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 2nd, 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!
Until next week!
