The Best Things in Life - Easter Weekend Then and Now

As Easter weekend wrapped up, I found myself thinking quite a bit about how vastly different Easter 2012 was from Easter 2011.

A few days ago, Nolan and I spent a busy Good Friday together. We ate lunch at a restaurant with a friend, where N sat in a high chair, feeding himself pieces of our meals. We came home for playtime with the puppy. Nolan ran around the yard, threw Cooper his ball, and helped me rake the garden.


It's almost unbelievable that the picture below was taken LAST YEAR on Good Friday, yes the day my baby boy was born.

Saturday of Easter Weekend 2011 was spent in the confines of Durham Regional Hospital, being initiated into the world of motherhood and "joys" of nursing. Nolan was introduced to friends and slept, slept, slept. It's exhausting work making an entrance into the world.

Sometimes I miss that tiny baby. That puffy face, I do not miss.

This year, Saturday of Easter weekend was filled from beginning to end - our first official family photo shoot at Duke Gardens and an anesthesia department party at a Durham Bulls game - surrounded by doctors, but this year, no IVs or epidurals. At the end of the day, Nolan slept, slept, slept, just like 2011 (minus the hunger wake up calls) - but this time because he exhausted himself running, running, running.

Easter Sunday of last year, was the day we brought our Little Love home to meet his "big brother."

Between Easter baskets, brunch with friends, playing in the garden, and a hysterical crying fit in the church nursery, this Easter Sunday felt a far cry from the relative calm of our first Easter together as a family - though no less special. Chaotic and perfect.

I feel fortunate that Easter now gives me one more reason to remember how abundantly God has blessed me and how much HE loves me.