You have SUCH a good baby!

Thinking back to times I visited friends who had a baby, I remember making the comment on more than one occasion that they really lucked out, because their baby was so quiet and docile. And their reaction always threw me off - it was a mix of "surely you're joking" and "I need a drink." Now I know exactly how they were feeling and what the night before was like for them.
Family time was in full swing during the Easter holiday. The days were filled with visiting and making merry, and Benjamin was quite the gentlemen electing to snooze for the entire time.

Then, the clock stuck midnight.

He...would not...go to sleep. He was up, had on his birthday suit and wanted to party. The only problem is that I've developed this habit of going to sleep at night. So it was the meeting of the immovable object and the irresistible force - as I clutched for sleep, he repelled it with all of his will. I was so desperate I was trying to remember back to my WWF (I will never recognize the WWE) watching days how you execute the Sleeper Hold. Long story long, we finally would go to sleep close to 2AM. Not super late, but multiple hours of crying feel like an eternity.

The mornings came sooner than had hoped and we would meet with family for breakfast or lunch. To look the part of "innocent sleeping baby", Benjamin would curl up in his carrier and snooze. Setting everyone up for the "oh, you have SUCH a good baby" line. That's when I had to try and muster up my own acting skills and smile politely and say something to the effect of "yeah...we're real lucky..." Then I look down and notice that I'm pouring salt into my coffee instead of sugar due to fatigue.

Emily and I shared a moment thinking about how her mom dealt with twins, while Emily was 2 and her brother was 6. One, is an adventure. Two, is rough. Two with a toddler, like a Rubik's Cube®. Two with a toddler and a 1st grader, like striking a peace treaty in the Middle East. So our hat goes off to Nana Kryzak.

Easter was nice. Great day, plenty of family and some nice pictures of people in their Sunday best. I'm going to quickly hop on my "kids have too much" soapbox for a sec - (ahem) when did the Easter egg to kid ratio get so high? I remember (and have photographic evidence) when I went on Easter egg hunts where I have a small basket with 12-15 eggs in it, and I felt like a real winner. Like I had some how beaten the Easter Bunny and his egg hiding skills. Now kids practically need a caddy to walk behind them carrying their loot. Gone are the days of petite baskets to make room for the bushel baskets. Where I "beat" the Easter Bunny, these kids had blown him to bits and extracted his candy-creme center. I'm stepping off the soapbox now.

As I videotaped our nieces and nephew scurrying around the yard picking up eggs, it did make me eager for the day Benjamin is old enough to be out there. And seeing the joy on his face at the little treasures he finds. And then seeing the joy fade when he realizes that his dad filled them with raisins, collectors quarters and coupons. Hey, I have to pay him back for all of these sleepless nights somehow. That's the way I roll.