Easter weekend was fun. We had very few plans so it was actually relaxing which was nice. I have been working lots on the weekend with events and such as I come to the end before my maternity leave so it was nice to have a quiet weekend in. Saturday morning we went over to my parents for breakfast (something we used to do a lot more often before Elle started her dance class). And the weather was just warm enough to pose for a few pictures and play outside for a little while.
Matchy, matchy!
30 Weeks Pregnant
Helping Poppa make egg mcmuffins.
Playing hockey with Daddy.
After a quick nap we decorated some Easter Eggs. She was very decisive and specific about how she wanted them to look. (That's a nice way of saying she was BOSSY BOSSY...wonder which parent is responsible for that sweet quality?). We are trying to channel this into making her a good leader...haha.
She is very artistic and has a long attention span. She loved picking the colours, dropping them in, letting them colour and then adding stickers. She was terribly upset however, the next morning after the Easter Bunny had come to the house and left her eggs. I think she thought the Easter Bunny would eat them the same way Santa eats the cookies? Not sure where that idea came from but we will remember that for next year.
The Easter Bunny put together the sweetest little basket for her with a colouring book, The Bernstein Bears New Baby (how appropriate) some new princess flip flops, stickers and some sand toys. She LOVED looking for eggs and promptly wanted us to re-hide them for her to look for again. I must say the saddest part of the day for me, was hunting for the eggs inside. That was definitely one of the highlights for me last year in Florida, being outside in the beautiful sunshine letting her run around the backyard and look for eggs. That was a first for this Canadian, but let me tell you it will not be the last.
When I was little the Easter Bunny hid chocolate but since we really try to monitor Elle's diet and I had more than my share of chocolate eggs before Easter we decided to put stickers in her eggs (Matt's idea, it's he the best?). She was so excited as she opened her eggs to find a different princess in each egg. I was so proud of us..."what a success", until she opened her final egg and looked at us and said..."where are my treats?" Matt laughed until her cried while I tried to convince her that stickers were way more fun than treats. We finished the conversation with promising her that Nana would have treats at her house and she seemed to be okay with that. She is getting to the age where she is a little more aware of how things should be so I am not sure how much longer I can get away with some of our tricky little ways. What a funny girl!
Dressed for Easter and looking so pretty in her dress from Aunt Katie. She told everyone at church that "my friend Katie, she's my friend bought it". That's right, Aunt Katie is so cool she has moved to "Friend" status.
The three oldest cousins after their egg hunt. They were absolutely precious as they looked for eggs. Each grandchild had specific colours they were looking for. Abby found one of Elle's and brought it to her, Matt and I both got a little worried thinking she might be upset but she instead grabbed Abby hugged her and screamed, "Oh thank you Abby, Love you Abs". I almost burst into tears. It was so sweet.
Sweet Baby Hayley was such a doll baby as we all took turns snuggling her. She was so relaxed and delightful. I made Matt take a picture of me snuggling the "cousins". In just a few more weeks we will have our sweet girl in our arms.
Speaking of our girl, she gave us a little scare 2 weeks ago. I was extremely uncomfortable and finally gave in and called our doctor once Matt got home from work. It ended up being a small infection which was taken care of with antibiotics but she definitely caused a little drama before coming to that conclusion. They monitored her heartbeat and contractions, ran some tests did an ultra-sound and then put me back on the monitors.
This was day two of being on the monitors. I was doing a non-stress test where they monitor the baby and I push a button every time she moved. They essentially are making sure she isn't unhappy with her position and that everything is normal. We were feeling pretty good about things at this point and a little bored so we started taking pictures. The funniest part of the stress test is that the monitors allow you to hear the heart beat and motion of the baby out loud. So we are sitting there listening to a very rhythmic heart beat and it would all the sudden get really fast and make this loud "boom", and then her heartbeat would go back to the pattern it was before. She was kicking the monitor. It was obviously a little tighter where the monitor was so she kept kicking it, I guess it was in her way? After the emotional exhaustion of the weekend it was kinda fun for Matt and I to spend time together laughing at our baby. She is super active like her big sister already.
Before the stress test on day two they sent us for another ultra-sound. Again it sounds funny to say, but it was the best ultra-sound I have ever had. Most people don't describe the ER ultra-sound as "best ever" but for us it was. The lady was the nicest tech and talked to me the entire time. She showed me way more than any other person has ever shown me. Normally they take you in, turn the monitor so you can't see it and poke and prod you for an hour without a word. It makes you feel anxious even when there isn't anything to worry about. This girl showed me everything and after each thing she checked she would say "Nope, that looks good. She looks normal, yep that's great". She asked me about Elle and names we liked. It was just really nice. When she was all done she brought Matt in and spent lots of time with us again showing us everything thing. Normally they say "here's the head (show the profile that looks like it could be any baby under the sun) here's the heart, here's the bum...bye". This girl showed us the face straight on and we saw here little lips moving, if you looked at here eyes really carefully you could see them starting to move a little. Her face shape, especially her little nose, already looks like her big sister. She showed us her arm right above her head, she was laying on it like a pillow, and showed her legs and little feet all curled up. She even double checked she was still a girl, and YES, she is still a girl! She was so lovely and again after the anxiety of everything the night before it was so nice to see our girl together. We are so grateful she is happy and healthy! I saw the doctor a week later and everything is still good. He told me I am just over doing it...not sure what I am supposed to cut out of my daily routine but apparently life as a working mother of one is over doing it.
We were also given a movie strip of pictures. This one is the profile. The straight on one is hard to make out if you don't know what your looking for.
These are her little feet!
Finally, the weather here has been insane. We had a huge ice storm and two separate days of snow this month. We have also had warm mild above seasonal temperatures...so strange. I blame it on the crazy weather that Elle got another ear infection. Same deal as always. Started as a little cold, 3 days later she had 103 fever and we took her to the clinic for antibiotics. She is a trooper but this one seems to have been the worst. It has taken a while for her to feel better and she has ended up in our bed a few times. I lay with her in her bed for about an hour but when that won't work I take her to our bed. When she comes in, I get out. I figure I will cuddle one child at night and Matt can cuddle one. Luckily for Matt his cuddled buddy sleeps in her own bed most nights. My cuddle buddy still has 7 more weeks.
Blowing bubble before rest time after the doctors. She has been dying to blow bubbles and she was so good getting her ears checked so we bundled up for a short playtime before resting.
So that's April....so busy with highs and lows. I guess this is life with kids. They are forever worrying you and making you sweat. We love our sweet girls and are so grateful that our little scares are nothing in comparison to what some families go through.
