Easter

Lilly woke up Easter morning to find that the Easter Bunny had left some eggs in her room. She could not wait to get out and investigate.



Next she found her Easter basket.

After looking at all the neat things we emptied the basket and she was off for an Easter egg hunt.




Then it was time for church. Lilly favored us with one of her songs using her new microphone.


We had a great Easter Sunday. We told Lilly all about Jesus. We explained that Jesus died and went up to Heavenly Father for three days. Then he came back and had no more ouies because he was resurrected. We tried to explain the wonderful gift he gave us that our family will be together forever. Lilly was very interested because she has seen pictures of Jesus and we have talked about him before. Now Lilly often comes to me and says "Jesus died". I always remind her of the rest of the story and then she says "No more ouies. Jesus happy. Mama forever." I think she understands more then I thought she would. Kids are amazing. I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Easter Activities

The Saturday before Easter we decided to take Lilly to the zoo to see the Easter Bunny and the animals. Well Lilly did not really care for the Easter Bunny. In fact as soon as we got close to him she started shaking. We did not make her get to close.


Next we headed straight to the elephants. I still can't figure out why she loves the "ella" so much.

This is Lillys new trick. She loves to hang on stuff and swing her legs. She is getting pretty good at it.




Then our friends the Sessions called and invited us to an Easter Egg hunt. So we headed off to the park. Ryan and Lilly were on one side of the field of eggs and I on the other. Lilly tried to cross the field of eggs to get to me. All the other kids thought it was time for the egg hunt to start so we had to keep pulling her back and telling her to wait so the other kids would not go crazy.

Lilly did a great job at gathering eggs and candy.

Madison Wisconsin

Last Friday Ryan had school off for Easter break so we headed to Madison with our friends Trent and Britni. We had heard that Madison was a beautiful city. Ryan and I love to go and see new places. We really liked the city. It seemed so clean and has a beautiful lake that surrounds the city. They also have a free zoo. The kids loved the zoo. It is a smaller zoo but it still had a bunch of cool animals.

Lilly ready for a fun day at the zoo.


Ryan and Lilly checking out the big polar bear.


Our little polar bear.

Lilly thought Ryan was hilarious.

Lilly and Ryan with Camden and Trent


Our ride home.

Little Helper

Ryan is an awesome husband and father! I am not sure if I have ever mentioned that before. Being pregnant and having my recent incident of kidney stones has really taken a lot out of me. He has not complained at the lack of house cleaning or dinners. He simply picks up the slack where ever he can. Lilly has become quit the little helper as well. Whenever I start to clean something she is right there to help. Ryan is great at including Lilly when he cooks. This particular night Ryan made his famous spaghetti sauce. He would slice the veggies and then put them in Lilly bowl so she could then put them in the food processor. The sauce turned out great and the best part was we were all happy. Thanks Ryan for being so fabulous!!!!

Our American Idol

Lately we have been recording American Idol and watching it on the weekends or when Ryan has time. Lilly loves the "singing show" as she calls it and now our family is singing all the time. If Lilly has been in the car to long we start to pass around a microphone (usually a pen or anything we can find in the car) and we all sing. Lilly thinks it is great! Sometimes the songs never seem to end. This clip is of the first time Lilly decided to show us her vocal skills. Some of her songs now have familiar words or tunes to them. Lilly is camera shy when it comes to singing so I will try to catch some of our latest singing but for now this will have to work.

Update

Well I really have not put up any baby updates and after this week I this week I thought I should. On Sunday I woke up not feeling great. I called my doctor and they thought it could be one of two things, a bladder infection or kidney stones. I was hopping it was just a bladder infection. As the day went on it was clear that the pain was kidney stones. The pain went away by the time I went in to see my doctor on Monday afternoon. He definitely thought it was a kidney stone and since the pain was gone I must have passed it. I was relieved. The pain I felt on Sunday was painful but manageable. I even thought to myself man kidney stones are nothing. I have had worst pain. But then Monday night the pain hit again. I tried to be tough and made it until 1 am Tuesday morning. I realized I was in trouble when I started praying that I would pass out so that I could not feel the pain anymore. Ryan took me to the hospital and they hooked me up to an IV and finally gave me some pain pills. They also started monitoring the baby. Thank heavens the problem seemed to only be with me. The baby looked great on the monitors. Her heart rate was strong and steady. Well they think the stones have passed because I have been pain free since Thursday. I am so happy to be pain free. We are starting to get excited for this new baby to join our family. We still have not picked a name. Suggestions are welcome! I am just grateful that she seems healthy. Lilly has been working on calling herself the "big sister" for a time she would say that she was the "big baby". I think she will make a great big sister.

Spring Break '09

So spring break was weeks ago but better late then never. We had such a great week finally having time to be together as a family. We had some beautiful weather that first Friday so we had to run to a park when Ryan got home. Lilly had squeals of joy as soon as she hit the swings. Lilly loves to be outside.





Saturday was filled with laundry and errands. But it was so great that Ryan did not have to study.

Our goal was to do something fun everyday. So Monday we took Lilly swimming to the local YMCA. Sorry no pictures. I never thought I would go swimming being 7 months pregnant. The water actually felt great. For all my pregnant friends I totally recommend swimming when pregnant. You can move so much easier and it is so relaxing. Lilly was not sure of the water at first. After we made her get in with us and got her playing she never wanted to leave.

Tuesday we first headed to Kenosha to a little diner we of course saw on the Food Network. It's called "Franks". It is an old railroad car that has been made into a very small diner. They had great food!



Next we hit the outlets and finally we made it to the IKEA near Chicago. We bought Lilly her own little table. She really needs her own place to draw, color, play with play-doh and be creative. Ryan had to sand and stain it. He did such a great job!



Wednesday we headed to a place call The Big Backyard with a few of our friends. It is a big indoor park. They have bikes, balls, play houses and two different size play areas. Lilly really loves her time there because she can run and run.



Thursday we just hung out and played at home. My blood pressure was a little high when I saw my doctor so I was to be resting more.

Friday night we attempted what we thought was going to be the impossible and took Lilly to a movie. We met some friends at a cute little theater in the small town of Cedarburg. She did remarkably well. Maybe we can start going to movies again.

Saturday we headed to the zoo. Oh how we love the zoo. Lilly loved being able to show daddy all her favorite spots at the zoo.




Lilly counting the "ella's" (elephants). They are her favorite animal at the zoo. She often talks about them and asks if they are okay.