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Leah beat out Molly for the prize of "First kid to the ER" yesterday. She was admitted for a dislocated elbow, also known as nursemaid's elbow.

It happened just after noon yesterday when Molly rolled Leah from her front to back, and Leah's arm got caught underneath her. She let out a cry of pain and it took over an hour to calm her down. By 3:00 PM Chad noticed that Leah was not moving her right arm, so I called the doctor and was told to come in. After the third attempt to reduce her elbow, we thought it was back in place, so Leah was given some Tylenol and we headed home. The pediatrician called at 7:30 PM to check on Leah, and was not satisfied that we had corrected the problem, so she sent us to the ER.

We were swiftly taken back to the pediatric ER and by the time Chad showed up (he had to put Molly to bed and wait on his mom to arrive) the doctor was walking in. X-rays were taken and showed that nothing was broken. So, the doctor attempted the fourth try at reducing Leah's elbow. This time it worked! She was laying in my arms and immediately reached up toward my face. But then it took another 10-15 minutes for her to move it again. It was like she didn't know she could move it (we enticed her with Molly's sunglasses as seen below). We were given the OK to go home and were out in less than 2.5 hours. Leah was in bed by 10:45 PM and the craziness was over.

It was the best ER experience we've ever had (not that you ever want to have that!), and Leah's doing better now. Her arm is not at 100%, but she is moving it more and more as the day progresses. I was reassured by both doctors that this is very common for infants and toddlers, but I sure hope that we don't have to go through that again!

As I talked about previously, we've been snowbound around here. In my last post, I left off Tuesday with an unplowed street and another approaching storm. Well, it indeed started snowing Tuesday afternoon and snowed throughout the night. The next morning, we had around 6 new inches on the ground and thought we'd never get out. Then, much to our surprise, we saw this in front of our house:

Yes, that's a front loader clearing our street. This first storm dumped so much snow that normal plows on trucks couldn't cut it, so they brought out front loaders to pick up the snow and move it around. We were very relieved, but it was still snowing and we were under a blizzard warning, so we still weren't getting out of the house.

That blizzard warning turned into a full fledged blizzard (if you're unfamiliar, blizzards have little to do with how much snow you have and more to do with high winds and reduced visibility). We had winds gusting to 50mph and at times we couldn't see houses at the end of our street. I didn't get a picture of the blizzard in full force, but here's a shot of what it looked like as it was winding down:

That lasted into Wednesday night, and we wondered when we might get plowed. It had taken 5 days for our street to be cleared last time, so we were really surprised when we looked out our window the next morning and saw this:

Yes, the front loader was back and clearing our street again. It was not snowing. Freedom was in sight. Of course, there was a little bit of snow to take care of first.

I never heard a number for Columbia, but Savage (not far away) got 18 inches in this second storm. Added to the 33 from the previous storm gives us 51 inches in under a week. That's a lot of snow. In fact, the official Baltimore total for this winter is now up to 79.9 inches, shattering the previous record from 1995-1996 of 62.5 inches (and winter's not over yet). And not only do we have crazy snow at our house, but crazy icicles as well. Yes, this big one reaches all the way to the ground:

So, I got to shoveling. Molly helped (well, sort of). She really enjoyed playing in the snow as well. She liked throwing snowballs a lot. We threw a few at each other, but she much preferred to throw them into the street.

She also liked eating the snow and just getting her hands in it.

Eventually, I got through shoveling. It took over 4 hours to shovel out (and that was with the help of some very nice neighbors), but both of our cars are now clear.

So, we're now free! We can leave our house, though we haven't done it yet. We don't have an urgent need to get out and the county government has asked everyone to stay off the roads since it's still quite windy and the snow is drifting a bit. That said, it feels like this craziness is over (or close to it).

I have been trying to wait to post this until the saga was complete, but I cannot wait any longer. As most of you know, Maryland and surrounding areas was hit by one of the biggest snow storms we've ever had this past weekend. It started snowing a little after noon on Friday and didn't let up until late Saturday afternoon. Here's what it looked like out of our back door Saturday:

The Bible is there for a little perspective. Out front, my car had disappeared and Jen's was barely still visible.

Molly and I played in the snow a bit (and shoveled a bit as well). While outside, we heard a loud snap. A neighbor's tree had buckled under the weight of the snow and snapped right in the middle of its trunk.

How much snow did we get? Officially, the news says 33.8 inches. I measured just under 32 in our front yard, but there was still and inch or two on the ground from the last snowfall. I generally measure a bit less than the official number, as some of the snow blows around.

How much snow is that? Well, it's basically my legs.

On Sunday, I shoveled our driveway out. Here's what it started to look like halfway through:

The problem you can see here is that while I may clear my driveway, it does no good unless the snow plows come by to clear the streets in our neighborhood. They always come by within a day after a snow storm, so we thought they'd come by Sunday. They didn't. Howard County then assured us all streets would be plowed on Monday. Well, that didn't happen either.

It's now Tuesday. We've been snowbound since Friday and we're running low on certain supplies (like milk). According to the forecast, we're about to be hit by another snow storm dropping between 10 and 20 inches of snow. Consequently, the snow plows have been pulled off of plowing neighborhoods and have started preparing (salting) the main streets for the new storm. Because of our need of supplies and the imminent storm, we gave up on waiting. We got my mom (who was plowed Sunday) to come pick up Jen to take her to the grocery store. Jen walked through the snow to meet her on a bigger road that has been plowed. Here's our hero returning from the store with the needed supplies:

I'm not sure when our street will be cleared. Perhaps Thursday or Friday. We're all very ready to have the freedom to go where we want back. I'll update here when we manage to escape.

Aunt 'Chelle, Uncle J and Emmie were in town last weekend to meet Leah. Michelle scheduled their trip for 10 days plus 2 weeks after my due date and it's a good thing she did! It gave us a few days at home by ourselves in between G'Mom and Grampa leaving and them arriving.

Michelle kept saying that Leah was so snuggly!

Leah wasn't sure what to make of Uncle J.

Emmie was the baby of the family for several months, but was happy to transfer that power (by laying on of hands, of course) to Leah.

This was our best attempt at a picture of the three little girls. Apparently, Emmie thinks Leah needs to lean in as well.

You can see more pictures from their visit here.

Aunt 'Chelle and Emmie came to visit for a few days this week. We had a great time reading books, going to playgroup, swimming at the pool, and playing at the playground. Molly did wonderfully with Emmie and I'm excited to see her as a big sister! Here are a few highlights from our week.

It was sad to see them go today, but we'll see them again in 6 weeks! You can see the rest of the pictures from their visit here.

Chad and I were married seven years ago today, but we've been together for almost 12! It's been a wonderful journey together, and I know it's only going to get better!

If you're feeling nostalgic and want to relive our grand day, you can see pictures here.

Today our Young Adult group held its 3rd Annual Field Day. It's all about reliving games from your elementary days. This year's game lineup included: dizzy bat layup, tricycle races, egg spoon relay, three legged race, sack race, toilet seat horseshoes, water balloon launch, jumbo golf, tug o war, and tiki thunder hockey.

Here's Eric kicking off the dizzy bat layup relay.

Pete shows us how to ride the tricycle.

Don't drop that egg, Amy!

Apparently, the most efficient way to transfer the potato sack to the next person in the relay was for the person finishing their leg to dive on the ground and the next person to pull the sack off their legs.

Surprisingly, tricycles can be used by toddlers as well as adults. Molly and Owen had a great time on them.

Yes, we had an event where we tossed toilet seats at a stake in the ground, similar to horseshoes. Gabe had very good form.

Here's Susan about to launch the water balloon for Andrew to catch.

Owen is ready to help his dad with his giant golf chip shot.

And finally, here's the whole gang.

Friday night we celebrated Caroline's graduation/18th birthday with a very large party (mostly teenagers, only a few of us old fogies).

We spent much of our time on the back porch, where Chad and I got a break as Molly was entertained by Aunt EA and lots of jumping.

Molly was happy to see Aunt Caroline, but she of course didn't stop eating cake. Nothing's better than cake.

Molly made sure that she was at the center of attention, and the circle, as much as possible.

Another fun activity was to run around the house with Aunt EA.

We celebrated my 29th birthday last weekend. Sunday, Molly and Chad treated me to dinner at Eggspectations. Molly was in a very cuddly mood before we left.

On Monday, we celebrated again with more family. As you can see, I was very excited about my Cheesecake Factory birthday cake - half banana cream, half white chocolate raspberry!

Chad likes to say now I'm in my 30th year, but I kindly remind him that I'm only 29 and not "old" like him!