6/28/11 - Another Wasted Day

Well, I wasted away another day at Training today. BOO. As I mentioned last week, I seriously hate training. As if we don't have anything else to be doing right now. And of course, yet again, it was a training that I really didn't even need to take...learning a piece of the new system that I won't even be using. SO ANNOYING! The only good thing about these training classes is that they are computer training's, so I'm able to check my e-mail and get SOME work done while I'm there. This class actually got out quite early too, which was nice!

After work, I stopped in to Target to pick up the "fun" stuff (diapers, wipes, etc.) and Walgreens...to pick up a collage print...of AMELIA! Can you believe it, 11 months later I've finally printed, AND hung a picture of Amelia! I'm sad...with all of the pictures I take, I NEVER print a single one. How sad is that?!?

After that, we all met up at home and hung out for the night. Nothing too exciting. Here is Amelia giving the sit and spin a try! She thought it was hilarious!

6/27/11 - It's the Final Countdown

It's here....the final week, the days are ticking down and time is running out. If a budget is not in place by midnight Thursday, we are shutting down and I'll be laid off. This is going to be a long, stressful, emotional week, that's for sure. I am so sick of the waiting game...wait, wait, wait. We just need answers, action and we need all of this to end. I'm upset as a state employee, obviously, but even more so as a citizen of the state. There is simply no excuse for this.

Work was for the most park, work as usual. We're still trying to just keep things going and keep moving along. It's hard though. I mean, I write Contracts with consultants, for projects that are not going to be able to continue as of the 1st. It's hard not to feel like you are just wasting your time and doing something for nothing at this point. But, life doesn't stop, and we need to just keep going!

We really didn't do anything tonight after work. I think we're both silently so stressed over my upcoming lay off, that things at home are a little quiet right now. Here is a picture of my big girl, washed and ready for bed!

6/26/11 - 11 Months

SHUT UP! My baby is 11 months old today! I simply cannot believe that. I can remember this time last year like it was yesterday. The anxiety, the eagerness, the worry, the fear, the OMG I'm 9 months pregnant soreness...all of it. I feel like I was just carrying around this amazing gift inside of me, and now she's this crazy, wild child taking over our house!

Amelia is STILL in Size 2 diapers and 6-9 month clothes. I keep thinking she's just about ready to move up, but then she just doesn't quite grow! When it comes to "milk", she is still 100% breastfed, and I'm still loving it. As I've said the past couple months, I'll be happy to hang up my pump in the next month or two for a while, but when I'll actually stop nursing, I'm not sure. She finds comfort in it, therefore I do too. And, being so small, there's nothing better for her growing body them breast milk, so it can only do more good than anything. So, we'll see what happens there.

I am officially calling her a walker now. Walking is her main mode of transportation at this point. Don't get me wrong, she has that wobbly, drunk, Frankenstein walk going on still, but she's getting GREAT at it, and rarely crawls any more. She follows us everywhere, more than ever now, and she thinks walking is the funniest thing ever. It's WAY too cute.

Mom is still the only thing she says, yet she "talks" non stop, all day long. She is SO happy, and has the most amazing smile I've ever seen. She lights up a room with her smile, and it's totally contagious. She's starting to develop quite a personality these days, and a whole lot of attitude to go with it. She's not taking much crap from her big sister any more, and I think Olivia is going to be in for some BIG trouble in the next few months!

This morning, I was filled with so much joy. I laid in bed, watching the girls on the monitor after they woke up this morning. They were chatting and laughing and having a good old time. I think Olivia was still pretty tired, and she kept telling Amelia "Shhh, I'm tired, go sleepy". Amelia dropped her blankie out of the crib, so Olivia QUICK ran, picked it up, threw it back in, and ran back to bed...Amelia of course then decided this was a game, and kept doing it....Olivia was not too happy about that. She kept getting it back for her, but would say "I told you, don't throw it out", in a very annoyed tone of voice. Finally, I moved the camera, and she started yelling at me to "Go sleepy DUDE". I couldn't help but laugh and laugh. It was so fun watching them interact with each other, and Olivia is just beyond entertaining.

We had a pretty busy day today. Christian and Olivia cleaned up the garage and his truck, and once I got Amelia down for a nap, I joined them. We sprayed down the outdoor toys, moved the "tree" swing, and did a lot of cleaning up outside. MUCH needed cleaning up. Then, we were all off to dinner at his parents house. They called us up to let us know they were grilling some chicken....so, since we don't pass up free food, we took them up on the offer.

I once again was burned from being outside, and my contacts are WAY overused (and out of date), so the combination has been giving me a head ache lately. Today was no different, so we didn't stay too long. Once we got home, the girls played for a little while, and were off to bed.

So, that's our day. Here is Amelia's 11 month photo. SO BIG!

6/25/11 - Game Day

Today was a day I look forward to all year long...Game Day! Every year my dad's side of the family gets together at my Grandparents' house for a croquet tournament. We play other outdoor games and just spend the day together as well, but the tournament is the main attraction. Of course, it rained today. But, we play rain or shy (it's serious business). It never got too bad, but I was quite wet from time to time, that's for sure.

Olivia was in heaven with all of the other kids. Just playing the day away. Amelia was so well behaved, I couldn't believe it! I thought for sure she'd be attached to my hip from the minute we got there, but she was quite a social butterfly.

Neither Christian nor I had a very impressive croquet day. But, that's OK. We got to eat lots of yummy food and spend time with everybody, so that was good enough!

We headed home, a little past bedtime, and the girls went right to bed. They were beyond exhausted, so this better mean a nice long night of sleep! Christian was off to hang out with my cousin for a little while, so I had a nice, quiet night to myself.

Early this afternoon my mom called me with some news. She's heard that a friend of mine from high school was killed in a car crash this morning. It was so surreal to me. Christine and I were not best friends by any means, but she was a great person. So caring, the nicest person you could ever know. I don't think in all of our school years I'd ever heard one bad thing about her. She was engaged to another guy we went to school with, they'd been together since 8th grade! Can you imagine, to be so young, having spent over half of your life with somebody, and lose them this way? I just can't even fathom the though.

Reports came out later that she was driving on a two land road, and was hit head on by another vehicle. The other driver was 19 years old (minor injuries), and it's being reported that she was drunk. I can't tell you how much this enrages me. There is no excuse for drinking and driving, NONE, but even worse, at 19 years old, at 8:3o in the morning?!? It just breaks my heart. The accident itself is so tragic, but to find out why it happened in the first place, makes me so angry.

So, my thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends and the many people who's lives she's touched. She was taken WAY too soon, and it's truly not fair in any sense of the word.

6/24/11 - Finally Friday

Yes, it's Friday again. FINALLY. The end to another long, very stressful week. Today was a pretty low key day. Some people at work are starting to have pretty bad attitudes. I feel like there is no excuse for that. We are ALL in the same position right now, and we don't have any control over what's going on, so what is the point in coming to work with bad attitudes, throwing fits, pouting and just all around acting like a toddler. I get enough of that crap at home, I shouldn't need to put up with it at work. Too bad you can't get reprimanded for being crabby! LOL

I did get an awesome facebook alert halfway through the day that Old Navy facebook fans could get tanks for $2.00 today, so a coworker and I made a quick stop on our lunch break. Can't pass that up! So, that turned things around for me a little bit!

After work, it was apparent that my mom had a LONG day with the girls. Olivia was up to her usual ways, acting out towards Amelia. I took the girls to Target, did a little shopping, and we met up with Christian back at home for some dinner. After dinner we headed over to my BFF's new house to check it out. Olivia burned off some much needed energy playing with Andrew and his cousins, and we got in lots of laughs with Kari, her sister and the guys. The girls passed out right away on the way home, and we were not far behind.

Here is a picture of Amelia, after devouring some cookies. Lucky duck!

6/23/11 - Double Congrats for by BFF!!

Today was just a typical Thursday for me. Work, which included a meeting that turned pretty ugly. We had a little group meeting to talk about some processes and make sure things are working well within the office...I knew before the meeting even started that it was going to turn ugly just because people take things so personally and want to act like everything is an attack on them. So, just as I expected, that's exactly what happened. I swear, half the time I truly feel like I never left high school with the drama that goes on at work!

Today was an ultra amazing day for my best friend though. She closed on her first house today, and was so excited about it. I'm so proud of her! Then, to top it off, her boyfriend FINALLY popped the question, so she got engaged on top of it!! I'm so excited and beyond happy for her. Things are going so amazingly for her right now, and she definitely deserves it! So, I feel like I'm going to have quite a busy year ahead of me helping her wedding plan, but I wouldn't have it any other way! YAY.

We just hung out around the house tonight. Nothing too exciting. Here is a picture of Amelia...you can probably guess what we had for dinner tonight!

6/22/11 - And, Repeat

Yeah, today is pretty much just a repeat of yesterday. Nothing too exciting going on, again. Work was work, the girls were the girls, and home was home. Just the usual.

I don't know if I've given a teething update lately, but Amelia has her 8 front teeth now. YAY. Hopefully that means we'll get a little break from teething for a while. The last 2 top ones still have a little ways to come out yet...she still gets a little crabby, and she'll nibble, or even BITE me, so I think they get a little itchy still. It's crazy..it took her SO long to get her first tooth, and then they came in like a lightning bolt!

So, that's my pretty boring update for the day. Here is a picture of Amelia, in my shoe box. LOL

6/21/11 - Just Another Tuesday

I don't have a ton to report on today. Work was pretty crazy, catching up after being gone all day yesterday. But, I feel "caught up" now. I have just the right amount of work in my inbox (and nothing has been sitting there for 2 months), I've been keeping up on my e-mails and routing. It feels great! There have been rumors here and there about Christian going to work in Wisconsin again, but it sounds like that probably won't be happening again. Sounds like they are finally getting everything straightened out and are on top of things. I think he's a little sad about it, but I think it's for the best. It's just not the best time for him to be traveling around and doing all kinds of stuff. The OT sure is nice though! Hopefully they'll find some more projects for him, closer to home. I know he likes having the chance to do and learn new things, that's appealing to him.

We haven't been up to a ton at home lately. The weather is hit or miss every day. Lots of rain, so hot days, some cold days. The girls are doing about the same. Amelia is walking more every day, and definitely starting to fight back when Olivia picks on her. She puts up quite a fight when Olivia tries to take things from her or push her around...and for being so small, she's freakishly strong! Olivia gives her lots of love and help these days, and is sharing more and more every day, but when she does act out, it's worse than ever. More violent and over the top. Maybe because she sees Amelia fighting back, she things she needs to be tougher? I'm not sure, but I hope it's just a really long phase and she does get over it at some point.

So, that's pretty much up update for today. Not really anything going on with us, so we're pretty boring right now. We played outside for a while tonight, so I snapped some pictures. Christian was trying out the sprinkler, of course the girls couldn't resist, and he and Olivia planted some grass seed.

6/20/11 - Training...Blech

So, today I had an all day training class. Talk about torture. I seriously hate training. Probably because I really don't learn well in that kind of atmosphere. I'm definitely a hands on, throw me into the fire, kind of learner, so it's seriously like death for me to sit there, ALL.DAY.LONG listening to somebody talk and try to teach me something I know absolutely nothing about. Thank god a few other people from my office went with me, so we were able to entertain each other. And, we it was a online training, so I was able to check my work e-mail and get some work done while I was there! Probably frowned upon, but since my supervisor was sitting right behind me watching me the whole time, and didn't say anything, I'm guessing she didn't mind too much. LOL. And after training, she ended up just sending us home even though it wasn't quite quitting time yet. So, bonus!

I made my trip home, and was able to get all of the laundry put away and do a little cleaning. After Christian picked up the girls, he stopped at an auto body shop to have them check out his tires. One of his tires is bulging, so he wanted to talk to them and has been getting some price quotes. Little does he know, he is NOT replacing any tires until one actually goes out. While he did that, I was also able to order the last of Amelia's birthday party stuff that I needed to. We're basically ready...I'm going to stop into the dollar store and party supply store sometime this week to pick up table cloths, silverware, order some balloons and pick up any final little decorations I need. Then, we'll just need to get food and we're set! I can't believe it's just over a month away!

Finally, they all arrived home. Christian fed them some dinner while I finished up dishes and all that usual stuff. Then, it was time for baths and bed! There was such an amazing breeze tonight...the way our windows face, we don't often get a breeze in the house, but tonight it was just perfect. We are supposed to get some pretty bad storms overnight, so I'm a little worried that we have a sleepless night ahead of us. Fingers crossed that's not the case!

I FINALLY got a decent video of Amelia walking. It takes a little time for her true talent to show, but it's cute. She's getting better every day!

6/19/11 - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

First and foremost, I must with my dad, a very happy Father's Day! Even though we don't see each other daily, or spend a ton of time together, he's always there for me, and is such a great man! So, I hope you have a great one, Dad!

Of course, I also have to pay tribute to my other half, the most amazing baby daddy I could ask for. Christian is definitely my rock, and when it comes to parenting, we MOST definitely complete each other. Is the the calm, when I am the storm, he is my support, when the days get too long. He is the push when I get too overbearing. He is such a great male figure in our girls' lives, and I honestly could not ask for more. Neither of us are perfect, but together, we make the perfect match. I love you, and the amazing provider, husband, father and caretaker you are!

Olivia was up bright and early this morning. But, she did AMAZINGLY in ber big girl bed last night. She didn't get out of bed at all, I'm so proud of her! I must share a funny story though. After Christian put Olivia down, I was watching her on the monitor while I fed Amelia. She was sitting there, talking to herself, like usual. I panned the camera over to look at Amelia's bed, just to see what it looked like, and when I panned it back to Olivia, she was sitting there, staring up at the camera. She slowly crawled over to her pillow, laid down, covered up and went right to sleep. I was cracking up, she obviously noticed the camera, and her reaction was just priceless. So, this morning, she brought me into her room to tell me the camera moved. Poor thing, I'm sure it scared her a little bit, but it really was hilarious.

Anyway, Amelia decided to sleep in today, so we spent the moning watching cartoons in bed with Olivia. She also gave Christian his Father's Day cards and gift...tickets to today's Twins game was his real gift, but I picked him up a new, heavy duty, grill brush because he's been whining about getting one forever. Finally, Amelia was up. We had omlets for breakfast, showered, got ready, packed up a bag and were on our way to the game.

Our seats were really good, in the outfiend, up under the 2nd level so the girls were out of the sun, close to the commons so we could get up and walk around when they got antsy, and right on the ailse which of course is ideal with little ones. The weather was great, the girls were relatively well behaved, and entertained the people sitting around up quite a bit, and they WON, which was just icing on the cake!

After the game, Christian dropped me off at home so I could finish up some laundry (yippie), then headed over to his parents house to spend some time with them. I eventually met them over there for dinner, then we all made our way back home, to bed. Our very exhausted little girls went right to bed, and we were not far behind. Hoping for another successful night in the toddler bed, that's for sure!

Here are some pictures from the game! Als0, note, the dress Amelia is wearing is the same dress Olivia wore to her first Twins game. However, Olivia was just over 5 months old (picture at the end)!