Easter, Weaning, & Fevers

I was going with this whole monthly blogging thing, but April was such a crazy month that a single post would take too long to write and way too long to read.

Easter was not as fun as normal this year. First of all, it was the first Easter hunt without my dad. I miss his jovial laughs and smiles while watching the kiddos hunt for eggs. His prayer for Easter dinner will never be able to be replaced. Second of all, it was the beginning of one of the worst bugs/viruses to hit our entire family that I can remember. It was a doozy! It started with Alex. He had a fever during all of Easter, making the fun of egg hunts and candy a moot point. He wasn't into the festivities at all. He didn't even eat his dinner. Which, if you know Alex, means he's pretty darn sick. It quickly spread throughout the house. Abby and Evie got it next and Josh and I followed shortly after. We were all so dang sick! It knocked us on our butts. Even Josh had to take a day off of work. Josh doesn't take off work. He even worked when he had heat exhaustion and almost suffered a heat stroke. Honestly, I didn't think we'd make it to our California vacation (next post). But more on that later. This thing was in our chests. It gave us a fever for several days and ended with lots of snot and coughing. Yuck. No fun. Even I got a fever for two days. And I don't get fevers very often. So glad that's done with.

The kids enjoyed dyeing eggs and waking up to their baskets of goodies. Evie's two eggs suffered some major cracking and eventually ended up eaten before the egg hunt. Alex and Abby actually were more experimental with their eggs this year. It's so fun to see them get more creative as the years go by. And the years are going by so fast.

We went over to mom's house to eat a nice ham dinner and egg hunt. We were supposed to meet my brother and his kids there, but they got the junk too and their kids weren't up for it. They say that the first year after losing someone you love is the hardest. Each time you have to do something for the first time without them is very painful. Here's hoping next Easter is better.

Look how big he is getting!

Can you tell Alex doesn't feel well? I sure can.

Our traditional bunny cake. With our nasty bug, we ended up throwing half of it away. :(

And on other big news. Evie is officially weaned! I was supposed to wait until 18 months per doctor's request, but it got pretty annoying there at the end and I only made it to 17 months. But come on! That's rock star material right there in the breastfeeding world. It just got too annoying. She would grab my eyes and pinch my boobs and pull my hair...even pick my nose! It was all I could do to not scream. So I'm officially done with breastfeeding. I can roll up my boobs and put them away for good! Evie was my longest breast-feeder, but she's been different in many ways. She had RSV at just a month old and the doc said to nurse her through two flu seasons. I did it! And I'm proud of it! Will I miss it? Hmmm...well...that's an interesting question. Yes. In a way I will. It's a phase of my life that I won't get to experience again. The bonding that happens is wonderful and I wouldn't give that up for anything. But when it's time, it's time. I'll miss that sweet look when they drift off to sleep while nursing. I'll miss that cute little patting of her chest when she signed for nursing. I miss the baby phase as I slowly see it fade into the past. That's time for you though. Evie has done well. She won't drink any milk of any kind though, so that's a bit frustrating. She has asked to nurse a couple of times since, but doesn't cry anymore for it. She's growin' up! And I couldn't be more proud.