"I Play in the Snow Mommy!"

After finally getting the kids to bed our first night, I was feeling nervous about them.  I'm not usually a "nervous" mom, but I just kept feeling the need to check on them.  Kate was in a new place - Hannah had congestion/cough and I just couldn't shake it.  Who knows.  Well, the good (or bad?) news is that they didn't give me much time to worry because between the 2 of them I was up pretty much every hour between midnight when I went to bed and 6 am.  

And that's when things got crazy.  

I heard Kate crying, but looked at the monitor & she wasn't in there.  I got out of bed to see if she was wondering the house & realized quickly SHE WAS AT THE BACK DOOR!!!  OUTSIDE!!

6 am.  The sun wasn't even up yet, but with the snow it looked bright enough (b/c of the reflection).  There were 2 door outside - one in the living room & one in our master bedroom.  I guess she had gotten up and saw the snow & let herself out the LOCKED back door in the living room.  

THANK GOODNESS she found her way to our door.  I don't think she had been out long - her socks were definitely wet, but her face wasn't that cold.  I quickly threw her into our bed so David could help warm her up while I got her wet clothes off.  Somewhere in the midst of this, I said (panicked!) "KATE!  WHAT WERE YOU DOING OUTSIDE?!?!"

and in her sweet little voice...

"I play in the snow, Mommy!"

Ugh!  At this point it's a funny story I'm sure we'll tell her for the rest of her life.  But, at 6am that morning all this mommy's mind could think of was all the what-ifs.  What if she hadn't come to our door??  What if she had wondered around the other side of the house and we hadn't heard her crying?? What if some animal had gotten her??  Seriously!  I decided I was probably *NOT* going back to sleep anytime soon, so I moved us to the couch with cartoons where I spent the next good bit of time thanking God for protecting my baby!

"I play in the snow, Mommy!!" 

 ha!