Easter Pics and Birthday Drama

This has been an absolutely insane week, and it's only Wednesday!

Easter was a lot of fun this year. She's really at the age where she's starting to "get it." Ava and I got up and went to church with my parents (Matthew had to take his son back home and the timing wasn't right for him to come with us) so I waited until after church to give her the Easter Basket. She was pretty excited for all of her goodies. I try not to expose her to a lot of candy, but this weekend I splurged and I'm sure I will now pay dearly for it.

By far her favorites were the suckers, and the candy necklaces/bracelets you see on your left. I'm STILL finding pieces laying around the house, they finally went in the trash this morning before she got up.

It looks like she's trying to share right, she's not. Sharing is not one of her positive traits yet. The only words I heard for about an hour were "open it NOW, please." It's easy to say no to a toddler that screams at you, it's hard to say no to one that screams and then says please.

The oh so precious jewels...the candy necklaces remind me of summer camp! Yes I realize she's probably a little too young, but she actually didn't really want to eat it, she just loves anything jewelry and I'd rather her break these, than anything of mine.

Most of the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Sunday was also my birthday....my 32nd. It pains me to even write that. I honestly think that Matthew forgot. I'm usually pretty obnoxious about my birthday, counting down the days until it comes, and I think that helps him to remember. This year I didn't do that. Not because I wasn't excited (which really I wasn't) but because my due date was Saturday, and seeing the day get closer and closer really helped put things into perspective. I went out to the grave site, and put some pink tulips down...and seeing our permanent head stone that is now there, really hit home.

Going back to the story, it was 5:00 before I got any sign that he had remembered. No Happy Birthday, no hug, nothing. I wasn't pouting but I wasn't myself either. I was standing in the kitchen and I hear Ava running toward me and in her hands was a card for me, and right behind her was my husband with one. It was getting better, and then he made us dinner, cleaned the dishes (which he NEVER does), gave Ava a bath and got her in bed. Not a bad end to the day.

Now here's the birthday drama. My sweet little girl is turning 2...TOMORROW! Holy shit where has the time gone. The drama is about her party. Matthew and I wanted to have a close family cookout here at our house, have her open presents, cake...that kind of thing. If we did that there would be at least 18 people here which is PLENTY. My parents think we need to invite my whole damn extended family...aunts, uncles, cousins...everyone just because we did it last year. Matthew's mom is an only child, so he doesn't have cousins, aunts, uncles...and I have a large family on both sides. I have to invite my grandparents, there's no question about that. The problem is that both sides of my family live in small towns, see each other frequently, and will no doubt find out that we didn't invite them if we don't. So I'm stuck in the middle, I want to do what's best for us and for her but at the same time I want to please everyone. I guess it's not really so much drama, as it is frustration. I want this party to be fun for Ava, I want the planning to be fun for me, and right now it just seems that there's more conflict than there needs to be. In the end my parents will get what they want, and we will have to deal with the cost of food, as well as opening up our house to 30+ people.

Anyhoo, better get back to work. I'm desperately trying to get Ava's year video done by tomorrow, so hopefully you will hear from me then!