This week brought
us a bit of a warm up, another odd medical issue, my latest check-up, some
relaxation and a big appointment for little Amelia. Quite a mixed bag of a week
indeed!
Monday was back to
the usual grind. Back to work for Christian and I; back to school for the
girls. Work has been going well for, just the right amount of busy…I’m
certainly never bored, but it’s been quite a while since I felt like I was
drowning, so it’s perfect. I do have a hectic week ahead of me…the big
Minnesota Transportation Conference is going on this week, so much of our
office will be away volunteering at that, so it will be interesting. Christian
has been doing great at work. Taking more charge and getting more
responsibilities. I’m so proud of him, and I’m hoping he just keeps climbing
his way up. The girls have been doing well at school. Turns out Olivia LOVES
writing, so we really need to start working on that more and encouraging that
at home. Amelia is still her usual crazy self. Her teacher was having a hard
time getting her to nap, so I told her that from now on if she doesn’t nap, she’s
going right to bed when we get home. Apparently that has, at least temporarily,
helped the problem – and her teacher was very appreciative of my threat, LOL.
So, things are moving along pretty well. I did leave work a tad early to get
some grocery shopping done. With my recent illnesses and exhaustion, this has
been a much ignored task, and the house was looking pretty dreary on the food
front. It was a spendy trip, but feels good to have some food in the house
again! When I picked the girls up, I had to talk to Olivia’s teacher about a
spot on her face. Last week, she had this mosquito looking bump on her cheek; we
didn’t think much about it. Over the last few days, it’s grown into this large
red-ish spot. So, I asked her teacher if she had any idea what it might be.
Without hesitation, she said it looked like ringworm to her. WHAT?!? I’ve heard
of ringworm, but never actually seen it before, and certainly didn’t know much
about it. I started looking online, and I posted a picture on facebook to see
if any of my friends had dealt with it before. The general consensus, including
my online research, showed it is most definitely ringworm. As most know, I’m
not big on doctors or running off to urgent care for anything and everything,
so I continued my research once home. From what I read, they don’t take
antibiotics or anything for it, so there really wasn’t much purpose in going in…that
all you need is a good anti-fungal medication. So, I had Christian stop at
Walgreens, talk to the pharmacist and get some cream on his way home. So weird,
poor Olivia sure seems to get EVERYTHING. So far, nobody else in the house, or
at school, has anything going on, so hopefully we can contain it to this one
spot. Good Lord, what next?!
The ringworm. Ugh.
Tuesday started off
FANTASTIC, with the temperature actually above zero! Not much, but dang it’s a
start! The girls were off to school, Olivia with a good dose of cream on her
spot and a bandaid to keep it covered. She’s really good about leaving stuff
alone when you tell her too, so we weren’t too worried, but its better safe
than sorry. I was off to work, but did leave for an early, long lunch for my
latest check-up…30 weeks, crazy! The appointment started off as usual, with my
blood pressure registering high, my highest yet. So, I was already set to stay
late for a recheck at the end of my appointment. Everything else checked out
well though…I wasn’t condemned for my weight gain or anything, which is always
nice, no swelling or anything going on. Ann gave me the whole VBAC talk, so we
got that out of the way. Finally, she checked for baby’s heartbeat, and it was
again, a nice strong 147, baby is still measuring right on, and she still
thinks baby is head down, so YAY! Things are looking good! Once she was done, I
had to lay down and relax for my blood pressure recheck…which ended up coming
out normal. Thankfully. She did have to check with the OB to make sure they
didn’t want to take any kind of action now, and they were not concerned. They
just suggested we move forward with my 32 week ultrasound…to check size,
position and fluid levels. I’m SUPER excited to see baby again in a couple
weeks…gonna have to stay strong again and not take a peek at the goods!
Finally, I was on my way back to work. Today was day one of being “in charge”
with much of the office at the conference, and a few others out sick, so I wasn’t
sure what to expect. Luckily, it was fairly quiet, so I mostly got to work on
my own stuff and get pretty caught up. We’ll see how the next couple of days
go. After work, I picked up the girls, we made our way home for dinner, baths,
and relaxation. The usual.
Wednesday was Day 2
of me being “in charge”, with even less people around! Today did turn out to be
much more hectic, with quite a few issues coming up and some fires to put out.
I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of fun feeling like I’m in charge and getting
to make some decisions and help people out, but at the same time, I am SO not a
people-person, so the massive contact I’ve had with people this week is a little
overwhelming for me. It is definitely a skill I am going to have to work on
though if I actually do want to move up over time, so it was good practice. I
do enjoy problem-solving, so it’s kind of a give and take. I will say, the day
definitely flew by, and I was off to pick up the girls before I knew it. And,
of course, the evening was pretty standard. The week is already halfway over,
hard to believe!
The new infant car seat came today, Rico took care of the inspection.
I started Thursday off
with my little Amelia. Today she had her big early childhood screening
appointment. I was a little worried about how she would do…she seems so young
still. I’m not sure how it is anywhere else, but here they need to be screened
before they turn 4. I remembered Olivia’s screening did not go well at all…she
had only been at KinderCare for about 6 months at the time, so was still pretty
leery of strangers, and not great at participating. She ended up BARELY passing
her screening, getting exactly what she needed to get to pass, 16. Luckily,
Amelia did much better. She does have a much more outgoing personality in general,
so that definitely helps, but I know being in the “school” setting all this
time has really helped her skills and participation abilities. She ended up
getting 20 (needing at least 16 to pass), so there weren’t any issues there.
The teacher did notice some speech “concerns” that she wanted us to watch.
Mainly, her C’s and K’s sound like T’s, and her G’s sound like D’s. She said
they are the most common articulation issues, and are all skills to achieve by
4, so she has some time left, but just wanted to point it out. I guess since we
talk to her every day, we just know what she’s saying and don’t’ pay much
attention to the specifics, but we’ll have to start. At her next conferences at
KinderCare, I’m going to bring it up and ask her teacher what she thinks. The
nurse ended up calling in, so we had to reschedule her hearing and sight test
for next month, so we were off. As I was psyching her up this morning for her
appointment (thinking the more excited she was, the more she would cooperate),
I mentioned we were going to McDonald’s for breakfast afterwards…well, that brought
about a little kid-funny I have to share. As we were driving after her
appointment, I looked in the mirror and noticed she looked quite perplexed…like
she was really tired, or upset about something. I asked her if she was tired,
and she said “no, I’m just thinking”. Hmmmm….I thought we were in for quite a
conversation, like maybe something about the screening was on her mind, or
something was going on. So, I asked her what she was thinking about. She looked
at me in the mirror and says “well, I’m just thinking about McDonald’s”.
Seriously, I just about died. I can’t even explain the look she had on her
face, I honestly thought there was something wrong, something going one – but,
no, she’s just a girl after my own heart, food on her mind. Man, I love that
girl. So, we did make our way to McDonald’s, ate some breakfast, I dropped her
off at school, and made my way to work. It was my Friday at work, and my last
day being “in charge”. Similar to yesterday, there were a few issues that came
up today, that I spent most of the day dealing with, but I’ve also managed to
stay on top of my own work, which is good. Again, the day flew by, and I was off
before I knew it. It was a pretty standard night again….I picked the girls up,
we had some dinner, took baths and spent the evening relaxing.
Ready to hit the road with my mini-BFF
Breakfast with my beauty.
My first ThrowBackThursday picture, my BFF Kari and I, 15 years ago. So funny.
Friday was my day
off, and much deserved after this busy week! I did enjoy being in charge, but
not with EVERYBODY gone, LOL. I dropped the girls off at school and spent the
morning relaxing, catching up on my shows. I did check my work e-mail
mid-morning, and I had a pretty great note from my supervisor that made my day:
Thank you for all you did while
we were at the conference. I have heard nothing but great things including
phases like…..”she was amazing”…..”she took charge and solved many issues”…”she
was a great team player and problem solver”. This comes as no surprise to me,
however I do want to thank you again for keeping it all going while we were
out. It means a great deal!
Pretty cool! It’s
nice to really feel appreciated, and know that what you do matters…and is
noticed. I definitely makes going to work, and the sacrifices you make to do
so, much more worth it, that’s for sure. Go me! After a morning of laziness, I
got ready, picked up some Chipotle, and I was off to spend some time with my
BFF, Kari…and of course, to get some baby snuggles in! I spent a couple hours
hanging out with them, and her sister, catching up, chatting, laughing the afternoon
away, and getting LOTS of baby cuddles in. So sweet; I can’t believe little
Addie is already 6 weeks old, time goes so dang fast! Her sister made her way
home, and shortly after Kari had to head off to pick her son up from school, so
I made my home for a little more down time before picking the girls up.
Christian had to work extra late tonight, so the girls had dinner and we hung
out together. Lately, I haven’t been feeling too well in the evenings, I haven’t
been eating dinner very often. I get stomach aches, and start to feel sick to
my stomach…the baby is getting more and more active, and I remember going
through something similar with Amelia because she was SO active, so maybe it’s
related to that. Hopefully anyway; and hopefully it passes! Christian arrived
home just before the girls’ bedtime, so they didn’t get much time together.
Once they were in bed, we stayed up WAY too late finishing up “Breaking Bad”…Christian
did not care for the ending, but I actually thought it was pretty good. Seemed
like a fitting way to close the series, so I have no complaints. Now, we have
to find a new show to watch together! I’ve been watching “House of Cards” on
Netflix, but he doesn’t. And, I also took it upon myself to watch “Game of
Thrones” online, which starts up again next month, so he doesn’t watch it. We’ll
see what we come up with…
Sweet Baby Addie
Saturday was very
unusual…Christian didn’t work, which doesn’t happen often, so he was home with
us all day. We spent the morning watching some TV, playing, eating breakfast.
Then, we were all off to swim class. Christian couldn’t believe how well Olivia
can swim now…no, really, she CAN SWIM. It’s crazy. Not for a long distance of
course, but she’s doing really well, and she’s especially good at swimming on
her back. I’m so proud. He also got to witness Amelia’s antics, and the fact
that she is sure to drown herself one day. She does well when the instructor is
actually working with her one-on-one, but when she’s left on her own, she just
thinks she can do whatever she wants…she walks off the platform, she lets go of
the wall…thinking she can REALLY swim, but she can’t. It’s a little scary to
watch, even though I know the instructor and lifeguard are RIGHT there. I can’t
wait until she can actually swim, and I can feel a little more at ease. After
class, we made our way home for lunch and naps. I dozed in and out while
watching some TV, and Christian ran to the grocery store to get some stuff to
grill…it was only 26°, but man did it feel warm after what we’ve been through.
However, by grilling time, it was noticeably colder, and we decided to wait
until tomorrow to grill. Again, I wasn’t feel well, so Christian and the girls
ate, while I laid on the couch. Once the girls were in bed, Christian was off
to watch another boxing match and I was pretty much off to bed. Exhausted!
I always seem to have an animal in my face at home...
Amelia was my personal masseuse for the night...
Sunday was a pretty
typical Sunday in our house. Well, it was Daylight Savings today, and springing
forward is NEVER a good thing (except for being light later at night, that part
is pretty awesome). I spent the day doing laundry, got all of our dishes washed
and picked up the house. We’ve managed to keep it pretty clean this week, and
man it feel good to have a clean house! The girls did well playing with each
other most of the day…they played in the playroom, played in and cleaned up
their room, watched a couple movies, had some breakfast and lunch amidst the
fun. As the girls finished up their naps, Christian fired up the grill…chicken
for the girls, steak for us. YUM! It was very nice out today, 40°-ish, but it’s
still not great “play outside” weather yet…there is still way too much snow in
the yard, and with the melting, the streets and driveway are pretty gross, so
we just hung out inside. I can’t wait until we can get out for some bike rides,
some playtime at the park. It’s going to be so wonderful! It was a bit of a
rough night…the girls were wide awake and had the hardest time falling asleep.
Olivia has still been sleeping in our room, and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep
before her, LOL. Hopefully we all transition to the time change SOON!
Today also marks 31
weeks for me and baby – officially single digit “weeks to go”, which is pretty
exciting! As I mentioned earlier, baby has been SUPER active, more than ever. I’m
still carrying pretty “basketball” like, and low, but I feel most of the
activity under my chest, which leads me to believe baby really is head down.
Things seem to be moving along just fine, and quickly. Christian and I had our
first, initial, name talk this week. I have two girl names I like, and one boy
name I’m pretty “set” on. I mentioned them to Christian and seemed OK with the
boy name, and one of the girls’ names, but (of course) didn’t have any
suggestions of his own. We’ll have to have a real conversation about it
sometime down the road. We also got our new infant carseat this week, which was
pretty exciting. It sounds ridiculous, but I honestly feel like we’re just
about set…that was really the main thing we needed. The baby is sleeping with
us…either in the bassinet, in a co-sleeper we’re going to borrow from my cousin
(if it fits with our bed), or in our bed…for quite a while, so I’m not planning
on getting a crib any time soon. We’ll buy going home outfits for each sex, and
a boy blanket, so we’re ready to go home from the hospital either way, but don’t
plan on buying much else in the way of clothing and accessories until after
baby comes. So, really, I’d say we just need to get some diapers and stuff like
that. A couple of my friends are going to throw me an (informal) shower next
month, so I’m sure I’ll get that kind of stuff, and maybe some neutral jammies
and onesies there, otherwise not much needed. People think I’m crazy, but I can’t
really think of anything else I need to do. Maybe I’m just delusional, LOL.
Until Next Week XOXO
Until Next Week XOXO
