2014 - Week 4

Week 4 - still catching up, and still sucking it up at taking photos!! Now, heading into a monster illness, I don't see either of these things changing too soon...

Monday was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – so I was off work. The girls were off to school, Christian off to work, and I had the house to myself. LOVE IT! And, even more exciting, this week is my Friday off, so I’m heading into a 3-day work week. Definitely don’t hate that! I started the morning off pretty lazy. Catching up on some HULU (I’ve fallen quite behind while I’ve been obsessed with Netflix shows) and folding some clothes in bed. I finally did some cleaning, getting the entire main floor cleaned, picked up and organized….our bedroom, the girls’ room, the bathroom, living room, kitchen and entry. Feels good to have a clean house, especially now that all of the Christmas stuff has been put back in storage. My goal was REALLY to hit the basement, and get that picked up and back in order…but it was too scary and overwhelming. That will probably be my Friday task. I did pick the girls up a tad early, around 3:00…Olivia had just gotten up from her nap, and Amelia was finishing up snack time. We stopped over at their BFF Bella’s house so they could play for a while, before it got too late. They played, fought, watched a movie and had some snacks while Sara and I caught up. We arrived home shortly after Christian, had some dinner, watched a movie together and relaxed. Back to reality tomorrow! Olivia has had a pretty bad cough the last few days…since she still insists on sleeping in our bed, it’s made for a few sleepless nights for me. No fun!

Went into our room to pay down and rest...had to fight this gang for a spot.

Tuesday was a pretty standard day. I spent some time at work packing up my cubicle…the building has been in the process of re-carpeting for months, and our area us up this week. Luckily, I’m a neat freak and totally OCD, and, I love throwing things away, so I really don’t have much. I kind of laugh at everybody else in the office that spends days packing up all of their stuff. Pack rats, everywhere. I had to leave early for a dentist appointment, just a regular cleaning. Even though I have pretty great teeth, and rarely any issues, I still hate going to the dentist. I guess I should be thankful they don’t have to spend much time with me, because I couldn’t stand it. I was supposed to get updated x-rays today, but, of course, we skipped those until next time. While the appointment itself was quick, they were 30 minutes behind schedule, so while I should’ve arrived home early, I was actually late. What the heck! I picked the girls up, and we made our way home. Olivia had another rough day at school with this cough, and they sure make a point to point out how bad it is, so I feel like they’re trying to tell me something. I hate to keep her home for a cough (Lord knows it ain’t cheap!), but we’ll have to see how she’s doing tomorrow and contemplate it. Pregnancy cravings kicked in tonight, and Christian was stuck picking up Chipotle for dinner. YUM! I sent the girls to bed early…at 7:30. Olivia just was not feeling well, and Amelia was acting up, obviously tired, and they both passed out pretty fast. Olivia of course slept in our room again, again keeping me up most of the night with her coughing. Poor thing. Other than that, we’re in the midst of debating what to do about baby’s daycare. The girls are at the center full time now, Monday-Friday. We planned on having the baby just join them…which would mean I’m basically working to pay for daycare, which sucks. Unfortunately, we don’t have much choice in that. For many reasons, both financially and personally, I cannot quit my job and stay home, so we don’t have much option. Olivia will be starting Kindergarten shortly after I return to work…then, next fall, Amelia will start Kindergarten and the baby will move up to the toddler room, with a lower rate. We will still be paying for before and after care (which is still spendy, but…they give them breakfast, bus them to and from school, give them an afternoon snack, and help them with homework after school, so it’s understandable), but once we get to that point, things will be MUCH better. So, we really need to just push through the first year. Turns out, my mother in law has offered to watch the baby one day a week when I return to work. We had some issues with that before…her canceling last minute mainly, so I’m not SUPER into the idea, but with my mom and I still off on Friday’s and able to have the baby home, it would save us about $80 a week doing 3-days vs. full time. And, that adds up. There will be more conversation about it over the coming weeks, but, I’m guessing we’ll be going with that option. Knowing we’ll be buying a new car, and have no solid idea what the car payment and insurance rates will be, and knowing I have to take part of my leave unpaid, and not sure how much I’ll actually be getting from short-term disability, I don’t know that we can turn it down. Once the baby moves to the toddler room, s/he will start going full time though…at that point, the rate is lower, and they actually start learning and retaining more, so I’d like “him” to be in that environment more. Ahh, decisions, decisions.

Wednesday was a rough day. I suddenly came down with a HORRIBLE cold myself. Olivia had me up all night long, coughing like crazy. We decided to keep her out of school, and I left her home with Christian. He ended up talking his parents into watching her, so she spent the day with them…of course, she did not hate that one bit. Amelia was off to school, and I spent the day miserable at work. By the time I left, my head just felt like it was going to explode under so much pressure, it was pounding and I just felt so crappy. Christian and Olivia had dinner at his parents, so I whipped up something simple for Amelia and myself. They arrived home just as we were finishing. Olivia had a much better day, not as much coughing and seemed in better spirits. Maybe she really just needed some rest. I was off to bed as soon as I put Amelia down, on my nice cold bed, with an ice pack on my throbbing head. Olivia came in a bit later to sleep. I was worried I was in for another long night, but she fell asleep quickly, and slept well all night. Hopefully she’s finally on the mend! Now, I just need to kick whatever I have going on!!! I have two friends, including my BFF, that are currently overdue with their babies, and another due in a couple weeks, and I’m going to be super depressed if I miss out on newborn cuddles because I’m sick!!

Thursday was a busy day at work. My Friday, so always a lot of last minute stuff to catch up on. In addition, our side of the office is getting new carpet tonight, so I had to have my cubicle packed up and cleared out for the installation. Schools were canceled again throughout the state because of the bitter cold…we’re supposed to snap out of it tomorrow, but get snow all weekend, then plunge right back down – it sounds like Monday will be another school closure at this rate. This is SO crazy, it’s just stupid cold, ridiculous cold – cold that shouldn’t even be possible! Ugh! We had a pretty low-key night at home…I picked up the girls, Christian brought home dinner, we watched some American Idol together – Olivia is SOOOOO into it this year, after each audition, she even makes a prediction if they’ll get “card” or not. She’s so funny, it’s so amazing watching them grow and really get stuff like that. Christian and I are both off tomorrow, but it will still be an early day, so it was a pretty early night for everybody.

Friday was my day off. Christian also took the day off, so it was pretty strange being home all day together. We were still up bright and early though…Christian took Amelia to school, while I took Olivia in for her 5-year check-up. Her appointment went well. She weighs in at 37lbs, which is 29%, and up 2lbs from last year. The doctor did mention it, but said she is thin in a healthy way, so we don’t need to worry about it, or change anything in her diet. I will admit, I was a little worried by how thin she is, and the fact that she doesn’t gain much, so that was reassuring. She is 43” tall, which is 60% and she grew 2.5” over the last year. So, she’s still on the taller side. She wasn’t her usual super shy self, and did well with her eye and hearing exams, passing both perfectly. She checked out on all of her developmental skills, so the doctor didn’t have any concerns. While he did her physical exam, he did notice she still has some of her cold left…he said she does have fluid in her ears – they’re not infected, but could become infected if the water doesn’t drain soon. So, he just told us to do some kind of allergy relief for now, to get her over this cold. If she spikes a fever or complains of ear pain in the next week, he’ll prescribe an antibiotic over the phone, otherwise he wants us back in 3-4 weeks to make sure it’s cleared up on its own. Otherwise, everything looked good. He has her “diagnosed” as milk intolerant, rather than lactose intolerant. So, we’re going to try to keep her on regular dairy…yogurt, cheese sticks, etc., and just keep her on the almond milk, and see how it goes. They do have her on soy milk at school now, and she sees to be doing well, so we’ll see how it goes. She did get two big shots today…MMR and TDap. She was a little shocked by them, but she got over it quickly and did well. After her appointment, we stopped for a little donut date before I dropped her off at school. Finally, I stopped at Target quick to get some cold medicine, and a humidifier for our room. I’m feeling worse than ever, and can’t take much more of this misery. I spent the rest of the day in bed, catching up on some shows. Christian attempted to set up our new internet service, but something wasn’t working, so they’re coming out on Monday to look at it. What a pain!! Meanwhile, my BFF FINALLY went into labor, and her baby girl arrived tonight. I was so, so, SO bummed that I couldn’t be there, and I have to wait to meet her, thanks to this horrible cold, but I’m so excited for her. I’d say they definitely had her dating wrong though…she would’ve been 2 weeks late based on their information, yet baby wasn’t even 7lbs. They were going to induce her on Monday, and I’m SO glad she didn’t make it to that appointment and go through that! We spent the evening relaxing with the girls, watching some TV and playing. We were going to attempt a movie night, but were both exhausted and decided bed sounded much better. There’s always tomorrow!

He always looks so cold and sad. Poor Chuy, I think he hates this life.

Saturday was a pretty long day. I was still feeling pretty bad, so I was pretty useless most of the day. The girls did start their new session of swim classes, and Christian didn’t work today, so he was able to come with us. They were pretty excited to be back in the water, but I was pretty annoyed with the classes. Amelia’s class is WAY too big, there is no individual attention at all. And, in both classes there’s at least one kid freaking out, which drives me NUTS. Especially for Olivia’s class…I mean, to be in Level 2, you had to have passed Level 1, so swimming should not be new or scary to you. I despise anything that takes needed attention away from my little ones, so I was pretty close to losing it. I was all amped up to send an angry e-mail to the community program, but decided to give it one more week. Next week BETTER be different though. After class, we had some lunch, the girls took a nap, and we rested for a while. We had a pretty low key night…Christian made some taquitos and we watched some movies. He was off to watch a late night soccer game at a friends’, while the girls and I were off to bed. I finally got Olivia to sleep in her own bed, because I didn’t want her catching whatever I had going on. On top of the cough, sore throat, stuffy nose and headache – tonight, my eyes started acting up. I kept getting this constant discharge, and film over my eye. Overnight, they did keep crusting shut while I was sleeping – so, pink eye like symptoms, but I really don’t think it is. What next?!?

Sunday was even worse for me. Same symptoms (except my eyes were fine), but my headache was honestly one of the worst I’ve had in a LONG time. Every time I moved, it felt like I was being stabbed. No amount of Tylenol would touch it. I managed to get a few loads of laundry done, and most of it put away. I started trying to tackle the basement disaster, but it was not working…I couldn’t do it. So, again, I spent the majority of the day in bed, quarantining myself. Christian was pretty good about taking care of the girls most of the day, and all that. I know he’s not feeling 100% either (but nowhere near what I have going on), but he’s been stepping up big time this week, thankfully! The girls played pretty well together throughout the day, but they were getting pretty stir crazy…it’s been so cold, they haven’t been able to go outside at school much this winter, and then we’re stuck inside on the weekends. We got some more snow overnight, and another deep freeze hits tomorrow. Apparently this January is already officially the coldest we’ve had in over 100 years – and I believe it! Schools are already canceled for tomorrow, and most likely Tuesday, again. Seriously, completely unheard of around here, especially in the city. So crazy.

Amelia - 3.5!

Each of the girls at 3.5 - I can't believe how much taller Olivia is...and, now they look NOTHING alike!

Amelia - 1 to 3.5

In other news, I hit 25 weeks today! I did not take a picture this week, far too miserable. But, in that area I’m feeling pretty good. The baby is super active now…lots of hardy kicks and punches, some spinning around. I’m still not really uncomfortable or anything like that, so, feeling pretty good pregnancy wise. I don’t have another appointment for a couple weeks yet, so nothing really to update on that front. I’m still feeling pretty strongly that this one is a boy, so we’ll have to see if that prediction comes true. I did recently have a dream that I was at the doctor for a check-up and I was looking over my chart and it said I was having a boy…maybe a sign???

Until Next Week XOXO