2015 - Week 29

Monday kicked off another week. And, actually, quite a quiet week at that. We were off to work and daycare as usual. And, I was on the search for a vet. With the garage door behind us, we were onto the plan of getting Chuy neutered. Finally. Our hope is that getting him neutered will get him to calm down, and stop running away. And, I didn’t realize that prostate cancer (or whatever the equivalent in dogs is) was actually quite common in male dogs. I posted on Facebook for some recommendations, and made an appointment with the cheapest, recommended vet that I found. Later in the evening, another friend recommended a vet about 30 minutes south of us, much cheaper…and we were able to get in with them in a few weeks, so I moved his appointment. It amazes me how much some vets charge for a 7lb dog to be neutered, just seriously ridiculous. And, I think it’s crazy the huge range of prices that I was quoted…the vet he’s going to is $150…I got quotes up over $400! INSANE! So, that was one big task of the day. After work, I picked up the big girls, Bella stopped over to play, and I took to the spare room for my other big task of the day…cleaning it up, and photographing some baby “sale stuff”. Christian and Eliza arrived home shortly after us, and Eliza was CRAAAAAAAAABY! Oy. She’s teething really bad right now, and, for some reason, we couldn’t find her pacifiers anywhere in the house. I don’t know what’s happening to all of them, but we finally found one in Christian’s car from the drive home. Going to have to rip apart the house and find the rest of them soon. Amidst her crying and drama, we had dinner, the girls took a bath, and it was time for bed…where Eliza fought me with all of her might.

Tuesday was a pretty low key day. Work, daycare, home. I did finally post a ton of the more “specialty” baby stuff that we’re selling…holiday dresses, Halloween costumes, swimsuits, etc. I got a ton of interest in stuff, so I’m hoping they pan through. None of it is “expensive”, but all together, it all adds up! And, we did sell our double stroller tonight, which was a nice big sale. I think we’ve officially decided that we can make our Duluth trip next weekend happen. We’ll be taking the girls out of daycare for the following week, so the amount we save in their tuition will pretty much pay for the hotel. So, we can use our “sale money” for food and all that. Whew! How, we just have to figure out daycare for the days they won’t be in daycare. After work I picked up the girls, Bella stopped over again, and they spent some time swimming in the pool. Luckies! Christian cleaned up the garage a little work and worked in the garden a little it, while I hung out with Eliza and got dinner going. She has still been SO crabby, it makes it so hard to get anything done at home. This too shall pass, This too shall pass! She does have one molar finally poking through, so hopefully the rest are on their way…and come out quickly! After dinner, we settled in for the night, before sending the girls off to bed.

Eliza wants to be like her big sister

Wednesday was the usual. Work, work, work. Things are crazy as ever, busy all day long, but at least I feel pretty productive most days. I don’t talk about what I actually do too often, but I write contracts related to highway construction work and transportation research. This is one of the biggest construction seasons we’ve ever had…it’s massive. Of course, all you hear from people, and read on social media, is how horribly planned the work is, how terrible construction is, what a mess it all is, etc. It’s beyond annoying. This is Minnesota…we have a very short window to get construction work done…so, I’m not sure when people expect it to happen. And, it’s such a double-edged sword. People complain if you don’t fix the roads, and people complain if you do. People think they are SO dang smart, think they know everything. All of the work going on must be poor planning…or, “why can’t you finish one project up before starting another”. Gee, I don’t know, because each project takes at least a few weeks, if not a few months (really, if not a few years, depending on what’s being done), and there are these  magical things called ground freeze, and snow that eventually settle into the state and take away the chances of doing the work. And, even more than that, every two years the state budget is disseminated, and you have to work with what you get. If you are given money, you HAVE to use it. If you don’t use it, you lose it, and it jeopardizes your departments’ future budget. So, basically, the work needs to be done, not only to fix the roads, but to spend the money, to continue doing the work, and continue fixing the roads, before everything falls apart. It’s such a frustrating world to work in…in the summer you can’t do any good because you’re ruining people’s traffic. In the winter, it’s your fault when the snow and ice takes over and the roads are bad, because your snowplows aren’t magical vehicles that just make everything instantly disappear. Ugh, rant over. In the end, I myself had a terrible drive into work today because of construction going on. I always say, I can’t wait until we can teleport! Won’t that be awesome? In better news, I continue to get interest on the sale stuff , and have a few sales set up this week, so fingers crossed! The spare room is quickly emptying, and I LOVE it! After work, I picked the girls up from daycare, where I discovered that Eliza has FOUR pacifiers. FOUR! No wonder we couldn’t find any at home, LOL. What a hoarder! She was crabby, again, and I really couldn’t do much at home because of it. Bella was over, again, but with the stress of Eliza and the girls being loud and running around, it was just too much. Christian picked up dinner on his way home, and we had to send Bella home. The stress caught up to us today! Amelia was acting up, and ended up being sent to bed early. Olivia finally calmed down and watched a video. Eliza is still fighting sleep, but the baby orajel and some Tylenol seems to be helping her finally get down, and stay down. So exhausted, so very exhausted.

On Thursday I was late for work. These late, stressful nights caught up to me, and I just couldn’t get going. I dropped the girls off and finally made it in. Work was busy, and I had quite a few sales throughout the day/evening, which was pretty awesome. I like when these “craigslist” sales actually come through! I left work early today for a dentist appointment, which I hate, but I had another very successful visit. No cavities, everything looks great, and I was pretty much in and out, woot! I stopped home to relax and get a couple things done before I picked the girls up. Christian’s brother in law stopped over to take his push lawnmower…it was gifted to us by Christian’s dad, but since we have the riding mower, he never uses it. So, he passed it on to his sister. While they chatted and loaded that up, I hung out with (still) crabby Eliza. COME ON MOLARS, FINISH COMING THROUGH!!! The top ones are all the way through now, so we just need to get those bottom ones out. At this rate, I’m nervous for soccer to start up next month. I sure hope she pulls it together by then, or I’m going to have some miserable nights at the soccer field. We had a late dinner, the girls were off to bed, and with some medicine Eliza actually fell asleep really easily tonight. WHEW!

She cleans her plate, just like mommy. LOL

Baby's First Piggies!

FINALLY Friday arrived, and not soon enough. It’s been a quiet, low-key week…but you forget how long and exhausting those days can be with a crabby baby on your hands. I finished off another busy week at work before picking up the girls and settling in for a lazy evening at home. We did head outside for a little while when Christian arrived home to play for a while…and, Olivia officially learned to ride her bike without training wheels!!! SO EXCITING! Now, she’s 6.5, so a little on the older side to be learning, but we really aren’t bike riders. They don’t really get the opportunity to ride them too often. So, with little opportunity, I can’t believe how quickly she picked it up. SO PROUD!!! Next up, we’ll have to start working on Amelia. So far, she doesn’t seem to get it whatsoever. One thing is evident though; time to get Olivia a bigger bike, before she breaks her knees!

Saturday was a pretty standard Saturday. Christian was off to work for the day, and Eliza was crabby ALL.MORNING.LONG. Which, made for some fun at swim class. To top that off, Olivia and Amelia were both acting up at swim class big time…splashing, letting go of the wall, going under the water, general not listening whatsoever. Both of their teachers talked to me after class, which always mortifies me. I was so angry with them. They both got a stern talking to, and then were not allowed to play with their toys or watch their videos once we were home. We had lunch, and I snuggled up with Eliza on the couch. She ended up passing out sitting next to me, so I put her down for a nap. Thankfully, a nice LONG nap! The big girls were fighting and arguing and driving each other crazy all day, and I was seriously at the end of my rope. My mom finally showed up and took them for an overnight (which was already planned, but could not have come on a better day!). With them gone, and Eliza napping, I finally felt like I could catch my breath. I worked on washing some dishes and started picking up around the house. Christian and his friend Lorenzo arrived home after work, and worked on cleaning up the garage some more. And, we sold this wine cooler Christian had, but we had no use for, which was another exciting, big sale!  We’ve definitely got the neuter, Olivia’s fillings and our Duluth trip covered now, which is a huge relief. After that, I think we’ll just use our savings for the state fair later this summer. While I spent the evening with Eliza, who was in a much better mood than she has been, Christian was off to help his friend Mariano move (and have a couple beers). It was nice to have a quiet house, all to myself all night. I watched my shows, and even had myself a hard apple cider (or two) once Eliza was in bed. What a day!

Haha, she just makes me laugh! Finger lickin' good!

A little trike ridin'

On Sunday I slept in. REALLY slept in. Christian was tired, but TOO BAD! I had a stressful day yesterday, and it was his choice to stay out last night, so I had zero sympathy! I took the opportunity to sleep, and he was on Eliza duty. Eventually, I did have to get up, and take over, because he was off to finish helping Mariano move. Eliza and I hung out, had some lunch, she took a little nap while I showered, and then we were off to my mom’s to have an early dinner, and pick up the big girls. Thankfully they were much better behaved for her than they had been for me. I was afraid she would return them last night the way they were acting! After dinner and some visiting, we met up back home with Christian. The girls played outside for a while, while Christian worked in the garage some more (soon, VERY soon, we will actually be able to park in it again!), and while I worked on some laundry and cleaning up inside. Bella stopped over for a while, we ordered pizza for dinner and hung out for the night. We also discovered that Amelia has quite the hula-hooping talent tonight! I mean, seriously impressive! She was so proud of herself too, which just makes it that much better. Oh man, they make me so mad, but boy do I love my girls. We made some more sales today too, which was exciting…Christian’s old truck hitch, an extra baby gate and a few other baby stuff. YES! Seriously, those facebook garage sale sites are the best thing ever! I’m so obsessed with them! I like it better than Craigslist too…because I feel like the people you deal with are really REAL people…like you can click on their profile and see that they are legit, not just some troll or bot messing with you. Seems less risky. So, in the end, I highly recommend them!

Now, that's a tired baby!

Until Next Week! XOXO