10 Weeks and Easter

This little girl has gone on a nap strike today.  She did sleep during some of church and took 1 other cat nap but nothing like her usual 'pattern'.  She just wanted to be held or talked to and that was the only acceptable thing.  So we went with it.  She even stayed awake in her Snugli carrier on Mom and Dad's walk.  They never do that!!!  It's like a forced nap because the swaying and closeness to mom makes them conk out.  Not DG, not today.

This little girl also has started to talk up a storm, even when I'm not talking to her and she is just in her swing or bouncer or in the carrier, she coos and coos.  She loves that little hand when she can figure out how to get it to her mouth.  She searches for mommy when she hears her voice, and DG is totally checking out her limbs with her eyes, thinking now how do I make them do what I want them to.  TQM insists her eyes will stay blue (I would LOVE having created a blue-eyed girl), but I think she will go the way of the hazels, mom and the other sibs, which is also perfectly fine.  She is one pretty girl regardless of her DNA.  Love this chubby monkey.

EASTER!!!  It was a simply mahvelous day.  I don't think of doing pictures on these momentous occasions, but I better next year.  The eldest is going to be less fun eventually.  I actually decorated eggs with kids (I now know why I encourage Hubs to have this 'special' time with the children every year) Friday night, putting Judy in charge while I made dinner.  Whoo, how the eggs they did drop.  No one could keep them off the floor while decorating.  It was like some kind of strange gravity battle.  Only Judy was woman enough to stick it out and decorate them to the last while chatting with me.  The bunny didn't come Saturday like he has the last few years, something about he tried and almost broke his leg on all the toys lying around.  But he pulled through for them Sunday morning.  If anyone asks me why I assume the bunny is a he...oh brother.  They all had a good time, went to church with food dyed mouths and hunted eggs enthusiastically, chomping at the bit to get out of the gates.  We ate perfectly juicy grilled pork chops via Hubs who I think I should dub the Grillmaster or some such, funeral potatoes (Ja, you've got us on a roll), and, but of course, deviled eggs.

Have I ever told you that I have some seriously picky eaters?  Give them the right thing and they chow done but otherwise:  This one hates this but will eat that.  This one will eat nothing (Esqueleto?).  This one will mangle the food and then want more and maybe eat a little.  Mentally exhausting, I tell you, but I perservere.  I am told by many wise women in my ward that I WILL miss these days.  I am told that a lot, so it probably has to be true.  I need to love chaotic, messy, my poor kitchen Easter egg decorating and kids that make vomiting sounds when I present dinner.  I need to love the dirty hand smudges and, um, licks that adorn my child level windows/light switches/door knobs/walls.  I need to remember the funny things they said and did...because it will all be over in a flash, and my time does fly and sometimes you just want to make it through a meal or a day or a few hellish minutes.  But they are innocent and just learning and have almost zero patience and little empathy or understanding of all that's on my plate.  AND I did consciously choose to have each one of these children and pour my heart into loving and teaching them AND I do believe it will be worth it AND, because of those wise women I know I will miss it...except for the toddler diapers.  How do they do what they do???.  However, I digress...

This pre-Easter week has been so good and then I saw the Because of Him video on Youtube about Jesus, so amazingly done, and it really hit me.  I could feel the love of my Savior so much in the last 24 hours, his love for each person on earth, and we've had several moments to reflect as a family and with the less hyper kids, as well, on what His Atonement means for us and all mankind.  Good weekend.  Period.