What An Easter...

Easter this year was.... crazy. It had its ups and downs and needless to say, it was an interesting first Easter for Anistynn.

One of the awesome things that happened was our Easter photo shoot, which you can see here. I really enjoyed getting nice family photos taken for our first year as a family on Easter :)

I also decided that I wanted to get a basket for Anistynn this year and fill it with baby things that she could actually use now and soon (so obviously no candy, etc). I searched for a nice one because even though she is a baby and she wouldnt really know what was happening, I still wanted a good one that she could use for years to come. So I finally found one on the Pottery Barn Kids website. I ordered a basket and a liner (it was to be monogrammed with her name on it, which I loved because if she lost it, it would be easy to get it back to her since her name is so unique) about a month before Easter. They charged my account (and usually when that happens it means it has been shipped - otherwise the items stay in my "pending" section until they have been) so I was waiting excitedly for the items to arrive. Finally, 4 DAYS before Easter, they email me to tell me that the liner has been sold out and there would not be any more in the foreseeable future (probably because it was a seasonal item). I was sooo irritated!!! I mean, really?! They wait until almost Easter to let me know this? I was so bummed. But they didnt say anything about the basket.... I got a refund back for the liner, thankfully, but Easter came and went and no basket showed up. So Anistynn didnt get her basket on Easter :( It never arrived, so I tracked my order and it said that both items had been canceled. What?! I hadnt received an email saying I wouldnt get the basket and I didnt get a refund back for it either. So I had to call and the lady just said, "Sorry about that - I will refund you your money." That was it. She didnt know how old my child was or anything and that it was a week past Easter and she hadnt gotten her basket yet. Ugh. I will never order from there again. I always thought they had cute things but their prices were ridiculous. But I thought their baskets were perfect, so I thought I'd splurge just this once... Sigh. Luckily, Anistynn is still young enough to not be bummed out completely. But here is a picture of the basket and liner I was going to get her (of course, it would say "Anistynn"):

Well, next year I will look for a sturdier basket but for now, just so she could have something this year, I just went out and got a basket from Michael's and filled it up. She finally got it tonight (even though I had her stuff for it a month before Easter). So here are the pics!

Anyway, on the actual holiday, Anistynn got to get all dressed up back in whole ensemble from the pictures. Everybody loved her outfit at church :)

Her Prayer Warrior, Diana, even gave her a little basket, which was so thoughtful!

After church, we went home and spent a few hours relaxing, watching a movie, and feeding Anistynn sweet potatoes.

Then we headed over to my grandparent's house for Easter dinner. The food and company was great. Anistynn was a little fussy but Tony and I took her on a walk in her stroller and she fell asleep. Just as Tony went outside to participate in a soccer game with all the cousins, Anistynn woke up screaming. I tried everything: bottle, diaper change, putting her down on the ground to be on her tummy and her back, letting her stand up on her feet, toys, teethers, books, passing her around to different people, going outside to watch everyone play, etc. But nothing seemed to calm her down. She would get distracted for a moment and be right back at it. After about 30 minutes of consecutive crying, it started to get worse. Her cries were really ragged and horse, screaming in pain, miserable kind of cries. The kind of cries that make you cringe. She started pulling at both of her ears like no other. I remember reading that when babies pull their ear(s), it might mean that they have an ear infection. I started to get really worried so I had to pull Tony out of the game and insist that we take her home. She got quiet in the car and was silent for the whole ride home. I thought she just finally fell asleep. My plan was to get her home, take her temperature, give her some Children's Tylenol to help her sleep, and call the doctor the next day to take her to get checked out. When we arrived home, we went to take her out of the car seat and there she sat, grinning up at us like she got us good. She was smiling and laughing and being her total normal self. Tony and I looked at each other like, "Are you serious, missy?!" I took her temperature just to be safe, and she was normal. She displayed no other signs. I was thinking what a mighty fine actress she might make one 

day.....

I heard from some other people that it might have been painful teething, as they have had experience with babies pulling their ears when they were teething. It could definitely be possible. Anistynn has never in her whole life so far, ever cried that hard and that's why I was so worried. I'm sure it was just a bad teething moment. In the days following, she pulled a bit more at her ears and was fussy (although not as much as she was on Easter), so that's what I'm sure has been going on. Still, what a first Easter for our little one!