2016 - Week 6

Week 6 – this week brought us quite a mixed bag of events and activities. Another week of lame photo-taking as well. Not feeling hot, and taking a bit of a social media hiatus is leaving me quite photoless.

On Monday, we were all up and getting ready for the day. After dropping Olivia off at daycare, I was off with Amelia to her audiologist appointment. There’s always been a little bit of a concern over her hearing. She’s never really cooperated with a hearing test, and it’s been unclear if it was because she was having issues, or because she was being difficult. Now, with all of her speech issues, we thought it was best to just get it checked and make sure there aren’t any underlying issues. They hooked her up and first tested her eardrums. Overall, they reacted pretty well, but the reading showed that she does have some fluid in her ears. Which we’ve been having a lot of trouble with lately (that we know of, who knows how long it’s been going on though). The doctor suggested we come back and run that test again in 6 weeks…and that if she still has fluid issues at that point, we’ll be referred to an ENT to get her checked out. They also did a standard hearing test, which she actually did really well on. She, end result, is no actual hearing issues, which is a big relief. Now, we’ll just need to get through her next appointment and hopefully the fluid is not an issue anymore. Meanwhile, while we did that, Christian dropped Eliza off at his parents’ house, and came to the clinic to pick Amelia up, and bring her to daycare. The clinic is right near my work, so it saved me a trip back and forth back home. FINALLY, I was off to work. I had a really busy, and actually productive, day. My closer work friends were all gone, so I was actually pretty focused. Go me!! After work, I picked Elia up…which was a joy, because she was completely angry with the world because she couldn’t take ANOTHER bath. I swear, she hit the terrible-two’s weeks ago, and it’s going to be a looooooooong process of dealing with that. We finally got home, the girls ate some dinner, and we were off to gymnastics – while Christian was off to work. By the time we finish gymnastics and get home, I’m soooooo exhausted and ready for bed…but, then, we have to have a snack, get ready for bed, do our reading, and once the girls are tucked in, I finally eat some dinner and settled in myself. Whew, Mondays!

Our nights. The oldest doing her reading, the middle one cuddled up on the couch with me, the baby "watching videos" - which means clicking from one to another to another, never actually watching anything.

On Tuesday, shear panic took over the state…snowmageddon was being threaded, and people were losing their minds. I mean, seriously – they were predicting 4-8” of snow, which is NOTHING around here. Everybody at work was in a panic all day, they preemptively closed the schools early (even ours, which NEVER happens). Thankfully daycare was on the ball and already geared up to pick the girls up. This is what happens when we have these light winters, people act like a dusting of snow is the world coming to an end. Amidst the chaos, I worked the day away, as the snow started to fall around 11:30. With all of the panic, I was worried about getting to my afternoon appointment, and then home to pick the girls up, before daycare closed. So, I called the clinic and they were able to get me in a little earlier, around 3:15, so I was off to that. This was my first appointment with an OB…she was SUPER nice, really laid back and everything, but she’s just a resident (so, it’s more of a “team” thing, which I guess I’m kind of used to from working with the midwives). My blood pressure was SOOOO bad today, 179/84. By far the worst yet, and she said that is a stroke level reading, especially while pregnant. They re-checked, and it was up around 144, which isn’t TERRIBLE, but still high.  She’s still going to hold off on prescribing anything, since the reading does come down, but she does think I’m heading that way. I chatted with her about the OB’s at the clinic, and it turns out that NONE of them deliver at the hospital that I want to switch to. Such a bummer. But she did suggest a clinic not super far from work, which was promising. Until I looked into it later at home, and the ONLY OB on staff that delivers at this hospital does not have any openings at least for the next two months (I later found out that she’s retiring). So, it looks like I’m stuck delivering at the same hospital, and it’s SO frustrating. She did recommend that I have a Level II ultrasound done, to do an echo on the baby because of my heart issues. I’ve never had that done before, but they should be able to combine it with my 20-week anatomy scan. Just over a month away! Some good news is that I still haven’t gained any of the weight I lost back, so that’s promising. Hopefully I can keep the overall gain very minimal! Finally, she checked for the heartbeat…and the baby totally ran away from the Doppler, just like it does at home. So funny. I finally hit the road home…it was snowing like crazy still, but the roads weren’t too terrible and traffic was actually moving. I couldn’t believe it – it was like I was in the twilight zone! I picked the girls up from daycare – the big girls were so excited that they were able to spend so much time with their daycare friends, and we settled in at home. Christian finished plowing, the girls played downstairs for a while, and we had dinner. Christian was off to work, the girls got ready for bed, we did their reading and called it a night.

On Wednesday, I woke up from a night of epic headache battling, and my head was still pounding. It didn’t seem to be letting up at all, so I called in and took the day off. I dropped the girls off at daycare, Christian arrived home from work, plowed and was off to bed, and I laid on the couch watching some TV for a while, before eventually sleeping for a large majority of the day. Ugh, these damn headaches! I eventually was off to pick the big girls up from school, and back home to relax for a while before heading back out to pick Eliza up from daycare. I finally settled in for the night, made dinner and worked on cleaning up the kitchen/doing the dishes for a while, and Christian was off to work. The girls played downstairs for a while, before it was time for baths, reading and bedtime. Overall a pretty quiet day, totally needed. AND, Eliza went all day without her pacifier, naptime and everything, so I decided to give it a shot and try bedtime without it. She actually went right to bed, no problem. I couldn’t believe it!!! Overnight, she couldn’t care less about it. She was down to two…one is missing, and she bit a hole in the other. I swore I wouldn’t buy her anymore, so I’m thinking maybe her broken one just didn’t interest her anymore. Either way, WOOOOOOOOT! Our goal was to get her off of it by two, and if we can hold strong, we’ve beat that goal big time! Since I slept so much of the day, I wasn’t super tired. I started watching “Z Nation” on Netflix, and holy moly, that show is pretty crazy! Much different than “The Walking Dead”, but just as addicting. My new obsession, I have two seasons to catch up on!

On Thursday, I was back to work. Everybody was up, ready and off for the day. After Eliza’s full night of no-pacifier sleep, I let daycare know that we were hitting it hard. She did great, all day again. Score! However, when I dropped her off, Miss Barb wasn’t there, and she was not a happy camper! Drama queen. I had a pretty busy day at work, catching up from my day off, and getting as much done as possible before the weekend. I picked Eliza up after work, and we settled in at home for the night for the usual…dinner, Christian off to work, reading and bedtime. And, of course, I was up way too late again watching my new addiction.

Friday was my day off. Best day!!! Christian arrived home just as I finished getting the big girls ready for school, so he stayed up with Eliza while I dropped them off. Eliza and I spent the day together, having tons of fun, while Christian slept. We played with toys, watched some shows, ate some food. Fun times! I continued my “Z Nation” binge, which makes the day go way too fast. While Eliza napped, I ran the girls’ sleds to school for Olivia’s sledding day, grabbed some lunch and relaxed for a while. Unfortunately, Eliza didn’t take a very long nap, which was a bummer. Hopefully that’s just a short term downfall of not having her pacifier. Christian woke up to sit with her while I left to pick the big girls up from school, and then we had a pretty quiet night at home. We watched some gymnastics movies on Netflix, and videos on YouTube, while Eliza worked on her skills. She’s SUPER determined to get a backbend down right now, so that’s her goal. She’s really into it, gymnastics just may be her thing! After dinner and some playtime, the girls were off to bed, Christian hung out with his friend, Lorenzo, for a while, and I settled into bed with another headache – not good.

Saturday was a pretty busy day. Everybody was up and at it…the girls watched some videos and had breakfast, while I started doing a little cleaning up around the house, trying to make it not quite so “disaster zone”. We showered, everybody finished getting ready, my mom stopped over, and we were all off to swim class. After class, my mom treated us all to Applebee’s for lunch (YUM!!), and we were off to the state fairgrounds to check out the snow sculptures. “Unfortunately”, we had a bit of warm up this week, so the sculptures weren’t looking so hot, but the girls played in the giant snow piles and went down the ice slide a few times, having the time of their lives. So, it all worked out. As soon as we arrived home, my mom parted ways with us, and we all settled in for the night. We had dinner and watched some movies before the girls were off to bed, and then Christian and I settled in for a movie night…”Ride Along 2” and “Dirty Grandpa”. Of course, again, a major headache hit me, and got worse as the day went on, so I settled into bed with an ice pack and some medicine as soon as the movies ended. I seriously cannot take much more of these headaches!

On Sunday, we actually slept in a little bit, which was a relief. Christian showered and got ready for the day, got Eliza ready, and they were off to have birthday lunch with his mom. Meanwhile, I helped Olivia and Amelia write out their Valentine’s and do their homework, and worked on Eliza’s valentines for daycare. They watched some videos while I did dishes and picked up the living room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom. Everything is sure easier to do without a crazy toddler following behind you, messing everything up. I worked on laundry throughout the day, and also, SHOCKER, had a headache that worsened throughout the day. I finally had to take some medicine and rest on the couch for a while, trying to get rid of it. Christian dropped Eliza off at home, who REFUSED to nap, while he ran to Walmart to get some Superbowl groceries. I finally started feeling slightly better, and a few friends arrived for the game/dinner…Lorenzo, Mariano and Bella. The boys grilled, finishing up just as the game started, and the girls pretty much played downstairs all night. Mariano and Bella left after halftime, I finished up laundry and got it put away, and Christian spent the evening hanging out with Lorenzo. My headache was gone, WHEW, but apparently our brats did NOT agree with me, because my stomach was KILLING me as the night went on. I mean, seriously, it’s always something! I’m pretty sure this pregnancy is going to be the death of me…

Today, Eliza also turned 21 Months Old!! She's weighing in at 30lbs, and she's about 32.5" tall. This month’s big accomplishment….NO MORE PACIFIERS!!!!! Yup, it's true! Eliza has been our only pacifier baby, and I was seriously terrified of one day getting rid of it. S-U-C-C-E-S-S!! She turned 21 months old this month, and I can't believe how fast she's creeping up on 2. So crazy. She is talking up a storm suddenly...small sentences, names, so many words, it's unbelievable. All of her (appropriate) teeth are in, she uses a cup like a master and her utensils pretty well and she's becoming more independent with each passing day. Her latest favorite thing to do is feed the dog...it can be quite a messy task.

Until Next Week! XOXO