2014 - Week 1

Well, here we are! It’s 2014, it’s official, it’s here. We're ready to kick off a new year, and live it to it's fullest!

Wednesday brought us a family day, with everybody off work/school, and the first birthday celebration for miss Olivia. The girls did NOT sleep in, like we were hoping after their late night, so we were up pretty early. I made a big breakfast, and we watched Smurfs 2….again. Then, we all got ready and we were off to the Mall of America. Our girls do not have their ears pierced. It’s not that I have anything against it…I have plenty of holes myself, with my first being done as an infant. I just decided long ago, I’d let them make the decision to get them pierced, when they wanted to. When they could really understand what it meant, and were old enough to leave them alone. Well, lately, Olivia has been asking. After debating for a bit, we decided she was responsible enough to leave them alone, and we agreed to let her do it. So, our first stop at the mall was the jewelry shop to get it done. I told her she had to be brave, and that it would hurt a little, but not to cry…I could tell she was pretty shocked by the whole thing, but she held back. No tears! And, as soon as she saw them in the mirror, she was happy as can be. She proceeded to ask us, about every 10 minutes, throughout the day if her earrings were still there. It was cute. Of course, little Amelia asked why she couldn’t get hers done. We just told her she’s not old enough, and changed the subject! Christian had some jeans to exchange, so that was up next; then, he used some old ride points we had, and took the girls on the Ferris Wheel. It was pretty busy, so we didn’t bother buying anymore points for rides, so we packed it up, and headed to Applebee’s for lunch/dinner. Finally, we made our way back home. The girls and I settled in for a lazy night of movies and playing, while Christian made a run to Menard’s and did some stuff around the house. Tomorrow is the big birthday, and everybody is back to reality.

On Thursday, I got to wake up a 5-year old. FIVE YEAR OLD! I woke her up with a big hug, and a “HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY”, and she was so excited. She couldn’t believe she was finally 5 years old, and she was so excited to get off to school. I sent her off with her cupcakes for class, and she couldn’t wait to show off her new earrings. It was such a bittersweet day. 5….5 is a big one. She’s officially a big girl. She can make decisions, she makes her own friends, she’s going to be starting Kindergarten this year. Yes, it’s a big year, it’s a BIG birthday. Of course, like any mother, I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. Entering the world, promptly at 6:00AM. She’s so beautiful, so independent, so funny. She is a daddy’s girl, through and through, and is becoming quite a leader. She’s brave and willing to try new things, yet reserved and shy at the same time. She has a memory unlike any other, and she knows how to turn up the cute factor when it’s needed. My mini-me, growing way too fast!

Once we were all off to school/work, the day was pretty standard. I’ve been so distracted at work, I’ve been finding it hard to really focus and get stuff done. Maybe its baby brain…maybe it’s just the chaos of this time of year…maybe I’m just bored with my job at the moment. Probably a combination of everything, but I’m hoping it passes soon. It can make for some long days. Christian’s OT at work will probably dwindle for a while, post-holiday. He also has a few days of leave time he has to use, or lose, by the end of the month, so he’ll be taking a couple of random days off for that. After work, I picked up some final necessities for dinner, picked up the girls, and we made our way home. I did a quick clean-up of the house, and made the girls pick up their room (they’re actually really good at cleaning their room and making their beds, even by my standards!), then started dinner. We invited Olivia’s BFF Bella and her mom over for dinner/dessert/playtime, so they stopped over. We had a taco feast for dinner, opened presents, had some cupcakes and the girls played for a while. The girls had a blast. Amelia got a little emotional about it NOT being her birthday, but it was temporary. When our friends left, it was bedtime, and we were all EXHAUSTED! What a fun day!

Somebody was upset it wasn't their birthday too...

Friday FINALLY arrived! And I was so looking forward to the weekend…this weekend brings the end to our couple months of chaos – Olivia’s birthday party, and taking down the Christmas stuff/post-Holiday cleaning. Then, I feel like we can finally breath, and relax, for a while. Whew! Christian was off work today…he has some leave time to use up, before he loses it, but the end of the month. So, he was home being lazy for the day. I dropped the girls off and was off to work. It was another pretty long day…still just not motivated. Hopefully next week I’ll get it together. After work, I picked up the girls and we made our way home. We spent a little time hanging out, and Christian got dinner going for the girls. Then, I was off to dinner with my BFF, Kari, at our favorite place, Khan’s! Two pregnant girls at the Mongolian BBQ buffet. SO GOOD! It was fun catching up and chatting about our pregnancies. She’s due in a little over a week….SO EXCITING! After dinner, I was miserable and made my way home…straight to the couch to relax for the rest of the night.

Christian snapped this picture of Chuy - he found a hole in the blanket and made himself a little poncho. Ha.

Saturday was birthday party day! YAY! We were all up pretty early the girls were playing and watching some movies, eating breakfast and hanging out for a while. I started some laundry, Christian hopped in the shower and I gave the girls a bath. We all proceeded to finish getting ready, picked up the cake and were off to Sky Zone to celebrate with family and friends. For Olivia’s first couple birthdays, we had her parties at the house. It was just too much for me…it’s too cold to do anything, everybody has boots and coats and accessories that take up too much space, it’s too close to Christmas, so I have to rush to get all of the Christmas stuff down, or else it takes up too much space, the parties ended up split, with the kids playing downstairs, and some of the adults upstairs, cleaning and cleaning up. It was just too overwhelming, and I didn’t feel like we really got to enjoy it. So, we’ve been having them at different places the last few years…Pump it Up, Edinborough, and now Sky Zone…which is an indoor trampoline park. I love places like this. They guide you through everything, they set everything up, they serve the food and cake, they track the gifts and help you move the party along. And, no clean up!! It just makes it so easy. The party started at noon and all of the kids had a blast on the trampolines, the foam pit and playing some dodge ball (really, it ended up with the parents throwing the balls at the kids from the sidelines, which was just plain fun for everybody). The kids were all pretty exhausted when their jump time was up, so that seems successful to me. We had pizza, opened presents, had cupcakes and Olivia had a blast. The girls fell asleep on the way home…Amelia finished her nap once home, while Olivia begged me to open every new present she received, so I got the pleasure of doing that…again. I was pretty exhausted when all was said and done; I kept dozing off the rest of the afternoon/evening. Seriously, I’m looking forward to some downtime!! Christian was off to hang out with his friend Lorenzo for a while, so the girls and I played with their toys, watched some more TV and they were off to bed. I watched some Sons of Anarchy before passing out myself. What a day!

On Sunday, our SUPER arctic blast started making its way into town. We’re supposed to be seeing some record cold across the state, and they’ve already canceled school across the state tomorrow because of it (“luckily”, the daycare is still open). So, we were pretty much trapped in the house for the day. We were up bright and early. I pretty much put Christian on Dad duty for the day. He got the girls breakfast and kept them busy…eventually sending them downstairs to play in the toy room…which they actually did, for quite a long time, actually playing well together. That was a surprise! Meanwhile, I took down all of the decorations, de-assembled the tree and packed that up, and spent the day doing laundry and cleaning up. It does make me a little sad taking down all of the bright, colorful decorations, it’s SOOOOO nice to get the house back, especially the tree space. I feel so much less cluttered, and feel like we have so much more room. It’s a nice trade-off. The only thing left to do is clean the toy room, moving all of the new stuff in, which will probably be done next Friday, when I’m off work. While the girls (and Christian) napped, I watched some Sons of Anarchy, with football on TV on mute, while I folded laundry and relaxed a bit. Love my quiet alone time. After naps, we had dinner and spent the night relaxing together. A fairly quiet end to the busy week, which was much needed!

Today I also turned 22 weeks! I’m still feeling pretty good, and my energy seems OK (minus the chaos exhaustion). Getting full faster and faster when I eat and growing away. The girls are getting more and more anxious for the baby to get here, and still insist with all of their might that baby is a boy. I don’t know what in the world they are going to do if baby turns out to be another girl! They are NOT going to be happy, that’s for sure. I’ve been having some serious issues with the way I look lately…it doesn’t help that a girl I went to school with just announced they’re expecting their 2^nd, a few days after me, and she is TINY, flaunting one of those perfect, ideal pregnancy bodies. I’ve been trying so hard not to let my weight or the way I look, consume me, but it’s been getting me down lately. Oh, one of the many joys of pregnancy, that’s for sure!

Until next week!