Crazy Hormones, Rude Hunters and Other Misc Musings...

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. Mine was... well... interesting...

Friday night I ended up cancelling all of my plans. My acid reflux was really bothering me and my hormones were going crazy! I took a little nap after I got home from work and when I woke up I decided that I wanted pancakes for dinner. No, I decided I needed pancakes for dinner. Joe had decided to take a nap too, and I wasn't having very much luck waking him up to go out to dinner with me. He was being crabby, and mumbling something about his allergies and how he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and his head was all stuffed up and blah blah blah. I was devastated. How could I go out to dinner for pancakes all by myself?! So I called my mom, and sobbed my sad story to her. "All I want is pancakes and Joe won't go with me. I am so upset and I don't know why this is making me cry". Well I did know why, I knew it was my hormones, but knowing why I was acting so ridiculous wasn't helping me feel any better. Ofcourse my mom, having been pregnant three times herself, understood exactly what I was feeling. And it just so happened that she had found her old buttermilk pancake recipe and had made up some batter that very day. She told me if I came over there (she only lives 15 minutes away), that she would make me some pancakes. So off I went, already feeling better. There's one more I thing I can check off from the list of stereotypical pregnancy symptoms. Crazy hormonal mood swings. Check.

Saturday morning I woke up in a much better mood. It was a beautiful day and they were having a big Easter Egg Hunt at a huge Baseball park near our home, sponsored by a local church. The flyer promised a Dr. Seuss themed egg hunt, free hot dogs and soda, games, crafts and pictures with the Easter Bunny. That seemed like fun and innocent enough, so I thought it would be great to take my little niece Aubrey to the event. My friend Toni was going with her boyfriend and his daughter Bella. I asked my friend Gina over at Namaste By Day if she wanted to go with her little man, L. So I left early to pick up Aubrey, then swung by Gina's to scoop up her and L, then off to Toni and Dan's to follow them to the ball park. We got our first clue as we drove past the park to the parking lot and saw the thousands of people (yes literally thousands) walking towards the park and into the front gates. We parked a good walk away from the park and headed over. Me and Gina were already looking at each other like, "uh oh, what did we get ourselves into?". I believed Gina may have mentioned something like, "You want to just take them to McDonalds?". I seriously considered it. But we were already there, we might as well see what this was all about.

We unloaded the strollers and the kiddos, and all started the hike towards the park. In the parking lot right outside the front gate, they had the hot dog stand set up. We entered through the front gates and got our first close up look of the thousands of people walking around and all of the people on the field waiting for the "hunt" to start. The eggs weren't exactly hidden. They had sections roped off for different age groups and all of the eggs were just laid out all over the ground. So me and Gina took our kids down to the 2 year old area, while Toni and Dan took Bella to a different section with older kids. As we got closer, Aubrey's eyes got bigger and I started to wonder how much she was really going to enjoy this. After the "get ready, set, go" was sounded I brought Aubrey into the area and we started picking up eggs. Well, I picked up eggs while she looked around in utter confusion and bewilderment. After I picked up about 10 eggs, I started noticing everyone who had already devoured all of the eggs in their areas, were rushing towards me and Aubrey. I thought quickly, grabbed Aubrey, and rushed off to the side with her. I watched as the spot where we had been was quickly filled up with crazed egg hunters. Parents were knocking over other kids to pick up eggs for their own kids. It was more like these people were homeless and scavaging for food for their family, rather then a friendly easter egg hunt. I had never seen anything like it before. Before you knew it, all of the eggs had vanished from the ground and people were leaving the field. I just stayed in the same spot with Aubrey sitting on my lap still left in wonder at what had just taken place.

Gina and L were no where in site, so I scooped up Aubrey and we headed back to the strollers. I found them there and was glad to find that L had gotten a little more into the "hunt" and had fun picking up eggs for himself. Me and Gina exchanged our "WTFs?" and "Did that seriously just happen?" I turned around and shot a picture of the people left on the field. I wish I had gotten one before hand when they were all packed in like sardines.

I sat Aubrey back down in her stroller. The look on her face here, was pretty much the same for most of the experience. She seemed to feel the same way as I did about what had transpired. There's L to the right.

As far as the "Dr Seuss themed egg hunt", the only thing that seemed to back that up, was the signs that were posted throughout the park. They were designed somewhat in a cartoon "Dr. Seuss" theme, otherwise, I think they were blowing smoke up our butt.

We started to head out of the park, but it took forever, as everyone else seemed to be leaving at the same time. Luckily we saw the Easter Bunny on our way out. L had been very excited about meeting him all morning and I am glad we didn't have to miss out on the only part he had really cared about. We got some pics of them together. I left Aubrey in her stroller, I didn't think she could handle any more "excitement", and frankly I thought the Easter bunny was a bit scary looking myself, so I felt no need to subject her to that.

We finally got out of the gates and found ourselves looking at the "free hot dog" line. It was so long, filled with hundreds of people. Neither of us wanted to wait in that line, so we decided to look for Toni & Dan. We find them about 1/3 back from the front of the line and decided to just join them. It didn't take long for the rude comments to start. One lady asked, "Are you guys just joining the line, or have you been in line already?" I told her that we were with the couple right in front of us. I seriously didn't see what the big deal was. It was a line for hot dogs. Did she seriously want us to go all the way to the back of the line and not even get to eat with our friends. I heard her mumbling to her friend "oh I see, they are with those people up there, well I guess I could just tell Billy and Joe-Bob to just join us in the line and we could all say we are with those people up there". They kept making remarks. It was unbelievable. So finally, I turned to Gina and said (loudly), "Don't you just love church events? Everyone is always so friendly." That pretty much shut them up. They had to get in one more remark though after we got our hot dogs. The man was warning his wife about Gina, "Watch our for her in her stroller, she's not even watching where she is going".

Needless to say we will not be returning next year. Poor Bella didn't even get a single egg, as the kids in her section started grabbing for eggs before they were even given the signal. Ofcourse Gina and I shared some of Aubrey and L's eggs with her.

Easter Sunday was long. We went to my mom's parents' house first for lunch, then to my dad's dad's house, then to Joe's mom's to visit with her and his sister. We were gone from 10:30 am to around 8pm. I enjoyed visiting with all of the family, but I was exhausted by the end of the day.

Joe took a pic of my belly Sunday night. I am 19 weeks and 2 days. We have only one more week from today till we find out the sex!

Wish me luck tonight. I am headed to a new vet's office with Daisy. I am attempting to get her an exemption from having to have her rabies shot. She has a horrible, near death, allergic reaction every time she gets one, and her previous vet didn't seem to think this was anything to really worry about. After doing some research about this, I realized that this is definitely something to worry about and you can have your vet write a letter to the powers that be requesting that they be excused from getting the shot. I have collected all the proper documentation of her reactions over the years, including her visits to the emergency vet. I am taking her to a new vet, hopefully one that is a little more concerned. They told me that they just went through this process with another dog, so I am hopeful we will get this squared away. I refuse to put her through any more of those damn shots.