2014 - Week 49

Another Monday. Not many more left in 2014! We’re officially in the last month of 2014, how crazy is that?! Today, we were all off and running, back to reality, but it was not a smooth transition from the weekend, at all. I overslept, the kids were all dragging, it took FOREVER to get out of the door – and it didn’t help that I couldn’t find my work badge anywhere. It was just one of those mornings…just a complete mess. Luckily, once I got to work, the day settled down a bit and it actually went pretty fast, especially for a Monday. Before picking the girls up, I had to stop home quick…it’s December 1^st, which means Buddy the Elf shows up for another year of fun! Buddy is obviously inspired by Elf on the Shelf – but, we don’t really play by the rules. I refused to spend that much on the elf, so we bought a cute Target knockoff. The girls touch him and play with him…he usually brings us stuff (not toys or anything – activities…like, our annual gingerbread house, or supplies to make ornaments, etc.) or does something funny, rather than just showing up and watching over them. We’re rebels. Per usual, he showed up on Day 1 with some cookies and a note, so I helped him get all set up, picked the girls up and they were so excited when they got home and found him. Christian and Eliza arrived home for dinner…we ate, hung out, the usual. Tonight was the mid-season finale of “The Walking Dead” (well, for us) and wow, it was crazy! We’d been looking forward to it all day, so it was a good way to end a day that started off so bad!

December 1st brought the return of Buddy, our Elf!

Tuesday was a pretty quiet day – other than the fact that Eliza seems to have reverted to her habit of a few weeks ago, waking up early and refusing to go back to sleep. I feed her and lay with her and change her and do everything I can to get her back to sleep, and she just fights it with all of her might. She’ll finally fall back asleep just before my alarm clock goes off, which is just a horrible feeling. However, occasionally, like today, I then just sleep right through my alarm I’m so exhausted. One day…one day we’ll all sleep soundly and we’ll be on time for everything and life will be boring. For now, this appears to be my life. The rest of the day was pretty standard…work, daycare/school, home for dinner, baths, a little family time and bed. Should be a pretty quiet week.

On Day 2, Buddy brought the girls their Christmas Tree to decorate

Wednesday was another pretty boring day…it was my work at home day, so Christian was off to work, the girls were off to daycare/school and I settled in for the day at home. Once I logged off for the day, I did a little cleaning and some dishes before picking the girls up for a quiet night at home. Some days I definitely don’t mind not having much to report!

On Day 3, Buddy brought the girls their 2014 Ornaments.

I love our tree. So pretty.

Thursday was a LONG day. Another hectic, late morning. Work was crazy…I just can’t believe all of the work I have, ALL the time. Obviously it’s nice to be busy…makes the days go faster, and the job security is nice. But is so overwhelming when you feel like you can just never catch up. I picked the girls up, we made our way home, and the chaos continued. The girls were acting up like crazy all night, and were at each others’ throats all night, fighting about EVERYTHING. Eliza was crabby and clingy all evening. And I had a headache that just got increasingly worse throughout the day, until I was hit with a full blown migraine in the evening. As soon as Christian got home, I downed some medicine, grabbed an ice pack and had to lay down for a little bit. Oh man, it was just on one of those days, start to finish. I started feeling slightly better, and was able to help get the girls to bed. I got into my jammies and settled in to relax before getting Eliza to bed, when I realized we were out of diapers. Like, COMPLETELY out of diapers. 3 kids and that has never, ever happened before. Who lets themselves run out of diapers? So, I got myself dressed again and I was off on a late evening trip to Target. What a pain!

Buddy got a headstart doing some puzzles tonight

Friday was a pretty quiet day, thankfully. It’s my mom’s usually day to watch Eliza, but she still isn’t feeling well (she was sick over Thanksgiving last week). Christian ended up taking the morning off, so I dropped the big girls off at daycare and made my way to work to put in a few hours. I got home around lunchtime, Christian was off to work, and I spent the rest of the day with Eliza. We took a quick trip to Target to do a little Christmas shopping; otherwise we had a relaxing afternoon at home. I picked the big girls up pretty late today, milking my alone time as much as I could. We had some dinner and family time when Christian arrived home from work. After we got the girls in bed, Christian went out with a friend for a couple beers while I caught up on some shows and did some wrapping. YES, some wrapping, weeks ahead of schedule! I’ve had packages coming in all week and picked a couple of things up earlier today, so I wrapped the few things I could. I refuse to leave everything for one big wrap session this year, or until the last minute! So, I had a pretty productive evening with the house all to myself.

Poor Chuy - the cat always steals his bed - and it's hard to stand up to somebody bigger than you, LOL

On Day 5, the girls found Buddy playing Candyland with some princesses, complete with drinks and treats!

Saturday was a pretty busy day around the house. We had some breakfast, and did a little leaning up. I got a Netflix e-mail letting me know that season 3 of “American Horror Story” is FINALLY streaming – ugh, I can’t wait to start it!! We got the girls in their Christmas dresses and took our Christmas picture. This is never an easy feat…especially this year. I can’t use the camera flash because Amelia is so sensitive to the light, and Eliza doesn’t stop moving, so not using the flash usually results in a lot of semi-blurry pictures. But, we made it work. I just clicked away like crazy and we got a few that are pretty cute. Christian’s dad stopped over to help him work on the snowblower while the girls and I hung out inside. With the Christmas photos taken, I was able to order our Christmas photos and finish, and order, our 2014 photobooks. YES! I paid some bills and balanced the checkbook, I updated my shopping and to-do lists. Just lots of little tasks that needed to be done. Once Christian was done working in the garage, he came in not feeling too well. He had a chill that he just couldn’t get rid of, his head was feeling heavy. He never really got sick per se, just wasn’t feeling all with it. So, we had a pretty quiet evening. The girls kept each other pretty entertained and Eliza took a few good naps. We got everybody off to bed at a pretty decent time and weren’t far behind.

Christmas Photo Shoot!

On Day 6, we found Buddy having a tea party with the Lalaloopsy dolls. He snuck right in!

Oh Sunday. Sunday was a mess. The good, Eliza turned 7 months old!! I can’t believe it, I still feel like I was JUST pregnant with her, she is just growing way too fast. She weighs 19lbs 14oza  and she’s still about 27.5” long. She’s squeezing into her 6-9 month clothes (and I mean squeezing) and she’s in Size 3 diapers. She’s pretty clingy, but overall is happy as can be and she loves to eat! She’s still nursing and gets 1-2 bottles of formula a day, depending on how hungry she is an how distracted she gets when she’s nursing. She’s had quite a few foods now; avocado, banana, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, apples…with pears and green beans coming up next. She sits on her own with no issue, plays with her toys more and LOVES to be around her sisters. She still does not roll from her back to her belly, and she hasn’t made any crawling-like movements yet (I still think it’s just because she doesn’t like being on her belly). Other than when she isn’t feeling well, she’s been sleeping MUCH better and is such a sweet, happy baby. We just love her to pieces. The bad, I woke up today in so much pain, my stomach was just killing me. I got Eliza and drug her out to the couch. I fed her, which was brutal, and then luckily Christian was feeling a little better so he could take her. The girls seemed to be doing OK, they were playing, watching some TV. Outside of feedings, Christian pretty much took care of Eliza. He ran to pick up some breakfast…I forced myself to eat some oatmeal and forced down some water throughout the day in an attempt to maintain my milk supply, but  it was painful to do, and I just felt terrible. I eventually threw up and was officially down for the count, writhing in pain on the couch all day. Eliza ended up throwing up all over herself, and the bed, during her nap, so things were starting to look pretty dismal. With everything going on, Christian couldn’t really make dinner for the house, so his friend Lorenzo came over to help him pick up some pizza, Gatorade and some medicine for the house (then left as fast as he could so he didn’t risk catching anything!). The girls ate a little, but Olivia started crying that her stomach hurt. She laid down on the couch and passed out…but when Christian woke up her up to change and go to bed, she threw up all over herself and the blanket. She was off to bed, and we weren’t sure what we had in store. Eliza was throwing up little bits throughout the day…while I didn’t throw up anymore, I was still in pain all day long, not able to eat or do much of anything. We were all off to bed, and it was of course a long night. Amelia ended up throwing up in her bed during the night, then again a short time later in the bathroom. Once we finally got her back in bed, Eliza threw up again, all over me and the bed. I seriously thought I was going to lose it at this point. It was just the worst experience of my entire life. The disgusting blankets, clothing and bedding was piling up, the house I swear just smelled like sickness and death. Everybody was exhausted and miserable. It was just ridiculous, and a terrible end to the week! While trolling facebook I did see that there is A LOT of stuff going around right now, and it does not sound good – but I’m holding out hope that we were just hit with a 24-hour thing. Ick.

8 Month! What?!

Buddy, in his kind nature, noticed the house was not feeling too hot, and kept it low key tonight, hiding upon the Christmas treetop.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2014 - Week 48

Another week – a SUPER short week. A super busy week. Thanksgiving week. Christmafy the house week. It’s that time of year!!  Monday was a pretty blah day. Work, school, the usual. They day flew by though knowing it was short and getting ready for everything, so that’s pretty awesome. I arrived home to find my new glasses….6 days and $15.00 later, you can’t beat that. Seriously people, especially if you don’t wear glasses full time, zenni.com is THE way to go for glasses. Outside of that excitement, it was a low key evening…dinner, playtime, baths. Fun, fun!

Fresh new glasses, love!

Unfortunately, I no memory, or record, of what happened on Tuesday this week. Clearly, nothing too exciting!!

Our awesome Thanksgiving gift from school, I love them!

On Wednesday, the chaos really started to kick in. The girls were pretty excited…Olivia didn’t have school, so she was at daycare all day, and, it was pajama day! Nothing beats pajama day! Meanwhile, this upcoming Friday is my typical Friday off, but since it’s a Holiday, I moved my day off today. 5-day weekend kicked off – LOVE!! After I dropped the girls off, and did a little TV watching and list making, I was off to do our Thanksgiving shopping. Even though our list wasn’t SUPER long this year, I still had to make 3 stops to get/find everything. Gross. I suppose that could’ve been avoided if I didn’t wait until the last day to do it. Once home, I got everything put away, did some very minor cleaning around the house (picking up, dishes, cleaning the tables), and that was about it. I sat my tired, lazy butt on the couch the rest of the day, catching up on some shows. I picked the girls up a little later than usual today, so I got some extra time to myself, before the next few days of business kicks in. Once everybody was home, we had some dinner, relaxed and sent the girls to bed. We started brining the turkey and I got the caramel rolls set up so they can rise overnight. We decided to call it an early night ourselves…even though I wish we weren’t hosting tomorrow, I’m still pretty excited.

Ready for pajama day!

YUMMY!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! It was finally here. Well, it’s late this year, but in reality it still kind of crept up on me. And, it was FREEEEEZING out. Thank God I’m not the one who has to stand outside and fry the turkey! The house was up and at em’ pretty early. We all had some caramel rolls and watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in our jammies. I made a pumpkin pie…one by one we started getting ready for the day. Christian ran to pick up the Apple Pie and started drying off the turkey. My mom ended up not feeling too well, and didn’t want to risk getting anybody else sick, so she dropped off her green bean casserole and stayed home for the day. I started the potatoes (mashed and cheesy), my in-laws and a couple friends started to show up. We made the gravy, headed the casserole and the stuffing my in-laws made while Christian got the turkey fried up (so amazing – no other turkey compares in the least bit to a fried turkey). We had a TON of food, of course, and everything turned out amazing. All of the kids had such a great time, running around like crazy and turning the basement into even more of a disaster. We all chatted and laughed, washed dishes, and had a nice, relaxing time. No drama, nobody drinking one too many, nobody was in a bad mood. Everything turned out pretty great, which certainly is not always the case, so for that I’m pretty darn grateful. We had some dessert, flipped on the Christmas lights (on the house), and everybody started to head home for the night. What a day…my feet and back were killing me, I was WAY too full, and beyond exhausted…I guess that’s a sign of a successful Thanksgiving, right?!

Ready for her first Thanksgiving!

I couldn't possibly be more thankful for anything in the world than I am for these three. My hearts!

Friday was another busy day. We did some final cleaning up from yesterday’s festivities, did a little shopping for tonight’s Day 2 of hosting, and while I hung out with the girls, Christian got to work…it was leftover turkey taquito day – I’m pretty sure I like this day more than actual Thanksgiving! Ugh, fried, fried turkey taquitos – AMAZING, and quite frankly, the only acceptable way to use your leftover turkey. My dad and stepmom came over around 4:00 for the evening…tomorrow is my dad’s birthday, and Sunday is their anniversary, so it’s become tradition for us to just have them over post-Thanksgiving for taquitos and a little celebrating. Christian and my stepmom have some wine, my dad runs around and plays with the girls like a big kid (and, I’m sure feels those horsy rides for DAYS!). we eat lots and lots of delicious food and leftover dessert. It’s a great evening! They headed home shortly after dinner…we got the girls to bed, Christian went out with a friend for a couple drinks, and I settled in for an evening of quiet. I had myself a couple hard cider’s and watched “The Fault in our Stars” – tearjerker alert! Perfect end to a busy day.

YUM, taquitos ready for frying.

Birthday picture with Grandpa!

Saturday was not quite as hectic…except that Christian had to work, especially after two days off, so he was a busy bee. So, I spent the day with those 3 crazy girls. I did get the big ones down for an early nap though, so that was my success of the day. Once awake, and baby was fed, we were all off to a friends’ house (and met Christian there) to do a little sledding and have a little playdate. Olivia’s baseball coach from this past summer, Misty, had a little boy, Rio, on the team and he just fell in love with the girls (and he’s the funniest, most outgoing little guy I’ve ever met). He then was in Amelia’s soccer league this fall, so we continued to see them and get to know them there. She had a little hill next to her townhome, so Eliza got her first little taste of the show while the kids went up and down it a few times before they were all a little chilly and Rio was anxious to show the girls his room and all his fun stuff. So, we all made our way inside to check it out. The kids played with just about every toy Rio had, while we chatted with Misty and got to know each other a little more. We finally took our loud bunch home for the evening and gave them a little quiet. We had some diner, a little family time, and we were all off to bed pretty early after a busy few days.

Snowbunny!

Happy Girl

Sunday was another busy day, but in a different way. It was Christmas decorating day!!! So, after breakfast and a little cleaning up, we moved some furniture around and got to work. We put the tree up (my least favorite thing to do), then let the big girls to go town putting all of the ornaments on. They actually did a really good job too, spreading them around the tree…we had a few mini-heart attacks while They used chairs and stools to get them up higher on the tree, but luckily they both survived. I got about ½ of the decorations up before calling it a day. Man, that’s exhausting! And, I don’t think we really even have that much! Somehow Eliza took a nice loooooong nap through all of the commotion of getting everything out. She did seem to enjoy the tree though and all of the exciting lights and ornaments. So cute. There’s nothing like a baby’s first Christmas (season)…I’m a bit of a scrooge right now this year, just overwhelmed at the thought of tackling all of the Christmas shopping/activities/chaos, but getting to celebrate her first Christmas makes it pretty exciting. I did some laundry throughout the day, and it was dinner, bath and bed time before we knew it. Another weekend down – and I swear, the longer they are, the faster they go!

Kicking off Christmas!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2014 - Week 47

Monday brought us another week. Another long, chaotic week. Per usual, we were off to work and the girls off to school/daycare. One day, I’m going to do one of those minute by minute recaps of my day, from start to finish. Really document all of the ins and outs of the day – the chaos, the fighting, the running around, the overwhelming moments of every day. Like our (my) mornings – it’s pure chaos, every morning. I swear, I get to work, pull into my parking spot, turn the van off and I just sit. I sit there for a minute. I close my eyes, I take a deep breath, I collect my thoughts. Between 5:00 and 7:15ish I feel like I don’t get a minute to even think – I just run on instinct and autopilot. After I’m done creating my momentary zen, I throw my make up on, trek it into work, and get started on the next portion of the day. I swear, I’m ready for bed by the time I log into my computer! I know that I’m blessed, and I count those blessing daily, and I know one day I’ll miss this chaos and craziness – that’s definitely hard to imagine right now though! In happier news, I’m TOTALLY loving Target’s Cartwheel app. I know a few people I’ve mentioned it to don’t use it because they things it’s pointless – that you don’t save much. And there are some living under a rock who have never heard of the app before. But with my new phone, it actually tells me when I started using the app…August 2013, and since then, a little over a year ago, I’ve saved about $150! That’s crazy. That doesn’t seem pointless to me, that’s for sure. So, for any readers who shop Target and don’t use the app – DO IT!  In not such great news…1) it’s so, so, SOOOOO cold out. We’re talking mid-January temperatures right now. FREEZING. I’m so sick of winter already, and it’s not even here yet. I think it’s going to be a long one, that’s for sure. And, 2) Eliza’s rash is not getting any better. In fact, it may be getting worse. I did schedule her an appointment for the morning at the clinic, just in case. Poor thing. We had a pretty quiet night at home, dinner, some family time, baths. The usual.

Eliza's rash, spreading and looking worse. No fun.

After a LONG night with Eliza, and an early morning, we hung out at home for a while before I took her in to get checked out again. She’s just been miserable…not eating, crying in discomfort and her rash is just getting worse. Her appointment today was with a family practice doctor that we’ve seen before. She checked her over…again, all of her vitals were good, just a slight fever, nothing concerning though. She wasn’t familiar with the rash and agreed with the Urgent Care doctor that it didn’t appear to be a common allergic reaction. The pediatrician we say on Friday actually happened to be in the office and stopped in to check her over as well. So, between 3 doctors, we’ve gotten basically the same answers…not a common rash, not vaccine related, not a common allergy reaction…no mention of mumps, chicken pox or roseola concerns…they ran a strep test and it was negative – verdict from all was some kind of viral rash and it would work its way out of her system on its own. Oh joy. But, they did provide a letter saying she’s not contagious and she was OK to be at daycare, with no concerns. So, she was off to daycare – which, I sometimes think is better anyway, more distractions there than sitting at home. I made my way back home to work – switched from my Wednesday work at home day to save some leave time traveling after the late morning. I got done working (a little later than usual, to make up some time from this morning), picked up the girls, and didn’t get home until about 6:20. I looked around the house and just got this overwhelming feeling of failure…failure as a mother, a wife, a homemaker. It was 6:20 and we had JUST gotten home, with no idea of what we were going to eat for dinner, the house was a mess – toys everywhere, dishwater and sinks full of dishes, baskets of laundry to be folded – along with laundry in the washer AND the dryer since Sunday, Olivia and Amelia were at each other’s throats as soon as we walked in the door, Eliza was sad and miserable and not feeling well. Seriously, I just wanted to crawl into a hole. To think we have to host Thanksgiving in a week, and then do all of the Christmas and Birthday planning. It’s all just pushing me over the edge. Maybe I’m just super hormonal right now, I don’t know, but it’s hasn’t been my best couple of days, that’s for sure.

Still looking horrible, another trip to the doctor.

Wednesday was a little better. I started the day off by checking my timehop for the day, and that started my day off on a much brighter note. One year ago today I heard little Eliza’s heartbeat for the first time. Man do I miss that excitement. I mean, I know she’s here, live and in person, but it’s just so special. There’s nothing like those first heartbeats, that first big ultrasound…being able to take a peek into this secret little life inside of you. So amazing. It’s still so hard to believe I’ll never experience that again. Some days I just can’t believe we’re done and we’ll never go through all of that again (yes, even with all of the chaos and overwhelming days). So crazy. Today, while she looked about the same, Eliza seemed to be much happier, in much better spirits, so that’s promising. Other than that, the day was pretty standard. Since I worked at home yesterday, I was in the office today (boo). I picked the girls up after work, and we made our way home to start dinner and settle in for the night.

Got a smile tonight! That tongue, always hanging out.

On Thursday, Olivia woke up not feeling well. She was feeling pretty warm, complaining that her head hurt and she had a slight fever. I didn’t want to risk her getting worse at school, or being sent home, so I just kept her home to be on the safe side. She rested most of the day, so I was able to get a few hours of work in while she napped and relaxed. She seemed much better in the afternoon…she was more awake, starting to play and getting anxious for sissy to get home (even though, of course, she just fought with sissy all night once she was home). Christian picked Amelia and Eliza up on his way home, so I was able to start dinner, and made a batch of peas for Eliza. And, that was about the excitement for this evening.

Friday was a pretty good day. Everybody was feeling good, everybody was off to work and school. Success! I worked a half day today…a couple of my work friends and I took the afternoon off to grab lunch and go see the latest Hunger Games movie. YES!!! There’s nothing like actually taking an afternoon off for myself…not to go grocery shopping, not to take care of sick kids, not because I’m sick…for me, to have fun, to have some me time. It was so great! I’ve never read the Hunger Games books (I don’t read – not my cup of tea), so I think the books are much more exciting for me than my friends. It was a great afternoon. I picked up the big girls after the movie, right about the usual time, and we made our way home. We all got ready, Christian arrived home a little early, and we were off to hang out with some friends for the evening. Our friends John and Michelle had us over, along with some more friends, Nate and Gini, for a little Holiday dinner/get together. They made a Turkey and some sides, had some drinks and dessert. We ate, chatted, laughed and laughed and laughed. The girls watched some Christmas movies and played with some toys and were much better behaved that I expected. It’s so rare that we actually get to spend time with our friends; it’s always so great when it happens. I also appreciate that our friends are willing to let us drag our kids along with us when necessary, especially when they don’t have kids of their own – I know how overwhelming it can be to have these little people basically take over your house. We didn’t stay super late, but it was definitely past bedtime when we left. We gave Eliza a bottle when we left, and she actually ended up staying asleep once we got home. The big girls were also off to bed, and we settled in to watch a little TV for the evening. We didn’t last too long, but we made an effort.

Our little babysitter, hard at work

Saturday was a pretty good day. Christian was off to work. Eliza actually slept through the night for the first time in a looooong time, so that was a huge relief. She also ate pretty well throughout the day, and her rash was really faded, so fingers crossed, I think we’re turning the corner on whatever the heck she had going on. YES!! The big girls kept each other pretty well entertaining today – even kept the fighting to a minimum for a change. The day overall was pretty quiet. I was in a pretty lazy, want to spend time with the little ones mood today, and Christian was pretty exhausted from work once he arrived home, so we didn’t get too much done around the house. I did make a quick trip to Target for a few groceries, and a gift for a birthday party we have tomorrow, other than that – it was not a productive day.

One of my new favorite pictures, Eliza having a staring contest with teddy.

Sunday brought us another quiet morning. We had some breakfast, watched some TV, played with the kids a little. Cuddled with baby. The usual. The girls missed their last swim class of the season/year because we were off to their little friend Amaiyah’s birthday party. Funny story – Amaiyah was in Olivia’s Pre-K class, so they were friends. Now, because she didn’t start kindergarten this year, she’s in Amelia’s Pre-K class, so they’re friends. Olivia was acting up recently and I told her that if she kept it up I was going to tell her teacher that she had to go back to Pre-K until she started acting like a kindergartner – Olivia ignored me, but Amelia got SO upset and yelled “NOOOOOOOO, Emily and Amaiyah are my friends now, she can’t come in our class!!”. LOL, she’s so funny. The party was at an indoor playground in Eagan…I’d heard of it, and it’s been recommended to me for Olivia’s birthday, but I’d never seen it before. It’s actually REALLY cool, and I think we are indeed going to have Olivia’s party there this year. I have to do some research on it though. I did bring the baby with me, even though Christian was at home, because the weather today was actually pretty amazing - he and his friend Lorenzo quick got the lights put up on the house. It's been cold, and it's supposed to get cold again this week, so it was really their only chance to get out there and NOT freeze their buts off. I was starting to think the lights just weren't going to happen, so that was pretty exciting. After the party, we made our way home and we were all pretty exhausted. Then, it really started to hit me…Thanksgiving is in FIVE days, and we are not prepared, at all. My in-laws bought the turkey and dropped it off this weekend, other than that, we have nothing and I’ve cleaned nothing. I really did not want to host Thanksgiving this year…like, REALLY did not want to. But, for reasons I can’t get into, we feel like we have to. This year, I did hand out some food assignments to our guests though…so, this year we’ll just be responsible for cooking the turkey, making the potato sides, making gravy and getting the pies (which, I may just buy this year, I haven’t decided yet). So, I’m taking a little bit of the burden off my back. And, I’ve decided that other than vacuuming at some point, and cleaning up the kitchen, I won’t be doing any cleaning. I’ll promise our guests food, but I’m not promising tidiness this year. I have to just be OK with it. I mean, what’s the sense in picking up the basement, just to have it destroyed by 6 crazy girls anyway? Over it! So, rather than run around like crazy all night, I rested, and relaxed, and got ready to head into another week. All of that will get done, at some point.

Birthday party fun!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2014 - Week 46

Well, as predicted, the week, Monday, started off with a nice big snow storm. Seriously, this is WAAAAY too early for all of this to be starting. And,  was super nervous for my first snowy drive in the van. It took me 2 hours to get to work. TWO HOURS (vs. my 25-30 minute commute). So gross. I just hate sitting in the car, in traffic, for that long. And even more, I HATE taking leave time, which I have so little of, for it. Oh winter, you can’t come this early! I also had to leave a little early, because you never know how traffic going home will be. My van was totally iced over when I got off work – just over a month and we’ll be parking in the ramp at work, and I seriously cannot wait. Luckily, traffic wasn’t too horrible going home, so I was able to stop at Walmart for a few things before I picked the girls up. As I was walking by the clothes (which, I don’t typically like from Walmart) I noticed fill racks of Christmas dresses. I fell IN LOVE with one dress, and they happened to have it in all 3 sizes we would need for the girls, so I jumped on it and bought them. I’m so excited – we’ve never really don’t the matching thing. The girls usually coordinate for Holiday’s, but they don’t actually match. I figured this will probably be the only time I can get something in all 3 sizes, so I couldn’t resist. I can’t wait to see them in it! After that excitement, I picked the girls up, we met Christian and baby at home…had some dinner and settled in for the night. Winter is here, it’s cold and snowy, but it’s a short week, so let’s go!

Tuesday was Veteran’s Day. Working for the government, I get the day off…YES! Christian was off to work, the girls were off to daycare, and I got the house to myself. TO MYSELF. ALL DAY LONG. I can’t even tell you how amazing that feels. If you haven’t gathered over the years, I adore my alone time. I love my family, but I ADORE my alone time. I think it mostly stems from being an only child, and never having an issue finding peace and quiet growing up. It became my calm…just being alone. While I’ve grown to appreciate (kind of) the chaos of our lives, I still long for my alone time. Days like this, I just relish in it. I decided to take myself completely off duty – no cleaning, no chores, no shopping, no kids, NOTHING, and I had myself a little Sons of Anarchy Season 6 marathon. One more mini-marathon and I’ll be done. Seriously, Netflix binge watching is the best thing ever. I was in a little bit of a rage over “Black Friday” today…Target and Walmart released their opening times, 6:00 and 5:00OPM THURSDAY. I mean, seriously, COME ON. While I do think it’s ridiculous to make retail workers give up their time with family (yes, I know police officers, nurses, doctors, etc. work – but to me, those professions are MUCH different than somebody working at Target likely to make ends meet), it bugs me mostly because Black Friday has just been ruined. Absolutely ruined. Years ago, Christian and I would get up early on Friday, get ready, stop somewhere for some breakfast, then hit up the mall and Target to do some shopping (some Christmas, a lot just for ourselves – ah, to be young and carefree again). It was busy and hectic everywhere, but it was a great day, something we really looked forward to. And now, as an adult with 3 kids and limited funds, I’d LOOOOOOVE to be able to take advantage of some of the deals. But, I can’t. I’m not giving up my Thanksgiving with my kids, my family, to go shopping  (especially with how greedy and out of control it’s become over the last couple of years). Yes, in the end, I usually get better than Black Friday deals shopping online, or shopping closer to Christmas, but still – I miss the essence of our fun day out together. Ugh – rant over. Outside of my annoyance and my SOA marathon, I picked the girls up, and our evening was pretty standard…dinner, baths, bed. Back to reality tomorrow.

She's so funny - she tries to eat all of the little pictures on the pillow.

On Wednesday, it is was beyond cold – it was like mid-January cold. I mean, I know I live in Minnesota and you just have to suck it up – it is what it is, but being this cold, this early, makes me really fearful for what’s in store this year. I was hoping for a winter we could actually leave our house during, but that doesn’t seem likely at this rate. Luckily, being Wednesday, it was work at home day, so no trekking to and from work! Between Monday’s drive, yesterday’s holiday, today’s working from home, and my flex day Friday, this is shaping up to be a pretty ideal week! I mean, the shorter the better! I seriously love my new schedule, as if I don’t say that every week. Outside of working and the cold, it was a pretty normal evening – picked the girls up, had some dinner and family time. The usual.

Trying to get a picture of Eliza is tough, Chuy always photobombs. She thinks he's hilarious. I never would've let him near the other girls, LOL - she's free game - joys of being baby #3!

Olivia drew this picture today. It took me a while to notice little Eliza clinging to me. Daddy is still pretty jealous that he doesn't make it into her pictures too often yet...

Well, I spoke too soon. Maybe the shorter the better is not so true. On Thursday, we were all off to work and school, as usual. In the late morning I got a call from the school nurse, and my heart always sinks when that happens. She said Olivia was in her office complaining of a headache, she had a slight fever, her eyes and ears were really red and she was complaining that her stomach hurt (OK, is there anything NOT wrong with her?!). I felt so bad for her; thinking of my poor baby stuck at school sick is just the worst. I finished up some tasks and made my way to school…I signed her out, went to her classroom to pick her up and she looked just miserable. Until we started heading down the hallway, to the parking lot, and she was just skipping along, happy as a clam. Oh man, I was so mad. I made her take a nap when we got home, and she did rest most of the day…randomly complaining that she still wasn’t feeling well, but, I did have a conversation with her. Reminded her that she only goes to the nurse when she REALLY doesn’t feel well…when she has a headache, when she feels like she’s going to throw up, when she’s really in pain. NOT because she thinks it’s cool, NOT because she’s tired, NOT because she just wants to be at home. I had to explain that Mommy and Daddy have to work, and we have very important things to do, so she can’t be at home unless she really needs to be. So, in the end, it’s really a mystery if she was actually sick or not. Hopefully tomorrow she’s feeling better, whatever was bothering her. Luckily, I was able to do a little work from home while she rested – so the afternoon wasn’t a complete loss. Christian picked up the other girls from daycare on his way home and we settled in for the night. We ended up bringing out the highchair tonight – we’ve been using the bebe pod chair – and I actually had hoped to just use that until she was big enough to sit in the booster chair, but her delicious leg rolls had other ideas, and she acted like the chair was trying to kill her, so highchair it is. My big girl, growing fast!

I finally hung up some new artwork at work today. I love being surrounded by reminders of the kids all day.

Trying out the highchair - big girl!

This weeks throwback - a comparison of me and my dopplegangers. Crazy!

Friday was my Friday off – YES! Eliza had her 6 month check up to start the day. Again, not with her actual pediatrician because LONG after I had scheduled her appointment he decided to take some vacation time. Ugh. So, we saw a new doctor. She was really nice though. I think I’m going to switch the other two to her – she’s at the clinic near our house, vs. way in the city for our usual doctor. I want Eliza to see him though for a couple years because we really like him. She is currently 87% for height and 73% for weight – so, she’s staying pretty steady in her growth. She did end up getting 4 shots today – which is just cruel. Poor baby! She got 3 vaccinations and her first dose of the flu shot. I thought she was going to be pretty crabby all night, but she actually slept for quite some time once we got home. While she slept, I got lots of little chores done. I broke my glasses last night…I have a tendency to climb into bed at night with my glasses on, then I’m too exhausted to turn over and put them on my nightstand, so I just lay them on the bed. Well, in Eliza’s refusal to sleep last night, I put my elbow right through my glasses when I went to support myself to sit up. UGH! Well, I wasn’t going go years wearing broken glasses again, so I right away hopped on zenni this morning and ordered a new pair. I also ordered some new contacts as my trial pair is getting pretty old now. I paid some bills, balanced our budget, watched some shows – finishing up Sons of Anarchy (now the painful wait for the final season to show up on Netflix). The usual. While Eliza did take a nice long nap, she was pretty cranky the rest of the day. Poor baby. So, other than picking up the big girls in the evening, we had a pretty quiet afternoon/night.

Ready for her checkup!

Bestfriends!

On Saturday, Christian had to work most of the day. Eliza was SUPER crabby today, the big girts were at eachothers’ throats all day long – just driving each other insane and fighting about everything. I had a pounding headache. It was just a rough, miserable day. After a long battle, I finally got Eliza down for a nap…and she ended up napping for SIX HOURS! Whoa, I’ve never heard of such a thing. My headache sure thanked her, but I did have to keep checking in on her, I couldn’t believe it. Amelia also took a nice nap, while I let Olivia skip hers and relax on the couch. I showered, took some medicine and rested as much as I could. Christian arrived home from work, showered himself, and when the girls woke up I was feeling much better – so, we were all off to the Sprint store. We have been needing new phones for quite some time, and had decided to leave T-mobile. After researching AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, we decided Sprint was right for us (for what we want)…so, even though we had a horrible experience with them years ago, we took a chance and switched to them. We remain rivals, as Christian went with the iPhone 6 and I went with the Galaxy S5. Oh my gosh, we LOVE them! There’s just something so exciting about getting new phones, I don’t know what it is. Christian’s friend Lorenzo ended up meetings us for dinner at Applebee’s afterwards, so we ate and chatted and hung out before heading home for the night. The girls were off to bed and we watched a little TV before passing out. What a day!

Sunday did not start off well…it actually started off with Eliza throwing up ALL over me. So gross. It was early, and still dark out, and I was getting a very early start on laundry as our bedding was just covered. ICK!! I got her back to sleep and rested on the couch while laundry was going, until the other two woke up. Throughout the day, we noticed Eliza was breaking out in a strange, mysterious rash. Between feedings and dealing with her crankiness, I tried to get the basement cleaned up. It wasn’t going well though – so I again succumb to the decision to just leave it a mess for now. I made a quick run to the grocery store, and Eliza continued breaking out and acting very unlike herself. We’d never seen anything like it before – it almost looked like chicken pox (though we knew it wasn’t). We were starting to worry it might be a vaccine reaction, so we decided it would be best to have Christian take the girls to swim class while I take her to urgent care to be checked out. I’m not a fan of urgent care for the kids – it just seems like they never know what they’re doing. The doctor checked her out…all of her vitals were normal, she had only a slight fever and she had never seen a rash quite like it before. She did some research on the vaccines she had gotten on Friday and a rash, like this, was not a known side effect of any of them. She was pretty sure it was just viral, but said to keep an eye on it and if it wasn’t starting to get better by Tuesday or Wednesday to have her seen again. Seriously – leaving the doctor, with a sick baby, with a crazy mysterious rash and no answers was really frustrating. But, it was slightly comforting to know it wasn’t anything serious. I got home before the rest of the house, so I started dinner. We ate, I finished some laundry and man I was exhausted. Another week down!

The rash Eliza was breaking out in, kind of hard to see though.

Until Next Week! XOXO