After being lavished with attention from Gram and PopPop this weekend, Edward and Daniel were supposed to bask in even more with a "Superbowl party" at Grandma and Grandpa's. (Daniel was clearly ready for the occasion--check out his "Heisman" pose!) I use quotes because the game was actually not the central reason for our plans, as it would have been for most people planning parties for this evening. But alas, more snow kept us from making even the short cross-town trip to their house. The forecast called for the possibility of two inches this afternoon. Instead it looks like we got about five or six and we were right in the thick of it when we tried to leave for Grandma and Grandpa's. We only got three blocks from our house when we realized we were being fools and turned around to head home. Cars were slipping and sliding all over the snowy streets, snow plows on Sunday being few and far between. We were even bigger fools for braving the snowy alley again in an attempt to get the car back to the garage. Once again we ended up crosswise and had to get help. Luckily, our neighbors were home and willingly came out to help John push. I steered the car onto our neighbor's blacktop where it now sits awaiting the freezing rain that is due to follow our afternoon snow. We've never had so much trouble with our alley in winter. The problem seems to be that those three ice storms we had in December created such a thick layer that it remains despite several different thawing days. When the tires spin the snow away they meet the ice and that's the end of the story.

Someone once told me that people should only be allowed to complain about one weather extreme--either excessive heat or cold, but not both. I've always been on the heat end of the weather hatred spectrum, but this winter is challenging my long-held belief that heat is more paralyzing than cold. I must remember that this has been a record-breaker both for cold temperatures and snow and that if we make it through, we likely won't see another like this for five to seven years. (This year is being compared frequently with the winter of 2000-01, the last time we saw so much snow and cold.)

The snow did bring good things for Edward though. Gram and PopPop got him a sled and took him out to play this morning. Yesterday's fresh inch provided the perfect new layer on our old accumulation and he defined glee as he "sped" down the mild slope at our neighborhood park. After each trip he proclaimed "I like it!" as PopPop caught him and then turned back to the top of the hill to shout, "I like it, Gram!" When they got home he and PopPop "threw" snowballs for a while and we could tell from inside how hard Ed was laughing. Wish we had an audio track of that one. PopPop made the snowballs and handed them to Ed who then basically just dropped them, but with a slight throwing motion. Not sure who had more fun, but they stayed out more than an hour.

Today is Daniel's official 40-week due date. Although we know he would have benefited from a full gestation, we're just as happy to have had him with us these last three-plus weeks and to have some of the initial hurdles behind us. And given that he was more than seven pounds at 36 weeks, I'm not sorry that I didn't have to carry him while he gained up to a half pound a week for four more weeks!

Will's early birth established that we would always be parents of premature children. The c-section I had with him required that all subsequent births be c-sections scheduled around 36 weeks to avoid the dangerous possibility of going into labor. Of course prematurity has meant different things for each our three boys, from Will's medical roller coaster to Edward's surprise Christmas arrival to Daniel's eating and jaundice issues. Other families we know have had different experiences with prematurity. We remain active with our local March of Dimes chapter and hope that in some way our efforts will lead to answers to the many questions we all have. Right now spring seems eons away, but I just received notice this week that Iowa City's March for Babies (the new name for the March of Dimes annual walk) is Saturday, April 19. We'll be there with a double stroller this year celebrating life and cherishing our memories of Will. We'll have more details later this month and next for those who would like to join Team Kenyon.