Long post...beware

****Pictures added****

I am typing this while sitting on the couch and watching t.v. (the show is "Newlyweds" or something like that. Hilarious! Oh, and Matthew and I are in agreement that we would do horrible on it.). And since I am sitting on the couch, I do not have the capability to download pictures to our laptop...I need to figure out how to do that. So, some pictures tonight, more tomorrow.


Anyway, on to the extremely informative post. Not much humor, not much insight, a whole lot of what has been going on.

Last week, we had an Easter party at Mommy and Me. Lots of fun had by all. Nora finally got the idea of hunting eggs. But, once she got a few, she was done, happy that she had manged three.

Nora loves walking over Elyn while Elyn is having tummy time. You can see how Elyn feels about it. Oh, and speaking of Elyn, she is quite the turner. She is turning over both ways and kicking her legs when she is on her tummy, trying to propel her forward. I am afraid I am going to have an early crawler and walker on my hands. And my "early" is relative. Nora didn't roll over both ways until she was 8 months old, didn't crawl until she was 10 months old, and didn't walk until she was 13 months old. So, if Elyn reaches those milestones before that, it's early.We had a great time with Matthew's dad and stepmom in Hattiesburg. Nora was terrified of their English bulldog, Samantha. Samantha is a puppy and very active and because Nora is a scardy-cat she wouldn't be anywhere near Sam without being held. On the other hand, Nora's opposite, Elyn, LOVED Sam. I had to pry Elyn's hands off of Sam many times. And I can't even tell you how many times I caught those two kissing. But, overall, good time in Mississippi.

I put the girls in Elyn's pack-n-play to keep them "safe".

Poor Sam just wants to play with them.

Getting a bath in the GIGANTIC bathtub. It was like a swimming pool.

We have been trying to wean Elyn from her swaddling. It is going as well as can be expected. The first two nights, she slept horribly. Last night (and so far, tonight) she is sleeping much better. On recommendation from my friend, Nicola, we are easing her into it. I have been wrapping her up with one arm out. If her good sleeping keeps up, I will keep two arms out, starting next week. Fingers crossed she keeps being a good sleeper!You all already know about the exciting doctor's appointment I had upon returning home. Feeling much better, thank you. This is Nora snuggling up to me when I felt rotten. Can you tell how I felt by how awesome I look?
On Friday, we colored eggs. Nora had a good time with that. She did not understand that once they were colored, we were done. She kept wanting to re-dip them in the cups of dye. Actually, re-dip is too gentle a description. She would chunk them into the cups.Friday, we also set out to visit the Easter Bunny at the mall. Last year, our experience with the Easter Bunny was tragic. We were hoping that this year would be better. Sadly, the mall we went to didn't have an Easter Bunny photo place. They had a roaming Easter Bunny. You had to find him and take you picture with him with your own camera. There were several reasons this was not going to work for us. 1. I didn't bring our camera 2. I was not in the mood to walk around searching for him 3. There was no guarantee that once we found him Nora was get anywhere close to him. So, we went about our shopping and forgot about EB. However, while we were eating our lunch, we spied him. Matthew took Nora outside to meet him and she FREAKED out. Apparently, she still doesn't like him. She was climbing up Matthew to avoid getting close. So, he brought her back inside to finish her lunch. She could hardly eat though because she was keeping an eye on him the entire time, making sure he didn't get too close. Once EB left the vicinity, we had to keep reassuring her that the Easter Bunny was "all gone". She repeated it about a million times, just to make herself feel better, I guess.

We have had a happy Easter today. We had to wake Nora up this morning (we usually do on Sunday mornings. She sleeps later on Sundays than any other day of the week. Why?). When we went in to get her we told her that the Easter Bunny had brought her something and it was in the living room. She did not want to leave her room because she thought the Easter Bunny was in our house. We had to tell her that he was gone before she was step foot in the hall. Even then, she was cautious all the way to the living room. When she finally did see the baskets, she was more interested in Elyn's than she was her own.

This is what I have to deal with each morning. Check out that crazy hair!

We had lunch at the Brown's (our 4th annual Easter lunch with them). I have brought a bunny cake the past few years, but this year, brought cupcakes instead. They were good and way less trouble :). I did bring homemade rolls too. After lunch, all the kids headed to the park for an egg hunt and then we headed home for a nap.

Matthew described my dress as a "trash bag" because it had no shape to it. Looking at this picture makes me realize he was right. Why are trash bags in style?

It was pretty chilly outside and this is how Elyn hung out during the egg hunt.

Matthew goes back to school tomorrow and I am really going to miss him! I think Nora will go through some withdraw over the next few days. I hope that I have the patience that is going to be necessary to deal with her "behavior changes". She has been a challenge the past few days. Typical two-year-old, I'm sure, but it is really wearing me out. I hate putting her to bed at the end of the day and think back on how many times she has been spanked or put in time out. I know that I have to remain consistent and this time of her life will not last forever, but it is trying.Okay, I promise that the rest of the pictures will be added to this post by tomorrow. Happy Easter!

ADDED:

The other day I was cleaning out Elyn's closet. I went to get a bag to put clothes in and when I came back in the room, this is what I saw. I'm not quite sure how they managed this, but they were both having fun! Such sweet sisters!