Well, as suspected, night one of swaddle weaning was NOT successful. It was torture in fact. We’re putting her to bed in thin PJ’s and a sleep sack. She was NOT having it. She woke up around 12:30, and I was basically up with her the rest of the night. I ended up having to keep her in bed with us and just kept feeding her/cuddling her/rocking her. She’d sleep a little, so I’d catch a 10-15 minute cat nap, then she was up again. No Good! Olivia was never fully swaddled, she always had her arms out, so she was easy. This little girl is just far too high maintenance!So, off to work I went, with no sleep. That was fun. The streets just seem to be getting worse around the cities too…they seem to have only ½ plowed all of the roads so you drive along on a two lane street, and all of a sudden your lane just disappears, overtaken by snow piles! Dumb. Seriously , get it together people!After work Amelia and Olivia played for a little bit while Christian and I made Tacos and Rice and Beans and Salsa! YUM. We watched a little TV and just went about our every day routine. So, other than the exciting drives, not much has been going on!
WOW! It is cold. I don’t remember it ever being this cold, or this crazy snowy, this early. I mean, it's not even technically winter yet! When I left the house this morning the actual temperature was -9….add in the wind chill and it was -15. All of the schools in St. Paul and Minneapolis are closed…maybe that played into why my drive wasn’t nearly as bad this morning as I expected. Of course, the parking lot at work was a complete zoo. I mean, these people park in this lot EVERY day, all year long, but when we get snow (which was plowed…not great, but plowed) nobody can figure out how or where to park. It’s out of control. If I was capital security, I’d be handing out tickets, non-stop, all day, And, getting much pleasure out of it!I was excited at the thought of a quiet day, thinking most people would be calling in…but that wasn’t the case. Pretty much everybody was at work today. I couldn’t believe it! The day went by quickly though. For some reason, it was really hot in the building (maybe making up for the outdoors?), and the heat really got to be in the afternoon. I ended up leaving early, which worked out since I had to do our grocery shopping after being trapped all weekend.After shopping, I picked up the girls and headed home. We made some dinner and watched a HORRIBLE game of football. Those dummies! They are officially out of the playoff hunt now, and I’m very sad. As we say ever year…There is Always Next Year!I am officially calling Amelia’s sleeping through the night event last week a complete fluke! She was up last night from 1:45-2:30. Grrr. Now, we are going to start working on weaning her from the swaddle. She’s so mobile now, that it’s just not safe anymore. And, I’ve been reading up on studies that say extended swaddling can stunt their growth. I can already tell this is going to be horrible! At least I’m used to not getting any sleep anyway. But, at least she's cute...
Well, we were still trapped in the house today. No more snow, but the plows didn’t come through our area until around 2:00PM. So, we had another forced family day! Ha.Christian’s dad managed to get to our house, and they worked on my car…again…hopefully for the LAST time. I hung out with the girls and started laundry while they did that. After they finished, and I got Amelia down for her nap, and the rest of us hung out downstairs until Olivia’s nap time. Since we rarely go downstairs anymore, Olivia rarely sees most of her toys. She was like a kid in a candy shop when we got down there…and literally played with every single toy she owns in about 5 minutes flat. It does not take long for her to destroy the basement, that’s for sure! I finally got her down for a late nap, and Christian headed outside to do one last sweep with the snow blower…especially since the plow finally came through and blocked us in again.We were very upset that football day was canceled though. The Vikings were supposed to play the Giants today. The game had already been rescheduled for Monday night last night because the Giants were re-routed to Kansas City when our airport closed down. Well…early this morning the roof of our dome collapsed, and tore, and the stadium filled up with snow! So, they’ve now moved the game to Detroit, tomorrow night. I do not think the Vikings deserve a new stadium, but I do think the fans do…and this should be point enough!I finished laundry (and, actually got everything put away), cleaned up the kitchen and washed dishes and we all just took it easy. Not much choice anyway! All in all, we got about 21” of snow at our house, from about 9:00PM Friday, to 7:00PM Saturday. That’s a lot of snow!I did a mini photo-shoot with Amelia tonight. She's too cute not to! By the end, she was sick of my picture taking though, and trying to take the camera away from me! LOL
First of all…Amelia slept through the night…ALL night…for the first time last night. YAY! Please, oh please, let this be a new trend and not a onetime thing!Today we were literally snowed in. There was no leaving the house; it was a huge mess out there! The snow started last night, and went through today…and it was REALLY windy, crazy windy! They ended up pulling most of the snow plows off the roads around the cities, because they weren’t making any headway, they’ve already canceled most church services for tomorrow morning, closed most schools for Monday (and we NEVER get snow days here), and I think a lot of stores have closed for the day. Christian did two rounds of snow blowing today…the first was completely useless, like I told him it would be, but he didn’t listen to me. The second time he was out there FOREVER. Brrr.We ended up staying in a majority of the day…eating junk food, watching some movies and playing the day away. We rented "Toys Story 3" with one of our free PPV’s from Dish Network…it was so good! We later watched “New Moon”, which was also good. I hadn’t gotten to the store before the storm, so we were very limited in food supply, but we made due. I did end up sending Christian down to the gas station for some Diet Dew though because I was becoming very unhappy without it :) Thank goodness for his hefty duty 4-wheel drive truck!Here are some winter shots...she wind was literally pushing snow through the window screens and it was piling up between the window and the screens. The drift outside of the patio door literally had us trapped inside. The trees were pretty though! And, Olivia was hanging out, enjoying her cool shirt from Disney on Ice last night!
Friday, Friday…I love you! Today was a great Friday too. I was only working half a day, so the morning was very hectic. We had our office Christmas lunch today, so we all headed out to eat…it was very yummy, and actually a pretty good time! After lunch, I was off to finish my Christmas shopping…and I did just that! ALL DONE!!! I made a trip out to Mall of America and got those last few items checked off. I’m so happy to be done – and I think this is officially the earliest I have ever finished. Now, when to wrap…After shopping, I headed home. My mom had a great day with the girls...Amelia was a little angel for her, which makes us all very happy! I’m hoping she’s finally starting to get over the stranger anxiety/reflux/fussy baby hump. My mom ended up taking Olivia to see Disney On Ice tonight, while Christian went Christmas shopping with his mom, so Amelia and I spent the whole night together, just us. We had lots of fun. She’s such a little love muffin – she is just obsessed with me…and I kind of love it!We are supposed to be getting the storm of the century this weekend, so I’m anxious to see how everything turns out. They always claim we’re going to get 18 feet of snow, and then we get like 2 inches, so we’ll see how things go this weekend.
Today's entry will be short and sweet! Today was a pretty low key day. We really didn’t do anything. Christian is pretty tired these days, thanks to his work schedule. We pretty much just worked, came home, hung out and went to bed. It’s pretty exciting.
I have a cute bath time photo of Amelia tonight. And, I'm planning on sharing a video today, but it's not uploading right now. I'll try again soon... Amelia is definitely a full fledged roller now, we got a video to share tonight!
Today was a pretty typical day for us. We’re both pretty swamped at work, so the days are going pretty fast. Picking up the girls has become quite entertaining. My in-laws have this standing snowman, about the size of Olivia, that “talks” as you walk by it. This snowman is officially the first thing Olivia has ever been scared of, and it’s very entertaining. Every time I walk in the door to get them, she HAS to explain to me that the “scary” is still there, and point him out with an angered look on her face. She won’t go anywhere near it, even if, god forbid, blankie is by him. She has also started to throw a fit when it’s time to put her coat and boots on…it’s like I time warped back to last winter when we had the same issue. Kids!We arrived home to find a pretty little package on the front step! I’m doing a secret Santa with my on-line friends from Amelia’s birth club, and Amelia’s draw was apparently VERY excited to get her gift in the mail :) She was blessed with a few adorable outfits, lucky girl! After the gift opening, we ate some dinner and hung out for the evening. I'd also received the last of the Christmas gifts I'd ordered online, so it was a fun mail day!Christian is working 6:00-5:30 the rest of the week…sucks for him! I’m thinking he’s going to have quite a few days like that in the next few weeks. Here are some pictures of Amelia's first gift! Of course Olivia had to help her open it....Amelia had to fight to see her own presents...then she finally got to enjoy it!
Today was a much more relaxed day. And, it was definitely needed after all of the running around yesterday! Work was good…nice and quiet, so lots of time to catch up on some stuff. Christian is pretty much working and hour early, and an hour late through the holidays, so they are pretty busy. He’s pretty exhausted by the time he gets home from work, that’s for sure!We all met up at home around the same time, and just took it easy. Had some dinner, did some playing and hanging out. Olivia has had a pretty massive cold the past few days, and I think it’s making her act out even more. Like, she doesn’t know what to do to cope with the sick feelings, so she just throws stuff and acts naughty. Poor thing. I think that she’s also starting to get her 2-year molars, so that I’m sure doesn’t help the situation.Amelia is doing well. She’s been in a much better mood lately. We just upped her bottles from 4 to 4.5ozs, so hopefully that makes her even happier! She’s rolling better and better…we got our first double roll from her tonight, so she’s getting more and more active every day. I hate to wish away these wonderful infant days, but I really can’t wait to watch the girls play together and cause trouble with each other. It’s going to be pretty crazy, but oh so fun!Olivia and Daddy cuddled up and watched some TV together tonight :)
Well, today was a very busy, and very productive day for me! YAY. I got a few rush projects done at work, and left early to run some errands and get some stuff done!I dropped off paperwork to open Amelia’s bank account (finally!) and mailed Olivia’s birthday invitations. I stopped into the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, ran to Babies R Us to get a part for my pump and pick up some gift cards, stopped at Sam’s Club to pick up our Christmas Cards and then stopped at Hallmark to grab Olivia’s last birthday present. I dropped everything off at home, fed the dog and got a few things done there. Then I was off and about again…stopped to get gas, ran to Kohl’s to get a couple pairs of jeans and finally stopped into Cub to grab a couple things for the week. Finally my shopping and running around was done, and it was time to pick the girls up. By the time we got home, I was beyond exhausted. I started preheating the oven and got the dinner ingredients out, but just left them for Christian to take over!It’s times like this I wish I didn’t work, or at least only worked part time. It’s impossible to get anything done during the week by the time we get home, feed the kids and spend a TINY amount of time with them. So, we have to cram everything into the weekends…chores, errands, friends, family, etc. Sometimes I just think about how nice it would be to at least get some of the chores and errands done during the week. Instead, I have to use vacation time to get anything done. Lame.We spent the rest of the night hanging out, eating dinner, watching some TV and dealing with Olivia’s out of control self. I don’t know what her deal is lately, but she is just off the wall crazy. She’s constantly throwing stuff, doesn’t listen whatsoever, she’s way too aggressive and almost violent sometimes. It’s so frustrating, and we don’t know how to get through to her. We’re going to be setting up the Pack N Play to use for time outs because we have no other ideas, so hopefully that will help. Grrr!Here's a new picture of little Amelia. Her cheeks are getting nice and full. She had sleepy red baby eyes here. Poor thing.
Well, Sunday is here again. Here to rain on our parade. This weekend just went by WAY too fast!Today was a pretty good day. After being up from 5-7 with Amelia, she and I went back to bed until 9:45! It was GREAT! We finally woke up and joined the rest of the family. Today was Christian’s turn to make breakfast…Chorizo and Eggs and Beans, YUM!After breakfast, we all just kind of hung out and played for a little while. Nap time quickly approached, so the girls went down while Christian and I watched the game. Another FABULOUS win for the Vikings! After the game, we did a little picking up, vacuumed and did the dishes. Then, my BFF and her son came over to hang out. We had some yummy tacos for dinner, watched some TV and watched the kids harass each other. Olivia has SO much fun playing with Andrew, so she was really excited. He ends up getting pretty annoyed by her though :( After some catching up, it was time for them to head home, we cleaned up from the kid tornado, gave the girls their baths, put them to bed, and passed out shortly after. The weekend, is officially over. Boo.I got a couple pictures of Olivia and Andrew, but with two kids, it's hard to catch good, candid shots that aren't blurry! I still think they're cute though!
