12/21/10 - Another Blah Day

Well, nothing too interesting happened today. I’m off tomorrow, and Friday, so it’s a pretty short, packed week for me at work. Today my supervisor brought in her annual Christmas breakfast for all of us. YUM. The roads weren’t as bad as I expected…I was only 30 minutes late for work! Ha.

Christian’s work is beyond busy being so close to the holidays now. He’ll be working early and late for the next couple of weeks! Christian’s mom sent home a big pan of pasta for us…so between that and Christmas celebrations, we shouldn’t have to make dinner this week. Big YAY for that!

So, it was just a pretty low key, boring day for us! I’ll take that! Today's flashback photos are of our Holiday photo session last year! I love looking back at this pictures. I was barely pregnant with Amelia, and Olivia was such a little sweetie. So fun.

12/20/10 – More Snow, Really?!

So, as if the 21 inches of snow we got last weekend wasn’t enough, on top of the initial blizzard we had in November…we had to get MORE snow today. My work actually sent us home early today…that NEVER happens. So, I left work like 40 minutes before I usually would, and was still late picking up the girls! We ended up with another 4-5 inches I think. Seriously, there isn’t anywhere to put the snow anymore! I don’t know now people without snow blowers do it! This is officially the snowiest winter on record here, and it's not even over yet!

Besides the snow, it was just a regular old day. The Vikings played tonight, and it was quite a joke, as expected. The Metrodome just keeps getting worse and worse after last week’s storm, so they ended up getting the U of M’s outdoor stadium ready to play in. Although, since it’s not meant for cold weather play, it was still a pretty hard, icy surface. And, the new layer of snow didn’t help. In the end, the Vikings lost…BIG TIME. Only two more games left…it’s sad!

So, that’s about it. Work, traffic, and Vikings. Pretty exciting! Of course, we skipped baths and the whole ritual so we wouldn’t miss the game. Priorities, right?!

I must admit...I will probably have a few flashback photos this week. With things being so crazy and hectic, the camera will probably be the last thing on my mind! Here's one from last year. Olivia so little, as big as a bag of chips! LOL - now, she'd have that bag ripped open in now time!

12/19/10 - Busy Day of Nothing

Today was a pretty busy day.

After getting up with Amelia, feeding her and getting her back to sleep, I was off to Target to do our weekly shopping. I like Holiday time because it really cuts down on our grocery needs, knowing that we'll be well fed by others for a couple of days! So, the trip was quick, and the list was short!

After getting everything put away, and eating some breakfast/lunch, I was off to wrap Olivia's birthday presents, and put the final touches on the Christmas presents. YAY...task DONE! We (or, apparently I) planned on going to watch the Holidazzle parade today. Being that it was the last day of the parade, I REALLY wanted to take Olivia. Of course, earlier in the week I asked Christian to talk to his mom about watching Amelia while we go (it's way too cold to bring her), but of course, he didn't, and by the time he called her today, she was off doing her final Christmas shopping. Apparently he can't be trusted with one simple task...MEN!

So, we just hung out the rest of the night. We didn't do much, Amelia slept most of the day, but then was up most of the evening. I think her relux is really acting up these days, she cries and writhes, seemingly in pain. Poor thing. I can't wait for that to be done! I did snap a "good" picture of Olivia's black eye...it's getting worse every day and it makes me want to cry.

12/18/10 – First Christmas Celebration

Today was a very great day! Well, maybe not completely for Christian…who had to work. Luckily we had plans, otherwise I think he would have been stuck there all day and night! He worked until about 12:30, then he and his dad worked on the car a little bit. They have decided to throw in the towel, for now at least. It’s just too cold to really put the time in and the weather just isn’t conducive to auto repairing. So, they’ll check it again in a few months and see what they can do. Until then, I guess it’s check the fluid levels and top it off as we go. Boo. I did get all of our Christmas presents wrapped while they worked on the car, so CHECK that off my list!

After that, we all ate some lunch and started getting ready. We were off to see Santa!! And, very excited about it. We made an appointment this year with Santa at the Mall of America. With two small kids, it’s nice to know we wouldn’t be standing in line for hours. Santa went well…Olivia was pretty shy about it, but didn’t freak out or anything. Amelia did REALLY well, until just as they were finishing up, then reality set in that I was not holding her any more. We got some great pictures though, and that’s all that matters.

After Santa, we were off to the Madrid’s to exchange presents. We got Meeka a Dora Backpack, she seemed to really like it…Olivia and Amelia each got a pretty awesome toy…and Olivia was very into both of them. HA. After some catching up, playing and snacks, it was WAY past our bedtimes, Amelia’s reflux was acting up and it was time to head home. At the party last night, Dan and Skaar gave us a couple of gifts for the girls. Olivia opened them up before bed. They got her an “Olivia” doll, which she took to bed with her. Lucky girls!

12/17/10 – Schedule, What Schedule?

So, at least when I’m home, I’ve had the girls on a pretty decent schedule for a while now. Usually Olivia gets up before Amelia, we hang out and eat, and then Amelia joins us for a while. Then, they both take a nice long nap at the same time and I can actually get some stuff done. That does NOT seem to be the case any longer. Amelia has decided she needs to wake up for the day nice and early now too. And, then refuses to take a REAL nap. I’m hoping this is just a phase…maybe the 4 month sleep regression hitting a little late mixed with the swaddle weaning. I liked having a schedule…

So, not much was accomplished today. I managed to wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen while the girls played. Amelia has to be in her jumper or in her chair now if left unattended because she rolls herself all over the place.

Once Christian got home, he quickly showered and got ready because we went out tonight! YAY. Tonight was our friend Skaar’s 30th birthday celebration (rescheduled from last weeks thanks to the blizzard of the century). My mom came over to watch the girls, our other friend Gini kindly chauffeured us to the casino and we had a blast. Unfortunately, my mom had a pretty rough start to the evening. Amelia wouldn’t stop crying when we left, Olivia was acting a fool, like usual, hit her face on the table and gave herself a nice cut, swollen and very black and blue eye, and the dog escaped from the house. CHAOS…our house is CHAOS. Well, everything finally calmed down for her, thank goodness. It does bum me out to think that all of Olivia’s Christmas and birthday pictures are going to have this big black eye in them though…BUT, it could have been much worse I’m sure, so I’ll just be grateful for that!

Here's a picture of me, Skaar and Gini...I miss hanging out with these girls!

12/16/10 - Potty Dance!

Today was a pretty low key day. Christian actually got off work on time, and picked the girls up today…I LOVE when I get a break from doing that! We all met up at home, and just took it easy. We have a busy weekend of friends and Christmas festivities ahead of us, so we’re gearing up for that. My to-do list is growing rapidly, but between the girls, the Holiday’s and Christian’s work schedule, I have no idea when I’m going to get anything done! I have no presents wrapped (birthday or Christmas), we haven’t purchased a single thing for Olivia’s birthday party, other than her presents, the house is a mess, the general “to-do” items are stacking up. It’s so frustrating! There just are not enough hours in the day, ever! I really hope that life slows down a little bit after the Holiday and Birthday rush is over!

We do have some exciting news today though. Total TMI for some people, but Olivia used the potty for the first time today! YAY. We aren’t planning on actually potty training until after her birthday, but we’ve had her potty in the closet for a few months now. She’s getting more and more into the potty and understanding what it’s for. Tonight she wanted to “see” her potty, so we put it down in the bathroom and she played with it for a little while. We got her undressed to get into the bath, and while filling it up, she sat down on her potty…she stood up incredibly excited and laughing. We looked over only to find out that she had peed in the potty! We couldn’t believe it. We gave her some M&M’s, gave her lots of high fives and we all jumped around excited. She seemed so proud of herself, I loved it! We’re still not going to really hit training for a couple of weeks, but I’m excited to know that she’s at least interested in the potty!

I do have a picture of the whole potty experience, but I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate me sharing that! LOL. So, instead, here is a picture of her, and "her" puppy, hanging out. Man, these two just LOVE each other!

12/15/10 – Where’s The Dad?

First of all, last night was a million times better on the swaddle weaning front. Amelia woke up once, like normal, to eat and slept the rest of the night, unswaddled! YAY, hopefully it just took her that one horrible evening to adjust!

Today was a pretty good day. Except that my drive to and from work was HORRIBLE! How is it that it’s getting worse with each passing day…shouldn’t it be getting BETTER as the snow clears and the roads clean up? Between my drive and picking up the girls it took me 2 hours to get home! This after a horrible potluck incident at work…we had our holiday potluck today, and while standing in line some guy went to shake a salad dressing bottle and the cover was not on and of course it got all over me. I was a wreck the rest of the day. Ummm…can you say “still full of pregnancy/baby hormones”?!

Christian is back to working early AND late…super late in today’s case. The extra money sure is nice, but it would be nice to get some help with the girls/around the house. I hope things go back to the way they are supposed to be after the holiday craziness! So, us girls just hung out at home for a while and ate dinner while we waited for Dad, then it was basically time for baths and bed when he got there. So much for time together these days!

Amelia is really getting into her toys these days. I think she is going to be quite the mover...she really wants to go, go, go! She's already starting to rock when on all fours, it's hard to believe.

12/14/10 – Swaddle Weaning = Torture?

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!

12/13/10 – Brrr for Sure!

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...

12/12/10 – The Great Dig Out of 2010

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