Easter Stuff

A few years ago on the Monday after Halloween, a blogger I read started out her post by saying, "Today across America, every parent with a blog or facebook account is uploading and sharing pictures of their children in their Halloween costumes."  I laughed because it was so true, on my blog too.  

The week after Easter is the same.  You will see egg coloring, egg finding, Easter baskets, Easter outfits and everything in between.  But that is part of the fun, right?

So, in order, egg coloring...

egg finding...

Easter baskets...

but our Easter outfits were pjs.   

Jayce was so funny when he was hunting for eggs that morning.  Right now, for some reason, he gets really excited/incredulous about things.  It's hilarious, and typically appropriate.

That morning, several of the eggs had quarters in them, because the tired Easter bunny didn't have any small pieces of candy to put in the eggs.  When Jayce discovered that one egg had 2 dimes in it instead of a quarter, he said, "Mom, look!  When quarters are teeny tiny, they're called dimes!  How did they do that?!  It's like magic!!"

Or when he discovered that a few of the eggs had candy in them instead of coins, he squealed, with his hand on his forehead, "What?!  Some of the eggs have quarters and some have candies!!  That's amazing!!!"

There is nothing quite like the enthusiasm of a 3 year old.

Hannah managed a few smiles despite a sick and miserable night,

and Jayce got busy on a few puzzles that were in his basket.

And that is all for now, because this post is already dangerously long and picture heavy.  

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March Catch Up

I am so far behind on our last month that I debated not trying to catch up.  Just leaving out the March happenings, Easter pictures, and random narration.  

But I just can't make myself do it.  I have those pictures already, and leaving them out would leave out a month of our story. :)  So there will just be much less narration than usual, and more pictures, because who has time to pick favorites when there is no time in the first place?  

Anyway, in March...

1.) Erin's basketball team had a tournament in Springfield, and Andy and Patsy come to visit.  While they were here, there was a horrible storm with tornados all around Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio, so we spent all day watching the weather channel and getting updates from friends and family who were in those areas.  Luckily everyone was safe and Hannah got in some good snuggling.

2.) Jayce did jumping jacks somewhere and decided late one afternoon that he was going to put on a "jump clap show" for me, and insisted that I take pictures.  There were lots of bed acrobatics.

We did this until Chris came home that evening.

3.) Hannah meets Sofie.

While we were out shopping one day I passed by the very popular toy, (and surprisingly expensive, for what it is), Sofie the Giraffe.  I picked it up and said to Hannah, "I don't know what is so great about this thing.  Do you even like this Hannah?"  I handed it to her, it squeaked, she smiled, it kept her attention the whole time we were in the store, and I bought it.  The checkout lady was like, "Oh, Sofie!  Yes, the babies all love that one!"  

It is a totally cute little giraffe, and it's squeak sounds just like a dog toy.  Which is great for keeping the baby's attention, but also great for driving the mom insane, particularly in the hands of the brother.  Sofie is currently on top of the fridge.

Hannah went all WWF on Sofie, with Sofie's head pinned between her feet, and chewing on her legs.  My crazy girl.

4.) Hannah pretended like she was going to crawl, but didn't.  Instead she just mastered the plank.  Not "planking" like the internet/middle school-er phenomenon, but "the plank," like in an abs class.

5.) Jayce and Chris bonded over clippers.  Chris let him cut his hair for a good few minutes before he had to seize control of the situation, and his hair.  But Jayce was very serious about his role.

6.) I was upstairs one night when I heard Chris burst into that "I'm trying to suppress this, but really it's hysterical" type of laughter.  I came down to this.

They were playing detective, and in the absence of pants, (really, who wears pants when they're playing detective anyway?), Jayce decided to use his underwear as a holster.  

As one does, I guess.  

We tried not to laugh at him, because he wasn't trying to be funny.  Just trying to have easy access to his detective tools.

And that's March. :)

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Hannah "Reading"

This video could more aptly be named, "Hannah making animal noises along with her books," but that is just not concise enough for me.  But it is precious.

Enjoy.

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10 Months

Hannah, happy 10 months.

It has been a crazy month, perhaps obvious since this is the first time I have posted on the blog in almost 3 weeks, which is the longest stretch I have ever gone without posting something new since I started this blog 3 1/2 years ago.  Yes, it's been crazy around here.

You've been sick.  Sick, then started to get better, then got sick again, then got worse and worse.

You were sick for so long that I kind of forgot what you looked like without those sad sick eyes.  Half closed, red rimmed, glassy and breaking our hearts.  The first day when it was apparent that you were feeling well again I just stared at your face all day, trying to figure out why it looked so different.  Had you lost weight and your face thinned out?  Was it the prominence of your (now) 4 teeth?  But it was that your eyes just seemed so round and bright compared to how they had been looking for so long.

You got your very own nebulizer this month, and twice daily treatments for about a week.

It's a cute nebulizer, as far as those things go, a little pink panda, but you're not a fan.  I've tried a variety of things to distract you while you breathe in the steam, but you spend most of the time trying to squirm away.  Occasionally you try to huff on the little medicine holder, but not for long.

We've had some visitors this month.  Grandma was in town for a little over a week and Chelsea was in town Easter weekend.

Chelsea was here for the worst of it.  She kept saying, "Oh, she looks so sad!"  You did.

A double ear infection, a tooth coming in, a fever, thick congestion, a horrible congested cough that made your body shutter as you were trying to clear your lungs.

We spent a lot of time snuggling these past few weeks.  On the worst days you wouldn't sleep lying down and only wanted me.  You could only fall asleep on my shoulder, while I was standing and swaying us back and forth.  You woke if I put you in the crib, or if I turned you to lay sideways across my arms.  So I stood and held you, or we took you for a drive in the car to get you to sleep.  Until 12:30 am on Easter evening.  And again from 3-4 am.  And then I was up at 5 holding you to sleep again.

You didn't really "participate" for Easter this year.  You had a basket and a pretty dress, but instead you and Dad stayed home and he held you in the rocker for almost 2 hours so that you could get some rest.

By Monday you seemed to have pulled out of it a bit.  You slept a little longer at night and napped well during the day.  Then you seemed to start making up for lost time.

Since then, you want to be standing while holding onto something.  At the beginning of the week you were about 40% standing and 60% leaning, but a week later it is about 80% standing and 20% holding onto something.  Also your little bald spot on the back of your head is almost gone. :)

You and Jayce are starting to "play" together more and more.  This often happens while we're in the car and you are starting to get fussy.  He'll make some silly noise or face at you, then you laugh, then he laughs, then you imitate him and you both laugh.  I LOVE this.  It's amazing.  I always have the immediate urge to call your dad and say, "They like each other!  We made them, and they like each other, and they're playing and laughing without any intervening on my part!"  It's totally amazing, every time.

You are pushing up on your knees now, and starting to pull up on the furniture.  If we're on the hard wood floor or the kitchen, you will get on your belly and push yourself backwards around the room.  I imagine that the next time that I write this monthly update you will be crawling.  That is, so long as we can keep these balance-impeding ear infections at bay.  Here's hoping for a mostly well April and May, for all of us.

Happy 10 months baby!

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