2/28/12

Today wasn't too bad. I was home for the day with Amelia since she had to be kept home from daycare. Luckily I planned ahead, and I brought a bunch of work home with me to work on throughout the day - avoid falling too behind, and having to take the entire day off.

Amelia already looks WAY better this morning. She slept well - thank god for quick acting medicine! She actually slept in today. Unfortunately with my own little cold, I wasn't able to sleep and take advantage of that. BUT, at least she was getting her rest. Once she was up, we spent the day hanging out, playing a little, resting a lot and taking our medicine. Party time! She ended up taking a REALLY long nap, giving me plenty of time to get some work done. Christian and Olivia arrived home shortly after Amelia woke up. We ate some dinner, and hung out for a bit. Finally, it was time for baths and bed. Now, let's all just hope nothing passes onto Olivia and we'll be on the mend now!

Here is a cute picture I snapped of Amelia today. That smile I was missing!

2/27/12

Today was a much different day than I initially expected. I have a nice, full blown cold going on. I woke up in the middle of the night, not really able to breath, so I took some Nyquil...then, took some Dayquil this morning. I'm thinking they didn't mix too well, because I was feeling pretty loopy and crappy all morning.

After doing a little searching around, and checking in with my mother in law on Amelia this morning, I decided it would probably be best to take her into Urgent Care after work to get her eyes checked out. I was really worried that she had Pink Eye, but was just hopeful it was something else.

So, after work (a LONG day of work at that), I was off to pick up Amelia, and bring her in. The Urgent Care doctor was pretty convinced that she does indeed have pink eye. In addition, she said her left ear was looking pretty bad, definite ear infection. She was running a slight fever (like she had been on and off all weekend), so she wanted to check for strep, but Amelia was not cooperating with that. She said that her ear infection medication would help if she does have strep, so she wasn't too worried about not getting a good look. So, off to the pharmacy we went, then home to meet Christian and Olivia for dinner, a little play and an early bed time. Hoping with the new medicine and some Tylenol to top it off, we'll have a good night of sleep ahead of us. I know with the Nyquil (taken at a decent time), I sure will!

Here is Olivia'a 19 month photo. It's hard to believe. 19 months (and a day) already. She seems to grow and lean by leaps and bounds every day. She's gaining more words every day, talking more and more. She repeats a lot of what we say, in a much more recognizable manner now. She can say some of the standard stuff - mama, dad, bye-bye, puppy, blue, purple, more, milk. She has a few sentences, "where's daddy", "I want more", "I want milk" are the usuals. She is getting stronger every day, and standing up to Olivia. She is a TOTAL drama queen though. She'll start crying and throwing a fit at the drop of a dime. I think she is going to be a hand full, for sure! My girl, growing up!

2/26/12

Well, today was a pretty good day. The girls and I were all rocking some colds. Hoping they don't get too bad. Olivia ended up in bed with me last night because her cough was out of control. Poor thing. At this point, I really wish we would've had a REAL winter....one that freezes away all of the germs and gross crap! It's been rough already, I don't think we can take another round of sickness. Ick!

After making my mom a "happy birthday" sign, and sending her the picture to brighten up her day, we were off. First up, breakfast at Perkins - always a great start to the day. Then, off to Lowe's to officially order our new carpet. I'm so excited, moving right along!

The rest of the night was pretty low key. The girls went down for a nap when we got home, except Olivia wouldn't actually nap. I started going through their clothes - getting ready to swap out Amelia's closet soon, and trying to clean up the spare bedroom. While I did that, and Amelia napped, Christian and Olivia were off to hang out with his parents for a while and have dinner.

By the time they arrived home, it was time for baths and bed. By the time I went to bed, Amelia had already been up screaming and crying a few times. I think we're in for another long one!

Here are the girls with their Happy Birthday message!

2/25/12

Today was a very busy, very full day! And, tons of fun :)

First up was a quick breakfast, then Olivia and I were off on an adventure. Her very first theater movie ever! We won some passes to a screening of "The Lorax" today, so we were meeting my friend Kelly from work, and her daughter, for the show. It was PACKED when we got there. I was really worried that we wouldn't get in, but it turns out they were showing it in two theaters, so that was good. The Lorax himself was even there, and Olivia ran right up to him to give him a BIG hug - of course, I didn't have my camera with me. It was super cute. Then, into the theater we went. We ended up in the front row, but it actually worked out, the girls could for sure see everything that way. And, it turned out the movie was in 3D, which I was not expecting. I was surprised, Olivia actually kept her glasses on the whole time. The movie was really good, super cute, and Olivia loved it. She didn't make a peep the whole movie, and stayed in her seat. YAY!

When we arrived home, Amelia had just gone down for her nap. Christian was off to hang out with a friend from work for a little while, and Olivia ate some lunch and went off for a nap. I did some cleaning up and was able to relax for a little while.

Next up, after naps, my friend Melissa came over with her husband and kids for a play date. We've been trying to arrange this FOREVER, so I was really excited to finally hang out with them. All of the kids played together so well. They got FULL use out of the play room and it was nice being able to catch up with her. Christian and her husband got along pretty well too, so I'm hoping this leads to many more play dates!

The girls went right off to bed after they left. They were both a little crabby today, pretty tired and had some runny noses going on. I'm really hoping they aren't getting anything too serious. NOT this again!

Here are some pictures from today. First, Christian and the girls, snoozing on the couch this morning. Next, Olivia excited to head off to her first movie, and rocking her 3D glasses, waiting for it to start. Finally, an exciting piece of mail. The lien release on the truck we paid off earlier this month. It felt great seeing that!

2/24/12

Friday - FRIDAY at home. Great day :) It started off on a pretty amazing note as well. Weighed in, and I lost 2.8 pounds this week! Such a great feeling after 2 weeks of fairly low weight loss. Great way to start a Friday, that's for sure.

The girls were attached at the hip all day long. They must have missed each other all week at school! They spent some time playing on the tablet together, and just chased each other around all day long. They were actually pretty well behaved, which was exciting! After some breakfast, some playing, and some lunch, the girls were off for their naps. They each took a nice long nap and I had plenty of time to catch up on some shows, and relax.

When Amelia woke up from her nap, she was burning up. Definitely running a fever, and was still very tired and clingy. Not sure what's going on, right now I'm guessing teething. She took some Tylenol and rested with me for a while. She was sleeping on my chest when Christian arrived home with dinner. So, she and Olivia ate while Amelia and I cuddled. She finally woke up long enough to eat a little bit, but was still pretty tired, and bedtime came soon after. Poor thing.

Here are a couple pictures from today...sister bonding, and cuddling with my sick baby.

Ahhh, I was Tagged!

Jodi tagged me to do this. You would think after 2+ years of blogging, she would know how boring I truly am. I appreciate the shout out anyway! So, here we go....

The Rules

1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in the post you were tagged in
4. Create 11 new questions for your tagees to answer
5. Tag them on Twitter, Facebook or your blog

11 Random Facts about Ashley:

1. I've posted about it before, but I was born with Heart Disease. It's my most "interesting" fact really, if you can call it that.
2. I am OBSESSED with organization, spreadsheets, revamping processes, etc. I don't mean just a little, I mean full on obsessed. Like, it's my passion obsessed. Everybody that I work with, and Christian, has told me that I should start up some kind of organization or planning business. Hmmmm....maybe some day.
3. I have two kids, two girls, 18 months apart, who could not be more opposite from each other. From the way they entered the world, to every aspect of their current personalities. Oh the adventures I see in our future.
4. My husband is the only REAL relationship I have ever had. I was 18, just graduated, when we met, and he was just going into his Junior year of high school. I had not been interested in being in an actual relationship while I was in school, so basically, it was perfect timing.
5. I was a total band geek in school. I started playing the flute in 6th grade, and played through Junior year. My Senior year, we had literally NO brass section in our band, so I offered to teach myself how to play the Baritone. I sat in a practice room, every day, all class, for two months teaching myself before our first "concert", and I rocked it. I ended school being able to play the flute and baritone/tuba, along with a little piano, clarinet and trumpet. What I REALLY always wanted to play was the drums, but all of the boys made fun of me so I didn't pursue it.
6. In addition to that nerdiness, I was a school geek all around. I loved school - and I mean the actual school part. Math was by far my favorite class, I LOVED the satisfaction of figuring out a really hard, long, drawn out trig problem. English was a really close second...I liked writing reports and piecing all of the different english aspects together. While I hated it, I stuck with Spanish all through school, ending in Spanish 5. The one thing I never got into was science, which is weird, because I bet I would have LOVED it. I graduated on the A Honor Roll, in the Top 20% of my class. Go me!
7. To balance out my complete geeky facade, I was a jock to top it off. Softball/Fastpitch was my thing, from a little t-baller chasing the ball around in a mob of kids, to Varsity Fastpitch in High School (even as a Freshman, I joined the Varsity team for tournaments), it's the one thing I stuck with all through school. I played Volleyball from 6th-10th grade, and was actually surprisingly good for being pretty short. I tried out soccer and basketball...I enjoyed soccer, but choose Volleyball over it in High School, hated basketball.
8. Christian and I have never been on a REAL vacation together. We've gone "up north" on long weekends a couple of times, and on a road trip to Utah YEARS ago to visit his high school BFF, but other than that, no true vacations. One can dream, right.
9. When we decided to buy a house, we went on ONE home tour with our Realtor. We saw 11 houses, and that was it. We did go back to see two of the houses, and ended up buying one of those two. I hated the entire process of buying a house, and it did not excite me at all. I am SO grateful we found the perfect one on our first time out.
10. I had perfect 20/20 vision my entire life, until I was about 20 and the rapid decline started. Now, they suck, and are getting worse at a VERY fast pace.
11. I have never had stitches (other than my c-section staples, which I don't count), a broken bone, braces or anything of the like.

Questions I was asked to answer:

1. What is your favourite way to waste time without getting caught!!? OMG, I am a facebook addict. I sneak on ALL DAY LONG at work. Oops.
2. What was the first really *big* concert you went to? I have only ever been to 3 "concerts" and they were all very different. The first, was to see Fergie at our state fair. Outdoors, small crowd, medium intimacy and a REALLY good show. Next, Taylor Swift (I won tickets from a radio station)...huge production, huge stadium, huge crowd, amazing concert. Finally, Andy Grammar & Colbie Caillat, front row, in what's called a "sky room performance"...basically a small room, with maybe 50 people, watching them perform acoustically. It was beyond cool.
3. Biggest regret in life? Gosh, I have a few, for different reasons. I suppose my BIGGEST, would be not going to college. I had everything it took to go, loved school and did have a desire, but my refusal to take on student loans definitely held me back.
4. And the inverse... proudest moment? DEFINITELY my successful VBAC with Amelia. No question. From the second I had my c-section with Olivia, I knew I would NEVER do that again, and fought my way to a VBAC. It was the most amazing feeling of success in the world.
5. If you could ask President Obama one question - what would it be? Wow, I'm honestly drawing a blank on this. I even left it, and came back. I will admit, I am not as into politics as I should be. I wish I could get more into it and really invest time in it. I am not republican, and I am not a democrat. In fact, I HATE to hear anyone define themselves as one or the other, because I think people are truly limiting themselves by closing that door. I am definitely independent, maybe leaning slightly to the conservative side. In any event, I am not an Obama supporter. I do not think he had the credentials whatsoever for office, and no solid proof of his claimed stances on issues. But, he is the President, and I have the upmost respect for that. He seems like an incredibly genuine person, and I think I would love to just sit down and TALK to him. Not necessarily with anything particular in mind...he just seems like a really interesting person, I'd like to know more about him as a person really.
6. Sweets or Salt? Salty, for sure.
7. First or oldest childhood friend... are you still in contact with him or her? I had two best friends in grade school, Ashley and Christina. I am friends with both of them on facebook and actually interact with them a decent amount.
8. What do people love best about you? I'm honestly not sure. I would love to know that actually! I think I'm pretty funny - I come off kind of cold and not necessarily friendly, but once you get to know me, you learn that it's just part of my personality.
9. What is the coolest or most profound thing that has happened to you in the last 4 months? Definitely paying off our Truck Loan. That loan was a BEAST, and it was our first, and biggest move towards being debt free. It meant so much to us.
10. What do you need more of right now? Time. Plain and simple, I need more time. More specifically, more time at home! We've basically come to the realization that we need to just "let the house go" during the week. It's very hard for me to do, but it's the only thing that saves our sanity and allows us some family time.
11. What's a hobby you've always wanted to try? I love photography so much, and I would love to make it a real, true hobby - as in, take classes, invest in a "real" camera, etc. Something BRAND new that I'm not currently into, I would say knitting/crocheting. It seems really relaxing and I think I would really like it.

Questions for you to answer:
I am going to be completely lame, and skip this section. In all honesty, I have no idea who actually reads my blog period, let alone other bloggers. I suck.

2/23/12

Well, today concluded Week 1 of "school" for the girls. I'm surprised by how well they really did do, and I also realize I was too focused on how they would do AT school, I never realized what life would be like AFTER school. This morning went alright again. We were all up, ready and out the door right on time again. Amelia started crying right away when we got in the door...but while Olivia and I hung up her coat, one of the teachers got Amelia calmed down and was rocking her. Olivia actually started crying this morning, for the first time. I think more because she was really tired, and there was only one other little boy there when I dropped them off, and she didn't like that. Girls!

Work was good. This week has been pretty stressful at work....between dealing with this new daycare transition and having that occupy my mind, it seemed like everything I've been working on at work is just one problem after another lately. Nothing is easy anymore, nothing runs smoothly. Some days I just want to pull my hair out! The days have been going fast though, so I suppose there is a silver lining.

Today I got my walk in at work, a pretty tough workout in when I got home. My diet has been going really well, so far in the month and a half I've been going at this, I've only exceeded my calories once, so I'm super proud of that. My whole diet has changed though, and I'm feeling really good about it. I do feel like I have more energy lately, and just feel better all around. Nervous and excited for tomorrow's weigh in!

Tonight went about the same as the rest of the week. We all arrived home at the same time. Olivia was very well behaved tonight, so that was good. Amelia went through her whole crying/throwing a fit thing for a while, but not ALL night, so that was progress. After baths and a little play time, they were off to bed. VERY exhausted, and I'm sure tomorrow will be a nice, relaxing break for them.

Here is a picture of the girls, kicking back and enjoying a reward for their great first week of school :)

2/22/12

Well, today was another pretty hectic day. My first time dropping off, and Christian's first time picking up, on our own. We were up and out the door on time, and drop off went well. Amelia's real teacher was actually there today, so I was excited to meet her. I said my goodbye's and got the girls settled in and playing with the other kids that were already there. Amelia did come chasing after me though on my way out, and her teacher swooped her up, and took her off to console her. Hearing her yell and scream as I walk out the door is probably ones of the hardest things I've ever done. I know it will get better though, and, the teachers all assure us that she stops after a couple of minutes, so I try not to think about it too much. Christian's pick up went well too, except both of the girls insist on having him hold them and carry them out, which really just doesn't work. Amelia's report today came back with flying colors, again. They said she's always so happy and just a little bundle of sunshine :) YAY. Olivia is just LOVING it, new friends, learning all kinds of new stuff and the director said she just fits right in like she belongs. I just love it!

After work, the carpet measurer came out to measure the basement! I cannot wait to get going on our next project, and get that smell out for good! The girls were pretty moody and tired again tonight. I had to skip my workout again trying to help keep them somewhat under control. After dinner, we did a quick bath and they were off to bed early again. I have to admit...I miss that extra time with them, but it's nice being able to crawl into bed early and watch a show or two, and actually get to bed myself at a decent time!

Here is a rare, happy picture of Amelia tonight :)

2/21/12

It's Here, It's Here...The First Day of School!!!

I was a nervous wreck all morning. We have our little rhythm going already, and we were all out the door, right on time. The girls were SUPER excited. Olivia started getting nervous as we walked up to the door, Amelia was fine, until she saw all of the strangers. There were already quite a few kids there when we dropped them off, so maybe that helped a little. We got the girls' coats and everything put away, said our goodbyes, and got them settled in with the other kids. They all start the morning together, until breakfast, when they split off into their own rooms. I like that the girls get to be together for a while, that's comforting. Olivia didn't even pay any attention to us as we left, Amelia did start to cry, and that was tough.

I touched base with the director mid-morning, and she said they were doing great. Amelia only cried for a few minutes, and they were fitting right in, playing along and making new friends. She e-mailed me again at lunchtime to assure me they were doing great, and even sent me a few pictures of the girls. I'm so happy that she is going the extra mile like this, it makes me more confident in our decision.

Surprisingly, with the stress, work flew by. We were picking the girls up together tonight so we could both get a feel for the pick up routing, and hand in all of the paperwork. We were able to spy in on Olivia, and she was sitting with all of kids, looking SO happy and content. She heard us in the office talking and came running up to us, so excited to see us. Then, we were off to surprise Amelia. She was running from once place to another, playing with everything. She was also super excited to see us, but I think they were both more excited to each other more than anything. It was so cute seeing the big bear hugs commence. The director and the teachers all commented that they couldn't believe it was their first day at daycare. They said the girls were so happy, listened so well and were a great addition to the center. YAY!

The rest of the night, was rough. Olivia was SUPER rowdy, not acting like herself at all. By the time dinner was over, she was pretty much in crash mode, and just sat on the couch. Amelia, had a meltdown the second we stepped in the door, basically until she went to bed. Everything we said or did seemed to set her off...screaming, crying, throwing a fit. We got her calmed down a bit to eat, and that was about it. They were off to bed super early, and we weren't far behind. Hopefully after some adjustment, they won't be quite so exhausted!

Here are some first day pics :)

2/20/12

Presidents Day! YAY. Another long weekend, but still never long enough. The girls and I were home today, and we had a pretty relaxed day. I had a pretty major headache, which never helps. I've been attempting to give up my Diet Dew addiction, starting on the weekends, and it's not going great. Ugh, stupid caffeine!

I was feeling a bit better when Christian got home from work, so I made a quick run to Target for a few necessities. Including, a bottle of Diet Dew. Grrr.

The rest of the evening was filled with preparing outfits for the week, packing up my work food for the week, getting all of the daycare gear together. We chatted about our routine plan for daycare mornings, and I think we're all ready go to. I'm a little emotional about it, and hard having no idea how everything is going to go. But, nevertheless, here we go! In the end, I'm so excited for them. No more being cooped up in the house all of the time, just being around their parents and grandparents. Finally being around other kids, experiencing the real world, learning and taking their first steps towards their future. Ahhhh...

Here is a cute picture of my happy little lady today. Love.