Woo-Hoo!

On Valentine's Day, Ella peed on the potty for the very first time.

Since then...nothing. Nada.

Today, she peed twice! Definite progress!

Sicknesses

Mom has pneumonia (more on that to come), but at least my nephew doesn't have the swine flu (although he did get to call into work today due to being quarantined...I kid you not).

As for us? The kids are on the mend, but I'm still crumbling under the sinus pressure. I should be back up to speed by the end of the week (fingers crossed!), but am still feeling like crud.

Curious

If, say, you come to this blog looking for a specific post, or two, that you can no longer find, you can always email me.

New Life

Congratulations, Lorraine and family!

Welcome to the world, Sean Daniel Robert :)

Whirlwind

The past couple of weeks have been a complete blur. After a somewhat last minute change of plans, I made a traditional Easter dinner up at Mom's. We had the kids' first egg hunt, and their first official delivery from the Easter Bunny. It went over very well. Then it was full-on birthday planning mode. My sister, M, had been sick before Easter but miraculously recovered enough to make it to dinner. And to infect most of us. Ella, Liam, Caitlin and Mom are all sick now and somehow my body knew to hold off until the end of the insanity. As I laid down with the kids last night to tuck them in, I felt the sore throat creeping on. I am totally sick now and none too pleased with M, who "realized" after crashing Easter dinner that she wasn't well enough to go to work last Monday or Tuesday. Ugh! She actually didn't come to the party yesterday, claiming that she "didn't want to be infected." Can you believe it?!

That said, here are some shots of Easter and the birthday party. Yesterday was a fabulous day. Everything came together so nicely - the food, the crowd, the weather, just everything - and J and I were so happy with how the day went. The weather was wonderful enough that everyone spent most of the time outside, soaking up the sun and enjoying each other's company. J's parents surprised the kids with classic Radio Flyer trikes (which actually worked out very well, because we haven't had a chance to purchase their bikes, so we'll just hold off on those for now and let the kids enjoy the trikes). N and her kids surprised Liam and Ella with a basketball hoop, which was a BIG hit. A and P, Liam and Ella's Godparents (as well as their aunt and uncle), surprised me by getting the Muffins a sand and water table for them to play with on the deck. P's wife gave the kids a great batch of homemade goodies, including a cute felt soccer ball, adorable little stuffed mice and some nice play dough. Everyone seemed to have a good time and I'm glad for the exhaustion at the end of it, because it was so worth it.

All in all, it's been a total whirlwind but it all just reminds me how blessed I am with amazing children, a wonderful husband and a great family.

Quick! Find those eggs!

She was quite good at finding more than one at a time.

Oooh...check out those goodies!

The only decent shot of the two of them together on Easter. It's so hard to get Ella to pose for a picture now.

Chilling out on the kitchen floor, muching on some of the loot from the egg hunt.

The trikes! (And, yes, my son did wear the same outfit for Easter and the party - isn't he so handsome?!)

Ahhh! The cake that caused me so much stress. It was quite good, albeit a bit green, but the kids loved it I think I'm over my cake ordering anxiety (although, I still prefer to make my own, but this worked out quite nicely).

Ella blowing out the candle.

Then it's Liam's turn.

I have no idea what they're doing here or even who took the shot, but I think it's super cute.

2 points!

He was trying to pretend that I wasn't taking his picture. Seriously.

A Brief Tour Of My Thoughts

• Jesus, I don't get enough sleep.
• I am so damn sad about recent events and don't know what to do to be of more help.
  
• The cake for the kids' party! Damnit, the cake! This thing will be my downfall. I don't really want to order one, but no one seems to want to sell me the decoration I want, so I may have to and hopefully someone will give me a straight answer tomorrow and just. sell. me. the. damn. topper. I really want to make my own Thomas cake.
• Ugh.
• If we lived at Mom's, then I could take the kids outside to play by myself and not worry about them (well, specifically the boy one) running into the street (I'd still worry, but there's so much more space at Mom's).
• I really need to get more sleep.
  
• If we lived at Mom's, I'd always be worrying about ticks.
• I now blowdry my hair in an attempt to get to bed earlier. After I shower, I used to let it airdry to a certain point, but when I'm not showering until 10 at night and it can take upwards of 3 hours for my hair to reach a point at which I can go to bed without looking like Medusa in the morning, I'm surprised it took me this long to think of this.
• Now that I'm blowdrying my hair on a regular basis, people keep asking me if I'd had it cut recently. I'm actually in desperate need of a haircut.
• Should I go to grad school? Is it worth it? Do I really want to go back to work one day? (Hint: Not so much. But, am I shortchanging myself? My kids?)
• Ugh.
• There are a ton of shows I need to catch up on on the DVR. Not enough time in the day.
  
• I need to stop it with the Easter loot (mine, not the kids. They got toys from the Easter Bunny and only one small tin of m 'n ms.). There are not enough hours in the day for me to spend in the gym to burn it all off. That said, though, food's a definite comfort at this point.
• I wonder. Can I kick my Diet Coke habit? The thought is very appealing. This is not the month to experiment, though, but maybe. Just maybe.
  
• I really want to post some pictures from the Thomas show. That was fun. The kids had a blast.
• I'm tired. Very, very tired.
• We really need to watch the movies we have taken out on Netflix. It's been months.
• I can't believe my babies are 3.
  
• I need a weekend off (I know, I know....who doesn't?!). Just someplace where I can sleep, food magically appears at my door and I don't have to do anything. It'll never happen, though.
• Ugh.

And that concludes the abbreviated, though circuitous, tour of my brain.

Thank you so much for browsing Heather's mind. Please wait for the ride to come to a full and complete stop and then exit to the left.

Hippity Hoppity

The biscuits are baked and bagged and ready to go, the bread pudding's almost done baking and the sweet potatoes are boiling for the casserole. The eggs are stuffed, the diaper bag is loaded with changes of clothing, Mom's Easter lily is on the porch. The kids' baskets are loaded into my car (the Easter Bunny is delivering their surprises to Nana's house since Mumma is going to early Mass and then heading up to Nana's to make a big Easter dinner for everyone and I won't be here when the kidlets wake up - I didn't want to miss the grand openings!). I have a long list of items to remember to bring in the morning (not the least of which is the ham!), and we're in good shape for a nice, relatively small (there'll be 12 f us, at last count) Easter dinner.

Wishing you a very Happy Easter, if you celebrate it, and a Happy Sunday, if you don't.