Well we've been living here in Washington for about 3 months now and the weather still ceases to amaze me. Just the other day I'm getting ready to go out for the day and I peek out the window to figure out what to wear. There is no cloud in the sky (that I can see from my window) and the sun is shining brightly. So I figure that even though the sun is shining it'll be a bit cold so I put on a short sleeve shirt and a zip up sweatshirt. I get Alyssa all ready to go in her car seat, grab the diaper bag, keys, purse, etc. With hands full I take one step out the door and I'm rudely reminded that it's 32 degrees outside. HOW CAN THIS BE! Okay back inside. Change my shirt to a long sleeve shirt, put my sweatshirt back on and add my coat. Now I'm sweating cause I'm all bundled up and it's in the high 60's in our house. Back out the door and the cold takes my breath away.
It's so crazy because you have to bundle up to go outside, but then if you get into your car you're still bundled up and cold from the outside, so you crank up the heater. Then pretty soon your hands defrost but your body is dying from heat cause you still have your coat on. It is quite the experience getting ready to go outside in the cold. Sometimes I think I may run to the store real quick, but then change my mind because it's such the ordeal to get ready to go. I guess if it was just me and I wasn't hauling an infant carrier around it might be easier. And you say - why haul the car seat around? Well we feel really bad laving it in the car and putting her into a freezing cold seat. I guess when she grows out of her infant carrier we won't have a choice, but until then.
It's also challenging dressing Alyssa for cold weather. If you put a jacket and a hat on she's good to go while she's outside or in the car, but say she falls asleep in the car and you bring her inside for a nap in her seat. Well then she wakes up sweating because she's so hot. So I have to think ahead. If we're going to a restaurant or shopping or something where we'll be getting her out of the car and she'll be awake I put her in a coat and hat, but if I'm just going shopping and going to keep her in her seat the entire time I just use a blanket that way if I come home and she's sleeping she'll stay sleeping until she's ready to wake up.
Oh something else that catches me off guard is the rain. When we first moved here I went to Babies R Us to ask about a rain cover for the stroller. The lady who was helping me said 'did you just move here?' I was shocked, but 'yes, I did just move here.' She basically told me that it doesn't really poor down rain here. It may rain all the time but it doesn't mean your going to get soaked every time you go outside. She said I should be fine with just the stroller hood, but I could always come back and get the rain cover if I thought I needed it. She said no one really uses them around here. Hmmm. That I did not know. Very helpful, thank you Babies R Us lady.
Another thing about the rain is that it rains when it's not raining! Yes really. I used to get wierded out by this at first. I would go outside and it would be raining, so before I left the cover of the eves I would put on my hood to rush to the car. Then as I was out in the open I would realize that in fact it wasn't raining at all. I guess that after it rains, the rain collects on the trees eves and such and it can sound like it's still raining when in fact it hasn't rained for an hour or so.
Okay so how boring is it that I just talked about the weather?! hehe