The growing Roza family: Easter 2012

We celebrated Easter in the Bay Area, like we always do. We split our time between my mother-in-law's house and my mom's house. We headed to Rose Marie's house first and spent the night on that Friday night. On Saturday morning, Lilah starting sneezing and her nose started to get a little drippy. She was acting like her normal, happy self, so we weren't sure what was going on. Rose Marie thought maybe she was having an allergy to something. But as the day wore on, it became more obvious that she was coming down with a cold.

That afternoon, we headed over to my mom's house to spend Saturday evening there. My sister and her family were already there, so it was nice to see my nephews and get some time with them. When we went to put Lilah to bed on Saturday night, she was sounding pretty awful. Edward even called me into the bedroom because he was concerned about how her breathing sounded as he laid her down in the crib. She's had plenty of colds in her life so far, but I had never heard her sound like that before. I was very concerned because she sounded so raspy and almost short of breath. I called my mom in to have a listen and get her opinion. My mom said it sounded like Lilah had croup. I immediately grabbed my iphone and started researching the symptoms of croup. It definitely seemed like Lilah had several of the symptoms. We started taking about whether or not to take her to the ER. We decided to call the advice nurse through our PPO health insurance. The nurse was extremely helpful and felt very strongly that based on our conversation and Lilah's true symptoms, she did not have croup. We breathed a small sigh of relief and then formed an action plan for the evening. Edward had decided that he would hold Lilah in his arms on the couch all night so that she could sleep upright. We knew that would assist her breathing and hopefully give her a more restful night's sleep. I made sure Edward had everything he needed on the couch, and then I went to bed. Edward didn't get a restful night of sleep, but thankfully he was able to get some sleep in the recliner with Lilah in his arms.

On Easter morning, my nephews were awake quite early...which means the whole house was too! I knew Lilah needed more sleep. We made the decision that the three of us would stay home from church so that Lilah could take a nap in a quiet house and get more rest. Not to mention, I didn't want her to contaminate anyone else. It really bothers us when others go out into the public when they are ill and contagious, so we try not to do the same. Lilah had a nice little nap on Daddy on Easter morning. Then I got her out of her jammies, put her in her Easter dress, and brushed her hair. She was a different toddler after that! She still had a runny nose, but she seemed to be in much better spirits, thank goodness! I have to say I was bummed to miss the Easter Sunday service at my mom's church. They always have a beautiful Easter service. But my sweet babe comes first!

Once everyone else came home from church, the kids enjoyed a fun Easter egg hunt out in my mom's front yard. They all loved it! My mom helped Lilah search for eggs so that I could take photos and Edward could take video. I haven't even seen those videos yet and Easter was over a month ago. Whoopsy! It was so fun watching Lilah search for eggs, stop to pick up rocks, and exclaim over the little hair bows and clips she found inside her eggs. Then we ate a nice Easter lunch, which was delicious! After that, we stopped in at the cemetery and decorated Avalon's headstone for Easter. We miss her all the time, but it's even harder on holidays. Then we went back to Rose Marie's and ate a second Easter meal there, but on a smaller scale. Then we headed home later in the evening. It was a very busy weekend, and tough because Lilah was sick, but we still enjoyed our Easter weekend with all of the family. He is risen!