2014 - Week 51

Well, Monday did not start off too great (even for a Monday!). Eliza had a pretty rough night – therefore, I had a pretty rough night. And, a nice, early morning. I mean, seriously, this can end any time now. I feel like I just drag all day long, I’m like the walking dead at work every day. Luckily, Monday is her day at my in-laws, so even if she’s not feeling 100%, I know she’ll be well cared for. Of course, the downside, is like a typical grandparent, my in-laws freak out about everything and convince us (more Christian than anything) that she’s deathly ill and something horrible is going on. So, throughout the day we just started worrying more and more. After a long day of work, I decided to take Eliza in to be seen again. Mostly, we have been concerned about her getting dehydrated. We feel like she was showing several signs of it…her soft spot was sunken in more than usual, she’s had a slight fever, she’s not eating well, she’s still throwing up randomly, she’s waking up with dry diapers and not peeing much at all throughout the day. While we’re *sure* she’s just fine, it never hurts to get checked out. But, there’s no way to get a last minute appointment with a (decent) pediatrician in our system, and I just hat taking the kids to Urgent Care…the doctors they staff just never seem to know how to deal with kids. We decided to try out this “Urgency Room” place a few people have recommended to me. It’s kind of a cross between an emergency room and a clinic. And, it was actually pretty awesome. They checked us in, got is in a room, and a short time later the doctor came in. He right away said she appeared to be happy and healthy and didn’t show any obvious signs of being sick or dehydrated. Her vitals were all pretty good, so everything was coming up positive. Because of her on and off fevers, they suggested checking for a urinary tract infection. So, they used a catheter to check her urine – which, on the plus side, would also show if she was dehydrated. She was NOT a fan of that process, but it went quickly (and boy did she pee after they did that!). I fed her while we waited for the results, and thankfully everything came back normal. So, they just gave us a few things to keep an eye on, said just keep feeding her like normal, even if she’s throwing up or refuses, just keep trying. It’s always nice to get the “all clear” and know that nothing serious is going on, but sometimes you just wish there was actually something you could treat, something you could actually DO something for. Waiting it out is just the worst. While we were getting checked out, Christian picked the big girls up and started dinner at home. We pretty much just had time to eat and go to bed once we were all home and settled in, so it was a pretty chaotic evening. I did contact Sprint and put them in their place today though, which made me feel pretty good with everything going on. We switched from T-Mobile to Spring a few weeks ago, and I received our first bill. It was almost double what it was supposed to be and I was freaking out. A small portion of the additional costs were pro-rated from the month before...apparently having a phone for TWO DAYS of a billing period = $20 per line. Ugh. I talked to them to figure out the rest of the issues….for one, they added insurance to both of our phones, which we didn’t ask for ($22 total), so they agreed to remove those charges. In addition, each line had a $15 fee that was supposed to be waived through December 2015. According to them, the small print states that it can take 2-3 billing periods to reflect that promotion. I was NOT having any of that. I totally went off about how shady it was, and how this was not like a discount or a special, on-going program…it was a signing promotion that was only good for a certain period of time…it’s not like I get 2 additional months at the end because it takes them 2 months to activate. I finally talked to a supervisor and they agreed to manually apply the discount until it goes through (so, $30 was removed). I’m not a confrontational person, so it’s hard for me to contact a company like that and let them have it, but man did it feel good! Jerks.

Tuesday was actually a pretty good day. Eliza seemed to be doing much better and was off to daycare. We were off to work, the big girls off to school. All was right in the world again. Our local radio station does this “Christmas Wish” thing every year – where you nominate a deserving family for some kind of uplifting experience (everything from Christmas presents for kids, grocery gift cards for the family, new appliances, etc.). It’s been getting to me big time lately – specifically these two infant stories they’ve done. One baby, London, is exactly a month older than Eliza and looks so much like her. She’s the sweetest little thing; you can follow her story on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/703198259751832/?ref=br_tf. The other is this sweet little guy Vito, you can follow his story as well https://www.facebook.com/VitoSkaro. Their stories just broke my heart and had me bawling. Continuing to follow their stories is an emotional rollercoaster – I don’t know how people manage to stay so strong, I just don’t. Anyway, Christmas Wish and crying my eyes out all the way to work is how I start very morning this time of year. On the flip slide, on the way home a light came on in the van. Christian ran it up to the auto parts store to scan it and apparently it’s some kind of sensor, so he’ll be bringing that in to get fixed on Thursday. Ugh – makes me nervous that we’ve already had a few issues with the van, and it’s not even a year old yet. When I picked the girls up, I received a gift from Eliza (well, her teacher, LOL). I opened it when I got home and it was this SUPER cute ornament her teacher had made, with her pictures all over it. I seriously almost died, I love it!

The awesome ornament I got from Eliza's teacher, love!

Tonight Buddy and his friends were holding some sack races.

Wednesday was a pretty quiet day. It was my work from home day, so the morning was slightly less chaotic than normal. Christian was off to work and I dropped the girls off at daycare. On our way out, the post office delivered a package – at 6:30AM, crazy! We received another package in the morning, afternoon mail and I officially had everything I needed to finish wrapping this weekend. Another plus today…while it was cold as heck, it was sunny…after what seems like weeks of gray, foggy, dark, sad weather, it was finally sunny. Between the sun and a slight breeze, snow was blowing around like little specs of glitter. I loved it – a very small bright side to winter weather. After working the day away, I picked the girls up, we met Christian at home and we had a quiet evening.

Buddy made it snow inside tonight and surprised the girls when they got home. Eliza is mesmerized by them!

Buddy had to look up directions on how to cut out snowflakes - apparently elementary arts and crafts don't stick with you for too long.

Thursday was a pretty low-key day all around. We were all off to work, daycare and school as appropriate. With that, Eliza actually made it through the entire week and I think we might actually be in the clear (knock on wood), finally!! Christian took the van today to get fixed today, so I drive my old car to work. It was so strange being in the car again (since we can’t fit all of the girls in it, I really never go in it anymore), and I felt like I couldn’t see anything…I definitely missed my van after a day away from it! They did get the part replaced and the light off though, hallelujah!! So, at the end of the day, we have a house of healthy people, a van that’s been fixed back up and we were good to go. Can’t get much better than that!

Buddy had quite the showing at his kissing booth tonight...I'm sure all of his earnings are going to a good cause.

In honor of our visit to see the big guy this weekend, my throwback this week was a look back at our past visits. This year should be interesting.

Friday, Friday, Friday…FINALLY Friday. Even though it was my Friday to work, it was still Friday and you can’t really beat that. My mom was over bright and early to hang out with Eliza for the day…with her being sick, it had been quite a long time since she’d watched Eliza. After a long day at work, I picked the big girls up and rushed home…I left them with my mom for a few minutes to rush Eliza off to get her 2^nd dose of the fly shot (with fingers TIGHTLY crossed that didn’t spawn all of her issues last month). We were in and out, and back home in no time, ready to get the weekend started. Christian had to work late, pretty typical for Friday, so it was just the girls and I for most of the evening. Olivia brought home a cute ornament from school today, and her teachers gave her a fun book and bag. She was excited about being on winter break – though, I don’t think she truly knows what it means, and I don’t think she’ll actually be excited about sitting at daycare for two weeks. I got the girls fed and settled in, Christian brought home dinner for us and we had a quiet night at home. I did some final present wrapping after the girls went to bed…how crazy is it that Christmas is a week away?!?

The super cute ornament Olivia made.

The dog is obsessed with her.

Buddy arrived with this years Gingerbread House tonight. We were too tired to do it though...

On Saturday, Christian was off to work. The girls were up really, REALLY early…so I sent them back to bed. I don’t play those games. Eliza and I finally woke, and freed the big girls from their room. We had breakfast, I have them all some baths and got Eliza down for a nap. The big girls watched some movies and played while I did a little cleaning up, showered and got ready for the day. We finally packed into the van, and met Christian at his sisters’ house for his oldest nieces birthday party (she’s a Christmas baby, so they had her party early this year). The girls had a great time playing with their cousins, his mom and sister made some yummy taquitos for dinner, we chatted and laughed and hung out for a while. Finally, we were on our way home, for some Christmas activities. We started on our gingerbread house, and made the girls’ 2014 homemade ornaments. It was pretty late by the time we finished, so the girls pretty much passed out…Christian wasn’t far behind either. I started watching “Anchorman 2” (despite all of the bad things I’ve heard about it), but I couldn’t keep myself awake for long either. We’re all so lame!

Seriously, I love this girl, with her big, round, bald head. Love!

  

The birthday girl! Oldest and youngest cousins, so cute.

Buddy arrived with supplies to make our ornaments tonight. Fun!

(observing)

Sunday was another pretty busy day. We started off pretty typical...breakfast, picked up around the house, started laundry. Then, got ourselves ready and kicked off a day of Christmas festivities. First, we were off to Mall of America for our Santa visit. I didn’t expect miracles this year…but it was pretty much a disaster. Eliza was miserable ad hungry (terrible planning)…one flash of the photographers camera and Amelia’s eyes were watering and she was miserable. It was just terrible. I mean, we didn’t have a screaming, terrified kid, but still, terrible. Eliza fell asleep on the way home and napped for a while, so we finished up the gingerbread house and worked on the girls’ homemade cards for the grandparents. Finally, we made cookies (it’s taken forever, but they’re finally made!) and cleaned up the kitchen. It was late, but Christian was off to help his friend, Lorenzo, with car stuff. I got the big girls to bed, but Eliza would not go to sleep for ANYTHING. It was an exhausting night, and it should make for a rough Monday.

Visiting Santa

Making our gingerbread house

Buddy brought us supplies to make our homemade Christmas Cards for the grandparents tonight

Making cookies for the teachers at KinderCare

Until Next Week! XOXO

2014 - Week 50

Well, following yesterdays’ events, I was clearly off of work today. I still wasn’t feeling the greatest, but I was able to keep some food down and get off of the couch, so that’s a plus. I also didn’t want to send Olivia or Amelia to school/daycare, not knowing for sure what was going on or if they were really feeling better. Christian was feeling alright and was off to work, and brought Eliza to his parents’ house as usual. She still wasn’t feeling the best, but I thought it would be quieter for her over there, and good for her to be away from us just in case. Even though I wasn’t feeling the best, I was I was determined to make my day at home a productive one. While the girls rested, played together, watched some videos and took a nice long nap, I got a lot of chores done. I did piles and piles of laundry, wrote out thank you cards from Eliza’s baptism a few weeks ago, got our final Christmas decorations up (and the storage totes back down in the basement), ordered our latest family photos to hang up in the living room, got the Christmas cards ready to go and I even got a couple hours of work in (to get some rush stuff that I didn’t want sitting done). At least the day didn’t go to waste, I can’t really be mad at that! Finally, I got dinner going, Christian arrived home with baby and we settled in for the night. While Olivia and Amelia seemed pretty much back to normal as the day went on, Eliza did throw up a few times at his parents’ house. But, she otherwise seems to be in wonderful spirits, so it’s kind of strange. She was happy, laughing, playing – probably the happiest we’ve ever seen her honestly. Hopefully we all have whatever was plaguing us out of our systems now, and everybody can get back to where they are supposed to be tomorrow!

Tonight, Buddy arrived, apparently heading into battle with the ponies!

Tuesday started off alright. I was back to work. Still not feeling 100%, but I wasn’t in pain anymore and I had a little more energy, so things were looking good. Olivia and Amelia seemed completely back to normal, so off to school they went. At this point, we were really just hoping Eliza was feeling better. She had a pretty good night, but with an infant there’s no real way to tell if they’re better or now – it’s just a wait and see game. My work was crazy busy, especially after a day off, so I spent the entire morning catching up on e-mails and routing things that were sitting. I did get a call in the late morning letting me know that Eliza had a watery, greenish blowout, and if she had another she’d have to be picked up. Sure enough, around noon, it happened again and I had to leave to get her. I have a feeling this is not going to be the best week ever. She fell asleep on the way home, and actually slept for a couple of hours, so I was able to eat some lunch and finish up a few work tasks that I really needed to get done. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, watching some TV and just hanging out. Eliza was pretty crabby, so I didn’t want to drag her back up…so, Christian picked the big girls up on his way home (literally AT closing time, whew!). We had some dinner and a quiet night at home after all of that chaos. While Eliza was crabbier than usual, there weren’t any more throwing up or diaper issues, so we had our fingers crossed, again, that she would be feeling better the next morning.

Buddy surprised the girls with "Polar Express" night...some hot chocolate, some s'mores trailmix and the movie. Fun! 

Wednesday was another busy day. It was work at home Wednesday though, so I had that going for me. We started off the morning blind again, hoping that Eliza was doing better. Christian was off to work, and I dropped the girls off at daycare. As I brought Eliza into the infant room, the teacher looked at me kind of confused, and called the Assistant Director into the room. I started to panic a little, and she told me that Eliza was not supposed to go back to daycare today. Oh my gosh I felt like such an idiot! I know when they had a fever, or something like pink eye, you have to wait 24 hours, but apparently, when they throw up or have the watery, diarrheaish diapers, it’s also a 24 hour wait period. She did agree to keep her since other than the diaper issue she was happy and in good spirits all day, but said if she had one issue, she’d have to be picked up and kept home tomorrow. So, I was on my way back home – feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. The day ticked on, hour by hour, and I was on edge all day long. Daycare did end up calling around 4:00 – they said she did have a watery, greenish blowout, but was otherwise happy and doing great, so they were going to let that one go – but, if she had another, she’d have to be picked up. Luckily, I picked them all up a little after 5:00 and there weren’t any more issues. This is just so crazy – I don’t know why she can’t just kick whatever the heck she has going on, but I feel so bad. The girls and I stopped at Walmart on our way home – picked up the photos I ordered, a few groceries, and some new Christmas stockings. Christian met us at home…we had dinner, a little family time and the girls were off to bed. Christian and I spent the evening personalizing our new stockings before bed, and I just LOVE them. I’ll probably have to redo mine next year, my letters got a little too hot, but the stockings were super cheap, so that’s OK.

Poor Buddy. The girls' BFF's were getting jealous of all the attention Buddy has been getting. We arrived home just in time to save him...

On Thursday, after a pretty good night, we thought we were out of the woods. I dropped the girls off at daycare and I was off to work. I got a call around 11:00 that Eliza had projectile vomited, big time, was running a fever and had to be picked up right away. Seriously guys, I wanted to cry. Like really, seriously, REALLY wanted to cry. While it was really hard leaving Eliza and returning to work (and is still hard, honestly), I’ve still never imagined myself as a stay at home mom. Moments like this, I really wish I were. While it’s exhausting all on its own, I’d love to be able to just stay home with my kids when they’re sick – not have to worry about leave time, about work piling up, about how it looks. One day I’ll have leave time saved up again, ONE DAY, and then I’ll at least feel a little more comfortable. Until then, it all just adds to the pain of having sick kids. Luckily, today, Christian was actually able to take the afternoon off and pick her up. While my work is super flexible and it’s really not a big deal to leave or call in, his work is much more strict about taking time off, so it’s not often he can do that. I felt this huge sense of relief wash over me when I got the text from him letting me know he was on his way. She ended up taking a nice, LONG nap for him, so he had a pretty quiet afternoon with her. I picked the big girls up after work and we made our way home. Eliza was tired all evening, wasn’t eating much, and still had a fever on and off all evening/night. My poor baby, I just hate it. I wish I could just take it all away from her! As I left work today, I was able to mail our Christmas Cards, the Thank You cards and Olivia’s birthday party invitations, and I was feeling very grateful that tomorrow is my Friday off, because things weren’t looking too good.

Buddy surprised the girls this morning with our new personalized stockings. Love!

As mentioned, Friday was my day off…thank God. One less thing to worry about during all this chaos! The big girls were off to school, Christian was off to work and I settled in for a day with Eliza. She woke up shortly after Christian left, and she was really was cranky and upset most of the day. She didn’t nap well, she threw up (majorly) twice throughout the day. It was just not a good day, at all. So, I spent most of the day on the couch with her…comforting her, trying to distract her, trying to get her to sleep. I was able to watch a majority of, and finish, “American Horror Story” though, so at least I had that going for me. I was pretty stressed out over poor little Eliza though, I’m not going to lie. To make matters worse, Christian had to work extra late. So, I picked up the big girls and made some dinner while trying to deal with the cranky baby. The Christmas lights weren’t working, so once he was finally home, Christian was stuck outside trying to get those up and running again. I swear, it’s always something! Needless to say, after eating and a little family time, we were all off to bed pretty early.

Buddy, up to his old tricks! He drew on our family picture, and the girls found it hilarious, as always.

My poor sick baby, taking a bath to clean up. Love her rolls!

Saturday was a busy day. Christian was off to work and everybody was up and at ‘em bright and early. No rest for the weary! Eliza did seem to be doing a little better today though…she was a little crabby, but no throwing up, no fevers. Fingers crossed!! We did start giving her some pedialite today though…she has been waking up dry in the morning, hasn’t been peeing much, and with all of the throwing up and bathroom issues, we’re starting to worry about her becoming dehydrated. Poor baby. Shortly after Christian got home from work, my mom picked the girls up and they were off to spend the night with her. She was finally feeling better and hadn’t been able to spend any time with them for quite some time, so they were all pretty excited. As soon as she picked them up, I was off to do some shopping. I ran to Hallmark and Target – picked up a few Christmas gifts, some groceries and a few other things, and then made my way home. Other than a couple of gift cards, I’m officially done Christmas shopping – WOOT!! Christian and I had some Thai food for dinner, I wrapped some more gifts and we watched a couple of movies, “Need for Speed” and “Sex Tape” – we liked both of them, so it was worth it, but I knew that I would be paying for our late night in the morning!

Buddy arrived tonight with baking ingredients to make my favorite cookies! YUM! 

Sunday was another busy day around the house. Eliza was up pretty early, so I started laundry right away. I did the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and did a little picking up around the house. We had a late breakfast /early lunch and watched both of the “Purge” movies while we waited for the big girls to come home. They didn’t end up coming home until about 3:00, so we had a pretty quiet day! Always welcomed, that’s for sure. I made some baby food this evening – apples, pears, yams and bananacado. Pears were new this round, and we gave her some for dinner – I’m a little worried that she may have had a little reaction to them, but we’ll have to see tomorrow when she has them again. Other than that, and being a little tired, she had a pretty good day. Again, no throwing up and no fever, regular stools, she ate pretty good. Hoping we are FINALLY past all of this sickness. It sounds like the world is being plagued by a really horrible strain of Influenza this year, so I’m feeling pretty grateful that (so far) we just had this stomach bug. Hopefully the Influenza spreading all over will somehow miss us! After some dinner and getting everybody settled in for the evening, Christian was off to a friends’ house to watch the soccer game, so I got the girls to bed one by one and spent the evening resting. What a week/end!

Buddy brought us our 2014 singing snowman tonight, I love these things!

Sister time, Eliza is going to take over that thing in no time!

Baby food making night!

Until Next Week! XOXO

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