April opened with the Easter Bunny and closed with Elena blowing out three candles on her birthday cake.  Three years ago, I opened the car door set to take Eliza to the park along the bay when my water broke.  The next day, on April 28, Elena Michelle was born.

I've been solo the whole time with my little Lena Loo.  So her birthdays not only mark the quick passage of her childhood but serve as a reminder of how far we've come.  I left New York on April 8th and had her just 20 days later.  That July, I moved into our new home together.

I loved this apartment from the first time I saw it.  I loved how the apartment was long with lots of rooms and many doors.  As a child, my cousins would chase me through the railroad apartment of my grandmother's house.  I'd race through the rooms, yanking the sliding doors closed behind me.  Now my girls are finally at an age where they love to be chased through the apartment.  Their bedroom has two doors so we can race through that room, loop through the living room and then march down the long hallway that opens to the kitchen on one side and the dining room on the other.  Through the dining room we can race through the playroom and then run through the kitchen on our way back down the hall.  It is great fun and with each run and funny noise, I'm six years old tearing through a house I'll never leave behind.

April was as perfect a month for me as I could get.  Easter was a perfect day with both girls in frilly yellow dresses and my Mom and Billy in good spirits.  My cousins came to visit one weekend bringing their three children and much joy with them.  We also went to New York for a day and caught up with some friends and family then.  Elena's birthday, always a cause for celebration, unfolded in a wonderful weekend of games and song.  I could not be happier with my girls and our happy life here.  I only wish things could stay like this forever but as we all know, May is already here, it's been raining a lot and even if the sky finally clears up and the weather is perfect, it's going to be hard to top our wonderful April.