Easter-Palooza

Day of Life: 61

I knew as soon as I got home yesterday that I probably wouldn't be going back to Birmingham until Monday. I hated it, too, because today will be the first day that I don't get any pictures of Tera. I thought about asking her nurse to take one for me, but they are under strict orders not to take pictures with their own cameras. One nurse last week suggested that I leave a disposable camera in the room, but of course I forgot to get one before I left. So, today, I have no idea what Tera looks like, though I'm guessing it's exactly like what she looked like yesterday, only an ounce heavier. I already said this in last night's post, but Tera finally started gaining real weight again last night. She is up to 4 pounds 14 ounces.

Since I can't show you a picture of Tera, I'll show you her Easter basket.

I like to be somewhat economical (has anyone ever noticed how close that word is to "comical?"), so I got things that I thought she could actually use one day, then incorporated things that her nurses could enjoy over the weekend. The bottles are filled with jelly beans and Reese's peanut butter eggs, and the snack container has M&Ms. The eggs are also filled with various candies. It's more than Canon got on his first Easter!

Canon went to bed pretty late last night, so we let him sleep as late as he could before it was time to get ready for church. I ordered him an Easter outfit before Tera was born, but it came in two separate shipments. When I went to look for it last night, I couldn't find the shorts. I looked all over the place this morning and finally found them stuffed in a diaper bag that I had filled with some of his clothes the last time I was home. My intention had been to put everything in the diaper bag just to carry it to his room, then unload it when I got there. I never got around to unloading it, however, and now a month later, I had completely forgotten what was in there. I looked through the bag as a last resort and . . . crisis averted.

I took Canon outside to get some pictures. Last year, I got a few really cute ones of him in front of this cross.

Barry and I got married in my backyard because my church was not quite big enough for the hundreds of people we wanted to invite. We still wanted a "church" wedding though, so my mom had this cross made to place on a table that acted as our altar. It's one of my favorite things. Canon doesn't seem to impressed by it this year.

So, we tried a different location.

The trains were the only way I could get him to sit still.

And yet another location. When he still wouldn't even look at the camera, I decided it was time to give up for now.

We made it to church a few minutes early to get a good seat for the service. Mary told me last night that they were offering a third service this morning, and we were debating which one to attend. I wanted to attend the one that would have the most people that I knew in attendance. We decided to stick with our regular 10:40 service, and I was able to see lots of people that I haven't seen in awhile. Funny story: We saw someone that we've worked with during youth events before. He asked us how "that baby" is. Assuming he was talking about Tera, Barry and I both just said "Doing good." He responded with, "Just wait til you have two of them." Well . . .
Barry left me to explain things.

I was especially excited to see our minister, Hays. He's been checking in with me on a regular basis. We joked that we've talked more since I've been away than we do when I'm in Dothan. And also my dear friend, Christie. She and I have been emailing these last couple of months. She's one of those friends you can ask to do anything, and she would drop anything to make sure it gets done. When Canon was in Dothan with Barry, Christie kept Canon a couple of times. You might remember the picture of the "Toy Story Trance" soon after Tera was born. She got this family picture for us.

Of course, I can't leave Tera out of the family picture. This is my favorite picture of her in her Easter dress.

After church, we went home to get ready for the 3rd Annual Easter PotLuck Lunch (I just named it that). Barry and I are very blessed to both have families that want to spend so much time with us. After traveling between and amongst them during our first Thanksgiving and Christmas as a married couple, we decided that Easter would be our holiday at home with our Dothan family. The first couple of Easters, we pretty much just bummed off of other people's families, namely Josh and Mary's. Two years ago, however, our friends started a tradition of an Easter PotLuck Lunch. Josh and Mary hosted the first one. Canon was one month old, Ava was one day old (obviously not in attendance), Colt was one month away from birth, and Luke was still attached to his "real" family so he didn't make it either. Last year, we hosted the lunch at our house, then hung out in the park for all the one-year-olds to hunt Easter eggs. Canon actually just sat in the grass, emptied his Easter bucket, then put it on and off his head for about an hour.

This year, we decided to host the Easter lunch again, mainly because the park is such a great place for the kids to play after lunch. Everyone brought a different dish, and we ate to our hearts' content. The boys all took naps after lunch, and we sat on the porch enjoying the day. Actually, we sat on the porch because it was cooler outside than in. Barry and I (really Barry!) had left one of the windows open in the den, so the air conditioner wasn't working quite as efficiently as we would have liked. What with so many people coming in and out, the house never cooled back down.

Once the boys awakened, they were eager to play outside. Mary brought over their blow-up pool, and she got out Canon's pirate ship. John and Erica were driving by, and their son, Jack, got to play as well.

We did try an Easter Egg Hunt in the park. One of the older boys hid the eggs, then Colt, Luke, and Canon went hunting. Truth be told, the adults looked for the eggs, then pointed them out to the children. Luke was the best, probably because he can outrun both Colt and Canon to get to the eggs first. It was fun to watch them race and cheer them on. Canon fell more than anything else. In the end, I think every child had at least one boo boo.

A late afternoon thunderstorm brought the party inside for a little while. We continued to eat and enjoy each other's company. My friends probably don't even know this, but I had a minor anxiety attack at some point during the day. It's actually a little deceiving to call it an "attack." There was no heavy breathing or sweating or racing heart. In fact, at first I thought it was simply a stomach ache from too much Easter candy. When I started to cry, I decided it must be some kind of anxiety. I think I was most nervous about the changes that were about to happen. Canon would need to come back to Dothan at some point, preferably before Tera and I come home. While MyGoo and Ann Steiner are taking care of the nursery, I still worry about Canon transitioning into his new bed. We had originally thought that we would let the two kids share a room, but sometimes that seems ridiculous. I had brought back so much stuff from Birmingham, and now it was spread out all over the floor in our bedroom. I don't even know why this anxiety came upon me. I had just been enjoying my day with my friends and being excited that I might be back home for good soon, then all of a sudden, it seemed like everything was moving way too fast.

Barry talked me back into sanity. We decided that Canon and Tera could each have separate rooms, and he would take care of moving all of the furniture around. I don't have to have the whole house in order before Tera gets home. She's not going to care! I'll have plenty of time this summer to unpack bags, clean out closets, move things from one room to the other. No need to stress about it now. I felt much better after being reassured, but I still had a funny feeling in my tummy. Maybe it was a little bit of the Easter candy?

After our friends went home and Canon was in bed, I went ahead and packed the car for our drive tomorrow. I remembered from my last trip home that I could not get out of the house fast enough, so I wanted to be prepared for that same feeling in the morning. Barry and I went to bed early, but of course it took me forever to fall asleep. I think I'm finally accepting that six hours of sleep is a good night for me.