a very itchy easter weekend 2018

friday night i had plans with my group of mom friends to celebrate our friend heather's 35th birthday. on thursday, i came down with a milder verion of ashford's stomach bug (mostly just nausea and fatigue), but i was feeling mostly better by friday. we planned to go to the garage (bowling alley/restaurant/billiards) in capitol hill. unfortunately two friends were feeling under the weather and cancelled, so the rest of us opted to keep things simple and closer and meet up in fremont for drinks and dinner. we made a reservation at a place called "the back door at roxy's". it was a speakeasy themed bar, located behind a diner.

 i never knew it existed before friday and it was so cool! i'm such a sucker for "pretty" restaurants. thatcher makes fun of me. the inside was all red velvet draping, chandeliers, etc. they also had great cocktails and food, so it wasn't all about the ambiance ;) we finished up there and decided to head back to ballard to get another drink and more food (we just had appetizers at the back door). we went to bitterroot bbq on ballard avenue, which i've been wanting to try for as long as we've lived here. it's a "boutique" bbq place. more delicious food and cocktails were consumed. it was a really fun night. here is a picture of the four of us who went:

meredith, heather, me, and liz

saturday morning azalea woke up saying she didn't feel well (i feel like we are having a re-run of last fall). thankfully she was just a bit rundown, nothing too bad. we spent the morning at home. she and i snuggled on the couch while the boys played legos. after lunch, azalea and i both fell asleep on the couch. it felt so good! she was feeling a bit better after, so i told her i would take her up to the school playground with her new razor scooter. thatcher and ashford decided to go to carkeek beach. it was a beautiful day! sunny and close to 60 degrees. in the early evening, thatcher took off to go to a sounders (professional soccer) game with his coworker. he got free tickets and it was his first time going to one. the kids and i had an easy dinner and hung out til they were off to bed. i noticed ashford had a few hives on his belly before bed, but he said they weren't bothering him much and he went to sleep easily. then the easter bunny got down to business :)

ashford woke up in the night miserable from his hives (which had intensified), unfortunately. it was a long night of choppy sleep with our uncomfortable boy. thatcher called the nurse line in the night and they suggested anti-itch cream and cold compresses, but no benadryl because he is younger than 6. ashford woke up at 6:15am and was almost inconsolable, so thatcher got them ready to go to the emergency room at children's. we knew that might be coming and it was definitely time. azalea woke up from the action, so she and i got up not long after. she got to check out her stuff from the easter bunny, without her brother :( 

 not the way i envisioned our easter morning, but that's life. 

ashford and thatcher didn't get back until around 10am. they gave him benadryl (they were annoyed that the nurse line told us not to give it to him) and they monitored him. it took over an hour for the benadryl to kick in. they were not able to tell us if the hives were an allergic reaction to something he came in contact with, or a virus. so that's fun! he was happy to see his easter basket when he got home: 

we decided he and thatcher should stay home and just azalea and i should go to our friends' for an egg hunt and potluck. i feel bad that thatcher got the short end of the stick again, but he was okay with it. i married a good man :) 

azalea and i had a nice time at heather's (same heather from friday night). our group of mama friends and their families came and it was a big, fun group. heather hid eggs in the yard for the kids and they had a blast finding them. it wasn't the nicest weather day - mid 40's and cloudy/light rain. oh well. my friend erica took this beautiful pic of my girl:

there was a huge spread of brunch food, and mimosas. 

it was delicious! 

the kids ran around the house playing and having fun. i was able to get lots of time to chat, so that was nice. we got home in the early afternoon. i thought maybe the guys would be asleep, but ashford wasn't ready to nap yet. azalea ended up taking a nap and ashford and i followed soon after. then thatcher joined ashford for the second half of his nap. we all needed it! ashford hurt his knee jumping off his bed and it's swollen and hurting him. never a dull moment over here! we made lasagna for dinner. after having a fairly itch-free day, his hives started popping back up again in the evening, just in time for bed. we put cream on them and gave him more benadryl and he fell asleep pretty easily.

it was an exhausting weekend, but we made it. i'm thankful for the fun times we had sprinkled in and that ashford wasn't miserable all weekend. hope you had a wonderful easter, if you celebrate!