"Mom, Zoe pooped!"
"Okay, just a second."
Amber glances over at me and and says, "I'll be right back"
Amber entered the youngsters' room through the invisible wall of foulness that was left behind from the toxic diaper.

"Mom I have to go potty."
"Fine Luke, go into the bathroom and go potty."
"Zoe let's change your diaper."
"I need someone to turn the light on in the bathroom"
"Seth can you get the light for your brother in the bathroom."
"...no Seth you can't play video games right now."

(Ambers phone rings)

"Hello?"
"Oh hey I just needed to know..."
(still changing a diaper)
"Mom I'm done"
"Okay Luke wait just a second"
"Let me call you back in just a second please."

It was at this time that Amber placed her phone on the closest available surface in the bathroom, took care of Luke and gathered up Zoe's diaper and went to dispose of it far from the house.

"Mike, can you check on dinner please?"
"Yeah I got it"

I made my way to the kitchen and began to check to see that dinner was not burned and soon Amber made her way back in from outside. We continued to prepare dinner in an effort to have everything complete at the same time so we don't have the lone cold side dish that should be warm at the very least.

We looked up to see Luke walking slowly into the living room, looking oh so sad.

"Mommy,... your phone is in the toilet."

"WHAT?!?!"

Amber darted into the bathroom to see if it was true. She emerged with a stern and frustrated face and held the soggy phone out to me.

"I dropped it in the toilet,".

He looked so apologetic and sad that it was difficult, though not impossible to be angry with him.

We all learned several lessons here that day...
1) Cell phones don't float
2) Pantech makes a good cell phone. (After drying out, it still worked)
3) Luke and Zoe should not be trusted to make phone calls
and last but not least
4) That toilet smell never really washes off your phone

A few nights ago, in the midst of our slumber there came a scream followed by the crying of our two youngest children. Amber and I drew straws to see who was responsible for which child and we slowly made our way to the bedroom while the sugar plums took a break from dancing.

It wasn't until I was completely awake that I realized that a large storm had blown in over night and the incessant claps of thunder were at fault for our now sleepless children. As I reached in the crib and retrieved my respective child, I felt her tremble. The soft words spoken"...daddies got you" laid with a gentle whisper on her ear seemed to calm her a bit.

I made my way through the house to gather the necessary items to camp on the sofa, made myself comfortable and settled in for a long night with Zoe. As the storm strengthened and began to get louder Zoe held me tighter and trembled a little more then softly whispered...it's okay daddy, it's okay while her tiny hands gently pat me on the back.

She wiggled around and after finding the perfect contour of daddies chest her breathing became steady and the quieter the storm got the more relaxed she became and soon her sugarplums once again began to dance. After a short night camp out on the sofa with Zoe and soon enough we were all back in our respective beds sleeping soundly.

It is soft moments like this that help us remember why we are parents. Tomorrow we will talk about times that we wonder why we ever had a desire to be parents :-)