2014 - Week 2

Monday morning was ROUGH, to put it nicely. It was freezing, literally. -26 actual temp, -48 with windchill. The schools are closed statewide, the roads were empty, the parking lot was empty. Throughout the day, they started canceling schools for Tuesday as well, because it’s not expected to be much better tomorrow. I will say, I had myself pretty much convinced I was going to die walking into work this morning – but, the cold wasn’t nearly as horrible as I prepared myself for. So, that was a plus. And, thank the Lord, my car started right up after work, which I spent the day panicking about . Work itself was OK, the day went faster than expected, so that was a plus. Christian’s friend from work’s car wouldn’t start this morning, so he picked him up, and brought him home, so he was pretty late getting home. I stopped quick at Walmart (also DEAD!) for a few groceries, picked up the girls, and we bunkered down for the night. They played for a while, but Amelia was having a pretty rough day. She was acting up pretty bad in school all day, and that carried right on through to home tonight, so that made for a bit of a long evening. I managed to get dinner made and they ate, finishing up just as Christian arrived home. We spent some time playing with the girls, trying to distract them from fighting and acting up, and it was finally time for Amelia to head to bed. I wasn’t feeling too hot at this point, so I decided to retire to bed early, with intentions of resting, watching some Sons of Anarchy and fighting off the stomach ache I was developing. Olivia had other plans for me, as she followed me into the room and curled up next to me with the iPad; eventually deciding that she needed to sleep with me tonight. I couldn’t turn her away, I love my kid cuddles!

The temp I noticed as I was getting ready for work. Ouch.

my "relaxing" mate

Tuesday was another cooooold day. Slightly better than yesterday, but still cold. There were sheets of black ice everywhere throughout the city, so there were a ton of accidents this morning, including two pretty big ones on my route to work. So, while schools were closed again, and traffic was light, it was a tough drive anyway. I’m not sure what’s going on – if it’s just pregnancy related, or something else, but I’ve been exhausted the last couple of days, today being the worst yet. I was honestly struggling to keep my eyes open all day at work. Needless to say, I gave Christian a heads up that I’d pretty much be heading right to bed as soon as he got home tonight! After work, I picked the girls up and we made our way home. Amelia’s pre-school teacher was gone for the day already, so one of the floaters was in the room with them. The room was in complete shambles…there were papers, crayons and markers all over the room, the kids were loud and chaotic and I could tell the poor teacher was reaching her limit with the kids. I’ve never seen it like that before, and my heart kind of ached for her. Of course, she was great with the kids and doing her best to wrangle them up and clean up, but I could just imagine the HUGE sigh of relief she was going to be letting out when she got home for the night. I honestly don’t know how people do that – how you can handle teaching and taking care of a room full of 2-3 year olds all day. It has got to be one of the most stressful jobs on the planet. Once the girls and I were home, I put in Smurfs 2, for the millionth time, and rested while the girls watched that. We had a pretty simple, sandwich/oranges/chips dinner because I did not have the energy to cook anything. Christian arrived home pretty late, and I was in my jammies, tucked into bed with Netflix at 7:30. Tonight, both girls decided they needed to join me, so they watched the iPad for a while. I finally coaxed Amelia into her room for bed, but Olivia decided that she again had to sleep with me. It was another early night; hopefully I’ll get some energy back tomorrow!

Double-Trouble Tonight!

Wednesday I was feeling a little better. I had a little more energy, the weather was picking up a little bit and I was in a better mood. Work went well…we had a little afternoon party for one of our co-workers, so I got to enjoy some cake! I picked up the girls after work, and things seemed much better at the center. I’ve been seeing a lot of new faces lately, so they must have had an influx of new applications recently. We arrived home and I got dinner started and did some cleaning up in the kitchen while the girls played, and eventually threw Smurfs 2 in….AGAIN! Seriously, I think that movie is going to mysteriously disappear soon. Christian arrived home, we ate and we all just cuddled up on the couch for a while. Amelia was off to bed, and Olivia immediately asked me to go into our room with her…she had already decided she was sleeping in there, again. I keep asking her why she wants to sleep with me, worrying that she’s afraid of something, or something is going on. She just says “because I love you”. Hopefully it’s just a phase. So, she and I were off to cuddle up in bed again…I continued my tradition of watching some Sons of Anarchy, while she passed out.

Thursday was a pretty low key day. The weather is making its way back to normal, school has been going well, Christian is still busy at work and today was my Friday! YES! We had a quiet night at home…dinner, baths, a little TV together. Just what we needed! I was sitting with the girls, and they were both laying on my belly, seeing if they could hear the baby, which was really cute. Once Amelia was in bed, I suddenly REALLY felt some kicks, and realized you could see them. I quick grabbed Olivia, put her hand on my belly, and she got to feel the baby kick a couple times. Her reaction was priceless, it was SO awesome. She was too young to care what was going on when I was pregnant with Amelia, so it’s fun to see what she thinks this time around. Hopefully Amelia will be able to feel them soon too. I’m excited to be in that stage – nothing like REALLY feeling those kicks and strengthening that bond. Next up, alien-like crazy movement – which Christian loves. So fun!

Listening to Baby

Friday was my day off work. YAY!!!!!!!!!!! My favorite day of the pay period! Originally, Olivia had a check-up scheduled for this afternoon. It was at an awkward time though, so I ended up rescheduling it for a couple weeks, right away in the morning. So, I had the entire day to myself. I had intentions of getting a ton of stuff done…I dropped the girls off at school, and found myself right back in bed. Watching Sons of Anarchy all day. Oops. I did finally get up in the afternoon to get some cleaning done. Got the bedrooms, bathroom, living room and kitchen cleaned up and organized. So, the day wasn’t a complete loss! I picked the girls up, we made some dinner, Christian arrived home, and we had a pretty low key night. Bella and Mariano stopped over briefly around bedtime to play for a bit. Then, we were all pretty much off to bed. We had an early morning in store, and we were all pretty exhausted.

Saturday was a pretty busy day. We were up and getting ready pretty early. I scored some movie screening passes earlier this week, to see “The Nut Job”, and we decided to take the girls, for Amelia’s first trip to the theater. You never know how packed these screenings will be, so we decided to get there nice and early, and not take any changes. So, I was up showering and getting ready bright and early, followed by Christian and the girls. Once at the mall, Christian got in line while the girls and I grabbed some breakfast. The movie was pretty funny, and the girls seemed to like it…it was in 3D, which I’m not a huge fan of, but the girls handled it alright. Amelia was actually pretty into the movie…she sat there well the entire time, watching pretty intently. It was cute. After the movie, I dropped them off at home for lunch and naps, and made my way out to do some maternity clothes shopping. Most of my clothes are from Olivia – so they’re getting pretty old, used and I’m just plain sick of them! And, I’m carrying this baby much lower and different, so some stuff just doesn’t fit right this time around. My BFF told me about a maternity consignment shop in Savage, so I took my Christmas money and made my way there. I found a ton of cute stuff to revamp my wardrobe, so I’m super excited! I stopped at Target for a few essentials on my way home, and finally got to sit on my butt and watch some football with Christian for a while. Once the girls were up, and we were moving again, we were off to Champps for dinner. I’ve been craving their Buffalo Chicken Wrap and Waffle Fries FOREVER, so we finally went. YUM!!! The girls were pretty much right off to bed once we were home. Christian and I watched “This is the End” (which was OK – not the best), and I pretty much passed out right away after. Long day for this old, pregnant lady!

Sunday was another pretty busy – but productive and fun – day. I was at it right away this morning (well, the girls actually slept in a bit today, which was nice). I threw a load of laundry in right away, and proceeded to wash, fold and put everything away throughout the day. I finally got our MOUNDS of dishes washed, dried and put away, and the kitchen cleaned up. The house (well, the upstairs) was still fairly organized, so I just did a little picking up. We took a mid-day break to head out for some fun. It was near 40° today – so, in a weeks’ time, we’ve basically gone up 90° - isn’t that crazy?!? So, we took advantage of the heat wave, and took the girls sledding. I found a good hill in Burnsville, not far from the house. We met Olivia’s BFF Bella, and her dad, there and the girls had a blast. And, Amelia’s little BFFF Jaiwen, from school happened to be there! What a coincidence. They were SOOOOOO excited to see each other, it was really cute. The kids had a blast going down the hill over and over…by themselves, together, with dad…racing, laughing and having the time of their lives. It was so fun to watch them. The hill was pretty busy, but we only had one incident while there – Olivia was at the bottom of the hill when somebody lost control of their sled, and took her out. I think she was more shocked than anything, but she was pretty upset about it. We were out for well over an hour, and decided to call it a day. We all stopped at Burger King on the way home for lunch, and so the girls could play in the playland for a while, before heading home. The girls watched videos and played house (they are now obsessed with playing house – which should be a phase that lasts quite some time according to my childhood) while I finished my chores. Christian did some driveway scraping thanks to the melting ice, and made dinner. It was a pretty quiet night. I did notice Olivia wasn’t acting quite herself…she was getting very warm, her eyes were watering and she was pretty quiet – all very sudden. We finally took her temperature, and it was in the 102.5 range. So, we gave her some medicine, a fever patch and sent her to bed for the night. She eventually woke up, pretty upset, so I brought her into our bed when Amelia went to bed – and, I at that point I knew I was in for a longer weekend than anticipated. Throughout the night, Olivia got worse – she got up to 103.3 for her temp, was sweating and overheating like crazy, she was talking almost deliriously, and I was getting pretty worried. I gave her some more medicine and that seemed to help her sleep, but I barely got a wink. I don’t know what’s up with all of these random, sudden fevers. So strange!

In other news, I turned 23 weeks this week. Baby is now a large mango. LOL. I’m feeling pretty good, especially now that I have a new wardrobe to cheer me up! I am up 18lbs, which I’m not taking too well (I know a lot of it this time around is water retention, but still). I think, oh, that’s not too horrible. Until I realize I have 17ish weeks to go! But, trying my best to keep my head up! And, nothing can beat the fact that we can now feel baby on the outside, and I can see the kicks now. Such an amazing feeling, I can’t wait until it’s more frequent! We still haven’t had any name talks or really thought about getting anything ready, and we haven’t had any discussions at work yet. Christians’ parents let us know they’re going to buy us a new infant carseat as our baby gift, and it sounds like that will be happening soon, so that’s kind of exciting. Even though I’m not in a rush to “get ready”, I’ve been fighting the urge to bring the bassinet up out of storage. I’m just getting so excited!! Getting closer and closer!

Until next week! XOXO

2014 - Week 1

Well, here we are! It’s 2014, it’s official, it’s here. We're ready to kick off a new year, and live it to it's fullest!

Wednesday brought us a family day, with everybody off work/school, and the first birthday celebration for miss Olivia. The girls did NOT sleep in, like we were hoping after their late night, so we were up pretty early. I made a big breakfast, and we watched Smurfs 2….again. Then, we all got ready and we were off to the Mall of America. Our girls do not have their ears pierced. It’s not that I have anything against it…I have plenty of holes myself, with my first being done as an infant. I just decided long ago, I’d let them make the decision to get them pierced, when they wanted to. When they could really understand what it meant, and were old enough to leave them alone. Well, lately, Olivia has been asking. After debating for a bit, we decided she was responsible enough to leave them alone, and we agreed to let her do it. So, our first stop at the mall was the jewelry shop to get it done. I told her she had to be brave, and that it would hurt a little, but not to cry…I could tell she was pretty shocked by the whole thing, but she held back. No tears! And, as soon as she saw them in the mirror, she was happy as can be. She proceeded to ask us, about every 10 minutes, throughout the day if her earrings were still there. It was cute. Of course, little Amelia asked why she couldn’t get hers done. We just told her she’s not old enough, and changed the subject! Christian had some jeans to exchange, so that was up next; then, he used some old ride points we had, and took the girls on the Ferris Wheel. It was pretty busy, so we didn’t bother buying anymore points for rides, so we packed it up, and headed to Applebee’s for lunch/dinner. Finally, we made our way back home. The girls and I settled in for a lazy night of movies and playing, while Christian made a run to Menard’s and did some stuff around the house. Tomorrow is the big birthday, and everybody is back to reality.

On Thursday, I got to wake up a 5-year old. FIVE YEAR OLD! I woke her up with a big hug, and a “HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY”, and she was so excited. She couldn’t believe she was finally 5 years old, and she was so excited to get off to school. I sent her off with her cupcakes for class, and she couldn’t wait to show off her new earrings. It was such a bittersweet day. 5….5 is a big one. She’s officially a big girl. She can make decisions, she makes her own friends, she’s going to be starting Kindergarten this year. Yes, it’s a big year, it’s a BIG birthday. Of course, like any mother, I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. Entering the world, promptly at 6:00AM. She’s so beautiful, so independent, so funny. She is a daddy’s girl, through and through, and is becoming quite a leader. She’s brave and willing to try new things, yet reserved and shy at the same time. She has a memory unlike any other, and she knows how to turn up the cute factor when it’s needed. My mini-me, growing way too fast!

Once we were all off to school/work, the day was pretty standard. I’ve been so distracted at work, I’ve been finding it hard to really focus and get stuff done. Maybe its baby brain…maybe it’s just the chaos of this time of year…maybe I’m just bored with my job at the moment. Probably a combination of everything, but I’m hoping it passes soon. It can make for some long days. Christian’s OT at work will probably dwindle for a while, post-holiday. He also has a few days of leave time he has to use, or lose, by the end of the month, so he’ll be taking a couple of random days off for that. After work, I picked up some final necessities for dinner, picked up the girls, and we made our way home. I did a quick clean-up of the house, and made the girls pick up their room (they’re actually really good at cleaning their room and making their beds, even by my standards!), then started dinner. We invited Olivia’s BFF Bella and her mom over for dinner/dessert/playtime, so they stopped over. We had a taco feast for dinner, opened presents, had some cupcakes and the girls played for a while. The girls had a blast. Amelia got a little emotional about it NOT being her birthday, but it was temporary. When our friends left, it was bedtime, and we were all EXHAUSTED! What a fun day!

Somebody was upset it wasn't their birthday too...

Friday FINALLY arrived! And I was so looking forward to the weekend…this weekend brings the end to our couple months of chaos – Olivia’s birthday party, and taking down the Christmas stuff/post-Holiday cleaning. Then, I feel like we can finally breath, and relax, for a while. Whew! Christian was off work today…he has some leave time to use up, before he loses it, but the end of the month. So, he was home being lazy for the day. I dropped the girls off and was off to work. It was another pretty long day…still just not motivated. Hopefully next week I’ll get it together. After work, I picked up the girls and we made our way home. We spent a little time hanging out, and Christian got dinner going for the girls. Then, I was off to dinner with my BFF, Kari, at our favorite place, Khan’s! Two pregnant girls at the Mongolian BBQ buffet. SO GOOD! It was fun catching up and chatting about our pregnancies. She’s due in a little over a week….SO EXCITING! After dinner, I was miserable and made my way home…straight to the couch to relax for the rest of the night.

Christian snapped this picture of Chuy - he found a hole in the blanket and made himself a little poncho. Ha.

Saturday was birthday party day! YAY! We were all up pretty early the girls were playing and watching some movies, eating breakfast and hanging out for a while. I started some laundry, Christian hopped in the shower and I gave the girls a bath. We all proceeded to finish getting ready, picked up the cake and were off to Sky Zone to celebrate with family and friends. For Olivia’s first couple birthdays, we had her parties at the house. It was just too much for me…it’s too cold to do anything, everybody has boots and coats and accessories that take up too much space, it’s too close to Christmas, so I have to rush to get all of the Christmas stuff down, or else it takes up too much space, the parties ended up split, with the kids playing downstairs, and some of the adults upstairs, cleaning and cleaning up. It was just too overwhelming, and I didn’t feel like we really got to enjoy it. So, we’ve been having them at different places the last few years…Pump it Up, Edinborough, and now Sky Zone…which is an indoor trampoline park. I love places like this. They guide you through everything, they set everything up, they serve the food and cake, they track the gifts and help you move the party along. And, no clean up!! It just makes it so easy. The party started at noon and all of the kids had a blast on the trampolines, the foam pit and playing some dodge ball (really, it ended up with the parents throwing the balls at the kids from the sidelines, which was just plain fun for everybody). The kids were all pretty exhausted when their jump time was up, so that seems successful to me. We had pizza, opened presents, had cupcakes and Olivia had a blast. The girls fell asleep on the way home…Amelia finished her nap once home, while Olivia begged me to open every new present she received, so I got the pleasure of doing that…again. I was pretty exhausted when all was said and done; I kept dozing off the rest of the afternoon/evening. Seriously, I’m looking forward to some downtime!! Christian was off to hang out with his friend Lorenzo for a while, so the girls and I played with their toys, watched some more TV and they were off to bed. I watched some Sons of Anarchy before passing out myself. What a day!

On Sunday, our SUPER arctic blast started making its way into town. We’re supposed to be seeing some record cold across the state, and they’ve already canceled school across the state tomorrow because of it (“luckily”, the daycare is still open). So, we were pretty much trapped in the house for the day. We were up bright and early. I pretty much put Christian on Dad duty for the day. He got the girls breakfast and kept them busy…eventually sending them downstairs to play in the toy room…which they actually did, for quite a long time, actually playing well together. That was a surprise! Meanwhile, I took down all of the decorations, de-assembled the tree and packed that up, and spent the day doing laundry and cleaning up. It does make me a little sad taking down all of the bright, colorful decorations, it’s SOOOOO nice to get the house back, especially the tree space. I feel so much less cluttered, and feel like we have so much more room. It’s a nice trade-off. The only thing left to do is clean the toy room, moving all of the new stuff in, which will probably be done next Friday, when I’m off work. While the girls (and Christian) napped, I watched some Sons of Anarchy, with football on TV on mute, while I folded laundry and relaxed a bit. Love my quiet alone time. After naps, we had dinner and spent the night relaxing together. A fairly quiet end to the busy week, which was much needed!

Today I also turned 22 weeks! I’m still feeling pretty good, and my energy seems OK (minus the chaos exhaustion). Getting full faster and faster when I eat and growing away. The girls are getting more and more anxious for the baby to get here, and still insist with all of their might that baby is a boy. I don’t know what in the world they are going to do if baby turns out to be another girl! They are NOT going to be happy, that’s for sure. I’ve been having some serious issues with the way I look lately…it doesn’t help that a girl I went to school with just announced they’re expecting their 2^nd, a few days after me, and she is TINY, flaunting one of those perfect, ideal pregnancy bodies. I’ve been trying so hard not to let my weight or the way I look, consume me, but it’s been getting me down lately. Oh, one of the many joys of pregnancy, that’s for sure!

Until next week!

2013 Review

Well, I must say, 2013 was a pretty good year. The girls continue growing, and are happy and healthy as can be. Our family is stronger and closer than we’ve ever been. We've had so many adventures, memories, vacations to look back on and cherish. We learned that our family would soon be expanding, and are over the moon about it. We started the year off by getting debt free, and have been reaping the benefits ever since. It was a very special year of freedom, growth and stability for us.

January started the year off as exciting as ever, with Olivia’s birthday! She turned 4 years old to kick the year off, and it was as hard to believe as every other year. She was spoiled with attention at school, at home, and at her Edimborough birthday party. We took the girls to Sesame Street Live, and to the Mall of America aquarium with some free passes I’d won (and, of course, made a pit stop at Nickelodeon Universe). Olivia started her first ever activity, with round of Swimming lessons…and, she’s continued them throughout the year. Amelia turned 2.5, AND started officially potty training – becoming 100% trained in February. And, I finally made the decision to start selling off the girls’ clothes – they just take up too much space, and we really wanted the extra money. So, over the next few weeks, everything went, via friends and craigslist. Bittersweet.

February started off AMAZINGLY, with us becoming officially DEBT FREE!! It was an amazing feat, and we’ve never looked back. We also made the jump get continue saving, and got rid of cable…for a complete TV junkie like myself, that was a big deal. But, I haven’t had any issues or regrets since. Christian gave me my most wonderful Valentine’s Day ever, surprising me with some roses, and an appointment with my stylist! So, I chopped a good 18” off my hair. That was immediately followed up by first haircuts for both of the girls. Yeah, I cried. We’ve since continued getting Amelia’s hair cut, but have grown Olivia’s back out. We ended the month with a trip to the bowling alley with friends.

March was a rough month, weather and health wise. Olivia and I were both hit by our first ever bouts of the stomach flu. And, I seriously thought that I was going to die! Amelia did get hit with it after us, but not nearly as bad, thankfully. After a short reprieve from that, both girls were hit with some strange mouth virus – similar to cold sores, but it was CRAZY, painful and a little scary. We did manage to get some Easter celebrations in…visiting the Easter Bunny, dying Easter eggs, and attending an Easter service. We also took the girls on their first ice skating adventure…they were not fans. We got a very temporary relief from winter…it was pretty much just a slap in the face since we were in for another good month or so of winter weather. The month ended by celebrating Christian’s 29^th birthday, with a  fun night out with friends.

April started off with our trip to Wisconsin Dells, with the Steveson’s. We rented a big “apartment” this year, so we could all stay together, and had a blast! We stayed a little longer this year, and it was just as hard as ever to say goodbye. However, the trip ended extra tragically when I realized the diamond had fallen out of my engagement ring at some point, somewhere. While it should be covered…my rings had been stuck on my fingers since I was pregnant with Olivia, so the jewelers insurance was no longer valid. I debated waiting to replace it, but Christian was insistent that we do it right away, so we splurged on a replacement. It’s beautiful, but just not the same. We took a trip to the circus, and Christian and I had an awesome date night. Winter made a return, and stayed pretty much the entire month. And, Amelia started Pre-School! Getting so big.

May was a historic day in Minnesota, with the “Freedom to Marry” bill passing – yay for equality!!! I had a mom’s night out at a Twin’s Game, took Olivia on a date to see “Epic” and Chrsitian and I got to go to “Star Party”…where I saw one of my all-time fave’s, Nelly, perform up close and personal. Awesome! I had a wonderful Mother’s Day, getting a beautiful bracelet from Christian, and spending the day with our family and some friends. We were finally able to do some gardening, even though it was still a tad cold. We did some extra flowers this year, AND started some vegetable gardens for the first time. I did battle quite a medical scare this month…with my worsening, frequent migraines, I ended up going to the doctor, and through a serious of bloodwork and tests, including an MRI and CT Scan, everything ended up being “normal” – I spent a week in fear that I may have a brain aneurysm, and while it turned out to be fine, it’s a fear I don’t ever want to face again.

June brought my 30^th birthday. 30!!! Gosh. It’s also brought Olivia’s start in Pre-Kindergarted. REALLY big! We had a wonderful Father’s Day, spent a day at Como Zoo, and another picking strawberries and spending some time at the beach. And, ended the month with Game Day, my dad’s “family reunion” of sorts.

July was a busy month! Olivia turned 4.5, and didn’t let anybody forget it. We celebrated the 4^th of July, with a couple of festivals, the parade and a BBQ at our house with family and friends. I celebrated 12 years at my job, AND 12 years with Christian – getting old folks! We had another beach day, and took our weekend trip to Duluth. We got to work on another outside project, stripping and repainting the deck. Amelia turned 3 with celebrations aplenty, including a trip to Pump it Up, getting lots of attention at school, and a party at home with friends and family – too bad the weather didn’t seem to realize it was July! I also went with some girlfriends to the Lakefront Musical Festival...where I got to see yet another all-time fave, Bret Micheals, perform up close and personal. Seriously, what an awesome year!

August was also a VERY busy month. It started off with our summer visit from the Steveson family. They again stayed with us, and we had such an amazing time. Hanging out around the house, a day trip to Stillwater, a day at the Mall of America, and another at IKEA, a mom’s night out to do a “Wine and Canvas” event. And, of course, our family photo session with Dawn. The visit always goes WAY too fast, and it’s so hard to say goodbye to them, but we made the most of our visit. Unfortunately, we also had to battle a family loss, with the passing of my Grandma, while they were here. I think I was very fortunate that they were here when it happened…it helped take some of the pressure off, and provided some much needed distraction. But, nothing could help keep from feeling the pain of saying goodbye when that time came. Our family will definitely forever have a hole in it. Throughout the month, we took another trip to Como Zoo, took the girls rollerskating for the first time (again, they were not big fans), spent a day at the Waterpark, and another at the beach and visited the State Fair. The month ended with a family reunion on my mom’s side. Olivia also started her first season of soccer, and loved it!

September was a pretty big month. I started the month off finding out that we were expecting Baby #3! We were over the moon, and just beyond excited for our growing family. So, May 2014, our family of 5 will finally be complete! I surprised Christian with an anniversary trip to Chicago, to celebrate our 6^th wedding anniversary, and we had a blast exploring the city together (even though I was beyond exhausted with early pregnancy fatigue). We spent a day at the apple orchard with friends, and Amelia finally got to start swimming lessons of her own! She was so excited to finally be “bigger”.

October, the chaos of life just picked up steam, and kept on rolling right through the end of the year. Olivia had her final soccer game of the year, and it was amazing to watch her grow through the season….learning, getting more brave and participating more and more. She got a little participation trophy, and seemed pretty bummed to see the season end. We spent a day at Sever’s Corn Maze with friends, and had a blast as always. I was able to go with some girlfriends to see “Wicked”, which was an amazing treat. Almost a year to the date from Rico’s medical chaos, Chuy had a little scare of his own! I finally got him in for a complete check-up, physical and updated shots, and he ended up having an allergic reaction to something. We were able to treat it at home, and it passed quickly, but what a scare! And, of course, Halloween festivities throughout the day…parties at school, a trip to Como Zoo Boo, the local neighborhood party and trick-or-treating with friends. Strawberry Shortcake and Lemon Meringue were a hit!

In November, the weather took a fast dive. I’m pretty sure we skipped most of fall – it was just a complete crappy year weather-wise. I was able to go to a Wild Game with a friend, so it was a pretty successful year for me and outings! That doesn’t usually happen too often! Christian and I started the great car debate…knowing we needed a new vehicle before baby comes, and not sure which vehicle we should get rid of. Currently, the debate is on hold until after winter – so we’ll see how all of that pans out. The rest of November was spent planning my BFF’s baby shower, planning/getting ready for Christmas and Olivia’s birthday, and, of course, Thanksgiving!!! Which, we hosted again this year. YUM!

December was a busy month of Christmas festivities. Buddy the Elf spent the month entertaining us, we visited Santa, the Holidazzle and the Macy’s Display. We decorated, watched tons of Christmas movies, baked and did some crafts. We shopped and wrapped and had a ton of family time throughout the month. And, I was able to co-host a baby shower for my BFF, who is due in mid-January with her 2^nd (9 years after from her 1^st). The month, well, the year, just flew by in the blink of an eye!

With that, we welcomed 2014. We’re ready for another amazing year…watching the girls grow, welcoming another baby into our family (along with 4 of our close friends that are also expecting) and seeing where life takes us.