Easter

Today was Marlow's second Easter. She is still so itty so we just bought her a few things. Some tub crayons(that she LOVED), some body soap that you can mold with your hands a bit before using, and some little foil wrapped eggs. My MIL bought her an outfit, a 4T, and she's not even 2 yet, so that's for next summer or even after lol, and she also bought some foil eggs. When Mar got up we had to direct her too her goodies, she was so concerned that Kongo wasn't giving her a morning puppy kiss. Truth be told, he had been scolded for trying to snatch her chocolate eggs, so he was worried about getting to close to her as long as she stood by the loot. Then we traveled 45 minutes so that we could do Easter dinner with the inlaws. When we got there it turned out most of them had bailed at the last minute. It was only my immediate inlaws, my grandma in law, and the aunt from the states, the twin cousins and husbands, and another aunt and her kid and her kid's kids. I actually had alot of fun for the most part. I really like the twin cousins. They are so nice and honest and it sucks that they live 10 hours away. And the aunt from the states is also one of my favorite aunts. She's funny and she just brushes off her family's dramatics. I learned to play hearts, we laughed, talked. It was, like I said, fun. And that shocked the pants off of me since in general I hate those things. Marlow was a tad cranky. She is a bit hot, but the doctor assured me that would pass. And her appetite is off, she barely eats. So she is playing with the kids and you can tell she is getting tired, but she won't nap. So Joey straps her into the car and takes her for a drive. They were gone for about an hour and a half, and he said she napped for about an hour of it. But he had to wake her up when they returned. So she is owly as all beans and not really in the mood to do anything other then cling to me like I'm going somewhere. I convince her to eat potatoes, and corn. She eats a slice of cucumber, and some craisins. That's it, I can tell she is starting to turn off of the food, and all the other kids are done and playing and she wants to go. So I let her go. Then out comes desserts galore. There is one thing that family does well, and it's cook and eat! There is a birthday cake(it was a cousins bday), a skor cake, a lemon cake, ice cream. Marlow sees it, and her face lights up. But she barely ate any actual real food. Now, I know, I'm a meanie. But I'm a firm believer if your too sick to eat your food, your too sick to eat dessert. And I catch the aunt from the states giving her a bite, ask her not too, and she apologizes and says she didn't know but she's not snooty about it. I catch another cousin giving her a bite, same scenario, same outcome. Then we walk past my MIL and FIL and Marlow knows they cave easy. She reaches for her Papa and asks for a bite. He goes to give her one but I tell him no, she didn't eat enough supper. Here's where it got UGLY. So my FIL, who is usually really mellow but gets uptight(it's his inlaws too) when surrounded by the sister's snaps at me. "well, she has to eat something! you can't starve her!" I was a little taken aback, but I just replied "when she is hungry enough to eat I have some veggies and a bun waiting for her, if she eats that she can have dessert". My MIL then jumps in...."well, she's not going to eat it obviously, so you should give her something she will eat, there's lots of cake, you ate some, it's cruel to not let her have any." Me: "She's not that hungry, if she was, she would of eaten more then two bites of supper. She just want's the dessert because it's tasty but it's not right to feed her dessert without eating supper." MIL: "didn't you say that Dr.Vaz said she had a swollen throat? Or was that a lie? Cake is soft, and ice cream is cold...you should feed her what will feel good." Me: "mashed potatoes are soft and cold milk is just as nice as ice cream. I didn't say she couldn't have any dessert, but I want something good in her belly first." My MIL then proceeded to turn back to her plate and ignore me. My FIL went quiet after his first remark. Marlow wanted to go play, and I had to use the washroom then load something into the SUV. So I leave Marlow in the care of the family, that's how it is there, everyone watches everyones kids. I come back and Marlow is sitting with my MIL with cake and ice cream all over her face, her hair and her nice expensive dress that I splurged on. My MIL sees me and says "oh, here comes mommy, eat what you can, you may not get anymore food for awhile." I flipped. She is MY child, and if I think she should eat healthy regardless of her illness, then that's MY perogative. I do give her things at home, like jello, pudding, yogurt, and yes, ice cream. But I require her to eat something good before any of it outside of the yogurt. I demanded we leave, hating to go because I was having a blast with the others. But then we carpooled and Joey talked me into staying, saying it was really not fair to the people who rode with us that we had to leave because of friction between my MIL and I. Which is true, the aunt from the states comes once a year, and it wasn't fair to drag them out of there. So I stayed. Marlow was cranky, she threw up on me. Her dress is pretty ruined. I'm going to try hand washing it. I could dry clean it, but that's not in our expenses right now. She screamed the whole way home. And she didn't settle down until she was home, bathed, and asked if it was bed time. Upon when she grabbed her blanket, marched to her room, blew her fish a kiss, and stood by her crib. I just don't understand why my MIL cannot let me raise my own child as I see fit. And someone mentioned how all my rules apply, and never Joeys. That's not true. But I am the primary care taker. I see her all day, I deal with her all day. I figure it is up to me to set alot of boundaries. Joey and I discuss things, like punishments, or phases. But for things like bedtime, eating habits, routine at all....that's my call. I think that's how it should be. But apparentley, unbeknownst to me, that should all be my MIL's call. Huh, silly me! Happy eggs and baskets day to you all! Hope yours was as great as mine started!