This was the first year we dyed Easter eggs as a family. Last Easter Lucy wasn't yet one, so we were very excited to begin this Easter tradition.
Obviously Emma isn't quite one yet this Easter, but we gave her a purple crayon to try marking her own egg so she wouldn't feel left out. As younger siblings ourselves, Will and I have a keen awareness of how it feels to want to do what your older sibling is doing.
Lucy only broke one egg (out of a dozen), and thoroughly enjoyed 'dropping' the eggs into the different cups of dye.
As you all know by now, I am a big fan of writing out my family's names as it is the only way I can see our family together on earth. Our Easter eggs were no eggception!
After church on Sunday, we headed to the cemetery to visit Luke and drop off an Easter egg for him - a tradition we've done since we lost Luke. It was also the first day warm enough to bring Emma outside and get a picture of her little feet next to Luke's on his headstone - a tradition we started after Lucy was born. When we got to the cemetery, Lucy got out of the car and I overheard her saying "Lukey, are you? Lukey, are you?" as she made her way to his grave. This near about broke Will's and my heart, as we explained to Lucy that we were just going to place the plastic blue egg with a love note in it on his grave, not actually give it to Lukey, as Lukey is in heaven. She didn't say anything to this, but then changed her chattering at Luke's grave to, "I love you, Lukey. Miss you. Love you." 
Sadly, this is as close as my three children will ever physically be on earth. Will and I definitely choked up, as we stood there watching Lucy run around in the grass and the sun shine on Emma's sleeping face. As Lucy's dress blew in the breeze and we listened to her happy giggles as she ran around from stone to stone we couldn't help but imagine what it would be like with Luke running next to his sister, and how it would feel to watch all three of our children enjoy Easter festivities together. I like to think that Lucy's carefree happiness in the open grass and warm temperatures was a direct reflection of Luke's happiness in heaven. Lucy's innocent joy in the simple pleasures of life were not diluted by the fact that we were at a cemetery visiting a brother she would never play with on earth. Lucy's ability to embrace the moment for exactly what it was and nothing more was inspiring and we knew at that moment that Luke was enjoying Easter in much the same way. So we did a family hug, dried our tears, watched Lucy rob several graves of flags, angel statues and flowers, and then headed home (after of course putting back all of the mementos to their rightful graves).
Once home from the cemetery, we enjoyed another new family tradition - an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. It was a ton of fun watching Lucy hunt for eggs and we couldn't help but imagine next year with Emma taking her first couple of toddles, looking for eggs with Lucy.
We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!
Here Emma is below, getting her hair combed after her first bath. Will is very proud of the fact that she has hair to be combed, and that it is the same color as my hair.
Here Emma is sucking on her hands, which she has been doing since the moment she was born. The nurses told me this is good and bad - good, because it means that Emma has already found a way to self-soothe while in 
Emma was very alert right after her birth, and gazed into my eyes like she has known me for eternity. It is amazing how even though I met Emma for the first time face to face, I already knew and loved so much about her.
The below picture I will title: Proud Parents. Need I say more?
Proud daddy with his girls.
The day we were discharged from the 
Here are our two girls, going home to make our dream home even more of a dream come true. As we turned onto our street, Lucy reached over to her baby sister and told her the name of our street. Good to know, big sister, good to know.
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