Easter!

Nick had a wonderful first Easter yesterday! We got up early, after his first truly great night of sleep (basically slept through the night...more later), had a bottle, and got dressed and ready for church. I put Nick in his sweet little sailor outfit (apparently only the women thought it was sweet...the men thought it was...ahem, YOU know...), and we sprinted out the door. We only got a little lost on our way to the church, and made a wrong turn in to what we thought was the church, but turned out to be the Korean church next door. The parking ushers at the Korean church were BEYOND nice and ecstatic to welcome us in to the parking lot. We felt pretty bad having to wave them off and tell them that we actually just made a wrong turn, and we would not be joining their Easter services.

We made it to the correct church parking lot, and the minute we pulled in, Nick started screaming. I thought for sure it was because he was starving, but turned out his sunglasses had slipped down his face and were just uncomfortable. A quick pacifier replacement calmed him down and he was angel for the majority of the church service. Of course, my brother held him on his lap the whole time, and kept touching his face, ensuring that he would wake up before the service was over, so Todd had to take him outside and feed him.

The church service was really nice, and seeing as it was a my first Easter church service ever (!), it made it that much more special to me. It was special to be there with my family -- my parents, my brother & sister-in-law, and especially my husband and baby. As the church band sang songs about God's grace and His plans for our lives, I couldn't help but look at Nick and be grateful that God brought Todd in to my life, and brought the two of us together to create this perfect little life in Nick. He truly is our gift from God, as his middle name (and uncles' names) mean. It was a beautiful morning!

After church, we headed back to my brother & sister-in-law's house, where my grandparents joined us for snacks and family time before dinner. It was nice to spend a full day together, and Nick loved it, which was obvious by his non-stop kicking, babbling, and cooing. Especially at my brother! He was seriously enamored with his Tio Mateo :).

We enjoyed an incredibly delicious dinner, all made from scratch by my sister-in-law. She is an amazing cook! Glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, homemade rolls, homemade chocolate meringue cake! YUM! Needless to say, Todd and I clearly cheated on our diets. Well, really I guess only he cheated, since I cheat all the time. I'm only prolonging my baby weight loss goals!

After dinner and dessert, we all headed home just in time to escape the monstrous thunderstorms that rained down on us for the rest of the night. But I didn't mind the storms because combined with the excitement of his first Easter, they helped Nick sleep like, well, a baby! Granted he didn't go down until 9:30pm, but he was out until about 3:00am (when he woke up fussing), so I gave him a pat & his pacifier, and we went back to sleep until 6:00am. And this was the second night in a row that he did that! Hopefully this isn't a fluke, and we'll be able to now extend his nights a little more each night, so that eventually he is sleeping close to 12 hours a night, and being awake more during the day.

All-in-all it was a joyous, successful, and very blessed Easter -- not just for my baby, but for all of us!