2015 - Week 36

Monday hit me like a bus, and I had to call into work. I was still SO exhausted, so sore, my head was pounding and I had SOOOOOOO much to do around the house. I just needed a day…a day to myself, a day along, a day to rest and recover. Christian woke up late as well – but, he wasn’t as lucky as me. He left, dropped Eliza off at his parents’ house, and made his way to work. Meanwhile, I let the big girls sleep in a little bit, gave them some breakfast, and then sent them off to daycare. Once home, I started some laundry, which took ALL.DAY.LONG, and spent some time relaxing and trying to get rid of my headache. I watched some shows…still working on “Fargo”, and LOVING it! Once I was feeling rested and a bit better, I cleaned up the living room, bathroom and bedrooms….whew! I started on the kitchen…only really getting through the dishes/dishwasher, but still have a LONG way to go in there. Overall, I had a relaxing, yet busy day. But I was feeling much better by the afternoon. Our friend Sara had an appointment in the afternoon, so I watched the girls’ little BFF, Bella, for her. She just played and took advantage of having the house to herself  while I did some laundry folding and that kind of fun stuff. When she returned to pick Bella up, we chatted for a while and caught up, before I had to head out and pick the big girls up from daycare. Then, MY BFF, Kari, and her little girl Addie stopped over. We talked and hung out for a while, while the girls tore apart the house. It wasn’t long before Bella was back over to play with the girls, so 5 little girls running around, playing and squealing made for quite a night! While we’re pretty used to the chaos, I think we scarred Kari for life. Ha! Eventually, she had to head out to pick her son up, and Bella was on her way home, so we settled in for the night. Christian mowed the lawn while we all caught up and played, ate some dinner, and I got the girls bathed and ready for bed. Finally, one by one they were all off to dreamland, and I finished a little more laundry before heading to bed myself. Eliza has actually been going to bed, to sleep, by herself the past few days. I have to admit that it’s nice to get the extra alone time in the evening, but I sure do miss my baby snuggles before bed! We’ll have to see if this actually sticks or not…but secretly, I do hope that at least once in a while she’ll crave some mommy cuddles before she goes to sleep still!

Chloe Loves a Quiet House!

Playdate with her BFF!

On Tuesday, I was back to work. Back to reality. Sooooo, we were all up, bright and early, and on our way. Eliza is on her last week of transitioning to the toddler room this week, so she’ll be spending a lot of time in the toddler room…eating, napping and everything. And, so far, she’s LOVING it. She’s going to be running that toddler room in no time! And, Amelia is officially in the schoolage room full time now as well. She’s been going on an occasional fieldtrip with them for the last few weeks, but she’s now an official schoolager, and she’s SO excited about it. And she and Olivia have actually been getting along pretty well, which is always my fear when they’re together all day. My girls, growing up! After work, I stopped home to let the dog out, grab some snacks and the girls’ soccer stuff, and finally picked them up to get ready for practice. I was with Olivia tonight, and she scrimmaged one of the other teams. Her team is actually looking really good, an she is doing amazing, so I hope it keeps up. She could really learn a lot this year, and I can already see so much growth. She even scored a really great goal during the scrimmage tonight, and she played great defense. I’m getting pretty impressed! Even other parents have mentioned how great she does, which she just LOVES. She’s definitely inherited my competitive nature. Amelia was off to practice with Christian, but I guess she sat out quite a bit – she’s still complaining that her stomach hurts, and it’s been going on for quite a while now. I hope she’s not developing any food aversions or anything, like Olivia, but something has to be causing it. But, it was also a really hot and humid day/night, so that might be playing into it. We were all pretty happy to settle into the A/C at home. We had dinner, and the girls were all off to bed. Eliza, again, all on her own. So crazy, out of nowhere, she thinks she’s so big! Christian did have his follow-up ultrasound this afternoon, and the news wasn’t super great. They discovered a pretty large mass of some kind in his chest, so – he’ll be heading back in for a biopsy later this week. Needless to say, we’re all getting a little nervous about what’s going on at this point, and all we can do is hope that everything comes back clear. So scary!

So Hot and Sweaty - But She Worked Her Butt Off!

Wednesday was a loooooooong day, and I was just not in a working mood. I think because I’ve been busting my butt catching up, and working so hard to actually stay on top of my workload, it’s wearing me out! The day was so slow, it was such a relief when quitting time came along. I stopped home to let the dog out again and gather up some stuff, which turned out to be a waste of time because Christian was home from work much earlier than usual. Technically, on time I suppose…so, I picked the girls up from daycare quick, and then came back home to drop Amelia and Eliza off, get Olivia cleaned up and ready for her soccer pictures. It’s SOOOOO hot out, Olivia was a sweaty, gross mess from playing outside at daycare. Ick! I was going to drag all three of them with me, so it was quite helpful that Christian was already home. Pictures go pretty fast, so we were back home before we knew it. We had dinner and settled in for some TV before bed. AND, Eliza required some snuggles tonight, which totally worked for me! Love my little chunky, sweaty bedtime cuddles!

Olivia's Picture Night

On Thursday it was still so crazy hot out…it was literally misting out this morning from the humidity. ICK, ICK, ICK! Alas, we were up, getting ready, and heading out. Off to work and daycare…but, it was Friday for Christian and me, which always makes the day better! Christian was off work early today for his biopsy. He was pretty nervous, and in quite a bit of pain afterward, which is always hard to see. He went home to nap and rest, while I finished out my work day, and picked the girls up from daycare. We stopped home to get the big girls ready for soccer, and were on our way. Amelia’s game was canceled, because tonight was her picture night, so I took her to get that done, while Christian took Olivia to her game. I felt bad making him get up and go, but I couldn’t be in both places at once. After pictures, we met up with them at the game, and Christian toughed it out and stayed to watch her. Olivia played really well again, and didn’t even sit out at all – even in the heat! She was on fire! We were all again super relieved to get home to the A/C and relax. Christian took some pain medication and rested for the rest of the night, going to bed pretty early. We’re not supposed to get the results of his biopsy until next Tuesday, which just seems crazy to me. Such a long, stressful wait! While he settled in, I helped the big girls shower, got them all some dinner and we were all off to bed, one by one.

Amelia's Picture Night

My TBT This Week - a Trip Down Memory Lane with my BFF, as back to school time approaches

Friday finally arrived, and Christian and I were both off. That never happens, so it was awesome! Christian was feeling much better already, and was actually able to get up and do some stuff, which was good. The big girls were off to daycare…their LAST full day of daycare before school starts – so crazy! We ended up getting a call from the clinic in the morning, with AMAZING news that Christian’s biopsy came back clear. NO CANCER – so thankful! We were so relieved that we didn’t have to go through the weekend and the long wait for the news, that’s for sure! They told him it appears to be a mass of scar tissue, and he has an appointment in a couple of weeks to discuss removing it. The idea of surgery is still pretty scary, but SO much better than the alternative. I felt like we could finally breathe after all of this stress and unknown. Oy! I hung out with Eliza most of the day, watched some Hulu, and did some picking up around the house. Christian rested in the morning, then showered and started getting up and moving. Eventually, my in-laws came over with some food…they’ve been having a hard time with this medical scare as well, of course, so they had planned on coming over to spoil us with some yummy food – they were obviously quite relieved to hear the results as well. They hung out outside most of the day…chatting, doing some work in the garage, and grilling, while I did some cleaning, made some salsa and worked on laundry. Eliza took a nice long nap while I worked on my tasks and everybody else ran to the Mexican market to pick up some carne asada and chicken. I picked the big girls up from daycare a little earlier than usual, so we could eat and they could hang out with Grandma and Grandpa for a while. They rode bikes and scooters and played outside most of the evening…so, I had quite a lot of time in the house, all to myself. WOOT!! It started getting late, and dark…my in-laws were on their way home, while the rest of us settled into the house and relaxed for a while before bed. Christian was feeling pretty exhausted after a long day – likely outdid it, so he passed out pretty early. I did some late night bill paying tonight, and got some MORE happy news…our daycare payment has gone down! And, with two going to school and one moving to toddlers, it was a nice BIG decrease. Heaven!!! What a way to end a Friday!

I bought the girls an orchid plant to celebrate the end of summer.

I LOVE This Girl!

Saturday was overall a pretty low-key day. So, of course, the big girls were at each other’s throats ALL DAY LONG! They were driving each other crazy, arguing and fighting over everything and just plain making me want to rip my hair out. Christian is still trying to take it easy from the biopsy, so I felt like it was even more on me to keep them under control. Amidst the chaos, I made breakfast, did the dishes and worked on cleaning up the kitchen for a while. Eventually, Eliza went down for a nap, and my mom came over to take the girls overnight. FINALLY, some peace and quiet and much needed relaxation! And, finally, Christian and I got ourselves cleaned up, showered and dressed for the rest of the day. We watched some TV and relaxed, he ran off to get his haircut, and we planned on heading to Applebee’s for an almost kidless dinner. We waited and waited for Eliza to wake up from her nap, eventually opening her door around 6:00 so she would wake up. Which, she finally did about 15 minutes later. We got her cleaned up and ready, packed up, and were off to dinner. YUMMMM!!! Dinner, a drink, and only 1 kid to deal with – talk about a party! Christian’s friend Lorenzo stopped over when we arrived home to hang out, so Eliza and I played and hung out for a while. I thought for sure she’d be up all night, but I did get her down to bed around 9:45…and, we were crossing our fingers that she would actually sleep all night! Finally, we watched “Taken 3” and “The Wedding Ringer” to end the night. We LOVE the Taken movies, and this one was just as good as expected. And, The Wedding Ringer was WAY better than we thought it would be…we love Kevin Hart, but I didn’t have huge hopes for the movie. It really surprised us, so funny! After a much later than usual night, I was beyond exhausted!

Eliza gets mad when Olivia doesn't pay attention to her - she just follows her around everywhere, it's so cute!

Heading out to Dinner

Sunday was a much busier day. It started off well though…we slept in!! I was worried with all of Eliza’s sleep yesterday, she wouldn’t sleep all night, or would at least be up way early, but I woke up at 8:30 and she was still passed out! Crazy! So, I was off for an early run to Target. When I got home, she was STILL asleep – oh man, she was catching up on some sleep this weekend, that’s for sure. I’m sure the quiet from her sisters being gone helped. I did a little picking up around the house, started packing up our stuff for the day, and Eliza finally woke up around 10:00. We showered, starting getting ready and had some breakfast, before loading up the van and heading off. We arrived at my mom’s house to pick the big girls up around noon…we chatted, heard all about their night, I did their hair, and we again loaded up the van. Now, we were off to church, for our niece, Camila’s baptism. We were not originally supposed to be her godparents (we are godparents to the other two nieces), but it didn’t work out with the original people they chose for her, so they asked us. We didn’t really know what the plan was for the service, so we were kind of in the dark about what was going on (for an over-organized, extreme planner like me, of course it drove me nuts!)…but we arrived a little early, and met up with Christian’s parents. We waited and waited, and his sister’s family still wasn’t there. The church service started, so we finally just went inside and sat in the back of the church – they showed up about 15 minutes later. It was at an old Spanish church…it was packed, the entire service was in Spanish, and it was so hot and humid and gross. So, basically, it was pretty miserable. The girls were so antsy the entire time, and I eventually had to take Eliza outside to get some energy out. We still had no idea when the actual baptism took place, so I had to keep coming in and out to make sure I wasn’t needed. Over an hour later, the service finally ended…yet, still no baptism. His sister finally informed us that the baptism was at 2:30, NOT at, or during, the 1:00 mass. I was a little upset at that point…I would not have dragged my 3 young children, who are not used to being at church, who couldn’t understand a single word of the mass, to the entire 1+ hour mass, had I known the baptism was a completely different service. BUT, we finally settled in for the baptism, and she was the only child being baptized today, so it was nice that it was special just for her and our family. The service and taking some pictures and all that took about 20 minutes, and we were off. Next up, we were on our way over to his sister’s house for dinner, and a little birthday party, also for Camila. The kids played and watched a movie, we had dinner and chatted for a while…they just have a small window A/C unit in their house, so it was pretty hot and humid in there, especially with so many people. It started getting late, and I actually started feeling pretty dizzy and exhausted, overheated really, so we had to load everybody up and head home. What a day! Eliza fell asleep on the way home, and went right to bed when we got there. The big girls played for a while, before heading off to bed as well. Christian did some cleaning up in the garage, while I played on the computer, edited some pictures, and relaxed with a little TV before bed. Quite a busy end to the week, that’s for sure! So thankful tomorrow is a Holiday, because we were going to be beat!

Until Next Week! XOXO