Melissa and Chad Croff have two daughters who were both born on Feb. 29, four years apart. This year, Eliana turns 12 and Evelyn turns 8.
For people born on Feb. 29, their actual Leap Day birthdays only come around every four years, which can make celebrations held on the actual day extra special. One Michigan family has double to celebrate.
Melissa and Chad Croff have two daughters born on Feb. 29, four years apart. This year, Eliana turns 12 and Evelyn turns 8. “They've been talking already this morning before they went off to school of how important tomorrow is for them and that they want to wear little birthday crowns to school. So they're excited,” dad Chad Croff tells Inside Edition Digital.
The Croffs have answers ready for the questions that they get often. Yes, they each get their own cake. Yes, they typically celebrate on the weekend that falls closest to the 29th and yes, the girls like celebrating the day together. This year on Leap Day, they will celebrate on the actual day in addition to at their own parties.
“For the last few years we've been doing it where we would go to a waterpark, so it's more of a local event. Last year, on the off-leap year birthdays, we split it up, depending what [each girl] want to do. Evelyn is into rollerblading so we rented a gym where they can do acrobatics. Ellie, being older, she wanted to do her nails or a little activity with her friends. So we accommodate that and we try to do it all within that same week,” Chad says.
Eight years ago, Melissa thought Evelyn would be born during a snow storm. Her due date was Feb. 19. She went into labor on the 28th. At the time, she was too consumed with giving birth to even think about the day.
“Then when she came, Chad's like, ‘Yeah, she was born almost to the minute as Eliana," she says. "So it was pretty cool.”
After Melissa gave birth, the hospital staff at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital in Clinton, Michigan, sent a camera crew to interview the family about having two sisters born on Leap Day.
“It's kind of like winning the baby lottery,” Melissa said at the time.
Inside Edition Digital covered the milestone as well.
“We saved the video of when you guys did that. So we look at that YouTube video and we show the girls,” Chad says. “We appreciate that time that we went through that and showing the girls on how special that really is and how rare that really is. So it's been pretty rewarding for us.”
About five million people world-wide have leap year birthdays, according to the Associated Press. But having two children both born on Leap Day is far rarer. The Croffs don’t know of any others.
The couple has since had a third daughter named Elizabeth. “My parents had four girls and they named us all with M’s. And so me and my sisters all name our kids with the same letters,” Melissa says.
The couple was content to have a third with her own birthday that didn't fall on Leap Day, recognizing that having a healthy, happy baby is gift enough.
“We lost a baby right before Evelyn, so we just wanted a third,” Melissa says.
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