Here we are, week 5
of 2015…already! This week brought us a new month….already! Wow.
Monday marked
Amelia’s ½ birthday, and boy was she excited to be 4½! I can’t believe in 6
short months she’s going to be 5 years old…and just after that, she’s heading
off to kindergarten. Tears! As I was putting together her little collage of
aging photos, I came to the realization that I never took a 4 year photo of her!
Seriously guys, I don’t know how that’s even possible. And, I’m pretty
ridiculously upset about it. I don’t even know what the heck happened. I know
her birthday party was on her actual birthday, so that’s probably part of it.
Then I returned to work from maternity leave, and then I think our friends from
Indiana came into town the next weekend, so I guess it just got lost in the
shuffle. I feel like such a failure though! Anyway, back into real time, we
were all back at it for another week. Daycare, school, work…I used my new hair
gadget today and I LOVE IT! It’s so quick and easy, and the waves actually suck
all day long. I’m beyond excited about this, I have to tell you. So, the day
wasn’t a complete loss. After work I picked up the big girls, we made some
dinner, and ate when Christian and Eliza arrived home. Just another standard
Monday evening.
My Big 4.5 Year Old!
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Showing off my new wavy hair, LOVE!
Tuesday was a
pretty quiet day. I was approached at work about sitting on an interview panel,
and I REALLY don’t want to do it. One of the offices I work very closely with
has this position that they keep trying to fill, and just can’t seem to hire
somebody that will work out. It’s actually a position I’ve contemplated
applying for myself over the years, and would lead to more advancement
opportunities I have currently, but the office isn’t the easiest in the world
to work with. There are a lot of very strong personalities in the office, and I
don’t think that I could handle the stress of it. It’s really too bad though,
because I think it’s a good fit – it would really utilize my contracting
knowledge, but also my organization skills way more than they are used now.
But, alas, I’m not prepared for that stress. I had a really tough time agreeing
to do it though. I just do not have the interest, at all. My supervisor talked
to me about it, and stressed that it is a good learning experience to get under
my belt…another experience that can help with any potential advancement in the
future. But, I just don’t feel like I’m in a place where I can focus on my
career. I feel like I barely hold it together right now, where I’m at, I can’t
think about advancement and learning new skills right now. At the same time, I
can’t risk letting somebody else pass me up by sitting on the sidelines. Ugh –
just another stress of being a working mother. The attempt to balance career,
while focusing on parenting just never gets easier. In the end, I agreed to sit
on the panel. I know it won’t be fun, but I’m sure it won’t be as painful as I
envision. Today another harsh reality slapped me in the face again…as I was
online signing Olivia up for her winter conferences, I saw a note that Amelia’s
kindergarten registration is the same night. Denial…denial, denial, denial.
Olivia, keeping baby company
Haha, she's like - what was that?!
Wednesday was my
work from home day. And, it was a SUPER productive day. While I admittedly have
my shows on in the background when I’m working from home, I can’t even tell you
how much work I get done from the quietness of my home. I just love it. I think
it’s become the only way I remotely keep up on my work these days. While that
part was great, I back was just killing me all day long. Not my normal lower
back pain, but up around my shoulders, just killing me. But, I picked up my
girlies, we stopped at Walmart for a few groceries, and made our way to make
dinner and settle in for the night.
Now, I haven’t
really been writing about it, but Eliza hasn’t been a great sleeper this week.
She’s been going to sleep pretty well, pretty quickly after I feed her, just
refusing to stay asleep. But, on Thursday, I woke up from a FULL NIGHT OF
SLEEP!!!!! Hallelujah, it’s just beyond amazing when that happens. My back was
feeling a tad better, but not quite back to 100% yet. I had a busy day at work
and the day just flew by. When I picked the girls up from daycare, Olivia kept
yammering about filling out a coupon and getting prizes and I had no idea what
she was talking about. Until I spotted a little fundraiser sheet in her hands.
I was a little annoyed…we did a big fundraiser for her back in the fall, and I
was under the impression that it was their schools only one. When we got home,
I noticed it’s not really a fundraiser, but their school is participating in
the Jump Rope for a Cure program for the American Heart Association. Being that
I was born with congenital heart disease, and she and I both have murmurs, I of
course jumped on the bandwagon and will be trying to hit up our family and
coworkers for donations. I swear, it’s always something! The rest of the
evening was pretty standard…dinner, baths, bed. Eliza has a horrible habit of leaking
through her diaper when she goes to the bathroom (you know, GOES to the
bathroom). I know they are the right size, they should fit her for quite some
time now, so we are trying different brands of diapers right now (we typically
use Target Brand, because we’re cheap). Tonight I opened up a box of pampers
and let me tell you; those damn diapers are like a sweet smell of heaven. I
absolutely LOVE the smell of pampers diapers, it’s just amazing. It was a great
end to the day.
Throwback photo 1 - 1 year ago, 26 weeks pregnant. Now I have this goofy baby. So blessed.
Eliza sporting one of Amelia's old outfits - only Amelia was quite a bit older than Eliza is, LOL
On Friday, my mom
was over to watch Eliza and I was off to work. She’s been fighting a pretty
crazy cold all winter long, and still wasn’t feeling too great, so I agreed to
work a ½ day and come home to let her go. Once home, I decided to pack up
Eliza, and took her on a trip to Toys R Us. I had the urge to surprise the big
girls with some new Shopkins (their, well, Olivia’s new obsession). We don’t
buy them a lot of “just because” things, so I wanted to do something fun. I
grabbed some lunch and we made our way home to relax, watch a little TV, and
Eliza napped. We picked the big girls up and met Christian at home, and they
were SO excited when they found their surprise. There’s nothing like seeing
your kids’ joy, even if it’s for something material. We had a quiet night,
pretty much early to bed for everybody.
My newest family photo, hanging up at work
Trying out some new toys we brought up from the basement.
Saturday was a much
busier day. Amelia woke up in the middle of the night and threw up, complaining
that her stomach hurt. Poor thing. Christian had to work, so I was up early
with the girls. Amelia spent all morning complaining that her stomach hurt, but
she seemed in pretty good spirits. I got the girls ready and we were off to
swim class. Amelia seemed much better, and did really well in class. Afterwards
she said she felt better and was running around, playing. But, by the time we
got home she wouldn’t eat lunch and said she wasn’t feeling well again. And,
she threw up again. At this point, I started to panic a little. We had plans to
go out for a few weeks, and I was torn between canceling or not. The girls were
going over to my in-laws while we went out, so I knew she’d be perfectly fine
in their care (and she knew she was going there, so she was really upset at the
thought of not going), but what kind of mom goes out and leaves her poor sick
baby behind?! Christian arrived home from work and talked me into keeping our
plans though. So, against my heart’s desire, we both got ready, packed up the
girls and all of their gear, and made our way over to my in-laws. The big girls
were spending the night, and we’d be picking Eliza up on our way home later,
but I was having a REALLY hard time leaving. It was the first time anybody has
watched all three of the girls, it was my first time going out since Eliza was
born. That is seriously so hard; you forget just how hard it is. We said our
goodbyes though, and hit the road. We were off to our friends’, John and
Michelle, and going out with a group for John’s 40th birthday (let’s
be clear, I myself am nowhere near 40 – I just need to put that out there into
the universe). She rented a limo to drive us and pick us up, and we were off
with her parents and brother, his sister and our mutual friends Nate and Gini
to eat at Fogo da Chao – a Brazilian steakhouse in Minneapolis. We’d heard of
the place before, but had never been there. OMG you guys, the food – SOOOOOO
much food, and so delicious. Now, this place is WAY out of our current price
range and I almost had a heart attack when we got our bill. But, it was really
good, really fun, and we really do all deserve to splurge once in a while. After
dinner, we walked to a bar down the street, had a few drinks, lots of laughs
and chatted the night away. While it was so hard to be away, it was really nice
to get out and catch up with friends. The limo picked us up around 10:00 and
Christian had a last drink with the group back at John and Michelle’s before we
packed it up for the night. We picked Eliza up, made our way home and literally
passed out. I was SO exhausted! I’m not used to this going out thing anymore,
that’s for sure.
I gave my mini-me a little makeover while I was getting ready
All ready for a night out
Sunday was a bit of
a rough day. Eliza paid me hack for going out by waking up a few times. Ouch.
Though, she did “slept in”, so I guess it kind of works itself out. I woke up
with a slight headache that just got worse and worse as the day went on, but I
finally broke down and took some medicine for it…and rested. I did a couple
loads of laundry, otherwise it was a pretty lazy day. Eliza took a SUPER long
nap, so Christian and I watched “The Interview” and “Jack Ryan” on Netflix to
pass the time. Christian showered and left to pick the big girls up from his
parents’, while Eliza and I made a run to Walmart to pick up some superbowl
goodies. Next up, we were off to the neighbor’s house to watch the big game.
Amelia still wasn’t feel well, so she just laid on the couch most of the time
we were there. Olivia and her BFF Bella had a blast running around, acting
crazy together. We munched on treats, chatted, watched the game/commercials and
it was a pretty fun time. After the game, we made our way home and the girls
were off to bed right away. Hoping little Amelia feels batter soon!
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