Easter Fun

This Easter season was a ton of fun.  The girls had several egg hunts that they got to go to, and we had a good time celebrating with family.

If you recall, we had egg hunt #1 a couple of weeks ago.

Egg hunt #2 took place at the girls' school on Friday.  I missed out on Sydney's picnic and egg hunt (it was at 11 AM and I had to be at this little place called work), but Taylor's was at 3 PM so I got to get there for most of it.  They had a little party and then got to hunt for eggs.  Big sis Sydney got to eat with them and help Taylor with the eggs.  It was a really nice day, weather-wise, so Parker and I got to hang out on the playground while the kiddos got their loot.

Saturday, Stephen and I took turns volunteering for setting up the egg hunt at our church (more info. below).  I had the 10-12 shift and he had the 2-4 one.  In the middle, we dyed easter eggs. 

Egg hunt #3 took place at our church.  Well, at the soccer fields next to our church, but our church hosted it.  It's their big event every year, and thousands of people from around town come to it.  It's a HUGE egg hunt (25,000 eggs), inflatables, face painting, games, food, and more.  The egg hunts are separated by age, so when it came time for the hunts, I went with Taylor and Stephen went with Sydney. 

I forgot their Easter baskets (duh), so we winged it... Taylor had an emptied-out diaper bag.

Eggs galore.

Sydney used my purse.

We were all listerally so exhausted that night.  The girls fell asleep watching the Lion King on the laptop, and Stephen and I weren't that far behind them.



Sunday, we woke up to see that the Easter Bunny had come to visit.  The girls were so excited!  (Parker, too...of course!)  After breakfast, we went to church and had a wonderful service. 

We then headed up to my sister's house for lunch!  There, we had egg hunt #4.  (I seriously was starting to feel like our household was being taken over by colorful, plastic eggs).  Lots of fun times.

6 months!

Half a year?! Seriously?!  Can't believe my sweet Parker is 6 months old!

Parker is becoming his own little person more and more every day!  Accomplishments this month include:

Sitting up! He's still very wobbly, but can sit up for a good 30 seconds on his own if he gets a good balance going.

Moving to stage 2 baby foods. He is a champ at eating. He's not so fond of turkey (can't say I blame him) or carrots.

He is "talking" up a storm!

Parker got baptized!

He loves to stick his tongue out at everybody.

He had an ear infection this month, and he also had a little stomach bug. :(

We'll get his official 6 month check up stats in a few days, but in mid-March, he weighed in at 17 lbs, 10 oz.

He now likes to sleep on his belly. He'll usually start on his side, and end up on his belly.

He's rolling more from belly to back now. He doesn't seem to want to do it much, though. Back to belly is no problem.

Teething, teething, teething.  This boy is showing all the signs- lots of drool, fist in his mouth, crying out randomly at night.  Orajel seems to work so far.  I feel little bulges in his gums, but nothing poking through yet!

 This boy is absolutely entertained by his big sisters.  He gets going with his giggling/laughing and it makes the girls want to entertain more.  It's a funny cycle!

Easter is coming!

The girls had their first Easter egg hunt, courtesy of Stephen's work.  They always throw a fun shindig.  Here are some pictures from that.

Sydney got to move up to the 4-7 egg hunt this year.

Parker joined in the fun, too. 

Shocker- Sydney actually sat in the Easter Bunny's lap!  This is big timing, people!  Taylor, on the other hand, would not get close.  We ended up taking a family shot.  Again.

Parker's Baptism

My sweet Parker was baptized a couple of Sundays ago!  It's funny- when Sydney was baptized, we took all kinds of pictures ahead of time.  With Taylor, I was able to snap a few in her little dress before going to church.  With Parker, there was so little time to take any pictures ahead of time that... I just didn't get any!  Maybe I'll stage some pictures in his little outfit in the near future.

The baptism went well.  Mom, dad, sis and fam all came down for it.  Sydney and Taylor were totally running all around at the front of the church during it.  They are out. of. control. when they are together!  Luckily, our church is very casual and understanding and there were some good laughs shared by many.

Here are some pics- it's pretty dark in our church so the lighting isn't great, but you can witness a bit of our sweet celebration.  God Bless Parker William!

This is when the running-around began.  I believe we were all laughing during a prayer, when Ben was blessing Parker and added in "and his sisters". ;)

Back to our house for a celebratory lunch!

Productivity

I found this article very interesting, and I thought I would share it for all you moms out there.  Being a busy mom takes organization, prioritization, and a level-head.  Busy could mean working full-time, being a stay-at-home mom to a couple of kids, or doing a combination of the two.  Whatever it is, you have to make it work for you.

I have my days where I want to throw in the towel, thinking that some things are just too much.  Some things can push you over the edge on an already-crazy day.  But... I actually love my set-up.  I get the best of both worlds.  I get to wake up to three beautiful faces everyday, take them to a loving place where they get to play and learn.  I get to be productive, I get to interact with adults, and I get to feel like I have a purpose out there in the world while at work.  Then, I get to get my kids at a reasonable hour, play with them for a few hours, and then call it a night.  Plus, I get week breaks every so often and summers at home.  For me, this works.  I really don't think I'd be happier any other way.

Yes, it gets crazy and stressful, but I have learned the art of multitasking (which the author talks about), having down time, and prioritizing what needs to be done before other things.  Being busy actually helps me be more productive, because I have less time to get things done.

And for those who know me well, feeling productive is something I strive for daily.


I like this quote from the article:

Honestly, it's not always perfect. And while my lifestyle might not work for a lot of people, it works for me. That's been the key to keeping my sanity -- prioritizing what works for my family instead of focusing on whether it would work for anyone else.


Hopefully I'll remember this on the next "throw in the towel" day. :)

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/18/living/busy-mother-lean-in-sandberg/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Jinxed

Last week, I was just saying how happy I was that we had avoided any major illnesses this fall/winter season.  Boy, did I jinx us.

I had a week off in mid-February, and all was well.  The next week, poor Parker came down with croup.  The next week, on Tuesday night, Taylor threw up and woke up with a fever.  Turns out she had strep.  On Friday, daycare called and said Parker threw up.  I ended up taking him and Sydney to the doctor just to rule out strep in them (luckily, they both were negative).  Parker did have a slight ear infection, though. 

Friday night, Stephen got sick.  Bad.  We had big weekend plans, so we debated on cancelling them.  He woke up Saturday morning feeling better, so we said game on!

Unfortunately, Saturday night, it hit him again.  Bad.  Probably worse than Friday night.  

Sunday night, Sydney threw up.  I'm staying with her now and I, the lone survivor, am now feeling sick myself.  Yuck.  I'm ready for this all to pass.  But, I am enjoying some snuggle time with my sweet Sydney...

24 hours

Lots can happen in 24 hours!  With Stephen out of town, I got the 3 kiddos in bed by 7:30 last night and I was ready to chill for a couple of hours before heading to bed by 9:30.  Good thing I went to bed a little early...

...since then:
-Taylor threw up around 12:30 AM.  The rush to get her cleaned, sheets in the washer, and in bed with me ensued.
-Taylor kicked, squirmed, and wiggled around for hours.  At one point, she was wide awake, wanting me to join her.  Parker woke up at 4:50 AM.  Basically, I got a total of about 4 hours of sleep.
-As I was heading outside to put the kids in the car to take the healthy 2 to daycare, I noticed a big mess.  Let's just say that trash/recycle pick-up day + crazily howling winds = a huge mess.  I had to run around in my work clothes (in the freezing cold!) picking up boxes, trash, etc.  We had about 10 boxes between shipments and diapers that were in various neighbors' yards.  It was a mess.
-One box was stuck in these prickly thorns that I didn't notice, and I got 4 "splinters" in one finger.  Ouch.
-THANKFULLY my mom was able to come keep Taylor, so I went into work 2 hours late.
-I got basically nothing accomplished that I needed to get accomplished at work.  I was constantly putting out fires, driving to all 3 of my schools, and going to meeting after meeting.  I have stacks of paperwork that need to be delivered to specific people in a timely fashion.  They've been sitting in my office for a good week.
-Parker ate about an hour early this morning, and I didn't pack an extra bottle from the norm.  The daycare called me at 5:30 saying that Parker was screaming and there wasn't anything for him to have.  Mom of the year, right here!
-I realized it was 3:00 and I hadn't even eaten lunch.
-My printer ran out of ink at work.

Sigh... on a good note, my mom was such a HUGE help, watching Taylor.  And, she even cooked us dinner!  (THANKS, Mom!) Plus, Stephen got an early flight home today.  I stayed at work until about 6 to try to get some more things done.   Here's hoping Taylor gets better soon and that the germs don't spread!  And... yesterday was Stephen's and my 8th anniversary!  (seriously?!)  Happy anniversary to me.

It's just funny when 24 hours can seem like 3 days.

Good thing little sweet cheeks makes every day better!  (both big sweet cheeks do, too!)