babies

Congratulations Kenyon & Jeannette! Berick is so cute! Can't wait to hold him. :)

Sorry I've been quiet.
Had a scare last night when we couldn't find Maiah, who'd gone outside in the dark, wet & cold wearing only a t-shirt & diaper and walked 1/2 a mile, headed apparently to the store. She was supposed to be upstairs looking for pajama pants with Vernie while we were downstairs where the tv & computers are. 5 minutes after he came back down we asked where Maiah was & he went to look. He didn't find her so we all started looking. I ran outside to the corner, but decided it was way too cold & dark for her to be out there, besides there was no sign of her. After scouring the house and immediately outside Vern called Kirsten, who was sleeping over at her friends, to ask if she'd left the door open or seen Maiah upstairs before she left. Kirsten told him "I have her." Apparantly her & Kiana were walking to the store when the police stopped them & asked if they were looking for someone. Kirsten said no and they asked if she knew any 18 month-2 year olds in the area. Kirsten responded "Maiah...?" Thankfully Maiah says her name clearly, and Kirsten's as well. The police let Kirsten claim her & they were headed home with their escort when we found them. Vern had been gone to meet Kirsten for far too long so I went running tear-streaked & barefoot down the street and around the corner to find a calm but cold baby who was holding a teddy bear & wrapped in Kirsten's hoody, and a very distraught big sister holding her. All told the police say Maiah had been outside for half an hour. They made me promise it wouldn't happen again. Uh, yeah.
We were so lucky that Kirsten & Kiana headed to Peterson's and stumbled across the police & my baby. I'm grateful it didn't take us longer (though it was obviously too long) to check where Maiah had wandered off to. We all seemed to think someone else was with her. Not good. I still can't believe that she decided to sneak out in the cold & dark and made it so far before being stopped. I'm grateful all she got was cold.

...and I'm happy to report that I knew exactly where my babe was every minute of the last 24 hours.
That was the scariest thing. Kiss your babies and keep them safe.

'night.