SNOW!

Yesterday morning Ezi and Livi awoke to their first REAL snow!  To see the wonderment from their amazing eyes... beholding the world and its magic for the first time.  Ezra stared, mouth agape, out the window for ages (and this was BEFORE they had breakfast which is the second thing we do EVERY DAY... it comes only second to a diaper change when they first get up!).  Olivia pointed, touching the cold glass of the window and blabbered in her own little language about the miracle that had taken place whilst they slept.  SNOW.

Mama (that's ME), spent the remainder of the day scrambling to find a good snowsuit for Ezi.  I'd lucked into finding a GREAT one two days before when my mom and I took the kids to the store, Once Upon a Child, for the first time in Longmont.  Little did I know it'd get used SO soon!  However, Ezi was left without one, so I spent the day scrambling.  They both also needed jackets, and, oh yeah, SNOW boots!  You know, for my toddlers that RUN around everywhere they go!  So, no playing out in the snow yesterday.  I brought the snow in to them on one of the lids from their big toy tubs.  

The first thing Ezra did after I set the lid down (FULL of snow), was DIVE IN.  Can you imagine his reaction?!  He sat back on his bum, looked at me, slightly panicked for a moment, stared at his hands, and began screaming.  While this was taking place I dove in and was rushing to get the powdery snow off his hands, but not fast enough.  Snow is C-O-L-D!  Poor guy.  It took quite a while for him to get up the guts to touch it again after that.  But once he did... look out!  Snow is TASTY!  We made them snowballs, showed them how to scoop it up with measuring cups, you name it.  Who knew a lid of snow could be so cool?!

This morning I ran over to Centerra (big outdoor shopping mall thing in Loveland) to meet a woman about a snowsuit.  Yep, found her on Craigslist.  Who doesn't love Craigslist?  She drove down from Fort Collins so I wouldn't have to go that far.  I ALSO had a lady meeting me there with a BIG bag of Peek-a-blocks (she was from Greeley), so I was set.  The snowsuit seemed pretty big for Ezra... but he's a growing boy.  I snagged it from her (HOW did I score TWO fabulous condition, down snowsuits for the kids in just the right sizes?!), got the Peek-a-blocks, and began the search for snow boots and winter coats.  Not easy... somehow it seems the right sizes/combination of features was VERY elusive on these items.

I ran into my awesome mother-in-law at Kohls (whom I don't see enough of... hint, hint Dr. G - we want to see you LOTS more often!) while waiting for the correct size jacket to be located for Ezra from the back of the store.  That was fun and made my day.  Lee is always fun to chat with and we've made plans to get together MUCH more often!  HOORAY!  I hopped in the car to head home with EVERYTHING I needed... a snowsuit for Mr. E, boots for E&O, jackets, you name it.  I was SET.  I began sledding - AHEM, I mean driving, home to see my little wild ones.  Let me tell you, there is nothing more incredible than driving up to the house and seeing their little faces peering out the window, waving and blowing kisses (YES, they do that!), squealing, and shouting MAMA (sometimes).  That is the neatest thing ever and makes going away for errands and work on occasion a little easier... knowing I get to come home to that.  

Ok, I'm rambling.  The part of the story I really needed to share was what happened AFTER I got back.  I slipped Ez into his new, blue snowsuit and zipped him up.  He thought this was super cool and began running around and screaming with excitement.  I went crawling after him to try his new boots on him... and he thought the chase was on.

*Let me preface this with the fact that Olivia and Ezra LOVE to have someone "get them."  If you crawl, walk after them, cackle, growl, roar, say "I'm gonna get ya," or anything similar, squeals of glee will ensue and they will either collapse to the floor, face in the carpet giggling with defeat... or run away and play hard to get.  

So, as I crawled after Ezi, he decided I was playing since he was so wound up with excitement from wearing his new snowsuit.  He squealed and began laughing his incredible, contagious laugh.  I grabbed at the back of his snowsuit to quickly pull him into me.  However... right as I grabbed ahold of the middle of the back of his snowsuit, he spun around to face his attacker.  The combination of his quick spin and the fact I'd just grabbed him cause him to slam into the window sill at, oh, maybe Mach 3!

Ugh.  My heart sank.  My stomach instantly knotted and I grabbed up my boy just as he fought through the daze and began the silent scream of horror.  I looked... and saw it.  A big, white colored dent right on the edge of his left eye/eyelid.  My stomach flip-flopped.  I don't do messy.  This looked like it might get messy.  My mind INSTANTLY went into overdrive... get the snowsuit off, asked my mom (who'd been there with us playing) to run and grab a cloth and a cold pack, and I thought CALL LEE (Joe's mom... the ER doctor)!  I just knew it was going to be a huge bloody mess and his eyeball was going to pop out at any second or something.  Yeah, drama, I know.  But that first glance at the big, white dent that was the kind of thing you see after something is sliced badly... before the blood reaches the wound and starts pouring out.  

I ripped the snowsuit off and cuddled Ezi close.  Grandma ran in with a cold pack and I snuggled onto the cough with Ez and tried to get him to let me hold it on there.  I knew that this was going to swell badly without some cold.  But, let me suggest you consider what kind of effort it might take to hold something very cold on an insanely strong 11 month old that was just wounded.  Not fun.  I finally soothed him with some of my fabulous singing (Er... maybe it was my squawking).  The crying lessened a bit and he slowly relaxed.  Surprisingly, the gash never bled too much, but I think he's going to end up with his first shiner.  His outer eye is swollen and the bright red gash is quite visible.  

I guess I should be thankful that this is the first drama we've had since they came home... 7 and a half months ago!  No big illnesses, no other boo-boos (aside from very small scratches and bruises that come with learning to walk).  All in all, and the guilt I feel for the role I played in the accident aside, I'm thankful that THIS was drama.  We could have had so much worse by now.  Poor Ezi though... I feel so badly about it!  Thankfully, he doesn't even seem to remember it happened and was ripping around again without hesitation after their afternoon nap.  Tough little guy, let me tell you!

So, that's our day in a nutshell.  Ezra got a quick trip outside to try out his new boots and snowsuit this afternoon (post nap- he was pretty bummed out after getting his boo-boo and a nap seemed to help).  Of course... that means he got to try out his snowsuit in the DARK since the sun sets so early these days!  Pictures to follow tomorrow... I have GOT to get to bed before 1:00 am tonight!  I've not been getting enough sleep to function well lately.