4/18/12

Well, one of my goals while Christian is away is to break the girls of their waking during the night habits. I am not a fan of "crying it out", but I also don't believe at toddler-stage it qualifies as crying it out anymore. I believe that at this point, it's most important that they actually get their sleep, a good full night of sleep, especially on school nights. So, last night, the girls both woke up right as I was going to bed. They cried and yelled for a while, I shouted in that everything was OK and they needed to go back to sleep, and a few minutes later they were both out. Not another peep the rest of the night. Hopefully I can work with them this week and get them over it before Christian comes home - he's too much of a softy.

I weight in at work today for our Biggest Loser Challenge and I was down 4 lbs from 2 weeks ago! YAY, I liked that for sure! I also went to lunch with a few co-workers to celebrate a birthday - we went to Ruby Tuesday for the salad bar and YUMMY! So, the day definitely flew by today. I was off early again to workout and relax a while before picking up the girls.

The girls were a little less cooperative tonight. They were annoying each other all night long and wouldn't eat at dinner. Until they were "sent to bed" - then they scarfed it right down! Another habit I'll be working on breaking.

We did have a little break in the fighting. My stepmom sent the girls some coloring pages in the mail, so they opened up envelopes and got to work :)

4/17/12

Well, Christian is off on his travels. Of course, not without a few bumps. Apparently they were very confused on what to do during their Chicago layover - very apparent when he called me from baggage claim. No dear, you don't get your baggage. He said they had a pretty turbulent landing/end of the flight. But, they did land safe and sound.

The word day actually flew by - hopefully a trend for the week. I left early to get home, get my workout in and get a little something done before I had to pick up the girls. The girls were very well-behaved tonight, which made for a great start to our week of girls only club. The played together, ate well, took their baths and went to bed like perfect little angels. Let's see how long this lasts!

The girls got ahold of the Easter stuff (that I still haven't put away...) and had a ball tonight. Who new baskets, plastic eggs and dye cups could be so exciting!

4/16/12

Monday - and I had a raging case of the Monday's ALL day long. The only thing that got me through the day was the fact that this is going to be a short week for me. I'm leaving work early tomorrow-Thursday, Friday is my day off and I'm taking next Monday off to have a day ALL to myself after a long week of single parenting...before the husband comes home. The thought of this time off is so exciting for me!

Christian left work early today to run to Menards and pick up the girls a little early - he had a LOT to do before he leaves tomorrow. When I got home, he was off to pick up his travel companion. His dad is bringing them to the airport in the morning, so it was easier for him to just stay at our house. While he was gone, I got my workout in while the girls played in their playroom.

They arrived home as I was finishing up, so we all had some dinner and Christian started packing. They made a quick trip to Target and Walmart for some traveling needs while I got the girls bathed and ready for bed. After he said his goodbye's to them, they passed right out, Christian and Lorenzo fixed the broken hose in the laundry room and I slipped into bed for the night. Christian leaves bright and early in the morning, so we'll see how things go!

Olivia did spike another fever today. She was pretty warm when I dropped them off this morning, and it got a little worse as the night went on. Nothing like Easter though. She was complaining that her head hurts - I really hope that she doesn't develop my migraines - that would just kill me!

4/15/12

Sunday has come too soon! Especially because the girls did not sleep well last night at all. They were both up several times throughout the night - too much partying I suppose! You could tell Amelia's teeth were just killing her - she wasn't talking much and was biting on her gums, her rash was pretty prominent and she had a low grade fever all day. She was quite a cuddle bug, that's for sure!

They were both up for the day pretty early. Somebody else in our house decided to drink a bit too much yesterday/last night so, like usual, I was left to care for the girls all morning. Was not happy about that...not at all.

I did some laundry and some random cleaning up throughout the day. Once Christian finally pulled himself off the couch, we got the girls some lunch and down for their naps, then took to the basement to finally start getting everything back in order. We got the playroom put back together, hooked up the TV/surround sound, got the girls' princess stuff set up (well, most of it) and did a little picking up in the laundry room. Still a TON left to do, but we're getting there.

We spent the evening just hanging out with the girls, eating dinner and relaxing. And then, a new mishap. As I mentioned, I did laundry all day. I had out last load, Christian's jeans in the washer and was going to just leave them to dry tomorrow. I realized that we left the baby monitor downstairs, so I had to go down stairs to get that. As soon as I opened the door, I hear water. RAN back to the laundry room (after the disaster a couple months ago) and found water spraying EVERYWHERE. The hose running from the cold water pipe to the washer sprung a leak. Christian came down to turn the water off and help clean up. CHAOS. It's a good thing I had to get the monitor, otherwise who knows what kind of disaster we would have had on our hands :(

Rico was holding Christian's luggage hostage tonight. Looks like somebody else wants to head for the border too!

4/14/12

This morning was pretty low key. The girls played in their room for a while after they woke up, so I was able to take my time peeling myself out of bed. We had some breakfast and hung out, cleaned up a little. The usual. Christian was off to get his haircut while I got the girls down for their naps a little early.

Then, we were all off to a birthday party!! Love birthday parties!! Today my friend Melissa's little boy turned 1, so exciting :) The girls had such a great time playing with all of the other kids, and it was such a fun party. We ended up staying there fairly late talking with everybody and letting the kids play. Melissa and her husband have so many friends with kids there age - Christian and I were SO jealous - I'd give anything to have that. I'm hoping as the girls are in school, and once they start playing sports and stuff we'll start making connections with other parents around us.

The girls passed out on our way home from the party and went right to bed. Christian's friend stopped over and they hung out downstairs for a bit while I caught up on my DVR. Great day!

Here are some pics from the party...

4/13/12

Friday, sweet Friday! It never gets less amazing. To top it off, today was weigh in day...I was down another 2 lbs for a total of 17.8! YES - damn it feels good!

This week was a pretty long week at work. Things are somewhat slow right now, which is VERY unusual for me. I spent the last couple years barely getting my head above water - actually keeping up on everything is a definite change of pace for me. Christian hasn't heard anything on his job interview yet, so we have no idea what's going on there. He was approached about the possibility of going back to overnights though. He said he really doesn't want to go back to overnights, but I find the proposition interesting. He would work Monday-Thursday nights, so he'd be off Friday, Saturday and Sunday. He'd be able to watch the girls on Monday's, we'd still have our weekends together - not so bad. He would definitely have to have a decent pay increase to make it worth the change - and exhaustion, though. And, it's nearly impossible to get back on days, which is another issue as the girls get older. He'd miss out on a lot of their stuff once they're in school/sports if he was working overnights. I guess we'll see what happens.

We had a pretty relaxing evening together. The girls played down in their room for a while (well, destroyed their room really). Christian and I had a little movie night when they went to bed. We watched "Bad Teacher" for some laughs - I'd heard back things about it, but I actually thought it was pretty funny. Lots of good laughs.

The girls found their old baby playmat in the spare bedroom and had a BLAST with it. It was hilarious.

4/12/12

Another pretty low key, boring day for us.

Again, Christian was off to his mom's with the girls for dinner tonight. She made some rice and stuff - since I weigh in tomorrow, I said NO WAY to that, which gave me the house to myself for the evening. I got my kickboxing workout in - which still TOTALLY kicks my butt. Ate a little dinner and hung out for a bit.

The girls went right into the bath when they got home. Their new bathing suits came in the mail today. Last year these "SnapMe" suits were featured on babysteals.com and I bought them each one. I LOVE these suits...I'm not a fan of two piece swim suits, but one piece's are always such a pain. These snap on the bottom so it makes diaper changes/potty breaks super easy. LOVE them. Olivia's from last year still fits her, but I got her another one, of course. Of course they wanted to try them on right away - SO, we went "swimming" in the tub rather than taking a bath tonight. LOL

4/11/12

Not too much to report on today. Work was work, just the usual. Christian is going to Mexico next week to visit his family...his friend from work is going with them, so they went to do some shopping tonight. Luckily for me, the girls were perfect angels. They were playing together ALL NIGHT LONG, like they just loved each other to pieces. It's always so amazing to see them actually playing together and getting along. Makes life so much easier.

Here is a picture of my little ham tonight...

4/10/12

The girls seem to be doing much better. YAY!!! Olivia hasn't had anymore signs of a fever, and is back to her usual self. Amelia seemed pretty good...it was obvious her mouth was bothering her though. They did sleep all night long, not a single peep, though - which hasn't happened in a LONG time. It was amazing!

Today, Amelia didn't cry when I dropped her off at school. She's cried every day but once since they started there....so it was definitely different. I hate that she does it - even though I know she stops as soon as I leave, it's still hard. Today her actual teacher was there when I dropped them off, so that helped. She just ran right over to her like it was nothing. I was actually pretty upset because she didn't even give me a hug and kiss goodbye! Ugh - just can't win! LOL

The day actually went pretty fast. Things at work were pretty busy - I've been making a conscious effort to stay up on everything - including the crappy paperwork I usually just let sit around until it piles up WAY too high. Feels good to be busy, but not swamped.

After work I ran to the store. Christian and the girls ended up going to his mom's for dinner, so that gave me some time to shop and put everything away. I was pretty exhausted and my head was pounding, so I ate dinner and considered skipping my daily workout. I got a couple loads of laundry done, folded and put away, just in time to get the girls to bed. At the last minute I decided to head downstairs and get my workout in. I knew I would have been really upset with myself if I didn't. I was really proud of myself!

Today we got the girls' school pictures back - they are SUPER cute...

4/9/12

Well, it wasn't as bad of a night as I expected. Amelia slept really well. When we finally got a second dose of Motrin in Olivia last night, and got the fan going to keep her cooled off, she actually slept pretty well too. Just a couple cries during the night, and I was able to get her right back to sleep. I think minus the random toddler kicks here and there I would've gotten some good sleep too! LOL. I woke up this morning, showered and started getting ready, only to have Amelia wake up crying and screaming. She wouldn't let me put her down, so I decided to just lay on the couch with her, and go in to work when they were both up instead of waking them. Amelia's canine teeth are just about all the way in, and she's already started cutting her 2nd molars. At least we'll finally be done pretty soon!

Work went by pretty fast...going in late helps, but I also ended up leaving early too. I had intentions of doing a little cleaning, making our shopping list and heading to the store and getting my workout in before everybody else got home. Well, by the time I finished doing a little cleaning, it was too late to shop and workout...so, shopping was crossed off the list. I was NOT going to miss my workout. I did that and started dinner...the fam got home, we ate and just relaxed the rest of the night. Olivia seemed to be doing much better. Amelia was pretty crabby today - she developed some kind of rash on her arms, legs and back - I think it's from teething, because I remember her and Olivia having a similar rash before, so hopefully it's nothing more serious.

Tonight we cracked open Amelia's bath crayons from the Easter bunny and they had a grand time. Amelia insists on coloring on the bathtub floor though, LOL.