2014 - Week 40

Monday was a pretty typical Monday. It came too fast, and way too early. But, we were all up and at it, off to work, school and “daycare”. After our little heatwave the last few days, it was FREEZING today, and we’re in for a major cool down (though, I still have my fingers crossed for an Indian summer still!). After work, I picked the big girls up and we were off to Amelia’s soccer practice…with a few extra layers for each of us. Luckily the kids playing didn’t seem to mind, but the rest of us were pretty grateful that the coaches ended practice a tad early! Christian picked Eliza up from his parents’ and met us at home. We warmed up, had some dinner and relaxed for a while before bed. Man am I glad we got our Sever’s trip in before this cold spell hit, and got the pool finished!

My annual collage of our Sever's Trips

Olivia, showing how shockingly cold it was suddenly!

Tuesday was another standard day. But, I’ve been noticing my pump seems to be making some pretty sad noises lately, and sounds like it’s start to lose power. When I had Olivia, I didn’t know better and I bought a single electric pump. It worked, but took FOREVER to pump, especially once back to work. I was having such supply issues as it was, I was really frustrated. I invested in a Medela PISA, but only used it for a short period of time before I stopped pumping. I then used it my entire +year of pumping/nursing for Amelia, with no issues. I debated buying a new one when I had Eliza…insurance now covers a portion of it, 80% for an electric pump, but I just didn’t want to spend the extra money. Now, almost 5 months in, I’m wishing I had just bitten the bullet and bough one. Well, I posted about my dilemma on facebook and I was shocked…my friend Melissa texted me and offered up her old pump to me…she’d had it for a while, but didn’t use it much, so it was practically brand new. So awesome! But, but the time I got home this evening, my friend Sara, who lives across the street, popped over with her barely used pump from having her baby this past July. I was so surprised, and so grateful! So, I just have to replace the motor in my bag, with the one she gave me, and I’ll be good to go. Seriously, SO GRATEFUL! Outside of that excitement, the girls and I were off to another COLD practice tonight. This time I had Eliza with me though, and she was not a happy camper. I tried so hard to keep her in her stroller, where it was much warmer, but she wasn’t having it. We were all very happy to get home and out of the cold, that’s for sure. Christian had started dinner while we were gone, so we ate, gave the girls their baths and it wasn’t long before everybody was off to bed. I am so not ready for this cold. AT ALL!

Not only were we twins, as usual, but we matched today!

On Wednesday, after a looooooong stretch of getting little to no sleep, I finally woke up feeling refreshed because Eliza actually slept pretty well. Thank the Lord!! We were all off for the day (well, I was working from home, but I dropped the girls off as usual), and the day is always much happier and brighter when you actually get some sleep, let me tell you! The rest of the day was pretty standard. Amelia did tell me about a new girl at school. I asked her if she was going to be this new girls friend and she told me “yeah mom, she’s my new best friend”. Ha, how wonderful it must be to make new friends, let along new BEST friends at the drop of the hat! Wouldn’t it be nice if it were still like that when you were adults?! I do admit though, it makes me pretty proud to know that welcomes new kids to school so openly. We try hard to work with the girls on being kind to everybody, not leaving anybody out and being friends with everybody, and it’s refreshing to see it paying off. My girls, I just love them!

Thursday was pretty standard, but a great day. Eliza, again, slept GREAT last night, all night long in fact, and it felt amazing. Seriously, please let this continue, the rest is so needed! We were all off to work and school (my Friday, woot!) and the day progressed as usual. I arrived to work to find that my friend from work, Kelly, had left me a bag of leftover nursing pads and milk storage bags from her last baby, which I was pretty excited about. THEN, when I arrived home with the girls after work, I checked the mail, and I had a wonderful “just because” card from my friend Dawn, from Indiana. She is seriously AMAZING at picking out cards, always finds the perfect ones…it’s an art, I swear. It felt nice to get a special little “hello” from her, from so far away. I would seriously give just about anything for her to move here, that’s all I know. We spent the rest of the evening having a quiet Thursday night…dinner, a little family time together. Life is so much more relaxed when it’s “Friday”!

My Throwback this week, in honor of Halloween month, little chicken Olivia on her first Halloween. LOVE!!

Friday brought us a sun-shiny morning after another great night of sleep. Seriously, hallelujah! It was also my day off, so after I dropped the big girls off at daycare, it was just Eliza and I, hanging out at home. Little beats it, and it never gets old. Christian was off to work, and I was nervous because it was picture day for Olivia at school. First real, official, picture day! Of course, she’s my little photo pro, so I’m sure she’ll do great, but we practiced a little and I gave her a little speech on making sure she stays clean and put together until her photos. Fingers crossed! Eliza actually slept in a bit today, and took a super nice long nap, so our day was pretty quiet and low key. We did make a quick run to Target. Mainly, we have a birthday party tomorrow, so we were purchasing a gift to bring. I’m also way too obsessed with buying the girls clothes. This I’d say is the definite “pitfall” in having all girls – and, you’d think with 3 of them I would just learn to stay away from the clothing section, but I can’t. I found a couple of clearance items for Eliza (who actually NEEDS clothes), and a super cute sweater for Amelia (who definitely does NOT need clothes) – I couldn’t help it though. After Target, I spent a little more time relaxing and catching up on some shows before heading off to pick the big girls up. I had to pick them up a little earlier than I usually do on my Friday off because they, and I, had appointments to get flu shots this afternoon. My friend Sara threw her back out earlier this week, so I also picked up their little BFF Bella…she got to come along and be a spectator for the event. The girls each got the mist again this year and did really well with it. I got the shot (I cannot stand the thought of shooting something up my nose)…while it typically hurts for a while, it actually didn’t hurt at all this year. YAY! We made our way home and the girls played for a while before Sara stopped over to pick Bella up. Christian ended up going out on a delivery run for work tonight, so he didn’t get home really late, so we girls had dinner and hung out for a bit before bed. I spent a little more time with Hulu before passing out myself. It was a busy day, but boy do I love my Friday’s off!

Olivia, ready for picture day!

My Sweet baby, I just love her to pieces!

Saturday was a HECTIC day, for sure. Christian was up bright and early and off to work for the day. He hasn’t been getting much overtime for a while now, so I’m excited for him to get a little more work in. Hopefully it continues. The girls and I had some breakfast and were off to soccer. Holy Moly, it was SO COLD! The girls had a few layers on and survived, but poor Eliza was miserable in her snowsuit, and I was freezing my butt off! We ran right home after soccer to change, get ready, and head out for our next activity…a birthday party for my friend Kelly’s daughter, Annabelle. The party was at a bowling alley, where they got to bowl one game, and each got a $5.00 credit to the arcade. So, they bowled, then did the lunch, cake, present opening chaos, and then we finished up in the arcade. After  buying a couple of trinkets  with their arcade tickets, we were finally off on our final adventure…we met my best friend Kari and her kids at Edinborough Park for some playtime. She had some free passes, so the big girls and her older son ran around, climbed, biked and went crazy for a while, while she, I and our babes caught up. We don’t see each other nearly enough, so it was great being able to hang out and catch up. Needless to say, after all of the activity, we were all pretty exhausted. The girls all passed out on the way home and napped a little bit. Christian had arrived home from work while we were still out, and did some work cutting the grass and cleaning up the yard. We had some dinner, hung out for a while and had a quiet evening after all of the chaos. Once the girls were in bed, we watched “The Other Woman”, which was actually much better than I was anticipating. We started watching “Captain America” as well, but I of course ended up passing out. Those movies aren’t really my thing, so I wasn’t too sad about it.

Christian didn't get home until I was in bed last night, and was gone before I woke up this morning, so he left me a little love note. Sometimes he manages to surprise me!

Ready to Bowl!

BFF's from Birth!

She was so tired, she pulled her hood down over her eyes and passed out, LOL

Sunday was chore day, very exciting. After breakfast, I spent much of the day doing laundry and a ton of dishes while Christian cleaned the entry, including the windows and curtains, which needed a long overdue washing. We also picked up the main level…living room, kitchen, bedrooms…and it always makes me feel so accomplished when, for a brief moment in time, I feel like things are in order (I do have to pretend that the basement doesn’t exist to get that feeling though). The girls and I were off to swim class while Christian stayed back with a sleepy Eliza. He made dinner while we were out, so that’s a bonus. Olivia and I filled out her “Star of the Week” posters for this upcoming week at school while he finished up dinner. After eating, and getting the girls to bed, Christian was off to have a couple drinks with his friends and I got the house to myself for a little while after a chaotic, busy weekend. Not a bad way to end it, that’s for sure!

Morning Twin Cuddles!

Working on her Posters

Until Next Week! XOXO