Big Easter weekend!

We had a fun-filled weekend for Sabrina's first Easter. My mom arrived around 6pm on Friday and after eating in and retiring early everyone got up at 6am so that we could make the 9am appointment at the fire station of a near by military base (where Sabrina was born) to have Sabrina's convertible car seat installed (the one we got such a great deal on a few weeks ago). My mom, Sabrina and I made the trip there while Gene ran some errands (dry cleaning pick-up/drop off, checking the PO Box, etc.).

The fireman who did the installation clearly had a crush on my mom! :) Along with the installation, we got an education on how it should properly set up and adjusted in case we ever need to remove it. Sabrina was sitting in her old car seat and paying very close attention to these "lessons". If she'd had a pen and paper, I could almost see her taking notes!

Once we left the fire station, we drove by the hospital where Sabrina made her entrance into the world almost 9 months ago. We decided to drive up the road where we could go to a mega-baby-store, Whole Foods and Starbucks all in one strip mall. Perfect! There was even a smoothie store there where my mom and I got 2 wheat grass shots. We ended up buying Sabrina 2 bathing suits for this summer, a dress for Easter, and a flight safety vest (http://www.babybair.com/) for our trip to Europe this summer since we may be having her on our lap if the planes are full. While we were there, we took advance of the baby-friendly environment, changed her, and fed her a bottle.

By then it was time for lunch and I knew of a great Thai restaurant near-by so off we went. We had a really tasty lunch and Sabrina sat in a high-chair using one of those high chair/shopping cart covers, which quickly joined my list as one of those 'must-have' items, particularly now that her car seat is no longer portable. Our waiter seemed to have caught Sabrina's attention because every time he would walk by, whether or not he stopped at our booth, she would crane her neck around to see him and smile at him. It was too cute. While we were there Sabrina ate some bananas and drank from her sippy cup.

There was a Marshall's next door and mom wanted to go inside. About an hour later we headed south and stopped by a Lexus dealership where I put a deposit down on a 2010 RX 450 Hybrid SUV. I had test-driven the '08 version and a 2010 gas version a few weeks ago and loved the look of the '10 and the driving of the hybrid. The '10 hybrids won't start arriving in dealerships until late June/early July, but I wanted first dibs on color choices and packages. I'm just hoping they don't arrive while we're in Europe, although the salesman said he would still hold it for us. The dealership was hopping -- it sure didn't appear recession-like!

Our final stop was the Honey Bakes Ham store where we bought a half-ham for Easter.

Easter Sunday my brother and his girlfriend came by and I warmed up the ham, cooked up some saffron rice pilaf, green beans and roasted tomatoes, and served a really cute bunny cake that i bought from Wegmans. We brought Sabrina's high chair up to the dining room table and she "dined" with us. Then we went downstairs where everyone could observe Sabrina in her play area, crawling around, standing up to use her Leapfrog activity table, etc. Her uncle even put together some of those floor mat puzzle pieces to form a large cube and placed Sabrina in it. Soon enough her little arm would poke through and out she would come, never panicking or crying.

She was soooo well-behaved the whole weekend. She only cried before falling asleep (she does that for some reason... it's like that last burst of energy before conking out!), and even then it's only for 15 seconds max.