Happy Easter

Happy Easter, everyone.

I got up early to make an Easter brunch dish - a cinnamon swirl (very much like cinnamon rolls, but in a log shape) using the bread machine to make the dough, and then had the luxury of enjoying my coffee in bed before Tessa awoke. Of course, the girl woke up with bright eyes and filled with thoughts of the Easter Bunny. Ryan and I moved our coffee to the living room, and watched Tessa hunt for eggs (and I've experimented with a small video of that subject here on the blog). You'll see from the pictures that Tessa runs hot like Daddy, and insisted on unbuttoning her PJs. Whatever. ;-)

This year, for the first time since Tessa was born, we did NOT host an Easter brunch. When I announced to PEPS that I just wasn't up for it this year, Linda graciously stepped up and handled the whole thing. Hooray for Linda! I showed up as a guest, grateful to see all the kids do the egg hunt, grateful that I wasn't hosting.

Pictures include Tessa and Anna in polka-dot dresses (no they didn't plan that but they loved the coincidence), Tessa and Ryan, a family shot, and a rare shot of myself (look at that hair growth - amazing what two years and three months of growth looks like). Tonight I'll try to get a cute Easter shot of Tessa with her hair combed, but today she put in her own ponytail and I didn't have the heart to undo her handiwork.

Now we're having down time - we're all tired, all fighting allergies or something. We forgot to give Tessa her meds before the egg hunt, and by 1pm she said, "My head hurts" and she burst into tears. Maybe it was too much sugar, but I actually really think that the Claritin (sp?) is working. We caught up her dosage, Daddy read her stories, and now she's watching a pony movie. I'm not a big fan of TV/screen time, but I think that in this case it's what we all need - a little zoning out time. Tessa feels much better now - a good reminder to keep her on the allergy meds.

I'm getting ready for my parents to come to dinner. We are having honey ham, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, potatoes au gratin, and cobbler with ice cream (my new favorite/easy dessert). Oh, and of course, deviled eggs for an appetizer. I'll have to get pictures of Tessa's dyed eggs before we crack them all open.

I'm tired. Everything takes more energy than it should. It's surgery that does it, I think. With each surgery, my lead time is longer and harder where I obsess about it and fear it and dwell on negative thoughts. Is this inevitable? Perhaps. Knowing it's not even the last surgery, and that I'll come out of this with the hated expanders, makes it just that much worse.

But it's Easter, a time for joy and celebration, and I'm trying to focus on that. The tulips are blooming in the garden, the lilac is full of buds, and these signs of hope remind me that time passes. The days are longer, and that helps, too.

I hope by April 10 I will be feeling somewhat normal. Until then, if I can just hang on by my fingernails, that's all I ask for.