I'm BACK!!! / Easter 2019 / Baby's First Easter

Hello, friends! I'm (hopefully) back for good! I had no idea adjusting to life with five kids was going to be so difficult and time-consuming. Adjusting to life with 1, 2, 3, and 4 kids (even with a surprise Down syndrome diagnosis) was a breeze, but 5 is the number that did us in! Liam is approximately 10 kids in 1, and Coen has acid reflux and is such a mama's boy that my husband lovingly refers to him as my little parasite. My hands are never free, but I think I'm getting the hang of things, and I'm kicking off my return to blogging with a quick recap of Easter 2019!

This year, we kept Easter simple. We had no idea that Coen had acid reflux yet, so he was really fussy. We decided to spend most of Easter at home, focusing on family activities. Although it didn't feel quite the same, we had a nice holiday!

This year, we took the focus off of the Easter Bunny. We haven't visited the Easter Bunny in years, and this year we didn't do any egg hunts, either. We briefly mentioned the Easter Bunny bringing baskets, but that was it. Instead, we dyed Easter Eggs together. We had a small family dinner. We talked about the reason we were celebrating. We baked and decorated cookies. We sat down to watch The Ten Commandments together. Perhaps next year we'll actually make it to church, but this year, I decided to let go of the guilt, realize that we can't possibly do it all, and focus on WHY we were celebrating in the first place! And you know what? Once the pressure was off, it was GOOD!

Easter weekend is always busy for us. We are a last minute kind of family, so there was a lot to do before Easter Sunday. Like I mentioned, we did scale back this year. The kids really wanted to decorate Easter Eggs, so we spent our Easter Eve doing just that!

This year was the first year that Liam was actually interested in participating. Dylan helped him, but it truly made me so happy! I don't make Down syndrome the focus of my blog, since I want people to see that Liam fits right in, but there are delays and differences. Mostly, there are just some things he doesn't seem to care about, and decorating eggs was always one of them. This year, it was a different story!

The Easter Egg decorating process always goes by so quickly. Setting up takes the longest, the girls are always the last ones at the table, and there is always a big mess to clean up! It's not my favorite, but other than boiling the eggs, I didn't have as much to do this year!

As for Coen, here's how his first Easter Egg decorating experience went...

We didn't decorate eggs until after 9 PM, so the kids went to bed late. That meant that the Easter Bunny didn't arrive until after midnight. Coen was awake for a feeding, so he was able to watch the "bunny" hide the baskets!

On Easter morning, Lily woke up EXTRA early. She kept trying to wake us up, but we finally convinced her to go back to bed for a little while, because there was no way her teenage/tween siblings were going to wake up that early! As soon as everyone was awake, the kids raced off to find their Easter baskets. Seeing Liam walk around wearing a giant bunny head while he was searching was hilarious! There's never a dull moment in our house!

All the kids, except Dylan, found their baskets in record speed. His, of course, was hidden in plain sight, and he completely missed it! But once they were all found, they tore into them. I love how even our older kids still get so excited over Easter Baskets!

Coen was obviously not very interested in his basket, so he had a little bit of help! Everyone was very exited about Coen's first Easter!

We had a relaxing morning at home, then headed to my sister's house in the afternoon for a small family dinner with my parents, my sister, and my brother-in-law. It was a small crowd which is unusual for our family, but we had a good time together, and dinner was delicious!

No matter what we do, or where we go, I insist my family dresses up for Easter. There are just some old traditions that I'm not ready to let go! Of course, we had to document it before everyone changed into comfy clothes when we returned home!

Back at home, the kids rediscovered their Easter Baskets. Lily immediately wanted to groom her Scruff-a-luv, so the bathroom quickly turned into a salon!

Later that evening, the girls wanted to bake and decorate cut-out sugar cookies. I set them up with the ingredients, and let them do it themselves. Liam insisted on helping out!

After the cookies were finished, the kids ran off to play. Because it was Coen's first Easter, I insisted on a quick photoshoot. My lighting was gone, and all that was left was a dim room, but I had to document the day!

Once everyone was settled for the night, we put on The Ten Commandments. It's one of my husband's favorite movies, and we watch it every year on Easter. It's a LONG movie, but so good. It has become one of our favorite Easter traditions!

Although our Easter didn't seem grand, it was extra special with a new baby in the family! We celebrated the day together as a family, and celebrated a new life. Baby's First Easter / Easter 2019 was a memorable one!

If you celebrate, how was your Easter?