Easter as a child

As we kick off the week of Easter, I am reminded of all of the memories that made Easter special to me as a child.  First off, decorating for Easter.  For some reason, my sisters and I LOVED to decorate for Easter.  We would beg my mom to get the boxes (yes, plural) of Easter decorations out so that we could clothe our home in plastic Easter grass, old painted egg shells, velvet rabbit figurines, and stuffed ducklings & chicks.  We also loved to decorate our own Easter eggs!  I can remember we had several colors and oh my, the glitter!  That was always so much fun!  Our favorite decoration though, was our matching Easter baskets.  Adorable, knit baskets with the same rabbit face, but each rabbit wearing a different color bow.  Each year, we would hold our baskets and tell each other that ours was the better one.  My rabbit wore orange and still remains the best one.

Secondly, the Easter Bunny.  Okay, looking back, what a silly concept.  I mean, think about it, this gigantic rabbit (I'm visualizing the creepy one at the mall) that hops around, somehow breaking and entering into your home, and then pulls a load of candy out of his gigantic basket to leave for an Easter morning surprise.  Totally weird, but wow, I loved him!      He truly had the most amazing job in the world, in addition to Santa Claus, of course. 

Third, the CANDY!  Jelly beans of all kinds, eggs filled with chocolate, PEEPS, Nik-L-Nips (you know, the small wax drink bottles), Rainblo bubble gum eggs, Robin Eggs, WHITE CHOCOLATE BUNNIES, and the list goes on!  As a child (well, let's be honest, and now too...) this was the best!

Fourth, the Easter Egg Hunt!  Most years that I can remember, we would go to my grandma's house after church, eat an amazing meal, and then we would hunt for eggs filled with change!  This was so exciting because we got to keep whatever we found!  One of the eggs, however, contained a dollar bill and it was highly sought after!  Unfortunately, being the baby of all of the grandchildren on my moms side of the family, I'm pretty sure the "big kids" found this egg every year.  I usually got the eggs with the nickel or the three pennies.  Haha, so sad. 

My most favorite memory of all though was the time I got to spend with my family on that special Sunday every year.  Easter is always a reminder of my family and how wonderful my childhood was.  I was a very happy child and it is no wonder, I was blessed with an incredible and loving family!

While Abram has no idea what Easter is or what it is really all about, I look forward to the days when I get to see his face light up when we talk about the Easter Bunny or on Easter morning when he discovers his little basket filled with candy!  What I am most excited about though, is spending the day with him year after year, hopefully creating memories for him that he can carry with him all of his life too!  

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Bumps and Bruises

And The Mother of the Year Award goes to...that's right, me!
I promise, Jason and I are great parents!! You see, I'm the parent that makes their child wait 30 minutes to swim, bathes them in hand sanitzer throughout the day, and takes them to the pediatrician for the sniffles. But, unfortunetly even with all these precautions I take, poor little Raina still managed to brake her leg (her tibia to be exact). Trying to keep up with her big brother and sister has proven to be quite dangerous in this house! 

I feel terrible about her accident and embarassed to tell people that it was three days before we realized she had something very serious going on with her leg- since on the third day we finally noticed she hadn't walked! The truth is, there is nothing I can do about it now, except learn from my mistakes, thank God that is wasn't more serious, and keep her comfortable. So for now, all I can do is smile and say, 'I Guess Im Due'.

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Meet Rick

Just like Whitney, I have always dreamt of being a parent.  I was blessed with a wonderful family growing up (and still am) and couldn't wait to start my own some day. 

I knew I wanted to take a lot of the traditions and such from the "originals" (as my siblings and I declare ourselves).  However, after falling for my bride, I also knew that I would have a fun, unique, and at times, peculiar little family with traditions of our own.  I was ready to be a dad since Whitney and I got married in 2010.  I was so excited to take on the role of being a dad and I was just as excited to see Whitney become a mom. I couldn't have been more excited to experience parenthood together!  

Through Whitney's pregnancy, I was able to take in the first stages of becoming a parent.  I won't take you through the entire experience of us finding out, since Whitney already did that in her first post (here), but let's just say it wasn't expected!  My initial emotions were excitement, shock, and fear all rolled into one little bean sprout.  However, as we progressed through the pregnancy, we began to feel more confident and prepared in our journey of becoming parents.  

Here are some key moments in my journey to becoming a dad:

1. "+" = BABY! -- When Whitney had purchased the pregnancy test, it still felt like having a baby was just a someday, but it was when that "+" showed up in that little window, reality smacked me in the face!!
   
2. The initial ultrasound -- this was such an AMAZING experience. Obviously, at the beginning I didn't see, feel, or hear anything (Although, I know poor Whitney definitely felt something!), so you almost feel as if you might be making things up in your head -- "did I dream this?!!".  Then, there was proof!  It is so awesome to see God's little gift to us.  It became real...real quick!
3. Seeing Whitney's baby bump start to take shape -- For a while, Whitney continued to tell me she was just bloated.  I knew my little human was growing though! I loved seeing this transformation throughout her pregnancy.
4. Gifts, gifts, and more gifts! -- We are so blessed to have so many thoughtful friends and family.  We were overwhelmed with such generosity.  HOWEVER, seeing all of these gifts and as the baby room began to come together, it really woke me up and that's when I realized, I Guess I'm Due! 
   
   Don't worry, it only took about 4 coats of paint (including primer) to cover the nasty dark, dark blue that formerly graced these walls.
5. "The Kick" -- wow, what an unbelievable feeling this is!  I felt as though this was my first connection with my little human.  I know moms have that immediate connection with their unborn child, but this was it for me.  Feeling 'it' kick brought me to tears.  Up to that point, this was probably the most significant moment in Whitney's pregnancy for me.

As you know, Whitney and I made the decision to not find out the sex of our baby ahead of time, so there was mystery and excitement up until the very end!  From my perspective, pregnancy was fun and exciting (I can just hear Whitney saying, "Maybe for you it was!!"), but it was also taking me from being the "baby daddy" to being "the Dad".  Whitney was such a trooper through the whole pregnancy, and in the end, through all of the aches, pains, & nausea, I know it was completely worth it to her (...and I certainly couldn't be happier).  Abram is so sweet and has started interacting so much more.  I'm no longer feeling his kicks, but now I see his eyes lock into mine and I know he sees me as "his Dad". Which then brings out a huge smile from both of us.  What a blessing this little guy is! 

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