Easter Weekend

*Better late than never. It has been a doozie of a week. It took me forever to write this post and then sift through the hundreds of photos I took this weekend.*

We spent the weekend in Jackson with my parents and sister and brother-in-law. I had been looking forward to the weekend for so long! Easter is my favorite holiday, and I love spending it in Jackson! Spring always blooms a little earlier there, and seeing all the azaleas and red buds makes me so happy {and ours will have already come and gone by the time I get this posted :) }!

Friday Christopher, Curran and I left Birmingham fairly early and got to Jackson around lunch time. After a late lunch we went to Stations of the Cross at church. In case you aren't familiar with it, it's always at 3:00 on Good Friday. We reflect on the final hours,The Passion, of Jesus {Jesus is condemned to die, Jesus accepts His cross, Jesus falls the first time, Jesus is nailed to the cross, Jesus dies on the cross, Jesus is laid in the tomb etc}. It is always very emotional to me. This year I had a squirming baby in the cry room, so I was a little distracted, but I enjoyed it anyway. :) Then this lady sings "Were You There" and it gives me chills every time. The same lady has been singing it for as long as I can remember. Then that afternoon we sat outside and enjoyed the nice day before the boys got there later that night.

Christopher likes to part C's hair opposite the way I do and it drives me crazy :)

This picture makes me laugh because it look like she is about to take off walking. Not quite yet.

The grandparents are fascinated by every move she makes.

Eating supper in my old highchair.

Saturday unfortunately started off on the wrong foot. Curran burned her hand on the iron. I was upstairs getting ready when I heard the unmistakable scream that she was hurt. Poor baby. It made me sick at my stomach. So needless to say she wasn't in the greatest mood that day. We went to a crawfish boil at our family friends' house that we go to every year, and C was asleep when we got there. So we left her in her carseat in one of the bedrooms. Of course when she woke up, she was disoriented and moody, and she proceeded to cry the rest of the time we were there. So we didn't get to stay for too long.

Post-burn. Not in the best mood.

But Aunt Chrissy can usually get a smile.

Sunday morning Curran got her basket from the Easter Bunny. Growing up we never went all out with Easter presents, so I just got her a few things: some books, some bath wash {my mom always gave us practical things like toiletries and it used to get on our nerves, so it was kind of a joke :) }, a shirt, and a hand-painted ceramic egg. My BFF Elizabeth's mom was a part of this ceramics painting circle at church and all the proceeds went to benefit the Our Mother of Perpetual Help ministry. She used to paint my sister and me eggs, or my mom would get us one. Not every year, but most years. So I did the same for Curran, and my mom got her one, too. Christopher and Craig got her a Wolfe bunny. If you're not from Jackson or the surrounding area, then you probably aren't familiar with these, but I love their pieces and think they are such special presents. My aunt gave C The Easter Story book, and she seemed to love it! She kept trying to say "book." And she liked trying to chew on the cardboard pages. My cousin gave her a cute romper and matching bow for this summer, and my parents gave her some fun board books.

These are the books I got her.

The book my aunt got her:

Reading a magazine with Uncle Craig

Her loot from the Easter Bunny and other family members

The Wolfe bunny from Christopher and Craig

She thought the ceramic egg would make a good chew toy.

Of course the $1 plastic keys I got at the grocery store at the last minute were the favorite.

We were running late for church and had to sit in the foyer/cry room with all the other rowdy babies. So I could hear the church service, but couldn't see anything. Curran behaved fairly well, but it was her nap time so she fussed just a little bit.

Curran wore the day gown my friend Prim made and brought to her on her one week birthday. C wore it the first time she went to church, and it still fits great! It is so pretty and I love it on her!

Unfortunately we didn't get one good family picture. Seriously. Not one. Out of the gazillions we took. The camera was on the wrong setting for the first set and the photographer didn't realize it. So a lot o the good ones look like this:

One of the three of us messed every single picture up. Oh well. This is the most decent, and that's saying something. I want to reach through the camera and do what my mother does: tap me and tell to hold my shoulders back.

Christopher, Curran & Craig

The fact that all three of them had their mouths open like that cracked me up.

We had a good lunch at home {I was sad because we normally go to our family friends' house for a big Easter lunch. It is always a huge crowd, mostly made up of our church friends, and is so fun! But they didn't have it this year}. But my grandmother got to come over, so it was good to spend some time with her. Curran reached her hands out to my grandmother right away and seemed to be mesmerized by her. My grandmother has Alzheimer's, but when she was holding C I could kind of see some of her old self coming out. It was sweet.

Curran and I stayed until Monday since I didn't have to work. I was a little worried about driving back with her by myself. We haven't traveled anywere since Christmas/New Year's, and when Curran was smaller she usually slept the whole way. On Friday she only slept for a total of about 1 hr 15 minutes and luckily Christopher entertained her the rest of the time. She did not sleep or nap well while we were at home, and basically didn't nap at all Monday, so she fell asleep as soon as we got in the car at 2:00. She slept for about 1 hr 40 minutes, but then woke up screaming. I turned up the kiddie tunes and that quieted her down for about the length of the CD, but then she got going again, so I had to pull over outside of Tuscaloosa. After a quick diaper change and a stretch o' the legs she was good to go and slept the rest of the way.

But then when we got home she was NOT ready to go to bed. I fed her, bathed her, etc and put her in her crib and turned around to pick up some toys. I looked back at her and she had pulled herself up to standing and was oh so proud of herself! I knew it was coming because she has been using John and me as props to stand up when we are playing {she actually will let go and stand by herself for about 4-5 seconds before plopping down}, but she had never pulled up on furniture before then. So I called John at work and told him he had to come home and lower the crib. So Miss C got to stay up almost an hour late playing and having a grand ole time. Then she really didn't want to go to bed. She cried and cried and I felt so sorry for her so I rocked her for a while. I know I will miss those times, so I tried to focus on that instead of paying attention to my growling stomach or the mounds of laundry I needed to do. The problem with lowering the crib is that I basically have to drop her down in there because I can't reach the mattress. Ok, I don't really drop her, but it is not a delicate process.

Sorry the picture is so dark. I snapped it with my camera phone and all the lights were off because I thought she was about to go to bed.

On a fun note, my little chatterbox is saying mama all the time now. Sometimes in the correct context, sometimes not. She just likes to hear herself talk. :) She hasn't been saying dada much at all, but over the weekend either Chris or Craig was holding her {I don't know which, I wasn't in the room} and apparently when John walked in, Curran looked at him and said "Dada!" That was the first {and so far only} time she has done that, but they were all pretty excited.