2014 - Week 45

Well, Monday, and back to reality. The first full week of November, and it’s a busy one! Working to get the house back in order post-Halloween/weekend, a full week of work, Olivia’s first parent/teacher conferences and Eliza’s baptism. Busy family of bees, that’s for sure! But, some pretty exciting events. Olivia has been doing great in school, and now that they’ve gotten some basics out of the way and gotten into a routine, they have started bringing home a “book bag” every day – with a book from class or the library, and a sheet to track their reading on. The book she brought home she literally read the whole thing to us herself – I couldn’t believe it!!  It’s slightly embarrassing to admit outloud, but we don’t really read at home much. Neither Christian nor myself have ever been readers – it’s just not our thing. So, unfortunately, it’s not really something we’ve instilled in our kids. So, we were pretty relieved to see that she’s picking it up pretty well and seems to love reading. Hopefully that will stick for her.

Reading her book to us! Amazing!

Tuesday was voting day! I didn’t want to risk standing in line after work (or not knowing how early I should leave to get done and pick the girls up from daycare on time), so I voted before work. I was in and out in about 10 minutes, so not too bad at all. Then, I was off to work for another day. I did have to leave work a tad early anyway for a dentist appointment – which was a little overdue. Luckily, everything checked out fine and was looking good. At my appointment I realized that I had missed my non-smoking anniversary a couple weeks ago – 5 years smoke free, that’s so crazy! Some days I feel like it was just yesterday, a lot of days I still get that craving (particularly on a long drive home, or when I’m really, REALLY stressed out), and other days I find it hard to believe I ever smoked to begin with. But, celebrating that accomplishment will never get old! After my appointment, I picked the girls up and we made our way home. I received the last of Eliza’s 6-9 month wardrobe in the mail tonight – so dang cute!! It’s too bad they won’t last long before she outgrows them. Outside of dinner, baths and the usual, I started researching some birthday party locations for Olivia – it’s about 2 months away, but man does it creep up, especially with the holidays! I think we’re going to have it at an indoor park not far from our house, but if we do it there, we wouldn’t be able to invite our parents – so we’ll have to debate that a little bit.

Rocking some new jammies, and showing off the last of her new wardrobe!

Wednesday was work at home day – work at home day will never, ever get old. Today it was delayed a bit though, as the big girls had their dentist check-ups. Christian dropped Eliza off at daycare while I got started on some work. Eventually taking a break to get the girls fed, ready and out the door. We tried out a new dentist today, closer to home. She is the only pediatric dentist at our clinic though, and is only in on Wednesday’s, so I’m not a fan of the limited availability. BUT, I actually really liked her, so I think we’re going to stick with her. I’ll just have to remember to plan far in advance for their appointments. They both ended up getting great reports, so that was a relief. I dropped them off at school/daycare, and was back home to finish up working for the day. I picked the girls up a little earlier than usual, had some dinner, and we were off to meet Christian at school for Olivia’s first parent/teacher conferences (and also pick up the fundraiser stuff our friends and family had ordered). Her conferences went great…we met with the teachers, they showed us some of the stuff they’d been working on, discussed the areas of focus and how she’s been doing, we asked them more about the Youth Scholars program so we finally got a little more information about that. Overall, she got a really great report, so we were pretty proud! Eliza fought it for a while, but the big girls were pretty much right off to bed when we got home. I watched the CMA’s, cuddled on the couch with the babe until we both passed out. What a busy day!

Showing me what the fishes do in the waiting room...

Cuddling with my babe

Thursday was back to work, and mighty busy. Olivia didn’t have school today, so she was at daycare all day. She definitely doesn’t mind that though. After work, I picked the girls up and we made our way home. Eliza was in a pretty chipper mood, so I took her 6-month photo a day early to avoid any anger issues tomorrow. We gave the girls baths, had some dinner and had a pretty quiet night, thankfully. The girls helped me to through Olivia’s fundraiser stuff so we could get it ready to pass out to everybody – Christian had his box for work, I had my box and we had some extras for our parents and my sister in law they can get this weekend. Olivia earned a few prizes so they were pretty excited to play with them. Just cheap little stuff, but of course that seems to be what kids love most anyway. One more day, and then it’s finally the weekend!!

In honor of baby Eliza turning 6 months old tomorrow - here's the other babies at 6 months old!

That's a tired baby! I just love her!

On Friday, Eliza turned 6-months old. Already – ½ a year, I just cannot believe it!! She weighed in at 18lbs 2ozs and measured about 27.5”. She is wearing 6-9 month clothes and is officially in Size 3 diapers (which, PS, I think is as high as Amelia may have gotten – little peanut!). She can sit by herself, she can roll over (though, back to belly is still quite a challenge and rarely accomplished) and she’s starting to spin herself all over the place. She is loving her exersaucer and is playing with her toys more and more every day. She is such a happy little thing, we’re so blessed! She adores her big sisters, and is still quite amazed by the dog. He is a very interesting creature. She started eating a few foods over the last couple of weeks – quinoa, avocado, bananas and sweet potatoes so far, and boy does she love to eat! I don’t think she’s gotten any more hair than she did when she was born – I think it just spreads out as her head gest bigger, LOL. My baby! Outside of all that, she’s been waking up around 3:30 all week and it’s been EXHAUSTING! She did sleep all night last night though, hopefully the tide is turning. She had a good day home with my mom while we were off to work and the big girls were off to daycare. Christian worked late and the girls were all acting nuts all night, so it was overall a pretty hectic day. Early bedtime for all!

6 Month Pics!

6 Months of Decliciousness

On Saturday, Christian was off to work. I’ve come to accept the fact that we just will not have time to clean the basement in time for tomorrow’s baptism. And, I’ve come to the decision that I just don’t care. Yes, it’s a mess, because it basically belongs to the kids. So sue me! Christian’s parents stopped over when he got home from work – his dad needed help replacing a piece in his car, and his mom was dropping off the cake for the baptism. She had plans to go to dinner with a friend, but somehow the girls conned her into canceling her plans and taking them overnight. So, I packed up a bag for them, and they were on their way. I felt bad, but it was kind of a relief – it gave us time to finish cleaning up the main level, buy some groceries for tomorrow, and it will be nice not having to get those two ready in the morning. So, we spent the rest of the day picking up, cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms and getting everything back in its place. I ended up sending Christian to the store (now that’s a big risk right there) so I could finish up my tasks. Luckily, outside of buying all name brand stuff, he was pretty successful. All we have left to do is pick up the sandwiches and make the pasta salad in the morning and we’ll be good to go! Whew!

Olivia made a Thank You note to e-mail out to her fundraiser buyers.

Sunday was the big day, Eliza’s Baptism Day! We were up bright and early to put the final touches on the house, make the pasta salad, pick up the party subs and get ready. We met our parents, the big girls, my sister in law’s family and a couple friends at the church for the big day. The baptism is performed during the standard Sunday service, which was a nice and simple service. My sister in law agreed to be Eliza’s godmother, and Christian’s bestfriend Lorenzo is the godfather, and they both seemed over the moon excited about it. After the service, we all made our way back to our house for lunch, the gift opening and dessert, and everybody started heading out shortly after. Oh man, what a day! We were so exhausted, but everything turned out so great. After a little rest, the big girls and I were off to their swim class, while Christian stayed back with Eliza to relax and start dinner. After class, we ate, watched a little TV and everybody was off to bed. There is snow in the forecast, which means tomorrow is going to be crazy!

Baptism Pics

Until Next Week! XOXO