Easter Weekend 2012 - Part 1

This Easter we were blessed to spend time in Austin with both sides of our family. My mom and Steve traveled down from Dallas to spend time with Blaine & Christina, and since we were already planning on Easter in the RR, it worked out perfectly!

We ended up leaving a day later than we thought --- life was just too crazy. Both Matt and I had incredibly busy work weeks and then with trying to pack, get the house ready for showing, and actually out the door, it proved too much. And of course, I had to keep up my reputation as a medical freak of nature. A few days before, I was holding Ryan when I had to sneeze. Trying to be a good mommy, I turned my body so as to not get snot in my son's face. Lovely image, right?

Anyway, I heard a little pop and then felt excruciating pain. Super fun. Well, the pain dragged on and then on Thursday, we had a last minute house showing. In my hurry to get the two kids and the dog into the car, I wasn't careful and tried to toss Max in at a weird angle. Pop again. Pain again. Ooops.

By that evening, I could barely move and once the kids went down, I headed straight to our local ER (not like a hospital ER, but more than an urgent care) down the street. Which I have already visited for a variety of random reasons, ie: slicing my wrist open on a green bean can lid and getting an infection, double ear infection, ovarian cyst, and now this.

As it turns out, I somehow popped a rib out during the initial sneeze and it kept popping out. Who does this??? This girl. After administering some pain meds and muscle relaxers, a friend of mine picked me up and dropped me at home, loopy and out of sorts. And this is where I have the best husband ever... the hospital faxed over my prescriptions to the 24 hour ER closest to us, which really wasn't close at all. Since I was in no condition to drive, he left at 11PM to go get my prescriptions. And of course, when he got there, it was going to be another 30-45 minutes, so he headed to the Denny's for a late night snack of biscuits and gravy. 3 hours after his dinner. Gross. To each their own. Anyway, he finally got my prescriptions and back home well after midnight. Needless to say, we were both pretty exhausted the next day but rallied to clean house and pack everyone up again. But this time, I had to be super careful - no lifting over 5lbs. So obviously I was a tremendous help.

Our first stop when we got to Austin (after a horrible last hour in the car - Lord, traveling at this age can just be hell if you time it just wrong, which we did) was at my brother's house. It was the twins' first time to spend the night at Uncle Blaine & Aunt Christina's and I'm not sure they anticipated the amount of junk we need just to survive a night : ) But they were incredibly hospitable and of course, Christina, our resident creative member of the family, went all out on beautiful Easter cupcakes, yummy pretzels dipped in white chocolate, and amazing Easter Elmo baskets full of goodies for the kids. And Blaine and Mom went to work on the shrimp and crawfish boil (our first of this season). Soooo good.

We also had the awesome opportunity to meet a very special little boy --- E was born was a CHD as well, just a couple of months after the twins (his parents are good friends with my brother). I've followed his journey on facebook and through my brother, so it was so great to finally meet this little man in person. R,Q, & E kept each other thoroughly entertained that evening --- when E wasn't being attacked by my daughter who just wanted to smooch with him all evening. I'm sure that had nothing to do with us egging her on.

A few pics from that night:

Quinn and her serious look

Ryan woke up a little teary from his nap but he rallied later on!

Running through the fields

This is "E". I love his shirt - he was already scoping out Quinnie

E and his daddy (as a momma, this picture almost makes my heart stop)

Ry Guy still needing some snuggles

Finally, happy boy!

Have you tried to get a picture of 3 tired toddlers and actually have them smile and look the same direction?

My little agressor going in for the smooch

And yet again. Yikes. God help us all when she's 16.

Quinn jumped up on the stool and helped herself to one of Aunt Christina's cupcakes. Nice. (Oh, and that bow was an Easter gift from Gigi that matches a PRECIOUS new swimsuit. If you know my child, even swimming requires a bow.)

Ummm, NOOOO. I didn't do it!

Ok, busted. Nothing but class around here.