Happy Easter!

Out of all of the seasons of the church year, Easter is by far my favorite.  Speaking the proclamation "Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!" has always been special, and in a way magical.  This year, though, those words feel even more special.  Realistically, we know the odds of Judith outliving us like any child should are very low.  We know that, because of her CF, death looms much closer.  However, that small proclamation reminds me that no matter what happens to Judith, she will be well cared for because of the promises of the resurrection.

But enough of my deep, brooding thoughts.

I love attending services at this time of year, and I can't wait until Judith is older and can appreciate (heck, more like can actually sit through!) the entire Triduum.  Last year I took her to Maundy Thursday services, because let's face it: she was still sleeping all.the.time. We had zero issues.  She was ok last year during Easter Vigil, but had a meltdown when she heard me chanting and I wasn't with her (she calmed down once I was able to go back to her).  This year, I didn't take her to Maundy Thursday because I knew Vigil would be a battle - thanks to the "raging success" (/sarcasm) we had on Ash Wednesday, I would've been happy if she made it through half of the service.  Ha!  She barely lasted through 1/4 of it.  Oh well - she's still too young, and it doesn't help that evening services coincide with bedtime.  Needless to say, she didn't get to sleep until almost 9:30, 2 hours after her normal bedtime.

That made for an exciting 5:15 am wakeup call this morning for sunrise service.  Oh, and she barely slept in the car on the way to the church, and thought it would be an awesome idea to take only a 20 minute nap between 6:15 and 12:30.  Really though, I may complain, but she was pretty darn good considering all of this!

We spent some time this afternoon with my side of the family, sans my dad - long story short, we've been worried and stressed because he was admitted to the hospital about a week and a half ago, but thankfully will be coming home tomorrow (provided everything goes smoothly!).  It felt awkward without dad here, and I missed having him here.  We did have a nice dinner though, Judith made out like a bandit with her basket goodies, we had a small egg hunt in the yard (and realized that Judith still hates grass), and just enjoyed the time together.

Naturally I can't make a post about a big holiday without some pictures.  For your viewing pleasure:

Ash Wednesday & Friends

I need to start by saying that I have some really amazing friends!  When I was pregnant and decided to come out of lurkdom on the message boards I've been checking out since my engagement days, I never thought I'd meet such an amazing group of ladies who enjoy talking about babies and other random, fun things.  I'm so glad that these ladies posted, and we got to know each other - they are an awesome support network, and help keep me sane/lift my spirits when Judith, John, & I are having a rough day with everything.  I've already given them some thanks today, but I want to give them huge props here too - I don't think I can thank them enough for their support and for the surprise package they sent us today!  You ladies rock!  <3



And now for the other half of this post.  Judith was able to attend her first Ash Wednesday service this year.  Last year we were unable to go since we were under lockdown, so I was excited to take her to church for this new experience.

Things were ok.  Judith was cranky - a combination of being tired and teething (those pesky molars are working their way through, and I know it's really bothering her), and I did have to take her out of the church during the sermon.  Part of the problem was there were too many people for her to look at in the back of the church (I thought ahead on that one, and had the sense to sit as close to an exit as possible... just in case!), and the other part was she just could not find a comfortable spot in my arms.  I started out wearing her in the ring sling, much like I do for Sunday morning services, but she was getting pissed by being more restricted in that.  Then she got mad because I refused to let her eat my bulletin, and gave her an appropriate toy to gnaw on.  She wasn't really noisy up until the sermon, when she started to fuss because she couldn't get comfy.  So I got up, took her out into the hallway, and listened to her make random noises (excited screams included) because she made the discovery that the acoustics in this particular hallway are excellent and there's a small echo.  So much for trying to fall asleep!

I was able to take her back in during the Hymn of the Day, when I realized I forgot to grab my small LBW so I could participate.  ::facepalm::  The hymn was very familiar to me, but I don't have it memorized, so I could only sing bits and pieces.  Judith was still awake, but acting sleepy.  Since she was awake, I decided that she could receive the ashes - I was half bracing myself for some side-eyes from people about my decision, but thankfully didn't notice any!  Judith was absolutely fascinated by the ashes.  Hers didn't last long (I wasn't really expecting them to, and my shoulder and jawbone ended up wearing hers after about 5 minutes), but she was so curious about mine, touching my forehead trying to figure out what was there.

Judith finally fell asleep during the service... about 5 minutes before it ended.  ::cue another facepalm::  These evening services are hit or miss with her - last year, at Easter Vigil, she had a massive meltdown.  Other services she was fine, and others were like last night.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that future services will go more smoothly!

Busy Weekend

What a busy weekend!

Thursday night began the chaos.  We have 2 long leads staked into the ground out back for the dogs to go out on.  Long story short, one of the leads was rusted and fraying, and we knew it would need to be replaced soon.  John let Buster & Lady out for the night - Lady did her thing and rushed back into the house, and Buster was doing his usual sniff-every-inch-of-the-patio-and-yard-because-there-might-be-something-interesting thing.  Next thing John knew Buster was way out in the yard (much farther than he should have been), sniffing around the little tree.  Apparently the actual lead completely separated from the clip, and Buster got free.  I don't know if he realized what had happened - I'm figuring his thought process went something like this:

"Wow, there are some good smells in the grass tonight!  Hey, there's a good smell here, let's check it out.  Ooh, I haven't smelled here before for some reason.  Let's keep investigating..."

John quickly noticed what was happening, and immediately took off after Buster.  I think Mr. Boo finally realized what was going on, and took off toward our neighbor's yard, then immediately onto the patio and up to the door (I'm guessing he followed his usual trail he takes to come back in).  Poor dog probably thought he was in a fenced yard again and had free roam.

Yeah...that lead was replaced this weekend.

On Friday we took Judith to John's place of employment for a baby shower.  Everyone was beyond thrilled to finally meet our little peanut!  John's department had gifts and a cake waiting for us, and his supervisor also had lunch consisting of delicious meatball sandwiches, deli salads, and chips (yum!).  Judith was definitely a hit, and everyone wants to know when we'll bring her back again!  We topped the day off with bath time for the doggies.  They finally smell nice again, and they're actually black & white instead of black & off-white.

Saturday was a long, but very fun day.  Judith attended her very first CRHS (Conrail Historical Society) Rail-B-Q.  We railfanned our way over to my in-laws' house (we saw a few trains), visited with my mother-in-law, then went to the park for the Rail-B-Q.  We saw some good action along the Pittsburgh line, and Judith got to meet John's best friend (and his wife and daughter) along with many of the other members of the group.

Sunday was my first official Mother's Day.  I was able to "celebrate" last year with Buster and Lady, but it was different this year with Judith here!  I got the necklace I wanted, a card from Judith, and a jade tree from Buster, Lady, & Judith.  I am fascinated by the jade tree, but I have no clue how to care for it.  Apparently John doesn't either, so some research is in order!  It's a cute little plant though.

Anyway, we drove to one of the churches John used to play at and attended services there.  It was so nice to go back for a visit, and everyone loved meeting Judith!  It's so nice when we can go back for a visit, but we both always end up leaving a little sad because it's such a nice church and the people are really warm and caring.  Don't get me wrong - there are tons of people that care about us at our current church.  It's really one of those things that you don't realize how much you miss being somewhere until you're not there anymore, and you develop a different appreciation of it.

The rest of Sunday was spent at home - we were originally going to drive from church down to my parents' house to watch the annual Make-A-Wish convoy (it goes right past the house), but my one grandmother got sick and we can't take Judith there until she's better.  While I was bummed about missing the convoy, it felt good to be able to just relax at home and spend the remainder of the day with John & Judith.  We did have to make a trip to Petsmart and Target for dog food and formula, but thankfully those were quick trips and we could get back home quickly.

Today was a recovery day, one where I attempt to get Judith back on her regular schedule.  Naturally she decided to scream like a maniac when I would put her down for longer than 10 seconds (literally, with very few exceptions).  Hopefully tomorrow will be better, because she has PT again in the afternoon.