Things you don't think of when moving north

Did you know that when you have children who have never lived north of southern Oklahoma, that you have children who don't know the first thing about how to dress warmly?

Well, I suppose part of the problem is that they don't have a ton of warmer options in their closets. You want shorts or short-sleeves? We are stocked. But, especially after having lived the last 3 years in Arizona, we don't have a ton of warm clothes. Even looking in my own closet, where I am not constantly outgrowing things (present condition excluded!), my warm, woolly sweaters have been replaced with thin, trim sweaters. They are fine when it's in the 40s, but not so much at 0 degrees. They actually wouldn't be too bad, but they are so fitted that you can't really layer up.

Which leads me to the ignorance of my southern-raised kids in keeping warm. Caleb had no idea that you might possibly wear 2 shirts at once in cold weather. It's been getting down below freezing every night here lately and morning chicken chores are cold, cold, cold! And Meagan just doesn't get it that wearing a skirt with bare legs is not a good idea in the cold weather. This morning, in fact, she ran outside in her nightgown. I was shivering just looking at her through the window.

Another interesting fact is that until we moved here, neither one of them has EVER had a blanket on their beds. It has never been cold enough for them that they needed anything more than their comforter. And, I can only remember a handful of times when that was ever pulled up when tucking them in. Actually, they don't even really know how to sleep so that they stay covered up through the night. They are learning quickly, though!

Well, we decided that we needed to figure out what the clothing situation is and what we need it to be this winter. I brought out the bigger winter clothes I had waiting in storage & had the kids try them on. With some long-johns and a couple of sweaters for Caleb, and some tights and a couple of sweaters for Meagan, we should be set.

These are the things you do when you are mindlessly waiting for a baby that seems to be in no hurry to come.