I hope you all had a beautiful Easter Sunday. Naturally, in our house, we forgo the Easter Bunny mentality and focus on the true history of the holiday. Except that, as Christians, we live this holiday every day of our lives...it's a little tough to box up the Resurrection and ponder on it just one day a year. Some people can do it; it's a little hard for me. Many people celebrate Easter as the beginning of Spring-the renewal of life is in bloom around us, and we rejoice-especially those of us who love nature. No matter how/what you celebrate, Easter is for everybody, of every religion, with any screw-ups, accepted or not for what it gave us. I hope it was a good one for you.

Dustin's parents spent the afternoon with us. We ate, we did an Easter egg hunt (we did it again later in the evening b/c Lara enjoyed it so much), then relaxed in front of a movie.

Some of you may have seen this picture on my Facebook. Three families from our church (each has 2 kids) accidentally dressed our children alike. The other two families are all cousins, so their Easter family pictures are going to turn out gorgeous.
While my frazzled state continues, I've been drowning my impatience in hot baths and a sip of wine here and there. :D I appreciate the comments/emails/advice I have received about that last post. Truly, nothing on this planet works to remedy the fits, but I'm going to follow my own advice and just wait it out. Do what I have been doing, but let this phase past. It's embarrassing when she throws a fit in public, because I asked her to, oh, let's see...BLINK AN EYE or something, and I look like that wimpy mother who has no clue what to do. Because I like to be in control, and it is unnerving to feel like I have no clue what to do about this. And mothers are supposed to always know what to do. Right?

Lara would benefit greatly from more interaction with other children, and more activities outside the home. This is a tad difficult to arrange when my 10 month old needs to sleep 2 times a day, and nurse 4 times a day (and she is a mess if she's off her routine)...but I am going to enroll Lara into some music classes, and I am thinking about dance. But just thinking. And perhaps Awana. She is braver to be away from me, and loves to be independent. She is so much like me. She interacts beautifully now with other children. She has a vivid imagination, and will guide her friends in pretend play. "Come into my castle...." "Let's go into our house; this part is the living room, here is the bathroom, now let's drive our car to the Discovery Museum!" It's really cute. But the poor thing is stuck at home with me all day.

Now, in other news, did you hear we got a new vehicle? It's really awesome (black 2005 honda pilot SUV). The wipers work, and all you have to do to get the window to go down is PUSH a button. There's even a spot for me to put my cup. ;) I am feeling rather ostentatious. The heated seating IS truly ostentatious, however. I was thinking, "Why would you need heated seating? That is so silly." So, naturally, today, while I was cold after an ice drink, but Dustin was really hot, I turned on my heated seating, and we were all happy. ;)

Lara saw the specialist again yesterday. It was a quick appointment, really. Seeing Lara walk around, seeing her great strides in development...the doctor was pleased with her progress. Lara still does not require any sort of treatment, other than therapy (Which is now only twice a month). And Lara is not due back for a year. Lara no longer uses her walker, except for long walks. She is still up on her toes pretty badly, and that is the main concern. Eventually, we will need to do Botox, but only when it becomes necessary. We're not into traumatizing if we can help it. Not with a case as mild as Lara's. The doctor reiterated that Lara shows the classic signs of very mild spastic diplegia, specifically developed in children who were born prematurely. He said he doesn't really "know what's going on" since her MRI results did not show any brain damage, but sometimes that happens, and could also simply be indicative of a mild case of cp.
All of this is to say that everything remains the same. No...everything is getting better. Right now, the issue I am trying to work through is seeing Lara not be able to keep up with her friends when they run, dance, etc. Lara would love to do those things, but she can't, and I get a little stab of pain in my heart every time I see it. But it doesn't upset her now. It is just a part of her life.

Today, we spent a beautiful (and very windy) day out in the country. Lara really wanted to jump on the trampoline after watching our neighbors across the street jump on their trampoline. So Lara called Nana and asked if she could come over for the day. While out there, Dustin brought along his new gun, and we tested it out. Yes, even I did too.
Now, I know some of my readers are very wary of guns; I am too. When Dustin came home with it, I thought, "Put that thing back in the case! It's scary!" But after countless nights of feeling frightened by noises at 2am because I am alone with two little girls, now I'm like, "Ok! Teach me how to use this thing! I gonna keep it unda my pillo!"
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Okay. So what can I say about Claire-Bears? She has 6 teeth, and 2 more coming in. She isn't doing anything new from my last post about her. She is still very squishy and cuddly. She loves, loves bath time, and starts bouncing up and down excitedly when she hears the water turn on. She loves grapes and eats them all the time. Last night, she woke up about 2 1/2 hours after going to bed, and I could NOT get her to go back to sleep. She was really off her routine that day (I blame the teething), so she was too tired to eat supper. SO, at 10pm, I sat her down in her booster seat and gave her more to eat. Changed her diaper, gave her tylenol, and still, she would not sleep. So, after awhile of just playing on her bedroom floor looking at her books, she finally went to sleep for good..at 11:30pm. Claire really loves books too...if perhaps for different reasons than her big sister.

So the next couple of months could possibly be rather busy months for us. Did you know that Claire will be one next month?? I am not okay with that. Anyway, pray for us please-for wisdom, guidance, and good decision-making skills!!

Goodnight, and good luck.