Leap Day

Yesterday, while feeding the kids dinner Paul and I were discussing today, which is Leap Day.  He mentioned he was going to have his PE kids do some leaping.  We were trying to decide on the definition of leaping, is it jumping off of one foot and landing on the other or something else?  (I know dinner time discussion is enthralling at my house.)  In order to figure out what leaping really was I thought I'd try it out.  So I started leaping past the kitchen table into the family room.  Well, Sam and Emily thought it was HILARIOUS.  The went from giggling to full out laugh attack.  I know I'm not very graceful and my pitiful attempts really don't qualify at leaps but I didn't think I looked that funny.  Well, to keep the entertainment going and who can really stop when you're making two toddlers laugh, I kept leaping and they kept laughing.

So today, being the official Leap Day, I thought we needed a family leaping picture.  Jumping pictures are quite complicated when holding, throwing and/or leaping at the same time.  Luckily my new camera will take up to 10 pictures in a row when you set the self-timer. 

Please enjoy the ridiculousness of our attempts at a Leap Day Family Portrait:

Failure

(Warning... this post contains talk about things that are contained in a diaper.)

Today I feel like a mommy failure.  You see this morning when I was changing Sam's giagantic blowout I was surprised to see red, swollen and painful baby boy parts.  (Sam I'm sorry buddy for sharing this and if you ever read this but it important to the story.)  I knew something wasn't right when he refused to straighten his legs when I picked him up and he wasn't snuggling at all.  I wasn't sure what had happened but I knew it at least required a nurse line phone call.  I let Grandbip know what was going on and did my best to get ahold of Paul to find out when he'd be available to take Sam to the doctor.  I got a call back from the nurse at 10ish and they said it would be best to have the doctor look at it.

Well the poor little guys misery is all our fault.  (I'd like to share some of my guilt.)  I guess we aren't cleaning him correctly and this has caused raw skin because of irrritations.  (Paul said there was blood when he arrived at the doctor.)  I feel horrible about it.  When he was crying tonight when we had to take extra care to clean with water and put on ointment, I felt my heart break.  My baby boy is one tough cookie.  I'm pretty sure he still deals with reflux still everyday because I see him swallow stuff down after he eats.  His sister beats him up and he rarely cries about it.  When the doctor had to dig out an infected splinter out of his finger about a month ago he barely whimpered.  But tonight his little hands were shaking and he was crying alligator tears in pain and it is all my fault.

Sam, I sure hope that you recover quickly and we'll be sure that it never happens again.  Mama's sorry baby.

Picture of the Day: Feb. 18-25

 February 19th:  Sam is lovin on his new Pooh Bear and Emily's Eeyore.  We were at the mall on the 15th and went into the Disney store.  I hadn't been in that store in years.  Sam has an elephant he loves but it is too big to carry around and Pooh feels just like him.  He held on to Pooh the whole time we were in the store so we had to take him home.  There was a twofer deal so we got Emily one too.

More February 19th... after going to dinner with my parents to celebrate my birthday we sat down for a serious game of Mexican Dominos.  If you look closely at the score you'll see I crushed the competition.  I owe my luck to the wine we were drinking that night, Middle Sister.

February 20th:  We've never seen this before... the sheriff pulled someone over right in front of our house.  I was about to leave but the driver stopped at the end of our driveway.  Sam is checking it all out.

February 21st:  Emily is starting to move like crazy.  She is also a bit of a daredevil.  We moved this chair from the corner and she decided that it was meant for standing on backwards and rocking.  I didn't get that picture for fear that she would tip over backwards while my hands were occupied.

February 22nd:  More stair climbing practice.  This time in cute pants.

February 23rd: Today the kids had food from a pouch for the first time. I have given them this before but I've spooned it onto a spoon. They just sucked this applesauce down. (Sam drank out of a straw for the first time on 2/18 but I'm pretty sure Emily can now too.)

February 24th:  "The Garage"  This space under our built in TV is meant for a fireplace, but as you can see we don't have one.  Over the years it has been a TV spot, a dog den and now the parking spot for the walking toys.

February 25th:  It is official.  Sam and Emily have sent their first text.  I got to sleep in yesterday, thank you Paul, and while I was asleep I received a text.  Paul heard it and then a while later noticed the kids playing with my phone.  He noticed the text I was sent was gone but thought nothing of it.  I was looking to see what I was sent when I found this text...

How to Spend a Snow Day

 First you practice climbing down the stairs.  You can stay on the stairs all day if you want to.  Falling onto the pillows is also a good fun snow day activity.

 Watch Dad shovel the snow outside.  Laugh at Maddy trying to catch the snow.

 Pose for lots of pictures all dressed in your snow gear.

 Get stuck in snow that is over your waist.

Try to move around with all of your clothes around.