11/23/10 - 2-Day Work Week, Done!

I walked out of the marble nuthouse and let out the biggest sigh of relief today...for, today, was my Friday! And it was a wonderful feeling! 5 glorious (but busy) days off are ahead of me. I cannot wait for Thanksgiving, spending some quality time with Christian and the girls and all of the fun in store for us this weekend!

Today was a very busy day at work. Trying to tie up some loose ends before the very long weekend and of course, the typical “weekend” chatting with everybody! After work we all just met up at home and took it easy most of the night. We had Amelia on the floor for some “floor time”, Olivia decided to join her, along with Minnie and Mickey, of course! It was quite the party!

11/22/10 - Another Boring Monday!

Well, today was another pretty low key day for us. My work is pretty dead, so today and tomorrow will basically be catch up days, which is nice. Christian’s work is busy as usual gearing up for the Holiday. After work I picked the girls up and headed home while Christian stopped into Sam’s Club and Target to get the last of our Thanksgiving dinner ingredients. We all met up at home and we able to have a pretty peaceful night there. We hung out, ate some dinner, played for a while and then it was off to bed for the girls. Christian and I did our usual evening chores and called it a night pretty early as well. Yup, today was a pretty boring day, just the way we like it!

I decided to step out from behind the camera today, and totally spaced at finding a good throwback photo to post today, so I’ll have to come back and do that!

11/21/10 - Lovely Sunday

Today was a good ending to a good weekend. Amelia had me up from about 5-7AM, but then she and I cuddled up in bed and slept together until around 10:00! It was great, we needed to catch up on some sleep! And, her sleeping until 5AM was gift enough to begin with! Christian and Olivia hung out together while we slept, I’m sure Olivia loved her alone time!

We quickly ate some breakfast once we were all awake, and I double checked our Thanksgiving Day shopping list, then, we were out the door, heading to the grocery store. It’s truly amazing just how much stuff you need to make one meal! Christian’s parents are buying the turkey for us, so that’s one thing we didn’t have to worry about. Our menu last year was perfect as can be, so we are just making the exact same stuff…which means I had most of the seasonings that we needed. That helped. There were a couple of things Cub didn’t have…Christian will be off running errands tomorrow to find those things. But, for the most part, we’re all set! The best news is that we actually made it through a shopping trip, as a family of four, with no breakdowns! I had the cart for food, and Christian pushed the girls around in another cart…they had carts with little cars in the front so Olivia was able to “drive” that, while the car seat was in the basket. It worked out well, maybe we will be able to go out in public again finally (maybe….).

After shopping, the girls ate their lunch and took their naps, while we watched the most disgusting display of football I’ve ever seen in my life. The Vikings lost to the Packers…well, they might as well have just forfeited really…31-3! How is that even possible?!? Man, this year is beyond crappy. Definitely time for some changes in the Vikings world…

After the game, Christian did a little cleaning up in the garage, we made some dinner and hung out for a while. His dad was having some more car troubles, so he went over with Olivia to help work on that. It worked out well because Amelia was having a really hard time sleeping and eating today…just too distracted. So the quiet for a couple of hours did her some good. Now, it’s on to my two day work well…how will I ever make it?!? :)

Olivia is suddenly obsessed with Spongebob. I actually HATE Spongebob…the show is gross and has no educational value to it whatsoever. Unfortunately, she watches is A LOT over at my in-laws during the day, and has fallen in love with him, so there isn’t much we can do about it. She spotted Spongebob in line at the grocery store, so we gave in. She was very proud of him and carried him around the rest of the night…

11/20/10 - Date Night!!

Oh boy, it’s date night for us!!! Christian and I have not been out together, just the two of us, in a very, VERY long time. We went to see George Lopez in March, and before that, who knows. We haven’t even been out period since before Amelia was born. It was long overdue. My mom very generously offered to come babysit the girls, and even gave us a little spending money, so we could go out for a little while. YAY.

The day started out well. We all had breakfast together and spent the whole morning together, just hanging out. While the girls napped, Christian ran to get the last of the plastic we need to finish the windows, and I started getting ready for our big date! He quickly got ready when he got home, my mom came over around 5:00 and we were off. We decided to just head to the Mall of America since it’s so cold out, and there was plenty to do there. We started off with a game of mini-golf…it was packed…and, Christian may or may not have won. I will not say. However, he did get a hole in one on the last hole, which won us a free game on our next visit! YAY. After golf, we stopped into a new mix-your-own frozen yogurt place and got a yummy before-dinner treat. We stopped into Carter’s to get the girls’ Christmas Dresses, then finally were off to dinner. We ate at a Mexican place in the mall and just hung out chatting for a while. I had a Pina Colada, and with my lovely post-pregnancy tolerance level, I was pretty tipsy :) After dinner, we just went home. The weather was supposed to be turning bad, and we didn’t want to be out super late anyway. We got home around 8:30. Amelia woke up right when we got home, so we hung out with her for a bit, then put her back down. Then, we just watched a little TV together and called it a night.

So, nothing super exciting, but just what we needed! Here’s a cute picture of the girls this morning, and a picture of us on date night! Oh, how fun.

11/19/10 - Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

Today was my Friday off with the girls. YAY. 4-day work week this week, 2 days next week, sounds good to me!

The girls were great today. We all slept in a little bit. I got some QT alone with each lady. We got in lots of playing. It was just a perfect girl’s day in.

Christian picked up some dinner on his way home and we just spent some time together. After dinner, I wanted to get the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up, so those three had a little dance party in the kitchen while I did that. These are the little moments I just love. Cleaning up and taking care of the house, with little intervals of play with my girls, while watching those three goof around and bond. Just, REAL family time. It doesn’t get much more perfect than that!

Finally it was time for baths and bed. I was pretty exhausted from a long week and long day, so I went straight to bed after the girls. Christian stayed up watching TV until who knows when….I don’t know how he can stay up like that all the time. I’m always passed out long before him!

Olivia has a new lov...body parts. She loves naming and pointing at her body parts these days…usually resulting in her pointing out your body parts as well. So, today, she proudly showed me her eyes, nose, mouth, ears and [messy] hair. She’s getting really good at it! She was bored with me taking pictures so she wouldn’t cooperate for anything else. Short attention span I guess!

11/18/10 - Busy "End" To the Week

Today was a typical busy-before-the-weekend day at work. I was there a little late trying to tie up all the loose ends (like usual). We did have a yummy breakfast potluck for a co-workers birthday today, and that was delightful! Christian has still been getting is 1-2 hours of OT every day. So, same old stuff there.

After work I was out and about doing a little shopping. Picked up Amelia’s last Christmas gift, grabbed a gift for a birthday party we’re going to next weekend and picked up a couple things for my mother-in-law. She’s getting Olivia the “Dance Star Mickey” for Christmas, and we were afraid they would sell out before she could get out shopping, so I grabbed it for her. Olivia is going to LOVE it!

After shopping, I met Christian over at his mom’s because she bought us dinner! YAY, free food :) We ate some yummy Chinese food, hung out for a bit then it was time to head home. The girls took their baths and went right to bed, so we just did our usual evening chores then we off to bed ourselves.

Here is a picture of Amelia, all snuggled up and ready for bed. Yes, she is still so small that we can swaddle her with a regular blanket. And, yes, she still requires swaddling for sleep. We’re starting to get a little worried about her size (Christian more so than I). She’s just not growing. She’ll be 4 months old next week, but she still swims in her 0-3 month clothes and size 1-2 diapers. She looks like she’s getting bigger, but she’s still light as a feather. Her 4 month check-up isn’t until 12/3, so we’re anxiously awaiting that to see what her actual stats are and how she’s growing. I’m sure everything is perfectly fine, but you can’t help but worry a little bit (especially since Olivia was so different)!

11/17/10 - And, the Shopping Begins!

Today ended up being a pretty busy day for us. I suppose with all of the holiday’s and craziness coming up, this is our temporary norm!

My mom took me to lunch today at work, which was a nice treat! After work, I stopped into Target to do a little shopping. I got the urge to get a little Christmas shopping done, so I stopped in to pick up a few things. I got the girls’ stockings done, and a good amount of their presents done. I need one more thing for Amelia, but our Target didn’t have it. I will be braving the Black Friday madness at Toys 'R' Us Thanksgiving night to get the last of Olivia’s Christmas and Birthday gifts. While I shopped, Christian was off to pick up the girls and help his mom put plastic up on one of their windows. We all met up back home to eat a yummy spaghetti dinner, watch a little TV and spend some time together before bed.

Amelia spent some time in her jumperoo while we ate. Olivia feels the need to “teach” Amelia how to use the jumperoo, so she’s always right there, pushing the seat up and down telling her to “jump jump”. I think she gets a little frustrated when Amelia doesn’t listen to her…it’s pretty entertaining. My girls, cute as can be!

11/16/10 - Ah, Family

Today was just a pretty low key day. After work we all just met up at home and spent the evening together. We ate some dinner, played, and just had a good ol’ time. Amelia has been spending more and more time on the floor. She’s rocking and scooting and turning all over the place. But, no rolling yet. She gets SO close, but then never completes that turn. Olivia is now into “helping” her roll over. This, is not good.

Olivia is becoming quite the little mommy. She’s always concerned about what the baby is doing and where she is. She feels the need to help her and teach her things. She “talks” to her all the time. She likes to copy me with one of her stuffed animals when I have the baby…she tries to hold her animal the same way, she copy’s what I’m doing when I play with Amelia. It’s really cute. Other than trying to force her to roll over, she’s been doing really well working on being “gentle” with the baby, which is great. She’s becoming quite the little lady!

After some playing and dinner, it was of course time for baths and bed. Our little routine is falling into place quite nicely. I bathe Amelia, get her dressed and ready for bed and feed her. Christian bathes Olivia, gets her ready for bed, brings her in to say good night to us (she gives us both a kiss and tells us she loves us), then he puts her down. He takes the dog out to go to the bathroom while I finish feeding Amelia and put her down (depending on how long she takes to eat, I get to watch a DVR’d show or two and relax, so that's an added bonus). Then, I make her bottles for the next day, wash up my "equipment", we pick up the house a little bit, then we’re off to bed. We’re getting this thing down now!

Olivia has taken over the baby swing seat…she can be seen here, hanging out with Mickey Mouse, while watching Mickey Mouse on the iPod! And, Amelia has officially discovered her feet! She loves ‘em!

11/15/10 - YAY for Boring!

Well, it’s Monday. Again. Work was pretty normal after the typical weekend-catch-up. I left a tad early to get our grocery shopping done. Christian and I got home at about the same time, put everything away, made some dinner and were able to just hang out for most of the night. All in all, it was a pretty boring day for us! I like boring…

Olivia took over one of our laundry hampers, and has claimed it for her own use. She gathers up her stuffed animals and hangs out in there. It’s pretty cute :)

11/14/10 - This Is The Life....

Today was the best day. Today was the day I've been waiting for, for so long! Today, was family day. Just the four of us, home, together, all day. No visitors, no shopping, nowhere to "run". Just us, at home. It was heaven.

We all got up and ate a quick breakfast. We were anxious to get outside as soon as we could! We all got bundled up, including little Amelia, and went for some play time in the snow. Even Chuy braved the weather and went prancing through the snow! Olivia and Christian built our first snowman EVER, while Amelia and I watched. It started getting pretty chilly, so Christian took Amelia inside while Olivia and I got our snowman dressed. Then, we just ran around the yard, falling all over in the snow, having the time of our lives! So fun :)

After our snow fun, we all ate some lunch, then it was nap time. While the girls napped, Christian and I watched the very disappointing Vikings game. Oh man, this season is just not looking good at all! I managed to get all of the dishes done and get the house picked up during the game. And, throughout the day, managed to get most of the laundry done. Christian was pretty much just on dad duty most of the day, but did manage to vacuum the upstairs.

So, that's about it. For the first time in such a long time, we were able to really just hang out together! And, we needed that :) Here are some pics of our snow fun!