The Easter Post

Hallelujah! He is risen! Easter always marks a new season of rebirth, spring, and oak pollen. 

Dear Nathan and Hannah,

It finally came: Easter, the time when you both can finally start having candy again. On Easter morning, I let each of you pick out a piece of candy and held the candy in front of you as I attempted to relate how it felt to wait for Easter to eat candy to how it feels to wait for God to come back again. By the glazed look on your faces, I'm sure I sounded like an adult in an episode of the Peanuts show, but hey, I tried my best and we do have many more Easters to come. 

On the day before Easter, our church put on an Easter celebration with lots of fun activities. Top thing on both of your lists: pony rides. I stayed home with Hailey as she took her nap, so you both got some quality Daddy time. 

 And there was the petting zoo. I heard that you both liked the fuzzy and fluffy animals, but not the "porcupine" which I think is actually a hedgehog, or other non-soft animals like the turtle.

 And of course, there is the never ending Easter egg hunt where you pick up eggs and trade them in for prizes.

Prior to the church event, we also had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt. It was neat to see neighbors out and reconnect with ones whom we haven't seen in awhile. Once kids start elementary school, we don't get as many playdates with them.

Easter Sunday. We went to church and ended up sitting right by our close friends who have moved up North and were visiting for Easter. We took each other's family pictures and then went our separate ways for lunch.

 It has almost become a tradition to spend Easter with the family who usually hosts our GIFT (small group bible study) group. The parents are amazing hosts and always put on a great party. You guys had so much fun with the egg hunt,

 and cascarones (for you non-Texans, these are confetti filled eggs). 

The Oak has been at its peak this week so after a whole weekend of being outside, Hannah, you ended up loosing your voice from all the allergy induced post nasal drip. We have been doing allergy medicine at night as well as during the day and it seems to be working pretty well. Of course, Allegra, is the only effective one and the only one brand we can't get generic of at the stores. Go figure.

On Good Friday, our friends from up North visited in the morning and due to the oak and baby naps, we pretty much stayed in all morning. You guys played with cars, had snacks, and painted. It was a great morning for you guys and us mommies had some time to chat. 

 Nathan has been obsessed with playing Kings of Tokyo. One of your favorite action cards, poison spit, always seem to "magically appear" near the top of the deck when you shuffle. You always say, "Oh, that's weird, how come it is on top even after I shuffle?!?!" Gee, I wonder why.

Nathan, you have also expressed to me how you don't like to go places and you wish to just stay home so you can play with your toys. Your comment totally helped me see that down time is OK and made me less guilty about spending time at home. So this week, we've been staying home and I've been running errands as much as I can while you both are at school.

The other night, I was reading a parenting book and came across a paragraph on quality of parent sleep and how interrupted sleep really does take its toll on parents. I immediately felt the need to hug the book. I have never felt so validated in my life! 6 months of interrupted sleep is taking its toll on me. All 3 of you are not long night sleepers. With Nathan and Hannah, I was able to take naps when needed in the afternoons because you two took naps at the same time, but with Hailey, you guys don't take naps anymore, so I've been going to bed around 9 or 10 to make sure I get enough sleep. I still feel like a zombie most days. 

I've found out that if Hailey does not take a good morning nap, night time sleep will be a nightmare. Last night, I went to bed at 9. Then I was woken up at the following times: 

-10:44 (fell back asleep at 11:20) 

-1:15 (Hannah had a nightmare)

-1:20 (just as I was falling asleep...Hannah wanted mickey mouse)

-1:32 (fell back asleep at 2:13)

- 3:27 (fell back asleep at 4:42) 

-7:00 (Nathan comes in to tell me that Hannah wet the bed)

-8:00 (Wake up for the day)

This is not every night, but maybe 2 nights out of the week. *sigh* I keep telling myself, it'll be over so quickly. 

I want to get angry and frustrated, but then I see this little face.  

 Hailey has tried carrot, sweet potato, purple sweet potato, oatmeal, strawberries, watermelon, pear, yogurt, avocado, banana and chicken bone. There is no food that she dislikes yet. There are days she pushes a particular food away and prefers something else, but for the most part, she will eat what I put in front of her.

Dear Hailey,
You are also sitting up on her own for about 10 seconds or so and then you topple over. You love blowing raspberries with your lips (especially when you are hungry) and you still love for us to pull you to standing.

 You are particularly interested in what Teddy is doing and you loved to be lifted up and down while being held laying on your back. You give us your best belly giggles then. 

Well, after a week of being cooped up in the house, I'm looking forward to clearer air and cool temps in the next few days. 

Until next week, 

Love, 

Mommy