close to or well over their flood points, several towns were cut off when bridges were washed away, and a 20mi stretch of the I-5 was under 10ft of water. The I-5 is the main freeway between Seattle and Portland, and it's only opened up again in the last couple of days - a huge headache for freight and commuters.

We weren't really affected where we are here, apart from a torrent of water in the reserve across from our house - the rain pours into the empty block off the main road, and drains into the little fenced-off area between all the houses in our street. It has continued to rain all week, and we even had a little more snow today - more the 'snowglobe' type than the big fluffy flakes we had last weekend, thankfully!

Poor Isobel has spent most of the week fighting off the cold she picked up last weekend. How do people so small produce so much SNOT?! I've spent so much time this week chasing after her with a tissue in hand she now thinks it's a game, and runs away whenever she hears a tissue being pulled out of the box. At least she's still giggling.

We also had her 15mo checkup this week - during which we also discovered she has an ear infection! It doesn't seem to be bothering her too much, but we've got a big bottle of pink medicine for her to be given twice a day. Thankfully she seems to like the stuff, and opens her mouth wide when I bring over the little syringe for her to take. I hate to imagine how we'd manage if she didn't like it.

The best part of this week has been getting our first 'kisses' from Isobel. I've been battling a cold myself this week, and after a particularly slow morning on Thursday we had lunch and I took her up to her room for a couple of stories before her nap. Just before putting her in her cot, she leaned towards me with her mouth wide open - thought she was trying to bite my nose at first, but I got a big wet 'mwah' on my cheek. Was that a kiss for Mummy? Yep - got another one!! I nearly floated down the stairs. Andy got a couple of kisses too, when he arrived home from work that night. The kisses have been few and far between since then, but we know that she knows now... we're looking forward to a few more soon!!