April had its ups and downs. Ok, mostly downs. Downs related to not being able to get up and down. Haha. The Month of the Back!
Gion had MASSIVE back surgery at the beginning of the month. It was an intense couple days waiting for updates about her progress. And her recovery affects all our lives in major ways. But we're all looking forward to our new bionic Grandma who will be stronger, faster, and able to care for 3 babies in a single bound! But seriously, her recovery is going great. She's so determined and strong and has an awesome partner and caregiver in Phil.
Much less dramatic but super hard on our little family unit: I threw my back out on the 15th, needed a lot of help from Brian and my parents to provide even basic care to the kids, and I've been going to physical therapy. I feel a lot better already!
More spring break popsicles! It was great having Daddy home for two weeks!
The Hunters had us over for a little Easter party. It was a great time! It's basically all we did for Easter except fill a couple baskets with dollar toys and a bit of candy.
But Everett doesn't deserve much from the Easter bunny. This was a conversation he and Brian had.
Brian: tomorrow's Easter, maybe the Easter bunny will bring you something.
Everett: like the stuff at the store?
Brian: yeah, maybe the Easter bunny will fill your basket with stuff like that.
Everett: (sly smile) or maybe *you* will.
Brian: you're such a little skeptic.
Everett: or maybe Grandma Kathie will hop by and leave me something (grinning).
Brian: I've never been more proud in my life.
The Hunters' new baby chicks were the stars of the day. Lydia loved cuddling them and even gave one of them a kiss (ewww!). We had to watch her closely since she picked one up by its head! Rachel's much better than me at remembering to get a picture of us.
A couple family shots taken by Ann. Almost impossible to get the four of us in sync, but I'm so glad we did it. We need pics of the growing bump!
Daddy got to go to gymnastics while on break! And puppet shows have started up again!
A good part of Brian's break was consumed by redecorating Everett's new room. We painted it blue, painted our old bed red for him, and I sewed new purple and white curtains. We still have a few things to do before the transformation is complete, but it's looking good!
Everett: I think it's time for you to get out the
sewing machine. PLEEEEEASE can you sew now!? Please! Please! Please!
(what is happening!?!?)
Something he said to me during the process of sewing his curtains. Did he want to push the buttons on the machine? Did he just want me to go through with plans I had made? Who knows!
We celebrated Brian's birthday! My mom made him strawberry rhubarb shortcake. The next day, the kids and I made him mini cheesecakes. Check out Lydia with that salt. Sneaky! That night, we went to Sylvester's to get Brian's free birthday burger, and we unexpectedly met our friends Keith and Pelin (there with their kids and friend Becca). An impromptu little party! Perfect!
The last picture I took on the 15th before throwing my back out. Turns out, a sleeping 2-year-old is too heavy for this weak-backed mama.
My mom saved quite a few days, first coming over early Thursday morning before Brian figured out how to get his work covered and come home. Then she came over first thing on Friday and stayed all day. She entertained Everett for maybe an hour and a half on Friday creating a puppet show with him about a baby and daddy dinosaur and all the animals that wanted to eat the baby. I watched for a bit before I needed to find a more comfortable seat. I was quickly replaced by a stuffed animal audience.
Lydia, looking cute in a reindeer hat (she would only take pictures when I said I'd send them to Grandma Gion) and learning how to use a mug with this mug-using pro.
Yes, 25 weeks! As I type, I'm 27!! Next week I'll enter the third trimester. Crazy!
Baby Monroe turned one, and we went to his super-fun Uno Fiesta! We were asked to take pictures of the kids biting limes. I think I captured some great reactions!
The day finally arrived!! The kids moved into their new bedrooms! New Lightening McQueen and Sesame Street sheets from Phil and Gion made the transition easier, I'm sure. We weren't entirely done decorating or decluttering the rooms, but it needed to happen. We were SO desperate to get Lydia out of our room (and the toddler bed she kept falling out of).
The big bed is so much more comfortable for story time. And Lydia likes to take advantage of the new reading space when Brother is at school. She loves "reading."
These "cool" kids started dating 15 years ago on April 22nd! These pictures may have been taken that summer or the next year. I think we make a pretty great couple and always have.
We had a lovely play date with Mama Anna, Paloma, and even Baby Gabriella. Anna planned a flower squashing craft that was a lot of fun. Hopefully we can get a bunch more play dates in before Kindergarten starts for our little lifelong friends.
Lydia and Everett proving that they can be really sweet sibs sometimes.
Her serious face cracks us up! She really doesn't like it when we use this face when we're upset with her.
More pictures of our little bookworm.
Some "mama stays in the picture" pictures. I'm assuming I was laying on the couch with a sore back.
We went to story time at the library on Wednesday. Everett says he doesn't like it, but he can't stay away from the stories once we're there. Lydia's hair was up in a ponytail because she wouldn't let me comb out the terrible rats nest she was sporting that day. The pony's cute though!
The kids at the doctor's. Everett was wearing sunglasses because he whacked himself in the face with a piece of PVC and was feeling self conscious. Lydia had her ears checked, and one of her ear drums was actually vibrating! They hadn't been vibrating for who knows how long, a couple months at least, and that was probably causing a mild hearing loss.
On a related note, she qualified for speech therapy! After our assessment, I was pretty convinced she hadn't qualified. Her speech delay is borderline for qualifying, and with a hearing loss that would probably be corrected, no family history of speech issues, and a brother who was an early talker, they made it sound like our chances weren't good. But we still would have tried to address the delay somehow, so qualifying for the Tri-Counties Early Start program is great! We can get the process started right away and at very little cost.
We've been doing a lot to plan and get ready for Everett's FIFTH birthday! I'm guessing it will dominate the May blog! Fun!!
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