Easter - massively mixed memories

I have stumbled upon The Gallery via the blog of Mummy Barrow(www.mummybarrow.com) and thought I might have a go at joining in, mostly as a way of getting some of my hundreds of photographs out on view.

The theme this week is Easter. When I first thought about what to post my immediate reaction was this ....

.... a photo of Fluffball, our newest edition to the flock of hens living in our back garden. Fluffball hatched a little bit before Easter but she's just so cute, and such a classic sign of Easter, that it had to be her really!

But then I got thinking about Easter in the last few years and realised that Easter is a time of massively mixed memories for this family. 

Easter 2007 was celebrated by the birth of my second child, Joe. He was due on Easter Monday but held off until the following Friday....the 13th! He is a true Friday 13th baby, causing terror wherever he goes!



Easter 2008 & 2009 must have passed without incident as I don't remember anything drastic happening!

Easter 2010 was truly awful and will be forever remembered as the start of our worst 18 months ever. It started out okay, we celebrated Joe's birthday with an Easter Egg hunt for friends of both the boys, and a few family called in too. Granny was there and as usual had helped with the planning and preparation. During the party she said she wasn't feeling too good and went home early.
This was Tuesday and on Sunday we had to call an ambulance to take her in to hospital, she had deteriorated so badly. Turned out she had developed pneumonia, and having she'd seen the doctor on Thursday and been sent home with stomach bug advice and rehydration sachets she had got much worse while we were all confident she would start to get better. We learnt a valuable lesson that week - don't ignore your instincts just because a doctor should know best.
Unfortunately Easter did not stop there for us. Joe fell ill, you can read the entire horrible story here.
http://kirkby-catterwell.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/new-month-new-doctor-or-update-on-joe.html
He had developed pneumonia too, but the delays we suffered led to serious complications and it taking a lot more drugs and time than it really needed to.

After one week at our local hospital we had to prepare for transfer by ambulance, on oxygen and attached to lots of beeping machines, to Addenbrookes in Cambridge.

On going home day, one month after Joe first fell ill. Joe made good friends with Leigh, the playleader at West Suffolk Hospital and still talks fondly of her. This photo makes me cry because I can see just how poorly my little boy had become.

Easter 2011 was spent preparing for Joe's visit to Papworth for the next stage of tests. I don't even remember doing Easter Eggs, that's how much of a blur that year is! I do know that we postponed Joe's birthday party and he finally got to have a party with his friends sometime in May! Later that year he finally had the operation to remove his tonsils and adenoids and since starting school in September he has really turned a corner.

That brings us to Easter 2012 and at last we could enjoy the holiday! Good Friday started with Andy's mum winding me up to the point of wanting to slap her, but once she'd left we decided to have an afternoon out and enjoy ourselves. We ended up at Walton-on-the-Naze and much fun was had by all!

Digging and Football!

Here's hoping that Easter 2012 is the start of many memories of fun and good times for us at Easter from now on!