2015 - Week 42

Week 42 – this week’s biggest event was Christian’s surgery. All of the worry and waiting and stress FINALLY came to an end (well, kind of), and we were all breathing a little easier by the end of the week. It was quite a journey getting there though…

Monday was a little bit of a chaotic day. Our daycare was closed for the day – for teacher training. Eliza was off to my in-laws, like normal, and I was able to talk our friend Sara into bringing the big girls to school with their little BFF, Bella. So, I actually got a little bit of a break…I was able to send the girls over in their pajamas – so I only had to get MYSELF ready today. WHAT?! I never thought I’d see the day. After dropping them off, clothes and backpacks in tote, off to work I went. The work day seriously flew by…busy, busy, busy…it’s always nice when the work day goes quickly. It was a coooooold, and super windy day. SO windy, that I received a text from Sara in the afternoon, giving us a heads up that the neighbors tree had cracked, and a large branch was laying across the driveway. I mean – of course that would happen! She didn’t see any damage, but of course I was in a panic to get home as quickly as possible after work to check it out. I picked the big girls up, we made a quick trip to Walmart, and then finally settled in at home. Thankfully, the branch missed the garage…thankfully, we weren’t home because 1) it landed right where the van would’ve been parked, and 2) none of the girls were outside playing or anything. Whew! We were able to get into the house, and I got the girls settled in. Christian arrived home shortly after us with a borrowed chainsaw, from work, and got to work. Our neighbors are the sweetest family every, and they felt so horrible about the whole thing. They are pretty new to owning a home, so they were so worried about it and had no idea what to do. I do think they will eventually have to take the entire tree down now, as I would assume it’s going to be pretty weak now, and probably start dying, but they’ll have to deal with that. Never a dull moment! While Christian finished cleaning up the mess, I made some dinner; we ate, read, did homework and relaxed for a bit before bed. Eliza had a hard time tonight and would not stay asleep for anything. I think she’s teething again – those last 4 teeth have been a battle! I ended up bringing her in the room to sleep with me, which seemed to work pretty well. Poor thing.

Close Call!

On Tuesday, we were all back to our regular places…work, daycare, school. And, we had a much better night of sleep, with Eliza in our bed. Hopefully she’s feeling better tonight. The big girls were pretty exhausted this morning…even though they actually went to bed earlier than usual last night. I’m not sure what’s going on with that, but it makes the painful morning process even more painful than normal. In addition, traffic has just been ridiculous lately. For NO reason…no construction, no bad weather, no accidents really. Just really dumb, slow drivers. I’m seriously already dreading the winter drive if things are this bad in normal conditions. NOT READY! Work was buys. Today was my last day for the week, so it was chaotic getting everything ready for my time off. Again, makes the day fly by, so it’s worth the chaos. Christian left work early to go to his pre-op appointment. He had an appointment at the hospital to have something inserted into his “mass”, which will help the surgeons locate the mass, and get out as much as possible, during the surgery. He was pretty sore, so he took it fairly easy the rest of the night. I picked the girls up from daycare, and met up with Christian at home…we all got ready, and we were off to a chilly night of soccer, their final practice of the season. Both of the teams had a “parents vs. kids” scrimmage at practice tonight. I had Eliza with me, so I couldn’t really participate, but Christian played with Olivia’s team – which she thought was SOOOOO cool. Amelia’s coach handed out their trophy’s tonight, because a few kids can’t make their final game on Saturday, and she was so proud. She’s already excited for next season! We finally settled in at home for dinner and a quiet night.

Wednesday was a pretty stressful day – well, Day 1 of 2 stressful days. I dropped the girls off at daycare – they’re last day of the week. They don’t have school Tomorrow or Friday, so we pulled them out of daycare to save a little money. And, it was surgery day for Christian – scratch that, it was supposed to be surgery day. Initially, his surgery was bright and early – like, he had to be there by 5:30AM. Earlier this week, they called and rescheduled it for later, he was supposed to be there at 11:00AM instead. Worked out a little better – it’s outpatient, so we still had time to get the girls from daycare before close and everything. Then, the chaos started…the hospital called, and apparently their computer system throughout the hospital went down, so they could not proceed with any surgeries until everything was back up and running. We spent pretty much the rest of the day on hold, waiting to see if they’d still be able to take him. While waiting…he ran to get a haircut, I got some laundry going, and we just waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, late in the afternoon, we just had to go ahead and cancel it. He gave them quite a mouthful – it’s really hard for him to get time off of work, so this was adding an extra day he’d have to be off…I was off, my in-laws were off, and we had care for the kids all lined up. Needless to say, a lot of “sacrifice” and planning and preparing went into this, so it was beyond frustrating to deal with this setback. His complaining must have paid off, because they were able to get him on the schedule for thing Thursday morning – again, BRIGHT and early at 5:30AM. That’s great, but I sure still wish we could get today’s lost time back! Oy! Christian and I ate some lunch and hung out for a while. He eventually went to spend the night at his parents’ house…since he has to be there so early, his parents are driving him so that I don’t have to get the girls up so early. I picked the girls up at closing time, grabbed some dinner  and we settled in at home for a girls night. They took baths, and we had a much more successful bedtime tonight – whew! I watched a few shows before bed, quite stressed about tomorrow, before finally turning my brain off and falling asleep. Oh man, I just can’t wait for this to be over!

Look at the Awesome canvas I bought from Living Social! I love it!

Thursday - FINALLY, surgery day! Actual surgery day. Christian’s parents brought him to the hospital at the crack of dawn, and settled in for the long day. Meanwhile, I got myself ready, got the girls up and ready, let the dog out, took the trash out, packed up all of our bags, and hit the road. Man, already exhausted! First up, I dropped Eliza off at daycare. Next up, the big girls and I stopped at the gas station for gas and some “road trip” breakfast . Finally, we arrived at the hospital, just after the surgery began, and settled into the waiting room with my in-laws. The girls watched their tablets and conned grandma into bringing them to the gift shop for some goodies. The surgery lasted about 70 minutes, at which time the surgeon came in to discuss the surgery with us. He said that Christian did really well, and there weren’t any complications with the surgery, THANKFULLY! He did mention that the mass was larger than expected, but he believed they got as much of it out as possible. It will be sent off to pathology for some additional testing, but he didn’t expect to hear anything concerning back. We were back to the waiting room, while he was taken to recovery…FINALLY, we could all relax a little, and it felt like a huge boulder had been lifted from our shoulders. We were finally able to see him and talk to him around 10:00AM. He was just coming out of his anesthesia, still a little goofy, but he was moving around pretty well and seemed to be doing great. He drank some water, started sitting up, started moving more and more…we talked to the nurse, got all of his aftercare instructions, and he was discharged around 10:45. In and out – isn’t that crazy?! His parents brought him back to their place with them, while I brought the big girls over to my mom’s house for the rest of the day/night. I figured the less chaos in the house after his surgery, the better, and she’s been asking to have the girls over for a sleepover, so it worked out perfectly. I stopped at my in-laws to pick Christian up and get him home, but they had decided we were going out for lunch instead…I mean, if he’s up to it, I’m sure not going to turn down a free meal! So, we stopped into Applebee’s for lunch and some chatting picked up his pain medication at the pharmacy, and settled in at home. We both took a nice long nap – a MUCH needed nice, long nap. I was so beyond exhausted, I just couldn’t take it. I eventually had to peel myself off of the couch to go pick Eliza up from daycare. I grabbed some takeout for Christian and I, made Eliza some food…we all ate, got baby to bed, and then settled in for a movie night. Christian was kind of wired, and couldn’t fall asleep, so I toughed it out and we made it through THREE movies! We watched “Horrible Bosses 2” – hilarious!, “No Good Deed” – pretty good, a little slow but I liked the twist, and “About Last Night” – I love Kevin Hart, but…meh, it was OK. By the end, Christian was doing well, but was wide awake and could not fall asleep. I finally had to call it a night, and left him to watch a little TV on his own. I think he finally fell asleep around 1:30, and got a pretty good night’s sleep, so it looks like things are going well.

The fountain at the hospital was pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Of course the girls thought it was pretty awesome!

On Friday, we slept in. No, seriously, Eliza slept until 9:00AM!!!! Oh man, it pays to be the “only child” once in a while. Christian rested most of the day, played with Eliza for a bit, and I got some chores done. I cleaned the kitchen, sorted the laundry and did some picking up around the house. We ate, hung out, Eliza took a nice long nap, and we had another movie day while Christian recovered. We watched “Tammy” and “Let’s Be Cops” – which were both fairly corny, but pretty funny. Some nice, fun comedies were just what we needed for distraction! Christian was feeling pretty sore, but doing well. We hadn’t heard any results on the pathology of the mass they removed, but I’m guessing it’s a “no news is good news” situation. I picked the big girls up from my mom’s around 1:00, and when we returned, Christian could not sit around any longer. He took the girls outside to play for a while, and he hung up the outdoor Halloween Lights. I mean – if I had just had surgery yesterday, you could not get me off of the couch, or peel the remote control out of my fingers. He’s not milking this for what he should be, that’s for sure. It did give me some time to work on picking up the house some more though, and get most of our Halloween decorations up – so I’ll take it. Finally getting house back in order…slowly, but surely!

Olivia's 1st Grade Photo

Amelia's Kindergarten Photo

Olivia, Kindergarten vs. 1st Grade

Saturday was a pretty busy morning. We slept a little later than usual, so we had to rush to shower, get ready, eat a quick breakfast, and head off to soccer. It was the girls’ last soccer game of the year. Yes!!! Christian can’t drive yet, until he’s off of his pain medication, so he stayed home with Amelia, to walk her to her game (which starts just after Olivia’s ends), so Eliza and I were off with Olivia to her game. It was a tad chilly out – but overall, we didn’t really have any unbearable, CRAZY cold soccer mornings this season, so that is a huge success. Unfortunately, the other team decided not to show up. Not one, single, person. Our original schedule did not have anything going on this week, but just before the season started, they added this week. I could not believe that not one single person on the other team noticed that! Our coaches were so upset, and we were all pretty annoyed by it. The league only had 3 teams to begin with…so, every week, one team was left out and didn’t have a game. So, they were already shorted at least 3-4 games, so for the other team to just not show up for the last game, was pretty upsetting. I know one of our coaches sent a pretty scathing message to the director and the other team’s coach – I just wish we’d still be around to hear what comes of it. Seriously though, how disrespectful! Since we were all there, they split up and had a little scrimmage instead, before getting their trophies. The team was heading to one of the parents’ houses for an end of the season party – but, I didn’t want to miss Amelia’s final game, so we weren’t able to attend (I’m also fairly socially awkward in that kind of setting, so it wasn’t the end of the world). Instead, we loaded into the van, and were off to meet up at Amelia’s game. She played SOOOOOOOO awesome today, AND, she scored her teams only goal of the game. She broke away with the ball a couple of times, and just missed the goal, but then she finally got it in. The smile on her face was seriously the best – she was so proud of herself, and came running over to me for some high fives. Ugh – so dang proud of my girl, and just how far she has come. I can’t wait to see how they keep growing and advancing over the years. We let the girls play at the part for a little while after the game, grabbed some pizza for lunch, and settled in at home. Eliza took a nice long nap, Christian rested for a while, and the big girls started fighting and driving each other crazy. WHEN WILL IT END?!?!?!?! Man, those sister battles are BRUTAL! Christian’s friend, Lorenzo, took him out for dinner and to get him out of the house for a while…the girls were driving me nuts, but they brought Dairy Queen home with them to make up for it! Lorenzo helped him hang the inside Halloween lights and spider webs before he left – so, we were finally, officially, Halloween ready! Woot!! The girls were off to bed, Lorenzo left, and we settled in for some TV…but, pretty much just passed out.

Olivia's Last Day of Soccer

Amelia's Last Day of Soccer

Sunday brought the last day of my “vacation”. The surgery was stressful, the girls have been driving me INSANE with their fighting, but I’m still SO not ready to head back to work. We sent the bickering duo downstairs to clean up the basement. There is still a long, LONG way to go, but they made a dent, and it kept them busy for a while. I spent the day doing laundry, dishes and some more cleaning up…the girls’ room, our room, the entry…picked up the living room and dining room. I did some more work on the kitchen, which was seriously a complete disaster earlier this week, and it’s getting there. I had to make the girls’ bunk beds tonight – and that’s seriously the hardest chore ever! I’m not build for making bunk beds. I was so hot and sweaty and exhausted, but I can’t wait to get this house ALL cleaned up and back in order. It’s been pretty chilly out, but it warmed up enough today to crack open the windows and let in some fresh air. AHHHHHH! We had a big, late breakfast, and the girls watched some movies while we waited for the temperature to rise a little more (they have been DYING to play outside for a while). Eliza went down for a long nap, Christian had lunch with Lorenzo, and I finally let the big girls play outside. They seriously stayed out there the rest of the day…they ran and played and picked the last of the garden. They actually got a long, really well, for a change, which was just simply amazing. Maybe they just needed some fresh air too! With the house “all to myself” for much of the day, I was able to get a ton of stuff done. I feel like the house is finally in a livable state again. And, bonus, my in-laws dropped off some meatballs and sauce, some spaghetti and some garlic break so that I wouldn’t have to make dinner tonight. SCORE!!! The girls didn’t have swim class tonight, so we ate, relaxed, I folded clothes and we just hung out for a while. The girls had their bath, and were off to bed a little early. Christian fell asleep, so I settled in to watch “The Walking Dead” on my own, and OMY – it was a craaaaaaazy episode this week. Seriously, that show is so amazing. With that, my 5 days off came to an end, and I was SO not ready to kick off the work week. Not one bit!

I finished cleaning their room and making their beds, and it cracks me up how much their beds resemble their personalities. Olivia is so attached to everything she gets...she loads her bed up with pillows and stuffed animals and little trinkets. Amelia is simple and plain, just the basics, nothing to bother her. So funny.

Showing me their garden goodies

Until Next Week! XOXO