2014 - Week 38

Monday started off rough. In a unique spin of the day I forgot my pump at home…today, I forgot Eliza’s milk at home! On Monday’s, Christian drops Eliza off at his parents’ house, because they live right down the street from his work. But, I still get her bag packed up and everything. Well, I was literally stepping out of my van, in my work parking lot, when he calls me to let me know I forgot to pack her milk (notice that it’s MY fault, because God forbid he actually pack anything, or at least double check that everything is there, because, you know, I don’t have enough to do or remember on a daily basis). I cried. I literally, cried. In the parking lot. As I pulled out of the parking lot. As I drove down the road and got back on the highway. Cursing my horrible memory, cursing the lack of help I get with the morning chaos. I was so frustrated, everything just boiled over. But, the show must go on. I finally got home, picked up the milk, made my way to my in-laws…via some unique backroad driving because as if traffic isn’t bad enough, it was raining this morning so traffic was horrific…dropped off the milk, and made my way to work. 90 minutes late, I was finally settled in, and the day went better from there. After work, I picked the girls up from daycare, and we were off to Amelia’s soccer practice. Now that our team is officially down to 4 kids, I asked my friend Misty if our kids can just practice with their kids from now on. She talked to her head coach, and I talked to our coach, and both were fine with it. I mean, really, the more kids the merrier at this age. Amelia did really well tonight, which was a relief. Maybe she’s finally coming around! We got her soccer pictures back tonight too…her individual picture was pretty much what you would expect from her, but she did awesome for her “team” picture. While we were at soccer, Christian picked Eliza up and met us at home. We had dinner, hung out for a bit, and the girls were off to bed. The new obsession in our house, since it’s been a little cooler, is the girls wearing dresses and leggings. I don’t know what I was thinking when I let them do it one day last week, but now Amelia flips out in the morning if I don’t let her wear that. Which is fine, but she doesn’t have that many to choose from. Girls, I’ve created girls!

They look so big!!

Tuesday started off a pretty typical day. Work was work, the girls were off to daycare/school. Olivia has officially mastered her lunch pin, which is pretty exciting. She’d going pretty well with her fundraiser, which wraps up at the end of the week. She’s really catching onto the ins and outs of kindergarten and how her classroom works every day; I just love talking to her about it. It sounds like she has made her first real, official friend in class, Ri’Kia, which is fun. I asked her about the little girl, and she says that she’s really nice and fun to play with, LOL. What more could you ask for? So proud, she’s growing up and catching on! I picked all of them up after work, and we were off to Olivia’s soccer practice. Tonight we got her pictures back, and, of course, they were perfect, she’s such a little pro. Tonight the mosquitoes were CRAZY, it was so miserable, and trying to keep them away from Amelia and Eliza was nearly impossible. I can’t remember the last time they were that bad, so miserable. Christian ended up going straight home from work to cut the grass quick before we got home. Since he was busy, I ended up stopping at Taco Bell to grab some dinner for the girls and myself. And then, had the most embarrassing experience of my life. I ordered, pulled up to the window, handed over my debit card. Nothing out of the ordinary. Until the guy working the window handed it back to me and asked if I had another form of payment, as my card had been declined. I was absolutely stunned, I didn’t know what to think. Declined? It’s my check card, and there is most definitely money in my checking account – and more than that, plenty in our savings account, which it would pull from in the event I was overdrawn, so it didn’t make any sense. I asked them to try once more, and they did, and it again was Declined. Three times total. The manager said it’s not the card or the machine, because if it actually says “declined”, it means the request is going to the bank and being denied. I wanted to die. I was so mortified…I mean, it’s Taco Bell, who can’t afford Taco Bell?! I didn’t have our emergency Visa with me, and I had $6.00 in my pocket. I wanted to cry, and die. So, I had them start removing items from my order, so I could still get the girls their food. The poor kid at the window must have felt pretty bad for me, because he even gave me a senior discount to bring the total down a little bit. I paid, and sped off, absolutely embarrassed, and raced home. I told Christian about it, almost in tears. I posted about it on my facebook page, of course, and I couldn’t believe the number of people who have had the same experience over the years. It’s ridiculous. I understand it’s all technology based, and things happen, but come on. What if we had been in a real restaurant…had eaten our meals, and then “couldn’t” pay for it because of a mistake like this? What if I had just spent an hour with 3 unruly kids walking the aisles of the grocery store, just to get all checked out, and have it declined? I would LOSE IT, absolutely LOSE IT! At this point, I just couldn’t wait to give the bank a piece of my mind the next day! In the meantime, we ate, and the girls were off to bed. This day, was over, and I was over it.

Wednesday was thankfully my work from home day. So, I got the girls ready, dropped them off at daycare, and headed home to get to work. I worked the day away while I had my shows on in the background. Ahhh, peace and quiet. I did take some time to call the bank in the afternoon, and find out what’s going on with my debit card. And, of course, I had cooled down. My card expires next month, 10/14. Apparently, something happened with every 10/14 expiration date card when the new cards were created and sent out, that caused all of them to become deactivated. They had no idea how long it would take to resolve, and hadn’t quite pinpointed the exact issue, so while I at least knew what the issue was, even though I had no idea when things would be back to normal. In the meantime, it’s either cash, or another alternative form of payment. UGH! In addition to this frustration, Eliza has been having a really hard time nursing lately, and it’s starting to really drive me crazy. I don’t know if it’s teething, if she’s just too easily distracted now, if she’s just getting too used to bottles now that she’s been on them for a while, or a combination of things, but I don’t know what to do. I try and try, but she’ll pull off, get frantic and then freak out. And, being so frantic and getting latched and unlatched constantly is really causing me some pain. Please let this be a phase, PLEASE! One bright spot in the day…I won tickets to Sever’s Corn Maze, again! WOOT! I think the only time we’ve ever had to pay to go to Sever’s is the very first year we went, 5 years ago. This year, I didn’t even have to do anything, Minnesota Corn, who sponsors the festival, has just been giving away tickets to random page likers on facebook, and I was one of today’s picks. So awesome, especially since we’d have to pay for both of the older girls now! Hopefully I can keep our streak alive next year!

Got their soccer pics back this week. LOL

Thursday was my Friday, thank God! I have to admit, I’m still having a really hard time adjusting to being back at work. I hate getting up and going, I hate being there, and I miss Eliza SOOOOO much when I’m away. I just can’t even explain it. It’s not that I didn’t miss Olivia or Amelia when I was working, it’s just different. I think it’s a combination of emotions. Knowing that she’s our last baby; being older this time around and have a little more patience; having Olivia starting kindergarten this year, and Amelia getting so big too, making it so painfully obvious how fast they grow up. I just want to be home with her. I keep waiting for these feelings to start to subside, waiting to adjust and “get over it”, and it’s just not happening. When I pick her up I’m so overwhelmed with emotions, I just want to cry I’m so happy to see her and hug her and cover her in kisses. I’m OK at drop off, and when I’m finally settled in at work, I do pretty well focusing and keeping my mind off of missing her, but I just get flooded when I see her in the afternoon. My baby, I just don’t want to be away from her! But, she did have another great week in daycare. They are so great with her. She loves watching all of her little friends play, and they are working hard on sitting up and tummy time with her. She’s still rolling tummy to back pretty well, but no vice versa quiet yet. The evening was pretty quiet around the house. We had dinner, the girls got their baths, we had a little family time and it was time for bed. The usual.

Girl time, watching a video, before school :)

Sister love!

Ugh, I could just squeeze her up!

My throwback this week, a picture of my BFF and I, about 15/16 years ago. Crazy.

Friday was my day home with Eliza, YAY! I was up and off to drop the girls off at daycare early, before Christian left for work. But my plan didn’t’ work quiet as well as in the past, and Eliza was up shortly after Christian left. But, after a feeding, a change and a little playtime, she was back to sleep. She actually slept quite a bit of the day. She doesn’t seem to nap too well at daycare…I mean, she still seems happy and content and doesn’t get too crabby or anything, so it’s not a huge deal, but I feel like on my Fridays’ home, she is more relaxed and seems to catch up on some sleep. So, I catch up on cuddles, and I certainly don’t hate that!! Overall, it was a pretty lazy day around the house. I did make a run to Target for a few groceries, and to pick up a birthday present for a party tomorrow, otherwise, it was a low key day. I picked the girls up from daycare, and Christian actually arrived home around the same time as us. We had dinner and a little family time, but it was an early to bed night for everybody. We’re all pretty exhausted, and Saturday morning soccer comes WAY too fast!

Best Friends, she just loves him

She catches up on sleep on our Friday, and I catch up on cuddles

Saturday morning we were up bright and early, and off to soccer. This week, Eliza and  I took Amelia to her game, while Christian and my mom went to watch Olivia. Amelia did SOOOOO well today, I couldn’t believe it. Only 3 of our kids were there, as one was on vacation, but it worked out OK because the other team only had 4 kids, and one had to leave early. Maybe because there weren’t so many kids, Amelia was a little more relaxed, I have no idea, but she was all over that ball today. She was scoring goals left and right, dribbling the ball so well, running and having a great time, I just couldn’t believe it. I’ve never seen her play like that at all. I was so proud! Meanwhile, Olivia’s game went well. Christian said she came sooooooooooooo close to scoring a goal again, but just missed. Poor thing, she just wants to score so badly. For being such a tough little girl, she’s just not too aggressive. After the games, we met up at home, showered, packed up, and we were on our way. Today we were celebrating our nieces birthday (from Labor Day). My sister in law had the party at the Mexican Restaurant that she works at. The food was really good, the girls had a blast, and it was fun getting together, but it was kind of miserable…it was so hot in the restaurant; we were all sweating to beat the band, just sitting there. And, they had Karaoke going (Spanish Karaoke, of course), and it was so loud, and so terrible. My ears were just ringing the entire time we were there, and for a while after we left!  But, the birthday girl had a blast, and that’s what really matters. After the party, my in-laws took the big girls for the night, so we had a bit of freedom on our hands. While Christian did some work in the garage, I spent some time with Eliza, eventually getting her to bed, and then pulled out all of the Halloween decorations and getting everything set up. It’s early, but I had to take advantage of the “empty” house while I could. I couldn’t wait for the girls to get home and see everything! Once we were done with our task, we settled in to watch “24”, after a long break, and we only have 1 episode to go. We’re too old, and too tired, we passed out!

Sporting her new hat, seriously, she's adorbs!

She scored LOTS of goals today, YES!

Sometimes best friends love, and play, a little to hard.

We rocked some curls today, big time!

Sunday was a pretty standard day. I had my normal chores to take care of…laundry, dishes, picking up around the house. And, I finally started on Eliza’s baby book! It’s hard to believe it’s already been over 4 months since she was born. So crazy looking back already. Christian had started draining the pool last weekend, and that was done after a couple days. So, today, his friend Mariano came over to help him clean it out good and hang it up to drive. My in-laws brought the girls home around 2:00 and they played outside with Bella for most of the day. We all had some pizza for dinner before they headed home, and the girls came in to relax for a bit before bed. They were SO excited to see all of the decorations, they just ran all over the house, checking everything out. It was really cute. Of course, know they’re ready to head out trick or treating. It’s hard to explain the concept of holiday decorating to them. They don’t understand why you would put up all of the Halloween decorations, if it’s not Halloween. I try to explain it’s like Christmas/decorations, but it doesn’t click yet. LOL. Eliza had a pretty good day – well, I should say, she slept quite a bit throughout the day, which was nice, but when she was awake, boy was she crabby!!! She seemed really uncomfortable or something, but I’m not sure what was going on. I was getting pretty stressed out by it though. I’ve been fairly patient this time around with those rough days, but today was definitely the exception to that.

Finally started on Eliza's baby book!

Until Next Week! XOXO