Easter Egg Hunts

Now that the boys are a little older, we're able to get out do more things. It also helps tremendously that we have a nanny that can help me with them when we are out and about. Last year, I took them to one egg hunt and it was a struggle logistically just to get them there and get them home, nevermind the fact that they weren't moving around much and stayed in their car seats pretty much the whole time! We did a little better this year!

First up: Tuesday's Easter Egg Hunt with the Bakers. This is the Easter Egg Hunt in which we participated last year. See pics from last year here! It's a fun get together with a bunch of my girlfriends and all their adorable kiddos. So much fun. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! The egg hunt started at 11:00, but we were, of course, LATE, so we got there around 11:30.

Before we left the house, I insisted we take the obligatory boys in a chair picture. Is it sad that these were the absolute best pictures I could get? It didn't help that we were running late so I didn't have much time to work on it.

William, Ryan and Stokes

When we got there, our hostess, Sheilah, and the other grandmas had the kids on the front steps and were singing songs while all the moms were out back hiding the eggs.

Super cute bunch of kiddos

Next up, out back for egg hunting. The funny thing was that my boys could not care less about hunting Easter eggs. They didn't want to hold their baskets and didn't have the slightest interest in finding the eggs. Ryan just hung out wherever we put him, but Stokes and William were going in opposite directions. Thank goodness Layla was with me!

Getting everyone ready for the hunt!

The search is on!

Sweet Ryan hanging out

All the moms and kids...a few got cut off, sorry!

I have some pretty friends!!

The grandmas with the kids. Sheilah was so sweet and wanted
my kids in the picture even though none of their grandparents
was there. A few of these sweet ladies held them for the picture.

My boys and me

After the eggs were hunted, it was lunch time! We had a great spread! Lots of kid-friendly options and delicious salads and such for adults. Everything was delicious!

How sweet is this moment? A bunch of the kids were hanging out on
the blanket and eating their lunch, picnic-style. I need to train my
boys how to do this!

Ryan

Stokes

Brooke blowing bubbles with William

Next hunt: we showed up for the Bright Start monthly outing, which happened to be an Easter egg hunt this month. Bright Start is the company where our EI works and they do fun playdates each month. We typically aren't able to go because Ryan has physical therapy on Fridays, but since this is Good Friday, our PT took the day off and we were able to make it! Siblings and friends under 5 were welcome, which worked out perfectly since Tara and Leece were here. They stopped in Greenville to spend the night on Thursday before heading up to Knoxville for Easter weekend. The egg hunt was held at a park so after the boys and Leece were done finding eggs, we let them play on the playground. This was our first playground experience. It was a lot of fun, but also exhausting. It was so helpful to have Layla, MaSha and Tara there. We had 1 adult per kid, which was very good!

MaSha and Stokes hunting eggs

Layla and Ryan

He got an egg!

William checking out his pink egg

Cute cousins - Leece and William

Sweet girl Leece!

Wild man with his MaSha

Such a little cutie!

On a mission

Ryan and Layla

Layla helping Ryan up the stairs

Leece and Ryan

Hugs all around!

William saw our EI April there and
kept reaching up to give her a hug!

Stokes and MaSha

Ryan working on craft time

Leece with her Easter egg maraca

Enjoying the beautiful park

Walking around the park

Post-egg hunt, playground time!

Tara and William on the "motorcycle"
in the playground

Ryan LOVED the swing

MaSha is a champ with two at a time!

Smiling and happy boy

Layla and Tara with the kids on the swings

Stokes loved the slide...

...but was more interested in climbing UP
than sliding down.

Ryan sliding down

Tara and William waiting for Leece to slide down

MaSha was at the top of the chute

Stokes eventually got the concept of the slide

Cutie kids!

It was (as usual) a challenge to get everyone to sit
still and look at the camera. Leece, however, was a champ
at taking pictures!

I love these four!

Tara and me with kiddos

Take 2

We had a great time at the park, but it was tiring...for all of us. Stokes and Ryan fell asleep in their car seats on the way home and all three of them took a good, long afternoon nap. :)

Final egg hunt: our friend Wendy hosts an Easter egg hunt every year and we weren't able to make it last year and I was so disappointed. I was so very glad that we could go this year! The setting was beautiful, and there were tons of eggs for the kids to find. There were some big kids there and they were so sweet to share some of their findings with my boys! After the egg hunt was finished, Wendy had a beautiful brunch set up for everyone. It was a perfect morning and we all just had such a great time.

This was the egg hunt invitation. Have you ever seen a cuter invitation?!?! I had to include it on this post because I thought it was so adorable!

Wendy and Stokes

William and Thomas

Ryan and me

Ryan found a purple egg in a planter!

Finding eggs everywhere!

Content to check out the action around him

He's a mover and shaker

2 on 1

William - doesn't he look proud of his egg?!?!

It's a full time job just trying to keep up with him

Some of the other kiddo looking for eggs

All the kids that were at Wendy's egg hunt - aren't they cute?

Family pic!!

Thomas, Stokes and William

Our brunch spread - soooooo good!

Stokes and William sat at this little table for brunch.
It was the perfect size for them. Meanwhile...

Ryan was being held by Wendy's sweet mother....

...and her sweet father!

Cate and Stokes

Three Easter egg hunts are in the books for 2015. I'm pretty sure next year egg hunts will be even more fun because the boys will understand the concept and actually try to find some eggs! I love any excuse to celebrate and see friends and family so I was more than happy to attend everything this year, and am already looking forward to Easter 2016 for more egg hunts, get togethers, and socials.

Oh yeah, and I don't give the boys much (or really any) candy, so thanks, hosts, for all the candy we got this week at the egg hunts. Pretty sure Mama will be eating most of it...and possibly sharing a little with Dada. ;)

Stay tuned for an upcoming post with pictures from Easter Sunday.

Ryan's MRI

Wednesday morning we had Ryan's MRI. Since we had to be at the hospital so early...ahem, 7:00 AM, we let Ryan sleep in our room in a pack and play on Tuesday night. We didn't want to have to go in to the nursery so much earlier than usual and end up waking everyone up and causing unnecessary chaos. So Ryan stayed with Mama and Dada.

A little snuggle time before bed

Dada, Ryan and me

True Love

Ryan and I got up super early, got ready to go and went to the hospital. They checked us in, took us to the MRI area, we got re-checked in and then got an opportunity to speak with a nurse. The nurse explained everything that was going to happen and allowed me to ask any questions. This isn't our first MRI rodeo, however, so I was fairly familiar with how it all would go down.

Waiting at the hospital to check in around 7:15 am

I was super nervous about Ryan being sedated, and although this wasn't the first time, it didn't make me feel any better about it. I teared up a little when the nurse was talking about it, but I was trying to be strong and keep it together.

This little boy was such a TROOPER. I can't even put into words how sweet, brave, and wonderful he is. He barely even fussed at all when he got his IV and the nurses kept saying how surprisingly well he was doing. (They also complimented him on his pretty hair and how handsome he is...but that's a different story and anyone who reads this blog already knows that and can see it plain as day! ;) My Ryan is TOUGH. No doubt about it.

Getting him ready for his IV

Post-IV selfie while waiting

Let's get this show on the road so we can go home!

When it was finally time for the MRI, a little over an hour after we'd arrived, they let me come into the MRI room with Ryan. Again, we have done this before, so I figured I would get to go in there with him again. This time though, they let me hold him when they put the sedation medicine in his IV. It startled me how quickly he went to sleep. It was literally within seconds of when they gave him the medicine. I didn't like it and was just ready for it all to be over.

After that, they put him up on the table, got him positioned, hooked him up to the oxygen/heart rate monitor, gave me earplugs to wear, and put him in the big MRI tunnel. It makes series of very loud beeps and sounds, which is why you must wear the earplugs while you're in the room and everything becomes very muffled. The actual MRI lasted about 15 - 20 minutes and then they came back in to get him. When they pulled him out of the tunnel, the sedation medicine was already beginning to wear off and he was starting to open his eyes. I like it that they really only sedated him for the time he had to do the test. I didn't want to see him sedated for any longer than he absolutely had to be.

They put him on a stretcher and we went out to another area for "recovery". A nurse stayed with me and we basically just had to make sure that he fully came to and before we could leave, he had to be able to drink and swallow. He did great. He was a little out of it and a little "floppy" from the sedation when I was able to pick him up, but we got him dressed and loaded in the stroller and that was that.

Post-MRI: groggy from sedation

He was probably wondering why I was taking pictures of him :)

I even took him to run a quick errand to the grocery store with me on the way home. Even though he hadn't had anything to eat and much to drink since the night before he was so sweet. He must have been hungry but was being so patient. And can I just please mention how much easier it is to run errands with just one kid?!?! It was great. I need to do that more often with just one of my little guys at a time!

Anyway, back to the MRI. The doctor told me that the Radiologist will have to look at the results and then will get the results to our neurologist, Dr. Taft, at which point I could follow up with him. He also said it would take a few days. My plan is to call Dr. Taft tomorrow (Friday) to ask about it and if I don't get him, I will follow up on Monday. I'll update the blog with what we hear back from him. Thank you for the prayers and support. He made it through the MRI like a boss.