Easter 2011

This Easter was pretty relaxing. We first celebrated at preschool on Thursday. The day started off with Donuts with dad were Maddie and Brian shared some donuts together, then at the end of the preschool day, the kids got to hunt Easter eggs. This year we had to hunt them in the foyer because it was raining. Bummer. But the kids had fun non-the-less.

On Sunday, the Easter bunny brought Maddie a Snow-White barbie doll, some cute wooden food for her kitchen and a chocolate bunny. After lunch she hunted the eggs he left for her and they were filled with jelly beans. For diner, we went to Brian's parents house were Maddie did more egg hunting and topped it off with an egg shaped cup-cake. That girl got A LOT of sugar from the Easter bunny this year!

Last year, Maddie had just turned 2, so she wasn't quite into it, but this year, she really got to enjoy it. When we were talking about the Easter bunny leaving treats in the middle of the night, she related it to Santa Clause during Christmas, so she was very excited to see her basket in the morning.

Maddie did not appreciate that the Bunny hid his eggs in the dirt. Brian had to help her reach those eggs so she wouldn't have to get her feet dirty. What a miss priss.






Then she decided to pose for pictures. This never happens.


(I don't know why my pictures look grainy on this blog.)

Love/Hate

Let me talk about my love/hate relationship with naps for a bit. I just came to terms with the fact that Maddie has pretty much out-grown her naps. Some kids nap till their 4 or 5, some have given them up way earlier then Maddie has, but still, it is a sad departure in our household.

I do however, make her stay in her room for 1 1/2 hrs. I put her in bed, after we watch Olivia on Nick Jr. after lunch, (hilarious cartoon, I think I would watch it even if Maddie wasn't around) and when I leave, as if I have no clue as to what she's up to, she gets up, pushes her rocking chair up to the light switch and turns the light on. Then proceeds to play with her toys. I have come to terms with that. As long as she stays in her room until I get her.

This new little schedule sounds great and all, except until the 6 O'clock hour comes upon us, and I would like to pull my hair out. Some days, she's good. Most days, its melt down city. Especially if we happen to go out for dinner. One day, we were eating a late diner at home, it was around 7:00 and Maddie was pouting for one reason or another. She put her elbows on the table amd leaned her chin on her palms and stuck her bottom lip way out. (were do they learn this stuff?) Brian and I ignored her. If she wanted to pout and not eat her diner, then that's the choice she makes right? So we went on talking. A few minutes later, I look over at Maddie and she was SOUND ASLEEP! What in the world? Brian picked her up and just put her to bed.

Now on the other hand, if she's had a busy day, mostly on Saturday mornings when Brian wears her out at the play ground, she'll take a nap, however, the 8 O'clock bed-time, comes to soon for her. Good luck to us if she'll go to bed then. And again, if she's asleep or not, I don't care, as long as shes in her bed at night. However, the night time routine lasts FOREVER. "I need my water", "I need my bear", "I need more hugs and kisses"etc... Its hard to put a stop to all that. After all, who can deny their child more water? Or hugs? What kind of mother would I be if I said NO to more hugs? I actually had to come up with an alternate to hugs, were I can stand at the doorway and blow kisses. The whole bed time routine can take up to an hour if we let it. And that's AFTER shes ALREADY in bed. Crazy kid.

So that's my love/hate relationship with naps these days. I love them and I hate them at the same time.

Zoo Day

This past Saturday was Walk for Epilepsy at the Dallas Zoo. I really don't know anyone close to my heart that suffers from Epilepsy, although, I'm sure its quite a debilitating disease, we actually went there to see Corey. Corey helps organize ASI's involvement in the walk and he designed the t-shirts they all wore.

Brian had to study for the CPA exam he was taking on Monday, and my mom had something else she needed to. My dad was going to go so, Maddie and I went with him. It was a lot of fun but it was HOT! They have a safari section in the zoo and I really thought I was walking in a real safari. I pretended I was in Africa. It was hot. And I think it was in the low 90's. Not even close to whats to come this summer. Not looking forward to that. But we did have a great time, and Maddie found all of the Animals in Lion King, and I sang the entire "pumba" song from memory. She wanted to see a bear, but I don't think they have any at the Dallas zoo. If they do, we sure didn't find any. Towards the end of our venture, she stopped asking to see one, so we were free to leave without the little one getting upset that she didn't get to see one of her favorite animals. BUT, she did get to ride a camel and a pony. That was pretty cool.

updates

This might be a little TMI, but I wanted to remember this.
I went in for my first after-surgery appointment Tuesday, I started experiencing less of the intense pressure in my ear, and more crackling sounds, like the kind when you pop your ears, or
when you're on a plane or something like that. He was glad to hear that. He said that those sounds are from lots of fluid in my ear. He did some ear "tests" and also looked and said he saw lots of fluid trying to break fee.

He said all this is normal and I'm on the right track. I guess its just taking longer for this process to happen with me, then with other patients, and that's why the nurse said I'm not "normal, but not typical" when I called last week.

If I'm still feeling pressure and crackling in two weeks, he's going to put a tube in my ear. The good news is that I'm feeling less pressure and crackling (since that's supposed to happen) so the
chances of me getting dizzy are becoming less likely. I just pray that I continue on the right track and that the surgery winds up being completely successful within the next couple of weeks. Because, honestly, melt-downs were about to start happening!

In other news, as I blogged earlier, Maddie is in baby Ballet and we got her some official ballerina get-up.


It is quite the most precious thing I have seen!